2 Cents Critic

Tune in as Sean (Review It Yourself) jumps into the guest chair for a review and recap of X-Men: First Class, the 2011 soft reboot (until it got retconned by 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past) of the X-Men superhero film franchise. A few of the talking points that Arthur and Sean cover are mutation flirtation, James McAvoy donning some hair extensions, the movie completely wasting Darwin and his v...

Tune in as pod buddy Shawn Murphy (Men Who Like Men Who Like Movies Podcast) comes back to the program for a breakdown of The Voyeurs, the 2021 Prime Video erotic thriller. Talking points for this episode include the baffling egg transitions, whether or not Ross and Rachel from Friends were on a break, and Shawn’s acute ability to predict twists. Written and directed by Michael Mohan, The Voyeurs...

Tune in as Karyn Cooper (Chick-Lit) makes her second appearance on 2CC for a review and recap of 27 Dresses, the 2008 Katherine Heigl/James Marsden rom-com. The numerous connections that can be made between this movie and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, the antiquated nature of old ringtones, and Jane’s eclectic collection of bridesmaid dresses comprise just a few of the topics that are getting cove...

Tune in as Arthur’s buddy Thomas hangs out with him to discuss the anxiety- and cat-filled 2000 comedy Meet the Parents. Cringe humor that (mostly) works, Hollywood figures like Steven Spielberg and Jim Carrey having once been attached to this movie, and the little-known fact that it’s actually a reboot make up a few of the subjects that the hosts discuss. Directed by Jay Roach, Meet the Parents s...

Tune in as Christy (X Knows All) comes back to 2CC for a review and recap of The Wedding Singer, the 1998 Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore rom-com. The feeling of movie nostalgia, the gross and outdated jokes that older comedies were willing to dish out, and the bizarrely horny levels that video game commercials from years and years ago could reach are just a few of the topics that the hosts chat about...

Tune in as return guest Dustin Holden (Dustin Can Read & Watch, The Rewatch Recap) hops back onto the podcast to cover How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, the 2003 Kate Hudson/Matthew McConaughey rom-com that’s full of deception, Knicks games, and insufferable baby talk. Movie theater etiquette, a debate about Matthew McConaughey’s hotness, and whether or not this rom-com needs a reboot make up a fe...

Tune in as Paul Jordan and Pablo Escobar (Scared Gay!) hang out on 2CC to discuss The Talented Mr. Ripley, the 1999 film adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith novel of the same name. Discussing the varying facets of all the queer-coding and homoerotic tension, unpacking the layers of Tom’s sociopathy, and expressing distaste for Gwyneth Paltrow as a person (not as an actor, though, because she’s go...

Tune in as Sharai Bohannon (A Nightmare on Fierce Street, Blerdy Massacre) joins in to break down the 2010 spy action thriller Salt. There’s plenty for the hosts to discuss here, including the movie’s ample amounts of flashbacks and bad wigs, whether or not Clint Eastwood is capable of defending the US president, the hilarity of naming a spider species after Peter Best, and the ways in which power...

Tune in as Robert “Stew” Stewart (STEW World Order) hangs out on 2CC this week to dive into the 2011 meta horror-comedy The Cabin in the Woods. Talking points include the hosts’ contrasting feelings toward Malignant, their shared aversion toward torture porn, and the deconstruction and subversion of horror tropes that Cabin provides. Directed by Drew Goddard, The Cabin in the Woods stars Kristen C...

Tune in as Jessica and Saunya (Opinionated Lushes) return to the show for a breakdown of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, the 2019 YA mystery thriller novel by debut author Holly Jackson. The hosts do plenty on this episode, where they theorize that Pip is neurodivergent, express their varying tolerances for heavy and disturbing content in thriller and horror media, vent their ACAB attitudes, and wo...

Tune in as Arthur’s buddy Anna hops into the guest chair for a review and recap of Beach Read, the 2020 rivals-to-lovers and grumpy/sunshine contemporary romance novel by Emily Henry. There’s tons for the hosts to chat about on this episode of 2CC, including speculation over whether or not the Netflix Christmas rom-com Love Hard stole its premise from real life, the gender stereotyping that‘s bake...

Tune in as Trace Thurman (Horror Queers) stops by the show to discuss The Mitchells vs. the Machines, the 2021 Netflix animated road trip movie that, if we’re being honest here, should have won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature over Encanto. The topics that are getting coverage on this episode include the subversively written nuances of the Mitchell family dynamic, how this movie handles its cas...

Tune in as pod friend Guy Bradford comes back to the show for a review and recap of Secret Invasion, the first Disney+ MCU series of 2023. The show’s horrible and lifeless AI-created opening credits, MCU fatigue, Guy mixing up Nic Cage and Nick Fury’s names numerous times, and the apparently gut-wrenching film that is Requiem for a Dream (which remains on Arthur’s watchlist) comprise just a few of...

Tune in as the program returns from its two-week hiatus to invite back previous guests Clayton Jones II and Shawn Murphy (Men Who Like Men Who Like Movies Podcast) for a breakdown of Death Note, one of Arthur’s all-time favorite anime series. Complex moral and philosophical questions, the show’s Quentin Tarantino-level obsession with feet, the smoldering love that clearly burns between Light and L...

Tune in as Torry (Ready to Be Petty) rejoins Arthur for a review and recap of The Bromance Book Club, the 2019 second chance romance novel by Lyssa Kay Adams that explores what happens when a guy embarks on a plan to save his collapsing marriage by joining a club full of men who read romance books to educate themselves on love, women, and healthy masculinity. All the sexism that our society has ai...

Tune in as the program wraps up Pride Month by dropping its final queer media-focused episode of June! Arthur’s friends Jared and Misty Rose return to 2CC to break down Love, Simon, the 2018 film adaptation of the 2015 queer YA book Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. A few of the topics they discuss include guesstimating the queer youth population of Atlanta, sneaking onto the...

Tune in as the show continues to celebrate Pride Month and cover queer media on this third episode of June! Ryan Kinney (Brother Ghoulish’s Tomb) hops into the guest seat for a review and recap of the 1994 queer road trip comedy The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Talking points for this episode include what a theoretical series reboot of Priscilla could accomplish, wrestling with th...

Tune in as the show continues to celebrate Pride Month and cover queer media on this second episode of June! Arthur’s buddy Logan returns for their third guest spot to discuss Something to Talk About, the 2020 sapphic contemporary romance novel by Meryl Wilsner. Talking points include just how vehemently slow-burn this gets, the book’s nimble handling of risky tropes like employee-boss relationshi...

Tune in as the show kicks off Pride Month by covering queer content for the next four episodes of June! On this first week, Meggie Gates, a returning guest who cohosts the book podcast YA, We Read It! with Laura Petro, hops back onto 2CC for a discussion on Anything’s Possible, the queer coming-of-age rom-com that dropped on Prime Video back in 2022. Talking points for this episode include questio...

Tune in as Arthur’s filmmaker friend Connor Kujawinski returns to the program for a breakdown of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the 32nd movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the long-awaited finale to the GOTG saga. Talking points for this particularly lengthy episode include the subtle character arcs, comparing a confusing moment from the movie to Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the one-ta...

Tune in as Mel B. and Jackie D. (Read, Watch, or DNF, DNF Happy Hour) join Arthur to discuss Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer, the 2001 fantasy middle-grade novel that weaves in some sci-fi and asks the question, “What if Die Hard, but with fairies?” A quick digression into To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, nefarious antiheroes, speculating as to why Judi Dench agreed to be in the horrendous Artemis F...

Tune in as Adam Avitable (Dating Kinda Sucks, The Angel at the Starlite Motel) hangs out on the program for a discussion on The Proposal, the 2009 engagement-of-convenience, enemies-to-lovers, boss-employee rom-com starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. Talking points for the episode include the numerous parallels this shares with While You Were Sleeping, Adam’s Rosario Dawson story, whether o...

Tune in as Kat and Jazz (Girl, That’s Scary) team up with Arthur for a discussion on What Lies Beneath, the 2000 supernatural domestic thriller that gave us Michelle Pfeiffer’s velvety delivery of the iconic “Your Wife” line. Hitchcockian vibes, how spicy Atomic Fireballs truly are, gorgeous cinematography, and just what the hell is going on with the Feurs are some of the topics that the hosts cov...

Tune in as my friend Daxh Alanis hops into the guest seat for a breakdown of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which is not only the 31st movie in the MCU, but is also the movie that’s kicking off Phase 5 of the superhero franchise. The parallels that this flick shares with pop culture media like Star Wars and Rick and Morty, whether the MCU is being written like a TV show, the Jonathan Majors si...

Tune in as return guest and fellow Star Wars nerd Brojem joins Arthur for a review and recap of Disney+’s The Mandalorian, Season 3. The ways in which the hosts like and dislike the evolution of Star Wars, the franchise’s dubious stance on droid slavery (a topic that the hosts had previously covered in last year’s podcast on Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi), a mini-discussion on The Book of Boba Fett, an...