Podcasts by Low Key

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special from 2022-12-09T01:59:12

We discuss James Gunn's new Disney+ one-off, the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, whether Vol. 3 looks good, and whether Drax has gotten too dumb.

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Black Adam Review from 2022-10-30T02:39:13

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Werewolf By Night Is Fine from 2022-10-26T14:50:39

Werewolf by Night is an enjoyable little flick you can watch

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Enter: Entergalactic, a Kid Cudi Charmer from 2022-10-14T16:48:10

Kid Cudi is the driving creative force about the charming musical/comedy/romance Entergalactic, featuring a voice cast that includes Jessica Williams, Timothee Chalamet and of course Mr. "Day 'n' N...

Pearl from 2022-09-30T16:13:17

A pandemic rages, intergenerational resentments simmer, and secret sex and horrific violence abound.... in 1918. We talk about Ti West's masterful Pearl.

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House of the Dragon "Initial Thoughts of First Two Episodes" from 2022-09-02T22:09:50

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Day Shift Review from 2022-08-27T15:52:14

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Prey Discussion: The Predator is a low-key misogynist from 2022-08-19T13:54:56

We're impressed with many things about Hulu's much-praised Predator prequel Prey, starring Amber Midthunder as a young Comanche woman who takes on an intergalactic hunter... who s...

NOPE from 2022-08-04T01:14:34

Listen to this one and we will pelt you with filth and treat you with contempt; we will make a spectacle of you. Yep, this is the episode where we discuss NOPE, the latest from Jordan Pee...

We Even Like Stranger Things When We Don't Like Stranger Things from 2022-07-07T13:40:16

In a historic first, three people talk for an hour about Stranger Things without mentioning Kate Bush once.

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Untangling Spiderhead from 2022-06-30T21:06:43

The director of Top Gun: Maverick! The star of Thor! The brilliant novelist George Saunders! The screenwriters of Deadpool! These extraordinarily talented people come ...

Emergency from 2022-06-16T16:18:28

Three minority college students bar hopping adventure is cut short before it even begins when a young white girl is found passed out on the floor of their rented house. Concerned about the worst...

Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Review from 2022-05-20T21:45:55

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The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent Review from 2022-05-08T18:39:48

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Apollo 10 1/2 from 2022-04-12T15:39:35

Apollo 10 1/2 takes us through a fictional space mission taken by a young boy to help NASA astronauts land on the moon by taking a smaller prototype for a measly test walk on the moon. Along the...

Windfall from 2022-04-04T16:36:20

Windfall is about a quick theft going awry when a house burglar comes face to face with the billionaire husband and wife who own the luxurious estate. Keith, Aaron and Tim chat about the a...

Master Review from 2022-03-24T18:22:27

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Fresh from 2022-03-17T16:03:37

Fresh is about meeting the perfect guy after terrible first dates and horrible run-ins with weirdos on dating apps. Saying more would ruin the experience.

Check it out if you haven't a...

The Batman Review from 2022-03-11T00:31:54

This week on the Low Key podcast, Aaron Lanton and Keith Dennie are joined by guest extraordinaire Sam ( Listen

Jeen-Yuhs Review from 2022-03-04T23:45:38

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Kimi from 2022-02-18T06:58:57

We take a look at HBO Max's newest film straight to streaming Kimi, now known as agoraphobics' favorite movie of all-time.

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The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window from 2022-02-16T23:00:08

We review the Kristen Bell parody thriller The Woman Across the Street From the Girl in the Window, a Netflix series so good we start talking about a bunch of other movies we can bare...

The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window from 2022-02-16T23:00:08

We review the Kristen Bell parody thriller The Woman Across the Street From the Girl in the Window, a Netflix series so good we start talking about a bunch of other movies we can bare...

The Power of the Dog from 2022-02-03T16:27:49

Spoilers abound as we discuss Jane Campion's masterful Western/Hitchcockian thriller The Power of the Dog. It's the rare movie that turns out at the end to be a completely differen...

Don't Look Up from 2021-12-31T05:01:18

Don't Look Up is a divisive movie, and your hosts are appropriately divided. Keith found parts of it funny but overall found it all too unbelievable, while Aaron and Tim embrace the absurd — or is ...

8-Bit Christmas Review (The Low Key Holiday Spectacular) from 2021-12-23T16:47:39

8-Bit Christmas features Neil Patrick Harris as a modern-day dad telling his daughter the very '80s story of his quest for a Nintendo. It's packed with knowing '80s references like the ...

King Richard Review from 2021-11-26T19:45:24

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The Harder They Fall Review from 2021-11-07T00:10:05

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Dune 2021 Review from 2021-10-28T22:42:24

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The Moment (feat. Charles W. Bush) from 2021-10-20T16:38:36

In by far our favorite episode, we take a break from talking about movies other people made and talk about "The Moment" — a thoughtful and moving romance written and directed by your ve...

Star Wars: Visions Review from 2021-09-30T23:05:45

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There's Nothing Low-Key About Kate from 2021-09-30T14:18:58

The newish Netflix action film Kate stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead as an assassin in Japan, working for a mentor played by Woody Harrelson. It's full of tropes — the last job, the assass...

Blood Brothers Documentary from 2021-09-16T22:21:59

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What If and the State of the MCU from 2021-08-28T18:24:51

We start this episode by talking about why we love Disney+'s What If, which scrambles and tweaks our favorite Marvel stories to imagine how they might have gone a little differently. Th...

Paper Tigers Review Featuring Sam from 2021-08-19T23:52:06

This episode: Paper Tigers! Featuring very special guest Sam from the Listen

Suicide Squad and the Destruction of Plot Armor from 2021-08-16T17:52:56

James Gunn's The Suicide Squad doesn't give its characters much plot armor — that enchanted substance, created by corporations and screenwriters, that protects bankable characters from ...

Jean-Claude Van Damme Kicks Ass Weirdly in The Last Mercenary from 2021-08-06T14:32:12

Jean-Claude Van Damme stars in The Last Mercenary, a new Netflix French film about a master-of-disguise mercenary named The Mist (Van Damme) who comes out of hiding when a bureaucratic ...

It's Impossible to Talk Seriously About He-Man from 2021-07-29T14:10:03

A bold decision by Kevin Smith in the new Netflix series Masters of the Universe: Revelations has angered some fans of the original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. We t...

No Sudden Move from 2021-07-26T15:10:26

The very prolific Steven Soderbergh takes Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro, Ray Liotta, Jon Hamm, Julia Fox, Amy Seimetz, and many more top actors through a complicated scheme in 1950s Detroit, whe...

Summer of Soul (Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) from 2021-07-08T15:00:45

Summer of Soul, the directorial debut from Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, takes us back to Harlem in 1969 for a series of concerts that included a who's who of brilliant Black artists, fro...

Dads Discuss Kevin Hart in Fatherhood from 2021-07-01T15:12:30

In this episode, dads Aaron and Tim and non-dad Keith discuss the Kevin Hart Netflix comedy Fatherhood, about a dad struggling to raise his very young daughter alone. We talk about diap...

Low Key Loki from 2021-06-21T13:02

At some point last week, everyone watching Loki collectively decided the Time-Keepers were full of shit. For Keith and Tim, co-hosts of the Low Key podcast, that moment occurre...

Sweet Tooth: Would You Guide A Hybrid-Human Child Through the Forest in Post-Apocalypse America? from 2021-06-10T16:11:37

Sweet Tooth is your typical coming of age tale about a post-apocalyptic, pandemic scorched Earth with a human-deer hybrid kid searching for his lost mother in the (mostly) lawless Western United...

Can M.O.D.O.K. Carry a Show? from 2021-06-03T13:57:04

M.O.D.O.K. stands for Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing. Is he also designed to be good subject for a Hulu stop-motion comedy? We talk this episode about whether the...

Those Who Wish Me Dead (and Who Like MacGuffins) from 2021-05-21T16:42:51

Those Who Wish Me Dead, the awesomely titled new thriller from Taylor Sheridan, stars Angelina Jolie as a smokejumper who must protect a boy with valuable secrets from a pair of assassi...

The Outside Story: Low Stakes, High Rooftops from 2021-05-13T14:46:29

The Outside Story, directed by Casimir Nozkowski, defies the rule that films need to be high-stakes. It's the tale of an introverted editor (Brian Tyree Henry) who gets locked out of hi...

Invincible Is the Superhero Game of Thrones from 2021-05-06T15:06:19

Invincible, from Amazon Prime, is the work of a super team. Created by The Walking Dead mastermind Robert Kirkman, produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (who have developed ...

Weird Oscars, Falcon Praise and Complaints, But First: Mortal Kombat from 2021-04-29T14:37:40

This week, we cover why this year's Oscars were weird, whether movies are doomed, and how The Falcon and the Winter Soldier continues a Marvel tradition of murderers with perfect...

