Maximum Film!

4.7 (903)
Film Reviews
Updated Weekly

A movie podcast that isn't just a bunch of straight white dudes. Comedian Kevin Avery is joined by film producer Drea Clark and film critic Alonso Duralde for a fast, funny, flight through film. Maximum Film! is news, reviews and in-depth insight, beamed directly into your ears every week.

6d ago

Episode #476: How I Met ‘Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother’

Years ago, Mahershala Ali announced that he was working with Marvel to develop a new feature Blade with himself as the titular vampire slayer. The first director attached to the project was Bassam Tariq. Blade ended up in project hell, never quite able to get off the ground, despite Ali getting in great shape and training with swordplay. Eventually Ali and Tariq took advantage of Marvel’s delinquency (and Ali's training) to develop Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother. It’s a film that centers on the American Muslim experience, but is by turns dramatic and action-packed. The team discusses the film and uses the opportunity to talk about some of their favorite films with MacGuffins. What’s Good Alonso - Carrie on Amazon Prime Drea - Her friend is cancer free! Kevin - It’s finally cold (by Southern California standards) ITIDIC Indiewire Editorial: Are There Too Many Horror Movies? Crazy Rich Asians to Be Adapted Into a Series, With Same Cast and Filmmakers After Years of Concern, TCM Looks Like It’s Sticking Around at Skydance Staff Picks Drea - Tenzing Alonso - The Devils Kevin - The Book of Eli Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd WithKevin AveryDrea ClarkAlonso Duralde Produced by Marissa Flaxbart Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd With Kevin Avery Drea Clark Alonso Duralde Produced by Marissa Flaxbart Sr. Producer Laura Swisher
Oct 9

Episode #475: We Need to Talk about DIGGER

Just the gang today to talk about a movie that has divided critics and moviegoers alike...at least, those moviegoers who actually took the very secretive bait that DIGGER's ad campaign was offering. Tom Cruise and Riz Ahmed star in this latest film from Alejandra G. Iñárritu. Then, we've got a different kind of movie quiz about films set in their not-so-distant future. What’s GoodAlonso - Every Time a Bell Rings by Emily St. James and Lauren TheisenDrea - Luna Wants TunaKevin - Returning to GBBO ITIDICWB Watertower Already Repainted to Reflect MergerSteven Spielberg and Michael Bay Might Be Making the Next Transformers Movie Staff PicksAlonso - The Social ReckoningDrea - Fjord, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, and Dr. StrangeloveKevin - Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd With Kevin Avery Drea Clark Alonso Duralde Produced by Marissa Flaxbart Sr. Producer Laura Swisher
Oct 2

Episode #474: 'Primetime' with Gillian Walters

Director Lance Oppenheim's debut feature, Primetime has a sales pitch that's hard to deny: Robert Pattinson as To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen. So does the movie live up to that enticing promise? We have true crime buff, former Dateline devotee, and co-host of All Things Cozy, Gillian Walters, with us to discuss the film as both a work of fiction and a portrait of real (if complicated) man and moment in TV history. Then we'll talk about some of our most memorable morally ambiguous movies What's GoodAlonso - Magazine BreakDrea - Lili Reinhart's wig in The Love HypothesisGillian - Spooky Kitty Soap Holder from Bath & Body WorksKevin - The Sixty-Year Mission screening ITIDICViral Lesbian Bar Article From Boston Globe Is Piquing Hollywood’s InterestAn Indie Filmmaker Is Distributing His Movie Via One Traveling Copy of a DVD Staff PicksDrea - Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!Alonso - No Sleep TillGillian - The DUFFKevin - Hope (kinda) & Avengers: Endgame (still) Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd With Kevin Avery Drea Clark Alonso Duralde Produced by Marissa Flaxbart Sr. Producer Laura Swisher
Sep 25

Episode 473: 'The Musical' with Jessica McKenna and Zach Reino

This week we've got expert musical improvisors Jessica McKenna and Zach Reino with us to discuss a movie about a middle school musical gone way off course, at the hands of a drama teacher pushed to the edge. Part comedy, part film noir, it's the feature debut of director Giselle Bonilla, and it was a Sundance premiere. THE MUSICAL! Then we talk about other films that use film noir tropes to comedic ends, and pitch some actually-pretty-genius new movies in that genre too. Look out for Jess and Zach's movie, Mock TrialListen to Off Book (or see it live!) What’s GoodAlonso - Get your colonoscopy!Drea - Bob the Drag Queen even makes the Love Island Reunion show funJess - The Gilded Age on a planeZach - The Wolves of Glendale, Go to the WoodsKevin - seeing the Rams live ITIDICAMC Burbank Pepper-Spray Guy: Villain or Hero?New California Post Production Tax Credit Becomes Law Staff PickAlonso - You Had to Be ThereJess - Original Cast Album: Company (w/”Co-Op” double feature)Drea - The IncomerZach - The Court JesterKevin - Resident Evil Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd With Kevin Avery Drea Clark Alonso Duralde Produced by Marissa Flaxbart Sr. Producer Laura Swisher
Sep 18

Episode #472: 'Practical Magic 2' with Angie Han

The stars of the original Practical Magic stars are back (at least, most of them) and just as cursed as ever. We have Hollywood Reporter TV Critic Angie Han with us to weigh in on whether this film left us feeling charmed, or like we'd been hit by a truck. Then, in honor of a family that has two sisters in every generation, we have a movie quiz about two-sister films! What’s Good?Alonso - Meg Stalter’s Emmys ensembleDrea - uno spaghettoAngie - TrüFrü Dark and White Chocolate Covered Freeze Dried StrawberriesKevin - Movie theater seat snobbery ITIDIC‘Woman Unknown’ Wins Venice Film FestivalMPA Projects Proposed Federal Tax Credit would Add 143,000 Film & TV Jobs Staff PicksDrea - If I Go Will They Miss MeAlonso - Now, VoyagerAngie - The History of ConcreteKevin - Martha Marcy May Marlene Here's a Letterboxd list of Two- and Three-Sister Movies Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd With Kevin Avery Drea Clark Alonso Duralde Produced by Marissa Flaxbart Sr. Producer Laura Swisher
Sep 11

Episode #471: It's Absurdist, It's Disturbing, It's 'Buddy'

Casper Kelly might be most famous for his this-shouldn't-be-so-creepy comedy short "Too Many Cooks." Now he's got his feature directorial debut on his hands (but don't sleep on Yule Log 2, according to Alonso), and It's Buddy, a comedy horror that owes a debt of gratitude to the insistent cheerfulness of Barney the Dinosaur. We'll get into all that, and then talk about some of our favorite times TV crossed over onto the big screens. What's Good:Alonso: kouign amannDrea: Minnesota State FairKevin: Costco belt ITIDIC• Summer U.S. Box Office Hits All-Time $4.76B Record: How Audiences Surrendered To Moviegoing• Telluride’s Top-Secret Film Was a Documentary and people are abuzz (You Can See Everything, Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s Elizabeth Holmes doc) Staff Picks:Alonso: We Are PatDrea: Oasis: Don't Look Back in AngerKevin: Colony (Gunche) Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd With Kevin Avery Drea Clark Alonso Duralde Produced by Marissa Flaxbart Sr. Producer Laura Swisher
Sep 4

