A look at the eclectic mix of offerings from Welcome To The Party Pal: The Mind-Bending Film & Television Podcast You Didn’t Know You Needed, five episodes in…
Welcome to the Party Pal (WTTPP) is the ATM-affiliated mind-bending film and television podcast you didn’t know you needed! Hosted by Brian Sachson (producer/writer) and Michael Shields (writer/editor), WTTPP is a celebration of the art of cinema and filmmaking, where movies and television shows are meticulously dissected and analyzed to evaluate their grandeur (or, conversely when necessary, lament their shortcomings). Guests will include the filmmakers and industry insiders that craft the works of art that inhabit the current zeitgeist. In the wake of the release of its fifth episode, we take a look back at what the budding, young podcast has already brought forth in its first five episodes…
WTTPP kicked things off with a deep-dive into the phenomenon that is Black Mirror. Expounding upon the particulars of its most recent fourth season, all that is great about the British science fiction anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker is hailed, as Brian and Michael examined, as Black Mirror does in all its episodes, the unanticipated consequences of new technologies.
In its second episode, WTTPP found its hosts dissecting and examining the grandeur of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread. In the podcast Brian and Michael dove into the themes present in Phantom Thread such as obsession, neurosis, mother issues, love, the desire for control, and shared fetishes, while marveling over the trio of remarkable actors in the film. In an episode that journeyed many places, the WTTPP team discussed Adam Sandler films, the eight shots that encompassed Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope, how Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood planted the seed that grew into Phantom Thread in Paul Thomas Anderson’s mind, who the fashion designer is responsible for popularizing the modern man’s suit with a necktie, and just how “LIT” the New Years Eve party that took place in the film was, and much more.
Episode 3: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
In episode three of the podcast, the WTTTP team delved deeply into the Oscar-nominated film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Expounding upon the intricacies of the Martin McDonagh directed film, Brian and Michael discussed the remarkable ensemble cast, the pain that comes from the loss of a child that the film explores, and the hard and powerful truths found in the film, specifically the social commentary it incorporates about police brutality, racism, and the ability for violence to breed more violence.
Episode 4: Electric Dreams w/ Kalen Egan
The WTTPP team, it its fourth episode, put beneath the microscope the exciting new anthology series now streaming on Amazon titled Electric Dreams. Electric Dreams is a series based on the writings of Philip K. Dick, and in the episode all the splendor of the captivating first season was examined. In order to fully discern all the richness Electric Dreams has to offer, and to dig deep into the origins of the series and get a behind the scenes look at its production, the episode featured an interview with one of the executive producers and writers of the series (as well as The Man In The High Castle), Kalen Egan. More than just one of the creative minds involved in bringing Electric Dreams to life, Kalen also works with Electric Shepherd Productions, a production company that works in partnership with Philip K. Dick’s daughter, Isa Dick Hackett, and is dedicated to stewarding and adapting Dick’s vast catalog for television and film projects.
Episode 5: Embrace Of The Serpent
In the latest episode of WTTPP, Brian and Michael explored the Amazon jungle through the 2015 drama Embrace Of The Serpent, directed by Ciro Guerra and written by Guerra and Jacques Toulemonde Vidal. Based on the the travel diaries of German Ethnologist Theodor Koch-Grunberg and American biologist Richard Evans Schultes, and dedicated to lost Amazonian cultures, Embrace Of The Serpent was the first Colombian film nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 2016. The deeply affecting movie recounts two stories set thirty years apart, both featuring the entirely captivating Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman, who accompanies a pair of scientists on their hunt for a rare, sacred plant known for its healing powers, both physical and spiritual. The episode dissected the film’s exceptional journey which culminated in a spectacular superconscious experience. This episode also featured one of the most personal moments in the young history of Welcome To The Party Pal wherein Brian, ever a zestful traveler, discussed his most recent trip to South America. Candidly, and over the course of the discussion of the film, Brian openly expounds upon his experience in the Amazon, a journey which in many ways mirrors the events of the film in that during his travels Brian visited Pisatahua, an integrative plant-medicine and ayahuasca retreat, located in a remote area of the Bolivian Amazon. His recounting of what happened next puts the “mind-bending” in “The Mind-Bending Film & Television Podcast You Didn’t know You Needed!
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