After our fully planned and thoroughly communicated nine-month hiatus, we are BACK at the exact time we always said! On this episode featuring exactly zero mutual ratings, we dive into Taika Waititi’s THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER, Sophie Hyde’s GOOD LUCK TO YOU, LEO GRANDE, and recent queer releases Andrew Ahn’s FIRE ISLAND and Sammi Cohen's CRUSH.

Rebecca and Jason return from an unplanned three-month hiatus to delve into Chloe Zhao’s ETERNALS, Denis Villeneuve’s DUNE, Rebecca Hall’s PASSING, Jeymes Samuel’s THE HARDER THEY FALL, and Julia Ducournau’s TITANE.

We assess James Gunn’s long overdue crack at THE SUICIDE SQUAD and a trio of docs: Kristine Solakis’ gay conversion history PRAY AWAY, Peter Nicks’ snapshot of Oakland’s class of 2020 in HOMEROOM, and Ting Poo and Leo Scott’s portrait of Val Kilmer, VAL.

In which a slight difference of opinion on Cate Shortland’s highly anticipated BLACK WIDOW leads to lethargic semi-discussions of Janicza Bravo’s ZOLA and Enrico Casarosa’s LUCA, before we’re revived by Questlove’s SUMMER OF SOUL and restore harmony by being unimpressed with Vanessa Roth’s MARY J. BLIGE’S MY LIFE.

We have polar opposite reactions to Jon M. Chu’s IN THE HEIGHTS, get spooked by Michael Chaves’ THE CONJURING: THE DEVIL DO IT, muddle through Zack Snyder’s ARMY OF THE DEAD, revel in Anders Thomas Jensen’s RIDERS OF JUSTICE, and exalt in Natalie Morales’ PLAN B.

After debriefing this year's pandemic Oscars, we review Joe Wright’s misbegotten THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW, Taylor Sheridan’s riveting THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD, Mike Rianda and Jeff Rowe’s delightful THE MITCHELLS VS THE MACHINES, Nikole Beckwith’s tender TOGETHER TOGETHER, and Azazel Jacobs’ uneven FRENCH EXIT.

It’s strange bedfellows this week on The Binge, in which we mix Adam Wingard’s stupidly fun spectacle GODZILLA VS. KONG with three considerably more taxing films: Emma Seligman’s caustic cringe comedy SHIVA BABY, Oliver Hermanus’ apartheid military drama MOFFIE, and Ricky Staub’s scared-straight morality tale CONCRETE COWBOY.

On this episode we review two Oscar hopefuls, Florian Zeller’s THE FATHER starring Anthony Hopkins and Thomas Vinterberg’s ANOTHER ROUND starring Mads Mikkeksen, and two Oscar doubtfuls, Amy Poehler’s MOXIE and Tate Taylor’s BREAKING NEWS IN YUBA COUNTY.

It’s another super-sized episode full of heavy hitters! We disagree over the Midwestern realness of BARB AND STAR GO TO VISTA DEL MAR, parse where NOMADLAND sits in Frances McDormand’s pantheon of roles, praise Lee Isaac Chung’s family drama MINARI, lament the sprawling wreckage of Lee Daniels’ THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY, revel in the proudly amoral I CARE A LOT, and get into an unexpectedly weighty debate about the gay tearjerker SUPERNOVA.

In our first new episode of 2021, we round up six notable releases from this very peculiar awards season: Emerald Fennell’s provocative PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, Shaka King’s enraging JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH, Sam Levinson’s painful MALCOLM & MARIE, Regina King’s edifying ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI, Kornél Mundruczó’s uneven PIECES OF A WOMAN, and John Lee Hancock’s derivative THE LITTLE THINGS.