Episode 272 – ETERNALS

Runtime 91 minutes Show Contents 0:00 Introduction 2:39 Know Your Enemy with Guest – Britany A. Murphy 19:26 The New Slang: ETERNALS 58:27 Spoiler Section 1:12:16 The Other Side: Britany and Ryan talk further reading after Chloé Zhao’s film Thoughts from Your Host… Here you have one more published opinion amongst thousands of published opinions about a large-scale blockbuster property. I’m thankful that my guest who stopped by to talk about it is the sort of person who is interested in the medium…because quite honestly, so many people – so many critics – just aren’t. The discourse around comic book films is exhauting to witness. I say this as a critic and as a fan. People trundle into the conversation with so much baggage; carts and carts and carts of baggage. Everything from feeling attacked because something you love is being criticized, to feeling a need to tear it down because it somehow threatens “real art”. Let’s get real for a moment: Both for and against, there are a lot of people out there who make their minds up about a film as soon as they see the logo at the outset. It’s tiring. Truly. Were one of these same stories directed by Denis Villeneuve, or produced by A24, both sides of this argument would sing a very different tune. I think what makes things even more exhausting is the fact that we just had a whole year where all such films sat in dry-dock. It didn’t change anyone’s outlook, or blunt the edges of this argument. No one is singing the praises of “The Cinema of 2020”, so maybe this is all about more than just big corporations and characters with capes. Maybe…just maybe. But admitting that would just be too damned hard, wouldn’t it? For and against, nobody would ever want to admit that they are part of the problem. If you want to listen to an honest conversation about ETERNALS by two people who enjoy such films but don’t feel they are above reproach, please press play. If not – well, thanks for reading. Links mentioned in Episode 272… Matineecast 251 where Britany and I discuss WONDER WOMAN 1984 Superman issue 247: “Must There Be a Superman?” Britany’s Twitter feed can be found here. Comments and feedback are welcome and thank you very much for listening.  Enjoy!