By Nicole Funari & Spencer Davis. In the latest edition of the Movies That Matter podcast, we discuss the critically-acclaimed World War II film, Dunkirk, from director Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Inception, Interstellar). It’s a decidedly unconventional summer blockbuster; though the subject matter and the production values put it squarely into Oscar bait territory, it plays like an action movie or even a disaster flick. Nolan’s pedigree as the thinking person’s crowdpleaser of choice make him the perfect filmmaker to tackle this topic, and he once again plays his usual tricks with time, utilizing a complex intersection of three different timelines to reframe the narrative on the key theme of cooperation in a time of crisis. The result is perhaps the first truly modern war picture—a complete stylistic break with the past. And the movie raises fascinating questions about how our history is written, how we talk about the virtues of military service and heroism, and the basic value of human lives during times that sacrifice them so cheaply. You can download the podcast here or via iTunes.
The Podcast
The Podcast: Movies That Matter Discusses 20th Century Women
By Nicole Funari & Spencer Davis. In the latest edition of the Movies That Matter podcast, Nicole and I discuss writer/director Mike Mills’s latest film, 20th Century Women, starring Annette Benning as the single mother of a teenage son in 1979 who enlists the help of the jaded teenage girl he loves (Elle Fanning), an artistic punk rock photographer (Greta Gerwig), and a quiet hippie handyman (Billy Crudup) to teach him the ways of women, men, and life. It’s an ambitious movie that’s rife with big questions about the gender roles we impose on one another and the inability to connect across generations, and as Nicole and I agree, it only partly succeeds in meeting those ambitions. We talk about that and plenty more, from the “end of men” to online dating to the status of marriage and divorce in America today. You can download the podcast here or via iTunes.
The Podcast: Movies That Matter Discusses Arrival
By Spencer. For those who love our movie coverage but think there’s way too much reading involved, you’re in luck. This week, all you have to do is listen! I’m guest hosting the latest edition of the movie podcast, Movies That Matter, which focuses on “films going above and beyond the call of box office returns to boldly explore a social issue affecting people’s lives.” On this edition, host Nicole Funari and I share a wide-ranging conversation on this month’s surprise art-house sci-fi hit, Arrival, starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Forest Whitaker, and directed by Denis Villenueve (Prisoners, Sicario). It’s a movie full of big ideas about communication, the nature of time, grief, and the things that bring us together as human beings. And naturally, we couldn’t help but get into a little political conversation as well, with some of the film’s themes proving timely in the wake of an election that exposed deep failures of communication between red and blue America. You can download the podcast here or via iTunes. And stay tuned to Movies That Matter, because they’ll be bringing in a number of other guest hosts over the coming weeks to explore some of the best year-end Oscar fare.
Shadows & Noise 