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

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 picture more than Neal did, admiring the over-the-top passion that Cooper brings to his larger-than-life subject. Neal found the movie pretentious and Oscar-baitey. But they both liked the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Snoopy balloon cameo.

Steven Macaulay, no relation, pops in next to school Neal on a little automotive history. Neal liked 'Ferrari,' he found the racing scenes exciting and admired Penelope Cruz's performance as Enzo Ferrari's wife, Laura. And, as it turns out, the history that the movie depicts is pretty accurate. A stylish Michael Mann outing, a must for any car buff, a maybe not for any car non-buff.

Stephen Garrett returns to the ring to discuss 'The Iron Claw', Sean Durkin's wrestling tragedy about the battling Von Erich family of Denton, Texas, one of the most headline-grabbing wrestling acts of the 1980s. Stephen found the whole wrestling milieu a little ridiculous, but Neal admired the passion that Durkin brought the subject, and also the "secret weapon" of Jeremy Allen White, in his first major motion picture role. "It could have been directed by Richard Linklater," Neal says, delivering a high compliment almost as powerful as the Iron Claw itself.

Plenty of pictures to watch and to discuss. Enjoy the show!