On this week’s episode, I’m very pleased to be joined by McKay Coppins, author of April’s cover story in The Atlantic: “Sucker: My Year as a Degenerate Gambler.” We discussed the rise of sports betting apps, why his boss gave him $10,000 to lose, how the wild proliferation of sports gambling could destroy faith in the sports we watch, and why Kalshi/Polymarket could wind up getting people killed. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend! And make sure to read McKay’s story! It’s really quite good.

I’m very pleased to be rejoined by Kevin Goetz, who is the guru of movie testing to discuss his latest book, How to Score in Hollywood. When you spend nine figures on a film and another eight figures marketing it, you want to know what works for audiences and what doesn’t, and Kevin’s the guy who can help you do that. He believes that nearly every movie—if it’s made for the right price and marketed to the right people—should be able to make money, and he’s happy to explain how his company, Screen Engine/ASI, can help make that hope a reality. Our discussion runs the gamut—from concept testing to post-screening focus groups to some Oscar chatter—and I hope you enjoy.

On this week’s episode, I’m very pleased to be joined by David Streitfeld to discuss his new book, Western Star: The Life and Legends of Larry McMurtry. Amongst the topics discussed: McMurtry’s obsession with book buying and selling; how his books and the films they were made from helped shape the view of the west; and why Lonesome Dove—both the book and the miniseries—endures more than 40 years later. From The Last Picture Show to Brokeback Mountain, McMurtry rests alongside Cormac McCarthy one of the great modern voices of the American west.

On this week’s episode, I’m very pleased to be rejoined by Rod Blackhurst (we had him on a couple of years back to discuss his indie crime drama Blood for Dust) and joined for the first time by Ethan Suplee, veteran character actor we all know and love from films like Mallrats, Remember the Titans, and The Wolf of Wall Street and TV shows like My Name Is Earl. We’re discussing their new film, Dolly, a true indie endeavor made in the spirit of American classics like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Evil Dead or the New French Extremity’s High Tension. Rod and his partners raised some money, brought some folks to the woods of Tennessee, and put together something he hopes will be memorable for the audiences who see it. It’s hitting theaters this weekend, playing around 800 or so screens across the country, and if you’re a horror head—or just someone looking for something different—I hope you’ll check it out. (It is a horror movie, though, so I cannot provide any refunds if the onscreen terror sparks a walkout.)As I said, getting Ethan on the show is a real treat because I’ve been a fan for years and it’s been interesting to watch him dip his toes into some darker waters in recent years in films like Dolly, Babylon, Blood for Dust, and God Is a Bullet. It was fun to pick his brain about consciously making that shift and why his film work often gives him a little more space to stretch than his TV work.

We have a special bonus episode this week: I’m joined by Óliver Laxe, the director of the Oscar-nominated Sirāt, to discuss his film about a rave at the end of the world and how we can find community in an age of dislocation and isolation. I wanted to get this out now because a.) the film is expanding this weekend, b.) Laxe himself will be in attendance at a handful of shows across the country over the next week or two here, and c.) it really is the sort of movie you need to see in a theater. For the sound system and the big picture, yes, but also the sense of community a packed theatrical showing can generate. You’ll want to experience it with other people, believe me.

I’m joined by Paul Fischer on this week’s episode to discuss his new book, The Last Kings of Hollywood: Coppola, Lucas, Spielberg—and the Battle for the Soul of American Cinema. It’s a fascinating look at a pivotal moment in film history, when the breakdown of the studio system gave rise to the auteurist 1970s, the first half of which was dominated by Francis Ford Coppola, only to cede the landscape to the blockbuster entertainments that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg mastered in the back half of the decade and beyond.

This week, I’m joined by Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman to discuss their Oscar-nominated documentary, The Alabama Solution. Currently streaming on HBO, their documentary combines interviews, investigative journalism, and footage from within the prisons themselves obtained via contraband cellphones to reveal the horrible and dangerous living conditions of those serving time in the Alabama correctional system. It’s a documentary primed to shock the conscience, and I hope everyone out there watches it. You can also go to the documentary’s website, TheAlabamaSolution.com, to learn more about the deaths inside Alabama’s prisons. And if you think this is an important film and an important issue, please share it with a friend.

Remember that weird moment in the 2024 campaign cycle where Donald Trump started referring to how much he loved and identified with “the late, great Hannibal Lecter”? That was odd, right? I discussed that and more with Brian Raftery, whose new book Hannibal Lecter: A Life is both the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for the love consuming your heart and a fascinating portrait of a bizarre creation from a reclusive writer. Indeed, the most interesting part of the book is the early deep dive into the life and writing of Thomas Harris, who has given just a handful of interviews over his nearly 50-year career. 

I’m very pleased to be joined this week by Matthew Robinson, who is the screenwriter of the new film, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die. It is the rarest of things: a mid-budget, high-concept, sci-fi action-comedy. Starring Sam Rockwell as a time-traveler from a ruined future (or possibly just a bum with a fake bomb strapped to his chest), Robinson and director Gore Verbinski (The Ring, Pirates of the Caribbean) have crafted a piercingly satirical take on our obsession with screens, our inability to deal with the tragedy of modern living, and the creeping fire that all-powerful AI will wind up killing half of us and enslaving the rest. It’s opening wide on February 13, and I really hope you check it out. I may write a hair more about it in my newsletter though I probably won’t review it properly as I try not to review movies made by people I’ve interviewed so as to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. (Ethics, baby!) That said, I strongly recommend going to see it in a movie theater if for no other reason then to demonstrate that there is an audience for original films with a clear point of view and something to say about our world and our moment. 

On this week’s episode, I’m very pleased to be joined by Ric Roman Waugh, the director of the new film Shelter, starring Jason Statham. We talked a lot about making that movie and how he best utilized Statham’s skills as opposed to Dwayne Johnson’s in the movie Snitch or Gerard Butler’s in the Greenland films, Kandahar, and Angel Has Fallen. Shelter, which is in theaters now, is a little more meditative than some of Statham’s recent work, though no less effective for it. We discussed why Statham was attracted to the part and how his fatherhood helped inform his role as the protector of an orphaned young girl.Then we discussed making the transition from stuntman to director: Waugh worked with Tony Scott on a number of pictures, and had some interesting insights into the methods of the great action director. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have to practically restrain myself from just doing 30 minutes on Waugh’s Shot Caller, a gritty prison drama.oo