Best Cjr Podcasts (2024)

1
Episode 526: "Duchess" and "The Instigators" 47:48

2h ago47:48

47:48

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…

1
Episode 525: "Sing Sing, "Doctor Jekyll," and "Peak Season" 53:40

1d ago53:40

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…

1
Episode #524: "Deadpool & Wolverine" and "Green Border" 1:10:30

6h ago1:10:30

1:10:30

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…

1
Kamala Harris steps up: Politico’s Eugene Daniels on a wild month of news 31:06

3h ago31:06

31:06

Eugene Daniels is a White House reporter for Politico, with a special focus on Kamala Harris. That’s put him front and center for a month of news that few people in politics saw coming. On this episode of The Kicker, Daniels shares what he’s learned from nearly four years of covering the vice president, how her relationship with the press will diff…

1
Episode 523: "Twisters," "Widow Clicquot," and "Oddity" 1:03:24

20d ago1:03:24

1:03:24

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,…

1
Spanish-speaking journalism…in Iowa: A conversation with Lorena Lopez 30:08

15d ago30:08

30:08

Lorena Lopez came to the United States from her home country of Nicaragua, where she was an investigative reporter, in 1992. But it wasn’t until 2016 that she managed to return to her passion, as the founding editor of La Prensa, a Spanish-language newspaper serving Western Iowa. On this week’s Kicker, Lopez talks about her long journey back to jou…

1
Episode 522: "Dandelion" and "The Blue Rose" 58:08

28d ago58:08

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…

1
Episode 521: "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F," "Kill," and "MaXXXine" 1:08:25

9d ago1:08:25

1:08:25

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…

1
What did we know and when? Alex Thompson on investigating Biden’s mental decline 24:11

28d ago24:11

24:11

Alex Thompson, a national political correspondent for Axios, first reported that President Biden had started wearing special sneakers, in part to reduce the risk of tripping, last fall. But until the debate last week, he was still one of a small handful of reporters who was aggressively pursuing direct evidence that Biden’s age – regular fodder for…

1
Episode 520 - "Kinds of Kindness," "Conversion," and "A Family Affair" 1:04:35

1M ago1:04:35

1:04:35

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…

1
Not even a ‘no comment’: Paul Farhi on the media’s historic struggles with relevance 34:50

20d ago34:50

34:50

Paul Farhi was a media reporter for the Washington Post until the end of last year. But instead of retiring, he’s been busier than ever, chronicling the seemingly endless stream of bad news stories about the media business, for outlets like The Atlantic and here at CJR. He joins The Kicker to talk about traditional journalism’s struggles to stay re…

1
Episode 519: "Chestnut" and "Fancy Dance" 57:05

23d ago57:05

57:05

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…

1
Episode 518: "Tuesday" and "Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution" 49:44

1M ago49:44

49:44

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…

1
Staying “scrupulously neutral”: Steve Herman on covering the White House in the age of Trump 36:43

1M ago36:43

36:43

Steve Herman was the White House correspondent for Voice of America during the Trump administration. He joins The Kicker to talk about his new book on what it was like to cover a deeply unpredictable president—and why he believes it’s essential, even under extreme circumstances, for reporters to stay out of the political fray. This podcast is part …

1
Episode 517: "This Closeness" and "Jim Henson Idea Man" 57:39

2M ago57:39

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 …

1
Episode 516: "The Dead Don't Hurt" and "Backspot" 1:04:31

2M ago1:04:31

1:04:31

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…

1
Episode 515: "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga," "Atlas," and "Hit Man" 1:00:16

3M ago1:00:16

1:00:16

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 …

1
How Israeli Journalists Cover Their Own Country 41:51

2M ago41:51

41:51

Haaretz is one of Israel’s most respected newspapers. It’s also one of the few willing to openly criticize the government for its treatment of Palestinians. The Kicker speaks with Hagar Shezaf and Omer Benjakob, two journalists with the paper, about what it’s like to do accountability journalism in Israel these days—especially in the aftermath of t…

1
Episode 514: "Babes" and "You Can't Run Forever" 53:40

2M ago53:40

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…

1
Episode 513: "Let It Be" remastered, "Evil Does Not Exist," and "Force of Nature: The Dry 2" 1:05:35

3M ago1:05:35

1:05:35

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…

1
Crisis at Columbia: A Conversation with Jelani Cobb 26:00

3M ago26:00

26:00

Jelani Cobb is the Dean of the Columbia Journalism School. He is also a staff writer at the New Yorker magazine. For much of the past few weeks, he has been enmeshed in Columbia University’s efforts to grapple with a protest movement on campus over the war in Gaza – one that culminated in the takeover of a building, and finally, on Tuesday, April 3…

1
Episode 512: "The Fall Guy," "New Life," and "Unfrosted" 54:08

3M ago54:08

54:08

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 …

1
Episode 511: "Boy Kills World," "Butterfly in the Sky," and "Humane" 58:23

4M ago58:23

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,…

1
'Inside Wagner': Video journalism unmasks Russia’s secretive mercenary group 41:02

3M ago41:02

41:02

This week, host Josh Hersh dives into the world of documentary news. Amel Guettatfi and Julia Steers just won the Polk Award for Inside Wagner, their hourlong Vice News documentary on the Wagner Group—Vladimir Putin’s private army of militiamen. They discuss their unprecedented access to a military training operation in the Central African Republic…

1
Episode 510: "The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare" and "We Grown Now" 49:51

3M ago49:51

49:51

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…

1
Episode 509: "Civil War" and "The Greatest Hits" 1:02:36

3M ago1:02:36

1:02:36

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 …

1
Episode 508: "The People's Joker" and "Girls State" 59:49

4M ago59:49

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…

1
Josh Fine: How to Revive Investigative Sports Reporting in the Age of the Athlete 38:42

3M ago38:42

38:42

In recent years, numerous beloved sports news institutions have been shut down, or dramatically reduced their operations, while digital shows hosted by professional sportspeople, current and retired, have become ubiquitous, Meanwhile, traditional sports journalism—particularly of the type that asks uncomfortable questions of what is, ultimately, a …

1
Episode #507: “Femme” and “Ennio" 53:33

4M ago53:33

53:33

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…

1
Episode 506: "Late Night with the Devil" and "Road House" 55:06

4M ago55:06

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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