Season 2, Episode 12: Before the Court

<p>After nearly nine years of appeals of his sixth trial, Curtis Flowers finally had his case argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. At issue was whether DA Doug Evans tried to keep African-Americans off the jury in the 2010 trial. Flowers wasn't at the Supreme Court -- he remains ... Show More

<p>On Friday, June 21, after months of deliberation, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its opinion in the Curtis Flowers case. In a 7-2 ruling, the justices threw out the conviction from his sixth trial, in 2010. The decision of what happens next -- whether to release Flowers or ... Show More

<p>It's been 11 days since the U.S. Supreme Court threw out Curtis Flowers' conviction. But the story didn't end there. In recent days, there have been three other significant developments, including new details from a key witness, that may determine Flowers' fate. </p><p><br></p ... Show More

<p>Over the course of his three-decade career, the director Paul Thomas Anderson has dramatized the nineteen-seventies porn industry (“Boogie Nights”), the Californian oil boom (“There Will Be Blood”), and a mid-century London fashion house (“Phantom Thread”). Now he’s trained hi ... Show More

<p>Westward expansion has been mythologized onscreen for more than a century—and its depiction has always been entwined with the politics and anxieties of the era. In the 1939 film “Stagecoach,” John Wayne crystallized our image of the archetypal cowboy; decades later, he played ... Show More

<p>In the early days of the Hollywood studio system, producers exerted far greater creative control than any individual director. Then, in the mid-twentieth century, a group of young French critics issued a <em>cri du coeur</em> that gave rise to the figure of the auteur: visiona ... Show More

<p>“Hit Man,” a new film directed by Richard Linklater, is not, in fact, about a hit man. The movie follows Gary Johnson (Glen Powell), a mild-mannered philosophy professor who assists law enforcement in sting operations by posing as a contract killer—and playing on the expectati ... Show More

<p>“Civil War,” Alex Garland’s divisive new action flick, borrows iconography—and actual footage—from the America of today as set dressing for a hypothetical, fractured future. Though we know that the President is in his third term, and that Texas and California have formed an un ... Show More

Griffin, David and guest host Producer Ben present a special episode this week: a discussion of 1995’s action thriller Under Siege 2: Dark Territory. But is it true the co-founder of CAA and former Disney president, Michael Ovitz, bet he could make even a stocky Aikido teacher wi ... Show More

Ken Loach is one of the greatest film directors of all time and a true British icon. He is known for his powerful, socially engaged films including ‘I Daniel Blake’, which won him a BAFTA for outstanding British film. At 87 years old, Ken’s career spans nearly six decades and his ... Show More

<p>When screenwriter <b>Charlie Kaufman</b> started making his epic, heartbreaking directorial debut <b>SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK</b>, he was the toast of Hollywood. Then it flopped, put a pause on his career, and arguably marked the end of the heady “indiewood” era of the oughties. H ... Show More

<p>The campaign for an Oscar is just that: a campaign. In the weeks and months leading up to the ninety-sixth Academy Awards, actors and directors have been hard at work reminding voters and the public alike of their worthiness, P.R. agencies have churned out “for your considerat ... Show More

<p>“Severance” is an office drama with a twist: the central characters have undergone a procedure to separate their work selves (“innies,” in the parlance of the show) from their home selves (“outies”). The Apple TV+ series is just the latest cultural offering to explore how the ... Show More