Spoilerpiece Theatre Evan Crean, Megan Kearns, and David Riedel

This week Megan and Dave check out writer-director Daina O. Pusić’s TUESDAY (1:57), starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a mother reckoning with her daughter’s imminent demise when Death arrives - literally - in the form of a size-shifting, talking bird. We had mixed feelings about it, but one of us liked it more than the other. Then Evan joins Megan and Dave for OUTSTANDING: A COMEDY REVOLUTION (21:46), a Netflix documentary exploring the history of LGBTQ+ comedy and featuring some of its biggest names, including Lily Tomlin, Tig Notaro, Suzy Eddie Izzard, and Joel Kim Booster (and a lot more). Over on Patreon, we talk about John Carpenter’s CHRISTINE, because why the hell not?

Welcome the wacky world of Spoilerpiece! Why wacky? Because for our first film, Megan and Dave watched Kit Zauhar's THIS CLOSENESS (2:33), one of the most indie films to ever indie, and we’re not sure it’s a good movie…but it’s not bad, either? And the ending is…we’re not sure also? And every character in it is an assbag, but that’s OK? Good sound work, by the way... WTF is this movie, exactly? Hey, if you see it, you tell us. Then Evan, Megan, and Dave watched JIM HENSON IDEA MAN (23:21), Ron Howard’s Disney+ documentary that goes in-depth-ish on Henson, his early partnership with his wife, his early experimental films, and how that experimentation showed up in lots of projects throughout the rest of his career. On Patreon, we talk about Spike Lee’s CROOKLYN, which turned 30 this year.

What a week for movies! Megan and Dave watched writer/director/composer/co-star Viggo Mortensen’s THE DEAD DON’T HURT (2:30), a bittersweet drama set in the 1860s. Viggo (the only actor Dave permits being called by first name, because it’s fun to say “Viggo”) is Olsen, a Dane, and Vicky Krieps is Vivienne, a French-Canadian, who meet in San Francisco, fall in love, and make a life together in a tiny Nevada town. TDDH is Vivienne’s movie, as it traces her tough, tender, and resilient character from childhood to adulthood. It’s a dense story with lots of twists and turns (and too much to get into in this description) and superior performances by Viggo and especially Krieps, and Megan and Dave loved it. Then Evan, Megan, and Dave talk director D.W. Waterson's BACKSPOT (28:56), a drama about a high school cheerleading team with a cutthroat coach (Evan Rachel Wood) and a squad that will do almost anything to prove themselves. Riley (Devery Jacobs), the squad’s backspotter, thirsts for the coach’s approval, putting a strain on all of her relationships, especially with her girlfriend, Amanda (Kudakwashe Rutendo), who’s also a teammate. We had divergent opinions on this one. And over on Patreon, Ang Lee’s THE WEDDING BANQUET won our May poll! If you’re a patron, you can listen here (and if you’re not a patron, you can become one!).

Dave, after initially going to the wrong theater, made it to the FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA (3:21) screening. He yaps about it, and then Megan and Evan join him for Jennifer Lopez’s new sci-fi flick, ATLAS (11:32), about A.I. that’s - natch - trying to wipe out humanity. A.I. is on everyone’s minds lately, right? Too bad there wasn’t some originality on the writers’ minds when they wrote the fuckin’ thing. Then everyone talks about Richard Linklater’s new comedy, HIT MAN (29:53), starring Glen Powell as a fake hit man and Adria Arjona as the woman he falls in love with, who may just be planning on killing her rotten husband. Over on Patreon, we talk about Kubrick’s DR. STRANGELOVE in honor of its 60th anniversary.

What happens when all three critics on Spoilerpiece have problems with both movies on the docket? Listen and you’ll find out! First up is director/co-writer Michelle Schumacher’s YOU CAN’T RUN FOREVER (2:26), a wannabe thriller starring Schumacher’s husband J.K. Simmons, Schumacher’s daughter Olivia Simmons, and a bunch of people who apparently didn’t know better than to get involved in this thing. (You *can* avoid this shit.) Then there’s BABES (23:55), the new comedy (in air quotes) from director Pamela Adlon, starring and co-written by Ilana Glazer. This thing is getting glowing reviews absolutely everywhere, but not from us. (We saw a different movie, maybe?) Over on Patreon, we yap about a movie we really enjoy: RUN LOLA RUN.

This week there’s a music documentary, an eco-fable set in Japan, and Dave’s favorite cinematic subgenre: Australian detective stories starring Eric Bana! To start things, Dave fills Megan and Evan in on Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s remastered LET IT BE, which crawled so Peter Jackson’s GET BACK could fuggin’ sprint. Megan watched EVIL DOES NOT EXIST, said eco-fable, which focuses on a village near Tokyo and a clamping site being developed nearby. This is Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s follow-up to the much-lauded DRIVE MY CAR. Finally, everyone saw FORCE OF NATURE: THE DRY 2, which features Bana reprising the role of Aaron Falk from THE DRY. (Aside: (Dave and Evan’s alternate title: THE WET, as this story is set almost entirely in a rain forest.) Of course, Dave can’t resist doing his bad Australian accent and giggling uncontrollably. But is THE DRY 2 good? We let you know! Over on Patreon we talk about the 1979 comedy THE FRISCO KID starring Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford.