Book and Film Globe Podcast artwork

Book and Film Globe Podcast

148 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 23 hours ago - ★★★★★ - 3 ratings

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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Episodes

BFG Podcast #145: 'Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,' 'Top Chef,' and 'Road House'

March 27, 2024 14:59 - 39 minutes - 36.3 MB

Spring is here and we have a fun and light spring menu this week on the podcast. Stephen Garrett hops into frame and tries to answer host Neal Pollack's question: Why do we need a Ghostbusters: The Next Generation? Stephen says that 'Frozen Empire' is far better and more fun than the previous maudlin Ghostbusters reboot, but there are too many busters, too much lore, too much reverence. Neal makes the point that the original Ghostbusters was irreverent and almost conservative in its middle f...

BFG Podcast #144: 'Love Lies Bleeding,' 'Drive Away Dolls,' and Antisemitism in the lit world

March 22, 2024 21:03 - 36 minutes - 33.1 MB

It's an excellent and thoughtful podcast this week. Host Neal Pollack welcomes Sharyn Vane and Michael Washburn to discuss their recent articles about questionable attitudes toward Israel and Jewish people in general in the literary world. Sharyn discusses the cancellation of actor Brett Gelman's recent book tour, tying it to how progressives don't want to approach the Israel-Hamas conflict with anything even close to nuance. Michael, who wrote about a South African writer returning a presti...

BFG Podcast #143: 'Spaceman,' 'The Tourist,' and an Oscar rant

March 13, 2024 19:53 - 29 minutes - 27.1 MB

We are finally clear of the Oscars, and host Neal Pollack leads off this week's podcast with an audio version of his rant we published early this week. The Oscars are for the special people, not for the regulars of life. And yet we keep falling into their trap, because we love to watch movies. We do not, however, love to watch 'Spaceman' starring Adam Sandler. Omar Gallaga reviewed Spaceman for us and just does not buy Adam Sandler as a sad Czech astronaut in an alternative 1980s. Dan Fried...

BFG Podcast #142: 'Dune 2' and 'Shogun'

March 07, 2024 15:48 - 29 minutes - 26.9 MB

One pop-culture phenomenon blots out the sun over Arrakis this week, and Stephen Garrett joins Neal Pollack on the podcast to talk about Denis Villennueve's 'Dune 2'. Not surprisingly, Stephen likes 'Dune 2' much more than Neal does, though Neal grudgingly admits that you're not going to get a better adaptation of Frank Herbert's 'Dune' novels than this. It is a monumental achievement of pop culture and is the best sci-fi epic of our time. That doesn't mean it's not pretentious and boring in...

BFG Podcast #141: We talk about J. Lo, Bob Marley, and Truman Capote

February 29, 2024 18:21 - 40 minutes - 37.1 MB

This week's show gets right into what's important in our culture. Host Neal Pollack welcomes Jennifer Lopez obsessive Adam Hirschfelder to the podcast, and he is all about 'This Is Me...Now,' J. Lo's music video and album that has recast J. Lo's image as someone who's both ironically and unironically finding herself. She has learned to love herself and Ben Affleck, and the video, airing on Amazon Prime, features her in therapy and also dancing on the set of Singin' In The Rain. Neal can't qu...

BFG Podcast #140: 'Madame Web,' 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith,' and the return of Jon Stewart

February 22, 2024 21:15 - 38 minutes - 35.4 MB

Our podcast has resumed production, though it also never ceased production, which is good because it continues to be an amazing show with an increasingly worldwide reach. This week we talk about 'Madame Web,' the most important bad-good movie of the year so far. Host Neal Pollack welcomes London Faust, an avowed Dakota Johnson fanatic, who did not find succor in the Dakota Johnson-heavy 'Madame Web.' London marvels at the movie's bad voice-dubbing and misuse of Zosia Mamet and Sydney Sweeney...

BFG Podcast #139: 'Griselda' and an Oscar preview

February 15, 2024 23:07 - 34 minutes - 31.8 MB

The Oscars are still a month away for some reason, but it's time for us to offer up our annual Oscar podcast preview episode. Stephen Garrett joins host Neal Pollack to admit that 'Oppenheimer' is going to run rampant over the major awards, though Neal offers up 'The Zone of Interest' as a value upset Best Picture picture and he and Stephen posit that maybe Sterling K. Brown's abs will defeat Robert Downey, Jr. for Best Supporting Actor. They also give love to Da'Vine Joy Randolph from 'The ...

BFG Podcast #138: 'True Detective: Night Country,' 'Argylle,' and the Alec Baldwin shooting case

February 07, 2024 22:47 - 29 minutes - 27.1 MB

Some weeks on the podcast, we discuss things that we love. Other weeks, we discuss things that we do not love, and this is one of those not-love weeks. First, Michael Washburn does not love the way SAG-AFTRA is trying to run cover for Alec Baldwin in the shooting case on the set of the movie 'Rust.' New Mexico brought new charges against Baldwin last week, and Michael breaks down the nature of the charges and the nature of how the Hollywood elite is trying to protect one of its own in one o...

BFG Podcast #137: The 'Barbie' snub, 'You Are What You Eat,' and a report from the Sundance Film Festival

January 29, 2024 21:02 - 39 minutes - 36.2 MB

On a packed episode of this week's podcast, host Neal Pollack welcomes Sara Stewart to discuss the "snub" of Barbie director Greta Gerwig by the Academy. Neal plays devil's advocate, or maybe just the devil, and points out that Barbie DID get eight nominations. Sara recognizes that but also makes the strong point that only eight woman have been nominated for Best Director in Oscar history, and maybe the director of one of the biggest box-office hits of all time deserves a nod. But they both ...

BFG Podcast #136: 'The Zone of Interest,' 'Echo,' and AI George Carlin

January 24, 2024 18:50 - 39 minutes - 35.9 MB

As the Internet explodes with Barbie Oscars debate (a subject we will cover in full soon), our podcast has other interests right now. Host Neal Pollack welcomes in Rebecca Kurson to discuss 'The Zone of Interest,' a chilling and masterful Holocaust picture from director Jonathan Glazer. Both Neal and Rebecca are just amazed at the cold, documentary-style filmmaking, of the matter-of-fact script and performances, and, most importantly, of the film's eerie soundscape. The best, most morally-un...

BFG Podcast #135: 'American Fiction,' the 'Mean Girls' musical and a regenerated 'Doctor Who'

January 18, 2024 13:30 - 38 minutes - 35.2 MB

On this week's vital BFG podcast, host Neal Pollack welcomes Stephen Garrett to be two white guys talking about a black-directed movie making fun of liberal white people reacting to a black-written book. We're talking, of course, about 'American Fiction,' and while Stephen loved the warm, neurotic upper-middle-class black family saga that the literary satire was hiding, Neal wanted more satire and less family saga, because the trailer promised satire. Neal also wonders if the satire is a lit...

BFG Podcast #134: Dave Chappelle, Ricky Gervais, 'Reacher' Season 2, and 'Letterkenny'

January 10, 2024 23:33 - 37 minutes - 34.2 MB

It's comedy and muscle this week on the BFG Podcast, why not? Host Neal Pollack leans heavily on the expertise of standup comedy expert Robert Dean to discuss the wildly popular new specials from Dave Chappelle and Ricky Gervais. Robert loves Chappelle but agrees with Neal that he's gotten so famous that he doesn't really need to work out new materials anymore, compared with, say, Joe Rogan, who spends years honing his set in small clubs, perfecting the joke structure. Gervais, Robert likens...

BFG Podcast #133: 'Maestro,' 'Ferrari', and 'The Iron Claw'

January 03, 2024 21:07 - 38 minutes - 35.3 MB

This week on the BFG Podcast, we have a classical-music picture, a car-racing picture, and a wrestling picture. It's not like the 1930s where the studios would crank out dozens of movies in each genre every year, but regardless, these movies fold right into traditional genres. They are pictures, and on the podcast, we present the big picture. First up, darling, Steven Garrett joins host Neal Pollack to discuss 'Maestro,' Bradley Cooper's love letter to Leonard Bernstein. Steven liked this p...

BFG Podcast #132: 'Poor Things' and our best and worst TV of 2023 roundtable

December 28, 2023 16:44 - 40 minutes - 37.1 MB

It's the last BFG podcast of the year, and we wrap it up with a year's-end roundtable with Omar Gallaga and Scott Gold, who offer their TV-watching perspective with host Neal Pollack, who watches TV 18 to 20 hours a day. Best shows include 'Reservation Dogs,' 'Succession,' 'Scavenger's Reign,' and a sitcom called 'Primo' which Neal has never heard of but which you should watch. Worst shows include Season 3 of 'The Witcher,' 'Squid Game: The Challenge,' and Omar's controversial selection of t...

BFG Podcast #131: 'Wonka,' 'Godzilla Minus One,' and 'The Boy and the Heron'

December 18, 2023 20:40 - 37 minutes - 34.1 MB

It's a magical, fantastical, confection-filled week on the BFG podcast. Host Neal Pollack welcomes in always-guest Stephen Garrett to talk about 'Wonka,' starring Timothée Chalamet as a truly child-friendly young Willy Wonka, who the movie re-invents as a gee-whiz paragon of goodness and light. Stephen liked the movie more on the show than he did in his review. Neal found it cloying and cynically calculated. They were deeply split on Hugh Grant's Oompa-Loompa, who Neal enjoyed but Stephen fo...

BFG Podcast #130: 'Dream Scenario,' Julia Child, and Hallmark Christmas Movies

December 11, 2023 23:07 - 34 minutes - 31.8 MB

Happy holiday podcast from all of us at BFG! This week is the podcast of your dreams. First up, contributor Robert Dean joins host Neal Pollack to talk about the Max biopic series 'Julia,' all about the early years of Julia Child, TV chef. It's a delight in troubled times, and Robert assures us that Julia's boeuf bourguignon recipe still holds up. Consume voraciously! Stephen Garrett steps out of Neal's dreams to talk to him about 'Dream Scenario,' which Stephen found "delightful." Neal won...

BFG Podcast #129: 'Saltburn' and 'May December'

December 05, 2023 18:24 - 32 minutes - 29.6 MB

Two provocative new movies get the BFG podcast treatment this week. Host Neal Pollack begins the show with a wicked audio rendition of his piece excoriating stupid pundits who say that Hollywood has a new "Blacklist" because some people are expressing dumb opinions about the Israel-Hamas conflict. Spoiler alert: there is no Blacklist, not even a show starring James Spader Let's lay that discussion to rest. JP Guinn appears on leave from his semester at Oxford to discuss 'Saltburn' with Neal...

BFG Podcast #128: 'Napoleon,' 'The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,' and 'Julia'

November 30, 2023 20:03 - 39 minutes - 36.2 MB

This week's BFG podcast is a feast for the brain. Michael Washburn engages host Neal Pollack in a discussion of Sandra Newman's provocative and "very raunchy" novel 'Julia', a brilliant and extended riff of the world of Oceania in George Orwell's '1984.' Neal somewhat wondered what Newman was getting at, but Michael found her extension of the world extremely compelling and disturbing, a fresh warning about the dangers of totalitarianism. BFG book club recommends it! 'Napoleon' has finally a...

BFG Podcast #127: 'The Marvels,' 'The Holdovers,' Nate Bargatze, and Taylor Tomlinson

November 15, 2023 17:04 - 39 minutes - 36 MB

The culture goes up, and the culture goes down, and the BFG Podcast covers it all. On the downward slope this week is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has suffered its first genuine bust with 'The Marvels.' The world is not entirely sure how to handle this phenomenon but host Neal Pollack and guest Scott Gold tackle it. They both agree that Iman Vellani is quite delightful as Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel, but the rest of the cast seems to be phoning it in. The cringe-inducing musical sequence ...

BFG Podcast #126: Neal and Stephen At The Movies: 'Priscilla,' 'The Killer,' 'Anatomy of a Fall,' and 'Fair Play'

November 08, 2023 13:52 - 31 minutes - 28.9 MB

On this week's special episode of the BFG Podcast, host Neal Pollack indulges his nerdy childhood fantasy of hosting a Siskel and Ebert-like movie review show. Frequent contributor Stephen Garrett joins Neal to review four new, or relatively new, movies. The only thing that's missing from the equation is disagreement and mutually despising each other, but that will come in time! First up, Neal and Stephen review 'Priscilla,' the excellent new film from director Sofia Coppola about the young...

BFG Podcast #125: 'Five Nights At Freddy's,' 'Slayers,' and the cowardice of writers and entertainers who refuse to condemn Hamas

October 31, 2023 14:14 - 34 minutes - 31.6 MB

We get political this week on the BFG Podcast. Guest Rebecca Kurson joins host Neal Pollack in condemning Hamas, sure, but also offering a lot of disdain for Western intellectuals and actors who refuse to condemn Hamas. Neal is especially angry at a coalition of writers, his former peers perhaps, like Jonathan Lethem, Michael Chabon, and Ben Lerner, who published an open letter in the Guardian calling for a ceasefire. Lame, and morally weak.Rebecca is quite angry at Tilda Swinton, who is wide...

BFG Podcast #124: 'Killers of the Flower Moon,' 'The Fall of the House of Usher,' and Scholastic Book Fair diversity boxes

October 25, 2023 14:06 - 40 minutes - 37.2 MB

This week's BFG podcast starts serious, stays serious, and gets a little less serious by the end, but we cover the cultural waterfront like no one else.Sharyn Vane opens the proceedings by talking about her recent article on Scholastic Publishing's recent decision to segregate various "diverse" titles at book fairs to try and work around conservative state government attempts to restrict access to children's literature. We've covered these attempts in the past, and think they're wrong, but Sc...

BFG Podcast #123: Taylor Swift, the Talking Heads, 'The Morning Show,' and Season 2 of 'Loki'

October 18, 2023 13:35 - 41 minutes - 37.8 MB

This week's BFG Podcast is a nutrient-rich stew of content, sure to appeal to young and old alike.Nothing could be more relevant than the opinions of two middle-aged men regarding Taylor Swift. Stephen Garrett actually saw the Taylor Swift "Eras" concert movie, and while he admires the music and the songwriting, found the stagecraft to be a little managed and almost cold, while acknowledging that this is a generation-defining event. BFG editor Neal Pollack is far too cheap to pay the $19.89 t...

BFG Podcast #122: Wes Anderson and Roald Dahl, 'Reservation Dogs,' and 'Gen V'

October 12, 2023 18:21 - 27 minutes - 25.3 MB

Host Neal Pollack is all-in on streaming TV this week. He welcomes Michael Washburn to the BFG Podcast to discuss four new short films by Wes Anderson that adapt classic, if lesser-known, Roald Dahl short stories. Michael is less sold on Anderson's cinematic style, but he admits that these short Netflix films really do justice to Dahl's work. Both he and Neal are happy that this 20th Century humorist is getting such broad play, beyond Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The Roald Dahl cinemati...

BFG Podcast #121: 'The Creator,' Fantastic Fest, and the end of the WGA Strike

October 05, 2023 11:20 - 41 minutes - 37.9 MB

Much to celebrate this week, even as we say goodbye to our beloved friend and contributor Daniel Cohen. The WGA Strike is over! Rob Kutner, BFG strike captain, stops by the virtual studios to talk to host Neal Pollack about the deal the Guild secured. The studios were "fighting the last war," as Rob put it, and the WGA got just about every concession for which it asked. Neal is most impressed about the strong stand the Guild took against AI in scriptwriting, forestalling the rise of the writi...

BFG Podcast #120: 'One Piece,' the cancellation of 'Winning Time,' and censorship in Canada

September 27, 2023 11:25 - 41 minutes - 38.2 MB

In this week's episode of the BFG podcast, Jamie Mason joins host Neal Pollack for a segment on Canadian politics. Yes, that's right, Canadian politics! In particular, the actions of one school district in Ontario to clear library shelves of any book published prior to 2008 to meet amorphous "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" standards. Jamie is a closer watcher of the leftward authoritarian creep in the Canadian government. He says this isn't just some sort of random occurrence from a provin...

BFG Podcast #119: The politics of bringing a show back during a Hollywood strike, a report from the Toronto International Film Festival, and a summer of drama around 'Yellowstone'--plus a review of 'Special Ops: Lioness'

September 19, 2023 12:29 - 40 minutes - 37.5 MB

Since Jake Harris and host Neal Pollack recorded their segment of this week's BFG Podcast, both Drew Barrymore and Bill Maher have made the decision not to resume production of their respective talk shows without writers. Barrymore got a ton of public pressure to rescind her decision, and Maher says that since the WGA and the AMPTP are going back to the table, he's willing to wait a few more weeks. God willing, the strikes will end soon and the sluice pipe of content will open up again. Mean...

BFG Podcast #118: 'The Wheel of Time' Season 2, 'Oldboy' restoration, and a visit to the Venice Film Festival

September 12, 2023 16:37 - 38 minutes - 35.2 MB

This week's BFG podcast has a strong international flavor. For some chichetti, how about a visit to the Venice Film Festival? Kaveh Jalinous made his annual pilgrimage to the Lido and is here to talk to Neal Pollack about what he saw. In particular, he saw 'Poor Things' from Yorgos Lanthimos, which he describes as the pinnacle of Emma Stone's career. That's saying a lot. On the negative side of the ledger, Kaveh warns us away from the new Harmony Korine and Roman Polanski films. We're listeni...

BFG Podcast #117: 'Telemarketers,' 'And Just Like That,' and football documentaries

September 04, 2023 21:24 - 40 minutes - 37.4 MB

In this week's excellent edition of the BFG Podcast, host Neal Pollack calls up Daniel Cohen to talk to him about 'Telemarketers,' the three-part Max docuseries about phone scams that Neal calls "one of the best shows of the year." If you want a time-capsule depiction of what America was really like in the early 21st century, you could do a lot worse than this show by and about loser New Jersey telemarketing drones. Yet those drones, Sam Lipman-Stern and the great Patrick J. Pespas, manage to...

BFG Podcast #116: 'Ashoka,' 'Bottoms,' and 'Gran Turismo'

August 29, 2023 17:23 - 40 minutes - 37.2 MB

This week's BFG podcast is a load of fun! Host Neal Pollack invites Scott Gold in to talk about 'Ashoka,' yet another Star Wars offering from Disney+. Scott is about as much of a Star Wars nerd as we could possibly have on retainer, so he has consumed all 104 hours of The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels, animated series that will give you the advanced degree required to understand everything that's going on in 'Ashoka.' Neal thinks the show is good enough to watch, but is definitely kind of ...

BFG Podcast #115: 'Blue Beetle,' 'Strays,' and MovieTok

August 21, 2023 22:55 - 37 minutes - 34.1 MB

The dog days of August content are here, and we're featuring a movie about talking dogs, among other topics. Host Neal Pollack brings all the podcast fun as usual. Here's what we offer:• Pablo Gallaga stops by our professional podcasting studios to discuss 'Blue Beetle.' As a certified Latino, Pablo appreciates the DC superhero film's Mexican-culture deep cuts, including Maria del Barrio, El Chapulin Colorado, and George Lopez's crazy tio energy. Both he and Neal agree that the Blue Beetle is...

BFG Podcast #114: Taking photos in movies, censorship back in session, and 'Twisted Metal'

August 15, 2023 03:07 - 38 minutes - 35.1 MB

In this dog days edition of the BFG podcast, host Neal Pollack welcomes new contributor Chris Lambert to discuss the most important issue of our time: People taking photos of movies while they are in movies. This should be a crime, though Chris remembers a time when movies used to be "more chill." He recalls going to see 'Saw' with his friends in a year when Neal was already a full-blown adult. Regardless of the reason, both Neal and Chris think this trend needs to stop, and they hope that on...

BFG Podcast #113: 'Mutant Mayhem,' 'Justified', and the 'British Miracle Meat'

August 07, 2023 17:56 - 32 minutes - 30.1 MB

With Barbenheimer receding, our podcast host Neal Pollack turns his pop-culture eye to what comes next. And this week, that's 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,' the animated offering that critic Pablo Gallaga calls the best on-screen version of TMNT ever. Neal knows little about the Ninja Turtles, as he wasn't a kid even when they debuted, but Pablo is the adult target audience for this movie, having annoyed his family for years with his Ninja Turtle obsession. Real teenagers voic...

BFG Podcast #112

July 31, 2023 15:37 - 36 minutes - 33.3 MB

Rebecca Kurson, who was host Neal Pollack's literary agent nearly 25 years ago, joins the show to discuss "bloodletting" in the publishing industry, as Penguin Random House has cut loose editors with decades of experience. Rebecca and Neal lament what this means for publishing. It's getting harder and harder for editors to champion literary writers who may not have a ton of commercial potential, but are meaningful to readers. Yes, publishing is a business, but the mildest is vanishing. More t...

BFG Podcast #111: 'Barbenheimer' and actors on strike

July 24, 2023 15:39 - 46 minutes - 42.8 MB

Barbenheimer has arrived at last, a cultural moment more significant than anything we've experienced this decade, and BFG is ON IT.Neal Pollack welcomes Josh Flanders and Sheri Flanders to talk about Greta Gerwig's Barbie. Both Neal and Josh, while they enjoyed the movie, felt a bit like strangers in a strange land among the pink-wearing influencer audience in Barbie World. Sheri, on the other hand, is happy to finally see a very mainstream movie acknowledge the difficulties and contradiction...

BFG Podcast #110: 'Mission: Impossible–Dead Reckoning, Part One,' 'The Witcher,' and Milan Kundera

July 18, 2023 17:44 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MB

This week's podcast is alive and well! Host Neal Pollack welcomes Michael Washburn to talk about everyone's favorite 90s dorm-room novelist, Milan Kundera. But Kundera was about far more than a 30-year-old undergraduate vogue, Washburn argues. He was a perennial Nobel Prize candidate whose best works laughed in the face of totalitarian oppression and showed a deep warmth and humanity. He understood the human condition as well as any writer has, and was a legitimate heir to Franz Kafka, but wi...

BFG Podcast #109: 'Dial of Destiny,' 'The Bear' Season 2, and trouble at TCM

July 07, 2023 16:20 - 46 minutes - 42.9 MB

On the newest BFG podcast, we turn back time to talk about 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,' in theaters now and for at least the next three weeks. Neal Pollack found grumpy old Harrison Ford charming. Stephen Garrett thought the movie was a bit of a wet noodle, and hated the fake-looking first half hour. Your mileage may vary on whether or not you like the wispy mustache on the bland new character of "Teddy." Neal did not, Stephen didn't mind him much.There's also a lengthy discussion...

BFG Podcast #108: 'Asteroid City,' 'Black Mirror,' and 'Secret Invasion'

June 26, 2023 18:08 - 43 minutes - 39.5 MB

In this week's space-tinged episode of the BFG podcast, Neal Pollack welcomes JP Guinn to discuss 'Asteroid City,' the delightful new Wes Anderson film that pays homage to the 1950s in many different ways. Neal liked the goofy songs, JP loved the off-kilter humor, they both enjoyed the stop-motion animation. According to our critics, who are not all critics but are the best critics, this was a delightful addition to the Wes Anderson canon, and they discuss the film delightfully.The new season...

BFG Podcast #107: 'The Flash,' 'Elemental,' 'Outlander,' and Cormac McCarthy

June 19, 2023 19:57 - 43 minutes - 39.6 MB

Hot podcast comin' atcha this week! Host Neal Pollack welcomes contributor Chris Farnsworth to discuss the life and literary legacy of Cormac McCarthy. As he said in his excellent obituary for the site, Chris admires how McCarthy wrote what he wanted, how he wanted, and when he wanted, without compromising anything for commercial considerations. His works were stark and horrifying and both Neal and Chris agree that it's amusing that they're now all over the bestseller list. There will be some...

BFG Podcast #106: 'Rise of the Beasts,' 'The Idol,' and censoring 'The French Connection'

June 12, 2023 20:43 - 35 minutes - 32.9 MB

BFG delivers another great podcast episode this week. Host Neal Pollack welcomes guest Michael Washburn to discuss the curious recent decision by The Criterion Channel to edit out a sequence featuring a racial slur from the 1971 Oscar-winning film, 'The French Connection.' Neal ties this decision into recent efforts to bowdlerize popular classic works of British fiction. And Michael points out that the film deploys that language to show that the main character, Popeye Doyle, is flawed, to say...

BFG Podcast #105: 'Across the Spider-Verse,' 'The Little Mermaid', and 'I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson

June 06, 2023 14:01 - 42 minutes - 38.8 MB

It's a blockbuster podcast this week as host Neal Pollack returns from the well-managed wilds of America to once again parse the culture with our ace critics. Stephen Garrett is back from Cannes to review 'Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse,' the sequel to an Oscar-winning animated film from five years ago. Stephen marvels, literally, at the exciting animation, the fun action set pieces, and the genuine heartfelt emotion of the script. Neal finds a lot to admire in the movie but thinks it's...

BFG Podcast #104: Fast X, Jeopardy Masters, Silo

May 23, 2023 15:08 - 44 minutes - 40.3 MB

Book and Film Globe Editor in Chief Neal Pollack is taking a well-deserved Memorial Day jaunt across America. Pinch-hitting as host this week — and doing a swell job — is frequent BFG contributor Scott Gold, who's written for the site about The Mandalorian, Moon Knight and tons of other Disney and Star Wars and adjacent properties.This week, Scott talks to Jonpaul Guinn about Fast X, whose Dominic Toretto character has provided Vin Diesel and crew with a lifetime of speedy chasecraft. "Dom st...

BFG Podcast #103: The WGA Strike, Little Richard, and 'Guardians of the Galaxy 3'

May 11, 2023 23:14 - 52 minutes - 47.8 MB

Our podcast has arrived this week! We show the breadth of our range, we go heavy, we go light. To start, Rob Kutner comes by to discuss the WGA Strike with host Neal Pollack. Both Rob and Neal are "inactive" WGA members, but Rob is out on the pickets with a Guild almost entirely united in solidarity. The producers and the big corporations are really putting the screws to writers these days. Neal and Rob talk about the inadequacy of the compensation, the inequity within the Guild itself, and ...

BFG Podcast #102: 'Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret,' 'Peter Pan and Wendy,' and 'Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies'

May 02, 2023 01:42 - 46 minutes - 42.4 MB

It's your favorite hour of the week, the listening of the BFG podcast! This week, Neal Pollack welcomes Ayun Halliday to the BFG podcast dome to discuss the box-office non-success 'Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret,' an adaptation of a 50-plus-year-old Judy Blume novel about a young suburban girl's coming of age. Neal found the movie sweet and sentimental, but Ayun, who was really looking forward to this product, didn't appreciate the film's wan attempts at modern social relevance. It's so...

BFG Podcast #101: 'Beau Is Afraid,' Woody Allen Shut Out of Cannes, and Defunding Libraries

May 02, 2023 01:37 - 47 minutes - 43.3 MB

An interesting mix of topics and points of view highlights this week's episode of the BFG podcast. Host Neal Pollack welcomes Sharyn Vane to talk about the somewhat sinister trend of conservative legislators and legislatures trying to defund libraries. Sharyn says this is an extension of the movement to keep kids away from sexualized literature, particularly literature about transgendered culture and politics. But public libraries are a non-ideological good that provide multiple public servic...

The 100th Episode of the BFG Podcast! Neal Pollack and friends discuss 'Renfield,' 'How to Blow Up A Pipeline,' and 'Beef'

April 17, 2023 20:14 - 47 minutes - 43.3 MB

In this tremendous milestone for BFG, for BFG editor-in-chief Neal Pollack, for Sea of Reeds Media, and for the history of the world in general, this week we celebrate the 100th episode of our podcast! And by "celebrate," we mean, "do what we've always done on the show at a high level, and with a funky new theme song."Neal summons frequent guest Stephen Garrett to discuss the vampire action-comedy 'Renfield.' No one has a bad word to say about Nic Cage as Dracula. Who could? But Neal in parti...

BFG Podcast #099: 'Air,' and Clifton Duncan on Endless Hollywood and Broadway COVID Restrictions

April 11, 2023 01:32 - 48 minutes - 44.4 MB

On this week's BFG Podcast, host Neal Pollack welcomes special guest Clifton Duncan.Before the pandemic era hit, Clifton's career on Broadway and in television was beginning to take off. But after the culture he loved shut down, he moved to Atlanta to find work. There he saw a society that was functioning with relative normalcy, unlike the dystopian New York City that he'd left. He began to question lockdowns, masks, and other COVID policies. And when he refused to take the COVID vaccine beca...

BFG Podcast #098: 'Dungeons and Dragons,' 'Succession,' and Censoring Agatha Christie

April 03, 2023 17:57 - 42 minutes - 38.5 MB

A great episode of the BFG podcast this week, as host Neal Pollack welcomes Jamie Mason to the pod-dome to talk about the plague of sensitivity readers that is smothering big publishing, particularly in the U.K. Despite no "hue and cry," as Jamie puts it, the readers are changing classic Agatha Christie novels to bring them up-to-date with modern sensibilities. Jamie posts that there's no real need for this, that it's "make-work" for disaffected liberal arts graduates. But it's happening, and...

BFG Podcast #097: 'John Wick Chapter 4,' 'Swarm,' and 'Party Down'

March 28, 2023 22:52 - 38 minutes - 34.9 MB

In this week's essential episode of the BFG podcast, Neal Pollack welcomes not one, but two Gallaga brothers into the pod dome to talk about the culture. First up, Pablo Gallaga, who reviewed 'John Wick: Chapter 4' for us. Pablo felt like the movie took a little long to get going. But once it gets going, it contains some legendary set pieces that will remain iconic as long as the projectors roll in theaters. "If you like action movies, you're not going to do better this year than John Wick 4,...

BFG Podcast #096: 'The Mandalorian Season 3', 'Shazam! Fury of the Gods,' and 'Top Chef World All-Stars'

March 21, 2023 18:31 - 48 minutes - 44.3 MB

In this week's excellent show, Neal Pollack welcomes Scott Gold to explain what's going on in The Mandalorian to him. Apparently Din Djarin has to bathe in the living waters and is the Moses of the Black Sword and has a Naboo Spaceship number one or some such thing. Regardless, Neal goes into the segment getting ready to make fun of the show and by the end Scott has convinced him again that Star Wars is cool. How much longer can this go on?Next, we travel to Shanghai, China, by way of Samuel ...

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