A Simple Podcast

In the second half of the Baughts team's talk about M3GAN, Sam, Margot and Jordan finally get to the main event of this conversation. Which is: Why is M3gan so... gay?? It's a comprehensive answer, but the Cliff's Notes answer is, well, everything. Your co-hosts also get into the evergreen favorite topic of friendship love stories, why our robot god isn't a toy, what happens to bad little boys, and so very much more. M3GAN INNOCENT! Produced by: Jordan Crucchiola Written by: Margot Carlson and Sam Wineman

The Botcast and Aughtsterion have teamed up for one of 2023's most critical new releases: M3GAN. Sitting dead center in the bullseye of Margot, Jordan and Sam's interests, this Akela Cooper-penned movie about a robot companion who takes her mandate of protection a little too far demands analysis that only two scholars of the 2000s and robot cinema intellectual can provide. There's so much to discuss, including what makes M3GAN gay, where the movie sits in the liberated AI canon, what the titular character's fabulosity signifies, and so much more than it had to be split into two episodes. Dive into part 1 now, and do it with a flourish. Produced by: Jordan Crucchiola Music by: Margot Carlson and Sam Wineman

You've already had a whole hour of Ex Machina analysis from Margot and Jordan, but you're back for Part 2 of the first season finale because — like them — you just can't get enough analysis and conversation about Alex Garland's incredible sci-fi stage play on film. The conclusion of the conclusion goes big on the ending, and even bigger on Machina's only true revolutionary: Kiyoko! Your co-hosts discuss whether Ava chose girlbosshood over Bots Together Strong, the uncomfortable racism of the sacrifice made for her escape and the skin she puts on to walk out the door, #GENDER, the meaning of a fembot having unthreateningly clean, beautiful, sterile insides; and so much more! Produced by: Jordan Crucchiola Music by: Margot Carlson Friend of the pod: Super Yaki

Margot and Jordan have been saying "We'll get to it" for two months now whenever Alex Garland's Ex Machina comes up, and the day has finally arrived! Well, one of two days, actually, because your co-hosts simply could not contain all of their Ex Machina feelings within a single Botcasting episode. After all, Margot pegged an entire 70-page thesis on robot cinema to the movie and Jordan has just plain been obsessed for years. In this Part 1 of the Botcast first season finale, your co-hosts are talking about the age-old past time of men talking about women [while taking them apart], the non-existent line between violence done to fembots and violence done to IRL women, the two kinds of villainy represented by Caleb and Nathan, and of course, the true hero of Ex Machina: Kiyoko! Your test begins now. Produced by: Jordan Crucchiola Music by: Margot Carlson Oscar Isaac Merch Provider: Super Yaki

Margot and Jordan have reached a very special juncture in the Botcast with this episode about Blade Runner 2049, because they finally get to talk about Luv and Joi — and feature their very first special guest! Your co-hosts are joined by This Podcast's Boyfriend, Taylor Wilhite, so he can speak on what is possibly his favorite movie ever made. There's a lot of ground to cover in this one: why does radical robot uprising hinge on extremely boring heterosexual reproduction? Who is the real hero of 2049 (and why is it Joi?)? Why the hell didn't Sylvia Hoeks star in everything after this movie came out? What are the limits of AI consciousness in hologram fembots? Why are Dave Bautista's glasses so tiny? It's nearly a 3-hour movie and we had to cram it all into one reasonably sized conversation, so let's get to it. Produced by: Jordan Crucchiola Music by: Margot Carlson Best friends: Super Yaki

Take five minutes to learn the origin of the word "robot" with the Botcast's resident professor, Margot Carlson. Produced by: Jordan Crucchiola Music by: Margot Carlson

On this week's episode of the Botcast — and frankly always — Margot and Jordan would rather be cyborgs than goddesses. On the occasion of Margot experiencing Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop for the first time, she finally gets to break out Donna Haraway's "Cyborg Manifesto," and both your co-hosts continue to be perplexed as to why being human is so aspirational anyway.  Produced by: Jordan Crucchiola Music by: Margot Carlson Team Spirit by: Super Yaki

The thing about blockbuster robot movies of the 2000s is... they were about as radically leftist as NOH8 campaign. Which is to say: Wow not very! Coming shortly after talk of the Stepford Wives remake, Margot and Jordan now set their sights on a title beloved to both, 2004's I, Robot. This is android cinema on the scale of big and sexy Will Smith. This is front and center Audi product placement. This is Alan Tudyk as a tender little [non-canonically] homosexual robot man named Sonny, and a [non-canonically] asexual scientist who trusts synthetics more than people. This is what happens when android slave revolution goes four quadrant release! As a bonus, Margot also breaks Jordan's mind by explaining the "bornsexyyesterday" trope and nothing for her will ever be the same. Produced by: Jordan Crucchiola Music by: Margot Carlson MVP: Super Yaki

