Spoilerpiece Theatre

We're back to business as usual this week, starting with MEASURE OF REVENGE (3:02), an atrocious, amateurish thriller starring Melissa Leo as an unhinged stage actress seeking revenge for her son's murder. Then we review Domee Shi's moving Pixar film TURNING RED (18:49), which uses a Chinese Canadian girl's magical transformation to deftly explore the struggles of puberty. After that we cover Adri...

It's our 400th episode of Spoilerpiece Theatre, so we've cooked up something extra special for you, Spoilerpeeps! After some thank yous and very special announcements ( hello Spoilerpiece merch ), original Spoilerpiece co-host Kris Jenson stops by (16:00) to talk about Fred Zinnemann's 1952 Western, HIGH NOON from the AFI Top 100 list! Then we have previous guests and friends of the show stop by t...

This week we start with Mimi Cave's FRESH (2:39), a horror movie starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Sebastian Stan that made one of us so queasy they had to turn it off. Next, we review THE DESPERATE HOUR (27:27), Philip Noyce's frustrating thriller about a mother (Naomi Watts) trying to resolve a hostage crisis at her son's school from her phone while she's running through the woods. We close with Ma...

It's a suspenseful week on Spoilerpiece with two horror films and a thriller. First up is John Adams, Zelda Adams, and Toby Poser's creepy family-made horror flick HELLBENDER (2:12), which is about a lonely teen uncovering her family's connection to witchcraft. Next is BJ McDonnell's STUDIO 666 (19:14), a horror comedy about the Foo Fighters trying to record their 10th album in a haunted mansion....

This week we have strong opinions about all the movies we cover. First up, is Josephine Decker's THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE (1:43), a surreal romance none of us could stand about a teen coping with the death of her older sister. Next, we cover Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney's colorful sci-fi romance STRAWBERRY MANSION (19:08), a story that's stylized and smart, but becomes way too weird for one of...

We start the show by offering our brief reactions to this year's Oscar nominations, which were released this week. After that we review Disney's ENCANTO (6:39), a heartwarming animated tale about a magical Colombian family, which features incredible songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Next, we dig into Guillermo del Toro's stylish, yet long film noir NIGHTMARE ALLEY (25:44), which has us split. Then we d...

This week it's documentary full of rom-coms! First up, is Thomas Hamilton's doc BORIS KARLOFF: THE MAN BEHIND THE MONSTER (2:22), which offers fascinating facts, but distractingly bad production values. Next, we cover a movie that has us split, Joan Carr-Wiggin's rom-com A GRAND ROMANTIC GESTURE (20:18), which is about a recently retired woman who falls for the man playing the Romeo to her Juliet...

Hi, everyone! Buckle up because we have a lot of movies this week. Megan and Dave run through Sundance and just about every movie they saw. (Evan is off this week and will return next week.) There's so much to get to, we'll dispense with the descriptions here, give you the lead actor info, and get right to the timecodes. Both Megan and Dave saw LIVING  (2:19) starring Bill Nighy; DUAL (8:31) starr...

Evan and Megan start this week by reviewing Mamoru Hosoda's moving anime drama BELLE (2:06) about a shy young woman who escapes to a virtual reality world where she becomes a pop star. Next, everyone discusses Asghar Farhadi's heartbreaking drama A HERO (17:19), about a man on leave from debtor's prison trying everything he can to keep himself from going back. We wrap up with ETERNALS (33:33), Chl...

We start this week by reviewing Adam McKay's hotly-debated Netflix climate change satire, DON'T LOOK UP (2:17), digging into the many ways it's ineffective, and the couple of ways it is. Then we cover Randall Okita's tense thriller SEE FOR ME (21:20), about a blind woman stuck inside a house full of crooks with nothing but an app and an army vet on the other side of it to guide her. We wrap up wit...

We didn't get a chance to share our top 10 films from 2021 last week, so we're doing it this week! We each dig into our individual top 10 films from our 2021 Boston Online Film Critics Association Awards ballots, discussing the overlap between our lists, and the unique films that made our respective ballots. First up, is Dave (2:47), whose ballot includes a documentary, comedies, and dramas. He's...

We're taking the red pill for our last show of 2021 so we can discuss THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS ! We had so much to say we felt that the movie deserved a whole episode worth of conversation. We delve deep into the film's themes, particularly its humorous meta commentary on its own existence, its continuation of the Matrix story as a trans allegory, and the many exciting ways it both builds on the M...

It's movies-that-studios-are-pushing-for-awards week on Spoilerpiece! First up, Evan and Dave talk about Mike Mills' C'MON C'MON (1:48), a funny drama starring Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny, who steps in to take care of his nephew Jesse (Woody Norman) while Jesse's mother Viv (Gaby Hoffman) tends to her husband, Jesse's father, who has bipolar disorder. That's a clunky description, but don't hold that...

Megan is back from vacation, so she's excited to review this week's films! We start with Lauren Hadaway's unsettling psychological thriller THE NOVICE (2:24), about a college student's obsessive quest to make her school's varsity rowing team. Then we review Jane Campion's beautifully shot Western THE POWER OF THE DOG (21:42), starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Jess...

Frequent guest Charlie Nash stops by this week to fill in for Megan. He offers a quick plug for his new podcast, Almost Major , before he reviews Steven Spielberg's adaptation of WEST SIDE STORY (6:09), which despite his admitted bias against a particular actor in it, offers great spectacle and inspired tweaks to the original story. Next, we all discuss Paul Schrader's THE CARD COUNTER (16:30), an...

Megan's on vacation (and we miss her), so we invite a very special guest to join us this week: former Spoilerpiece co-host Kris Jenson! We're excited to have Kris back for an episode, but feel bad about the movies we made him watch. At least we have some great discussions about them! First up is Michael Pearce's muddled sci-fi film ENCOUNTER (4:26), starring Riz Ahmed as a father trying to protect...

This week just in time for the holiday, we kick off our show with Stephen Karam's Thanksgiving family drama THE HUMANS (1:41), which underwhelms despite its stacked cast. Next we discuss Halle Berry's directorial debut BRUISED (16:32) a formulaic sports film about a down on her luck queer MMA fighter trying to find redemption. Then we review KING RICHARD (34:45), Reinaldo Marcus Green's engaging s...

This week we picked two VERY different movies about food to discuss. First, we cover Julie Cohen and Betsy West's delightful documentary JULIA (2:12), about chef Julia Child, which is chock full of great interviews, insights, and shots of food. Next, we review Lee Haven Jones's Welsh folk horror film THE FEAST (15:12), which features some gruesome moments that we have varying reactions to. To comp...

This week we start by reviewing Tal Michael's BUKRA FIL MISH-MISH (3:59), a fascinating documentary playing at the Boston Jewish Film Festival about three Jewish brothers who were pioneers of Egyptian animation. Next, we discuss Danis Goulet's NIGHT RAIDERS (16:41), a smart Indigenous sci-fi film about a mother (Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers) trying to rescue her daughter (Brooklyn Letexier-Hart) from a...

Happy Hanukkah! This year the holiday is coming early in real life and on the show. Our gift to you is a bonus episode where Evan and his co-host in life, Shauna, review the shorts programs from the 2021 Boston Jewish Film Festival. First up is the FreshFlix block, where they concentrate on THE MOHEL (1:25), PARADISE (10:46), and THE BINDING OF ITZIK (17:42), with brief comments on DEVEK, GANEF, S...

We get a good laugh about how the one-word titles we're reviewing form a sentence, but after that we get serious about this week's movies. First, we discuss Tracey Deer's BEANS (2:22), a layered coming-of-age drama set against the real-life 78-day standoff between the Mohawk community and government forces in 1990 Quebec. Next, we cover Rebecca Hall's PASSING (22:39), a compelling 1920s drama abou...

Praise be that film festivals are back! To kick things off, Megan talks about IFFBoston's Fall Focus , and her experiences watching SPENCER  (2:03), BELFAST (6:12), HAPPENING (8:32), and MEMORIA (10:31). Evan joins her to talk about PETITE MAMAN (14:21) and THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (20:52). Then Evan (with an assist from Megan) takes everyone through Shudder's HORROR NOIRE (30:25), an antholo...

Welcome to the Blumhouse isn't just a horror series on Amazon, it's also a song Dave is singing on this week's episode, because we're discussing two more films from the series. First, we review Axelle Carolyn's unsettling horror film THE MANOR (2:19), about an older woman (Barbara Hershey) who enters a nursing home, only to discover supernatural forces are killing off her fellow residents. Next, w...

We start off this week with S.K. Dale's entertaining thriller TILL DEATH (2:37), which stars Megan Fox as a woman who must outwit two men trying to find her...while handcuffed to her dead husband. Next we discuss Frida Kempff's thriller KNOCKING (19:10), an effective commentary on gaslighting about a woman tortured by knocking sounds in her apartment. Finally, we review Denis Villeneuve's DUNE (30...

To kick things off, Dave offers his brief take on Cary Joji Fukunaga's  NO TIME TO DIE  (2:30), Daniel Craig's satisfying final outing as James Bond. Next, we all review  BINGO HELL  (11:55), Gigi Saul Guerrero's brief, yet heavy-handed horror comedy that's part of Amazon's 2021 WELCOME TO THE BLUMHOUSE series. After that we cover Antoine Fuqua's  THE GUILTY  (22:41), a frustrating and problematic...