Cinema Gadfly
by Arik Devens
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A defunct podcast about trading films with friends. Each month I chose a film for a friend to watch and they chose one for me. Then we discussed. There were two episodes a month, first my choice and then theirs. Subscribe via iTunes or Overcast.
My guest for this month is Herb van der Poll, and he's joined me to discuss the film he chose for me, the 1992 American-British satirical mockumentary film Bob Roberts. You can follow the show on Twitter @cinemagadfly.
The cast is seriously insane, with Tim Robbins, Giancarlo Esposito, Ray Wise, Gore Vidal, John Cusack, Peter Gallagher, Alan Rickman, and Susan Sarandon
Oh and also James Spader, Helen Hunt, Jack Black, Jeremy Piven and his sister Shira, and Bob Balaban
Unless you've been living under a rock, you already know we have an election happening
The film shows some strong parallels to the presidency of George W. Bush
Ray Wise, of course, was famously Laura Palmer's dad on one of my all time favorite shows, Twin Peaks
In this film, he and Alan Rickman play Dick Cheney and Karl Rove type figures
Folk music is often in the service of liberal causes, and the subversion of that idea is one of the reasons this film is so compelling
Specifically the music here is in the style of Bob Dylan, with Bob Roberts naming his albums The Freewheelin' Bob Roberts, and Bob on Bob
The Alan Rickman character also has a distinctly Oliver North vibe to him
Strom Thurmond was a terrible human being
This film feels like a satire of Ronald Reagan's America
Bob Roberts himself represents a response to the JFK and RFK eras
The 24-hour news cycle is designed for 9/11 level attacks, not the daily news
I still haven't seen Toy Story 3, much to my shame
The Mass Psychology of Fascism, by Wilhelm Reich, is the book I was referring to
If for some reason you haven't listened to Hamilton yet, you really should, it's phenomenal
Herb may be right that most people know Giancarlo Esposito from Breaking Bad, I know him from Do the Right Thing, School Daze, The Usual Suspects, and King of New York
This film is very different from other Tim Robbins directed projects, like Dead Man Walking) or Cradle Will Rock
The film has a 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, built on 36 positive essays
The Simpsons episode that is named for this film is Sideshow Bob Roberts, from 1994's season six)
James Spader's current show Blacklist) is about to start its fourth season
Technically Miramax is still a studio, but it's changed hands several times in the last few years, and I don't think they're producing new films
StudioCanal uses Lionsgate for their US distribution
I think the involvement of Robert Altman and Gary Trudeau is probably why Criterion released Tanner '88
This film was an influence on another of my favorite television shows, The West Wing
I've never seen Tapeheads, so I'll have to take Herb's word that "Retake America" from this film came from it
Buy the film from Amazon
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