On this week’s episode, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) discuss the, frankly, bonkers number of nominations received by Emilia Perez. Will the Academy favor it for best picture as a way to stick it to Trump? Then they review Presence, Steven Soderbergh’s new haunted house movie told from the perspective of the ghost. Is it just a formal experiment, or something more? Make sure to swing by Bulwark+ on Friday for our Steven Soderbergh draft. And if you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend!
Spoiler warning: I saw Presence with two friends. All three of us came away thinking the ghost was one of Chloe's dead friends and Tyler became a ghost after he died. What in the picture did we miss that leads you to be certain Tyler was the ghost all along?
There's a line that very specifically says something like "for the spirit it's a confusing time, it's the past and the present simultaneously." Plus the stuff about the window with the medium.
Neither me nor my friends (both of whom are smarter than I am) picked that up. Realize that the ghost "rules" are that they can only haunt the location where they died (a rule that is occasionally relaxed) but an almost ironclad ghost rule is that the ghost is the spirit of a dead person. Throwing Intersteller-level time travel confusion into the mix strikes me a a cheat--and I realize you like Intersteller a lot more than I do.
Alyssa was spot on. EP is terrible. I am a SAG Awards voter so I spend my evenings trying to watch everything nominated. Two of my early views were Conclave and The Last Showgirl, I thought, OK, not amazing. It seems all the movies this year with EP and The Substance being at the top of my worst list are horrible. I agree with Sonny, if Hollywood wants to disappear, keep making and nominating movies like these.
I feel confident that the the only people less in touch with the American people are political commentators (aside from The Bulwark, of course)
I don’t know that vibe shifts or sticking it to Trump matters here. I think the Dr. Doolittle comparison explains a lot here. Also, some people like it. Whatever.
This year was always going to be a come down from the Barbie/Oppenheimer heights of last year, but yikes did 2023 under deliver.
Alyssa was on fire. My summation from their discussion that applies to todays, "WTF is going on!?!" If RFK Jr was a film?
great discussion, which article by Ezra Klein were you referencing, like to check it out.
Sonny warning people he was about to say insane while Alyssa let it fly is hilarious. I fear for the future of the pod if Emilia Pérez wins best picture. Alyssa might jump ship to a Daily Wire movie podcast.