2 Cents Critic

Tune in as Judith and Roxana (Books n Things Podcast) drop by to discuss The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch, the sci-fi thriller that follows NCIS Special Agent Shannon Moss’s twisty and grim journey through space and time to solve a murder investigation that might be linked to the impending doom of everything we know and love. Ah yes, terrifying, isn’t it? The hosts also touch on topics like the perils of immorality, Judith’s love of Doctor Who, and the mind-blowing joy that comes with consuming well-constructed twists and reveals in science-fiction and thrillers.

TW: Murder, suicide

Spoilers start at 17:40

Good Word:

• Judith: Doctor Who

• Roxana: Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building

• Arthur: “The King” EP by Sarah Kinsley

Reach out at [email protected] if you want to recommend things to watch and read, share anecdotes, or just say hello!

Be sure to subscribe, rate, and review on iTunes or any of your preferred podcasting platforms!

Follow Arthur on Twitter: @arthur_ant18

Follow the podcast on Twitter: @two_centscritic

Tune in for Arthur’s take on Under the Whispering Door, the contemporary queer fantasy novel by TJ Klune (The House in the Cerulean Sea) that follows selfish and heartless lawyer Wallace Price as his soul embarks on a posthumous journey of kindness, empathy, and self-transformation. What Arthur felt for THCS

Tune in for Arthur’s review of Cruella, the 2021 Disney prequel that wants to be Joker, The Devil Wears Prada, Maleficent, Ocean’s 11, and a sprinkling of M. Night Shyamalan’s Split for kicks. A diatribe about Paddington 2 losing its 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, befuddlement over dog murder of more than one kind, and a rundown of the numerous times when Disney has bragged about their first openly gay characters are included.

Directed by Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya), Cruella stars Emma Stone, the great Emma Thompson, Joel Fry, Paul Walter Hauser, Emily Beecham, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Mark Strong, John McCrea, and Kayvan Novak.

Spoilers start at 32:30

Cruella blog review: https://2centscritic.com/2021/09/22/my-2-cents-on-cruella/

Good Word: Two pieces of content related to Elizabeth Holmes

- Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou

- The Dropout podcast

Reach out at [email protected] if you want to recommend things to watch and read, share anecdotes, or just say hello!

Be sure to subscribe, rate, and review on iTunes or any of your preferred podcasting platforms!

Follow Arthur on Twitter: @arthur_ant18

Follow the podcast on Twitter: @two_centscritic

Tune in for Arthur’s thoughts on The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang. Her third #ownvoices contemporary romance stars Anna Sun, a violinist who seeks out a one-night stand after her boyfriend Julian announces that they should try an open relationship before making plans to tie the knot, and Quan Diep, the tattooed and motorcycle-riding cousin of Michael Larsen from the author’s debut novel The Kiss Quotient. Initially, Quan seems to fit the bill for a one-night stand, but maybe he’s actually qualified for much more…? This episode also includes topics like advocation for better disability representation in media, a recitation of a Frasier scene that showcases the eponymous radio psychiatrist in all his control-freak glory, and the numerous striking similarities between The Heart Principle and The Kiss Quotient—including the fact that Quan, like Michael, is always in Cinnamon Roll Mode.

TW: Autistic and caregiver burnout, parental death, implicit mention of suicidal ideation

The Heart Principle blog review: https://2centscritic.com/2021/09/05/my-2-cents-on-the-heart-principle-by-helen-hoang/

Esquire’s “The Falling Man“ by Tom Junod - https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a48031/the-falling-man-tom-junod/

Sports Illustrated’s “Things Are Going to Be Different Now“ by Shaker Samman - https://www.si.com/nba/2021/09/10/muslims-in-sports-after-9-11-daily-cover

Reach out at [email protected] if you want to recommend things to watch and read, share anecdotes, or just say hello!

Tune in for a pod crossover as Arthur welcomes Beth and Maddie (Off The Book Podcast) onto the show for a review and recap of The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang (The Bride Test, The Heart Principle). If you want to hear them talk about a book that’s essentially a gender-swapped Pretty Woman starring an econometrician with high-functioning autism and a hapa male escort, you’ve come to the right place! Sorry about the unusually long runtime, but they had a little too much fun digressing into important topics like fuzzy bananas, their shared love of Chris Evans, and foods that are used as euphemistic references for female privates/orgasms.

Spoilers start at 9:30

Good Word:

• Maddie: Netflix’s Young Royals, “Future Nostalgia” by Dua Lipa

• Beth: “If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power” by Halsey

• Arthur: The collective effort to combat the Texas abortion bill

Reach out at [email protected] if you want to recommend things to watch and read, share anecdotes, or just say hello!

Be sure to subscribe, rate, and review on iTunes or any of your preferred podcasting platforms!

Follow Arthur on Twitter: @arthur_ant18

Follow the podcast on Twitter: @two_centscritic

Tune in for Arthur’s two cents on The House in the Cerulean Sea, the contemporary fantasy novel by TJ Klune (The Extraordinaries) that takes the “found family made up of magical children on a remote island” element of the Miss Peregrine series and infuses it with the irresistible whimsy of Roald Dahl and The Mysterious Benedict Society.

Good Word: WeToo: Essays on Sex Work and Survival, edited by Natalie West

Tune in for Arthur’s take on CODA, the heartwarming family film that centers around a teenage Child of Deaf Adults (CODA) whose singing ambition clashes with her lifelong charge as the interpreter for her hearing impaired parents and brother. Having made headlines when Apple bought it for $25 million at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, the movie is now streaming on Apple TV+.

Directed and written by Siân Heder (Netflix’s Tallulah), CODA stars Emilia Jones, Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur, Daniel Durant, Eugenio Derbez, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, and Amy Forsyth.

Spoilers start at 11:50

Note: at the end of the episode, Arthur was remiss enough to forget to mention the gigantic Apple TV+ property that is Ted Lasso, which is ranking high on his watchlist.

Good Word: Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd’s The Friendship Onion podcast

Reach out at [email protected] if you want to recommend things to watch and read, share anecdotes, or just say hello!

Be sure to subscribe, rate, and review on iTunes or any of your preferred podcasting platforms!

Follow Arthur on Twitter: @arthur_ant18

Follow the podcast on Twitter: @two_centscritic

Tune in to hear what led Arthur to give Hang the Moon, the latest #ownvoices queer romcom by Alexandria Bellefleur (Written in the Stars), the first ever windup score of 100/100 in the 2CC catalog! Lavender-scented Breathe Right nasal strips, linguistics, the Rick Astley Paradox, and more will all be covered on this episode.

Spoilers start at 8:00

Good Word: Fresh by Margot Wood

Reach out at [email protected] if you want to recommend things to watch and read, share anecdotes, or just say hello!

Be sure to subscribe, rate, and review on iTunes or any of your preferred podcasting platforms!

Follow Arthur on Twitter: @arthur_ant18

Follow the podcast on Twitter: @two_centscritic

Tune in for Arthur’s review of The Mysterious Benedict Society, the eight-episode Disney+ TV show adapted from the 2007 children’s book by Trenton Lee Stewart. Co-created by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi (co-writers of Aeon Flux and The Invitation), the show stars Mystic Inscho, Seth Carr, Emmy DeOliveira, Marta Wessler, Tony Hale, Kristen Schaal, MaameYaa Boafo, Ryan Hurst, and Gia Sandhu.

Spoilers start at 18:20

Good Word: Simone Biles and mental health awareness

The Mysterious Benedict Society blog review: https://2centscritic.com/2021/08/09/my-2-cents-on-disneys-the-mysterious-benedict-society/

Reach out at [email protected] if you want to recommend things to watch and read, share anecdotes, or just say hello!

Be sure to subscribe, rate, and review on iTunes or any of your preferred podcasting platforms!

Follow Arthur on Twitter: @arthur_ant18

Follow the podcast on Twitter: @two_centscritic

Tune in as Arthur teams up with special guests Ryan LaPlante and Tyler Hewitt (Dumb-Dumbs & Dragons, Garbage Town) to discuss the Amazon Original time-travel blockbuster, The Tomorrow War. Just how little training do the draftees get before the military dumps them off in the future? Is Chris Pratt the most boring Chris out of all the Chrises? Are the Whitespikes a ripoff of the aliens in Edge of Tomorrow? All that and more are covered in this episode!

Directed by Chris McKay (The Lego Batman Movie), The Tomorrow War stars Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski, Sam Richardson, Edwin Hodge, J.K. Simmons, and Betty Gilpin.

Good Word:

• Arthur: Recursion by Blake Crouch, Palm Springs

• Ryan: Season 1 of The Boys, Edge of Tomorrow, the Dumb-Dumbs & Dice podcasts, Timeline by Michael Crichton

• Tyler: Edge of Tomorrow, 13 Assassins, Groundhog Day

The Tomorrow War blog review: https://2centscritic.com/2021/07/13/my-2-cents-on-the-tomorrow-war/

Reach out at [email protected] if you want to recommend things to watch and read, share anecdotes, or just say hello!

Be sure to subscribe, rate, and review on iTunes or any of your preferred podcasting platforms!

Follow Arthur on Twitter: @arthur_ant18

Follow the podcast on Twitter: @two_centscritic