She's been dug up, renamed, reanimated, and gaslit — and Hollywood expects her to be grateful. Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride! (2026) resurrects the Bride of Frankenstein for a 1930s Chicago that feels equal parts Weimar cabaret and DC fever dream, with Jessie Buckley delivering a ferocious, uncontainable performance at the center of a film that can't quite contain itself. Chris Stachiw and Mike dig into the ideas the film gets right, the heavy hand that undercuts them, and why a $90 million feminist monster movie ending on The Monster Mash is both the most logical and least earned conclusion imaginable.
Adapted by Erin Cressida Wilson from a short story by Mary Gaitskill, Steven Shainberg's Secretary stars Maggie Gyllenhaal as a young woman from a dysfunctional family who goes to work for Mr. Grey (James Spader), a lawyer with a penchant for kink.
Erotica writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel joins Mike to discuss Secretary and 50 Shades of Grey. Interviews include the co-founder of Babeland, Claire Cavanah, and the author of Self-Injury: The Ultimate Teen Guide, Judy Dodge Cummings.
Guest Co-Host: Chris Stachiw
Special Guest: