The Filmcast

It's the annual Summer Movie Wager! Our friends BJ Colangelo, Germain Lussier, and Peter Sciretta return to make their wagers along with the Filmcast crew, on this summer's box office. Come back in the fall to see who will reign supreme as the winner of the 2025 wager. You can play along at thesummermoviewager.com. To be considered for the leaderboard, you must enter by Wednesday April 30, 2025.

We're making video versions of our reviews! Be sure to follow us on the following platforms:

Thanks to our SPONSOR: 
BETTERHELP: This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/filmcast today to get 10% off your first month.

Weekly Plugs
David - Decoding TV
Devindra - Engadget Podcast: Pixel 9a review + Bracing for tariffs
Jeff - runjeffrun.com

The Summer Movie Wager is a game that we play during the summer of each year. You can find the history of the game and play along at thesummermoviewager.com (thanks to Dennis for putting that site together). The general goal of this game is to predict the highest grossing films of the summer in terms of domestic box office, in the correct order. The closer you get to the final ranked order, the more points you get. This year, the summer movie wager will begin on May 1, 2025 (with the release of Thunderbolts) and last through September 1, 2025, Labor Day, as usual. 

Each of your 13 picks (10 movies and 3 dark horses) gets a single score assigned to it by using the following rules: 

-If your picked movie for #1 OR #10 is correct, you score 13 points for it. 
-If your picked movie for 2-9  is correct, you score 10 points for it. 
-If your picked movie is only 1 spot away from its actual placement, you score 7 points for it. 
-If your picked movie is only 2 spots away from its actual placement, you score 5 points for it. 
-If your picked movie is placed inside the Top 10, you score 3 points for it. 
-If your picked movie is not placed inside the Top 10, you score 0 points for it. 
-For each of your picked dark horses placed inside the Top 10, you score 1 point. If two or more rules apply to a single pick, only that single rule will be applied which assigns the highest point value to that pick. For example: If your pick for #1 is correct, you don't get 16 points for it because it is #1 and because it placed inside the Top 10; instead you only get 13 points for it.

Germain’s Top 10
1. Lilo & Stitch
2. Jurassic World Rebirth
3. Superman
4. The Fantastic Four: First Steps
5. How to Train Your Dragon
6. Thunderbolts*
7. F1
8. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
9. Elio
10. 28 Years Later
DARK HORSES:
- Ballerina
- M3GAN 2.0
- The Naked Gun
TIE BREAKER: $457MM

BJ’s Top 10
1. Jurassic World Rebirth
2. Lilo & Stitch
3. Superman
4. The Fantastic Four: First Steps
5. How to Train Your Dragon
6. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
7. Thunderbolts*
8. Final Destination: Bloodlines
9. Ballerina
10. Elio
DARK HORSES:
- M3GAN 2.0
- Karate Kid: Legends
- F1
TIE BREAKER: $527MM

Peter’s Top 10
1. Lilo & Stitch
2. Superman
3. Jurassic World Rebirth
4. The Fantastic Four: First Steps
5. How to Train Your Dragon
6. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
7. Thunderbolts*
8. Karate Kid: Legends
9. Elio
10. F1
DARK HORSES:
- Ballerina
- M3GAN 2.0
- Smurfs
TIE BREAKER: $402MM

Devindra’s Top 10
1. Lilo & Stitch
2. Jurassic World Rebirth
3. Superman
4. The Fantastic Four: First Steps
5. F1
6. How to Train Your Dragon
7. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
8. Karate Kid: Legends
9. Thunderbolts*
10. Elio
DARK HORSES:
- M3GAN 2.0
- Final Destination: Bloodlines
- Freakier Friday
TIE BREAKER: $510MM

Jeff’s Top 10
1. Lilo & Stitch
2. Superman
3. Jurassic World Rebirth
4. The Fantastic Four: First Steps
5. Elio
6. How to Train Your Dragon
7. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
8. F1
9. Thunderbolts*
10. Freakier Friday 
DARK HORSES:
- M3GAN 2.0
- Karate Kid: Legends
- The Bad Guys 2
TIE BREAKER: $520MM

David’s Top 10
1. How to Train Your Dragon
2. Jurassic World Rebirth
3. Lilo & Stitch
4. Superman
5. The Fantastic Four: First Steps
6. Karate Kid: Legends
7. Thunderbolts*
8. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
9. F1
10. Elio
DARK HORSES:
- Ballerina
- The Bad Guys 2
- Final Destination: Bloodlines
TIE BREAKER: $530MM

Support David's artistic endeavors at his Patreon and subscribe to his free newsletter Decoding Everything. Check out Jeff Cannata’s podcasts DLC and We Have Concerns. Listen to Devindra's podcast with Engadget on all things tech. You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com.
Credits:

David, Devindra, and Jeff return to the rebellion with season 2 of Andor, run the numbers on The Accountant 2, and settle back into the discomfort of Nathan Fielder’s weirdness with the second season of The Rehearsal. Then they head down south for Ryan Coogler’s genre-bending epic, Sinners.

We're making video versions of our reviews! Be sure to follow us on the following platforms:

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Weekly Plugs
David - Decoding TV: Andor season 2 review
Devindra - Engadget Podcast: NY Auto Show and interview with Legend of Ochi director Isaiah Saxon
Jeff - DLC 596 with Lana Bachynski

Shownotes (All timestamps are approximate only)   
What we've been watching (~00:10:38)
David - The Accountant 2, Andor S2
Devindra - Andor S2, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl
Jeff - The Rehearsal S2, The Residence

Featured Review (~00:50:50)    
Sinners
SPOILERS (~01:02:25)

Support David's artistic endeavors at his Patreon and subscribe to his free newsletter Decoding Everything. Check out Jeff Cannata’s podcasts DLC and We Have Concerns. Listen to Devindra's podcast with Engadget on all things tech. You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com.
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David, Devindra, and Jeff fall into the Hitchcockian pleasures of Drop, praise the brilliant storytelling of Common Side Effects, and wonder why Hacks doesn't just let the two main leads be friends. Then, it's time to discuss Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza's new movie, Warfare.

We're making video versions of our reviews! Be sure to follow us on the following platforms:

Weekly Plugs
David - Decoding TV: Matt Goldberg’s The Last of Us recaps
Devindra - Engadget Podcast: Pixel 9a review + bracing for tariffs
Jeff - cameo.com/jeffcannata

Shownotes (All timestamps are approximate only)   
What we've been watching (~00:16:05)
David - Drop, G20, The Last of Us S2 
Devindra - Last of Us S2, Hacks S4, The Pitt finale
Jeff - Common Side Effects, Your Friends and Neighbors

Featured Review (~01:04:00)   
Warfare
SPOILERS (~01:29:15)

Support David's artistic endeavors at his Patreon and subscribe to his free newsletter Decoding Everything. Check out Jeff Cannata’s podcasts DLC and We Have Concerns. Listen to Devindra's podcast with Engadget on all things tech. You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com.

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David, Devindra, and Jeff slash through rom-com tropes with Heart Eyes, tap into the 80’s nostalgia of Freaky Tales, and look back fondly on the gunslingers of Tombstone. Then they unpack the franchise building blocks of A Minecraft Movie.

We're making video versions of our reviews! Be sure to follow us on the following platforms:

Weekly Plugs
David - Decoding Everything: Why I’m really worried about SUPERMAN’s marketing
Devindra - Engadget Podcast: Switch 2 hands on + Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop) interview about Lazarus
Jeff - runjeffrun.com

Shownotes (All timestamps are approximate only)   
What we've been watching (~00:36:49)
David - Heart Eyes, The Twister: Caught in the Storm
Jeff - Freaky Tales, Wolf King
Devindra - Tombstone, Lazarus, The Legend of Ochi

Featured Review (~01:22:36)    
A Minecraft Movie
SPOILERS (~01:38:53)

Support David's artistic endeavors at his Patreon and subscribe to his free newsletter Decoding Everything. Check out Jeff Cannata’s podcasts DLC and We Have Concerns. Listen to Devindra's podcast with Engadget on all things tech. You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com.
Credits:

David, Devindra, and Jeff break down the Avengers: Doomsday casting news, dive deep with Last Breath, put themselves in the line of fire with Warfare, and step on set with The Studio. Then they drive through the magical weirdness of Death of a Unicorn.

We're making video versions of our reviews! Be sure to follow us on the following platforms:

Thanks to our SPONSOR: 
BETTERHELP: This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/filmcast today to get 10% off your first month.

Weekly Plugs
David - Decoding TV podcast
Devindra - Engadget Podcast on Signalgate and the death of 23andme
Jeff - runjeffrun.com

Shownotes (All timestamps are approximate only)   
What we've been watching (~00:49:43)
David - Last Breath, The Studio 
Devindra - Warfare, The Studio, The Pitt
Jeff - The Studio

Featured Review (~01:15:13)    
Death of a Unicorn
SPOILERS (~01:28:27)

Support David's artistic endeavors at his Patreon and subscribe to his free newsletter Decoding Everything. Check out Jeff Cannata’s podcasts DLC and We Have Concerns. Listen to Devindra's podcast with Engadget on all things tech. You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com.
Credits:

David, Devindra, and Jeff head to outer space with Ash, clock into the second season of Severance, and dig into the arresting power of Adolescence. Then they grit their teeth and see how much pain they can withstand with Novocaine.

We're making video versions of our reviews! Be sure to follow us on the following platforms:

Thanks to our SPONSOR: 
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Weekly Plugs
David - Decoding TV
Devindra - Engadget Podcast on Google’s Pixel 9a
Jeff - DLC 592 with Jesse Norris

Shownotes (All timestamps are approximate only)   
What we've been watching (~00:28:07)
David - Ash, CHAOS: The Manson Murders, American Murder: Gabby Petito 
Devindra - Severance S2
Jeff - Adolescence

Featured Review (~01:06:06)    
Novocaine
SPOILERS (~01:17:35)

Support David's artistic endeavors at his Patreon and subscribe to his free newsletter Decoding Everything. Check out Jeff Cannata’s podcasts DLC and We Have Concerns. Listen to Devindra's podcast with Engadget on all things tech. You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com.
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David, Devindra, and Jeff try not to spoil the excellence of Adolescence, assess the questionable hairstyles of The Electric State, and preach to the choir with the latest season of The Righteous Gemstones. Then they go deep into the spy world with Black Bag.

We're making video versions of our reviews! Be sure to follow us on the following platforms:

Thanks to our SPONSOR: 
BETTERHELP: This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/filmcast today to get 10% off your first month.

Weekly Plugs
David - Decoding Everything: Matt Goldberg’s Review of Black Bag 
Devindra - Engadget Podcast on MacBook Air M4 review
Jeff - DLC 591 with Isla Hinck

Shownotes (All timestamps are approximate only)   
What we've been watching (~00:09:09)
David - Adolescence, Invincible S3, Matusow
Devindra - The Electric State, Control Freak
Jeff - Righteous Gemstones S4, Metallica: Apple Immersive

Featured Review (~01:09:56)    
Black Bag
SPOILERS (~01:25:28)

Support David's artistic endeavors at his Patreon and subscribe to his free newsletter Decoding Everything. Check out Jeff Cannata’s podcasts DLC and We Have Concerns. Listen to Devindra's podcast with Engadget on all things tech. You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com.
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David, Devindra, and Jeff take bets on Dead Money, explore the lush worlds of Avowed, and return to Hell’s Kitchen with Daredevil: Born Again. Then they decide if Bong Joon-ho can regenerate greatness with Mickey 17.

We're making video versions of our reviews! Be sure to follow us on the following platforms:

Thanks to our SPONSOR: 
LINKEDIN JOBS: Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/filmcast.

Weekly Plugs
David - Decoding Everything: Matt Goldberg’s Mickey 17 review
Devindra - Engadget Podcast on the M4 MacBook Air news
Jeff - Jeff’s Cameo Page

Shownotes (All timestamps are approximate only)   
What we've been watching (~00:02:01)
David - Dead Money, The French Connection
Devindra - Avowed
Jeff - Daredevil: Born Again, The First Slam Dunk

Featured Review (~00:50:21)    
Mickey 17
SPOILERS (~01:06:58)

Support David's artistic endeavors at his Patreon and subscribe to his free newsletter Decoding Everything. Check out Jeff Cannata’s podcasts DLC and We Have Concerns. Listen to Devindra's podcast with Engadget on all things tech. You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com.
Credits:

David, Devindra, and Jeff break down the 2025 Academy Awards ceremony, step into the spotlight with The Only Girl in the Orchestra, assess the cultural code-switching in the second season of Mo, and see if Kate Hudson can shoot and score in Running Point. Then they drive through a Shakespearean tale in cyberspace with Grand Theft Hamlet.

We're making video versions of our reviews! Be sure to follow us on the following platforms:

Weekly Plugs
David - Decoding Everything: Notable Moments from the Oscars
Devindra - Engadget Podcast on iPhone 16e and Alexa+
Jeff - DLC 589 with Veerender Singh Jubbal

Shownotes (All timestamps are approximate only)   
What we've been watching (~00:24:51)
David - The Only Girl in the Orchestra, Jailbreak: Love on the Run
Devindra - Mo Season 2, Pantheon Season 2 
Jeff - Running Point, Win or Lose

Featured Review (~00:51:32)    
Grand Theft Hamlet

Support David's artistic endeavors at his Patreon and subscribe to his free newsletter Decoding Everything. Check out Jeff Cannata’s podcasts DLC and We Have Concerns. Listen to Devindra's podcast with Engadget on all things tech. You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com.
Credits:

David, Devindra, and Jeff take a look at half a century of comedy with SNL 50, check out Cameron Diaz’s return to film with Back in Action, and travel to paradise for season 3 of The White Lotus. Then they take in the bloody scares and laughs of the latest Stephen King adaptation The Monkey.

We're making video versions of our reviews! Be sure to follow us on the following platforms:

Thanks to our SPONSOR: 
BETTERHELP: This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/filmcast today to get 10% off your first month.

Weekly Plugs
David - Decoding Everything
Devindra -  Engadget Podcast on iPhone 16e
Jeff - We Have Concerns

Shownotes (All timestamps are approximate only)   
What we've been watching (~00:22:51)
Jeff - SNL 50, White Lotus S3
David - Back in Action, To Catch a Killer
Devindra - A Thousand Blows, The White Lotus S3, Apple Cider Vinegar 

Featured Review (~01:04:48)    
The Monkey
SPOILERS (~01:24:33)

Support David's artistic endeavors at his Patreon and subscribe to his free newsletter Decoding Everything. Check out Jeff Cannata’s podcasts DLC and We Have Concerns. Listen to Devindra's podcast with Engadget on all things tech. You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com, or call and leave a voicemail at 781-583-1993.
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