Rereaders

In this week’s podcast we watch the Netflix series 'Alias Grace' (2:11), 2017’s second Margaret Atwood novel to hit the small screen. Then we watch the SBS series 'River Cottage Australia' (15:33)and investigate the intersection of food and gender. And finally, we chat to Meredith Forrester, the author of gently political writing guide 'Make Grammar Great Again' (30:29).

In this week’s podcast we watch Kriv Stenders’ documentary, The Go-Betweens: Right Here (2:08). Then we read Laurent Binet’s novel The 7th Function of Language (17:04) to ask, why did Roland Barthes cross the road? And finally, we laugh our red-and-yellow swimming caps off as we watch Comedy Central’s new webseries, Nippers of Dead Bird Bay. (32:33)

In this week’s podcast we watch the seminal new Channel Ten drama, Sisters (2:19). Then we spread our towels out on a nice sunny spot to check out NGV Australia’s architecture exhibition, The Pool (16:38). And finally, we celebrate the cultural renaissance of the original ’90s supermodels (31:09).

Critical Attention is produced by Areej Nur, and co-presented by The Rereaders and Kill Your Darlings. To find out more about The Rereaders head to www.therereaders.com and to read more and subscribe to Kill Your Darlings from as little as $14.95, head to www.killyourdarlings.com.au In episode six, we chat to freelance writer and food critic Sonia Nair.

In this week’s very spooky Halloween podcast we watch The Untamed (2:58), Amat Escalante’s uncanny film blending social realism and body horror. Then we take a stab at the Slender Man mythos and the ‘digital campfire’ of scary storytelling (19:33). And finally we examine the past and future of Australian horror on screen, with the DVD release of Oz-horror cult classic Dark Age (34:45).

In this week’s podcast we watch Tom of Finland (02:12), a film exploring the life of pioneering gay illustrator Touko Laaksonen. Then we get pissed and paranoid in the best little town on earth with the Channel Ten miniseries Wake in Fright (19:30). And finally we examine the line between online joy and misery in our smartphone dystopia (36:05).

In this week’s podcast we read You Play the Girl, Carina Chocano’s critical analysis of femininity in pop culture. Then we enter The House of Dior, the NGV’s sumptuous survey of the French fashion label’s 70 years. And finally we revisit the retro-futurist film noir of Ridley Scott’s replicants with Denis Villeneuve’s sequel, Blade Runner 2049.

Critical Attention is produced by Areej Nur, and co-presented by The Rereaders and Kill Your Darlings. To find out more about The Rereaders head to www.therereaders.com and to read more and subscribe to Kill Your Darlings from as little as $14.95, head to www.killyourdarlings.com.au In episode five, we chat to writer, researcher and editor Alex Griffin about internet criticism, defamiliarising the everyday and how to be a critic who is an academic.

Critical Attention is produced by Areej Nur, and co-presented by The Rereaders and Kill Your Darlings. To find out more about The Rereaders head to www.therereaders.com and to read more and subscribe to become a member of Kill Your Darlings from as little as $14.95, head to www.killyourdarlings.com.au In episode four, we chat to theatre-maker, cultural critic and e-newsletter queen Matilda Dixon-Smith.

Critical Attention is produced by Areej Nur, and co-presented by The Rereaders and Kill Your Darlings. To find out more about The Rereaders head to www.therereaders.com and to read more and subscribe to become a member of Kill Your Darlings from as little as $14.95, head to www.killyourdarlings.com.au In episode three, we chat to the film critics of tomorrow about their experiences inside Critics Campus, the Melbourne International Film Festival's week-long intensive critical incubator.

In this week’s podcast we head to the Melbourne International Film Festival, taking in three screenings across the festival’s three weeks and sharing all manner of festival gossip and banter. First, we watch swooning Festival Favourite, Americano-Italiano love story Call Me by Your Name, based on the novel by André Aciman. Then, we hit funky Venice beach of the 1970s and 80s in the Australian-directed documentary, Roller Dreams, which charts the history of the roller dance movement through the lives of some of its key protagonists. And finally, we remain in the landscape of American black civil rights with I Am Not Your Negro, Raoul Peck’s Oscar-nominated documentary portrait of the radical queer and black activism of writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin.

In this week’s podcast we read artist Grayson Perry’s new book The Descent of Man, which critiques the awfulness of masculinity. Then it’s femininity’s turn under the microscope as we watch the ABC TV series Growing Up Gracefully. And finally, from gender studies to gendered studs, we play the dating simulation game Dream Daddy.

In this week’s podcast we read Angie Thomas’s politically powerful young adult novel, The Hate U Give. Then we listen to Lorde’s second album Melodrama. And finally, we hit the mat with GLOW, Netflix’s drama exploring the spandex-clad world of 1980s women’s wrestling.

In this week’s podcast we watch the ABC TV comedy series Ronny Chieng: International Student. Then we do some serious adulting with Briohny Doyle's book Adult Fantasy. And, as the NGV's winter blockbuster 'Van Gogh and the Seasons' draws to an end, we muse on what seasons really mean in Australian art and culture.

In this week’s podcast we read the Griffith Review issue 56, which is themed “Millennials Strike Back”. Then we deconstruct the trope of the gothic femme fatale in Roger Michell’s film My Cousin Rachel. And finally we watch Australia’s favourite radio lads re-enact ordinary people’s yarns in the TV series True Story with Hamish & Andy.