PREVIEW - #688 - Medium Talents

Our Superdelegate patron tier voted for us to discuss GROUNDHOG DAY (1993), which we're pleased to bring you on Groundhog Day. We discuss Bill Murray's much-loved spiritual journey and ask the question: what is happiness? PLUS: You'll never guess which celebrities are endorsing a new right-wing bourbon. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/149771474

We finally discuss Paul Thomas Anderson's ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (2025), which takes place in a dystopian America not too dissimilar from the current one. PLUS: The Conservative movement reclaims an artist we were really happy to be rid of. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus "Chaos: Behind the Scenes of Amazon's Melania Trump Documentary" by Tessa Stuart - https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/melania-trump-documentary-amazon-behind-the-scenes-1235505208/

We watch the short documentary MICHAEL MOORE MAKES A MOVIE (2018) - a bonus feature on the Criterion release of Bowling for Columbine - and consider how it both challenges and affirms certain of our preconceptions about this podcast's patron saint. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE CONTENT - https://www.patreon.com/posts/149365674

It's a heavy news week, and we're catching up. As Canadians, we are honour-bound to comment on Mark Carney's acclaimed speech at the World Economic Forum. Is the rules-based international order dead? And what does it mean that our banker-in-chief is the one to bury it? PLUS: A word of solidarity to our friends in Minneapolis. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus "Interpreting the Carney Doctrine" by Luke Savage - https://www.lukewsavage.com/p/interpreting-the-carney-doctrine "Why I'm supporting Avi Lewis" by Luke Savage - https://www.lukewsavage.com/p/why-im-supporting-avi-lewis "Why Philosophy Matters" by Hilarius Bookbinder - https://hilariusbookbinder.substack.com/p/why-philosophy-matters-b35

Rob Reiner's SHOCK AND AWE (2017) looks back at a handful of journalists who stood against the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq. Released in the first year of the Trump administration, it looks squarely back to the Bush era - in more ways that one. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/148618908

We return to our roots by discussing a conservative documentary that attempts to take down Michael Moore. In MICHAEL & ME (2004), buffoonish talk-radio personality Larry Elder has a bone to pick with Bowling for Columbine, using facts + logic to show why gun control is racist, sexist, and anti-American. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus "God of the Gaps" by Robert P. Baird - https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2026/01/15/god-of-the-gaps-believe-ross-douthat/

We catch up on a very grim news week, and then discuss a documentary about a journalist who has reported a lot of very grim news weeks. In COVER-UP (2025), Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus paint a sympathetic portrait of Seymour Hirsch, the journalist who exposed everything from the My Lai massacre to Abu Ghraib. PLUS: Folks, it seems the right is cancelling Plato? Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus Check out some incredible M&Us fan art by the great Josh Bayer - https://www.patreon.com/posts/fan-art-147656792

Raoul Peck's new documentary ORWELL: 2+2=5 (2025) seeks to show how George Orwell's warnings from the past are being made reality today. The results are less than the sum of their parts. PLUS: We note the passing of Norman Podhoretz. PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/147746762

We say goodbye to 2025 and offer a skeptical welcome to 2026 with a very special call-in episode. Topics range from Marshall McLuhan to Michael Jackson and beyond. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

What happens when a historian who loves the American presidency is faced with a president like Donald Trump? We discuss the HBO documentary THE SOUL OF AMERICA (2020), about Joe Biden's favourite historian, Jon Meacham, as he struggles to make sense of the Trump era. Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus "The Man Who Loved Presidents" by Thomas Frank - https://harpers.org/archive/2021/07/jon-meacham-thomas-frank-soul-of-america/ "The End of Resistance History" by Charlotte E. Rosen - https://proteanmag.com/2025/01/20/the-end-of-resistance-history/ "The Fight for the Four Freedoms" by Harvey J. Kaye - https://www.simonandschuster.ca/books/The-Fight-for-the-Four-Freedoms/Harvey-J-Kaye/9781451691443 "Take Hold of Our History" by Harvey J. Kaye - https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/zer0-books/our-books/take-hold-of-our-history Our two previous episodes on Michael Moore Hates America (2004) https://soundcloud.com/michael-and-us/episode-8-michael-moore-hates-america https://www.patreon.com/posts/300-300th-61042533