Pop Culture Happy Hour One Battle After Another and What’s Making Us Happy
24 snips
Jan 23, 2026 Monica Castillo, a freelance film critic and programmer, dives into Paul Thomas Anderson's powerful film, One Battle After Another. They discuss Leonardo DiCaprio's role as a troubled ex-revolutionary and Sean Penn's flamboyant villainy that adds urgency to the narrative. With a focus on critiques of white supremacy, they explore the film's timing and potent political messages. Monica also reflects on real-world activism and the complexities of sustaining movements, revealing the film's deeper layers amid thrilling IMAX visuals and stunning cinematography.
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Political Thriller That Still Delivers Fun
- Paul Thomas Anderson successfully turns urgent contemporary politics into an entertaining, urgent action-thriller.
- The film ridicules white supremacy while remaining fun and cinematically inventive.
A Car Chase That Redefines Spectacle
- The car chase sequence stands out as a technical and emotional high point in IMAX.
- Michael Bauman's cinematography and Anderson's staging make it feel unprecedented and thrilling.
Bob As The Audience Surrogate
- DiCaprio's Bob functions as an audience surrogate who embodies the tired, feckless revolutionary archetype.
- The film particularizes systemic oppression into a punchable secret society to give fiction a face to fight.
