2006, Ep. 8: "V FOR VENDETTA" (with Jourdain Searles!)

This week, the lovely and talented Jourdain Searles joins us to remember remember the 36th highest grossing film of 2006, the dystopian political thriller V FOR VENDETTA! We discuss the film's curiously dissonant relation to its graphic-novel source material, its resonance (or lack thereof) with its original Thatcherite origins vs. its War on Terror traipsings and its strange decision to closely adapted a lot of the novels' structure but hollow out its context, leaving an action-packed but oddly muddled narrative that makes perfect sense that people have, ironically, mostly forgotten forgotten as a piece of cinema. We discuss the disastrously mid work of director James McTeigue, Natalie Portman's catastrophically poor performance and the Wachowskis' decision to make the titular character a little fuckin' dweeb, less like Jigsaw and more like Batman, as well as its enduring power as symbolism, my enduring hatred for the Ain't It Cool News Butt-Numb-a-Thon, the enduring out-of-time qualities of the IMDb top 250, and how in the hell I'm familiar with all these mid-2000s R&B songs.It was so awesome having Jourdain here, we had so much fun, and I hope you'll join us! Check it out!Brian's Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/SchmanthonyP⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Brian's Bluesky: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bsky.app/profile/schmanthonyp.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Rob's Bluesky: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bsky.app/profile/wormsgreenrealm.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Rob's Substack: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://artofilliterates.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jourdain's Twitter: https://x.com/judysquirrelsJourdain's Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/judysquirrels.bsky.socialTheme Song: "Any Day Can Be Bicycle Day" by Ether Driver ( ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://etherdiver.bandcamp.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ )