Are You Screening? Podcast

It's that time again, and as much as it is perhaps unnecessary to rewarn people of the worst movies last year, it's now in a list! Thankfully, we don't need to overly revisit bad movies, which means we can also bring you a couple of recent Netflix releases, Damsel and Spaceman. We'll let you know what to stay away from, if you've managed it so far, and who knows what else we'll get up to.

The second part of the Dune extravaganza actually managed to surprise, though it had some flaws and a strange ending. As much as we liked the first installment, there was a lot that could go wrong. Tune in and find out what we thought about the massive undertaking, why it worked, and why it occasionally didn't.

This week we are taking on the Best of the Year, but it's also our first episode that we are also doing on video. Things might sound a little strange here and there, and that'll be why. Also, this one got away from us a bit on length, mostly because we had a lot of Honorable Mentions. It was a wild year to be sure, which made lists both easier and harder, but at the very least ours aren't the same as everyone else's. Please also check us out on YouTube, and like and subscribe there, etc.

This week we actually just cranked through a lot of films to end the year before next week when we dare to offer you our Best of the Year list. We hit too many to go over, including such winners as Past Lives and Dream Scenario, and ended up with some of our biggest differences ever, which was really surprising in some cases. This was largely a result of Shane hating everything and me being a sucker... apparently. Tune in to find out about several movies you need to check out so that you are fully informed (let's say) going into the Best of the Year.

As we run headlong toward our Best of the Year list, and the Can't Win Awards, we're trying like hell to get through as many films as possible... and it only works so well. This week we finally get to Oppenheimer, which hit us pretty much as we expected... tune into to find out what that means. We're also looking at two real gems of the year, even if we didn't rate one of them that highly, May December and American Fiction.

This week we finally look at Killers of the Flower Moon as we head into our wrap up of as many movies we didn't get to as possible before our Best of the Year list and our "Can't Win" Awards. Killers didn't really impress us, as is perhaps the case with several of the biggest titles this year, and we'll let you know exactly why. Also, in a bit of a strange move as we waste time when we have better things to do, we talk about the Oscar snubs and how I unfortunately caused them, or predicted them, or something. Finally, we're briefly revisiting The Night Agent and only because I mentioned it previously on the show after only watching three episodes.

The Critics Choice Awards happened and it was a great show once again. This week we look over the winners and let you know how we feel about them (and sometimes what I actually voted for), and we review (though rather quickly) The Holdovers and Saltburn. The Holdovers got Paul Giamatti the win, and as we mentioned in a previous episode, he deserved it, and it was a year with some serious competition. Saltburn hasn't managed a lot of love, and is becoming famous simply for the talk surrounding a couple of... well, odd, scenes, but the follow up to Promising Young Woman is still quite good... if odd.

You may be expecting our usual, end of year shotgun blast of reviews where we try to hit as many movies as possible each episode, but because this year threw off our ability to get a couple of episodes out - even as we prepare to add video to the mix - we've decided to run through some of the major categories of the Critics' Choice Awards nominations in order to highlight and discuss said nominees that way. We will get you our take on several of the most noteworthy films that way, and review them "better" later, so at least you have some ideas going into award season. We are also covering Leave the World Behind this week, though briefly, and mostly for a quick laugh.

In a wildly rare move... sort of, we are only covering one film this week, Poor Things. As usual for the pre-award rush, we've been hyping the fact that we would need to share several movies per episode, but this week... accidentally, we are laser-focused on Yorgos Lanthimos' latest, and this treat with Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, and Willem Defoe is certainly worthy of our attention... even if it isn't quite the 10/10 I was expecting. It is close though.

This week we are really gearing up for awards season, which seems crazy. Before we get too close to four or five films a week territory, we have a couple of big titles to tackle, and neither of them impressed us much. The Marvels is getting a wild world of pro and con commentary, but where does it really land, and why? The Killer, which is weirdly, The K__.ller, owing to the graphic novel, is a lot of potential that doesn't really amount to anything as cool as it should have been.

This week we are taking a look at what turns out to be a truly special movie, Five Nights at Freddy's, at least in terms of messing with our ratings. We're also covering a couple of other films, including Totally Killer. As much as it may seem absolutely crazy, because we are very serious film critics, Five Nights played havoc with our thoughts about rating movies. So much so that we have been inspired to revisit our show from ages ago where we dive deep into how we come to our ratings. Look for that somewhere around the new year with our yearly lists and awards.

We're avoiding a lot of Halloween this week, but there's still "Haunting" in the title. While horror, or at least horror-ish, titles are moving around the box office rankings, we're looking at A Haunting in Venice, the third effort of a semi-vanity project.... just like in our last show. Is this one worth your time, or has this gone on too long?

This week, as we move from stellar box office, to the curious case of a winning holiday weekend... to the box office black hole, we're looking at the third installment in the increasingly curious Equalizer franchise. This one is a vanity project that won't die, and while the first one was... fair enough, it's becoming hard to tell why we ever picked the name in the first place. Does this one hold up? Is it worth your time? We'll let you know, and we're going to jump into a few other things as well.

The shocking blockbuster that is Barbie has taken the year's box office by storm, and it is at the center of intense debate and... unusual awards talk. So where does the film land when not merely analyzing the feminist debate within, and how does the film showcase Margot Robbie, Greta Gerwig, and Ryan Gosling, apart from making a lot of money? We'll let you know how well this one delivers. Apologies for the a massive technical failure throwing things off a bit in the episode.

The Impossible team is at it again, sort of, and this time they find themselves up against a whole new kind of enemy. The cultural boogeyman of the decade is AI and there's no reason our Impossible heroes shouldn't jump on the bandwagon. It's no secret that Cruise uses the franchise to... work out some fantasies, and the question has long been whether or not it all comes together to deliver something that holds up to the first couple of films. We'll let you know where this one lands. We've also got some bonuses for you, running you through some of your other screening options.

After a bit of a break we are running full steam into massive, tentpole season, although many of them don't seem to be doing quite as well as we might hope. There was a time that Indiana Jones might have made twice as many movies and the all would have killed, but we aren't exactly in those times, and the question of whether or not a new Indy adventure is worth it is... well, a fairly live question. We'll let you know if this one is worth your time, and we have some bonuses to discuss as well.

As we start to hit the big-money releases, we're going to look at the new, animated Spider-Man effort. The first one smashed into the cultural awareness in a way we haven't seen in a while, and there are high hopes for this one, but will it live up to the fascination? With the potential to become an epic sub-franchise of the superhero genre, this one could be the key. We'll let you know if this one has what it takes.

As we approach some really big titles hitting theaters, we're taking on Sisu and looking at some other titles that may easily get overlooked. The box office ahead looks to be dominated by a few titles, but the numbers aren't quite reaching expectations and we're going to continue to try to showcase other options... in case Barbie isn't for everyone.

As we move into the summer, and some truly big releases, Fast X hits the scene and the potential puns abound. Is this one the charm? Do the high revving thrills and surefire excitement have surprises in store? Is this worth watching at all? Even if you haven't seen any of the others? We will dodge a lot of these questions and many more as we try to wrap our heads around reviewing this one. Or, we'll let you know where we stand after less than positive reviews of the 9th installment.

It's time for more Marvel adventure, but Guardians of the Galaxy isn't quite the same beast after two previous movies and appearances in several other features. This one may focus on a character, giving us our villain, but it seems not to focus on anything. We'll let you know if you need to get this one and we'll hit up one or two other things as well.