Recommend podcast discussions of books, movies, and music?
September 22, 2023 11:11 PM Subscribe
Recently I have been enjoying podcast discussions or history of media that I have already consumed, usually from a progressive perspective, and I am running out of episodes to listen to. Examples are
- Marooned on Mars (leftist dissection of Kim Stanley Robinson’s writings)
- A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs (what it says on the tin, with lots of re-assessment of the role of gender and race in the story)
- Kill James Bond! (critiques of the Bond movies, and other spy/thriller/action movies)
You Are Good - A feelings podcast about movies, check the archive for a movie that you know well and start there.
posted by Joeruckus at 12:02 AM on September 23, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by Joeruckus at 12:02 AM on September 23, 2023 [4 favorites]
I like Todd in the Shadows who has made many videos about songs. In his “one hit wonder” series, here is his take on Nena’s 99 Red Balloons.
posted by rongorongo at 12:41 AM on September 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by rongorongo at 12:41 AM on September 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
Evolution of Horror (earlier on Metafilter) is great.
Movies of all genres: BBC's Screenshot.
posted by rjs at 12:42 AM on September 23, 2023
Movies of all genres: BBC's Screenshot.
posted by rjs at 12:42 AM on September 23, 2023
I really liked revisiting my teenage favourites via the 60 songs that explain the 90s podcast (later expanded to 90 songs because that just makes sense)
posted by third word on a random page at 1:50 AM on September 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by third word on a random page at 1:50 AM on September 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
The Rewatchables podcast manages to be both informative about movies and pleasantly chatty.
posted by cocoagirl at 2:51 AM on September 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by cocoagirl at 2:51 AM on September 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
I am rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series) and also listening to the excellent podcast "Buffering the Vampire Slayer" in which two queer women and their guests talk about the episodes one at a time, spoiler free. It's pretty good! It is more of a chatty, informal show than a deep analysis, but they definitely do tease out underlying themes and bring an interesting perspective. I'm up to S4 and there is also apparently a sister podcast for Angel which I'm not so interested in, but that's there too if you are.
It looks like they have also done a S1 watch of Yellowjackets and are now doing a rewatch of the X-Files.
posted by Athanassiel at 3:12 AM on September 23, 2023
It looks like they have also done a S1 watch of Yellowjackets and are now doing a rewatch of the X-Files.
posted by Athanassiel at 3:12 AM on September 23, 2023
Unclear and Present Danger - hosts Jamelle Bouie and John Ganz discuss military and political thrillers of the 1990s with various guests.
Historians at the Movies - host Jason Herbert talks movies with various historians.
Both of these can get pretty chatty about things other than the stated movie of the episode at times, in case that's a drawback for you.
posted by the primroses were over at 4:40 AM on September 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
Historians at the Movies - host Jason Herbert talks movies with various historians.
Both of these can get pretty chatty about things other than the stated movie of the episode at times, in case that's a drawback for you.
posted by the primroses were over at 4:40 AM on September 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
The Sentimental Garbage podcast has really smart conversations about media that mostly are guilty pleasure for millennial women.
posted by carolr at 6:30 AM on September 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by carolr at 6:30 AM on September 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
I feel like you are really going to dig some Ranged Touch podcasts. Fairly lefty deep dives on things which are very accessible but the hosts have critical and academic backgrounds which they can bring to bear in interesting ways. I’m a fan of Just King Things, their sequential Stephen King walkthrough, which has been interesting enough to keep going with past the big 70s/80s stuff I started listening for, and recently they’ve started Shelved by Genre - “a show about types of literature and the worlds they imagine”, which in its first season is doing a close reading of Gene Wolf’s Book of the New Sun.
posted by Artw at 6:30 AM on September 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 6:30 AM on September 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
A More Civilized Age looks at Star Wars properties in detail, primarily from a leftist perspective.
posted by PussKillian at 7:05 AM on September 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by PussKillian at 7:05 AM on September 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
"If Books Could Kill" with Michael Hobbes and Peter Shamshiri is a blast. Very funny and insightful chat about "airport books"
posted by tristeza at 8:29 AM on September 23, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by tristeza at 8:29 AM on September 23, 2023 [3 favorites]
I like Cinema Therapy. A therapist and a movie maker discuss the characters and how the scene set up and direction contribute to the personalities and relationships in the films.
