Culture Gabfest

Slate critics Dana Stevens, Julia Turner, and guest John Swansburg discuss the inestimable actor and comedian Robin Williams' career, Cinemax's the turn-of-the-century hospital drama The Knick, and the weather. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slate critics Steve Metcalf, Julia Turner, and Dana Stevens discuss Marvel's latest franchise movie Guardians of the Galaxy, whether plagiarism is that big of a deal, and the intricacies of writing a new Gabfest theme song with composer Nick Britell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slate critics Julia Turner, Dana Stevens, and Dan Kois discuss the Nathan Fielder's absurd advice on his Comedy Central TV show "Nathan For You," Blake Lively's lifestyle website Preserve, and the surprising literary power of children's books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slate critics Stephen Metcalf, Julia Turner, and Dana Stevens discuss the dark and violent sequel Dawn of the Apes, whether potato salad caused Kickstarter to jump the shark, and the timelessness of Weird Al Yankovic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slate critics Stephen Metcalf, Julia Turner, and Dana Stevens discuss Richard Linklater's new movie Boyhood, whether E!'s plastic surgery reality show Botched actually has a moral universe, and whether Tinder is as female-friendly as it bills itself to be with outgoing intern Anna Shechtman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slate critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and guest June Thomas discuss the action blockbuster and political allegory film Snowpiercer, the campy and catty British TV import Vicious, and David Brooks tells us that we should all strive to be deep. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slate critics Stephen Metcalf, Julia Turner, and guest John Swansburg discuss the rom com spoof They Came Together, the rapturously dark HBO show "The Leftovers," and The Onion's new clickbait parody website Clickhole. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slate critics Stephen Metcalf, Julia Turner, and Dana Stevens discuss ABC Family's radical TV show The Fosters with Slate's June Thomas, the ethics of landmark conservation, and the results of this year's listener callout for summer songs that will make you strut your stuff. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slate critics Stephen Metcalf, Julia Turner, and Dana Stevens discuss if the movie 22 Jump Street is too self aware to be any good, whether poetry can go mainstream, and how to predict your song of the summer with Slate's Chris Molanphy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slate critics Stephen Metcalf, Julia Turner and Dana Stevens discuss the film Obvious Child, a movie that is radically blase about abortion, whether adults should be embarrassed to read Young Adult literature, and the case for bringing Home Economics back to the classroom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slate critics Julia Turner, Dana Stevens, and Mike Pesca discuss Disney's Sleeping Beauty re-make "Maleficent," faking cultural literacy, and NY magazine's music critic Jody Rosen joins the gabbers to discuss "Oh, You Kid," what he deems the "first ever dirty pop song." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slate critics Julia Turner, Dana Stevens, and Dan Kois discuss HBO's new film The Normal Heart, commencement speeches, and the new 9/11 Memorial Museum. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slate critics Julia Turner, Dana Stevens, and June Thomas discuss Showtime's heady Gothic series Penny Dreadful, Chipotle's move to serve literature along with its burrito bowls, and net neutrality with Slate's David Auerbach. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slate critics Julia Turner, Dana Stevens, and David Haglund discuss the unexpectedly gripping real-time car ride movie Locke, the philosophical cartoon hit Adventure Time, and Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace by Nikil Saval. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slate critics Stephen Metcalf, Julia Turner, and Dana Stevens are live in Montreal this week as part of the 16th Blue Metropolis Montreal International Literary Festival. This week the gabbers discuss the Canadian Sci-Fi thriller Orphan Black, the film Hateship Loveship which is an adaptation Alice Munro’s short story, and Slate’s Carl Wilson joins the gabbers to talk about using Celine Dion as a measuring stick for taste. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slate critics Stephen Metcalf, Julia Turner, and Dana Stevens discuss French economist Thomas Picketty and his intellectual blockbuster, "Capital in the Twenty-First Century," comedian John Oliver's weekly fake-news show, and spring cleaning with Slate's Bryan Lowder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slate critics Stephen Metcalf, Julia Turner, and Dana Stevens discuss Scarlett Johansson as a man-eating femme fatale in the arthouse horror flick "Under the Skin," the legacy of Gabriel Garcia Marquez with journalist and critic Paul Berman, and why you won't see derp in Gawker's new style guide. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slate critics Stephen Metcalf, Julia Turner, and guest Gabber Jacob Weisberg discuss Stephen Colbert's move to late night television, chat with author Adam Begley about the legacy of John Updike, and then it's a Guggenheim field trip to check out the exhibit, "Italian Futurism, 1909-1944: Reconstructing the Universe." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slate critics Stephen Metcalf, Julia Turner, and Dana Stevens discuss Errol Morris' study of Donald Rumsfeld in his latest documentary "The Unknown Known," HBO's tech industry send up "Silicon Valley," and why faster isn't necessarily better when it comes to reading. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slate critics Stephen Metcalf, Julia Turner, and Dana Stevens discuss Darren Aronofsky's Hollywood version of Noah's Ark, how fame changes friendship in HBO's Doll & Em, and the TV recap website "Television Without Pity" going dark. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices