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Would you be surprised to learn that the man Putin has tapped to negotiate a Ukraine peace agreement with Trump is a rich, Ivy League smoothie who spent time on Wall Street? Andrew Ryvkin tells us about the man who has Trump's ear. Then Alessandra Stanley explains why the Anti-Defamation League should be standing up to the president, rather than coddling him. And continuing on the theme of organized criminal behavior, Michael Sragow joins with his review of the new Robert De Niro gangster movie, The Alto Knights.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
This week, Kat Rosenfield explains how we are in the throes of a new sexual revolution. Yet where baby-boomers were obsessed with the practice of sex, Zoomers are more interested in the principle of it. Then the subject turns to Civil War, one of the most anticipated movies of the spring, from writer-director Alex Garland. It imagines what a second American civil war might look like. Michael Sragow has seen it and tells us about it. And finally, speaking of movies, Woody Allen has a new film out. His 50th, in fact. Sam Wasson, our man in Los Angeles, met with Allen about the movie, his career, and more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
This week, we look at Francis Ford Coppola's other, other, other masterpiece, The Conversation—which was so good that he competed against himself (with his better-known film, The Godfather: Part II) for the Oscar for best picture in 1974. How The Conversation came to be completed (Coppola walked off the set), and how it predicted our modern surveillance culture, is a riveting story, as related by writer Michael Sragow. Plus, there's a discussion of the drama surrounding one of London's hottest restaurants, and much more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
This week, we look at Francis Ford Coppola's other, other, other masterpiece, The Conversation—which was so good that he competed against himself (with his better-known film, The Godfather: Part II) for the Oscar for best picture in 1974. How The Conversation came to be completed (Coppola walked off the set), and how it predicted our modern surveillance culture, is a riveting story, as related by writer Michael Sragow. Plus, there's a discussion of the drama surrounding one of London's hottest restaurants, and much more. View on Air Mail →
Filmmaker Rob Garver discusses his documentary WHAT SHE SAID: THE ART OF PAULINE KAEL with film critic Michael Sragow. Recorded at Landmark's NuArt Theatre on 12/15/19. The New Yorker's film critic Pauline Kael (1919-2001), often considered the most influential of all time, battled to make her mark—fueled by brilliance, unshakable self-confidence, a complicated past, and a deep love of the arts. In a field that embraced few female critics, Kael was charismatic, controversial, witty and discerning. Her turbo-charged prose famously championed the New Hollywood Cinema of the late 1960s and ‘70s (Bonnie and Clyde, Nashville, Carrie, Taxi Driver) and the work of major European directors (François Truffaut, Bernardo Bertolucci), while mercilessly panning some of the biggest studio hits (The Sound of Music, Midnight Cowboy, Dirty Harry). Featuring a delightful banquet of well-chosen film clips, with over 35 new interviews and never-before seen archival material, What She Said is an incisive portrait of a pioneer who was both admired and resented for what she said about art in an era of great moviemaking. Sarah Jessica Parker reads from Kael's reviews; filmmakers Quentin Tarantino, David O. Russell, Paul Schrader and Francis Ford Coppola and critics Camille Paglia, Molly Haskell, Greil Marcus and David Edelstein speak to her enormous gifts and influence.
In the 1940s, Frances Glessner Lee brought new rigor to crime scene analysis with a curiously quaint tool: She designed 20 miniature scenes of puzzling deaths and challenged her students to investigate them analytically. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death and their importance to modern investigations. We'll also appreciate an overlooked sled dog and puzzle over a shrunken state. Intro: In a lecture at Cornell, Vladimir Nabokov considered Gregor Samsa's new species. Siren Elise Wilhelmsen taught a clock to knit a scarf. Flickr and the Smithsonian American Art Museum have image galleries of Frances Glessner Lee's nutshell studies. Sources for our story: Corinne May Botz, The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, 2004. Frances Glessner Lee, "Legal Medicine at Harvard University," Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science 42:5 (January-February 1952), 674-678. M. Uebel, "Corpus Delicti: Frances Glessner Lee and the Art of Suspicion," Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences 27:2 (2018), 124-126. Jacquelyn A.D. Jones, "The Value and Potential of Forensic Models," Forensics Journal 8 (2017), 58-65. Katherine Ramsland, "The Truth in a Nutshell," Forensic Examiner 17:2 (2008), 1620. "Murder Is Her Hobby: Frances Glessner Lee and the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death," Forensic Magazine, Sept. 8, 2017. Jimmy Stamp, "How a Chicago Heiress Trained Homicide Detectives With an Unusual Tool: Dollhouses," Smithsonian.com, March 6, 2014. Sarah Zhang, "How a Gilded-Age Heiress Became the 'Mother of Forensic Science,'" Atlantic, Oct. 14, 2017. Nicole Cooley, "Death and Feminism in a Nutshell," Paris Review, Feb. 5, 2018. Nigel Richardson, "Murder She Built," Telegraph Magazine, Jan. 31, 2015, 36. Catherine Nixey, "Who Shot Barbie?", Times, Nov. 10, 2014, 9. Jessica Snyder Sachs, "Welcome to the Dollhouses of Death," Popular Science 262:5 (May 2003), 38. William L. Hamilton, "Heiress Plotted 19 Grisly Crimes. Investigation Underway," New York Times, Jan. 10, 2018. Ariella Budick, "Bring Up the Bodies: Dioramas," Financial Times, Dec. 30, 2017, 14. "The Art of Murder: Miniature Dioramas of Unexplained Deaths – In Pictures," Guardian, Oct. 27, 2017. Maura Judkis, "Homicide Sweet Homicide," Washington Post, Oct. 27, 2017, T19. "These Miniature Murder Scenes Have Shown Detectives How to Study Homicides for 70 Years," Washington Post, Sept. 17, 2017, A.24. Chris Hewitt, "Crime-Scene Replicas Still Have Tale to Tell in Minneapolis Filmmaker's Documentary," Saint Paul Pioneer Press, March 18, 2013. Michael Sragow, "Murder in a Nutshell," Baltimore Sun, June 3, 2012, E.1. "Visible Proofs: Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death," New York Times, May 11, 2009. Amanda Schaffer, "Solving Puzzles With Body Parts as the Pieces," New York Times, Feb. 28, 2006. Robert Gottlieb, "True Story of Elderly Heiress Who Designed Dioramas of Death," New York Observer, Jan. 24, 2005, 21. Robin Summerfield, "Crime in a Nutshell," Calgary Herald, Jan. 1, 2005, G9. Jennifer Schuessler, "Murder in the Dollhouse," Boston Globe, Oct. 24, 2004, E.2. John Woestendiek, "Murder in Miniature," Baltimore Sun, Oct. 14, 2004, 1E. Eve Kahn, "Murder Downsized," New York Times, Oct. 7, 2004, F.1. "Murder Is Her Hobby: Frances Glessner Lee and The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death," Smithsonian American Art Museum (accessed Nov. 10, 2019). "Dollhouse Crime Scenes," CBS Sunday Morning, Jan. 14, 2018. Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi, "The Tiny, Murderous World of Frances Glessner Lee," All Things Considered, National Public Radio, Nov. 18, 2017. Alison Thoet, "Photos: These Gruesome Dollhouse Death Scenes Reinvented Murder Investigations," PBS NewsHour, Nov. 20, 2017. Ann Marie Menting, "Death in a Nutshell," Harvard Medical School, Sept. 18, 2017. Corinne May Botz, "The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death" (accessed Nov. 10, 2019). Gabrielle Alberts, "This Is Where I Leave You: Unsettling Realities of a Miniature," dissertation, University of Cape Town, 2013. Ferdinand Demara as "Hospital Doctor" in The Hypnotic Eye (1960). Sources for our listener mail segment: Wikipedia, "Ferdinand Waldo Demara: Films/TV" (accessed Nov. 13, 2019). IMDb, "The Hypnotic Eye" (accessed Nov. 13, 2019). IMDb, "Fred Demara: Biography" (accessed Nov. 16, 2019). Wikipedia, "M*A*S*H (TV series)" (accessed Nov. 13, 2019). "Captain Adam Casey," The Monster M*A*S*H Wiki (accessed Nov. 13, 2019). "Dear Dad ... Again (TV series episode)," The Monster M*A*S*H Wiki (accessed Nov. 13, 2019). Brendan Michael, "Check Out Willem Dafoe Mushing in First Look Image of Disney+’s 'Togo,'" Collider, Oct. 24, 2019. IMDb, "Togo (2019)" (accessed Nov. 16, 2019). Wikipedia, "Togo (film)" (accessed Nov. 14, 2019). "'The Great Alaskan Race' Review: A Historic Sled Rescue Turned to Mush," New York Times, Oct. 24, 2019. IMDb, "The Great Alaskan Race (2019)" (accessed Nov. 16, 2019). Dennis Harvey, "Film Review: 'The Great Alaskan Race,'" Variety, Oct. 24, 2019. It Happens Every Thursday, 1953. This week's lateral thinking puzzle was contributed by listener Dianna Gabbard. Here are two corroborating links (warning -- these spoil the puzzle). We're very sorry to have to say that we recently had to say goodbye to Sasha. We feel very grateful that we got to share our lives with her for over 18 years, but several days ago we learned that she had advanced bone cancer. Until quite recently she had been very active, alert, and engaged in life, so the news was rather a shock to us. The cancer wasn't treatable, and after a few days we realized that the time had come for us to have to say goodbye. She will be very missed, and no beloved pet is ever fully replaceable, but we do hope at some point in the future to find another cat that needs a good home, when we are ready. You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on Google Podcasts, on Apple Podcasts, or via the RSS feed at https://futilitycloset.libsyn.com/rss. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- you can choose the amount you want to pledge, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!
First November 2019 episode of the program all about TV. Our guests: Daniel Raim and Michael Sragow, producer-director and writer respectively of Image Makers: The Adventures of America's Pioneer Cinematographers, a Turner Classic Movies original special playing November 6. Plus a discussion of Apple TV+'s launch with MediaVillage technology columnist Jeff Minsky.
The King of DC Media, host William Powell, welcomes Movie Critic Jason Fraley, D.C.'s WTOP Entertainment Editor, to talk about his list of Greatest Movies. Jason is self-described as: WTOP Entertainment Editor. Movie Critic. Filmmaker. Crab Picker. Day Tripper. Seinfeld Quoter. Coffee Abuser. MD native raised on Ripken, Joe Gibbs, Rock & Roll From WTOP: Hailed by The Washington Post for “his savantlike ability to name every Best Picture winner in history” (and the year any movie came out, ever), Jason Fraley began at WTOP as Morning Drive Writer in 2008, became the film critic in 2011, and Entertainment Editor in 2014, providing daily arts coverage on-air and online. Growing up in Frederick, Maryland, Jason watched Arch Campbell’s movie reviews and made home movies with his twin brother Josh. Under the “Friday Night Lights” of Linganore High, Jason led Hall of Fame coach Rick Conner’s inaugural team to the state title game at Ravens Stadium, during which a sideline interview by The Frederick News-Post inspired him to intern at his hometown paper. He quickly switched from sports journalism to the arts after interning at USA Today’s “Life” section and training under The Baltimore Sun’s Michael Sragow, first regular critic for Rolling Stone. Jason earned a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Maryland, where he became obsessed with film theory under Professor Joseph Miller, followed by an M.F.A. in Film from American University, where he studied writing and directing under Claudia Myers and Gilles Wheeler.
Mike talked to filmmaker Rob Garver about the upcoming documentary What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael. They discuss the importance of film criticism and Kael's controversial career.
We have a twist on the Bloody Mary that will have you reaching fr your French-English dictionary. Plus Peter Frampton rages! We’re pretty sure they did police did not find the Holy Grail at a pub in England. Jennifer Bjorklund checks in from Hawaii to assure us the locals are still hangin’ loose after Tropical Storm Iselle barreled through. Movie reviewer Michael Sragow is not fond of any of the movies out this weekend, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but we talk to the guy who sang on the original theme song for that character line, and he was happy with a one-time check for a project he thought would never get off the ground. Plus, how much skin can your grow with a slice of foreskin? Is Steve Jobs alive and living in Brazil? And, things guys think are romantic, but they really are not.
Today Jennifer Bjorklund and Jay Campadonia were on vacation (separately) but just the same, we needed to fill out the table a little, and look who we found: 1980’s-1990’s Pure Rock Radio legend, Ted “Thrasher” Prichard. Thrash-Pie recounted his days as a heavy metal god on KNAC FM, plus he delivered the stories behind the stories, including: something you wouldn’t expect to break out at the CDC, Herman Cain says America is being ruined by idiots, and social media is burning up with World Cup fever. Chris Martin takes us for a ride on an asteroid, introduces us to the inadvertent feminist, and updates the World Cub scores (sorry Great Britain). Plus today’s guests, Michael Sragow reviews the weekend movies, and the new Downtown Harbor opens up right up the street from our studio in Ports O’Call.