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The following podcast contains explicit language.

I'm Stephen Metcalf, and this is the Slate Culture Gap Fest, but mostly Pain Edition.

It's Wednesday, May 1st, 2013.

Woo, May.

Tavadis. Yeah. On today's program, May 1st, 2013. Woo, May. The artist.

Yeah.

On today's program, Pain and Gain, the new movie from action director Michael Bay.

And then we'll talk the Battle for Morning Television Chat Show dominance with Brian Stelter of the New York Times.

And finally, crowdsourcing pilot season with Amazon.com.

Joining me today is Slate's film critic God Dana Stevens. Hey, Dana. Hello, Stephen. And, of course, Slate's culture critic, June Thomas. Hello, June. Hello, Stephen. All right. Well, let's plunge right in. Pain and Gain is the new movie from the director, Michael Bay, who is over the last 15, 20 years, has been the dominant director in the summer tent pole space.

Dana, what would some of the big ones?

I mean, he goes back all the way to bad boys.

Armageddon was probably his first big one.

And then just most recently, the Transformers, the three Transformers movies and however many more we have coming.

Right.

And his name, it's fair to say, is synonymous with a certain kind of, you know, very lucrative, somewhat perhaps empty.

Adolescent over-the-top action.

...