It's very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present.

You believe that someone out of the past can enter and take possession of a living being?

We may be true with the past, but the past is not through with us.

Welcome to the next picture show, a movie the week podcast devoted to a classic film and how it shaped our thoughts on a recent release.

I'm Scott Tobias here with Keith Thubes.

Tasha Robinson.

And Genevieve Kovicke.

Here on the Next Picture Show, we believe that no film exists in a vacuum and that all culture is more interesting in context.

So every other week, we get together to talk over a classic film and consider how it relates to a current movie. This week, the City of Angels is rife with sex scandals, political conspiracy, and murder. We have the scoop, but it's off the record, on the QT, and strictly hush-hush. That is, unless you're a next picture show subscriber, Genevieve, what are we pitching to our listeners? This week, we're visiting the dark underbelly of Tinseltown, where dreams of glamour and celebrity die ignominiously outside the spotlight. Our pairing brings us into the twisted world of L.A. noir, courtesy of two period pieces that follow Byzantine plots to the depths of human depravity. Curtis Hanson's L.Aial and Shane Blacks The Nice Guys have a lot of things in common.

Both feature Russell Crow and Kim Basinger, both cast a jaundiced eye on the film industry,

and both uncover conspiracies with far-reaching implications.

But their approach is quite different.

Based on James Elroy's novel, L.A. Confidential deals seriously with corruption

within the Los Angeles Police

Department, following the investigation of a mass murder at a coffee shop in 1953.

The Nice Guys is a Buddy Action comedy set in 1977 that also follows mismatched partners, one

a private eye, the other a hired goon, who look into a young woman's mysterious disappearance.

The two movies aren't connected in tone, but they certainly are in spirit.

Yes, LA Confidential and The Nice Guys are both movies about the past, but they're also

born of a deep affection for the atmosphere style and municipal rot of dime store fiction

and noir stories about Los Angeles.

On today's show, we'll focus on the tabloid sleeves and police

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