Sometimes you just gotta call bullshit on a movie. Even — hell, especially — if you enjoy the film…
On this episode of Adjust Your Tracking, Joe and I wade into the murky land of modern film discourse. In the end, we may be messier, more haggard, but overall much better for it. We open on everyone’s favorite hot topic MoviePass, and while we’re nothing if not suspicious about the app-based ticketing deal that’s been fast making waves and ruffling feathers in the industry, we do find some things to praise as well.
The rest of the show is broken down by new films by name brand auteur filmmakers. Wes Anderson‘s “Isle Of Dogs” is getting mostly rave reviews (read The Playlist’s B+ review here), and so we discuss our admiration for the film as it makes it way wider to more theaters in the coming weeks. But we cannot skip over the controversy brewing over this film, with a fair share of brave and erudite critics calling the film out for cultural appropriation, white savior cliches and leaning into Japanese stereotypes. We do our best to mine this thorny territory. Steven Spielberg‘s latest foray into blockbuster territory, “Ready Player One,” took the recent weekend at the box office (Playlist review here), and we make sure to discuss the film at length as well, though our thoughts are little less opaque on this one. Surprisingly, though, these two films line up in ways that are without doubt surface level, but still fun to parse nonetheless.
On our next episode we’ll dive into the incomparable Lynne Ramsay, a long AYT favorite and director of the new Joaquin Phoenix arthouse thriller “You We’re Never Really Here” (The Playlist’s review is here). If you’ve watched Ramsay’s films we highly recommend you dive in, as she’s one of modern cinema’s most exciting and gifted filmmakers.
All episodes of Adjust Your Tracking are part of The Playlist Podcast Network and can be found on Overcast, iTunes, Soundcloud and Stitcher. You can stream or download the podcast via the Soundcloud embed below or up top. Leave us a review and rating there if you’re so inclined and help spread the word on our podcast. Find and follow AYT on Twitter, Facebook and of course, do the same for The Playlist.
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Hmm. I don’t know what else you expected of Wes Anderson. He is a middle class white man who mostly uses middle class white actors. Are you surprised by this?
On a side note, I have a friend in Japan, and she says audiences are loving it, and see no problem with what you and others call ‘cultural appropriation’. I fear this is just a reactionary western view, and that really most people outside of the zeitgeist really don’t give a shit.
Still, kudos for actually discussing it and not ranting about it.