Spoilerpiece Theatre

It's movies-that-studios-are-pushing-for-awards week on Spoilerpiece! First up, Evan and Dave talk about Mike Mills' C'MON C'MON (1:48), a funny drama starring Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny, who steps in to take care of his nephew Jesse (Woody Norman) while Jesse's mother Viv (Gaby Hoffman) tends to her husband, Jesse's father, who has bipolar disorder. That's a clunky description, but don't hold that against us because it's a great conversation about a movie that's firmly plugged into its emotional arc. Next, everyone saw THE TENDER BAR (22:03), director George Clooney's latest, about JR (Daniel Ranieri as a kid and Tye Sheridan as a young adult), who moves with his mother (Lily Rabe) to her childhood home. Good news: Her brother, JR's Uncle Charlie, is Ben Affleck. The bad news? Not enough Ben Affleck. Lastly, we talk about RED ROCKET (39:15), director Sean Baker's latest. Mikey Saber (a terrific Simon Rex), a washed-up porn star, returns to his working class Texas hometown, crashing into his estranged wife's life, and striking up a creepy romance with a 17-year-old (Suzanna Son) whom he's trying to groom into a porn career that he hopes will restart his own. Over on our Patreon we talk about FARGO, the Coen brothers' comedic thriller starring Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, and Steve Buscemi. If you join our $5 tier, you'll get immediate access to that conversation and more than 200 bonus episodes!

Megan is back from vacation, so she's excited to review this week's films! We start with Lauren Hadaway's unsettling psychological thriller THE NOVICE (2:24), about a college student's obsessive quest to make her school's varsity rowing team. Then we review Jane Campion's beautifully shot Western THE POWER OF THE DOG (21:42), starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Jesse Plemons. The Netflix film has been racking up awards from many film critics groups, including the Boston Online Film Critics Association, so we have a lot to say about it. And in this week's Patreon exclusive audio, we change things up a bit by talking about our favorite movie car chases!

Frequent guest Charlie Nash stops by this week to fill in for Megan. He offers a quick plug for his new podcast, Almost Major, before he reviews Steven Spielberg's adaptation of WEST SIDE STORY (6:09), which despite his admitted bias against a particular actor in it, offers great spectacle and inspired tweaks to the original story. Next, we all discuss Paul Schrader's THE CARD COUNTER (16:30), an intense tale about trauma and guilt starring Oscar Isaac, Tye Sheridan, Tiffany Haddish, and Willem Dafoe. After that we delve into Ridley Scott's HOUSE OF GUCCI (39:28), a movie about wealth and manipulation that we have polarized reactions to. One thing we do agree on: Lady Gaga is great in it. And in this week's Patreon exclusive audio, we talk about a Patron's request, Ted Demme's 1994 dark Christmas comedy, THE REF, starring Denis Leary!

Megan's on vacation (and we miss her), so we invite a very special guest to join us this week: former Spoilerpiece co-host Kris Jenson! We're excited to have Kris back for an episode, but feel bad about the movies we made him watch. At least we have some great discussions about them! First up is Michael Pearce's muddled sci-fi film ENCOUNTER (4:26), starring Riz Ahmed as a father trying to protect his two sons from an alien invasion. Then we cover Camille Griffin's uneven mix of sci-fi and dark comedy, SILENT NIGHT (31:17), which is about old friends who get together on Christmas as one last hurrah before their imminent demise. And on this week's Patreon exclusive audio, we talk with Kris about Paul Verhoeven's 1990 sci-fi action film TOTAL RECALL, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger!

This week just in time for the holiday, we kick off our show with Stephen Karam's Thanksgiving family drama THE HUMANS (1:41), which underwhelms despite its stacked cast. Next we discuss Halle Berry's directorial debut BRUISED (16:32) a formulaic sports film about a down on her luck queer MMA fighter trying to find redemption. Then we review KING RICHARD (34:45), Reinaldo Marcus Green's engaging sports biopic, which looks at how Venus and Serena Williams' father Richard (Will Smith) propelled them into tennis superstardom from birth. And in this week's Patreon exclusive audio, we talk about the winner of our November film noir poll, Robert Altman's 1973 film THE LONG GOODBYE, starring Elliott Gould!

This week we picked two VERY different movies about food to discuss. First, we cover Julie Cohen and Betsy West's delightful documentary JULIA (2:12), about chef Julia Child, which is chock full of great interviews, insights, and shots of food. Next, we review Lee Haven Jones's Welsh folk horror film THE FEAST (15:12), which features some gruesome moments that we have varying reactions to. To completely change gears, we close with Destin Daniel Cretton's entertaining Marvel movie SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS (35:40) in honor of its arrival on Disney+. And in this week's Patreon exclusive audio, we talk about David Fincher's 2002 home invasion thriller PANIC ROOM, starring Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, and Forest Whitaker.

This week we start by reviewing Tal Michael's BUKRA FIL MISH-MISH (3:59), a fascinating documentary playing at the Boston Jewish Film Festival about three Jewish brothers who were pioneers of Egyptian animation. Next, we discuss Danis Goulet's NIGHT RAIDERS (16:41), a smart Indigenous sci-fi film about a mother (Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers) trying to rescue her daughter (Brooklyn Letexier-Hart) from a fascist state. After that we review Jeymes Samuel's THE HARDER THEY FALL (32:25), a bold Black Western with a stacked cast. And in this week's Patreon exclusive audio, we talk about Lou Adler's 1982 film LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE FABULOUS STAINS!

Happy Hanukkah! This year the holiday is coming early in real life and on the show. Our gift to you is a bonus episode where Evan and his co-host in life, Shauna, review the shorts programs from the 2021 Boston Jewish Film Festival. First up is the FreshFlix block, where they concentrate on THE MOHEL (1:25), PARADISE (10:46), and THE BINDING OF ITZIK (17:42), with brief comments on DEVEK, GANEF, SCUM BOY, and IMMERSION. Next they discuss Shorts Made in Quarantine with a focus on TANGLED UP IN JEWS (27:13), LONG DISTANCE (29:15), and DIALOGUES AND MONOLOGUES (32:07), and brief nods to VOICES FROM THE BALCONIES and YOM KIPPUR IN LOCKDOWN. They wrap up with the In 32 Minutes or Less! block, engaging in discussions about NEVER AGAIN / PARA NADIE (39:11), BECOMING NAKUSET (47:55), MOM'S IN TOWN AND SHE DIDN'T TELL ME (47:55), and A JEW WALKS INTO A BAR (51:15), while briefly mentioning THE COLLECTION and ZAIDA. Hopefully these reviews inspire you to check out the shorts at the Boston Jewish Film Festival, which runs virtually through November 20, 2021.

We get a good laugh about how the one-word titles we're reviewing form a sentence, but after that we get serious about this week's movies. First, we discuss Tracey Deer's BEANS (2:22), a layered coming-of-age drama set against the real-life 78-day standoff between the Mohawk community and government forces in 1990 Quebec. Next, we cover Rebecca Hall's PASSING (22:39), a compelling 1920s drama about race and class starring Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga. Lastly, we review FINCH (42:21), Miguel Sapochnik's moving post-apocalyptic sci-fi drama about a man (Tom Hanks) who builds a robot that he must teach to take care of his dog. And on this week's Patreon exclusive audio, we talk about Penny Marshall's 1992 baseball film A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN starring Geena Davis, Lori Petty, and Tom Hanks!

Praise be that film festivals are back! To kick things off, Megan talks about IFFBoston's Fall Focus, and her experiences watching SPENCER (2:03), BELFAST (6:12), HAPPENING (8:32), and MEMORIA (10:31). Evan joins her to talk about PETITE MAMAN (14:21) and THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (20:52). Then Evan (with an assist from Megan) takes everyone through Shudder's HORROR NOIRE (30:25), an anthology film with six horror stories from Black directors and screenwriters. Lastly, Dave and Evan review the 4K restoration of Wendell B. Harris Jr.'s CHAMELEON STREET (44:13), which won the 1990 Sundance Grand Jury Prize and has been hard to find since. And in this week's Patreon exclusive audio, we feature the monthly poll winner - we asked you to choose from FRANKENSTEIN films and the winner is THE BRIDE, starring Sting and Jennifer Beals. We had a blast talking about it, so check it out and consider becoming a patron!