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 then becomes quite another (sci-fi/horror!). And Evan joins Dave and Megan to talk about Jerry Seinfeld's UNFROSTED, the almost entirely untrue story of the creation of Pop Tarts. Over on Patreon we talk about one of Dave's favorites, THREE COLORS: RED, a first-time watch for both Megan and Evan.

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, and to suggest they completely Stan out isn’t far-fetched (though it’s refreshing to hear two of us on the podcast love a moviegoing experience so much). Finally, Megan and Dave watched HUMANE (32:25), Caitlin Cronenberg’s feature directing debut, in which a wealthy family decides which of them will be euthanized in a dystopian Canadian near-future (insert jokes about Canada currently being a dystopia, har har!). And it’s a comedy! Or it wants to be. But we finally have an answer to the age-old question: Which Cronenberg is the least of the Cronenbergs? And over on Patreon, we asked patrons to choose an environmental-themed movie because Earth Day is in April, and patrons chose ERIN BROCKOVICH! Patrons can check out that conversation here, and if you’re not a patron, you can become one by clicking that link and signing up! Thanks for listening.

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 Baig’s coming-of-age story of two boys growing up in Chicago’s Cabrini-Green complex in the early 1990s. Over on Patreon, in honor of its 50th anniversary, we talk about Francis Ford Coppola’s THE CONVERSATION.

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 it. One did not, acknowledging its strengths as well as its flaws. Then Evan joined Megan and Dave to watch THE GREATEST HITS (32:15), starring Lucy Boynton and Justin H. Min, and written and directed by Ned Benson. And guess what? NOT A ROM-COM, which Evan and Dave both thought it was when they hit play. No, it’s a pretty serious look at grief with a romantic/fantasy (and a smidge of comedy) twist. We all liked it! And over on Patreon, we talk about James Cameron’s 1989 film THE ABYSS, which was recently released for the first time on 4K.

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 and Amanda McBaine’s companion piece to their 2020 doc BOYS STATE. Following a group of  teenage girls from Missouri as they navigate a week-long immersive democratic experiment, the Spoilerpieces have a range of views. And over on Patreon, in honor of its 90th anniversary, we talk about the classic (?) romcom IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT.

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 some complicated feelings. And in this week’s Patreon exclusive audio, we chat about the winner of our poll on women-directed films, Lynne Ramsay’s psychological drama WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN!

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 voiceover! Then Evan, Megan, and Dave watched director Doug Liman’s update of ROAD HOUSE (21:03). Jake Gyllenhaal picks up Patrick Swayze’s reins and beats the snot out of (checks notes) countless people. And there’s a man-eating crocodile thrown in for good measure. But is it any good?  Over on Patreon, we talked about CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE., the 2011 comedy featuring recent Oscar-winner Emma Stone.

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 wishes it delved deeper, and Dave thinks they should have stopped this motion picture from being a thing. Lastly, Evan, Megan, and Dave all discuss FRIDA (17:37), Carla Gutierrez's dynamic Frida Kahlo documentary that everyone liked. Over on Patreon, we talk about the 2024 Oscars. If you’re a member, head on over and take a listen. If you'd like to join, for $5 you can listen to bonus episodes each week, and vote in monthly polls.

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-but-not-if-I-can-help-it flick starring Millie Bobby Brown as a princess who meets said dragon after a bit of marital subterfuge orchestrated by Robin Wright as her nefarious would-be mother-in-law. Following an uneven opening, we thought it pulled together (even if Dave had some choice things to say about his favorite actor ever, Ray Winstone, who plays Brown’s father). And did we like DAMSEL as much as we liked the similar-ish THE PRINCESS from 2022? Over on Patreon, we talk about the 1954 GODZILLA in honor of its 70th anniversary.

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 spectacular film: Dazzling visuals, immersive sound, excellent performances, riveting narrative, and a perceptive critique of colonialism and power dynamics. Everyone watched SPACEMAN, Johan Renck's existential sci-fi drama starring Adam Sandler (well, Dave listened to two-thirds of it for reasons that become clear pretty quickly) and we agree it has flaws. Lots of flaws. But, in the end, does the movie get past those flaws? Will Dave ever like a new release again? TBD on that second question, gang. TBD.  Over on Patreon, the gang checked out Hayao Miyazaki’s delightful 1988 animated fantasy MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO, a first-time watch for two of us. Fun!

It’s been two weeks since we talked horror at Spoilerpiece, so Megan and Dave remedied that by watching Teresa Sutherland’s LOVELY, DARK AND DEEP, a bump-in-the-night-type thriller that plays out in a national park. While Megan and Dave came to roughly similar conclusions about the movie’s technical aspects and Georgina Cambell’s lead performance, one of them hated it overall (like, HATED IT) and one of them liked it. First listener to guess who hated it wins a trip down amnesia lane. Then the whole gang watched PLAYERS, a new Netflix romcom starring Gina Rodriguez, Damon Wayans Jr., and a million supporting actors. Listeners, this movie is the definition of meh. It’s too bad, because there’s some serious talent involved. But few things can save crummy writing, except maybe doing a bunch of shrooms so you can space out while watching this below-average collection of silly gags and contrived plot threads. (Spoilerpiece doesn’t advocate you doing shrooms. But we can’t stop you, either.) And over on Patreon, we talk about Bill Duke’s DEEP COVER with Laurence Fishburne and Jeff Goldblum, which won our Black History Month poll.