The Strange Harbors Podcast

This week, we catch up with HBO's prestige superhero series, Lanterns. After covering the first two episodes, Jeff, Derek, and Amir return to review the latter six episodes of the show's inaugural first season. Does Lanterns keep the gas of its premiere? Does Jeff still think it's a superhero show afraid or embarrassed to be a superhero show? Tune in for a discussion of barn burner leading man che...

This week, we continue our coverage of Robert Pattinson's banner year with a review of Lance Oppenheim's Primetime. An evocative snapshot of the downfall of mid-aughts ratings smasher To Catch and Predator, Primetime broaches the subject of bad people doing good things for the wrong reasons. We discuss its peculiar reception, a specific capture of post-9/11 rubbernecking media thirst, and the trif...

The eighth live action Resident Evil and the third continuity reboot, 2026's latest entry finds horror wunderkind Zach Cregger (Weapons, Barbarian) at the helm of a flagging video game adaptation franchise. We discuss the unreasonably chilly fan reception, the dire state of game adaptations, and the many ways this new film is a much-needed punch in the arm for both the genre and the franchise.

This week, Jeff and Derek — sans Amir for one episode — review the wildly divisive South Korean blockbuster, Hope. Coming out of its Cannes premiere with a distinct "love it or hate it" vibe, Na Hong Jin's first film in a decade puts pedal to the metal with non-stop alien action. The question is, does its powder-keg tension balance with its...less-than-robust extraterrestrial CGI? We investigate.

As Derek takes a week off from the pod, Jeff and Amir return to the eerie world of Jane Schoenbrun with a review of their latest film: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. A Cannes darling that won the Queer Palm at the 2026 festival, Schoenbrun's latest explores the slasher genre, our relationship with horror, and the foundations of human sexual desire. A clap back against the academic distance...

Turning our August into an unofficial superheroes month on the podcast, this week we review the new Damon Lindelof-led entry in the DC Universe: Lanterns on HBO. We talk comics, the vision of James Gunn's cinematic world-building, and the star-studded cast of this sneaky superhero series. After a shaky and disappointing Supergirl in theaters, can Lanterns right the ship of DC adaptations? Or is Ja...

Two years after its surprising first season, X-Men '97 returns to Disney Plus as the series dives straight into what was teased in the 2024 finale: Apocalypse. Can the show follow up its lean, gangbusters debut season with something just as worthwhile? Or will the loss of creator and writer Beau DeMayo spell trouble for this lore-heavy animated series? We discuss the eleventh hour changes, a show...

We're back in the land of prestige television with our review of the third season of HBO's House of the Dragon. Just two short episodes before the finale, we check in with Westeros and our differing opinions on this divisive series. Haters, apologist, and ones right down the middle, we discuss the penultimate season's strange structure, its epic bloodletting, and continued palace intrigue. Will it...

One of our longest episodes ever in which we review the movie of the summer: Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. We discuss the filmmaker's ongoing battle with his inner clinician, an updated ranking of the filmography, and the odd right-wing backlash facing the movie. Nolan continues from 2023's Oppenheimer his reflection of our own cracked modernity and its broad gesture towards the death of civili...

Kenji Tanigaki's The Furious took TIFF by storm last year, and now, it's finally here. This week, we review this martial arts extravaganza and discuss its comparisons — justly or unjustly — to The Raid and The Raid 2. However, one thing is for sure: The Furious is one of the best action movies of the last decade, coming close to just reinventing the entire visual language of the action movies we l...

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.