We’re taking a good hard look in the mirror with our guest, actor/writer/director Michelle Krusiec as we discuss SXSW;s 2025 Grand Jury Prize winner, Amy Wang’s darkly comedic body horror, SLANTED. Then we’ll share some of our favorite movies that feature the prom, well…prominently.

What’s Good

ITIDIC
Oscars 2026 Recap
- Variety's Coverage
- Indiewire's Coverage

Letterboxd List of our "PROMinent Features" movies

Staff Picks

3/21/26, 7pm: Alonso and Christy’s After Hours Screening at the Gardena Cinema

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With
Kevin Avery
Drea Clark
Alonso Duralde

Produced by Marissa Flaxbart
Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

Podcaster and writer Harmony Colangelo joins the gang to track the many movements of THE BRIDE! Then we talk about actors we’d love to see paired up on the big screen. 

What’s Good

ITIDIC

Staff Picks

Listen to Harmony and BJ’s show This Ends at Prom

Thanks to Christian Dueñas and Gabe Mara for production support on this episode.

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With
Kevin Avery
Drea Clark
Alonso Duralde

Produced by Marissa Flaxbart
Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

March is Women’s History month, and all the movies we cover this month will be directed by women! To kick things off, we’re leaning into the “history” part, and going back to 1953 to cover the most popular film from a truly pioneering director (and prolific actor), the one and only Ida Lupino. It’s The Bigamist, with our special guest, a journalist covering culture and history, Hadley Hall Meares!

What’s Good

ITIDIC

Movie Quiz Letterboxd List: “The [Blank}ist”

Staff Picks

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With
Kevin Avery
Drea Clark
Alonso Duralde

Produced by Marissa Flaxbart
Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

The gang's all here to discuss a new black comedy (sorta) where its Glen Powell's Becket Redfellow in a cat and mouse game to the death with his obnoxiously wealthy family -- a modernization of the 1949 Alec Guinness film Kind Hearts and Coronets.

What’s Good?

ITIDIC

Check out our list of "Rags to Riches Movies" on Letterboxd.

Staff Picks

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With
Kevin Avery
Drea Clark
Alonso Duralde

Produced by Marissa Flaxbart
Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

Romance novelist and filmmaker Alys Murray joins us to unpack Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights adaptation, and (perhaps unsurprisingly) opinions are varied! What does the movie have in common with Grease 2? Listen and learn! Plus, we have a Hotline call all about movie characters that need family or couples counseling.

What’s Good

ITIDIC

Staff Picks

Alys Murray’s new book is A Little Buzzed

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With
Kevin Avery
Drea Clark
Alonso Duralde

Produced by Marissa Flaxbart
Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

Have you heard about the new A24 movie from writer/director Harry Lighton that’s almost a romantic comedy about gay BDSM biker culture? That’s PILLION, starring Alexander Skarsgaard and Harry Melling, and we’re thrilled to have our friend Nayland Blake (an influential artist and teacher who’s an authority on queer kink, riding with us!

What’s Good?
Alonso - Trans Girl Scouts you can buy cookies from
Drea - The Milan-Cortina Olympics (also Coach Jackie)
Nayland - Midwest Magic Cleaning on YouTube
Kevin - Casey Abrams at Hotel Cafe (w/surprise Dave Koz); Bobby Brown at the bar

ITIDIC

1. Letterboxd Op-Ed: Is Streaming Making Movies Less Memorable?
2. Kristen Stewart Buys Highland Park Theater

Our ‘Sex-Positive Movie Night’ Picks in a Letterboxd List

Staff Picks
Alonso - Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die
Drea - Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie
Nayland - Bloodsisters
Kevin - Secretary

Nayland’s Books:
My Studio Is a Dungeon Is the Studio
No Wrong Holes: Thirty Years of Nayland Blake

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With
Kevin Avery
Drea Clark
Alonso Duralde

Produced by Marissa Flaxbart
Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

Sam Raimi's darkly comedic thriller SEND HELP is a bright spot in the early 2026 movie calendar, and we've got writer and film critic Kristen Lopez with us to discuss it, as well as some of our favorite "Desert Island Movies" -- by which we mean movies set on a remote island, of course.

What's Good
Alonso - Super Bowl festivity & food
Drea - Rainbow Wool
Kristen - good movies in January
Kevin - Twilight Zone fundraiser reading

ITIDIC
IRON LUNG, YouTube Creator’s $3m Indie, Opens #2 at the Box Office
Lake Oswego Theater Loses Rights to Screen ‘Melania’ After Marquee Jokes
MST3K and Rifftrax Plan Crossover

Check out our "Desert Island Movies" List on Letterboxd

Staff Picks
Drea - The Housemaid
Alonso - Office Killer
Kristen - Pillion
Kevin - The Ruins

Read all about Kristen Lopez at her site or on The Film Maven
 

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With
Kevin Avery
Drea Clark
Alonso Duralde

Produced by Marissa Flaxbart
Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

We’re throwing our whole bodies into this discussion of Mona Fastvold’s epic historical musical biopic THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE. But it’s an audio medium, so you’ll have to take our word for it. We’re thrilled to have Emily St. James back with us!

What’s Good
Alonso - Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man
Drea - The power of “DROWSING” (in Scrabble)
Emily - Rewatching 28 Years Later
Kevin - Love Thy Neighbor: A Charity Live Reading of The Twilight Zone (Live at Dynasty Typewriter and Livestreamed, 1/31/26)

ITIDIC

1. Oscar Nominations Announced
2. Sundance Film Festival kicks off, for the final time in Park City

Unusual Musicals List on Letterboxd

Staff Picks
Drea - A Poet
Alonso - The Moment
Kevin - Martha Marcy May Marlene

Follow Emily St. James on Bluesky or Instagram @emilystjams

Subscribe to Episodes

Listen to Podcast Like It’s…

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With
Kevin Avery
Drea Clark
Alonso Duralde

Produced by Marissa Flaxbart
Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

MaxFun's own Jordan Morris (Jordan, Jesse, Go and Free with Ads) joins us to discuss Nia DaCosta's latest flex -- this time, she's settling into the 28 Years Later director's chair for the second in a proposed trilogy of 28 Years films (which are themselves sequels to 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later). It's 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, starring Ralph Fiennes, Chi Lewis-Parry, Erin Kellyman, and Jack O'Connell. Then we take a Hotline call about food and cooking in the movies.

What’s Good?
Alonso - Experimenting with Bro Soap
Drea - the many queens of the Midwest (here’s a list of ways to help Minnesota)
• The Smitten Kitten
• Comma, a bookshop
Jordan - search for “ICE agents slipping on ice”
Kevin - YouTube ‘80s/’90s football games rabbit hole

ITIDIC

1. Kathleen Kennedy Stepping Down as Lucasfilm Head
2. Boots Riley to Direct An Adaptation of ‘Mr. Burns,’ a Play About The Simpsons

Staff Picks
Drea - Pride
Alonso - A Bigger Splash
Jordan - Godzilla vs. Biollante
Kevin - The Marvels

More about Jordan’s Predator: Bloodshed

bit.ly/coolfight to preorder a signed copy

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With
Kevin Avery
Drea Clark
Alonso Duralde

Produced by Marissa Flaxbart
Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

After making a splash at Cannes, THE CHRONOLOGY OF WATER is finally getting released to theaters around the US. It’s a faithful film adaptation of the memoir by Lidia Yuknavitch, and we’re joined by both a memoirist and a filmmaker to discuss it all — Roxane Gay (HUNGER, BAD FEMINIST, and much more) and Alain Martin (The Forgotten Occupation). Then we’ll name some of our favorite memoir adaptations, and some memoirs we’d like to see adapted to film  

What’s Good?
Alonso - The Hunger: Film Writing 2012-2024 by Melissa Anderson
Drea - TasteBuds NYC videos
Roxane - Heated Rivalry book series
Alain - LA trip (for local premiere of The Forgotten Occupation!)
Kevin - Buzz Ballz for Drea

ITIDIC

1. Golden Globes 2026 Happened
2. Alamo Drafthouse Shifting from Pen-and-Paper to Mobile Menu Ordering

Staff Picks

Alonso - The Swimmer
Drea - Sound of Falling
Alain - Nouvelle Vague
Roxane - Hedda
Kevin - Cedar Rapids

Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd

With
Kevin Avery
Drea Clark
Alonso Duralde

Produced by Marissa Flaxbart
Sr. Producer Laura Swisher