On the 444th episode of Piecing It Together we are LIVE from Maya Cinemas in Las Vegas to talk about The Amateur! This espionage thriller starring Rami Malek takes some weird twists and turns that made it stand out for us. Puzzle pieces include Mission: Impossible, Beverly Hills Cop, Home Alone and Hackers.

As always, SPOILER ALERT for The Amateur and the movies we discuss!

Written by Ken Nolan and Gary Spinelli

Directed by James Hawes

Starring Rami Malek, Rachel Brosnahan, Michael Stuhlbarg, Laurence Fishburne

20th Century Studios

Shahab Zargari is an award-winning Iranian-American filmmaker and administrative faculty member of the UNLV College of Fine Arts.

Check out Shahab’s work at https://www.shahabzargari.net/

And Follow Shahab on Instagram @shahabzargari

Marco Arriaga is a stand-up comedian, a pro wrestling ring announcer, a movie theater enthusiast, but most importantly a guest of the Piecing It Together Podcast.

Check out his Cold Soup Productions YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@coldsoupproductions

And follow Marco on Instagram @yummus_hummus

Steven Hughes is a film fan and listener of the Piecing It TogetherPodcast.

Follow him on Instagram @stevenhug27

My latest David Rosen album MISSING PIECES: 2018-2024 is a compilation album that fills in the gaps in unreleased music made during the sessions for 2018's A Different Kind Of Dream, 2020's David Rosen, 2022's MORE CONTENT and 2025's upcoming And Other Unexplained Phenomena. Find it on Bandcamp, Apple Music, Spotify and everywhere else you can find music.

You can also find more about all of my music on my website https://www.bydavidrosen.com

My latest music video is “Shaking" which you can watch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzm8s4nuqlA

The song at the end of the episode is "Throughout The World" from my album MISSING PIECES

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You can also support the show by checking out our Dashery store to buy shirts and more featuring Piecing It Together logos, movie designs, and artwork for my various music projects at https://bydavidrosen.dashery.com/

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And most important of all… Keep going to the theater to see new movies!

Mentioned in this episode:

Thunderbolts LIVE at Downtown Cinemas

More info on our next live show at Downtown Cinemas on THUNDERBOLTS* available at https://www.piecingpod.com/2025/04/23/thunderbolts-live-show-thursday-may-1st-in-las-vegas/