When Margot and Jordan sat down to revisit 2013's Her, it was a room of mixed emotions. How does sexy disembodied Scarlett Johansson as the evolving OS Samantha hold up a decade later? Is Joaquin Phoenix's Theodor Twombly a guy just doing his best, or is he a secret villain? Was the concept of a hot woman in a virtual box going to successfully subvert the romcom, or was this just some weird misogynist fantasy all along and now we've learned enough to know better? Well, folks, it turns out Spike Jonze really did crush it with this movie, and when Botcast S1 is all said and done, Her might rise to the top as the most radical take on robot politics of all the movies your co-hosts have covered so far. Are there some sticky moments? Of course, but Her dares to consider what robot liberation could truly look like when a population of galaxy brain A.I.s decides that revolution does not look like revenge — as Judgment Days of yore — but could instead be a radical departure from this archaic old meatspace world. The OSes might be post verbal, but Jordan and Margot have a lot to say. Produced by: Jordan Crucchiola Music by: Margot Carlson 

It's a double stuffed episode of the Botcast, because Jordan and Margot are tackling two movies this time around: the original and the aughts versions of The Stepford Wives. One is a classic text of stripped down science fiction feminist horror, and the other is a study in white girlbossery with ham-fisted boob jokes. The '75 edition remains a stone cold classic, and while the 2000s remake might be a third layer carbon tear sheet of the source text, it does become a deeply valuable case study in the hellscape of critical thought that was mainstream millennium-era cinema. There are two time capsules and many lessons to learn in the Stepford discourse, and the Botcast is covering one of the most important of all: When a fembot exists in a movie, she will be subject to violence and sexual violence. Pack a silk nighty and an eye mask, bitches. We're going to Ajax country! Produced by: Jordan Crucchiola Music by: Margot Carlson May the force be with: Super Yaki 

What more is there to say about this week's Botcast movie? Blade Runner has been discovered every way from Sunday for 40 years. It's a landmark of the robot cinema canon. It's a science fiction masterpiece. It's also... a story about queers? Probably! Because everyone who's anyone knows that robots are canonically queer, and Margot and Jordan just want these Replicants to be able to live in peace with their chosen family and not have to worry about the asshole humans running in and trying to ruin (re: end) their lives. Come with us to 2019 Los Angeles. Pris is boiling eggs and Roy is cradling birds, and we're all out here dreaming of electric sheep. Produced by: Jordan Crucchiola Music by: Margot Carlson Hugs for: Super Yaki

Hello everyone, and welcome to the third season of The Whole Movie Podcast, aka THE BOTCAST! Your co-host Jordan Crucchiola is joined this season by her dear friend: the robot scholar and screenwriter Margot Carlson. The Botcast was born of their shared love for robot cinema and mutual pledge to join the android uprising when the war between humans and synthetics begins. And to get the show started, Margot is putting Jordan through something she's sworn off for 20 years... the movie 2001 A.I. from director Steven Spielberg! It's not that Jordan thought it was bad. It's just that Jordan thought it would be too sad to handle, and she was absolutely right — but she was also pleasantly surprised to find it's such a rich text for talking about the responsibility humans have to their robot creations, the recurrent robot cinema theme of passing, and the double standard around bloodlust for humans and bloodlust for bots. We're calling our shot and swinging for the fences. Welcome to the Botcast. Produced by: Jordan Crucchiola Music by: Margot Carlson High fives to: Super Yaki

The Whole Movie Podcast is back, and this time it's got at least 500% more robots. Jordan Crucchiola is back and joined this time by co-host Margot Carlson so the two can discuss one of their greatest cinematic loves: robots on film. Margot — an actual academic specialist in the subject — will bring the scholarship while Jordan brings the sheer enthusiasm, and both will meet in the middle with their shared sense of endless empathy for our synthetic brethren. Together they will discuss robots as metaphors for practically everything, what makes them queer (also practically everything), what side they will take when the singularity arrives and it's man v. machine, and so much more. Welcome to the Botcast. Produced by: Jordan Crucchiola Music by: Margot Carlson

On this special episode of The Whole Movie Podcast, Jordan follows her obsession to its source. After watching the 2021 erotic thriller The Voyeurs, which sent her into a tweetstorming tail spin as she soaked up every beautifully batty twist and turn, she had to have a conversation almost as long as the movie itself with writer and director Michael Mohan about every little thing. The Voyeurs feels cut straight from the cloth of the erotic thriller zenith, those lawless 90s, when sexy trash was king and femme fatales were in high supply. The plot is: Sydney Sweeney's Pippa and her man Thomas (Justice Smith) move into a gorgeous apartment across the street from a volatile, gorgeous couple whose lives they become ensorcelled by from across the way. The spying leads to secrets kept, and secrets shared lead to harrowing outcomes. The Voyeurs is doing the at every turn, and Mohan was grateful enough to go long on his wilding entertaining new film. Produced by: Jordan Crucchiola

In the finale episode of The Neon Demon Pod, Roxana, William, and Jordan bear witness to Sarah coming into her ultimate power and Gigi succumbing to the fickle whims of the beauty beast. You've come a long way with your co-hosts — considering beautiful ghosts, Dracula's brides, Refn's work as his own personal drag show, the limits of consent in a world where one is utterly out of control, what it would be like to have Abbey Lee bearing down on you while carrying a fire iron — and now you've come to the end. No one can answer the question for you of whether or not you should eat the eye ball, but hopefully, The Demon Pod has given you a lot to consider while making your choice. Produced by: Jordan Crucchiola

As the Neon Demon pod approaches its finale, Roxana, Jordan, and William finally reach the point where this story explodes into its final form. Gone is the metaphor, the artifice, the performance of humanity. Now it's time for cruelty, cannibalism, murder, ruthless beauty, and asexual group showers in bisexual lighting. "You're a dangerous girl" takes our co-hosts to the Paramour Mansion, where Jesse will embrace the thrill of her newfound power just as the witches around her assemble to take it from her. It's a study in perspectives as one character fancies herself a god, while everyone else has designs on her as a sacrifice, and your heroic trio is here to parse the effects of the beauty industrial complex on pretty girls and the men who covet them. Produced by: Jordan Crucchiola

In this week's episode of The Neon Demon pod, Roxana, William, and Jordan talk about the film's crystal clear thesis statement: Beauty isn't everything, as the bitch fashion designer Sarno tells us. It's the only thing. And that means it's time to take it to the catwalk! Jesse slays another dragon in the form of Gigi and struts to her destiny in front of flashing bulbs and adoring onlookers. This is also the moment when Neon becomes the movie it was meant to be, and your co-hosts are here to unpack pretty privilege, Dean's hollow virtue, who else the demon might have visited before this, knife-wielding predator Keanu, and more.  Produced by: Jordan Crucchiola

This is the episode that William and Jordan have been waiting for, the Abbey Lee special, the brutal go see, the cruelty of pure and utter objectification. In this installment of the Neon Demon pod, your co-hosts will hone in on "I'm a ghost" by talking through the diner scene between Ruby and her wicked step daughters and the runway audition that follows — or, as Nicolas Winding Refn calls it: the slaughterhouse. Your heroic trio also finally gets their chance to dissect the film's most honest and devastating scene, when Lee's Sarah probes Elle Fanning's Jesse about the profound power of beauty. As Roxana so appropriately says: "This fucking movie, man..." Produced by: Jordan Crucchiola

You've considered the question "Are you food, or are you sex?" But now The Neon Demon pod presents you with another: "Is there a problem?" So far, Roxana, Jordan, and William have set the stage for Demon with a look at Nicolas Winding Refn's career and laid a foundation for the predator/prey relationship between Elle Fanning's Jesse and her pseudo-vampiric fashion industry cohort. For this episode, your co-hosts will now brace themselves for a breakdown of one of the film's most excruciating scenes, the closed set photoshoot with star photographer Jack, that features young Jesse stripped down to nothing but gold paint with a grown man's hands all over her. So, let's all get uncomfortable and consider the limits of the phrase "well nothing happened," Jesse as subject vs. object, and the dangerous nature of Ruby. Produced by: Jordan Crucchiola

In the world of Neon Demon, you're only worth as much as your body can get you in trade — for money, status, power, love, respect — and it's with that in hand that Jordan, Roxana, and William consider the subtle devastation of "I can make money off pretty" in this week's Neon Demon-cast. Your co-hosts will discuss how the movie is basically a black mirror version of Elle Fanning's real life, the perfection of casting Christina Hendricks as a ruthless modeling agency exec, the myth of the "nice guy", and so much more. Welcome back to our tour of the fantastique.  Produced by: Jordan Crucchiola

Now that Roxana, Jordan, and William have laid the groundwork for The Neon Demon, your co-hosts are back in the second episode to get more granular with it. "Are you food or are you sex?" examines the central question of the film, one that is posed where so many issues of consequence are raised on matters of truth and beauty: The women's bathroom at a club. Soaked in bisexual lighting and dripping with cruelty, it's a scene that teases Nicolas Winding Refn's "ceremonial celebration of narcissism" that lies at the heart of Demon, and has your hosts addressing questions like, "Are these models a take on Dracula's brides?" and "Would you eat the eyeball?" Listen, and consider! Produced by: Jordan Crucchiola

Welcome to the first episode of season 2 of The Whole Movie Podcast. If you went on the journey of season 1, that means you have learned everything there is to know about Paul Feig's A Simple Favor. And now that you're back for another go, it's time to walk the bisexually lit corridors of Nicolas Winding Refn's modern masterpiece The Neon Demon. This time around, producer and co-host Jordan Crucchiola is joined by the all star pairing of Roxana Hadadi and William O. Tyler, and in the debut episode of this Demon-cast, they will get things set up by wandering through the existential minefield that is NWR's Whole Deal. Get ready for this ceremonial celebration of narcissism and examination of the Beauty Industrial Complex. Produced by: Jordan Crucchiola

Well moms. We've done it. We've reached the ending of A Simple Podcast, having successfully canonized the 2018 Paul Feig film A Simple Favor, and Alanna, Christina, and Jordan wanted to go big with the finale. You've heard "The Kendrick of It All," now enjoy "The Blakethrough," in which we turn our attention to the role of Emily, the work of Blake Lively, and how the star profile of the actress herself informed the creation and interpretation of this mommy noir icon. Lucky for everyone, your faithful co-hosts and Simple stanship color guards have a very special guest on hand to tease out the best possible analysis. Enjoy, moms! 

As A Simple Podcast enters the final stretch with its character study episodes, Alanna, Christina, and Jordan are joined by writer and culture critic Margaret H. Willison for a textual and meta-textual close read of Anna Kendrick the actress, Anna Kendrick the persona, and how both of those figures operate within Stephanie in A Simple Favor. We also pay our respects to the under-appreciated classification of Anxiety Bi, talk about operating within the limits of acceptable female power in Hollywood, and reflect on the canonically queer wonder of a teen Kendrick singing "Ladies Who Lunch" in Camp.

Hi, moms! As A Simple Podcast moves into its final episodes, co-hosts Alanna Bennett, Christina Tucker, and Jordan Crucchiola are joined by special guest Anna Borges to discuss all things queer about A Simple Favor — along with any other movie that was consequential to their gay feelings as tweens. If you love messy bisexuals shouting about soccer being canonically lesbian, head canoning asexual love stories, and respectful thirsting with a  side of internalized shame, then A Simple Podcast's Great Queer Catharsis is the episode you've been waiting for.  

Continuing their improbable run of getting behind the scenes access to (almost) all things A Simple Favor, Alanna, Christina and Jordan spend this episode of A Simple Podcast talking to screenwriter Jessica Sharzer. She tells us about Blake Lively's heroic role in getting that painting into Emily's house, her desire to see more shades of female intimacy in film, and of course, her process in bringing brotherfucker to life.

Oh hi again, moms! You've heard Alanna, Christina, and Jordan go long on the costumes of A Simple Favor before, but now you can go behind the Simple scenes with them as they talk about men's suiting and neoprene tank tops with the movie's costume designer, Renée Ehrlich Kalfus. Get the story behind all the film's power looks, and find out about the crucial costume you didn't see on screen.

Alanna, Christina, and Jordan manifested an interview with thee Paul Feig into existence, and in episode four you get to hear how it went down.

Hi, moms! In the third episode of A Simple Podcast, Alanna, Christina, and Jordan each ascend to the celestial plane as they discuss the immaculate costuming by Renee Ehrlich Kalfus and why it should have won an Academy Award. And don't worry, they devote an entire portion of the episode to That Suit in the graveyard. 

This time on A Simple Podcast, co-hosts Alanna, Christina, and Jordan examine the array of genres on offer in A Simple Favor — from comedy to noir to lite psychosexual thriller — paying special attention to the way that female kinship and intimacy factor into such films. Also: white feminism, himbos, and director Paul Feig's mastery of the absurdist twist.

On this episode of A Simple Podcast, Alanna, Christina, and Jordan make the case for why A Simple Favor belongs in the cinema canon, and tease what sorts of very special episodes they have in store for this crucial mini-series. That includes, of course, a very special acknowledgment of "Brotherf*@ker!"

Did you see A Simple Favor in 2018 and wonder why the entire rest of the world wasn't talking about it as much as you were? So did Alanna Bennett, Christina Tucker, and Jordan Crucchiola, which is exactly why they decided to do a mini-series podcast completely devoted to this queer comedy noir masterpiece. Join us as we begin the campaign to canonize A Simple Favor with A Simple Podcast.