When it comes to quirky, dark comedies over the past decade, a name that comes to mind is Martin McDonagh.

The British-Irish filmmaker has seen his films earn 17 Academy Award nominations, including seven nods and two wins for his 2017 breakout “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” and nine for his 2022 film “The Banshees of Inisherin.”

While a golden Oscar statuette has eluded him personally, could “Wild Horse Nine” push McDonagh over the top? In this episode of Streamed & Screened, co-host Bruce Miller talks about the film and shares the conversations he had with McDonagh, along with star John Malkovich, as well as a second interview with co-stars Steve Buscemi and Parker Posey.

He and co-host Terry Lipshetz also discuss how McDonagh’s work continues the tradition of dark comedies featuring unique plots and characters similar to what we’ve seen from the Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan, who have largely moved on to solo projects following “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” in 2018. Does “Wild Horse Nine” stack up to those films, notably the Coen Brothers' 2008 CIA spy thriller “Burn After Reading.”

They also discuss the return of Ethan Hawke’s comedy-crime drama “The Lowdown,” which recently began releasing weekly episodes for its second season on FX and Hulu. Also back for a new season is the romantic comedy “Nobody Wants This,” which takes a few new turns in its third season starring Kristen Bell and Adam Brody.

About the show

Streamed & Screened is a podcast about movies and TV hosted by Bruce Miller, a longtime entertainment reporter who is the retired editor of the Sioux City Journal in Iowa and Terry Lipshetz, managing editor of the National Newsroom for Lee Enterprises based in Madison, Wisconsin. The show was named Best Podcast in the 2025 Iowa Better Newspaper Contest.

Theme music

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