BFG Podcast #200: 'The Phoenician Scheme,' 'Ballerina,' and A Final Wrap-Up
40:59 Share

This is the final episode of the BFG Podcast. We're as sad to see it go as you are, but editor and host Neal Pollack has a new job at the U.S. edition of The Spectator), the world's oldest magazine, and will no longer be seeing and talking about movies for a living. We had an extraordinary four years on the podcast, bringing you news and commentary nearly every week on a shoestring budget, but it's time to end our amazing little show.

Neal welcomes his one and only guest this week, film critic Stephen Garrett, to discuss two new films and a bunch of older ones. First up, Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme), which both Neal and Stephen agree stands above the usual fare that Anderson has been producing in recent years. That has a less to do with Anderson's endlessly arch visual style and more to do with emotional and fun performances from the film's three leads, Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, and Michael Cera. There's also a fun basketball segment in the middle, and a poignant ending that makes this feel more like a movie and less like an art-school experiment.

There's nothing particularly art-school about Ballerina), a side-sequel of sorts to the John Wick saga. Stephen and Neal both were able to see past the self-seriousness of John Wick and Wick-adjacent movies to see the slapstick heart at the film's center. There's an extended flamethrower battle toward the end that is one of the zaniest action sequences ever put to film. And Ana de Armas, while about the size of a peanut, has enough movie-star charm to hold it all together. Plus, there's an extended Keanu Reeves cameo. This is pretty fun.

Finally, Neal and Stephen reconsider the hundreds of movies they've reviewed since 2018, when Neal took over the reigns. Mostly, they focus on the five-star movies, films that are good, but that reviewers reacted to in a personal way. They argue extensively about Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood, which Neal likes way more than Stephen, and First Man and Ad Astra, which Stephen likes way more than Neal. If you can take any one thing away from Neal Pollack's tenure at BFG, it's that he doesn't like movies where astronauts cry. Astronauts should never cry. They are in space. It is their dream.

That's all from us at the BFG podcast. Thank you so much for listening over the years, and enjoy our final episode!