Apres Culture

This week we’re observing Memorial Day with German U-boat film Das Boot, about a crew of average German sailors just trying to survive the Third Reich’s disastrous war. Then we’re talking two of the best episodes of one of the best shows ever, M*A*S*H. From season 1, “Sometimes You Hear the Bullet,” and from season 2, “Abyssinia, Henry.” Pull up a chair and picture your hairiest uncle in a Carmen Miranda costume—it’s time for Après Culture.

This week we’re relentlessly dissecting the Mad Men finale. We’ll settle for once and for all what that Coke commercial meant, explain why that nameless secretary gave Pete a cactus, of all things, and get real about how Mad Men changed our lives. Plus, we guarantee we’re the only one of the literally millions of Mad Men finale reviews this week to name check both Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Wyatt Earp. That’s right, check us out: we’re complex. Pull up a chair and give your Bloody Mary a contemplative stir—it’s time for Après Culture.

This week we’re honoring our mothers (or at least the general idea of motherhood): we talk seminal weepy Terms of Endearment, including John Lithgow’s unexpected role and the genteel way one died of cancer in 1983. (SPOILERS) Then we do a totally comprehensive survey of the sitcom Mother’s Day, from Golden Girls to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air to The Middle. We found some sharp writing and some affecting insight, and also a whole lot of PG-rated masturbation jokes. And it wouldn’t be Apres Culture unless Sara Ann tried a kind of booze she’d never had before (white wine spritzers, y’all!). Pull up a chair; it’s time for Apres Culture.

This week we’re talking action, from modern franchise installments to classic Luc Besson flicks. We’ll render the judgment you’ve no doubt been waiting for before deciding to see the blockbusters du jour. Then we’ll jump back to the 90s for a French flick that got no sequels but still started a cottage industry, plus an assassin movie that amounts to “Lolita with explosions.” And we’ll finish off with a VERY IMPORTANT BET about the upcoming Mad Max reboot. So grab a nice anonymous Belgian ale and pull up a seat: it’s time for Après Culture.

This week we talk about train-adjacent murder, starting with Paula Hawkins’ immensely popular new novel, The Girl on the Train, a murder mystery full of unreliable narrators, metaphor-laden commuter trains, and suburban ennui. Then we head back to 1951 for Alfred Hitchcock’s classic, Strangers on a Train. Is there more to see than the famous strangers switching murders setup? And why does Hitchcock put his scary bad guy in a monogrammed, lobster-patterned neck tie? We finish up a Pulitzers quiz full of high-falutin’ literary trivia you can definitely use to impress strangers at bars. (Go ahead, get your Cliff Clavin on! Everybody loves that guy!) So mix yourself an ironic gin and tonic and get comfortable: it’s time for Après Culture.

This week on Après Culture, we’re taking a look at two canon-worthy movies based on the same fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast. Criterion’s restored version of Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast is streaming on Hulu Plus. Disney’s version isn’t streaming anywhere (nothing streams from the vault), but it can be borrowed from your local library, or almost any friend who has young children. Get more of-the-moment wit and wisdom on Twitter @apresculture, plus our between-episodes blogging at our website, apresculture.com. Thanks for listening!