2 Cents Critic

Tune in as Christy (X Knows All) hangs out with Arthur for a breakdown of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, the 2022 Goodreads Choice Award-winning novel by Gabrielle Zevin (The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry) that covers over three decades of a complicated friendship between two ingenious and flawed video game designers. Talking points for the podcast include the messy and endearing nature of the...

Tune in as Honer and Bruce (Drunk With Buds) drop by the program to discuss the Netflix series adaptation of The Sandman, the dark fantasy comic book by Neil Gaiman (Coraline, American Gods, Good Omens, The Graveyard Book). Its existential depth, the scrapped film adaptation that Gaiman himself had sabotaged, and the Audible version of The Sandman make up a few of the talking points on this episod...

Tune in as Ruan Willow (Oh F*ck Yeah with Ruan Willow) drops by for a review and recap of The Roommate, the 2020 contemporary romance novel by debut author Rosie Danan. There’s tons of charm to be found in this forced-proximity rom-com that fights for porn stars and for the right to get some good old pleasure. The book’s unusual method of slow-burn spice, the audiobook experience, how to handle th...

Tune in as numerous past 2CC guests partake in a special trivia event to celebrate the podcast turning two years old. Yes, two! Many thanks to Jessica and Saunya (Opinionated Lushes), Shelby Schwieterman and Sam Frontera (The Rom Complex), Guy Bradford, Misty Rose, and Sam Cabrera-Dixon (Hardcover Hoes) for joining in on the anniversary fun. And of course, more thanks goes out to all the listeners...

Tune in as Marie Nicola (Alt. Pop. Repeat) visits the program for a deep dive into Gravity Falls, the animated Disney series that gave us two seasons full of paranormal mysteries and the adventures that twin siblings Dipper and Mabel Pines embarked on to solve them. Talking points that Arthur and Marie raise include various Gravity Falls fan theories, well-written sibling dynamics, a few vehementl...

Tune in as return guest Misty Rose and newcomer Jared (though he’s been previously present on the program in spirit) hang out with Arthur for a recap of the 2023 Oscars, where the Academy showered down awards love on Everything Everywhere All At Once, people were rushed off the stage and unable to finish their acceptance speeches, and Hugh Grant provided Ashley Graham with a fascinatingly halfhear...

Tune in as Patrick (Vintage Video) hangs out with Arthur for a discussion on Mrs. Doubtfire, the 1993 family comedy (or thriller, depending on how you look at it) starring Robin Williams as a dad who’s going through a divorce and just wants to spend more time with his kids. So what does he do? Why, he disguises himself as an elderly British woman and finagles his way into becoming their nanny. Yep...

Tune in as Arthur teams up with Shawn Murphy and Clayton Jones II (Men Who Like Men Who Like Movies Podcast) for a review and recap of Creep, the 2014 found-footage horror movie that takes cringe comedy to a whole new level. Topics that get coverage here include polite horror, Joe Goldberg hypothetically stashing away a Box of Clayton, the works of David Lynch and Christopher Nolan, and trying to...

Tune in as return guest Jackson Leight (creator of the satirical RWBY news website https://bumbleby.com) dives back into more RWBY content with Arthur. This time, they’re focusing on RWBY: Ice Queendom, the 2022 spinoff series that anime studio Shaft produced for the Rooster Teeth web series RWBY. Primarily set between the events of Volumes 1 and 2, Ice Queendom is, to say the least, an inter...

Tune in as Arthur’s friend and return guest Logan pops back into the program for a presentation of the two hosts’ top ten books of 2022. Upcoming adaptations of books by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Alexandra Daddario’s filmography, and the desire to diversify one’s queer library with straight romances comprise just a few of the talking points in this episode. Good Word: • Logan: Paramount+’s The Offer •...

Tune in for an Academy-themed bonus episode as friend and previous guest Misty Rose rejoins 2CC for a conversation about their picks and predictions for the 2022 Oscar race. All these various nominations (some which are splendid, some which are surprising, and some which are… dubious, to say the least) spur on chatter about tons of topics, including the controversial “grassroots” campaign on Andre...

Tune in as previous guests Jessica and Saunya (Opinionated Lushes) swing back around to 2CC for a deep dive into Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the 30th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the sequel to 2018’s Black Panther, one of the strongest films in the MCU (in Arthur’s opinion). Sticking it to colonialism and cops, Wakanda Forever’s grieving process for both T’Challa and Chadwick Bos...

Tune in as Joe Lipsett (Horror Queers, Hazel & Katniss & Harry & Starr) collaborates with Arthur for a breakdown of The Gift, the 2015 stalker thriller that takes an interestingly slow-burn and grounded approach to its own subgenre. The topics that get coverage include the movie’s knack for subtle foreshadowing, the fleshed-out performances from the leading trio (including Rebecca Hall...

Dropping by the show are Vaela Denarr and Micah Iannandrea, coauthors of the queer fantasy series Crimson Tears. Arthur chats with them about plenty of topics here, including self-publishing versus traditional publishing, the crucial role that D&D played in bringing Micah and Vaela together, and a film discussion over a few Dreamworks Animation movies. Micah’s Goodreads:  https://www.good...

Tune in as Arthur welcomes his filmmaker friend Connor Kujawinski to the show for a presentation of their top ten movies of 2022. A few of the topics that they cover include a side chat about Call Me by Your Name, their shared bewilderment over the Academy not even shortlisting Michael Giacchino’s splendid score for The Batman, the social commentary that’s woven into their top films of the year, a...

Hanging out on 2CC today is Brett Salter, author of the middle-grade contemporary fantasy series The Talisman. Anime, punk rock, drawing inspiration from past art to create new work, the works of David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick, and paying attention to your grammar are just a few of the subjects that Arthur gets to chat about with Brett. Brett’s Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/sh...

Tune in as Arthur’s buddy Kailey hangs out on 2CC for a deep dive into Wednesday, the 2022 Netflix series that centers around Wednesday Addams—yes, the very same Wednesday of the morbidly eccentric Addams Family. Plenty of topics are discussed here, including a debate over the Love Triangle trope, the show‘s deliciously ruthless critique of colonialism and whitewashing, a supernatural plot twist i...

Tune in as Shawn Allred (Cheapseat Reviews) drops by for a breakdown of Netflix’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, the 2022 whodunnit movie that serves as the sequel to 2019’s Knives Out. That’s right, master detective Benoit Blanc is now going from the wealthy Drysdale family to tech billionaire Miles Bron and his band of so-called “disruptors.” The ensemble of suspects who are as privileged as...

Tune in as return guests Brandi and Mindy (Drunk Bitches Be Like) team up with Arthur to list off their top ten TV shows of 2022 (a few of which are even shared between the three of them). Deeply geeky celebrities, casting Tom Holland in a theoretical Cocktails reboot, media that attempts to appeal to Gen-Z audiences, a surprisingly overt homage that Black-ish gave to The Matrix, and plenty more j...

Tune in as my friend Misty Rose joins the show for the fourth and final episode of Christmas Month 2022, where we cover The Santa Clause, the 1994 Disney Christmas classic starring Tim Allen as a cynical dad who gets contractually roped into the legendary role of Santa Claus. A few of the included talking points are all the intense pressure and guilt that can accompany Christmas, Allen’s sarcastic...

Tune in as Ryan Conner (Millennial Coffee Break) comes back to 2CC for the third episode of Christmas Month 2022, where we’re sharing our thoughts and feelings on While You Were Sleeping, the 1995 Christmas-y rom-com starring Sandra Bullock as a lonely train station tollbooth worker who falls for a man, then falls for his family—but only after she saves him from getting run over by a train, then g...

Tune in as Dustin Holden (Dustin Can Read & Watch and The Rewatch Recap) visits the show for a discussion on Klaus, the 2019 Netflix Christmas movie starring Jason Schwartzman and J.K. Simmons in a Santa Claus origin story that’s set in 19th-century Norway. Similarities between Klaus and The Nightmare Before Christmas, themes of selfishness and selflessness, bringing back hand-drawn animation...

Tune in as returning guest Torry (Ready to be Petty) drops by 2CC for the first episode of Christmas Month 2022, where we’re kicking things off by reviewing and recapping A Merry Little Meet Cute, the 2022 Christmas rom-com novel by Julie Murphy (Dumplin’) and Sierra Simone (Priest). Equal amounts of sugar and spice can be found in the romance that plus-size porn star Bee Hobbes and former boy ban...

Tune in as my bestie Saba comes back to the show for a discussion on It Starts with Us, the latest novel by Colleen Hoover. This is the sequel to what’s arguably one of her most popular books, It Ends with Us, which even has its very own episode in the 2CC catalog. ISWU isn’t nearly as dark as IEWU, but it still treads into some heavy territory while following the rekindled romance between Lily Bl...

Tune in as Laura Petro and Meggie Gates (YA, We Read It!) hang out with Arthur for a review and recap of You, the 2014 debut novel by Caroline Kepnes. This psychological thriller is quite the wild ride, following bookstore clerk Joe Goldberg as he endeavors to show aspiring writer Guinevere Beck just how much he loves her and wants to take care of her—so much so that he’s willing to stalk, kidnap,...