logo
episode-header-image
May 2023
12m 6s

Box Office Poison!

The Retrospectors
About this episode
In a full-page ad published in the Hollywood Reporter on 3rd May 1938, the Independent Theater Owners Association blamed declining ticket sales on some of the era’s biggest names in cinema, including Mae West, Greta Garbo and Katharine Hepburn – all of whom were labelled “box office poison.”  The attention-grabbing tagline quickly took on a life of its own a ... Show More
Up next
Today
Signal-Jamming Aliens
Your TV signal wobbles. An alien voice (albeit one with a Southern English accent...) seizes control of your set. And, instead of newsreader Andrew Gardner reporting on the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army, you hear a voice claiming to be ‘Vrillon’, of Ashtar Galactic Co ... Show More
11m 44s
Yesterday
Elizabeth of Russia's Bloodless Coup
Wearing an armoured breastplate, clasping a silver cross and seizing an Army spontoon, 31 year old Elizabeth Petrovna appeared at the HQ of the elite Preobrazhensky Regiment guards in St. Petersburg on 25th November, 1741 - intent on over-throwing Tzar Ivan VI (a baby), and seizi ... Show More
11m 23s
Nov 24
The First Boob Job
Dr. Vincenz Czerny performed the world’s first breast augmentation in Vienna on 24th November, 1893. After removing a benign tumour via a mastectomy, Czerny addressed the asymmetry left behind by innovatively transplanting a non-cancerous lipoma from his patient’s lower back to r ... Show More
11m 51s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2023
Story Archive Awards: Ranking the Best TV Shows and Films of 2023
<p>Welcome to the first ever Story Archive (Stamp of Approval) Awards aka the SASA’s! You’re in for a treat on this episode as Mario and Zach rank their favorite tv shows and films they’ve watched in 2023 (and a bit of 2022). You won’t get any spoilers in this episode description ... Show More
1h 34m
Apr 2023
The Equalizer (2014) and You've Got Mail (1998)
In this episode of Film Stories with Simon Brew, a pair of hit films that hit at the box office, but also that each met a challenge or two. The idea of a Hollywood take on TV show The Equalizer had been knocking around since the mid-2000s, and for a while it looked as if Russell ... Show More
51m 49s
Feb 2024
Hopeful or Hopeless? Takeaways From 2024's Bleak Box Office Beginning
Matt is joined by box office columnist and Puck contributor Scott Mendelson to discuss the historically bleak start to the year at the box office, filled with few tentpole releases and bombs from movies like ‘Argylle.’ They preview the rest of the year’s movie slate, discuss whet ... Show More
32m 22s
Apr 2024
Dev Patel Goes John Wick
On this week’s show, the panel is first joined by Slate business and culture writer Nitish Pahwa to discuss Monkey Man, Dev Patel’s dazzling but muddled directorial debut. The ultra-violent action flick stars Patel as Kid, a young man who works his way into a secret brothel for t ... Show More
1h 4m
Feb 2021
Slate Money: Movies: Michael Clayton
Welcome to Slate Money Goes to the Movies, a miniseries in which Felix Salmon, Anna Szymanski, and a different guest each week discuss popular business-themed movies.  This week, Felix and Anna are joined by Peter Kafka, a senior correspondent at Recode and host of the Recode Me ... Show More
43m 54s
Sep 2023
Is Rotten Tomatoes Certified Rotten?
This week, Stephen and Dana are joined by guest host Kat Chow, journalist and author of the 2021 memoir Seeing Ghosts. The panel begins by wading through HELL, Chris Fleming’s new hour-long comedy special that’s both puzzling and delightfully goofy. Then, the three consider Astra ... Show More
53m 23s
Mar 2024
En 3 films spécial César : quel est le meilleur film ayant remporté le trophée ?
<p>Notre podcast En 3 films passe en revue quelques uns des meilleurs films ayant reçu la plus prestigieuse des récompenses aux César depuis leur création, le César du meilleur film !<br/><br/>Trois hommes et un couffin, Amélie Poulain, The Artist, Les Nuits fauves, 120 battement ... Show More
56m 44s
Nov 2023
Nicolas Cage is Your Nightmare
This week, Dana and Stephen are joined by Supreme Friend of the Pod, Isaac Butler, who co-hosts Slate’s Working podcast and is the author of The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act (which is now available in paperback!). The panel begins by pondering Dream Scenario, ... Show More
59m 31s
Feb 2023
Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992)
In under 90 minutes, this movie manages to offend, stupefy, and disturb. You’ll laugh, but not for the reasons the writers want you to. Sylvester Stallone stars in this movie, and was supposedly tricked into the role. You can check out the Schwarzenegger-Stallone Rivalry in this ... Show More
1h 11m