Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 433 with Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner with the audio player below.
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This week on Slate Plus, we discuss the movie Postcards From the Edge, which Carrie Fisher adapted from her book of the same name.
On this week’s Slate Culture Gabfest, the critics discuss La La Land, a new movie musical from director Damien Chazelle about a couple trying to pursue their dreams in Los Angeles and the costs of those dreams. Does the film embrace or transcend the clichés it explores? Then, Slate deputy editor John Swansburg joins the conversation to discuss Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea, a drama about a man who loses his brother and must take care of his teenage nephew. Lonergan writes about the tragedy of loss with honesty and humor, but never avoids the most painful emotions. Last, the gabbers dig into the 2016 Slate Movie Club to discuss the critics’ opinions and disagreements on the year in film. One topic up for discussion: comedy’s lack of critical recognition during the awards season.
Links to some of the things we discussed this week:
- La La Land trailer
- Singin’ in the Rain
- Whiplash
- Manchester by the Sea trailer
- You Can Count on Me
- The Slate Movie Club
- Mark Harris on Twitter
- Elle trailer
- Swiss Army Man
- “The Top 10 Movies of 2016” by Amy Nicholson for MTV News
- Bilge Ebiri on comedy for the Movie Club
- Our past discussion of Love and Friendship
- Dana on Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher for the Movie Club
- Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War by Mark Harris
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Endorsements
Dana: The BBC program John Berger: The Art of Looking, based on Berger’s 1972 BBC television series and book Ways of Seeing
Julia: The Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode, “Once More, With Feeling”
Stephen: Colossal Youth by Young Marble Giants, and Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood by Mark Harris
Outro: “Going Through the Motions” from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.
This podcast was produced by Benjamin Frisch. Our intern is Daniel Schroeder.
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