** "Bryan Cranston's character is the more volatile one, and him and I get into it, but I'm a Marine colonel in uniform - so it becomes very, very hairy."

Two generations caught up in endless US wars against the planet. As three Vietnam veterans played by Bryan Cranston, Laurence Fishburne and Steve Carell reunite to bury Carell's son, a young Marine killed in Iraq. Vazquez is on the line to delve into being part of this drama confronting US war and death in Iraq, by way of "a timely and very deep story" - and Vazquez's own character Colonel Willits, presiding over the returning coffins. The Opening Night Feature of the NY Film Festival.

LISTEN TO THE SHOW HERE

**Korea Reunification, Please! Margaret Cho phones in to talk about, among hot topics, 'the politics of disgust, and the crazy times we live in now.' And her latest television series Highland, about Asian American existence in this country - continuing the Korean American standup comic, actress and performer's innovation of first bringing Asian American family life to the small screen. Cho also responds hypothetically to a seat at the negotiating table to solve the world situation concerning the DPRK. And, while summing up about herself, "I see somebody, I see a beautiful woman who has been through everything to hell and back - and I show my scars proudly."

** "Keeping the art, revolution and beauty of Latino culture alive in San Francisco."

Writers Corner: Alejandro Murguia, a San Francisco Poet Laureate, short story writer and community activist reads from his work - and other work that has inspired him. And connected to 'Lorca's dream, pockets stuffed with poems, the blind guitarist waving boleros at a purple sky' and 'billy clubs, handcuffs, broken ribs surfaced from our suddenly awakened memories.'

** "There are a lot of people out there that lead pretty normal lives, but have this crack in their soul - and it's a real joy to peel off layers and see him grow."

Ray Donovan: A Conversation With Actor Dash Mihok - On the line to talk about what's coming up in the new season of the television series in its continuing descent into the murky depths of deep Hollywood. The actor describes burrowing inside the shattered psyche of his character Bunchy - damaged by childhood priest sexual abuse. Mihok also reflects on John Voight as his screen father; Lillian Hellman and how he got his name; and the Golden Age Of Television right now - what it may be all about for actors, art and audiences alike.

**Best Of The Net Hotspot: Protesting free health care for all, and a parody about why Americans always seem to be fighting against their own best interests.

NY Film Festival 2017: The Florida Project

Yet another deplorable poverty porn comedic miserabilism neither by nor for the scarred underclass in this country being depicted - and who couldn't actually afford to pay for theater tickets to this voyeuristic court jester 'entertainment' about them - The Florida Project has a tacked on title referring to the building of Orlando's Disneyland. And whose meaning will come to light only for those motivated to delve beyond the film - while uncovering nothing much beyond a vague irony of the poverty flourishing just beyond that extravagant theme park. Which one might conclude as a missed opportunity for some meaningful socio-economic substance, to say the least.

And in effect, in a country with a nearly 43 percent child poverty rate representing an alarming 15 million children and increasing - while not counting the parents as well - a film in which six year old child actors ( led by Brooklynn Prince as Moonee) apparently not among those statistics - are called upon by director Sean Baker to engage in the kind of repulsive activity - from cursing and spitting on people to sexually suggestive behavior - that in the real world would more likely result in handcuffs - as opposed to their awards and accolades for 'creative' achievement.

And to top it off,  a view of dysfunctional single parenting (signified by Bria Vinaite as Halley) as freaky, dangerous, and above all a bizarrely delightful pastime mired in scary decadent depravity and deprived of social context, that has no discerned cause or cure. While compounding the exploitation issues here of both the economically deprived and children summoned to flaunt dress-up deranged activity on cue, is yet another ironic addition to the ethically odious proceedings - as Willem Dafoe, the flustered manager of the squalid residential motel in question - angrily assaults an elderly stranger turning up whom he suspects of potential pedophilia targeting these unsupervised children roaming about. And bringing into question as to whether this brief scene may have been tacked on to absolve the director, regarding his own dubious relationship with these children. If so, a shrewd move on his part.

And curiously absent, is the inclusion of black children as other than extras in these appalling proceedings. Which perhaps raises the question that Baker was either being racially selective, or more likely that African American families - who are actually the percentage majority of those living such impoverished lives - are more repelled from personal experiences and racism - to the impact of degradation, humiliation and insensitivity directed at them, whether in real life or a movie.

More information about the NY Film Festival and screenings is online at filmlinc.org/NYFF2017

Prairie Miller