1 rich Libsyn https://www.libsyn.com 90 600 This week, Matt Goldberg (formerly of Turner Classic Movies, currently of the Substack Commentary Track) joins us for the mighty return of... gasp.... John Travolta in a good role? First, we cover Jackie Earle Haley's directorial debut,&amp;nbsp;Criminal Activities, a messy but ultimately interesting Tarantino riff in which a group of down-and-out high school buddies (Michael Pitt, Christopher Abbott, Rob Brown, Dan Stevens) ends up inadvertently in debt to a cheeky, Macbeth-quoting mob boss (Travolta, having a grand old time). They can get out from under his thumb, if they do one big job for him -- kidnap the failson (Edi Gathegi) of his mob rival. Twists, turns, and darkly comic antics ensue, as a deeply-overqualified cast leans into the film's innate goofiness.&amp;nbsp; On the other side of the coin comes Oliver Stone's poorly-aged, deadly serious, self-righteous political biopic&amp;nbsp;Snowden, charting the life of Edward Snowden (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, doing his best Elizabeth Holmes impression) as he goes from dull intelligence agent to dull whistleblower. Cage shows up for a few minutes as Snowden's jaded mentor, but otherwise it's two-plus hours of Stone's overwrought self-insistence that what you're watching is The Most Groundbreaking, Earth-Shattering Discovery About Government Surveillance Ever. (The government's spying on us all the time? The hell you say?!) Pledge to our Patreon at&amp;nbsp;patreon.com/travoltacage Follow us on Twitter&amp;nbsp;@travoltacage Email us questions at&amp;nbsp;travoltacagepod@gmail.com Podcast theme by Jon Biegen Podcast logo by Felipe Sobreiro Travolta/Cage http://www.nathanrabin.com <iframe title="Libsyn Player" style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/27443844/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/88AA3C/" height="90" width="600" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/item/27443844