Watching Two Distant Strangers During the Derek Chauvin Trial from 2021-04-16T17:35:27

In the Oscar-nominated short film Two Distant Strangers, a young Black man (Joey Bada$$) finds himself trapped in a hellish time loop, relentlessly targeted by a racist white c...

Concrete Cowboy from 2021-04-09T22:35:18

Concrete Cowboy is a coming of age story with cowboys but also with Black people in Philly; maybe not the combination you were expecting. The film pulls off most of what it intends to do, ...

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Confederate from 2021-04-02T14:44:07

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, from showrunner Malcolm Spellman, builds on our nostalgia for buddy movies like Lethal Weapon 2. But it also offers a glimpse at what might have...

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Confederate from 2021-04-02T14:44:07

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, from showrunner Malcolm Spellman, builds on our nostalgia for buddy movies like Lethal Weapon 2. But it also offers a glimpse at what might have...

Coming 2 America, Low-Key Feminism, and Wesley Snipes' Most Underrated Films from 2021-03-17T14:03:38

When you think of garbage, don't think of Coming 2 America: We very much enjoyed the Coming to America sequel, despite the debate around the film and quibbles with the Za...

Nomadland and Characters With No Destination from 2021-03-08T16:30:23

In awards-season darling Nomadland, Frances McDormand plays a woman named Fern who takes to the open road when her husband — and town — dies.

We talk about what Fern wants, w...

I Care a Lot and Despicable Protagonists from 2021-02-25T18:59:49

I Care a Lot is about a crooked legal guardian (Rosamund Pike) who makes a living stripping seniors of all their worldly possessions. Things go great (or terribly, if we're talking abou...

Judas and the Black Messiah from 2021-02-19T16:08:04

Keith, Aaron and special guest Sam from the Sam Said It podcast discuss Judas and the Black Messiah, starring Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield.

Believe the marketing — the protagon...

Malcolm and Marie from 2021-02-11T06:03:56

Malcolm and Marie is a movie about a tense, revealing argument between a budding filmmaker and an aspiring actress after his critically acclaimed directorial debut.

The premise sounds...

WandaVision So Far from 2021-01-29T15:24:12

Three episodes into WandaVision, the guys discuss what seems to be happening so far, and share some theories. Is Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) controlling everything?

it seems like ...

Pieces of a Woman from 2021-01-25T12:15:44

Now that everyone has had time to see Pieces of a Woman — or at least find out what the astonishing Kornél Mundruczó film is about — we can discuss Vanessa Kirby's Oscar-calibre tu...

One Night in Miami from 2021-01-20T14:58:12

Regina King's directorial debut One Night in Miami imagines a conversation between Malcolm X, Jim Brown, Sam Cooke and Cassius Clay... who will soon become Muhammad Ali. We talk on this...

What Is the Soul of Soul? from 2021-01-07T15:55:28

Pixar's Soul is the story of a jazz musician named Joe (Jamie Foxx) who is on the brink of achieving his dreams... when he falls in a manhole and dies. From there, he meets 22 (Tina Fey...

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and the Fight to Own Music from 2020-12-31T15:59:16

On the last Low Key podcast of the year, Keith Dennie, Aaron Lanton and Tim Molloy talk about the deceptively straightforward Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, directed ...

The Sound of Metal Is Low-Key Horrifying from 2020-12-17T14:28:46

In The Sound of Metal, Riz Ahmed plays a heavy metal drummer who suddenly loses his hearing. You share his nightmarish sense of his entire life disappearing, along with his sense of sou...

Lovers Rock from 2020-12-10T02:23:34

Lovers Rock, the magnificent second film in Steve McQueen's Small Axe series, takes viewers inside a 1980 house party filled with young British and Caribbean people, looking for love. <...

Keith Makes a Movie from 2020-12-03T16:48:43

If you've thought about making a movie, but really don't know where to start, start here.

Every week on Low Key, we talk about TV shows and movies other people made. Except th...

The Queen's Gambit and What It Means to Be a Prodigy from 2020-11-12T16:34:48

The Queen's Gambit stars Anya Taylor-Joy as Beth Harmon, an orphan who becomes a 1960s chess prodigy — and addict. In this episode we talk about whether child prodigies are real or an exag...

His House, an Immigration Horror Story from 2020-10-31T16:01:23

His House is a haunted house story where the characters have a good reason for not leaving the house: If they do, they'll be returned to the horrors of tribal violence in their nat...

Lovecraft Country from 2020-10-26T13:34:31

Horror. Science fiction. Non-fiction. Fantasy. Adventure. Coming of age. War. A lot of shows have a hard time executing any sole genre. Lovecraft Country, which just wrapped its fi...

Hosts, a Hammer, and Maybe Some Bible Stuff from 2020-10-16T13:07:18

The new British horror film Hosts seems designed to provoke people, with a mix of long, slow buildups and sudden, ghastly unpleasantness. This is never better exemplified than...

The Boys: If Quentin Tarantino Made a Superhero Show from 2020-10-08T12:39:23

Today we talk about The Boys, Amazon's anti-superhero story.

Season 1 used superheroes to represent police, military, sports stars and Hollywood celebrities and explore blind hero wor...

Let's Talk 'Residue' and Gentrification from 2020-09-24T15:57:15

Today's episode is about Residue, the impressionistic debut from Merawi Gerima.

The award-winning film, which just premiered on Netflix, follows Jay, a young filmmaker who re...

Hulu's 'Woke' Ironically Lives Up to Its Name from 2020-09-17T16:00:28

Hulu's new TV show 'Woke' follows the story of black cartoonist Keef Knight's "woke" awakening after a brush with police brutality leads him to re-evaluate his relationship with art and social c...

1BR, and the Cult That Recruits at IHOP from 2020-09-10T16:12:55

We talk about 1BR, the little horror movie that could... unseat Project Power as the top movie on Netflix. It's a story of utopian societies, utilitarianism, and keeping your cat close....

Chadwick Boseman Memories from 2020-09-03T12:42:14

This episode, we talk about how Chadwick Boseman kept history alive with roles from Jackie Robinson to James Brown to Thurgood Marshall — and how Black Panther changed everything for movie...

Does Project Power Do Too Much? from 2020-08-27T18:59:33

Project Power, the latest Netflix action-adventure hit, has a new spin on super powers: What if a pill could make you outrageously powerful — for just five minutes?

The film by Henry&n...

Shirley from 2020-08-25T00:29:42

Shirley is about the brilliant American Gothic author Shirley Jackson, whose mid-20th century work has influenced many of the creators we admire today. Shirley specifically dramatizes t...

Robert Pattinson: The Batman Who Laughs (At Exercise) from 2020-08-14T07:14:14

The lead for a superhero film has to be in phenomenal shape, capable of imposing criminals with their physical presence - or do they? Robert Pattinson, the newest actor to take on the role of Ba...

Black Is King Continues Beyonce's Visual Album Winning Streak from 2020-08-07T16:10:08

Today’s episode of the Low Key pod covers Beyonce’s visual album Black Is King, a re-envisioning of the classic Lion King tale through the talent and vision of black folks acro...

The Business of Drugs from 2020-07-30T21:06:12

At the end of the first episode of Netfix's The Business of Drugs, host Amaryllis Fox says to the camera:

"Legalization may seem pretty extreme to most Americans. But as long ...

Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado from 2020-07-23T17:25:51

In this episode we explore Netflix's Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado, about a Puerto Rican TV astrologer who rose from humble beginnings to become a sequin-caped inspirat...

The Old Guard from 2020-07-17T03:13:17

Based on a comic book by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernández,The Old Guard asks the question: What if the X-Men, but everyone is Wolverine? The new film from Gina Prince-Bythewood features...

I May Destroy You from 2020-07-09T14:20:47

I May Destroy You, the new series created by and starring Michaela Coel, probably will destroy you. It's about consent, double standards, and justice—and that's just the start.

Do the Right Thing from 2020-07-02T16:50:13

Today’s episode revisits the 1989 classic that put Spike Lee on the map, Do the Right Thing. Over 30 years later, the film’s raw depiction of racial relations in Bedstuy remains controv...

Would You Go to a Movie Theater Now? from 2020-06-24T22:43:36

A simple question: Would you go to a movie theater now? Your hosts weigh in from three distinct states with three distinct COVID-19 situations: Texas (Keith), Tennessee (Aaron) and Massachusetts...

Da 5 Bloods and Cross-Generational Trauma from 2020-06-18T14:27:38

Today’s episode covers Spike Lee’s new film Da 5 Bloods which follows four black GIs returning to Vietnam nearly five decades after their tours ended to recover gold and the remains of ...

'Just Mercy' and Just Policing from 2020-06-09T20:40:50

Just Mercy, starring Michael B. Jordan as a lawyer who defends a wrongly accused death-row inmate played by Jamie Foxx, is one of many films made available for free in response to the B...

The Justice League Snyder Cut (feat. Sam from the Sam Said It podcast) from 2020-06-01T21:57:34

The nerd nightmare is over: the badgering has paid off, and the Synder Cut of the DC Extended Universe’s Justice League will be released as an HBO Max exclusive sometime in 20...

62. Why Murder to Mercy is a Netflix Doc Worth Watching from 2020-05-27T05:20:11

Netflix does not shy away from distributing stories that give voices to the voiceless - the recently released documentary Murder to Mercy is no exception. The doc shares the story of Cy...

How Pepe the Frog Became the Mascot of Trolls, Racists and Incels from 2020-05-14T17:36:48

The new documentary Feels Good Man explores how racists, trolls and incels turned an innocuous cartoon character named Pepe the Frog into a symbol of hate. On the latest ...

The Midnight Gospel Might Be the Near-Future of TV from 2020-05-05T20:54:59

Netflix's trippy The Midnight Gospel, from comedian Duncan Trussell and animator Pendleton Ward, might be a model for pandemic era TV shows: It asks the big questions in life without re...

'The Platform' Is the Ultimate COVID-19 Movie... Or Is It? from 2020-04-21T17:32:43

Netflix's The Platform has drawn plaudits as the perfect film for the age of hoarding. But is it, really? In one of our most divided episodes, we go deep — Level 333 deep — on whether t...

Netflix's 'Uncorked' Is a Worthy Memphis Movie from 2020-04-10T06:00:39

Memphis is well known mostly for its music and food, rarely getting a chance to branch out beyond that common framing. Netflix’s ‘Uncorked’ is going for something a little different as it follow...

DC Universe's 'Harley Quinn': How to Go From Lackey to Supervillian from 2020-03-23T00:43:42

DC Universe’s Harley Quinn doesn’t give a f**k about offending people as the first scene demonstrates by showing a yacht full of billionaires robbed and ripped apart. The show is meant to shock ...

Candyman! Candyman! Candyman! Candyman! from 2020-03-12T15:37:02

Candyman has aged very well: The 1992 story of a son of a slave who is murdered for loving a white woman — and reborn as a hook-handed slasher — looks at racism with an unflinching...

High Fidelity: Zoë Kravitz Updates a John Cusack Movie That Featured Her Mom, Lisa Bonet from 2020-02-24T04:33:26

Zoë Kravitz might be the single best person on earth to star in Hulu's High Fidelity, an update of the John Cusack movie of the same name: Her mom, Lisa Bonet, was one of the stars of t...

Tyler Perry's 'A Fall From Grace' and the Legacy of the Perry-verse from 2020-02-14T18:49:30

Tyler Perry’s ‘A Fall From Grace’ is the latest film release and his first foray in the profitable Netflix original - did we enjoy it? You’ll have to listen to find out. But it’s fair to spoil t...

Ava DuVernay v. Stephen King: Our Oscar Episode from 2020-02-09T00:29:37

Stephen King disappointed Ava DuVernay earlier this month when he tweeted about casting his Oscar ballot: "I would never consider diversity in matters of art. Only quality. It seems to me that t...

In Parasite, Who Should You Root For? from 2020-01-25T02:34:12

Parasite, Bong Joon-ho's Oscar-nominated thriller, challenges our sympathies throughout: Do we sympathize with the destitute Kim family? Or the wealthy Parks? 

It may see...

2020 Movies We're Excited for, From Tenet to Black Widow to Saw from 2020-01-16T01:24:23

2020 movies have a lot to live up to—2019's movies were some of the best in years. On the latest Low Key podcast, my fellow co-hosts and I nerd out on the 2020 movies we hope will live up to 201...

Watchmen: In Praise of High-Risk TV from 2019-12-20T02:22:45

Watchmen complicatedly combined falling squid, horrifying racism, a glowing blue man, nuclear panic, fear of sexual humiliation, piles of dead clones, questions about whether we co...

Let's Debate 'Queen and Slim' from 2019-12-16T16:58:06

Now that we've had some time for the hot takes to cool, we discuss Melina Matsoukas' consciousness-raising road movie Queen and Slim, written by Lena Waithe and starring Daniel Kaluuya ...

The Mandalorian Is on a Mission to Unite the Best and Worst of Star Wars from 2019-11-22T19:41:41

The Mandalorian signaled how sweepingly it plans to embrace the entire Star Wars universe when it stocked its very first references to The Star Wars Holiday Special, a much-despise...

What Is 'Watchmen' Saying About Race in America? from 2019-11-16T00:56:48

HBO's Watchmen touches on reparations, racist vigilantism, and the destruction, 100 years ago, of the African-American business Mecca known as Black Wall Street. But what is the show ac...

'Dolemite Is My Name': Rudy Ray Moore, Tyler Perry, Robert Townsend and DIY Moviemaking from 2019-10-31T20:23:35

Eddie Murphy's Dolemite Is My Name shows how Rudy Ray Moore became a black independent moviemaker—and became a role model for future DIY artists. In the latest "Low Key" podcast, w...

Let's Discuss Batwoman from 2019-10-25T17:39:51

How well does the CW’s “Batwoman” fit into the network’s other DC shows and the Batman universe? And would we rather see a new standalone heroine with no ties to either?

Every week on ...

What Is 'Joker' Trying to Say About Poverty and Mental Illness? from 2019-10-18T00:44:25

What does "Joker" want to say about poverty, mental illness and other problems society has failed to solve? That's the subject of our latest "Low Key" podcast.

Every week on "Low Key,"...

'Undone': Let's Try to Interpret Amazon's Animated Achievement from 2019-10-10T00:21:47

How to interpret Amazon's acclaimed animated series "Undone"?

The series is about a 28-year-old woman named Alma (Rosa Salazar) who suffers a serious car accident and develops the abil...

Is 'Wu-Tang: An American Saga' Something to F--- With? from 2019-09-27T23:37:06

Shimmy Shimmy Ya! On the latest episode of the Low Key podcast we talk about “Wu Tang Clan: An American Story,” brought to you by RZA -- the man who brought us “The Man With the Iron Fists.”

Let's Talk About the Joker and Chris Gaines (feat. Sam Perrin from "Sam Said It") from 2019-09-17T22:41:36

Will Todd Phillips' new "Joker" prove the exception to the rule that villains are best left mysterious? And also, did we ever figure out why Garth Brooks' adopted an emo R&B persona named Ch...

Let's Talk About the Tricky Racial Metaphors of 'Carnival Row' from 2019-09-06T22:52:01

Fae! Pucks! Critches! This week on the "Low Key" podcast, we talk about these and other words we think might be racial slurs in the world of "Carnival Row," Amazon's unique take on bigotry and i...

Is David Oyelowo's 'Don't Let Go' About Time-Travel? Or Something Else? from 2019-08-30T22:18:05

"Don't Let Go" stars David Oyelowo as an LAPD detective who starts getting phone calls from his niece, played by Storm Reid -- after she and her parents are brutally murdered. Is it about time-t...

'Cannon Busters,' 'The Witcher,' 'The Irishman' and More 2019 Projects We're Excited About (Podcast) from 2019-08-23T21:55:38

Usually on the "Low Key" podcast, we talk about pop culture moments we think others may have missed, often through a racial lens. This week, we just talk about some projects we're excited about,...

Is 'Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood' Better or Worse if You Know the Full Manson-Sharon Tate Story? from 2019-08-03T00:18:38

Do you need to know the history of the Manson Family and Sharon Tate to appreciate "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood"? That's one of our first questions in our wrap-up of Quentin Tarantino's lat...

'The Boys' Gives Superheroes the 'Game of Thrones' Treatment from 2019-07-26T21:30:06

"Game of Thrones" decapitated fairy tale and fantasy tropes by giving us deeply flawed knights, kings and queens. Amazon's new "The Boys" similarly demystifies superheroes, as we discuss on the ...

Batwoman, a Black Female 007, and Super-Pandering from 2019-07-19T21:13:22

A dubious news report that a black actress, Lashana Lynch, will play 007 in the next James Bond film got your friendly neighborhood "Low Key" hosts wondering: When do Hollywood's attempts at div...

'Stranger Things' Is Better When You Don't Understand It from 2019-07-12T19:51:15

For all the nostalgia of "Stranger Things" -- the New Coke, the mall, the music -- the most uncanny memory it conjures is the feeling of first seeing a scary movie you were too young to see.

Let's Talk 'See You Tomorrow,' Where 'Back to the Future' Meets Systemic Racism from 2019-06-18T23:38:09

This week we talk about Netflix's Spike Lee-produced "See You Yesterday," which combines the time-travel goofiness of "Back to the Future" with the social criticism of "Boys N the Hood" (RIP, Jo...

'Black Mirror: Striking Vipers': Listen to Charlie Brooker Tell Us About Tekken and S&M Dungeons from 2019-06-11T00:35:01

This episode, we welcome our first guests: "Black Mirror" executive producers Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones drop in for a (very) quick interview to discuss "Striking Viper," our favorite epi...

'Game of Thrones' Final Thoughts: Is Bran a Mass Murderer? from 2019-05-22T20:12:44

The "Game of Thrones" finale left the "Low Key" team divided. House Aaron was disappointed. House Keith found it lackluster. House Tim was satisfied.

We get into detail about the reaso...

Defending Daenerys' Heel Turn, and How We Think 'Game of Thrones' Ends from 2019-05-14T22:01:48

If you haven't watched the penultimate episode of "Game of Thrones," you should skip this episode, and also tweet at @timamolloy or @alanton11 for our HBO Go passwords. Because you're going to w...

How 'Avengers: Endgame' Sets A High Bar For Cinema's Next Era from 2019-04-30T22:08:26

"Avengers: Endgame" sets a new standard for franchise films and universe-building. But is that a good thing?

On the latest "Low Key," we talk about why the massive success of "Endgame"...

What We Want From 'Avengers: Endgame' from 2019-04-23T22:53:11

What happens in "Avengers: Endgame"? We have no idea. But in this episode, we talk about our hopes, predictions and fears for the culmination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe stories we've follo...

Let's Talk 'Guava Island,' Where Donald Glover Meets Bob Marley (and Rihanna's There, Too) from 2019-04-19T00:12:32

Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino) lures us to the beautiful, fictional "Guava Island" for his new Amazon film of the same name, and we're delighted to be there.

On this week's episo...

Joker, 'The Twilight Zone,' and Sad-Sack Standup Comedy from 2019-04-05T18:10:52

This episode of "Low Key" is about the dark side of comedy. We all know laughter eases pain, but we don't talk so much about the acute pain of failing to make people laugh.

The first e...

Let's Compare Jordan Peele's 'Us' and Get Out from 2019-03-27T20:26:01

"Get Out" was a horror classic, so Jordan Peele's "Us," his follow-up, had big, scary shoes to fill. In the latest "Low Key" podcast, we talk about whether the latest addition to the Peeleverse ...

Captain Marvel, Feminism and Fanboy Angst from 2019-03-15T18:23:50

Efforts by a few fragile fanboys to sabotage "Captain Marvel" completely failed -- but they did succeed in sparking a few fights that aren't worth having. 

Before "Captain Marvel"...

We Liked 'Doom Patrol,' a Happily Dumb '50s-Horror-Inspired 'Super Zero' Show With Butts (Podcast) from 2019-03-01T23:14:23

Had a rough week? The cheerfully silly, R-rated weirdness of "Doom Patrol" might be just what you need. The DC Universe show is a little bit "X-Men," a little bit 1950s monster movie, and a lot ...

Episode 23: 'High Flying Bird,' Colin Kaepernick and 'The Revolt of the Black Athlete' from 2019-02-19T00:52:31

Stephen Soderbergh's "High Flying Bird" imagines black pro athletes bypassing mostly white team owners to finally reap the profits of their own athleticism. Is it just a dream, or could Colin Ka...

Episode 22: Liam Neeson's Confession and What We Can Learn From It from 2019-02-08T20:02:40

Liam Neeson admits that for a time, he walked the streets looking for an excuse to kill a random black man because of his anger over a friend's rape. On this episode, we talk about the deep hist...

Episode 21: Does 'Black Panther' Deserve Its Best Picture Nomination? from 2019-01-30T22:49:36

We love "Black Panther," but we're kind of stunned it has an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.

We want to believe Ryan Coogler's film was nominated just by being great, but as Keith p...

Episode 20: When 'Beale Street' Hits Close to Home: 'It Was Terrifying' from 2019-01-18T21:17:43

Barry Jenkins' "If Beale Street Could Talk," based on the book by James Baldwin, uses an almost deliriously beautiful love story to show how the criminal justice system unjustly targets black me...

Episode 19: 'Black Mirror: Bandersnatch,' Sex Robots and Your Phone from 2019-01-10T01:47:28

Was "Black Mirror: Bandersnatch" more like a fun "Goosebumps" book? Or a way for a massive corporation to gain insights into your private viewing habits?

This episode, we wonder if "Ba...

Episode 18: The Low-Key Racial Subtext of 'Into the Spider-Verse' from 2018-12-24T16:50:36

"Into the Spider-Verse" is a masterpiece, but it's especially special for black and Latino audiences who've been underrepresented in super hero movies. This episode, we talk about why certain li...

Episode 17: Satanism, Feminism, and Sabrina from 2018-12-11T18:37:36

The critically acclaimed Netflix hit "The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina" has been a hit in more ways than one - the streaming giant recently settled in a lawsuit brought by the The Satanic Temp...

So DC's 'Titans' Is Pretty Great, and We're Pleasantly Surprised from 2018-11-21T18:34:18

We were pretty skeptical of DC's "Titans" at first. That promo where Robin says "f--- Batman" didn't exactly win us over. But now that the show is live on DCUniverse.com, we think it's actually ...

Let's Discuss 'The Conners,' the Roseanne Universe Sans Roseanne from 2018-10-30T22:36:07

This week on "Low Key," Aaron, Keith and Tim discuss "The Conners," the Roseanne-free version of "Roseanne." We talk about how bad Roseanne Barr's "Planet of the Apes" tweet was and whether it s...

Episode 14: Halloween Rules - Can White Kids Dress as Black Panther? from 2018-10-24T00:28:22

The day before Megan Kelly's defense of blackface at Halloween, we this episode about some rules for white people at Halloween. Little did we suspect he would have to again remind people: NO BLA...

Episode 13: CBS's "The Neighborhood": The Bad, The Ugly, and the Surprisingly Good Parts from 2018-10-15T22:12:43

New CBS sitcom "The Neighborhood" about a white family moving into a black neighborhood - a bold choice that has mixed results. Critics and audiences have panned the show after just two episodes...

Episode 12: Racism in Gaming Communities and Why YouTube Recommends Alt-Right Conspiracies If Don't Like Star Wars: The Last Jedi - The Brett Kavanaugh Joint from 2018-09-25T11:00:43

How did the Xbox get the black vote?

Why does YouTube's ("unbias") algorithm recommend recommendations for alt-right conspiracies if you look up negative criticism of "Star Wars: The L...

Episode 11: Louis C.K., Asia Argento, and Sexual Harassment as a White Collar Crime from 2018-09-07T12:14:22

Louis C.K. is attempting a comeback on his own timeline after admitted masturbatory misdeeds.

Asia Argento is denying sexual assault allegations from a male (at the time) minor.

Episode 10: Aretha Franklin's Passing Reveals Why We Are Impacted By Celebrity from 2018-08-20T23:51:14

The Queen of Soul passed away last week, causing us to question why we, the adoring public, are impacted by celebrity deaths as if a close friend or family member has left our lives.

 ...

Episode 9: Does Hollywood Have a Black Casting Quota? from 2018-08-13T02:13:43

Projects with no black people are accused of racism.

Projects with too many black people are labeled "a black show."

Casting directors and writers decide who stays in front o...

Episode 8: Do Tweets Have a Statute of Limitations? from 2018-08-01T17:39:02

Former Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn and Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Josh Hader are the latest people to have old tweets come back to haunt them. The repercussions were vastly differ...

Why ScarJo's Casting for Transgender Role Matters by Three Straight Cis-Males from 2018-07-12T05:15:23

Scarlett Johansson's latest role as a trans man in the upcoming Pittsburgh mafia film "Rub and Tug" is causing controversy. Critics have called the casting an example of "cis-washing" and berate...

Episode 6: Drake Gets Exposed in Rap Beef, Fatherhood, and Blackface from 2018-06-27T01:48:19

Drake thought Pusha T would be another easy notch on his belt, but it when far worse than anyone could have ever expected. What does it mean when the top rapper in the game pleads out of a beef ...

Episode 5: Let's Review "Ye" and Talk About If We'll Ever Forgive Kanye from 2018-06-11T22:27:34

The crew reviews "Ye" (except one of the guys who has a Kanye ban in the house), discuss the supposed Trump bump, and question is Kanye has found himself in a Citizen Kane situation.

I...

Episode 4: The Black Lightning Joint That Was Supposed to Be About "This Is America" from 2018-05-24T20:27:44

The crew meant to do an entire episode about Donald Glover's insanely popular "This Is America" video, but CW's "Black Lightning" came up and... well, you'll see.

Listen

Episode 2: Atlanta's "Teddy Perkins" Review - "Never Go Full Killer Mike" from 2018-04-11T22:08:14

Tim, Keith, and Aaron return to give a review of Atlanta's surprising episode "Teddy Perkins." Along the way they discuss blackface, whiteface, Killer Mike's self-own, and how Atlanta's greatest...

Episode 1: Wakanda Over Everything from 2018-03-29T21:09:52

Welcome the first episode of Low Key! Our first journey with the crew explores the key themes of Marvel's Black Panther that went unnoticed. For example, is there a such thing as a good ethnosta...