Michael and Us
by Luke Savage and Will Sloan
Society & CultureE · Explicit
Latest episode
#758 - Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis
#758 - Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis
About this podcast
A podcast about culture, politics, and our crumbling world. Hosted by Luke Savage and Will Sloan.
Exclusive subscriber-only episodes: https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus/overview
Episodes
The newest 50 of 500 episodes
- #758 - Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis · 53 minAt the height of the Weimar era, a small group of visionaries created a cinematic symphony about one of the most advanced metropolises in the world. Today, it's hard to watch…
- PREVIEW - #756 - Take the Win · 5 minThe 2026 U.S. Midterm Elections call for a special all-politics episode. We discuss the Blue Tsunami, the challenges and opportunities for the American left, and take the pulse…
- #755 - Fate Sticks Out a Foot · 1 h 5 minA cursed director, a cursed star, and a cursed movie studio combined forces to make a masterpiece about the whims of fate. We discuss Edgar G. Ulmer's film noir classic DETOUR…
- PREVIEW - #754 - Red Herrings · 3 minAt the behest of our Superdelegate Patreon tier, we discuss CLUE (1985), and discover the Communism is the red herring. PLUS: Recapping the elections in Toronto and Brazil…
- #753 - A Long, Directionless Walk · 56 minLuke tests out the APPLE VISION PRO and it leads us on a long discussion of the many ills (and even some of the upsides) of our emerging techno pseudo-utopia. PLUS: On the return…
- PREVIEW - #752 - Don't Mess With You Don't Mess With the Zohan · 3 minAt long last, we discuss one of the most popular American liberal Zionist movies of all time, Adam Sandler's YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN (2008)... and discover a movie that is…
- #751 - Sorbo: Special Ops · 54 minAfter a run of highbrow content, we're right back in the muck! We treated ourselves to the ridiculous Christian hostage thriller FORGIVEN (2016), starring Kevin Sorbo as a police…
- UNLOCKED - #750 - Pink Auteur, Red Outlaw (w/ William Andrews) · 53 minIn the early 1970s, Japanese New Wave auteur Masao Adachi travelled to Lebanon, joined the Japanese Red Army, and chronicled the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in…
- #749 - No One Remembers · 49 minOn public space, the death of cinema, cruising in Taipei, and Tsai Ming-liang's masterpiece GOODBYE, DRAGON INN (2003). PLUS: How many DIGGERs is a CEO payout worth? Join us on…
- PREVIEW - #748 - The Great White Hope · 1 minWith Sylvester Stallone back in the news, we felt it was time to consider a movie that has become not just a consensus classic, but also a piece of American folklore, ROCKY…
- #747 - The Money Monster Bump · 60 minEight years after the start of the Great Recession, and mere months before a certain New York real estate mogul ascended to the presidency, several of Hollywood's most elite…
- PREVIEW - #746 - Chicken Cannon Fodder · 5 minWe continue our patriotic streak by finally tackling one of the true Canadian cultural institutions of our childhoods. In the days of the monoculture, they defined Canadian…
- #745 - The Bear Necessities · 53 minWith Luke returning from a week in the Algonquin wilderness, we discuss another great Canadian outdoorsman, Troy Hurtubise. We discuss the cult documentary PROJECT GRIZZLY…
- #744 - Talkin' Homer, Morgan and the Straw · 44 minShortly before he was unceremoniously cancelled, Morgan Spurlock (y'all remember him?) directed a documentary about the legendary Simpsons episode "Homer at the Bat." Sort of. We…
- PREVIEW - #743 - They Covet Our Freedom · 3 minWe mark the quarter-century anniversary of 9/11 by watching the Adam Sandler film REIGN OVER ME (2007), a movie that proves that there's nothing Hollywood can't turn into grist…
- #742 - Raised Eyebrows · 56 minIn 1967, the creator of the modern conservative movement welcomed one of the most beloved comedians of all time to debate whether the world is fundamentally funny or tragic. The…
- PREVIEW - #741 - Gentlemanly Means Must Be Pursued · 3 minIn 2004, the nominees for both American political parties attended the same Ivy League secret society. For years, whispers and conspiracy theories have followed Yale's "Skull &…
- #740 - Zabriskie Point · 47 minOne of Europe's most revered filmmakers travels to America to make a movie about the times. But instead, he makes a movie out of time. We discuss Michelangelo Antonioni's…
- #739 - House of Slop · 1 h 4 minA few years after "hope and change" curdled, HOUSE OF CARDS offered a cynic's guide to the Beltway circa Obama's first term. We finally discuss a cultural phenomenon that reality…
- PREVIEW - #738 - Odysseus and Telemachus's Excellent Adventure · 3 minWe turn our attention to a bona fide cultural phenomenon and ask: where do Homer's The Odyssey and Christopher Nolan's THE ODYSSEY (2026) intersect and diverge?…
- #737 - Michael & Us 360° · 50 minLike Anderson Cooper before us, we catch up on the news! We discuss the ups and downs of the recent senate primaries in the U.S. PLUS: What do Alex Jones and Goop have in common?…
- PREVIEW - #736 - The Larry Crowne Spectacular · 2 minWhen the financial crisis hit and Americans were losing their homes, one movie had the courage to suggest: have you considered going to community college and dating Julia…
- #735 - Smells Like NC-17 Spirit · 51 minDid you know that a private, monopolistic, unaccountable, and socially conservative organization has free reign to define the limits of artistic expression in the United States?…
- #733 - I've Never Been to Philadelphia · 49 minTo sustain the illusion of America, you need to compartmentalize or deny a lot of violence. We discuss David Cronenberg's existentialist masterpiece A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (2005)…
- PREVIEW - #732 - A Bicycle for the Mind · 5 minSo beyond being the famous turtleneck guy, what exactly did Steve Jobs do during his long tenure at Apple? According to Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle's STEVE JOBS (2015), he…
- #731 - Are You Havin' a Laugh? · 51 minFrom back in an era when Ricky Gervais was widely considered funny, he cashed all his chips on a New Atheism-themed studio comedy built around an incoherent premise. We dig up…
- PREVIEW - #730 - The Malaise of Modernity · 3 minJacques Tati rebuilt Paris from the ground up - and bankrupted himself in the process - to make his masterpiece PLAYTIME (1967), a gentle satire of ultra-modern postwar France…
- #729 - Washington Heights · 51 minLike 'em or not, Angel Studios have emerged as the only explicitly right-of-centre movie company that knows what movies look like. But does their new historical drama YOUNG…
- #728 - Sex, Lies, and LLCs · 56 minThe very same year as Parasite, one of Hollywood's most accomplished filmmakers tried to take on the corrupt financial system, with less-than-spectacular results. We discuss…
- PREVIEW - #727 - Uwe Unchained · 4 minOne of the most popular movies on the streaming channels this week is a low-budget, far-right action movie starring a disgraced actor and directed by one of worst filmmakers of…
- #726 - Crystal Head Triple Herkimer Diamond Filtered Newfoundland Deep Aquifer Vodka (w/ Chris Berube) · 1 h 1 minIf you want to know if we're alone in the universe, who ya gonna call? We welcome back longtime friend of the show Chris Berube to discuss DAN AYKROYD UNPLUGGED ON UFOS (2005), a…
- PREVIEW - #725 - Artificially Unintelligible · 4 minWe catch up on the news - including the long-awaited ouster of Keir Starmer in the U.K., the slow death of the CBC in Canada, and the DSA victories in New York. Then, Will offers…
- #724 - Refuse to Lose · 43 minAt the long-awaited behest of our Superdelegate patron tier, we look back one of the landmarks of 2000s-era Indie Twee, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (2006)... and find a film that…
- PREVIEW - #723 - Accept No Substitutes (w/ Adam Johnson) · 5 minIt's the late 1990s, and your kids are being terrorized by the greatest menace to ever hit the schoolyard... steroids. We welcome Adam Johnson (of the Citations Needed podcast)…
- #722 - Negative Buzz · 49 minAcross this podcast's long existence, we have attempted to give you a magisterial study of the art and politics of the 2000s. And no comprehensive study of that time would be…
- PREVIEW - #721 - A Tedious Mediocre Slog · 4 minAfter 25 years of conservative political dominance, the indie black comedy THE LAST SUPPER (1996) asked: should liberals just try killing their political opponents? We drive our…
- #720 - Hanging Chads · 50 minIn the year 2000, Al Gore conceded a presidential election he won to George W. Bush in attempt to save the legitimacy of American institutions. Safe to say he succeeded in that…
- PREVIEW - #719 - Grogu's On First · 3 minIn about 10 short years, Star Wars has gone from Hollywood's top franchise to a summer box office also-ran. We checked out STAR WARS: THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU (2026) to try to…
- #718 - Would That It Were So Simple · 1 h 0 minLike all empires, the Hollywood studio system had its decadent stage. We discuss Joel and Ethan Coen's HAIL, CAESAR! (2016), which pits an idealogue for the Hollywood studio…
- PREVIEW - #717 - Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie the Pod · 6 minAs a Toronto-based podcast, we are duty-bound to cover Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol's NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE (2025). We travel back to 2008 the discuss one of the…
- #716 - The Roger Ebert Mystery Box Episode · 1 h 18 minWe keep bringing up the beloved American film critic Roger Ebert over and over again, and we've decided it's time to finally exorcise this demon. Before we put Roger in the…
- #715 - Failure to Communicate (w/ Josh Lewis) · 46 minOne of the pillars of the cursed "Everything is Connected" trend of the 2000s, Alejandro González Iñárritu's BABEL (2006) offers a de-politicized look at our global village. Josh…
- PREVIEW - #714 - Pulp Friction · 4 minAfter too long a drought, we return to the writing of Armond White, the legendarily contrarian conservative film critic (currently with the National Review) whose writing has…
- #713 - Downsize This · 45 minA year into the Great Recession, one film was brave enough to ask, "But what about the corporate consultants?" We discuss Jason Reitman's onetime critical darling UP IN THE AIR…
- PREVIEW - #712 - Perfect Blue (w/ Talking Simpsons) · 4 minIn a special collaboration with Bob Mackey and Henry Gilbert of the Talking Simpsons and What A Cartoon! podcasts, we discuss Satoshi Kon's PERFECT BLUE (1997), the anime classic…
- #711 - Beast of Burden · 48 minHe's the first YouTube billionaire, and he did it by being more algorithm than man. We discuss Mr. Beast, and the new flesh. PLUS: There's a hot new content creator on the block…
- PREVIEW - #710 - An Eephus Pitch · 3 minSpring has sprung, which means we're talkin' softball. After briefly ruminating on the beauty of the game, and checking the pulse of our beloved Jays, we discuss one of the best…
- #709 - Symbols of the Sacred Feminine · 52 minWe once again travel back to the dark heart of the Bush era by discussing one of the biggest cultural events of the 2000s. Ron Howard's THE DA VINCI CODE (2006) adapted Dan…
- #708 - You Own Personal Pontiff · 45 minWe recap a contentious week between the Trump Administration and the Vatican before moving on to discuss our own true lord and savior, Snake Plissken. At the request of our…
- PREVIEW - #707 - The Chinese Restaurant · 8 minAlright what are we talking about today? PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/707-chinese-155905797