posted by Enid Lareg at 8:30 AM on September 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Enid Lareg at 8:30 AM on September 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
I Hate it But I Love It! A media critic and a screen writer discuss movies and TV shows that they love and hate at the same time (or sometimes just love, or sometimes just hate). The hosts have progressive viewpoints, and often the movies are ones that they/we loved as kids but are awful or horrifying when revisited with a modern sensibility. The hosts are also very funny, silly, and hornt up.
posted by ejs at 9:19 AM on September 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by ejs at 9:19 AM on September 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
You Must Remember This is the podcast dedicated to exploring the secret and/or forgotten histories of Hollywood's first century. I love how intensely researched this podcast is. My favorite season was the one on Charles Manson’s Hollywood.
posted by forkisbetter at 9:42 AM on September 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by forkisbetter at 9:42 AM on September 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
Blank Check is a movie podcast where the two hosts (and sometimes a guest) go through a director's filmography. They have a pretty great, and wide-ranging, catalogue to draw from now too.
They are currently going through the films of David Fincher. Their Patreon episodes cover movie-franchises and they just started with the Brosnan-era Bond movies.
Probably my favourite podcast of all tie and the first ever pod I contributed money too.
posted by d_hill at 1:00 PM on September 23, 2023
They are currently going through the films of David Fincher. Their Patreon episodes cover movie-franchises and they just started with the Brosnan-era Bond movies.
Probably my favourite podcast of all tie and the first ever pod I contributed money too.
posted by d_hill at 1:00 PM on September 23, 2023
Marlon and Jake Read Dead People is my absolute favorite podcast. Marlon is Booker Prize-winner Marlon James and Jake is Jake Morrissey, his editor. They are both very smart and very funny and have given me a new way of looking at some of my favorite and not so favorite books. I've also ended up reading some books I wasn't familiar with after hearing them talk about them. One of my favorite episodes was the Louisa May Alcott/ Laura Ingalls Wilder grudge match, and I loved it when Marlon James said he wanted to write a sequel to Jane Eyre – after Mr. Rochester drives her crazy. It's a podcast for people who appreciate classic literature, but don't want a totally reverent view of it. Not super political all the time, but I'd call it a progressive outlook.
posted by FencingGal at 2:10 PM on September 23, 2023
posted by FencingGal at 2:10 PM on September 23, 2023
I, Podius, the essential 13-episode podcast companion to the BBC's I, Claudius, with John Hodgman, Elliot Kalan, and several amazing guests, including, among others, Patrick Stewart, and producer Jordan Kauwling's mom, who is at least as cool as Patrick Stewart.
posted by BrashTech at 5:10 PM on September 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by BrashTech at 5:10 PM on September 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
I love Kill James Bond! and I've also enjoyed:
- Be the Serpent (101 episodes). Each episode generally covers two genre fiction books and a fanfic.
- Cracked Spines (still releasing episodes). Each episode is about a book, usually SF, or occasionally a TV show.
- Rats in Boilersuits (tragically, only eight episodes). About the show Torchwood.
You might also like Well There's Your Problem, a podcast about engineering disasters co-hosted by Alice Caldwell-Kelly, or Lions Led By Donkeys, about military history but the bonus episodes cover military fiction - books, TV shows and movies.
posted by aussie_powerlifter at 6:26 PM on September 23, 2023
- Be the Serpent (101 episodes). Each episode generally covers two genre fiction books and a fanfic.
- Cracked Spines (still releasing episodes). Each episode is about a book, usually SF, or occasionally a TV show.
- Rats in Boilersuits (tragically, only eight episodes). About the show Torchwood.
You might also like Well There's Your Problem, a podcast about engineering disasters co-hosted by Alice Caldwell-Kelly, or Lions Led By Donkeys, about military history but the bonus episodes cover military fiction - books, TV shows and movies.
posted by aussie_powerlifter at 6:26 PM on September 23, 2023
Another Ringer podcast (The Rewatchables) was recommended above. I also enjoy The Big Picture, which is also published by The Ringer and is hosted by Sean Fennessy, who is one of the Rewatchables guys. Fennessy is more of a "film nerd" than the other Ringer hosts, so this show is more focused on film as art, but it's fun too. They do whole episodes on a particular director's 10 best movies, or an actor's whole career, etc. I'm pretty deep into the Ringerverse, and I think it is a ton of fun, but it may be somewhat bro-heavy for others.
posted by Mid at 1:31 PM on September 24, 2023
posted by Mid at 1:31 PM on September 24, 2023
The author of "A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs" sometimes mentions "Cocaine & Rhinestones," a similar podcast about the history of country music. I haven't listened to it but he talks about it very positively.
"Song Exploder" is a nice podcast with each episode focused on one specific song and how it was written and recorded. They're usually shorter episodes, 15-20 minutes long. There is a lot of variety in the genres that are represented but I think it skews pretty heavily to new or newer music and musicians.
posted by ElKevbo at 7:56 AM on September 25, 2023
"Song Exploder" is a nice podcast with each episode focused on one specific song and how it was written and recorded. They're usually shorter episodes, 15-20 minutes long. There is a lot of variety in the genres that are represented but I think it skews pretty heavily to new or newer music and musicians.
posted by ElKevbo at 7:56 AM on September 25, 2023
Switchblade Sisters, hosted by former film critic and screenwriter April Wolfe, is a terrific film-discussion podcast focusing on current female filmmakers (directors, writers, actors, etc.) and their favorite genre films. Each week's guest gets to talk in-depth about a genre movie that inspired them (which usually draws heavily from the '70s and '80s horror/sci-fi/fantasy boom) and how it connects to their own work.
Wolfe ended the podcast to focus on her own writing career, but there's 173 episodes ready to listen to right now. Each episode is self-contained, so you can can easily pick and choose episodes out of movies you've already seen, or (like I did when it was still running) use each episode as an excuse to finally watch/rewatch some genre classic you've been putting off for years and enjoy the conversation afterwards. It also introduced me to a ton of great present-day women filmmakers and pointed me to a bunch of current movies that I probably wouldn't have sought out otherwise.
posted by Strange Interlude at 12:06 PM on September 25, 2023
Wolfe ended the podcast to focus on her own writing career, but there's 173 episodes ready to listen to right now. Each episode is self-contained, so you can can easily pick and choose episodes out of movies you've already seen, or (like I did when it was still running) use each episode as an excuse to finally watch/rewatch some genre classic you've been putting off for years and enjoy the conversation afterwards. It also introduced me to a ton of great present-day women filmmakers and pointed me to a bunch of current movies that I probably wouldn't have sought out otherwise.
posted by Strange Interlude at 12:06 PM on September 25, 2023
Seeing the recommendations for Ringer podcasts above, I can also heartily recommend literally any podcast co-hosted by former Vanity Fair writer Joanna Robinson, who's been one of my go-to TV podcasters for a decade now. She's got a way of talking about characters and big-arc storytelling that has boosted my enjoyment of a bunch of TV shows, like Game of Thrones and LOST and Westworld, and more.
She currently hosts the House of R podcast with Mallory Rubin, where they specialize in deep dive discussion of current genre TV series (right now it's the Star Wars: Ahsoka series) along with more free-form bonus episodes. Mallory is also a highly insightful co-host with excellent on-air chemistry with Joanna and a knack for spinning theories about future plot developments. It's also in my opinion the least bro-ey show on the Ringer network by virtue of being hosted by two whip-smart ladies.
posted by Strange Interlude at 12:24 PM on September 25, 2023
She currently hosts the House of R podcast with Mallory Rubin, where they specialize in deep dive discussion of current genre TV series (right now it's the Star Wars: Ahsoka series) along with more free-form bonus episodes. Mallory is also a highly insightful co-host with excellent on-air chemistry with Joanna and a knack for spinning theories about future plot developments. It's also in my opinion the least bro-ey show on the Ringer network by virtue of being hosted by two whip-smart ladies.
posted by Strange Interlude at 12:24 PM on September 25, 2023
+1 to Joanna - she is sometimes on The Big Picture and she's always good there too.
posted by Mid at 7:01 PM on September 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Mid at 7:01 PM on September 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
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posted by evilmomlady at 11:15 PM on September 22, 2023 [2 favorites]