On this week’s show, the hosts dive into A Complete Unknown, director James Mangold’s surprisingly charming Bob Dylan biopic that’s all about fame and what it looks like to be adjacent to it. Then, the three explore Dick Wolf’s latest project: On Call, a half-hour cop procedural set in Long Beach, California that’s streaming on Prime Video. Finally, the trio remembers David Lynch, the iconic, singular filmmaker who passed away last week at the age of 78. In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel goes electric themselves and responds to a listener question from Rob: “Would you reminisce about the most electric experience you’ve had consuming a piece of culture with other people?”Email us at culturefest@slate.com. Endorsements:Dana: The Soul of the Dance, a one-hour documentary about ballerina Ulyana Lopatkina. Julia: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. Alos, Julia is looking for nonfiction recommendations about Japan! Email her at culturefest@slate.com. Steve: Two Australia-related endorsements: (1) The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes. (2) BUSH, a restaurant in Sydney’s Redfern neighborhood. Podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry. Production assistance by Kat Hong. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nadira Goffe, a Slate culture writer known for her keen insights, joins the discussion to dive into the provocative themes of two films. They unpack 'Babygirl,' delving into its complex portrayal of sexuality and power dynamics, and then explore 'Nickel Boys,' highlighting its innovative first-person narrative that reveals the harsh realities of a notorious reform school. The trio also tackles the legal and PR drama surrounding Blake Lively, reflecting on celebrity cultures and the implications of media narratives. Plus, they share personal insights on the challenges of recent L.A. wildfires.

Isaac Butler, the talented author of 'The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act' and host of 'The Craft of Acting,' brings his cinematic insights to the discussion. They dive into Brady Corbet's 'The Brutalist,' exploring themes of ambition and artistry while analyzing Adrian Brody’s complex character. The panel critiques the Netflix holiday hit 'Carry On,' debating its entertaining yet flawed nature. They also engage in a lively 'Movie Club' segment, sharing reflections on overlooked films and personal cinematic experiences.

The hosts dive into the joys of cooking for one, reflecting on solo dining as self-care during solitude. They tackle the challenges of adult friendships, exploring how shared interests like pottery shape connections. Nostalgia hits as they reminisce about impactful live performances and the significance of music in film storytelling. Philosophy's role in today's society sparks a lively discussion, revealing its absence in modern discourse. Plus, a humorous debate on iconic wine pairings adds a delightful twist to the conversation.

The hosts dissect the Netflix series featuring Ted Danson as a retired professor unraveling mysteries in a retirement home, blending humor with themes of aging and loneliness. They also delve into "The Seed of the Sacred Fig," a poignant film addressing women's protests in Iran and familial dynamics. Shifting gears, they explore the evolution from 'influencer' to 'digital creator,' reflecting on the changing landscape of fame in the social media age. Plus, a nostalgic look back at their stage experiences adds a personal touch.

On this week’s show, the hosts chew over Nightbitch, Marielle Heller’s (Queen’s Gambit, Can You Ever Forgive Me, The Diary of a Teenage Girl, MacGruber), fourth feature film. Amy Adam stars as “Mother,” a former artist who has given up her creative pursuits to care for her infant son full-time — a transition so taxing, that she begins dissociating and transforming into a dog at night. And while there’s a lot to like here (it’s an adaptation of Rachel Yonder’s magical realism novel of the same name, for example), does the film ever achieve lift-off? Then, the three rip Black Doves to shreds, Netflix’s latest espionage show starring Keira Knightly, Sarah Lancashire, and Ben Whishaw that has far too many plot holes to name (although, Stephen does try to.) Finally, the panel digs into the strange case of Luigi Mangione, the suspected shooter in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson — and the internet’s sardonic, if not jubilant, reaction to the fatal shooting.In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel explores the celebrity look-alike contest: a puzzling and mildly delightful phenomenon that’s been sweeping the nation. (Read Nadira Goffe’s excellent reporting on the Timothée Chalamet tournament that started it all, here.)FINAL CALL: We are down to the final week! To submit your question for our annual call-in show (for inspiration, check out last year’s episode), please call (260) 337-8260 to leave us a voicemail, or record a voice note and email it to us at culturefest@slate.com. Or, email us at culturefest@slate.com if you just want to gab. Endorsements:Dana: The Year of Lear audiobook, written by James Shapiro and narrated by Robert Fass. Julia: Tree.fm — a project by Sounds of the Forest and aporee, where you can tune into forest soundscapes from around the world. Stephen: A cover of Richard and Linda Thompson’s “Down Where the Drunkards Roll,” performed by Loudon Wainwright III and Rufus Wainwright. Podcast production by Jared Downing. Production assistance by Kat Hong.Disclosure in Podcast Description: A Bond Account is a self-directed brokerage account with Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Deposits into this account are used to purchase 10 investment-grade and high-yield bonds. As of 9/26/24, the average, annualized yield to worst (YTW) across the Bond Account is greater than 6%. A bond’s yield is a function of its market price, which can fluctuate; therefore, a bond’s YTW is not “locked in” until the bond is purchased, and your yield at time of purchase may be different from the yield shown here. The “locked in” YTW is not guaranteed; you may receive less than the YTW of the bonds in the Bond Account if you sell any of the bonds before maturity or if the issuer defaults on the bond. Public Investing charges a markup on each bond trade. See our Fee Schedule. Bond Accounts are not recommendations of individual bonds or default allocations. The bonds in the Bond Account have not been selected based on your needs or risk profile. See https://public.com/disclosures/bond-account to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s show, Slate experts June Thomas (author of A Place of Our Own: Six Spaces That Shaped Queer Women's Culture) and Dan Kois (author of Hampton Heights: One Harrowing Night in the Most Haunted Neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) fill in for Dana and Julia. First, the trio tackles Blitz, director Steve McQueen’s new film about the German bombings of London during World War II, which stars Saoirse Ronan, Harris Dickinson, and randomly, Paul Weller. For a McQueen movie, it’s quite traditional – predictable plot beats, an easy to understand moral viewpoint – but as a piece of culture, does it work? Is the film informative and incredibly ambitious? Or didactic and boring? Then, the panel unravels HBO’s Get Millie Black, a British crime drama set in Kingston, Jamaica. Created by Marlon James, the five-part detective series delivers a good, old-fashioned mystery (there’s corruption! Familial complications! Rich queer narratives! And way too much voiceover!) that reveals itself slowly, like peeling back the layers of an onion. Finally, can a “vibe” be copyrighted, in a world built on copying? The hosts pour over “Bad Influence,” a reported piece by The Verge about the groundbreaking legal case between two lifestyle influencers that has the potential to radically alter the online commerce industry. In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel discusses movie credits and debates the merits of sitting through them. We are still taking questions for our annual call-in show! To submit your question, either leave us a voicemail at (260) 337-8260 or send us a voice note via email at culturefest@slate.com. Email us at culturefest@slate.com. Endorsements:Dan: The Mighty Quinn (1989), starring a very handsome Denzel Washington. June: Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst. Steve: A quote by Vladimir Nabokov.  Podcast production by Jared Downing. Production assistance by Kat Hong.Disclosure in Podcast Description: A Bond Account is a self-directed brokerage account with Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Deposits into this account are used to purchase 10 investment-grade and high-yield bonds. As of 9/26/24, the average, annualized yield to worst (YTW) across the Bond Account is greater than 6%. A bond’s yield is a function of its market price, which can fluctuate; therefore, a bond’s YTW is not “locked in” until the bond is purchased, and your yield at time of purchase may be different from the yield shown here. The “locked in” YTW is not guaranteed; you may receive less than the YTW of the bonds in the Bond Account if you sell any of the bonds before maturity or if the issuer defaults on the bond. Public Investing charges a markup on each bond trade. See our Fee Schedule. Bond Accounts are not recommendations of individual bonds or default allocations. The bonds in the Bond Account have not been selected based on your needs or risk profile. See https://public.com/disclosures/bond-account to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s show, the hosts consider ‘Glicked’ (or is it ‘Wadiator’? ‘Gladicked?’), the Wicked and Gladiator II double feature that promised to be this year’s ‘Barbenheimer.’ But did it deliver? Or even come close? First, the trio inspects Wicked, which won the weekend by a long shot (and broke a few records along the way.) At times, director Jon M. Chu’s film adaptation of the famed Broadway musical (which is, itself, an adaptation of a series of novels inspired by Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) can feel overstuffed and exhausting, but as Dana puts it in her review, “it’s so buoyant it lifts both witches-to-be, along with the audience, into the stratosphere.” Then, the panel moves on to Gladiator II, the very belated follow-up to Ridley Scott’s 2000 Best Picture Winner. Which is… a really bad movie. No longer is the question “are you not entertained?", but “are men okay, actually?” The panel attempts to make sense of Scott’s “dismal retread” and debate whether Denzel Washington’s free reign over his character benefited the movie at large. Finally, Slate’s Dan Kois joins to discuss “The 25 Most Important Recipes of the Past 100 Years,” a wonderful and lovely mega package compiled by Kois and J. Bryan Lowder that explores the history of home cooking in America and how it’s changed over time. (Dan also cooked all 25 recipes, and then some, an epic saga which he chronicled.)In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, it’s the long-awaited Bluesky debate. Following the mass exodus from Twitter/X, the hosts discuss the pros and cons of migrating over to a new, remarkably similar, platform. We are still taking questions for our annual call-in show! To submit your question, either leave us a voicemail at (260) 337-8260 or send us a voice note via email at culturefest@slate.com. Email us at culturefest@slate.com. Endorsements:Dana: A recipe perfect for Thanksgiving: Laurie Colwin’s Creamed Spinach With Jalapeño Peppers.Julia: Opal, a screen time app that blocks distractions. Steve: “The Loudest, Brightest Thing” by Sam Huber for The New York Review.Podcast production by Jared Downing. Production assistance by Kat Hong. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s show, Isaac Butler (Supreme Friend of the Show and author of The Method:‌ How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act) sits in for Dana. First, the panel is quite verbose about Say Nothing, a limited series that takes place over four generations and is set during The Troubles in Northern Ireland. By dramatizing the real-life events recounted in Patrick Radden Keefe’s 2018 bestseller, the adapted limited series achieves something quite rare: enriching the original text and imbuing it with new meaning.Then, they unpack Emilia Pérez, an utterly captivating musical by writer-director Jacques Audiard that’s about gender transition, drug cartels, and becoming yourself. Finally, the trio discusses Carson the Magnificent, a new biography of the mysterious late-night pioneer that Isaac recently reviewed for The New Yorker.In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel answers a listener question from James: “Are there cultural works that you fully intend to see or experience, but are waiting for an optimal way to do it?”Email us at culturefest@slate.com. Endorsements:Isaac: Blood Test by Charles Baxter.  Julia: Zoe Saldaña in Center Stage.Steve: Alice Neel’s appearance on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show in 1984.Podcast production by Jared Downing. Production assistance by Kat Hong. Disclosure in Podcast Description: A Bond Account is a self-directed brokerage account with Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Deposits into this account are used to purchase 10 investment-grade and high-yield bonds. As of 9/26/24, the average, annualized yield to worst (YTW) across the Bond Account is greater than 6%. A bond’s yield is a function of its market price, which can fluctuate; therefore, a bond’s YTW is not “locked in” until the bond is purchased, and your yield at time of purchase may be different from the yield shown here. The “locked in” YTW is not guaranteed; you may receive less than the YTW of the bonds in the Bond Account if you sell any of the bonds before maturity or if the issuer defaults on the bond. Public Investing charges a markup on each bond trade. See our Fee Schedule. Bond Accounts are not recommendations of individual bonds or default allocations. The bonds in the Bond Account have not been selected based on your needs or risk profile. See https://public.com/disclosures/bond-account to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s episode, the hosts tackle A‌ Real Pain, writer-director Jesse Eisenberg’s tale of two cousins (played by himself and Kieran Culkin) who travel to Poland to honor their late grandmother and, in the process, come to understand their family’s history through a new lens. Then, the three drop into the lush, sumptuous world of Like Water for Chocolate, Max’s new six-part limited series adapted from Laura Esquivel’s best-selling novel (which later became a critically acclaimed and internationally successful blockbuster.) Then finally, in a post 2024-election reality, do newsrooms still matter?‌ What role will journalists play over the next few years?‌ And can we solve the attention crisis in America?‌ Our panel discusses. In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel dive into a simple, yet important question: How are you doing? Email us at culturefest@slate.com. Endorsements:Dana: On the Media’s latest episode, “The Manosphere Celebrates a Win. Plus, M. Gessen on How to Survive an Autocracy.” Julia: What better time than now to announce the results of the AMC Nicole Kidman poll! Steve: “Jessica Mitford’s Escape From Facism” by Noah McCormack. Podcast production by Jared Downing. Production assistance by Kat Hong. Disclosure in Podcast Description: A Bond Account is a self-directed brokerage account with Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Deposits into this account are used to purchase 10 investment-grade and high-yield bonds. As of 9/26/24, the average, annualized yield to worst (YTW) across the Bond Account is greater than 6%. A bond’s yield is a function of its market price, which can fluctuate; therefore, a bond’s YTW is not “locked in” until the bond is purchased, and your yield at time of purchase may be different from the yield shown here. The “locked in” YTW is not guaranteed; you may receive less than the YTW of the bonds in the Bond Account if you sell any of the bonds before maturity or if the issuer defaults on the bond. Public Investing charges a markup on each bond trade. See our Fee Schedule. Bond Accounts are not recommendations of individual bonds or default allocations. The bonds in the Bond Account have not been selected based on your needs or risk profile. See https://public.com/disclosures/bond-account to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices