The Strange Harbors Podcast

This week we are reviewing Apple TV's summer sensation, Widow's Bay, a horror comedy set in a "cursed" New England hamlet. Starring Matthew Rhys, Stephen Root, Kate O'Flynn, Dale Dickey, and Kevin Carroll, the series blends dry workplace humor with Stephen King-esque frights. With sea hags, crawlspace clowns, and a desperate mayor's office, Widow's Bay finds its unique brand propelling itself into...

This week, we herald the return of Steven Spielberg and one more foray into the alien sci-fi genre with Disclosure Day. Those expecting blockbuster thrills might be a little thrown to instead receive a talky, late-style plea for empathy and the transformative power of truth. The question, however, is if it's too late. We discuss Spielberg, his recent oeuvre, and the million things he has on his mi...

This week, we review this summer's OTHER horror movie phenomenon: 20-year-old filmmaker Kane Parsons' Backrooms. Based off a viral 2022 YouTube series depicting the exploration of the titular liminal space, Backrooms adapts the creepypasta into full-blown Hollywood spectacle. As the great YouTuber-to-filmmaker war of 2026 draws to a close, we crown a victor in the arena of Obsession vs. Backrooms.

This week, we review Boots Riley's sophomore feature, I Love Boosters, an absurdist comedy skewering capitalist rot at the center of the fashion industry. An enthusiastic reflection of Riley's own politics, I Love Boosters features an infectious display of surrealist humor, eye-popping visuals, and labor-of-love practical effects; but is it enough to cover its everything-and-the-kitchen-sink appro...

This week, we review the horror sensation of the summer, Curry Barker's sleeper hit: Obsession. A graduate of the sketch comedy to cinema pipeline, Barker shares much of his pedigree with other breakout filmmakers such as Zach Cregger, the Philippou Brothers, and Chris Stuckmann, but does he have what it takes to break out of the habits of his contemporaries? We talk about Obsession's streamlined...

Mortal Kombat gets a second chance as the sequel to 2021's forgotten pandemic-era reboot attempts to right the wrongs of its predecessor. For one, thing, this Mortal Kombat actually has Mortal Kombat in it. We discuss the history of the franchise, the ills of the first film, and our split-down-the-middle opinion of the new sequel. Do we have another good video game adaptation in the books? Or is t...

Clearly unmotivated by our Summer Box Office Wager episode and totally unbiased, this week we review The Devil Wears Prada 2. Reuniting its director and cast 20 years later once again at Runway Magazine, this much-anticipated sequel hit the ground running a week ago, but does it fall victim to your typical legacy sequel traps? What do Hannibal Lecter, clickbait, and the current media hellscape hav...

After failing to dethrone Amir for three years running, Derek and Jeff will attempt again to take the crown of box office champ in our annual wager. Once again, the pod comes together to pick their top 10 lists of the biggest movies of the summer. Tune in as we predict the winners, losers, and wild cards of the season.

This week, we review director Kristoffer Borgli's latest film, The Drama. A romantic dramedy that finds a devastating secret upending a young couple's upcoming nuptials, this Robert Pattinson and Zendaya vehicle navigates a complicated landscape of forgiveness, empathy, and the performance of compassion — not to mention, it's funny as hell.

This week, we review Project Hail Mary, the second adaptation of an Andy Weird novel following 2015's The Martian. Teaming up with directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The Lego Movie and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), Ryan Gosling stars as Ryland Grace, a conscripted schoolteacher-turned-astronaut on a mission to save the Earth and its dying sun. There's no denying that Project Hail Ma...

The 98th Academy Awards have now come and gone in a largely uncontentious ceremony. We discuss the final awards season showdown between Ryan Coogler's Sinners with its record-breaking nominations and Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another, along with this year's many deserved — and maybe a few undeserved — wins. We also run down some surprises in the telecast, its beautiful In Memoriam se...

Everyone's favorite medical drama — The Pitt — is back. A new day in the emergency room brings new challenges for the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center, and we discuss — with our own in-house medical professional, Dr. Amir Touray — how the new season is progressing, specifically, the first nine episodes. Does The Pitt continue its winning run? Was the first season just lightning in a bottle? Will D...

HBO's Game of Thrones is back with yet another spinoff, this time based on George R.R. Martin's Dunk and Egg novellas. A departure from the palace intrigue and massive scale of both Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms digs into more lighthearted slice-of-life drama, at least until its explosive climax. We discuss the short first season, its pitch-perfect casting...

Gore Verbinski returns with his first film in nine years with his time travel comedy "anthology" film: Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die. This time around, he tries his hand at satire and topicality — a movie about our obsession with screens, our inability to cope with tragedy-filled modernity, and the encroaching threat of AI. Is he successful? Tune in and find out.

2026 has blessed us with a new Sam Raimi original in the form of Send Help, a deserted island survival thriller. Do Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien have what it takes to return Raimi to his roots? After years in the IP game — Oz, Doctor Strange — has the Drag Me to Hell and Evil Dead mastermind retained his horror chops?

Keeping with tradition, we follow up our best of 2025 episode with its natural companion: our episode on the most anticipated films of 2026. After an odd 2025 where many of our most exciting picks turned out to fall short of expectations, we can only hope that 2026 might fare better. Indie gems, huge blockbusters in Nolan's The Odyssey and Dune: Messiah, and other new projects from beloved auteurs...

Hot off a placement of 28 Years Later on all of our 2025 top ten lists last week, its sequel — The Bone Temple — has quite large shoes to fill. Can Nia Dacosta capture the same humanist magic of one of last year's best movies? We discuss the villainous Jimmies, Ralph Fiennes continuing barn burner performance as Dr. Kelson, and yet another surprising ending in the 28 franchise.

It's that time of year again. We're counting down Derek, Jeff, and Amir's favorite movies of last year. 2025 was a year of great movies but also a year of crushing disappointments: many films we were looking forward to the most fizzled out. Fortunately that makes room for plenty of big surprises and dark horses in our top ten lists. What made the cut? What were some of the honorable mentions? Tune...

For our first TV review of 2026, we discuss Vince Gilligan's Apple TV smash hit, Pluribus, which just wrapped its first season on Christmas Eve of last year. We dive deep into Gilligan's illustrious pedigree, the state of streaming and TV, and the many ways in which Pluribus is bucking convention.

The Strange Harbors Podcast returns to Pandora as we review the third installment of the mega-blockbuster sci-fi epic, Avatar. We once again catch up with the Sully clan in their quest to liberate their world from human colonization, this time with the added wrinkle of a new Na'vi threat. The gang is all here: Jake, Neytiri, their kids, Quaritch, and our boy Payakan, but is Fire and Ash a worthy s...

This week, we review the third film in the whodunnit series of Benoit Blanc mysteries: Wake Up Dead Man. After Knives Out and Glass Onion, director Rian Johnson returns to the reins of his favorite genre. We discuss the franchise's increasingly charismatic roster of secondary protagonists, the year of Josh O'Connor, and whether or not Johnson's penchant for heavy-handed topicality once again derai...

Last year's Wicked: Part One, despite its shortcomings, was bolstered by infectious energy, powerhouse performances, and bop-worthy songs. Can this year's followup, For Good, pull off the same magic trick again? Once again, our resident Wicked fan faces off with the two laymen of the podcast to review the second half of the hit adaptation.

Two of our hosts watch their first Lynne Ramsay film with Die My Love, a relationship thriller that tests the boundaries of expression with its D+ CinemaScore and divisive reactions. In Die My Love, new mother Grace (Jennifer Lawrence) molds away at home while her aloof husband Jackson (Robert Pattinson) is at work. With only her baby, a barking dog, and her own thoughts to keep her company, she b...

Guillermo del Toro's long-gestating passion project, Frankenstein, is here. Perhaps one of the famed Mexican filmmaker's greatest influences, Mary Shelley's horrifying creature once again graces the big screen, this time with del Toro's signature, gothic sensibilities. We discuss the monster's history, its many adaptations, and review its latest incarnation.