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

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 in the middle does the movie no favors, though the end scene and the mid-credits sequence do point toward a better, more crowd-friendly MCU. This movie is probably more of a placeholder than a death knell.

Neither Neal nor Stephen Garrett can get over a revelation that the main character in Alexander Payne's 'The Holdovers' "smells like fish." It's the most disgusting character detail in a movie in a long time. Both critics like the perforamances of Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Dominic Sessa, but they found Paul Giamatti very grating, and the "realistic" 1970 setting of the movie too cute by half. A dissent from our two BFG professional critics!

On the other hand, both Neal and Omar Gallaga love Nate Bargatze and Taylor Tomlinson, who in recent weeks have risen to the top of the comedy world. Skirting the verge of "family-friendly," both these comics are white and are from Red-tinged political zones, but both deliver a brand of humor that people across the political spectrum can enjoy. Maybe this is the actual way forward for popular entertainment. We could do much worse and we couldn't do much better.

Enjoy the show!