Spoilerpiece Theatre

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 really into Annie? Or Tyler? We have an animated discussion about this one. Then Evan joins Megan and Dave to talk about FANCY DANCE (23:29), Erica Tremblay's Indigenous drama starring Lily Gladstone as Jax, a Seneca-Cayuga woman searching for her missing sister while caring for her niece, Roki (Isabel DeRoy-Olson). Throw into it Jax's estranged father (Shea Whigham), an impromptu road trip to a powwow, and the missing-persons investigation for Jax's sister and it's an emotional 92 minutes. We all liked this one (one of us loved it). Over on Patreon, we watched THE FIRST OMEN, Arkasha Stevenson's horror prequel starring Nell Tiger Free, so check it out!

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 and Dave for OUTSTANDING: A COMEDY REVOLUTION (21:46), a Netflix documentary exploring the history of LGBTQ+ comedy and featuring some of its biggest names, including Lily Tomlin, Tig Notaro, Suzy Eddie Izzard, and Joel Kim Booster (and a lot more). Over on Patreon, we talk about John Carpenter's CHRISTINE, because why the hell not?

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 work, by the way... WTF is this movie, exactly? Hey, if you see it, you tell us. Then Evan, Megan, and Dave watched JIM HENSON IDEA MAN (23:21), Ron Howard's Disney+ documentary that goes in-depth-ish on Henson, his early partnership with his wife, his early experimental films, and how that experimentation showed up in lots of projects throughout the rest of his career. On Patreon, we talk about Spike Lee's CROOKLYN, which turned 30 this year.

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 Francisco, fall in love, and make a life together in a tiny Nevada town. TDDH is Vivienne's movie, as it traces her tough, tender, and resilient character from childhood to adulthood. It's a dense story with lots of twists and turns (and too much to get into in this description) and superior performances by Viggo and especially Krieps, and Megan and Dave loved it. Then Evan, Megan, and Dave talk director D.W. Waterson's BACKSPOT (28:56), a drama about a high school cheerleading team with a cutthroat coach (Evan Rachel Wood) and a squad that will do almost anything to prove themselves. Riley (Devery Jacobs), the squad's backspotter, thirsts for the coach's approval, putting a strain on all of her relationships, especially with her girlfriend, Amanda (Kudakwashe Rutendo), who's also a teammate. We had divergent opinions on this one. And over on Patreon, Ang Lee's THE WEDDING BANQUET won our May poll! If you're a patron, you can listen here (and if you're not a patron, you can become one!).

Dave, after initially going to the wrong theater, made it to the FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA (3:21) screening. He yaps about it, and then Megan and Evan join him for Jennifer Lopez's new sci-fi flick, ATLAS (11:32), about A.I. that's - natch - trying to wipe out humanity. A.I. is on everyone's minds lately, right? Too bad there wasn't some originality on the writers' minds when they wrote the fuckin' thing. Then everyone talks about Richard Linklater's new comedy, HIT MAN (29:53), starring Glen Powell as a fake hit man and Adria Arjona as the woman he falls in love with, who may just be planning on killing her rotten husband. Over on Patreon, we talk about Kubrick's DR. STRANGELOVE in honor of its 60th anniversary.

What happens when all three critics on Spoilerpiece have problems with both movies on the docket? Listen and you'll find out! First up is director/co-writer Michelle Schumacher's YOU CAN'T RUN FOREVER (2:26), a wannabe thriller starring Schumacher's husband J.K. Simmons, Schumacher's daughter Olivia Simmons, and a bunch of people who apparently didn't know better than to get involved in this thing. (You *can* avoid this shit.) Then there's BABES (23:55), the new comedy (in air quotes) from director Pamela Adlon, starring and co-written by Ilana Glazer. This thing is getting glowing reviews absolutely everywhere, but not from us. (We saw a different movie, maybe?) Over on Patreon, we yap about a movie we really enjoy: RUN LOLA RUN.

This week there's a music documentary, an eco-fable set in Japan, and Dave's favorite cinematic subgenre: Australian detective stories starring Eric Bana! To start things, Dave fills Megan and Evan in on Michael Lindsay-Hogg's remastered LET IT BE, which crawled so Peter Jackson's GET BACK could fuggin' sprint. Megan watched EVIL DOES NOT EXIST, said eco-fable, which focuses on a village near Tokyo and a clamping site being developed nearby. This is Ryusuke Hamaguchi's follow-up to the much-lauded DRIVE MY CAR. Finally, everyone saw FORCE OF NATURE: THE DRY 2, which features Bana reprising the role of Aaron Falk from THE DRY. (Aside: (Dave and Evan's alternate title: THE WET, as this story is set almost entirely in a rain forest.) Of course, Dave can't resist doing his bad Australian accent and giggling uncontrollably. But is THE DRY 2 good? We let you know! Over on Patreon we talk about the 1979 comedy THE FRISCO KID starring Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford.

This week Megan fills Dave and Evan in on the Ryan Gosling/Emily Blunt-starring THE FALL GUY (2:03), which is an update of the TV series "The Fall Guy" (bet you didn't see that one coming). Is it good? Bad? Somewhere in between? Then Megan and Dave talk about the genre hyphenate NEW LIFE (12:56), which seems to be one thing (suspense thriller) and then becomes quite another (sci-fi/horror!). And Evan joins Dave and Megan to talk about Jerry Seinfeld's UNFROSTED, the almost entirely untrue story of the creation of Pop Tarts. Over on Patreon we talk about one of Dave's favorites, THREE COLORS: RED, a first-time watch for both Megan and Evan.

This week on the show, we got some wires crossed (which is to say *Dave* got some wires crossed). So he mistakenly watched BOY KILLS WORLD (2:24), the new Bill-Skarsgård-kills-the-shit-out-of-everyone movie, instead of BUTTERFLY IN THE SKY (12:33), a new documentary about "Reading Rainbow." But fear not! Megan and Evan watched BUTTERFLY IN THE SKY, and to suggest they completely Stan out isn't far-fetched (though it's refreshing to hear two of us on the podcast love a moviegoing experience so much). Finally, Megan and Dave watched HUMANE (32:25), Caitlin Cronenberg's feature directing debut, in which a wealthy family decides which of them will be euthanized in a dystopian Canadian near-future (insert jokes about Canada currently being a dystopia, har har!). And it's a comedy! Or it wants to be. But we finally have an answer to the age-old question: Which Cronenberg is the least of the Cronenbergs? And over on Patreon, we asked patrons to choose an environmental-themed movie because Earth Day is in April, and patrons chose ERIN BROCKOVICH! Patrons can check out that conversation here, and if you're not a patron, you can become one by clicking that link and signing up! Thanks for listening.

This week Megan took one for the team and checked in on Guy Ritchie's latest, THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE (2:38). Does this based-on-a-true-story movie take Ritchie down some less traveled paths? Or is it standard Guy Ritchie fare? Megan has the answers! Evan and Dave join Megan to talk about WE GROWN NOW (17:52), writer/director Minhal Baig's coming-of-age story of two boys growing up in Chicago's Cabrini-Green complex in the early 1990s. Over on Patreon, in honor of its 50th anniversary, we talk about Francis Ford Coppola's THE CONVERSATION.