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PODCAST

Critical Darlings

Blank Check Productions

Welcome to Critical Darlings: a podcast about the movies everyone is talking about, one new release after another. Every week, critics Richard Lawson and Alison Willmore cover the latest film driving the conversation—from big summer blockbusters to festival favorites, buzzy streamers, and major awards contenders. New episodes every Thursday. We’re a Blank Check Production! To catch up on our first miniseries covering the 2026 Oscars season, check out Blank Check on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or

tv & film film reviews

All Episodes

93:51

“One Night Only” Is The Sex Purge (With Josh Gondelman)

Critical Darlings ·

2026/08/13

In a technofascist parallel reality, singles are only allowed to have sex one night a year: it’s One Night Only, AKA The Sex Purge!Comedian Josh Gondelman joins us to discuss this deeply strange film which has taken the box office by…not very much. Is that more evidence for the slow fade of theatrical rom coms, or is this just a really, really weird movie? Directed by Will Gluck, and starring Callum Turner and Monica Barbaro, We’re split on the movie’s charms, but we’re mesmerized by the

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114:36

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” Enters The Money-Verse ...

Critical Darlings ·

2026/08/06

Griffin Newman swings back from Spain, Europe, to discuss Spider-Man: Brand New Day! Brand New Day is likely the biggest movie of the year, maybe of all time, depending on how you count. From the seemingly bulletproof Spider-Man formula to the unquestionable star power of Tom Holland and Zendaya, we should have seen this coming!On this episode, we go long to discuss the special appeal of Spider-Men of today and yesteryear, the Tom Holland phenomenon, his perpetual boyishness, The Punisher Meets

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95:14

“The Invite” Or, Who’s Afraid Of Olivia Wilde? (With...

Critical Darlings ·

2026/07/30

Come for the Les Miz karaoke takes, stay for The Invite. New York Magazine’s Emily Gould joins us to discuss Olivia Wilde’s sexy, awkward comedy of domestic manners starring herself, Seth Rogan, Edward Norton, and Penelope Cruz. Set in an aspirational San Francisco apartment owned by a deeply neurotic twosome, they collide with the sexy couple upstairs at an impromptu dinner party staged by Wilde's character Angela. Their night, and the movie itself, swings from polite nicety to anger to

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93:46

“The Odyssey” And Christopher Nolan’s Sad Dad Triumph...

Critical Darlings ·

2026/07/23

Daddy, tie us to the mast, we’re off to see The Odyssey! Christopher Nolan’s epic about a dad going out for cigarettes has vanquished all foes, critical, commercial, and discourse-able.To unpack it all, we’re joined by Vulture’s Fran Hoepfner. Nolan’s Oppenheimer follow-up both revisits and expands the director’s thematic palette. Among many aspects of the film, we discuss Nolan’s controversial choice to reject many of the signifiers of sword and sandals epics, his thematic quirks, the massive

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79:39

“Moana” Is Between The Rock And A Hard Place (With...

Critical Darlings ·

2026/07/16

You’re welcome…again! This week we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel of Disney’s “live-action” remakes, with Moana. As noted on last week’s episode, Producer Ben Frisch is out on a Minions-related leave of absence, so we’re joined by Producer Ben Hosley, to talk about this especially contrived-feeling cultural product. It used to be that Disney remakes were sure to break a billy at the box office, but that’s no longer the case, with only the recent Lilo and Stitch remake having any legs

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80:34

“Minions And Monsters”, What Minions Taste Like, And...

Critical Darlings ·

2026/07/09

The Minions are back with a film designed to pander…to us! On this episode, three Minions neophytes try to make sense of Minions And Monsters, where the round yellow ones land in 1920s Hollywood. among Chaplin, Keaton, and all of Gen Alpha’s favorite silent film stars. For two of us at least, it worked! We also discuss Minions lore: The movie posits that the species consists of roving tribes of task rabbits, and raise questions about their mortality, reproductive cycle, edibility, and of course

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94:51

“Supergirl” And The New DCU (With Patrick Willems)

Critical Darlings ·

2026/07/02

This week we’re Gunn-ing for Supergirl, with filmmaker and video essayist Patrick Willems! Supergirl is the second feature film in the new DC cinematic universe, now helmed by Guardians of the Galaxy mastermind James Gunn. Gunn’s 2025 Superman breathed new life into one of the genre’s biggest icons, but Supergirl blew a raspberry at the box office, despite the good vibes surrounding the new DCU. Supergirl, directed by I, Tonya's Craig Gillespie, borrows liberally from Gunn’s style, but in

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89:10

“Stop! That! Train!”, “Leviticus”, and Pride At The...

Critical Darlings ·

2026/06/25

It’s Pride Week on Critical Darlings, and we’re joined by the co-host of the Alright Mary podcast (and Best Supporting Actress expert) Colin Drucker to break down two new wide-release gay movies: RuPaul’s spoofy Stop! That! Train! and the Australian conversion therapy horror film Leviticus. First, we discuss the delightful Stop! That! Train!, its performances, cameos, and various controversies including lying drag queens (funny) and AI visual effects (depressing). We also get into RuPaul and her

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90:25

“Disclosure Day” And Ranking Spielberg’s Alien Movies...

Critical Darlings ·

2026/06/18

It’s Disclosure Week on Critical Darlings, with writer, podcaster, and E.T. super fan Starlee Kine! Almost five decades after Steven Spielberg reimagined aliens on screen with E.T. and Close Encounters, he’s delivered another story of extraterrestrial awe. The movie stars Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor. But the figure who looms largest over Disclosure Day is Spielberg himself. We discuss our relationships to Spielberg’s work, how Disclosure Day fits into his slate of alien films, and how the

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91:19

“Masters of the Universe” and the IP Drought (With...

