Culture Gabfest: Netflix Goes Nuclear with A House of Dynamite Edition

Slate Culture

Slate Podcasts

Arts, Tv & Film, Music

4.4 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 29 October 2025

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this week’s show, Dana is joined by fellow movie critics Amy Nicholson of The Los Angeles Times and Slate’s Sam Adams for an all-film edition of the Gabfest. First up, they enter A House of Dynamite, Kathryn Bigelow’s tense procedural about a nuclear catastrophe. Whether or not this grim thriller has any spark is up for debate. Next, they step into the raucous party of Hedda Gabler in Nia DaCosta’s Henrik Ibsen adaptation Hedda, starring Tessa Thompson as the scheming hostess. Finally, they examine the documentary The Perfect Neighbor which offers an alarming portrait of one Florida community compiled primarily through police body cam footage. In an exclusive Slate Plus bonus episode, the movie talk continues with an all-spoiler special about all three films. Endorsements Amy: The Man in the Tuskhut, an animatronic, AI theater piece by the writer and director Jason Woliner. Sam: The band Belly’s album Star and the play Liberation by Bess Wohl. Dana: Spike Jonze’s music video of Bjork’s cover of “It’s Oh So Quiet.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Dana Stevens, and this is the Slate Culture Gab Fest, Netflix Goes Nuclear with House of Dynamite Edition.
0:16.4	It is Wednesday, October 29th, 2025, and on today's show, we'll talk first about House of Dynamite.
0:21.9	It's the latest from Catherine Bigelow, director of The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark 30, and other films.
0:27.1	In this movie, a nuclear warhead is headed toward the United States. But why? From where? By whom?
0:32.6	No one knows. Then Heda is a new film adaptation of the play Heda Gabbler by Henrik Ibsen,
0:38.4	in which the titular character, played by Tessa Thompson,
0:41.2	manipulates her party guests with lies, liquor, and seduction,
0:44.7	uprooting the social order of those around her.
0:47.1	This version is directed by Nia da Costa.
0:49.7	Finally, we will talk about The Perfect Neighbor.
0:51.8	It's a true crime documentary with a twist.
0:54.0	It's composed almost entirely of found footage from police body cams, from doorbell
0:58.8	cams, and from police interrogation videos. It documents the conflict between two Florida
1:03.7	neighbors with horrific results. Joining me today, it's a film critic takeover of the Slate
1:08.8	Culture Gab Fest. I can't remember the last time this happened, but yes, here we are three day-to-day film critics, people whose job it is to get together and talk movies. So we decided to have an all-movie show in celebration. We've got Slate's own Sam Adams. Welcome, Sam. Hi, Dana. Very nice to have you on. And from L.A. we have Amy Nicholson, the film critic for The LA
1:29.6	Times. And also host of the Unspulled Podcast. Hi, Amy. Hi, Dana. Hi, Sam. All right, diving in,
1:35.7	A House of Dynamite is the nuclear thriller from director Catherine Bigelow, best known for her
1:40.5	Oscar-winning films, The Hurt Locker, and Zero Dark 30. This is the first movie Bigelow has made since Detroit in 2017. In a House of Dynamite, an unidentified nuclear
1:50.0	warhead appears over the Pacific, headed toward the continental United States. Together, the combined
1:55.3	forces of the U.S. deep state work to figure out who, what, and why. They scramble together
2:00.0	in boardrooms, situation rooms, and Zoom rooms to figure out how to respond, and why. They scramble together in boardrooms, situation rooms,
2:01.5	and Zoom rooms to figure out how to respond, and if they should risk nuclear annihilation in the
	...

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