Episode #470: 'Coyote vs. Acme' with David Kittredge

Hey, you! Be a buddy and take our listener survey! It'll help us keep the show great and maybe even...make it better?! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! - Producer Marissa and the MaxFilm Gang*** Shelved after completion in 2023, COYOTE VS. ACME has finally detonated onto big screens everywhere. We have director David Kittredge (whose doc BOORMAN AND THE DEVIL is finally making it to theaters as well!) with us to follow this courtroom-drama-by-way-of-Merrie-Melodies. Then we'll talk about the fictional lawsuits that the characters of other films might have on their hands. What’s GoodAlonso - But Have You Read the Book? Romance Edition by Kristen LopezDrea - Daisy Chain Fields Festival (link is to non-profit beneficiaries if you want to donate!)David - Boorman and the Devil on the big screen, and people going back to the cinemasKevin - French press coffee ITIDIC New AMC Theaters Venture Aims to Put Smaller Films on Big ScreenRemembering Dolly Parton and Tim Curry, Movie StarsStaff PicksAlonso: Common Threads: Stories from the QuiltDrea: Hadestown: the MusicalDavid: Buffet Infinity and BuddyKevin: The End of Oak Street Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd With Kevin Avery Drea Clark Alonso Duralde Produced by Marissa Flaxbart Sr. Producer Laura Swisher
Aug 28

Episode #469: ‘Tony’ with Katie Walsh

Hey, you! Be a buddy and take our listener survey! It'll help us keep the show great and maybe even...make it better?! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! - Producer Marissa and the MaxFilm Gang *** The main character of TONY is Anthony Bourdain, but Matt Johnson’s latest film is not exactly a biopic. We have film critic Katie Walsh with us to discuss Dominic Sessa, Antonio Banderas, and the rest of the kitchen crew in this unusual coming of age movie. Then we’ll think up some other personalities we’d like to see inspire coming-of-age/early-life pics. What’s Good Drea: actors with real teeth Katie: Matt Johnson’s biceps Kevin: finding childhood books (Chilling Ghost Stories, and Choose Your Own Adventure: The Cave of Time and Revenge of the Rainbow Dragons) ITIDIC Sold-Out Silent Film Fest Showcases Brand New Silent Films IndieWire: The Prescience of Disney’s Direct-to-Video Sequels Staff PicksDrea: The Cycle of LoveKatie: The Rivals of Amziah KingKevin: The Conversation Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinmaxfilm Follow us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, or Letterboxd With Kevin Avery Drea Clark Alonso Duralde Produced by Marissa Flaxbart Sr. Producer Laura Swisher

See All (489)

Alonso Duralde

Host
Drea Clark

Host
Kevin Avery

Host

4.7

out of 5

903 Ratings

How do you do it?

Sep 7

BsLxCx

So many opinions, so little charisma or POV
Weekly dose of fun

Apr 10

stoutbr

This podcast is simply delightful. The hosts have an easy, fun rapport and each episode has a lively, thoughtful discussion of the week’s film. I am an Alonso superfan, so I follow where he goes, but Drea and Kevin are also so enjoyable. Fun way to end my work week!
Listener since Episode 2

06/17/2025

MiamiMohawk

Through every iteration I’ve loved and enjoyed this podcast. I’m devastated to learn that Alonso Duralde hates Life of Chuck, but his incredibly wrong opinion on this subjective medium has inspired me to at last leave my first review of any podcast- 5 stars, top notch, they can do no wrong in my eyes, even when hating a movie I loved. If this review contradicts itself very well, then it contradicts itself. Like the rotating lineup of talented folks on this podcast over the years, and Chuck’s noggin, I contain multitudes.
Heretic episode, barely talked about the movie??

12/16/2024

Jessmleff

I was excited to listen to the Heretic ep with Ross. But they BARELY talked about the film. They could have really leaned into Ross’s knowledge of religion. There is so much to unpack in this film… 100% disappointed. First and last episode I will ever listen to of this pod. I absolutely hate when pods dont talk about the topic they advertise.

A movie podcast that isn't just a bunch of straight white dudes. Comedian Kevin Avery is joined by film producer Drea Clark and film critic Alonso Duralde for a fast, funny, flight through film. Maximum Film! is news, reviews and in-depth insight, beamed directly into your ears every week.