Spoilerpiece Theatre

This week Evan takes a trip George Lucasville with THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU (3:18) and Dave scratches his music itch with TUNER (24:08), about a piano tuner-turned-safecracker with the best sound design Dave has heard in a while. Over on Patreon, Dave and Evan talk about the asoblutely bonkers 1981 stalker film THE FAN, starring Lauren Bacall, James Garner, and a very young Michael Biehn.

This week Evan and Dave take in the latest movie that unfolds entirely on computer screens: LIFEHACK. As they both liked UNFRIENDED, SEARCHING, and MISSING, they were down to check out this different scenario, as no one is dead or missing or a ghost. Nah, in this iteration, the four main characters are trying to pull off a massive crypto heist. But the crypto in question is owned by a slimy totally-not-Jeff-Bezos-or-Elon-Musk dude, so needless to say security is tight, and if they get caught THERE MAY BE BLOOD (to coin a phrase). Oh, and there are lots of tangents in this episode. Over on Patreon, we discuss READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME, the sequel to...oh, just guess.

Imagine it's 1979. You queue up to see STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE over the holidays. You're super psyched. Not since "Space Seed" have you been so high on the idea of boarding the Enterprise. And then you see ST:TMP and feel like you'd have more fun watching a documentary of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy talking about taking a shit than you would watching that bloated, dull, space opera.

Now imagine it's 1982. You queue up to watch WRATH OF KHAN because it can't be worse than TMP, right? And not only is it not worse, IT'S FUCKING GANGBUSTERS, THE BEST STAR TREK MOVIE ANYONE WILL EVER MAKE, SPACE: THE FINAL FRONTIER, FUCK YEAH!

Now imagine this same scenario, except instead of TMP it's MORTAL KOMBAT from 2021, and WRATH OF KHAN is MORTAL KOMBAT II (3:04). That's right. MORTAL KOMBAT II IS FUCKING GANGBUSTERS, THE BEST MORTAL KOMBAT MOVIE ANYONE WILL EVER MAKE (probably), FINISH HIM, MOTHERFUCKER, FUCK YEAH!

Or something like that. Over on Patreon, we talk about Walter Hill's 1982 classic 48 HRS.

This week Evan and Dave dive into THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2 (and by extension, its predecessor DARBY O'GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE). They're both recently (re)acquainted with TDWP from 2006, and they're into the movie's plot driver: The dying journalism industry. But TDWP2 is a movie that wants to have some real-world commentary while also providing escapism, so...does it work? Eh? In any event, it's lovely to Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci sharing a movie screen again. Over on Patreon, we talk about the 2007 thriller BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke.

This week Dave touches briefly on the documentary LORNE (3:10), about the "Saturday Night Live" creator Lorne Michaels. Then he and Evan talk about FUZE (4:25), the latest from director David Mackenzie, probably known best for HELL OR HIGH WATER (listen to our take here, with our first co-host Kris Jenson; we covered Mackenzie's RELAY on Patreon a couple months back). In FUZE, a British Army major tries to defuse an undetonated World War II bomb in central London while a group of diamond thieves uses the brouhaha surrounding it as cover for a heist. On this week's Patreon episode, we talk about the 1996 comedy-drama BIG NIGHT.

This week Dave checked out the new Bob Odenkirk splatter-fest, NORMAL. Odenkirk co-wrote the story and stars as a temp sheriff who's sent to the tiny burg of Normal, Minn., to hold things down until the town has a special election in eight weeks to replace their recently deceased big cheese law man. But as fate would have it (and contrivance), he finds himself knee-deep in Yakuza money and town is so corrupt that even the lady who owns the yarn store is in on the deal. So, is NORMAL Odenkirk's next NOBODY? Nah. (How's that for alliteration?) But it has its moments. Then Evan and Dave talk about Jonah Hill's latest turn as director, OUTCOME, starring Keanu Reeves as an actor who's just getting past heroin addiction and rebuilding his life, and trying to repair all the bridges he burned along the way. Somebody should have repaired the fuggin' script. Over on Patreon, we talk about the 2009 thriller TRIANGLE.

This week Evan and Dave bring back that ol' chestnut, "Riedel's Recaps," and Dave gives expletive-laden mini-reviews for PROJECT HAIL MARY and UNDERTONE (2:28). Then they move on to the main feature this week, HAMLET (7:50). Yep! Someone made HAMLET again! This adaptation stars Riz Ahmed as the title character, and Dave and Evan are of mixed feelings about this one. Over on Patreon, we talk about FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH from 1982.

This week Dave takes in THE DRAMA (4:17), writer-director Kristoffer Borgli's uneasy drama (with lots of comedy) about an engaged couple, Emma and Charlie (Zendaya and Robert Pattinson). When Emma tells Charlie about the worst thing she's ever done, it sparks a crisis that builds in the week leading up to their wedding. (And it was shot in Massachusetts!) Then Evan and Dave come down on opposite sides of the fence for PRETTY LETHAL (24:39), and action-thriller featuring a group of ballerinas battling their way out of a mob-owned hotel in rural Hungary. Uma Thurman has a lot of fun chewing the scene as the heavy. Over on Patreon, we talk about the 1990 action-thriller BLUE STEEL starring Jamie Lee Curtis and directed by Kathryn Bigelow.

This week Evan and Dave take in SHE DANCES, written by star Steve Zahn along with its director, Rick Gomez. Zahn is fine form in this drama (with lots of welcome comedy) about a father chaperoning his daughter (played by Zahn's daughter Audrey) to a dance competition while they both deal with an incalcuable loss. Zahn and Gomez call in favors from friends Ethan Hawke and Michael Cudlitz, both welcome in small but poignant roles. Over on Patreon, we talk about the 1986 film PLATOON by Oliver Stone.

This week Evan and Dave take a look at WAR MACHINE (1:50), a sort of mean-spirited PREDATOR clone/rip off without the solid acting, story, direction or humor. But at least we had fun talking about it! On Patreon, we talk about the 1986 buddy-cop film RUNNING SCARED with Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal.