Truth & Movies: A Little White Lies Podcast

DC’s clown prince is back in action this week courtesy of director Todd Phillips and star Joaquin Phoenix – but is Joker a harmless supervillain origin story or something more insidious? Michael Leader, Pamela Hutchinson and Hannah Woodhead cut through the #discourse before turning their attentions to Judy, Rupert Goold’s tender portrait of Hollywood’s tragic entertainer. And in Film Club, 1954’s A Star Is Born, which features arguably Judy Garland’s finest performance.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, the Truth & Movies team tackle the screen adaptation of Donna Tartt's art world doorstop, The Goldfinch, as well as The Last Tree, the intriguing second feature from up-and-coming British talent, Shola Amoo. And in Film Club this week, we rake over the genteel New York weirdness of Jonathan Glazer's 2004 film, Birth. On the panel we have LWLies regular Sophie Monks Kaufman and T&M debutant Rogan Graham, while marshalling proceedings once again is host, Michael Leader.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this week's episode we're blasting off to the outer echelons of the galaxy to join Brad Pitt on a journey to Neptune in Ad Astra, and spending some time on a Russian space station to pick apart dreams and reality in Andrei Tarkovsky's classic Solaris. Then it's back down to earth for Lulu Wang's culture clash family comedy The Farewell, with Michael Leader in the presenter's chair, and David Jenkins and Matt Thrift his guests.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On T&M this week, Michael Leader is joined by David Jenkins and Sophie Monks Kaufman to explore the extreme poles of modern cinema. At one end we have the harrowing but vital documentary For Sama, and at the other, it's the glossy, entertaining crime flick Hustlers (starring an on-form Jennifer Lopez). And for Film Club, look at the strange, ever-changable legacy of of Paul Verhoeven's 1994 Razzie magnet, Showgirls.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It's our second Truth & Movies special live from the 2019 Venice Film Festival. Reporting from the Lido is LWLies editor David Jenkins and critic Christina Newland, and we pick apart four big titles: Todd Phillips' divisive Joker, Stephen Soderbergh's Panama Papers movie, The Laundromat, Roy Andersson's poetic About Endlessness, and Shakespearean battle epic, The King.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Truth & Movies heads back down the storm drain to tackle Pennywise the clown once more in IT: Chapter 2. There's political and legal anxieties in Argentina for Benjamín Naishtat's festival darling Rojo, and for Film Club, we tramp the sidewalks of 1960s New York City in culture clash classic, Midnight Cowboy. Joining host Michael Leader in the studio is Anton Bitel and Kelli Weston.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Truth & Movies heads back down the storm drain to tackle Pennywise the clown once more in IT: Chapter 2. There's political and legal anxieties in Argentina for Benjamín Naishtat's festival darling Rojo, and for Film Club, we tramp the sidewalks of 1960s New York City in culture clash classic, Midnight cowboy. Joining host Michael Leader in the studio is Anton Bitel and Kelli Weston. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy

Put on your sunglasses and mosquito repellant as Truth & Movies are coming to you this week live from the 2019 Venice Film Festival. Little White Lies editor David Jenkins and film writer Christina Newland pick apart Seberg, a biopic of tragic actor Jean Seberg starring Kristen Stewart, an epic comic two-hander with Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson in Marriage Story, and a voyage into deep space with Brad Pitt in Ad Astra.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week sees the release of not one but two British classics-in-the-making. Michael Leader is joined by Adam Woodward and T&M first-timer Ian Mantgani of Badlands Collective fame to espouse the myriad virtues of Joanna Hogg’s intimate relationship drama, The Souvenir, and Mark Jenkin’s experimental monochrome culture-clash drama Bait. Capping off this episode, we revisit Sam Peckinpah’s notorious home invasion thriller from 1971, Straw Dogs, a film that has lost none of its ability to shock.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

To celebrate the release of Joanna Hogg’s masterful new film, The Souvenir, which graces the cover of the summer issue of Little White Lies, we’ve put together a special pod tribute to the British filmmaker. Regular Truth & Movies host Michael Leader is joined by Sophie Monks Kaufman and Hannah Woodhead for an in-depth look back at the writer/director’s three previous features, Unrelated, Archipelago and Exhibition, which are all available to rent now via Curzon Home Cinema.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week sees the return of one of our favourite living filmmakers: Pedro Almodóvar reunites with Spanish stars Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz for the semi-autobiographical late-career highlight Pain & Glory. Also on this episode of Truth & Movies, US documentary maker Penny Lane investigates the curious rise of the Satanic Temple in Hail Satan?. Michael Leader, Kambole Campbell and Beth Webb discuss those, plus your pick for the best ever Almodóvar film, 1999’s All About My Mother.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

There’s a throwback feel to this week’s Truth & Movies as Michael Leader, David Jenkins and Hannah Woodhead are transported back to 1969 care of Quentin Tarantino’s end-of-an-era elegy Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. In Film Club, our critics check out a largely forgotten ’60s comedy which Tarantino tips his hat to, the Dean Martin-Sharon Tate espionage caper The Wrecking Crew. Plus there’s plaudits aplenty for German filmmaker Christian Petzold’s alluring riff on the classic World War Two-era romance, Transit.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

From the Badlands to the Backstreets, this week’s episode kicks off with a look at the Gurinder Chadha’s Bruce Springsteen-inspired coming-of-ager Blinded by the Light, which comes endorsed by The Boss himself. Host Michael Leader is joined by Sophie Monks Kaufman and pod newcomer Mike McCahill, who also offers their thoughts on Opus Zero, an auteurist curio starring Willem Dafoe, and in Film Club, Alfred Hitchcock’s classic 1946 noir Notorious, which is dusted off for a long-overdue theatrical re-release.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The boys are back in town this week as Fast and Furious spin-off Hobbs & Shaw crashes into cinemas. Michael Leader, David Jenkins and, making her Truth & Moves debut, Steph Watts, give this testosterone-fuelled blockbuster a good going over before turning their attentions to Sophie Hyde’s portrait of a young female friendship, Animals. Then in Film Club, we check in with Spike Lee’s era-defining 1989 feature Do the Right Thing.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

School’s out and the mercury is rising – so what better time to escape to the dark, cool shelter of the cinema? In the T&M host seat this week is Beth Webb, who’s joined by Kambole Campbell and Hannah Woodhead to discuss two fairly low-key new releases. The Current War sees Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon duke it out over the world’s electricity supply, although this historical drama is more stimulating than its synopsis suggests. Then it’s on to Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love, in which documentarian Nick Broomfield charts the romantic life of Leonard Cohen and his muse Marianne Ihlen. Finally, we revisit Park Chan-wook’s cephalopod-bothering revenge classic Oldboy ahead of its re-release next week.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.