Podcast
Book and Film Globe Podcast
Hosted by Book and Film Globe · EN
Everyone’s favorite literature and pop culture site is now a podcast. Entertaining, enlightening chat about books, film, streaming TV, and more with Neal Pollack, editor of Book and Film Globe and its top writers. Pollack is the author of ten semi-bestselling books of fiction and nonfiction, including Jewball, Never Mind the Pollacks, Downward-Facing Death, and the memoirs Alternadad and Pothead: My Life as a Marijuana Addict in the Age of Legal Weed.
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BFG Podcast #11: Christopher Nolan, Olivia Wilde, and Arguments Over Seth Rogen
4d ago00:36:26Tap to summarizeNever too late to the discourse, the latest episode of the BFG podcast covers two of the most talked-about movies of the summer. Stephen Garrett sails into the picture to discuss Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. Both host Neal Pollack and Stephen admire some of the set pieces and a couple of key performances, though Neal found the picture too self-serious, as all of Nolan's movies are. They disagree about Anne Hathaway, the true face that launched a thousand ships. At last, some Odyssey discourse! But ours is the best.Then Neal invites BFG contributor Laura Pruden into his virtual apartment for a delightful chat about The Invite, director Olivia Wilde's four-character chamber comedy-drama about modern marriage and sexual mores. It's a movie for adults, by adults, and it's proof of concept that Wilde is a director worth watching, and that Rashida Jones is a screenwriter well worth watching. Neal and Laura disagree about Seth Rogen. She found him delightful, he found him distracting. Neal wonders when the next dinner party invite is coming his way.Our new theme song and incidental music are by composer Matthew Sheffer and licensed for use by Sea of Reeds Media. All Rights Reserved. Enjoy the show!
Transcribe →BFG Podcast #10: ‘Supergirl,’ ‘Minions and Monsters,’ and a Load of Jackasses
3w ago00:40:17Tap to summarizeThis week's podcast features a tense, thrilling narrative about the highly-competitive subculture of American pub trivia. Host Neal Pollack and frequent guest Jessica Babbitt, who consider themselves among the top one percent of trivia players in the country, tell the story of how their team, Post-Trebek Stress Disorder, pulled out an exciting and unlikely victory in this year's first ever national Jeopardy! Bar League championship. Intrigue! Rivalries! Answers! Pizza! And an unlikely solution to the problem: Friendship conquers all. A BFG near-exclusive.Then Stephen Garrett drops into the pod-dome to take stock of this summer's movie offerings. Neal expresses extreme disappointment in Supergirl, which is way too grim-dark and not fun or sexy enough for his tastes. Why studios should be listening to the tastes of a 56-year-old man is an open question, but Supergirl was a huge bomb so they might as well hear what he has to say. Stephen, meanwhile, saw Toy Story 5, which was fine, Minions and Monsters, which was fine, and the new Jackass movie, which was also fine. The Jackass guys are in their 50s now, so none of their old activities are safe. But Neal and Stephen mostly go to the movies, which is perfectly safe, and probably will be until they're in their 80s.Our new theme song and incidental music are by composer Matthew Sheffer and licensed for use by Sea of Reeds Media. All Rights Reserved. Enjoy the show!
Transcribe →BFG Podcast #9: ‘Disclosure Day,’ ‘Backrooms,’ and Nicolas Cage With the Power of Spider
Jun 1800:46:42Tap to summarizeIt’s Disclosure Day on the Book and Film Globe podcast, as host Neal Pollack and chief film critic Stephen Garrett disclose that they didn’t much care for Steven Spielberg’s new “the truth about aliens” film Disclosure Day. They both found the script poorly-paced and silly, and really disliked several of the film’s performances, including soggy turns from Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, and Colman Domingo. Eve Hewson, Wyatt Russell, and especially Emily Blunt fare better, but they cannot get the best of a ham-handed scenario, bizarrely convoluted action sequences, and nonsensical world-building. What a mess.We get around to Backrooms this week as well. Critic Daniel Aaron joins Neal to discuss the Internet phenomenon turned box-office sensation. Backrooms is a completely fresh premise, sure to be ground down over time by bad sequels. But for now, it’s all about liminal spaces, and genuinely haunting performances from Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, as two Californians in the early 1990s who get caught in another dimension in the back of a failing furniture store. Creepy, unsettling, and weirdly funny, Backrooms will have you thinking twice before entering a strange space.Finally, Scott Gold is back on the podcast this week, talking to Neal about Spider Noir on Amazon Prime, featuring an iconic Nicolas Cage performance as a 1930s noir detective who also happens to have the power set of Spider-Man. The series is eight episodes when it should have been six, with its share of repetitive story beats. But that doesn’t take away from its core pleasures: watching Cage give it his all, in a spectacularly physical comic, and semi-tragic, performance. There are excellent supporting turns as well, and enough action scenes to keep this from becoming too dull. Recommended quite highly by our two non-superpowered contributors.Regular listeners of the Book and Film Globe podcast will also notice that we have new theme music this! It’s by composer Matthew Sheffer and is 100 percent appropriately licensed for use by Sea of Reeds Media. All Rights Reserved.Enjoy the show!
Transcribe →BFG Podcast #8: ‘Obsession,’ 'The Mandalorian and Grogu,' and a Whole Cannes of Worms
Jun 300:39:16Tap to summarizeThe BFG Podcast leans into the summer season this episode, with a heap of praise for one of the two surprise horror hits that have changed Hollywood forever (again). Host Neal Pollack and contributor Daniel Aaron break open their wish and have nothing but good things to say about the low-budget hit Obsession. It's the ultimate howl of Gen Z relationship agony, featuring a star-making turn from Inde Navarrette and a cavalcade of gory bad relationship decisions. An absolute classic that comes out of nowhere.Stephen Garrett, on the other hand, comes straight from France, to report on a starless Cannes Festival, where studios spent millions of dollars to distribute films that you'll probably never see. That doesn't stop him from seeing them, though, and if you want to know everything that's going on in cinema, we advise you to give Stephen a listen. Pollack hasn't left his house in months, so you and he can virtually go to France, courtesy of Stephen, together.We take that back, Neal did leave the house. Unfortunately, it was to see The Mandalorian and Grogu, the movie that might just be the lightsaber into the gut that kills the Star Wars franchise once and for all. Editor-in-chief Dan Friedman stops by the Pod Dome to talk to Neal about this two-hour action sequence that introduces us to the lamest Star Wars character since Jar Jar Binks. We're talking about Rotta the Hutt, Jabba's son, who's more jacked than Clavicular but talks like a laid-back skater bro, courtesy of an all-time bad vocal performance from Jeremy Allen White. April Fool's came early this year, or maybe late, depending on how you look at it.Enjoy the show, and shield your eyes. Summer movie season is here.
Transcribe →BFG Podcast #7: 'Widow's Bay' and 'Margot's Got Money Troubles'
May 2400:25:31Tap to summarizeIt's Apple TV+ this week on the podcast, as that's the last place on TV, or at least one of them, that's still taking big creative swings and also releasing episodes serially. Longtime contributor Omar Gallaga joins Neal Pollack this week to discuss two Apple+ shows. The first, Margot's Got Money Troubles, based on a novel by Rufi Thorpe, comes to us from David E. Kelley, who's been making TV for decades. But this show feels fresh and modern thanks to a winning lead performance from Elle Fanning and a nuanced look at the Only Fans universe. The cast, which includes Nick Offerman, Greg Kinnear, Nicole Kidman, and Marcia Gay Harden, is uniformly excellent, but Michelle Pfeiffer steals the show with a late-career master turn as Margot's mother, a performance so fully realized it doesn't even feel like she's acting.Much more stylized, but no less effective, is Widow's Bay, a new comedy-horror semi-anthology series from comedy writer Katie Dippold, which embraces and deconstructs horror tropes with unabashed delight. It's like the X-Files meets Northern Exposure, with a touch of Twin Peaks and Parks and Recreation. The cast includes Matthew Rhys, Kate O'Flynn, and Stephen Root, and a bevy of monsters and supernatural happenings that bedevils a cursed Massachusetts island. Four episodes in, and Widow's Bay is already a TV legend. Omar and Neal give it their highest recommendation, and no one has better taste than they do.Enjoy the show!
Transcribe →BFG Podcast #6: Michael Jackson, Ian McKellen, Anne Hathaway, Their Films and More
May 800:35:57Tap to summarizeCan you feel it? Summer movie season is rumbling down the tracks. And this week BFG Podcast host Neal Pollack puts his ear to the ground for the last major releases before the real blockbusters start.First up is Michael, the bizarrely popular Michael Jackson biopic that has the world forgetting how weird and sinister late-era Michael Jackson really was. This is a hero's origin story, from the beginnings of the Jackson 5 up until the near-tragedy of the "Victory" tour. Contributor Gillian Gaar joins Neal in breaking down why she thinks this movie is a flat highlight reel that doesn't really work, and compares it to other recent popular music biopics like Bohemian Rhapsody and Back in Black. Neal agrees with her mostly but really liked Colman Domingo as Michael's Machiavellian father, and has to admit the music scenes are pretty good.Stephen Garrett makes his regular stop to talk about The Devil Wears Prada 2, the sequel to a popular movie from the fashion industry from 20 years ago. Our critics agree that this sequel seems flat and unnecessary and they get very bitchy talking about music and fashion, which is appropriate. Neal did like Justin Theroux as a Jeff Bezos-style billionaire magnate weirdo, and Emily Blunt is also pretty funny in the sequel. But most of the goings-on are pretty annoying.Neal and Stephen clash on The Christophers, a Steven Soderbergh indie joint about the London art world. Soderbergh, who is 63, claimed to have retired 13 years ago, Ian McKellen is 87 at the end of this month and is not retiring any time soon. They agree that McKellen is wonderful as the lead, a dying 80-something former "Bad Boy" painter, and Neal tries unsuccessfully to persuade Stephen that Michaela Cole is NOT a film actress. They agree to disagree, as they always do.
Transcribe →BFG Podcast #5: Spring Film Roundup
Apr 2900:25:21Tap to summarizeThe Book and Film Globe podcast is back with a Spring Movie Roundup, or at least a First Half of Spring Movie Roundup, as there have been some other movies in the second half of spring, which we'll talk about next week. Stephen Garrett returns to talk with host Neal Pollack about a grab-bag of movies, including Project Hail Mary, which we'd previously discussed, but it's also the only film everyone has seen in common this season. "Did you see Project Hail Mary?" people will ask, and the answer is usually yes.Less seen, but somewhat important, is The AI Doc, Or How I Became An Apocalyoptimist, which Neal and Stephen found interesting and thought-provoking, but rather twee. This is what happens when you give millennials access to a camera. Perhaps you shouldn't give Gen-X directors access to filming millennials, which is what happened with Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli, who made the romantic "comedy" The Drama. Neal and Stephen discuss the movie's weird tonal shifts, disturbed morality, and class cluelessness better than any two critics have or ever will. Finally, Stephen admits that he just wasn't the audience for the Super Mario Bros. Galaxy Movie, and Neal recommends Pixar's charming Hoppers for him instead. At BFG, we see everything. And we see it well! Enjoy the show.
Transcribe →BFG Podcast #4: Diagnosing 'The Pitt' Season 2
Apr 2400:25:01Tap to summarizeWe have a Caucasian male, late 50s, presenting as overly snarky and cynical, complaining of excessive exposure to hot doctors on TV. Another white male, approximately the same age, somewhat less cynical. And a Caucasian woman in her 30s, quite optimistic, some would even call her a fan.They're here to comprehensively discuss Season 2 of The Pitt, which just concluded it run on HBO Max. Editor-in-chief Dan Friedman, former editor-in-chief Neal Pollack, and now-frequent BFG podcast contributor Jessica Babbitt break down the highs and lows, but mostly highs, of the season, discuss their doctor crushes, and dissect the politics of The Pitt, the most sneakily political show on TV, in detail so granular, you'd think that they might need an MRI.You have to listen to this episode until you're done with your charting.Enjoy!
Transcribe →BFG Podcast #3: 'The Forsytes,' 'Age of Attraction,' 'Survivor,' and, of course, 'Fackham Hall'
Apr 600:37:00Tap to summarizeIn this edition of the new and improved but also exactly the same BFG Podcast, Neal Pollack welcomes his trivia teammate, former trivia rival, and pop-culture savant Jessica Babbitt into the podcast dome to talk about variety pack of topics. First, Jessica, who runs a specialty TikTok where she data-analyzes reality-TV trends, picks apart Survivor's 50th season. Despite a lot of enthusiasm going into the milestone season, there's actually quite a bit of fan fatigue afoot. Too many gimmicks, too many spearfishing expeditions with Zac Brown. Let's get back to basics.Next, Neal and Jess talk about Age of Attraction, the reality-dating show on Netflix where people hook up despite not knowing each other's ages, which leads to some very awkward encounters indeed. Neal wonders why everyone has such a blank gaze in the show, but Jessica reminds him that people don't go on these shows because they're substantial. If you're looking for interesting conversations, look elsewhere.The show switches up in the second half as Neal and Jess talk about The Forsytes, a desecration of the legendary Forsyte Saga now airing on PBS's Masterpiece. The Forsyte Saga is one of the great works of 20th century British literature, was a landmark British TV show in the 1960s, and was one of the best-ever Masterpiece adaptations in 2002. The Forsytes is dumb Bridgerton. This is a miniseries for a post-literate ages, featuring some of the worst hair, costumes, and dancing you'll ever see on TV. Also, you should still watch Fackham Hall on HBO Max, as Neal reviewed on the site weeks ago.Thanks for tuning into the show!
Transcribe →BFG Podcast #2: SXSW, ‘Project Hail Mary,’ and Guy Fieri's 'Tournament of Champions'
Mar 2400:38:30Tap to summarizeOn this edition of the totally revived BFG Podcast, host Neal Pollack brings back more of his beloved guests. First up, contributor Omar Gallaga reports from South By Southwest in Austin. Even though Austin has torn down the convention center, leaving SXSW without a clear central point or identity, Omar still had a blast at the festival, catching surprise musical performances, watching movies, and attending panels. Some highlights: A preview of the new Larry David sketch comedy show appearing on HBO later this year, a new musical drama called Power Ballad, from the man who directed Sing Street and Once, starring Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas, and an Apple TV comedy, starring Elle Fanning, called Margot's Got Money Troubles. Neal then relays his own SXSW experiences, which involved, in its entirety, falling down on the sidewalk in broad daylight when he wasn't even drunk.Next up, BFG Editor-In-Chief and resident science-fiction expert Dan Friedman stops by the Pod Dome to talk with Neal about the hit film Project Hail Mary, which he reviewed for the site. Dan wasn't as charmed by either book or film versions of Project Hail Mary as the public in large, finding the science a bit soggy and the buddy comedy less than totally amusing. Neal liked the film more than Dan, though he continues, deep into his dotage, to hate flashback-style narratives and believes that astronauts should never cry in space. Finally, contributor Robert Dean stops by to make a meal of Guy Fieri's Tournament of Champions. Both he and Neal watch this food-competition show, but there's something kind of unseemly about watching these formerly Top Chef contenders turn into dancing circus performers for our, and Fieri's amusement. And there's something extremely unseemly about the dire financial circumstances in which they find themselves. Neal also discusses other cooking competitions like Top Chef itself as well as CBS's new America's Culinary Cup, which seem like quality programming, but to what end? They don't feed us, but they do feed the hungry Guy Fieri entertainment machine. Enjoy our show!
Transcribe →