PODCAST · tv
Critical and Curious
by Charisse L'Pree
Exploring pop “trash” through the lens of media history and theory, as well as representations of race, class, and gender with the Ambassador of Pop Culture, Bob Thompson, and Charisse L'Pree, professors at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University.
Episodes
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Critical X
The final chapter in the Fast and Furious story has begun. Fast X, directed by Justin Lin, features the return of family members from the past, new family members like Lil B and Abuelita, and a new villain that mirrors Dom in a myriad of ways. We talk about what Jason Momoa brings to the…
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Franchise Keanu Part 3: John
In the third and final installment of Season 2 Episode 13, we discuss John Wick: Chapter 4. Although the film is the longest (169 minutes), John Wick only utters 380 words, a strategy by Keanu's own design revealing his vision for the character. We describe how – by removing himself from the...
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Franchise Keanu Part 2: Neo
In the second installment of Season 2 Episode 13, we discuss Keanu's reprisal of Neo in Matrix Resurrections (2021). We debate the goals of the film, both from the perspective of the audience as well as from the perspective of Lana Wachowski and Keanu Reeves. Although the film was widely…
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Who shot Romeo and Juliet? Spielberg's West Side Story (2021)
In the first supplemental episode of Season 3, we return to where we began: West Side Story (2021) directed by Stephen Spielberg, starring Rachel Zegler, Ansel Elgort, Ariana DeBose, and Rita Moreno. We discuss the evolution of mainstream social awareness over the past 60 years and how this…
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The Critical Saga
We return to Season 1 of our podcast to discuss The Fast Saga (AKA F9), which features the return of director Justin Lin along with Han and other characters from films past including Sean Boswell and Twinkie (F3), Stasiak (F4, F6), Queenie and Owen Shaw (F7, F8), and Cypher (F8) as well as John...
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Franchise Keanu Part 1: Ted
In Part 1 of Season 2's Episode 13, we discuss the revival of Theodore "Ted" Logan in Bill and Ted Face the Music (2020). Bill and Ted continue to struggle as musicians, husbands, and now fathers, but it's clear that Ted's experiences have diverged from Bill's somewhere in the 30 years since…
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Cameo Keanu
In this Season 2 supplemental episode, we return to our star study of Keanu Reeves with a focus on his cameos in Always Be My Maybe and Toy Story 4. Released within weeks of each other in 2019, Keanu's characters are deeply flawed yet delightfully unaware in both films, continuing his embrace of...
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F9 Post Movie Debrief
Bob and Charisse went to see F9: The Fast Saga in the theater together this weekend, breaking an almost 18-month long quarantine from the theater. In a quick post-movie debriefing after the movie, we discuss why we think people need to see F9 and what excites us most. Charisse also made tote bags...
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Critical and Curious Presents Hobbs and Shaw
We discuss Hobbs and Shaw (2019) in this Season 1 supplemental episode, Dwayne The Rock Johnson, Jason Statham, Vanessa Kirby, and Idris Elba star in this off-narrative comedic extension of the Fast and Furious universe that elaborates and parodies many elements of the franchise. The hilarious...
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Who Shot Romeo and Juliet? Chappelle's Romeo and Juliet in Harlem (2017)
Our final episode discusses Aleta Chappelle's Romeo and Juliet in Harlem (2017). Crowdsourced and shot on site, it is the first and only version to feature a cast composed entirely of people of color. As our only female director this season, Chappelle brings an innovative approach to the story by...
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Who Shot Romeo and Juliet? Carlei's Romeo & Juliet (2013)
In this season's penultimate episode, we discuss Carlo Carlei's Romeo & Juliet (2013) written by Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey). Fashioned as the millennial Romeo and Juliet, it features teen stars Hailee Steinfeld, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Ed Westwick alongside Damian Lewis and Paul Giamatti....
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Who Shot Romeo and Juliet? Asbury's Gnomeo & Juliet (2011)
Since its release in 2011, Gnomeo & Juliet has become a post-postmodern classic. This 3D computer-animated fantasy romantic comedy directed by Kelly Asbury and written by a team of ten writers, features an overwhelming mashup of Romeo & Juliet, Elton John songs, and pop culture references.…
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Who Shot Romeo and Juliet: Madden's Shakespeare in Love (1998)
In the pandemic, Bob and Charisse go back in time to discuss Shakespeare in Love, the 1998 Oscar Best Picture starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes, written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard. We originally thought it was a film built around Romeo & Juliet but not a true Romeo & Juliet story.…
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Who Shot Romeo and Juliet? Levine's Warm Bodies (2013)
We discussed Jonathan Levine's Warm Bodies (2013) in March 2020, just as COVID began to ravage the US, but the conversation is just as relevant 8 months later. From playing with the traditional components of Romeo and Juliet to adding a common enemy, the film hilariously adapts the Bard and...
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Who Shot Romeo and Juliet? Brown's Private Romeo (2011)
Set in a military academy, Alan Brown's Private Romeo (2011) is a love story between two young men where Don't Ask Don't Tell is the ancient grudge forbidding this pairing, even though it is never mentioned. Brown liberates the text from its minimum daily requirements and embraces a brilliantly...
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Who Shot Romeo and Juliet? Bian's David & Fatima (2008)
The 2008 independent film David & Fatima sets Romeo and Juliet in Jerusalem and frames the story as a microcosm of the longstanding religious and ethnic conflicts in the region. Producer Luigi (Kari) Bian and director Alain Zaloum's combination of history, social commentary, and romance swings...
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Who Shot Romeo and Juliet? Bartkowiak's Romeo Must Die (2000)
Romeo Must Die (2000) is a hip hop martial arts mashup starring Aaliyah and Jet Li. Despite Bob's desire to detach this movie from the original text, Charisse insists that this reimagining complicates the rivalry by fleshing Ladies Montague (Kai) and Capulet (Mac) and sacrificing Po (Mercutio)…
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Who Shot Romeo and Juliet? Gunn's Tromeo and Juliet (1996)
In this episode, we take a sharp detour away from Hollywood representations of traditional romance to discuss Tromeo and Juliet (1996), a grotesque RomCom by Troma Entertainment, an indie production company. If you can get past the dismemberment and incest, the film features a tongue-in-cheek…
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Who Shot Romeo and Juliet? Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996)
Baz Lurhmann's 1996 Romeo + Juliet, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Daines, along with John Leguizamo, Paul Rudd, Pete Postlethwaite, Paul Sorvino, and Harold Perrineau, was one of the highest grossing adaptations of the story. We discuss Luhrmann's unique visual style and his unabashed...
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Who Shot Romeo and Juliet: Zeffereli's Romeo and Juliet (1968)
In the midst of the social unrest of 1968, Zeffereli's adaptation of Romeo and Juliet discards the social commentary established by West Side Story, and focuses instead on the simplicity of teenage lust. We discuss the embrace of the original text and Elizabethan style and the strategies of...
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Who Shot Romeo and Juliet? Wise & Robbins' West Side Story (1961)
In the first episode of the third season, Charisse and Bob describe why Romeo and Juliet is the ultimate postmodern fodder and the process of tackling 1 story across 10 (eventually 12) different iterations. They then focus on how West Side Story (1961) – by foregrounding the racial climate of the...
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John Wick Keanu
In the final episode, we discuss Reeves' newest long-term project, John Wick with three films to date, John Wick (2014), John Wick Chapter 2 (2017), John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum (2019). We explore the fetishization of violence, the complexity of forgiveness and vengeance, and the march toward...
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December Keanu
In this episode, we discuss Generation Um... (2012) and Knock Knock (2015), two films from wildly different genres with common themes. In both films, Keanu plays an aging man eager to reclaim his youth opposite two younger women eager to offer themselves as solutions to his midlife crisis.…
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Kao Keanu
In this episode, we discuss Keanu's embrace of East Asian legends and the free will of warriors in Man of Tai Chi (2013) and 47 Ronin (2013). Despite geographic similarities, the two films are wildly different in their storytelling and authenticity: whereas the former features Keanu taking a back...
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Supernatural Keanu
In this episode, we discuss Keanu Reeves' other worldliness in Constantine (2005) and The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008). Both of these stories are adaptations of earlier content, and, in choosing these films, Keanu repeats his status as reluctant savior, continues to problematize the concept…
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Teammate Keanu
In this episode, we talk about Keanu Reeves' venture into sports comedies between Matrix movies, including The Replacements (2000) and Hardball (2001). Both movies are loosely based on true events, establishing characters that are both dynamic and cliché. We talk about how Keanu talks back to the...
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Matrix Keanu
In this episode, we celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Matrix with an extended analysis of Keanu Reeves' character Neo across all 3 films in the franchise: The Matrix (1999), The Matrix Reloaded (2003), and The Matrix Revolutions (2003). We talk about the Wachowski's masterpiece as a…
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Romantic Keanu
In this episode, we discuss A Walk in the Clouds (1995) and Feeling Minnesota (1996). The duality of Romantic Keanu is evident in these two films: one has an abundance of sentiment and the other, an absolute dearth. However, both films feature good guy Keanu saving the damsel in distress, often…
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Thriller Keanu
In this episode, we discuss Johnny Mnemonic (1995) and Devil's Advocate (1997). With these films, Keanu embraces projects in which he is deeply interested, taking pay cuts and criticisms to work with William Gibson, Robert Longo, and Al Pacino. We discuss the nature of free will and dependency…
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Classic Keanu
In this episode, we discuss Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), and Little Buddha (1994). In each of these roles, Keanu brings his own interpretation to classic characters, which is met with harsh critique and high praise. We talk about his accents, his brownface, and how...
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Cop Keanu
Keanu Reeves capitulated into Hollywood in the early 1990s with Point Break (1991) and Speed (1994). These two roles established him squarely and a thoughtful action hero. We discuss the psychological backstory in Point Break and the lack of in Speed, the evolution of Keanu's Everyman, and the...
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Buddy Keanu
Keanu Reeves was introduced to the American public consciousness with Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) and My Own Private Idaho (1991). Both buddy films, Keanu simultaneously demonstrates an acting range and a consistent presence that has defined him for 30 years. We discuss the American...
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Create Curious
The final film in the series, Fate of the Furious starts in Cuba on Dom and Letty's honeymoon and ends in New York City with the next generation of family. In our final discussion, we talk about the redemption of the Shaw family, Cipher, the first female villain in the series, and the comedic...
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Curious 7
We discuss the seventh film in the franchise, the first film post-Justin Lin, the last to feature Paul Walker, and the theme of of shadows and ghosts. Directed by James Wan and on the other narrative side of Tokyo Drift, we also speculate on possible additions to the family. Watch the Trailer for...
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Critical & Curious 6
In this installment of the conversation we talk about the franchise's transition to absurd, over-the-top, 1980s television, from the opening credits to the oldest soap opera trick in the book: amnesia. We also talk about the representation of villains in the movies and Shaw's analysis of Dom's...
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Critical and Curious 5: Media Heist
The fifth discussion addresses the evolution of the franchise as the family comes together in Rio. We talk about the self-awareness of the franchise as well as the representation of Brazil, fatherhood, and the introduction of Hobbs as Dom's even twin. We also talk about which actors or actresses…
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Critical & Curious
In the fourth installment, we discuss the franchise's transition to the revenge film genre, the biblical references in Letty's resurrection as an automobile, and Dom's embodiment of the Lone Ranger as his Charger rears for battle. We also talk about the short film, Los Bandoleros (2009), the...
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The Critical and The Curious: Theoretical Drift
In the third conversation, we discuss the visualization of Tokyo, the inescapable concept of a gaijin, and the way class privilege manifests in the series. As the first of four films in the franchise directed by Justin Lin, we talk about the film as a symbol of stories to come. We also answer the...
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2 Critical 2 Curious
In the second installment, we talk about what John Singleton brings to the franchise, diverse representations of Black masculinity in Rome and Tej, and Brian's trip east from LA to Miami in the 2 Fast 2 Furious Turbo Charged Prelude (2003). Profs L'Pree and Thompson also answer the question: Who…
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The Critical and The Curious
In the first discussion, we explore what makes the Fast and Furious franchise so endearing, including automotive ballet and bromances, the lack of the "damsel in distress," and Racer X, the inspirational 1998 article from VIBE Magazine. We also answer the question: What was your first car? Watch...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Exploring pop “trash” through the lens of media history and theory, as well as representations of race, class, and gender with the Ambassador of Pop Culture, Bob Thompson, and Charisse L'Pree, professors at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University.
HOSTED BY
Charisse L'Pree
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Critical and Curious have?
Critical and Curious currently has 40 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Critical and Curious about?
Exploring pop “trash” through the lens of media history and theory, as well as representations of race, class, and gender with the Ambassador of Pop Culture, Bob Thompson, and Charisse L'Pree, professors at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University.
How often does Critical and Curious release new episodes?
Critical and Curious has 40 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Critical and Curious?
You can listen to Critical and Curious on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Critical and Curious?
Critical and Curious is created and hosted by Charisse L'Pree.
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