Michael and Us

What if a middle-aged Toronto-based businessman decided to become Robert De Niro? Friends, you don't have to wonder! We discuss the hilarious vanity project REAL GANGSTERS!™ (2013), by Canada's answer to Tommy Wiseau. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus "Ottawa’s Air Canada strike debacle shows it failed to learn from history" by Barry Eidlin - https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-air-canada-strike-flight-attendants-union-cupe/ "The Air Canada strike wasn’t just a win for workers. It was also a wrench in Mark Carney’s plans" by Luke Savage - https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/the-air-canada-strike-wasnt-just-a-win-for-workers-it-was-also-a-wrench/article_723e12c5-a225-4565-b044-206eeef18c49.html Will's classic interview with Tommy Wiseau - https://www.patreon.com/posts/bonus-will-tommy-22188229 "How Did an Oscar-Nominated Legend End Up in This Painfully Amateurish Horror Film?" by Vadim Rizov - https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/11/james-caan-sicilian-vampire

We make one last, final, terminal - we really mean it, this is the last one unless they make a second season! - visit to our favourite British institution, John Cleese's bizarre GB News chat show THE DINOSAUR HOUR. We discuss the show's final episode, "Religion," which doesn't deliver on quite the terms you might expect from the co-author of Life of Brian. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/648-extinction-136964730

In 1994, Hong Kongers were counting down to the looming Mainland handover. But some of them were also counting down to the expiry date on a can of pineapples. We discuss Wong Kar-wai's CHUNGKING EXPRESS (1994), a quintessentially Hong Kong movie with universal resonance. PLUS: Checking in on Canada's Mark Carney government, and the unconscionable western media response to Israel's targeting of Palestinian journalists. * Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus Luke's substack - https://www.lukewsavage.com/ Come see Will will at one of the stops on his book tour: LOS ANGELES - August 30, book signing and Q&A with Dana Gould at Artbook - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ed-wood-made-in-hollywood-usa-la-book-launch-with-will-sloan-dana-gould-tickets-1560019523389 LOS ANGELES - August 30, "Ed Wood on VHS" at WHAMMY - https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/ed-wood-on-vhs-feat-the-sinister-urge-1960-presented-by-will-sloan-tickets-1568174324619 CHICAGO - August 31, "Trust Fall" at Davis Theater - https://davistheater.com/special_events/trust-fall/ TORONTO - September 12, Glen or Glenda screening at the Paradise Theatre - https://paradiseonbloor.com/movies/glen-or-glenda/ * "Mark Carney won on a promise of strong but fair Canada. This is how he is betraying that vision" by Luke Savage - https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/mark-carney-won-on-a-promise-of-strong-but-fair-canada-this-is-how-he/article_4d53c228-bf60-411d-b6e3-be93669eba8e.html "Postmedia masquerading pro-Israel 'advocacy polemics' as news" by Jeremy Appel - https://www.readtheorchard.org/p/postmedia-masquerading-pro-israel "Chungking Express: Electric Youth" by Amy Taubin - https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/766-chungking-express-electric-youth "Poet of Time: Wong Kar-wai on Chungking Express" by Tony Rayns - https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/poet-time-wong-kar-wai-chungking-express

Released just months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Ernst Lubitsch's TO BE OR NOT TO BE (1942) combined farce and thrills in Nazi-occupied Poland. A satire that was once considered "too soon" has aged into one of the great anti-fascists landmarks of cinema. PLUS: Remembering the golden age of "Twitter comedians." PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/136400200

In WAR OF THE WORLDS (2025), Ice Cube stars as a Homeland Security analyst who uncovers a Deep State surveillance plot AND foils an alien invasion - all without ever leaving his Zoom window. We watched the certified Bad Movie that's sweeping the nation. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus Luke's substack - https://www.lukewsavage.com/ Come see Will will at one of the stops on his book tour: LOS ANGELES - August 30, book signing and Q&A with Dana Gould at Artbook - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ed-wood-made-in-hollywood-usa-la-book-launch-with-will-sloan-dana-gould-tickets-1560019523389 LOS ANGELES - August 30, "Ed Wood on VHS" at WHAMMY - https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/ed-wood-on-vhs-feat-the-sinister-urge-1960-presented-by-will-sloan-tickets-1568174324619 CHICAGO - August 31, "Trust Fall" at Davis Theater - https://davistheater.com/special_events/trust-fall/ TORONTO - September 12, Glen or Glenda screening at the Paradise Theatre - https://paradiseonbloor.com/movies/glen-or-glenda/

Donald Trump has said repeatedly that Billy Wilder's SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950) is one of his favorite movies. We revisit one of Hollywood's enduring classics and try to figure out if the current president identifies more with Norma Desmond or Joe Gillis. PLUS: Are we entering the worst season for political memoirs of all time? "President Trump isn’t happy about the Oscar for ‘Parasite.’ What movies does he like?" by Josh Rottenberg - https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2020-02-21/president-trump-favorite-movies-parasite-oscar "The Worst Campaign Book Season of All Time Is Here" by Katherine Krueger - https://www.discourseblog.com/p/the-worst-campaign-book-season-of

Ari Aster's EDDINGTON (2025) takes us back to the lockdown year of 2020, satirizing the many archetypes and discourses - right, left, and centre - that flourished during the pandemic. We attempt to analyze what, if anything, Aster is saying, and dredge up a lot of unpleasant sense-memories in the process! PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/135554313

In the 2000s, there was one form of political iconoclasm that was guaranteed to never get you in any trouble, and it was called libertarianism. At the behest of our Superdelegate patron tier, we return to... (deep, heavy sigh)... PENN & TELLER: BULLSHIT!, with special attention to the episodes "College" and "Safety Hysteria," and remember a popular form of "skepticism" that sounds an awful lot like just being a Republican. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/135327052

In Werner Herzog's INTO THE INFERNO (2016), a self-described cinematic poet teams with a Cambridge scientist for a documentary about volcanos that marries scientific inquiry with a healthy respect for myth and legend. And we also get to visit North Korea. PLUS: Who is the greatest podcaster of all time? Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

The timeline of Aaron Sorkin's THE NEWSROOM is getting further and further into the 2012 presidential election... so it only makes sense that Season 2 Episode 6 ("One Step Too Many") is the horniest episode yet! We catch up on some shocking developments in the "Genoa tip," and find out the true meaning of "discretionary time." PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/640-time-part-16-134860722

A superstar atheist has a near-death experience and becomes a born-again Christian in LET THERE BE LIGHT (2017), the directorial debut of Kevin Sorbo. We take a spiritual journey that leads us to the same destination as any other: to an ad for an app. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

In a tumultuous year of American history, Frederick Wiseman's cinéma vérité classic HIGH SCHOOL (1968) depicts an ordinary Philadelphia school as a system of authority and repression. Some things never change! PLUS: Grok has been saying some unfortunate things lately. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/134229948

Angel Studios, the company that gave you Sound of Freedom, has become a major player in the faith-based movie market... so we wanted to check out one of their movies that's NOT about child trafficking. So we watched Neal McDonough's THE LAST RODEO (2025), and found some interesting new developments in the Christian movie world. PLUS: Catching up on recent events - Zohran Mamdani! Jeffrey Epstein! And of course, that Big, Beautiful Bill! Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus Our episode on Sound of Freedom - https://www.patreon.com/posts/448-sound-of-87093158 TORONTO: See Will introduce Detour on July 15 - https://www.foxtheatre.ca/movies/the-important-cinema-club-masterpiece-classics-detour-1945/ SEATTLE: See Will present an Ed Wood double feature on July 25 - https://thebeacon.film/calendar/movie/ed-wood-made-in-hollywood-usa-w-will-sloan

From war crimes overseas to revenge porn at home, it all comes back to social media. In Season 2 episode 5 of THE NEWSROOM ("News Night with Will McAvoy"), a dizzying number of Twitter- and Buzzfeed-related plots swirl around a single broadcast... and there's still a little time for a Trayvon Martin subplot, too. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/636-righteous-of-133446350

In our last (for now) dive into John Cleese's bizarre centrist chat-show THE DINOSAUR HOUR, our host find himself flummoxed by the unabashedly right-wing politics of special guest Caitlyn Jenner. We saved the best for last! Follow long at home - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnYS6TxmLmc&t=1642s&ab_channel=GBNews Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus