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Boston film critics Evan Crean, Megan Kearns, and David Riedel help you decide what to watch by sharing spoiler-filled reviews of the latest blockbusters and independent films, across genres, including films by women, nonbinary, LGBTQ+, and BIPOC filmmakers. Opening music: "My Life as a God" by Augean Stables. Closing music: "Pants Party" by Oilhead. Show edited by Otto Klammer. Logo design by Rita Csizmadia.
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Episode 540: "Blink Twice" and "My Old Ass"
1:01:20
1:01:20
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This week we took a gander at two films in current release: Megan and Evan watched BLINK TWICE (2:32), Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut, featuring Channing Tatum as a tech-bro asshole who lures women to a private island and tortures them for fun with his fellow tech-bro pals, and then wipes their memories. Naomi Ackie is one of the women taken to th…
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Episode 539: "Heretic," "Black Cab," and "Small Things Like These"
58:07
58:07
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This week Megan talks about the psychological horror thriller HERETIC (2:18), starring a possibly career-best Hugh Grant. Then Evan, Megan, and Dave discuss the Nick Frost-starring horror flick BLACK CAB (11:34), and the excellent SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE (28:56), with Cillian Murphy as an empathetic man slowly uncovering the ugly secrets of a local…
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Episode 538: "Here," "High Tide," and "Music by John Williams"
1:00:29
1:00:29
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This week, Dave gets boomerific yapping about the new Robert Zemeckis film HERE (3:14), starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, and a bunch of other actors who should have known better, as they tackle Zemeckis’ latest blundered technology cry-fest. Gah. Then Megan and Evan talk about HIGH TIDE (13:54), Marco Calvani’s queer love story, set in Province…
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Episode 537: "The Line" and "Magpie"
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1:01:44
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This week we watched THE LINE (2:41), a drama (sometimes called a thriller, but eh) about a fraternity brother who gets mixed up in his frat’s shady pledge shenanigans. Does it result in someone’s death? Does the Pope shit in the woods? Then we watched MAGPIE (27:12), an atmospheric thriller starring Daisy Ridley (from an idea she had) about a woma…
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Episode #536: "Woman of the Hour," "MadS," and "Smile 2"
1:08:06
1:08:06
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This week, Megan reviews SMILE 2 (2:06), Parker Finn's grisly sequel to his great horror film SMILE, about a pop star (Naomi Scott) contending with addiction recovery and a new tour amidst sinister occurrences. The sequel is much more nerve-wracking and gory! Then, we all (Dave, Evan, and Megan) talk about MADS (16:09), David Moreau's unique and in…
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Episode 535: "Last of the Sea Women" and "The Outrun"
50:09
50:09
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This week Evan and Dave kick things off with THE LAST OF THE SEA WOMEN (3:07) (after Dave forgets to do his own intro at the top; whoops), a documentary about the haenyeo, a declining and aging community of women in Jeju, South Korea, who dive for seafood as a job - or, as Evan more accurately describes it, a calling - while dealing with climate ch…
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Hey, gang! There were some delivery problems this week, so we only have one new movie on the docket: MONKEY MAN! (Just kidding. That's on Patreon. Patrons can listen to that episode here.) No, this week we cover the new Dust Bowl psychological drama/horror flick HOLD YOUR BREATH (2:22), starring Sarah Paulson as a woman living through the Dust Bowl…
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Episode 533: "Will & Harper" and "Megalopolis"
1:03:12
1:03:12
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With Megan on vacation this week, Evan and Dave take on WILL & HARPER (2:42), the documentary about the friendship between Will Ferrell and writer Harper Steele post-Harper's transition. This funny and tender (and occasionally sad) documentary about long friendships (Ferrell and Steele met at "Saturday Night Live") and the ways they change is the a…
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Episode 532: "Rez Ball" and "In the Summers"
57:54
57:54
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This week on the show Megan and Dave talk about REZ BALL (2:20), director Sydney Freedland’s drama about a Navajo high school basketball team. After a series of tragedies forces the coach and players to rethink the way they play ball, they adopt a technique they dub “rez ball,” which includes fast play and getting the ball to the hoop as quickly as…
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Episode 531: "Speak No Evil" and "Seeking Mavis Beacon"
1:01:56
1:01:56
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On this week’s show, Megan and Dave watched SPEAK NO EVIL (2:29), writer-director James Watkins’ remake of the Danish film from 2022. As with many non-American horror films remade for American audiences, the new SPEAK NO EVIL leaves the original’s first two-thirds relatively unchanged and then kicks the last third in the ass, replacing it with a wa…
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Episode 530: "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice," "His Three Daughters," and "Merchant Ivory"
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1:01:07
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It's a big week! Tim Burton's long-awaited BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE (2:08) finally arrives after its thirty-six-year gestation — Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara reprise their roles, and Jenna Ortega co-stars — and does it live up to the praise being heaped upon it? Megan lets you know! Next, we all saw HIS THREE DAUGHTERS (18:42), Aza…
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Episode 529: "The Deliverance" and "Mountains"
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59:15
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It’s a 50-50 week on Spoilerpiece, as one of the movies we watch is crap, and one is a joy from start to finish. First, the crap, because we didn’t want to end on a sour note: Lee Daniels’ THE DELIVERANCE (2:12), a derivative dumpster fire of a possession story cribbed from better possession stories. What makes it so awful, though? Glad you asked! …
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Episode 528: "Between the Temples," "Hell Hole," and Smoking Tigers"
1:03:29
1:03:29
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This week, Evan talks about BETWEEN THE TEMPLES (2:14), Nathan Silver's Jewish comedy starring Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane about a man's grade-school music teacher who becomes his adult Bat Mitzvah student. Unfortunately, he wasn't a fan of the awkward humor. Then, we (Dave and Megan) review HELL HOLE (13:24), John Adams and Toby Poser's (aka …
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Episode 527: "Alien: Romulus," "Skincare," and "Close to You"
1:00:23
1:00:23
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This week, Megan fills Evan and Dave in on CLOSE TO YOU (1:31), starring Elliot Page (who also co-wrote the story) in Dominic Savage's tender and emotional indie drama as Sam, who journeys home for his father's birthday, his first trip to his hometown since his transition. We follow that up with SKINCARE (9:18), Austin Peters's thriller starring El…
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Episode 526: "Duchess" and "The Instigators"
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47:48
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Because of some truly bizarre audio difficulties this week, Megan was unable to join us. Which is a bummer! Because she had things to say about both movies on the docket. First, Dave talks about DUCHESS (2:35), directed by Neil Marshall and written by Marshall and its star, Charlotte Kirk. And how is it? Well, it's dog shit! Like most of Marshall's…
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Episode 525: "Sing Sing, "Doctor Jekyll," and "Peak Season"
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53:40
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Dave jokes that it’s Megan’s big week on Spoilerpiece: She saw all three movies on the docket! First, she fills Evan and Dave in on DOCTOR JEKYLL (2:27), Joe Stephenson's gothic horror film starring Eddie Izzard as Dr. Nina Jekyll (good) and Rachel Hyde (bad) in a contemporary update of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novella The Strange Case of D…
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Episode #524: "Deadpool & Wolverine" and "Green Border"
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1:10:30
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Dave is under the weather this week (feel better soon, Dave!), so Megan and Evan cover the week's movies together. First, Megan reviews Agnieszka Holland's vital, yet harrowing drama GREEN BORDER (3:33), which follows a family of refugees from Syria, a border guard, and a group of activists providing aid to refugees, who converge on the Polish-Bela…
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Episode 523: "Twisters," "Widow Clicquot," and "Oddity"
1:03:24
1:03:24
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Evan is off this week, so Megan and Dave braved this week’s releases. Actually, Dave didn’t see TWISTERS (2:39) — Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie legacy sequel starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, and Anthony Ramos — so it’s up to Megan to tell you, dear listeners, that it’s kind of crap. She has some positive things say about it (Glen Powell,…
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Episode 522: "Dandelion" and "The Blue Rose"
58:08
58:08
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Well. It is a BANNER week on Spoilerpiece, gang. Megan and Dave discuss writer-director Nicole Riegel’s DANDELION (2:54), about a struggling singer-songwriter from Cincinnati (KiKi Layne) taking a shot at winning an opening slot at a biker gathering in South Dakota while also falling into an intense relationship with a semi-retired Scottish guitari…
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Episode 521: "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F," "Kill," and "MaXXXine"
1:08:25
1:08:25
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We just marked a national holiday in the United States, so you know what that means: It’s cash grab season! Megan and Dave talk about said (possible) cash grab, BEVERLY HILLS COP: AXEL F (1:53). Eddie Murphy and cohorts return in the legacy sequel that continues the legacy of shittiness that BEVERLY HILL COP III unleashed on the world 30 years earl…
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Episode 520 - "Kinds of Kindness," "Conversion," and "A Family Affair"
1:04:35
1:04:35
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This week Megan saw Yorgos Lanthimos’s KINDS OF KINDNESS (2:28), a whackadoo triptych fable starring Jesse Plemons, Emma Stone, and Willem Dafoe. It’s getting all kinds of raves but also some drubbings — including Megan’s. Evan, Megan, and Dave watched CONVERSION (15:15), Zach Meiners's documentary about survivors — the film’s director, an ex-Mormo…
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Episode 519: "Chestnut" and "Fancy Dance"
57:05
57:05
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This week, Megan and Dave check out writer-director Jac Cron’s CHESTNUT (2:19), a low-key (very low-key) queer drama about Annie (Natalia Dyer), who, after graduating college in Philadelphia, falls into a love triangle with Tyler (Rachel Keller) and her maybe-boyfriend Danny (Danny Ramirez). But is Tyler in love with Annie? Or Danny? And is Danny r…
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Episode 518: "Tuesday" and "Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution"
49:44
49:44
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This week Megan and Dave check out writer-director Daina O. Pusić’s TUESDAY (1:57), starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a mother reckoning with her daughter’s imminent demise when Death arrives - literally - in the form of a size-shifting, talking bird. We had mixed feelings about it, but one of us liked it more than the other. Then Evan joins Megan an…
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Episode 517: "This Closeness" and "Jim Henson Idea Man"
57:39
57:39
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Welcome the wacky world of Spoilerpiece! Why wacky? Because for our first film, Megan and Dave watched Kit Zauhar's THIS CLOSENESS (2:33), one of the most indie films to ever indie, and we’re not sure it’s a good movie…but it’s not bad, either? And the ending is…we’re not sure also? And every character in it is an assbag, but that’s OK? Good sound …
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Episode 516: "The Dead Don't Hurt" and "Backspot"
1:04:31
1:04:31
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What a week for movies! Megan and Dave watched writer/director/composer/co-star Viggo Mortensen’s THE DEAD DON’T HURT (2:30), a bittersweet drama set in the 1860s. Viggo (the only actor Dave permits being called by first name, because it’s fun to say “Viggo”) is Olsen, a Dane, and Vicky Krieps is Vivienne, a French-Canadian, who meet in San Francis…
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