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i thought we had a connection okay how
old am i
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what are my hobbies what's my name
sorry maybe that one's too hard
welcome to your weekly ticket
we start off with the news that there is
a new star wars movie in the works
michael waldron who wrote the upcoming
doctor strange into the multiverse of
madness will pen the script for a new
star wars film that's being developed
and produced by marvel chief kevin feige
according to deadline this is just one
part of the recent deal waldron signed
with the studio that suggests
a long-term relationship with disney and
its live-action divisions
unfortunately no word yet on when
production for the film will begin or
what the story will focus on
it looks like tiffany haddish is
venturing into sci-fi territory for her
next film
thoroughbreds and bad education director
corey finley will write and direct the
film
haddish will star in an adaptation of
the novel landscape with invisible hand
which follows an invasion of earth by
aliens who then become obsessed with a
teenage couple's dating life
as of now mgm plans to release the film
theatrically across the country but
there's no word yet on the exact release
date
jesse buckley star of fargo and james
bond actor roy kinnear have been cast in
the next film from ex-machina director
alex garland the project is titled men
and is about a young woman's vacation to
the english countryside following the
death of her husband
a24 which distributed garland's ex
machina will also distribute this film
in honor of news of the world being
available to watch at home starting on
friday we're taking a look at some of
the best of the west films worth
checking
out and here to break it all down is
culture critic
at the week jeeva lang jiva what is your
favorite classic western uh that is a
very easy question because it's also one
of my favorite movies ever made i'm
gonna have to go with the searchers by
john ford
it's a 1956 film shot in technicolor
vista division
most of it was shot in monument valley
so it is just
gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous it stars
natalie wood jeffrey hunter
ward bond who's one of the great western
character actors and of course
john wayne this was one of the 14 films
john wayne made with
john ford and part of why this film is
so fantastic
it is in conversation with the myth of
the american west as it was established
and created by other westerns and also
by
other john ford films so it really
presses
and pushes the classical form to its
breaking point
john wayne is ostensibly the hero but i
think anybody who watches this film
would be appalled by his behavior he is
obsessive he is
a maniac as his ahab like quest to find
his niece who he
intends to kill because she has been
living with native americans so
very strange deranged hero that we're
supposed to
root for or perhaps not and it's
gorgeously composed it's very
intentional
it begins with this famous shot out the
door into the west at monument valley
and it closes with the same
frame one time john ford is coming the
last time he's leaving
so kind of bringing up these themes of
the values of the old west held maybe
don't have resonance or importance to
future generations
i think it's a film where if you're
somebody who is like oh westerns aren't
those those movies where white people
are killing native americans like the
searchers is very aware of that
and is working against it intentionally
and kind of
pointing the way towards like the films
of sam pekin paw that would come in the
next decade the revisionist westerns
that would confront those
unfortunate themes that are in a lot of
early westerns
that's very interesting that your your
favorite is a basically kind of a
critique
on westerns someone was looking for
modern western to get into and they
don't usually watch westerns what would
you recommend
i would actually pick that question
apart a little bit so i think my um
question to somebody would be why do you
not watch westerns so
perhaps the reason is that you're just
not familiar with them you haven't
encountered them a whole lot
you don't watch tcm obsessively in which
case i'd say start with something like
true grit
or the new 310 to yuma both of these are
remakes of older films so if you're
looking for the like
rip roaring like introduction to the
genre this is going to show you what
westerns are all about in the vocabulary
of older westerns
if you're not watching westerns for
maybe ideological reasons or it's not a
style that particularly attracts you
i would point you to films like um first
cow or the writer
both of these films are made by women
neither of them is working in
a traditionally western vocabulary and
there are a lot slower films
but both real gems that are in
conversation with westerners that came
before them so
if you're completely unfamiliar with
westerners he's the first westerns
you've ever watched i would recommend
going back and also watching
older westerns once you're finished with
them because i think it will bring
more like insight and perspective into
what those films are trying to grapple
with
now people can see tom hanks in his very
first western if you don't count toy
story
at home this week in news of the world
who's another actor that you would love
to see take a stab
at being in a western oscar isaac has
the face for it i could see him doing
something
i also really love the idea of like a
margot
robbie like stagecoach robber like do
the old west outlaw thing with her
you know maybe somebody classic like
bell star or calamity jane or some
character like that
i know i'm giving you so many answers
but there's so many people i want to do
westerns
there's so many great indigenous
actresses as well neva nielsen
she plays lady silas in the terror she's
fantastic needs more work she would be a
great lead in a movie one day
how do you think you'd like to see the
genre evolve and do you think the
stories of the old west actually hold
value to like modern audiences
yeah great question so western's kind of
have this reputation of being
like dad movies but modern westerns are
doing such interesting things with the
genre like really pushing back
on things that were established by the
classic films so
like i think of movies like brokeback
mountain which kind of like
overturns the idea of the west is like
an extremely heteronormative space
or wind river which deals with how
decades of
genocide and oppression created the
missing and murdered indigenous women
crisis we're having today
first cow which replaces chinese
immigrants back in the west
frequently absent from westerns even
films like
the revenants i'm not going to go as far
as to call it an eco western
but leonardo dicaprio's character who
plays a frontiersman is kind of at war
with the landscape itself
in a way that's really interesting
because there's the whole idea of
westerns as being like man
conquering the west or taking over the
west and in this one the land fights
back a little bit so
i could also see westerns going in a
direction that has something really
relevant in terms of
climate change or environmental
protection in the future as well as the
genre continues to develop and deal with
those modern themes
oh wow yeah i got a lot of untapped
stuff in there i guess
yeah great all westerns are kind of
about
telling ourselves myths about ourselves
and so the best westerns are the films
that
interrogate that and ask is there a dark
side to what the stories are that we're
telling ourselves about ourselves
well thank you so much uh geva for
coming on the show and giving us a
different perspective
for westerns where can people find you
i'm on twitter
at jee underscore buh
and at the week is where my writing is
all right well thanks for coming on i
wish i could tip my hat to you but
you get the idea happy trails
happy trails
available to watch at home friday is
promising young woman
you remember the accusations made
against alexander monroe
i don't he took a girl
back to his room
you know we get accusations like this
all the time everyone said cassie was a
promising young woman
until a mysterious event abruptly
derailed her future
but nothing in cassie's life is what it
appears to be she's wickedly smart
cunning and she's living a secret double
life by night
now an unexpected encounter is about to
give cassie a chance to right the wrongs
of the past
in this thrilling and wildly
entertaining story the film is written
and directed by emerald fennell and
stars carrie mulligan
laverne cox and bo burnham and available
to watch at home today as horizon line
former couple sarah and jackson board a
single-engine plane for a routine and
casual flight to their friend's tropical
island wedding
however within minutes after takeoff
their pilot suffers a fatal heart attack
leaving them with no idea where they are
and no clue how to land the plane
with nothing but miles of ocean and sky
in every direction
and a terrifying storm that's about to
envelop them sarah and jackson have only
one shot
and there's no going back alright well
that's it for today but leave us a
comment and let us know what is your
favorite western
i'm kale and i'll see you next time
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