Screen Stuff Podcast

Black Panther, with briefer takes on SMILF, Altered Carbon, the Winter Olympics and positive Asian (American) representation on TV, the latest seasons of various reality TV shows (including Top Chef, RuPaul’s Drag Race, and Queer Eye), and the non-app version of Mosaic on HBO. Elgin and Paul review #BlackPanther: Black Panther (35:05), co-written and directed […]

The End of the F***ing World [WARNING: adult language in audio clip], but before that quick takes on All the Money in the World and Baby Driver. Paul and Elgin check out #EndOfTheFuckingWorld: The End of the F***ing World, a UK dramedy from Channel 4, available on Netflix. It’s written by Charlie Covell and directed […]

Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams. Elgin and Paul check out #ElectricDreams: Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams, a new anthology series from Channel 4 and Sony Pictures Televisions and available through Amazon Prime. Based on the short stories of Dick, the hour-long episodes feature many well-known actors, including Bryan Cranston, Juno Temple, Janelle Monáe, Greg Kinnear, […]

Phantom Thread, with briefer takes on Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond, Girls Trip, Call Me by Your Name, The Florida Project, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and I, Tonya. Paul and Elgin review #PhantomThread: Phantom Thread (37:25), written, shot, and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Vicky Krieps, and Lesley Manville. It’s […]

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Elgin and Paul review #MrsMaisel: Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, with showrunner Amy Sherman-Palladino and starring Rachel Brosnahan, Alex Borstein, and Luke Kirby. Set in New York in the late 1950s, this gorgeous show (whose period details equal those of Mad Men) focuses on Miriam ‘Midge’ Maisel (Brosnahan), who “accidentally” becomes a […]

Runaways and Disney’s purchase of parts of Fox. Paul and Elgin check out #Runaways: Hulu’s Runaways, with showrunners Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz and starring the diverse case of Rhenzy Feliz, Lyrica Okano, Virginia Gardner, Ariela Barer, Gregg Sulkin, and Allegra Acosta. Part teen soap opera (in the tradition of The OC and Beverly Hills, 90210) and part superhero […]

Star Wars: Episode VIII–The Last Jedi, with briefer takes on Lady Bird, Easy (season 2), and Search Party (season 2), plus more discussion on how we plan to (not) consume the art of artists who’ve been accused of sexual assault and misconduct. Elgin and Paul review #LastJedi: Star Wars: Episode VIII–The Last Jedi (38:58), written and directed […]

Mosaic. Paul and Elgin check out #Mosaic: Mosaic, directed by Steven Soderbergh, written by Ed Solomon, and starring Sharon Stone and Garrett Hedlund, among others. This is a free interactive TV series, available  now as an app and later in more traditional form on HBO. Are the “choose your own adventure” format and other features, […]

The Mayor. Elgin and Paul discuss #TheMayorABC: The Mayor, created by Jeremy Bronson and starring Brandon Micheal Hall as the aspiring rapper and newly elected mayor, Lea Michele as his advisor, and Yvette Nicole Brown as his mom. Does this single-cam comedy (both a reflection of and rebuttal to the rise of Trump) offer us anything […]

Justice League, plus a discussion on watching or avoiding screen stuff involving artists and entertainers recently accused of sexual assault or harassment; with additional takes on Too Funny to Fail and One Mississippi season 2, Song to Song and To the Wonder, Mudbound, and The Paperboy. Paul and Elgin review #JusticeLeague: Justice League (42:00), directed by […]

The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) and Mindhunter. Elgin and Paul discuss #MeyerowitzStories and #Mindhunter: The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (00:56), written and directed by Noah Baumbach and starring Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Elizabeth Marvel, and Emma Thompson. Yet another story of family dysfunction, Baumbach’s latest is featured on Netflix and in […]

I Love You, America and Big Mouth. Paul and Elgin check out #ILoveYouAmerica and #BigMouth: I Love You, America (02:20), hosted by Sarah Silverman. Here’s a new talk from Hulu (no doubt inspired by the Trump presidency) that aims to bridge the gap between folks in red and blue states while making you chuckle. But are […]

Star Trek: Discovery and Blade Runner 2049, plus quicker takes on It, Will & Grace revival, Mr. Robot season 3, Vice Principals season 2, and Better Things season 2. Elgin and Paul review #StarTrekDiscovery and #BladeRunner2049: Star Trek: Discovery (20:15), created by Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman and starring Sonequa Martin-Green, Michelle Yeoh, and Jason Isaacs. What does this latest […]

Disjointed. Paul and Elgin review #Disjointed: A new comedy about selling legal weed from Chuck Lorre (of CBS sitcom fame), Disjointed stars Kathy Bates and features a diverse supporting cast, including Tone Bell and Elizabeth Ho. Does being on Netflix change things enough for this show to escape the conventions of multi-cam sitcoms? We reference Lorre’s […]

Columbus. Elgin and Paul review #ColumbusMovie: The debut movie by Korean-American director Kogonada, Columbus stars John Cho and Haley Lu Richardson (who also appeared in another recent film with an Asian-American male lead, The Edge of Seventeen). With a Korean-American lead and with Sundance cred, the film, set in Columbus, Indiana, which has a rich architectural […]

mother!, plus quicker takes on other screen-related stuff, including pilots for the Deuce and Mr. Mercedes, revisiting The Good Place, Bill Simmons’s The Rewatchables podcast, and season 2 of Insecure. Paul and Elgin review #mother!: mother! (31:25), written and directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem. Not a chamber piece, not just […]

Comrade Detective, What Would Diplo Do?, and the annual Screenies awards (for best scene, performance, and overall work in the past 12 months). Elgin and Paul review #ComradeDetective and #WhatWouldDiploDo: A tongue-in-cheek Cold War satire from a communist perspective, Comrade Detective from Amazon Prime stars the voice talents of Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, but […]

Ozark. Paul and Elgin review #Ozark: A new drama from Netflix, Ozark, by creators Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams and starring Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, and Julia Garner. Does the shadow of Breaking Bad loom too large, or has Ozark differentiated itself enough to become a potential classic of its own? Download Podcast (right click and […]

Logan Lucky, plus quicker takes on the latest season of Game of Thrones; Atypical; Huang’s World; VICE News Tonight’s special report, “Charlottesville: Race and Terror;” and Younger. Elgin and Paul review #LoganLucky: Logan Lucky (32:10), directed by Steven Soderbergh, written by Rebecca Blunt, and starring Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Daniel Craig, and Riley Keough. What led Soderbergh back […]

Friends from College. Paul and Elgin review #FriendsFromCollege: A new comedy from Netflix, Friends from College, by creators Francesca Delbanco and Nicholas Stoller and starring Keegan-Michael Key, Fred Savage, Nat Faxon, Annie Parisse, Jae Suh Park, and Cobie Smulders. Is this the streaming heir to network classics such as Friends, Seinfeld, or How I Met Your Mother? […]