Boston film critics Evan Crean, Megan Kearns, and David Riedel help you decide what to watch by sharing spoiler-filled reviews of the latest blockbusters and independent films, across genres, including films by women, nonbinary, LGBTQ+, and BIPOC filmmakers. Opening music: "My Life as a God" by Augean Stables. Closing music: "Pants Party" by Oilhead. Show edited by Otto Klammer. Logo design by Rita Csizmadia.
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Episode 527: "Alien: Romulus," "Skincare," and "Close to You"
1:00:23
1:00:23
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This week, Megan fills Evan and Dave in on CLOSE TO YOU (1:31), starring Elliot Page (who also co-wrote the story) in Dominic Savage's tender and emotional indie drama as Sam, who journeys home for his father's birthday, his first trip to his hometown since his transition. We follow that up with SKINCARE (9:18), Austin Peters's thriller starring El…
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Episode 526: "Duchess" and "The Instigators"
47:48
47:48
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Because of some truly bizarre audio difficulties this week, Megan was unable to join us. Which is a bummer! Because she had things to say about both movies on the docket. First, Dave talks about DUCHESS (2:35), directed by Neil Marshall and written by Marshall and its star, Charlotte Kirk. And how is it? Well, it's dog shit! Like most of Marshall's…
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Episode 525: "Sing Sing, "Doctor Jekyll," and "Peak Season"
53:40
53:40
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53:40
Dave jokes that it’s Megan’s big week on Spoilerpiece: She saw all three movies on the docket! First, she fills Evan and Dave in on DOCTOR JEKYLL (2:27), Joe Stephenson's gothic horror film starring Eddie Izzard as Dr. Nina Jekyll (good) and Rachel Hyde (bad) in a contemporary update of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novella The Strange Case of D…
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Episode #524: "Deadpool & Wolverine" and "Green Border"
1:10:30
1:10:30
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Dave is under the weather this week (feel better soon, Dave!), so Megan and Evan cover the week's movies together. First, Megan reviews Agnieszka Holland's vital, yet harrowing drama GREEN BORDER (3:33), which follows a family of refugees from Syria, a border guard, and a group of activists providing aid to refugees, who converge on the Polish-Bela…
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Episode 523: "Twisters," "Widow Clicquot," and "Oddity"
1:03:24
1:03:24
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Evan is off this week, so Megan and Dave braved this week’s releases. Actually, Dave didn’t see TWISTERS (2:39) — Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie legacy sequel starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, and Anthony Ramos — so it’s up to Megan to tell you, dear listeners, that it’s kind of crap. She has some positive things say about it (Glen Powell,…
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Episode 522: "Dandelion" and "The Blue Rose"
58:08
58:08
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58:08
Well. It is a BANNER week on Spoilerpiece, gang. Megan and Dave discuss writer-director Nicole Riegel’s DANDELION (2:54), about a struggling singer-songwriter from Cincinnati (KiKi Layne) taking a shot at winning an opening slot at a biker gathering in South Dakota while also falling into an intense relationship with a semi-retired Scottish guitari…
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Episode 521: "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F," "Kill," and "MaXXXine"
1:08:25
1:08:25
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We just marked a national holiday in the United States, so you know what that means: It’s cash grab season! Megan and Dave talk about said (possible) cash grab, BEVERLY HILLS COP: AXEL F (1:53). Eddie Murphy and cohorts return in the legacy sequel that continues the legacy of shittiness that BEVERLY HILL COP III unleashed on the world 30 years earl…
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Episode 520 - "Kinds of Kindness," "Conversion," and "A Family Affair"
1:04:35
1:04:35
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This week Megan saw Yorgos Lanthimos’s KINDS OF KINDNESS (2:28), a whackadoo triptych fable starring Jesse Plemons, Emma Stone, and Willem Dafoe. It’s getting all kinds of raves but also some drubbings — including Megan’s. Evan, Megan, and Dave watched CONVERSION (15:15), Zach Meiners's documentary about survivors — the film’s director, an ex-Mormo…
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Episode 519: "Chestnut" and "Fancy Dance"
57:05
57:05
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This week, Megan and Dave check out writer-director Jac Cron’s CHESTNUT (2:19), a low-key (very low-key) queer drama about Annie (Natalia Dyer), who, after graduating college in Philadelphia, falls into a love triangle with Tyler (Rachel Keller) and her maybe-boyfriend Danny (Danny Ramirez). But is Tyler in love with Annie? Or Danny? And is Danny r…
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Episode 518: "Tuesday" and "Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution"
49:44
49:44
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This week Megan and Dave check out writer-director Daina O. Pusić’s TUESDAY (1:57), starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a mother reckoning with her daughter’s imminent demise when Death arrives - literally - in the form of a size-shifting, talking bird. We had mixed feelings about it, but one of us liked it more than the other. Then Evan joins Megan an…
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Episode 517: "This Closeness" and "Jim Henson Idea Man"
57:39
57:39
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57:39
Welcome the wacky world of Spoilerpiece! Why wacky? Because for our first film, Megan and Dave watched Kit Zauhar's THIS CLOSENESS (2:33), one of the most indie films to ever indie, and we’re not sure it’s a good movie…but it’s not bad, either? And the ending is…we’re not sure also? And every character in it is an assbag, but that’s OK? Good sound …
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Episode 516: "The Dead Don't Hurt" and "Backspot"
1:04:31
1:04:31
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What a week for movies! Megan and Dave watched writer/director/composer/co-star Viggo Mortensen’s THE DEAD DON’T HURT (2:30), a bittersweet drama set in the 1860s. Viggo (the only actor Dave permits being called by first name, because it’s fun to say “Viggo”) is Olsen, a Dane, and Vicky Krieps is Vivienne, a French-Canadian, who meet in San Francis…
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Episode 515: "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga," "Atlas," and "Hit Man"
1:00:16
1:00:16
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Dave, after initially going to the wrong theater, made it to the FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA (3:21) screening. He yaps about it, and then Megan and Evan join him for Jennifer Lopez’s new sci-fi flick, ATLAS (11:32), about A.I. that’s - natch - trying to wipe out humanity. A.I. is on everyone’s minds lately, right? Too bad there wasn’t some originality …
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Episode 514: "Babes" and "You Can't Run Forever"
53:40
53:40
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53:40
What happens when all three critics on Spoilerpiece have problems with both movies on the docket? Listen and you’ll find out! First up is director/co-writer Michelle Schumacher’s YOU CAN’T RUN FOREVER (2:26), a wannabe thriller starring Schumacher’s husband J.K. Simmons, Schumacher’s daughter Olivia Simmons, and a bunch of people who apparently did…
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Episode 513: "Let It Be" remastered, "Evil Does Not Exist," and "Force of Nature: The Dry 2"
1:05:35
1:05:35
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This week there’s a music documentary, an eco-fable set in Japan, and Dave’s favorite cinematic subgenre: Australian detective stories starring Eric Bana! To start things, Dave fills Megan and Evan in on Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s remastered LET IT BE, which crawled so Peter Jackson’s GET BACK could fuggin’ sprint. Megan watched EVIL DOES NOT EXIST, sa…
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Episode 512: "The Fall Guy," "New Life," and "Unfrosted"
54:08
54:08
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This week Megan fills Dave and Evan in on the Ryan Gosling/Emily Blunt-starring THE FALL GUY (2:03), which is an update of the TV series "The Fall Guy" (bet you didn't see that one coming). Is it good? Bad? Somewhere in between? Then Megan and Dave talk about the genre hyphenate NEW LIFE (12:56), which seems to be one thing (suspense thriller) and …
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Episode 511: "Boy Kills World," "Butterfly in the Sky," and "Humane"
58:23
58:23
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58:23
This week on the show, we got some wires crossed (which is to say *Dave* got some wires crossed). So he mistakenly watched BOY KILLS WORLD (2:24), the new Bill-Skarsgård-kills-the-shit-out-of-everyone movie, instead of BUTTERFLY IN THE SKY (12:33), a new documentary about “Reading Rainbow.” But fear not! Megan and Evan watched BUTTERFLY IN THE SKY,…
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Episode 510: "The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare" and "We Grown Now"
49:51
49:51
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This week Megan took one for the team and checked in on Guy Ritchie’s latest, THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE (2:38). Does this based-on-a-true-story movie take Ritchie down some less traveled paths? Or is it standard Guy Ritchie fare? Megan has the answers! Evan and Dave join Megan to talk about WE GROWN NOW (17:52), writer/director Minhal B…
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Episode 509: "Civil War" and "The Greatest Hits"
1:02:36
1:02:36
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Perhaps you’ve heard the brouhaha surrounding writer-director Alex Garland’s Kirsten Dunst-starring CIVIL WAR (2:18) and wondered what it’s all about (um...a civil war...in the United States...in the near future). Wonder no more! Megan and Dave saw it, and they have things to say: unkind, complimentary, and all points in between. One of them hated …
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Episode 508: "The People's Joker" and "Girls State"
59:49
59:49
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59:49
This week on the show we Megan and Dave tackled the controversial (to Warner Bros.) THE PEOPLE’S JOKER (1:53), director/co-writer/editor/star Vera Drew's queer coming-of-age superhero parody. Good sound design, good visuals. What else is good about it? Then Evan, Megan, and Dave talk about the documentary GIRLS STATE (24:27), directors Jesse Moss a…
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Dave can't join us, so it’s just Megan and Evan this week! First, Megan reviews Giuseppe Tornatore’s lengthy, yet fascinating documentary ENNIO (2:35) about the life and work of Italian film composer Ennio Morricone. Then we both discuss Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping’s gritty queer thriller FEMME (16:18), which captivated us, but left us with so…
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Episode 506: "Late Night with the Devil" and "Road House"
55:06
55:06
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55:06
On this week’s show, Megan and Dave kick things off with LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL (2:18), Cameron and Colin Cairnes's nasty found-footage horror thriller starring David Dastmalchian and featuring demonic possession, heads on fire, garroting by necklace, all wrapped up in a nifty 1970s production design. Bonus: Michael Ironsides does the opening vo…
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Episode 505: "Love Lies Bleeding," "Stopmotion," and "Frida"
48:09
48:09
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48:09
Megan kicks things off this week with talk of LOVE LIES BLEEDING (2:16), Rose Glass's intense queer thriller starring Kristen Stewart and Katy O'Brian. Verdict? LISTEN (ha). Next Dave and Megan review STOPMOTION (6:11), Robert Morgan's horror movie starring Aisling Franciosi and featuring lots of compelling stop-motion animation. Megan likes it but…
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Episode 504: "American Dreamer" and "Damsel"
1:00:28
1:00:28
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This week Megan and Dave tackle AMERICAN DREAMER (2:07), and it ain’t pretty. Sure, Peter Dinklage and Shirley MacLaine are fine. And sure, Dave laughed at a few things. But that’s about all the positives we have for it (hoo boy, do we get amped up during this talk!). Then Evan, Megan, and Dave watched DAMSEL (22:40), the new dragon’s-gonna-eat-ya-…
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Episode 503: "Dune: Part Two" and "Spaceman"
53:47
53:47
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This week, Megan and Dave discuss DUNE: PART TWO, Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi epic starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, and Rebecca Ferguson. Dave found the fatalism inherent in its story rendered it dramatically inert, even if he dug its look (despite the on-the-nose Nuremberg rally-inspired sequence) and some of the performances. Megan loved the sp…
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