On this week’s “Screen Talk,” we take a closer look at the three cities vying to become Sundance’s new home. We are also discussing Plan B’s extraordinary limited series, “Adolescence.” And we’ll parse that amazing last episode of “The White Lotus.”
We also debate the merits of Disney’s controversial live-action “Snow White” and ask why Warner Bros. has it in for animation. As of March 16, the studio has removed the Looney Tunes cartoon shorts library (released 1930-1969), starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig, and Wile E. Coyote from streaming service Max. “They’re trashing the past,” said Anne. “Warner Discovery CEO David Zaslav will do anything to save a dime.”
Under his direction, the studio hasn’t been kind to animation. The “Looney Tunes” live-action hybrid film “Coyote vs. Acme” was scrapped by WBD in 2023 before the film was set to start streaming on Max, taking a $30 million tax write-off instead. WBD later announced that it had no plans to ever release the $70 million movie, and instead, the film was made available to be sold to another interested studio. WBD’s decision followed the similarly scrapped films “Batgirl” and animated feature “Scoob! Holiday Haunt.” It looks like, finally, indie distributor Ketchup Entertainment is in talks to release the film.
And there was actually some good news this week from Florida, where the city of Miami backed off of trying to control what local arthouse O Cinema could show. The city’s mayor tried to pull Oscar winner “No Other Land,” a film about Israeli soldiers razing Palestinian homes on the West Bank, made by both Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers, which was sucked into the rhetoric of the moment. When the theater refused to budge, the mayor threatened to evict them. But the Miami City Council opposed the move, refusing to censor the theater’s programming.
On the Sundance front, this week Ryan, Brian Welk, and I each took one of the three cities that Sundance must choose as its new home when their Park City deal runs out in 2026. They are expected to make their announcement at the end of the month. Park City has outgrown the festival by offering too few theaters and skyrocketing costs. One option is 45 minutes away at the major Delta Airlines hub Salt Lake City, home to major sports teams and plenty of venues, which has long played Sundance programming and has a lively film community.
Salt Lake would seem a perfect fit, except for one thing: Republican Governor Cox is weighing whether to keep the festival’s revenues instate or sign a bill forbidding the flying of certain flags on state buildings and schools, including the Pride flag. If he signs it, Sundance would be a blue festival in a red state. We also looked at Boulder, Colorado, and Cincinnati, Ohio. Boulder is more LGBTQ-friendly, said Ryan, a welcoming blue state with a university and accessible ski resorts like Vail and Aspen, while Cincinnati is another large-scale baseball city in a purple state with plenty of grand theaters and a hip downtown.
Ryan and Anne both admire an extraordinary new hit Netflix series, “Adolescence,” from Plan B. The British series stars burly character actor Steven Graham, who gives an Emmy-worthy performance as a working-class father trying to do better than his parents ever did, but must now face the idea that his 13-year-old son may have killed a fellow student. The four episodes are shot in amazing uninterrupted long takes that immerse the viewer. Ryan cited Antonioni’s “The Passenger” when describing one shot, while Anne compared the series’ cinematic virtuosity to “1917.”
Mike White’s “The White Lotus,” after treading water for an episode or two, has picked up the pace as the three women pals go into party mode, and Walton Goggins’ character heads for Bangkok to see an old friend, played by Sam Rockwell, who tells a riveting story about what he’s been up to, as Goggins reacts. It’s a master class in scene acting.
Both Anne and Ryan dismiss the controversies swirling around Disney’s latest live-action entry, the long-in-the-works “Snow White,” and enjoyed it more than they expected. It might even prove to be a box office hit. The two leads (Rachel Zegler and Andrew Burnap) are able Broadway warblers, and the new numbers from “La La Land” songwriters Pasek and Paul are hummable, even if Gal Gadot is just serviceable as the Evil Queen.
We didn’t even mind the motion-capture seven dwarfs, and enjoyed the ways that the writers updated the film: the Princess Snow White runs the story, while her adoring Prince Charming is no white knight, but more of a forest Robin Hood-type, wearing a hoodie.
Listen to the episode below.
Screen Talk is produced by Azwan Badruzaman and available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify, and hosted by Megaphone. Browse previous episodes here, subscribe here, and be sure to let us know if you’d like to hear the hosts address specific issues in upcoming editions of Screen Talk.
