88 min listen
#28: Primary Colors/Snake Eyes (with Emily VanDerWerff)
FromTravolta/Cage
ratings:
Length:
71 minutes
Released:
Feb 24, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
This week on the podcast, Vox culture writer extraordinaire Emily VanDerWerff hops on the campaign trail for an interesting, auteur-driven double feature mired deeply in the politics and aesthetics of the late ‘90s! First up is Primary Colors, a Mike Nichols-directed, Elaine May-scripted adaptation of the Joe Klein-penned roman a clef about the Clinton Years. Travolta does his best Alabama drawl as Senator “Jack” Stanton”, a Bill-esque figure whose political idealism is marred by the many personal failings his campaign team (an all-star ensemble including Adrian Lester, Billy Bob Thornton, and an Oscar-nominated Kathy Bates) have to clean up.
Then, we dive into the next-level lurid sleaze of Snake Eyes, Brian De Palma’s stylized thriller about a murdered cabinet member, a prize fight in an Atlantic City casino, and a full-bore Nic Cage hamming it up as an amoral detective caught in the middle of it all. It’s next-level dumb, but boy is it fun.
Which wins out — a well-made, albeit naive, referendum on the disappointments of the Clinton era, or a slick, stupid thriller with Cage as his shoutiest? Take a listen and find out!
Then, we dive into the next-level lurid sleaze of Snake Eyes, Brian De Palma’s stylized thriller about a murdered cabinet member, a prize fight in an Atlantic City casino, and a full-bore Nic Cage hamming it up as an amoral detective caught in the middle of it all. It’s next-level dumb, but boy is it fun.
Which wins out — a well-made, albeit naive, referendum on the disappointments of the Clinton era, or a slick, stupid thriller with Cage as his shoutiest? Take a listen and find out!
Released:
Feb 24, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
#21: My Phirst Phish Show (with Amy Nicholson!): This week, we get down with the swing-for-the-fences joints of Spike Lee! Film critic extraordinaire Amy Nicholson (of the podcasts The Canon and Unspooled) joins us to talk about his latest, BlacKkKlansman, and her experiences attending her first Ph ... by Travolta/Cage