Episode 556: "The Rule of Jenny Pen" and "Starve Acre"
Release Date: 03/07/2025
Episode 568: "Lost in Starlight" and "Tornado"
Spoilerpiece Theatre
Megan is off this week, so Evan and Dave tackle (2:14), an animated romantic sci-fi drama about a dedicated scientist determined to go to space - but she meets the love of her life just before her departure. Then it's (19:13). Set in the 1860s Scottish highlands, it's part western, part Samurai film, part heist flick, and all killin'. , our second May poll movie is (2007) starring Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling.
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Episode #567: "Fountain of Youth" and "Fear Street: Prom Queen"
Spoilerpiece Theatre
This week, Dave and Megan talk about (2:47), Guy Ritchie's incredibly derivative and frustrating adventure film, starring John Krasinski and Natalie Portman as siblings on a globe-trotting trek for (you guessed it) the mythical Fountain of Youth. Then, we all (Evan, Dave, and Megan) discuss (29:21), a slasher horror film and the latest entry in the franchise based on the R.L. Stine novel. Directed by Matt Palmer and starring India Fowler, Suzanna Son, and Fina Strazza, it follows high school prom queen finalists dying one by one. One of us had a lot of fun, but two of us were disappointed....
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Episode 566: "Sister Midnight" and "The Old Woman with the Knife"
Spoilerpiece Theatre
This week, we review two international films featuring unconventional women protagonists. First, Evan and Megan talk about (1:56), Karan Kandhari's "genre-bending" dark comedy (from the UK and India) about a woman in India (Radhika Apte) in an arranged marriage who experiences strange events. One of us loved the weird and bold film for Radhika Apte's excellent performance as the defiant protagonist, Kandhari's assured direction, the film's vivid cinematography and soundtrack, its irreverent humor, and horror genre subversion. But one of us initially liked it but found it too strange and...
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Episode #565: "Clown in a Cornfield" and "Another Simple Favor"
Spoilerpiece Theatre
This week, the whole gang is back together! Yay! Evan and Megan start out by reviewing Paul Feig's whodunnit dark comedy, (2:33), a sequel to you guessed it, A SIMPLE FAVOR. While it retains the crackling chemistry between its leads, Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively, the movie doesn't have much going for it other than its gorgeous location and fashions; its writing and dialogue are abysmal, and it's glacially paced. Next, we all discuss Eli Craig's horror film (19:43), which is set in a small midwestern town that's terrorized by a killer clown in a cornfield. There's a lot more to this slasher...
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Episode #564: "Thunderbolts*," "Audrey's Children," and "My Robot Sophia"
Spoilerpiece Theatre
Dave can't make it this week, so Megan and Evan review this week's very different films as a duo. First, Megan covers the Ami Canaan Mann's biopic (2:32), which chronicles a period in the life of world-renowned children's doctor Dr. Audrey Evans (Natalie Dormer), as she works to revolutionize treatment of childhood cancer during the late 1960s and helps co-found the first Ronald McDonald House. Come for Natalie Dormer's excellent performance. Next, they discuss Jon Kasbe and Crystal Moselle's disappointing documentary (17:41), which follows inventor David Hanson's attempts to build...
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Episode #563: "On Swift Horses" and "Frewaka"
Spoilerpiece Theatre
Dave returns! But Evan can't make it this week. So Dave and Megan discuss (2:31), Aislinn Clarke's Irish folk horror film about a home care aide (Clare Monnelly) dealing with haunting disorientation after taking a job caring for an agoraphobic older woman (Bríd Ní Neachtain). One of us really liked the film for the performances and eerie, unsettling atmosphere. But it was too slow for one of us. Then, we talk about (27:33), Daniel Minahan's queer romantic drama adapted from Shannon Pufahl's novel, starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elordi, and Will Poulter. Set in the 1950s, a woman...
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Episode #562: "Sinners," "The Wedding Banquet," and "The Ugly Stepsister"
Spoilerpiece Theatre
Megan is flying solo this week, as Dave and Evan couldn't make it (I miss you two!). First, Megan reviews (1:54), Emilie Blichfeldt's Norwegian fairy-tale horror film starring Lea Myren and Thea Sofie Loch Næss, which played at this year's . With lush costumes and production design, it's a compelling and gruesome Cinderella retelling that critiques beauty standards. Then, Megan talks about (19:25), Andrew Ahn's queer rom-com (a remake of Ang Lee's 1993 film) starring Kelly Marie Tran, Lily Gladstone, Bowen Yang, and Han Gi-chan, about a gay man who offers to marry his...
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Episode #561: "Drop" and "Sacramento"
Spoilerpiece Theatre
Unfortunately, Dave can't make it this week (we miss you), but we (Evan and Megan) carry on in his stead. First we cover Michael Angarano's dramedy (2:14), where a free-spirited guy (Angarano) cons his anxiety-ridden best friend (Michael Cera) into taking a road trip to, you guessed it, Sacramento. The movie, which co-stars the vastly underused Maya Erskine and Kristen Stewart, has the occasional poignant moment or funny line but is too scattershot for our taste. Next, we review Christopher Landon's thriller (23:02), which stars Meghann Fahy as a widowed, domestic abuse survivor and...
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Episode 560: "Gazer" and "Freaky Tales"
Spoilerpiece Theatre
This week Evan and Megan watched (and Dave partly watched) the micro budget thriller (2:22), directed by Ryan J. Sloan, and written by Sloan and star Ariella Mastroianni. Frankie (Mastroianni) has dyschronometria, a neurological condition where an individual struggles to perceive and track the duration of time. So when Frankie accepts a high-risk job for a decent chunk of money, it’s safe to say things don’t work out like she expects. Then everyone watched (21:20), one movie made up of four sci-fi/action/martial arts anthology bloodfests that features lots of characters killing neo...
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Episode 559: "The Penguin Lessons" and "Bob Trevino Likes It"
Spoilerpiece Theatre
Sometimes we accidentally stumble into a theme at Spoilerpiece, and this week's theme is movies that make us dissolve into choking sobs. First, Megan and Dave weigh in on , a movie that should be slight; a high school English teacher in politically fraught 1972 Argentina (Steve Coogan) rescues a pengiun and then everyone learns something. Megan and Dave agree: This movie should not work. It should be treacly and stupid...but it made us weep. Legit tears, not tears cheaply jerked from us. Kudos to Coogan for navigating the screenplay's potential pitfalls - he is excellent - and director Peter...
info_outlineIt's a week for horror on Spoilerpiece. Megan and Dave talk about THE RULE OF JENNY PEN (2:10), featuring Geoffrey Rush as a judge recovering from a stroke, John Lithgow as a sadist, and Jenny Pen as Lithgow's evil puppet cohort. Then Evan joins in for STARVE ACRE (20:59), in which two grieving parents find a mummified oak tree and tend to a reanimated rabbit that may or may not be malevolent. Yeah, it's weird. Over on Patreon, we talk about the 2025 Oscars.