Cannonball with Wesley Morris

Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson’s new movie, “The Smashing Machine,” sends him back to his natural habitat: the ring. But for the first time ever, Johnson finds himself in a role that grapples with what it means to move through the world in a body like his.Wesley talks to Sam Anderson, who recently spent a day with Johnson for a Times Magazine profile. They think about the line between artifice and reality — in Johnson’s performance, and in Sam’s effort to get to know one of the most famous people on earth. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. 

Wesley Morris doesn’t go for cheap jump scares or gratuitous gore. Instead, his favorite horror movies fill him with a sense of dread. This Halloween, he invites film curator Eric Hynes to rewatch scenes from some of the scariest movies they’ve ever seen — some you’ll find in the horror section and some you won’t. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. 

Wesley Morris didn’t love Lady Gaga’s new album “Mayhem.” Then Caryn Ganz, The Times’s pop music editor, took him to see Mayhem — the tour — on its final night at Madison Square Garden. It totally changed the way both of them think about Gaga and what she’s been up to all this time. In short: All hail Mother Monster. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher.

Wesley Morris has been talking about movie stardom with Bill Simmons of The Ringer for as long as they’ve known each other. The actor and director Robert Redford is often invoked in their conversations as the definition of a movie star. In today’s episode, Wesley invites Bill to remember the roles that made Redford a household name and to ruminate on the state of the movie star in 2025. Do we have any true stars left? Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. 

Paul Thomas Anderson is a very rare figure in Hollywood — he’s widely considered to be one of the very best directors of his generation, but he’s never really had a hit when it comes to making money. One Battle After Another might change that. It’s a big budget action movie with a bankable star. And to Wesley’s relief, that didn’t come with any compromises.Wesley invites The Ringer’s Sean Fennessey to celebrate the merits of Anderson’s films and determine if this is his best. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. 

This season, “South Park” is taking on the Trump administration the only way it knows how: with stop-motion, expletives and jokes about the size of the president’s penis. But how is the show getting away with it? Wesley Morris and the comedian Wyatt Cenac discuss the special sauce that is allowing "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone to survive the political pressure that’s come for their comedy peers. At least for now. Thoughts? Email us at cannonball@nytimes.comWatch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@CannonballPodcastFor transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/cannonball Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. 

Six years ago, with the publication of The 1619 Project, Nikole Hannah-Jones argued that slavery was a foundational institution upon which the United States was built. President Trump called the project a crusade against American history — ideological poison that, “if not removed,” would “dissolve the civic bonds that tie us together.” Now, his administration is making a similar argument to attack diversity programs, historical discussions of slavery, civil rights and more as he pressures museums, schools, government agencies, national parks and other civic institutions to de-emphasize race.Wesley contributed to The 1619 Project, and he sits down with Nikole to trace the project’s journey from publication to this moment — when Trump has returned to power on a message that explicitly rejected its premise.Thoughts? Email us at cannonball@nytimes.comWatch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@CannonballPodcastFor transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/cannonball Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. 

We're taking a break this week. See you next Thursday! Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher.

It’s been a long time since MTV was appointment viewing. And yet, billions of people are still watching music videos on the regular — on YouTube. Where does that leave a decades-old awards show dedicated to the craft? Wesley invites Niela Orr, a culture critic, on the show to discuss what makes an unforgettable video and to review this year’s nominees to see which ones should go home with the moon person. Yes, they still give ’em out.Thoughts? Email us at cannonball@nytimes.comWatch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@CannonballPodcastFor transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/cannonball Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. 

Wesley was formed in the glory days of the summer movie: “Total Recall.” “Ghost.” “Pretty Woman.” All from the same epic summer of 1990. He found this year’s slate disappointing by comparison. So in this episode, Wesley invites his friend, the New York Times Magazine writer Sam Anderson, to travel back in time with him — to reimmerse themselves in the movies that shaped their adolescences, and maybe give you the edge-of-your-seat cinematic experience you deserve before summer is over.Thoughts? Email us at cannonball@nytimes.comWatch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@CannonballPodcastFor transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/cannonball   Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. 

“Highest 2 Lowest” is an over-the-top, bougie and unapologetically New York movie. It might also be Spike Lee’s most conservative offering to date. Wesley invites critic Vinson Cunningham to discuss whether the 68-year-old director is picking up an old refrain, and telling young Black men to pull up their pants.Thoughts? Email us at cannonball@nytimes.comWatch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@CannonballPodcastFor transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/cannonball Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. 

Wesley is joined by another unapologetic fan of the “Sex and the City” reboot, Taffy Brodesser-Akner. Together, they celebrate a show about old friendships and middle age. And blame you for its untimely end.Thoughts? Email us at cannonball@nytimes.comWatch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@CannonballPodcastFor transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/cannonball Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. 

Wesley went to the final stop of the Cowboy Carter Tour. He talks through what he saw — the genre of it all, and the quietly powerful politics — with Salamishah Tillet, Times contributing critic and the professor behind an entire class about Beyoncé.Thoughts? Email us at cannonball@nytimes.comWatch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@CannonballPodcastFor transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/cannonball Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. 

What does Ryan Coogler’s vampire movie “Sinners” have in common with the Drake-Kendrick beef? Wesley has a theory that he’s been sitting with for weeks. He shares it with the writer Rembert Browne, and together they consider the vampiric threats facing Black art in America right now.Thoughts? Email us at cannonball@nytimes.comWatch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@CannonballPodcastFor transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/cannonball Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. 

Twenty-four years ago, Wesley Morris and the film curator Eric Hynes were just a couple of “cooler-than-you” cinephiles working at Kim’s Video, the beloved New York City video store. They recently got together to dissect the trends, snubs and outliers on the Times’s 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century list and to shed a few tears over their own top 10s, which we've shared below. FROM WESLEY MORRIS: Norte, The End of HistoryMad Max: Fury RoadThe Piano TeacherO.J.: Made in AmericaWall-EMoonlightThe Holy GirlInherent ViceLove and DianeMagic Mike XXLFROM ERIC HYNES:In the Mood for LoveThe Act of Killing and The Look of Silence (tie)A.I. Artificial Intelligence The New WorldHale County This Morning, This EveningSynecdoche, New YorkCameraperson 35 Shots of Rum Inside Llewyn Davis and A Serious Man (tie)Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait Thoughts? Email us at cannonball@nytimes.comWatch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@CannonballPodcastFor transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/cannonball  Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. 

Wesley Morris talks with Samin Nosrat, a chef and food writer, about her love-hate relationship with “The Bear,” a show that’s always racing against the clock. She says the best moments, in the show and in our own kitchens, happen when things slow down.Thoughts? Email us at cannonball@nytimes.comWatch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@CannonballPodcastFor transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/cannonball Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. 

In the new HBO documentary “Pee-wee as Himself,” Paul Reubens, the creator of the iconic character Pee-wee Herman, comes out as gay. Reubens, who spent most of his career in the closet, had already come out years before but then returned to the closet during his time as the popular Saturday morning children’s show host.On today’s episode of “Cannonball,” Wesley Morris talks with the writer Mark Harris about Reubens’s relationship to being closeted, and they discuss what it means for artists to publicly come out. Thoughts? Email us at cannonball@nytimes.comWatch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@CannonballPodcastFor transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/cannonball Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. 

The trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs ended on Wednesday when he was convicted of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution but was acquitted of the most serious charges against him: racketeering and sex trafficking. Wesley Morris, our critic at large, attended some of the court proceedings over the past couple months, and he walked away with deep and complicated feelings about witnessing the drama of, as he put it, “yet another very famous Black man on trial.” On today’s episode, Wesley wrestles with those feelings in conversation with our producer John White.Thoughts? Email us at cannonball@nytimes.comWatch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@CannonballPodcastFor transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/cannonball Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. 

Host Wesley Morris has a confession to make: He loves Bruno Mars. Nothing wrong with that, right? With the help of the culture writer Niela Orr, Wesley untangles his crush from his discomfort with the pop star’s cozy relationship to Blackness.Thoughts? Email us at cannonball@nytimes.comWatch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@CannonballPodcastFor transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/cannonball Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. 

A new weekly podcast, hosted by the critic Wesley Morris. Come on in, the culture’s fine. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher.