THE FIXATE & BINGE PODCAST, with Host, Joe Curdy: Deep dives into cinema and storytelling with voices who create it

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What if the technology threatening Hollywood could actually protect some of its most vulnerable performers?
Film producer Elizabeth Caddy returns to The Fixate & Binge Podcast for a provocative, wide-ranging conversation that begins with Gore Verbinski’s GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON'T DIE and quickly evolves into something much bigger: the rapidly changing—and increasingly unsettling—relationship between artificial intelligence, entertainment, and humanity.
Elizabeth and Joe dive into the dangers AI poses to filmmaking, creativity, performers, and society itself, while also confronting an idea that is considerably harder to dismiss: Could AI actually be used to replace child actors—and in doing so, protect children from an entertainment industry with a long and disturbing history of exploitation, bullying, addiction, abuse, and trauma?
It’s an uncomfortable proposition. And Elizabeth doesn’t shy away from it.
The conversation also includes Joe’s review of HOKUM (which Elizabeth thinks may have been a little too generous), along with Elizabeth’s recommendations for HEEL, starring Stephen Graham, and STOP! THAT! TRAIN!, starring RuPaul.
But ultimately, this episode becomes a much deeper discussion about where we draw the line with AI—and whether the technology we fear might, in some circumstances, actually be capable of protecting the people Hollywood has historically failed to protect.
It’s provocative. It’s uncomfortable. And it’s a conversation Hollywood desperately needs to have.
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For decades, movie theaters have been more than places to watch films—they’ve been gathering places, community landmarks, and an essential part of the American experience. But across the country, many of those theaters are disappearing.
Award-winning, National Emmy-winning documentarian, writer, and producer Rustin Thompson set out to see them before they’re gone.
In his new film, THE LAST PICTURE SHOWS, Rustin takes an extraordinary 10,825-mile road trip through the American West, traveling through Washington, Utah, Montana, Nevada, and Arizona and visiting small towns and independent movie theaters that are struggling to survive—or closing their doors altogether.
On this episode of The Fixate & Binge Podcast, Rustin and I talk about the journey behind the film, the people and communities he encountered along the way, and what we lose when these theaters disappear. We also discuss the changing moviegoing experience, the challenges facing small-town cinemas, and why preserving these seemingly ordinary places may actually mean preserving something extraordinary about America itself.
Because when the last picture show ends, what else disappears with it?
This is the story of a filmmaker who drove 10,825 miles to find out.
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Why do we keep rooting for people who do terrible things?
From Tony Soprano and Walter White to Dexter Morgan, Billy Butcher and Daemon Targaryen, television has become extraordinarily good at making us understand morally compromised characters. We know their trauma. We understand their motivations. We see their vulnerabilities. And somehow, the better we understand them, the easier it becomes to forgive them.
But when does understanding become justification?
In this nearly hour-long solo episode of The Fixate & Binge Podcast, Joe Curdy explores our fascination with television's antiheroes—and the uncomfortable possibility that the moral reasoning we use to defend fictional characters may not be so different from the reasoning we use to defend real people.
Joe begins with a look at Paramount+'s THE AGENCY, starring Michael Fassbender, before diving into the evolution of television's morally complicated protagonists and asking why charisma, competence, power, trauma and even humor can make us surprisingly forgiving of terrible behavior.
Then Hulu's new FURIOUS, starring Emmy Rossum and Lola Petticrew, takes the conversation somewhere darker: What happens when legitimate trauma and righteous anger become the justification for violence?
And then fiction collides with reality.
Joe examines the extraordinary public reaction surrounding Luigi Mangione following his recent guilty plea in the federal case stemming from the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson—and the larger debate over whether anger toward America's healthcare system can ever justify murder.
But this isn't a Left-versus-Right argument.
Because that's the uncomfortable part.
We all do it.
We forgive the people we believe are fighting for our side. We minimize behavior when we agree with the cause. We find reasons to excuse people we admire, people who entertain us, people who look the part, and people who are fighting someone we dislike even more.
We've all heard—or perhaps said—the dangerous sentence:
"I don't approve of everything they do, BUT..."
So what comes after the but?
Maybe television didn't destroy our moral compass.
Maybe it simply taught us how easy it is to understand the villain.
And maybe the most dangerous thing about the antihero isn't that we become like them—it's that we become convinced they're right.
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DO US PART: The Rom-Com Isn’t Dead — Reed Arnold Just Proved It
For decades, the romantic comedy was one of Hollywood’s most dependable—and beloved—genres. Then streaming changed the theatrical landscape, horror took over the multiplex, and the mid-budget rom-com seemingly disappeared.
Enter Reed Arnold.
In this episode of The Fixate & Binge Podcast, Joe Curdy sits down with Arnold—the writer, director, and star of DO US PART, his impressive feature-film debut—to talk about bringing a genuinely funny, heartfelt romantic comedy back to the big screen.
Set against the increasingly chaotic backdrop of a countryside wedding, DO US PART follows a best man desperately trying to keep a celebration from completely unraveling when buried feelings, complicated friendships, and one very unexpected confession threaten to derail everything.
But beneath the laughs is something much more meaningful: a story about unrequited love, enduring friendship, sacrifice, and the painful question of what might have been.
Joe recently gave DO US PART a 4.5/5-star review, calling it “a breath of fresh air” and a welcome reminder that the theatrical rom-com “hasn’t lost its mojo—Hollywood has simply forgotten how much we still need it.”
In this wide-ranging conversation, Reed talks about writing, directing, and starring in his debut feature; the origins of DO US PART; translating the story from stage to screen; creating authentic chemistry between his three leads; balancing escalating comedy with genuine emotional stakes; and why romantic comedies still matter.
DO US PART is currently playing in select theaters and arrives on Apple TV on August 14, 2026.
If you’ve been waiting for Hollywood to remember how to make you laugh, fall in love, and maybe even shed a tear along the way, this episode—and this movie—are for you.
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Christopher Nolan's THE ODYSSEY is already being celebrated for its breathtaking IMAX photography and epic scope—but is its greatest achievement something far more intimate?
In this solo episode of The Fixate & Binge Podcast, Joe Curdy moves beyond the spectacle to explore the film's deeper philosophical questions. Is Odysseus' voyage really about crossing the Mediterranean... or confronting the man he has become? What does "coming home" truly mean after years of war, violence, moral compromise, and unbearable loss?
Joe also offers an honest—and perhaps controversial—take on experiencing the film in 70mm IMAX versus standard digital IMAX, questioning whether the premium format ultimately enhanced or distracted from the emotional experience.
From Matt Damon's quietly devastating performance to the haunting presence of Athena, Zeus' Law, survivor's guilt, and the unforgettable metaphor of the Sirens' "delicious itch," this episode explores why THE ODYSSEY may be Nolan's most reflective and emotionally resonant film to date.
Sometimes the longest journey isn't across an ocean.
It's the one that leads us back to ourselves.
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