Critical Darlings ·

2026/06/11

By the power of Grayskull, we have cartoonist and co-host of the No Gods No Mayors podcast, Mattie Lubchansky, in studio to discuss Masters of the Universe! The movie is a test for Mattel, who are going all-in on IP management in the post-Barbie era but Masters has underperformed at the box office and with critics. Has the He-Man IP run out of gas? Did it ever have gas? What would a coherent He-Man movie even look like? Where’s Orko? On this episode, we try and figure it out. We discuss the

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96:29

"Backrooms" And The Internet Horror Boom (With Ryan...

Critical Darlings ·

2026/06/04

This week we’re joined by the very liminal Ryan Broderick, proprietor of the great Garbage Day newsletter and host of the podcast Panic World, to discuss A24’s hit, Backrooms! Based on a 4-Chan thread, creepypasta, and web series, the movie has captured young filmgoers and its young director, Kane Parsons, has captured Hollywood’s attention. Compared to last week’s subject, Obsession, Backrooms is a much more ambitious blend of effects-driven horror: juggling mid-life ennui, childhood trauma,

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80:31

“Obsession” And Youtube Creators In Hollywood

Critical Darlings ·

2026/05/28

This week, it’s springtime for sad boys, with “Obsession!” a horror flick from Blumhouse and director Curry Barker. The movie has exceeded all expectations and is currently doing better than its opening weekend, largely thanks to great word-of-mouth. The movie tells a monkey’s paw story about a one-sided, obsessive relationship that’s taken to horrific, supernatural heights. It’s both fun and genuinely upsetting, thanks to two excellent lead performances and confident direction that makes the most

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94:48

Our Favorite Movies Of The Year So Far, And A Summer...

Critical Darlings ·

2026/05/21

Coucou les cheris! As Cannes is underway on the Riviera, we take a break from our usual movie-of-the-week format to look back at the year so far, and look forward to this summer. We count down our top 5 favorite movies of the year (that haven’t been covered on the show), including big studio movies and European arthouse fare. We’ll also take a temperature check on the summer blockbuster slate, from The Mandalorian & Grogu, Disclosure Day, Spider-Man, The Odyssey, and more. Finally, we’ll hear a

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89:20

“The Sheep Detectives” And Amazon’s Box Office Bets...

Critical Darlings ·

2026/05/14

Wake up sheeple, it’s The Sheep Detectives! This week we’re joined by our very own executive sheepherder Griffin Newman to discuss the new cozy mystery for families. After the mysterious death of their shepherd, played by Hugh Jackman, his band of sheep team up to solve the mystery in a picturesque British countryside. Surprisingly, it’s very good! Knitting together themes of memory and grief, tied up in a wooly bow.We discuss the plot and characters, our histories with upsetting kid’s movies,

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98:43

“The Devil Wears Prada 2” And The Future Of...

Critical Darlings ·

2026/05/07

Description: “…You think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the podcast industry when, in fact, you're listening to a podcast that was selected for you by the people in the room…and Who? Weekly!” This week on the show, we’re joined by the hosts of ⁠Who? Weekly⁠, Lindsey Webber and Bobby Finger, to discuss The Devil Wears Prada 2, starring a list of all-star Thems: Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci. 20 years on, much has changed in the worlds of Miranda

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92:03

"Michael" And The Jackson Biopic That Wasn't (With...

Critical Darlings ·

2026/04/30

Michael is many things: a box-office triumph, a savvy piece of IP management, and a Frankenstein stitched together from a movie we’ll never get to see. Today on the show, we’re joined by two journalists who have reported on Michael Jackson for the Think Twice: Michael Jackson podcast: our own producer Benjamin Frisch, and Danielle Hewitt, to try and make sense of a deeply flawed film that also features some of the best pop music of all time. We get into the drawn-out trajectory of the movie, its

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89:43

"Mother Mary" And Fictional Pop Stars in Film

Critical Darlings ·

2026/04/23

This week, we’re holding a seance in a Dress Barn™ with Mother Mary! Directed by David Lowery and starring Anne Hathaway and Michaela Cole, this two-hander sees a pop singer and her former designer revisiting the rift that severed their early creative partnership, with spooky results. The film goes wide on April 24th, so with extra spoiler guard rails, we’ll discuss the film, its heightened language, and the unusually depicted supernatural elements. We’ll also discuss Lowery’s filmography,

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90:25

"The Drama" And The State of Provocateur Cinema

Critical Darlings ·

2026/04/16

This week, we’re confessing the worst thing we’ve ever done with Zendaya and Batman himself with The Drama. The twist premise of A24’s newest hit throws a grenade into the idyllic romance of a beautiful couple in Boston in the days before their wedding. The movie hinges on the question of whether we can really know the people we love, but the premise, the worst thing Zendaya’s character has ever done, is what audiences are talking about. Is it a purposeful provocation or an empty one?We discuss

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86:57

“The Mario Galaxy Movie” And The Changing Shape Of...

Critical Darlings ·

2026/04/09

This week, it's The Mario Galaxy Movie! The second film in the Nintendo/Illumination franchise is already a global hit despite less than stellar reviews. It is nevertheless a fascinating film: an amalgam of stunning animation and music, full of hyperactive action, with little interest in the typical conventions of narrative storytelling, and like, plot. On this episode Alison and Richard, along with producer Benjamin Frisch, discuss the film, its beauty and weirdness, offer a sidebar on Shigeru

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73:08

"Ready Or Not 2," "They Will Kill You," And The...

Critical Darlings ·

2026/04/02

This week we’re eating the rich with two new horror films that share devilishly similar premises: Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come and They Will Kill You both feature women fighting back against satanic cults run by rich elites in order to protect an estranged younger sister, written with wry humor aimed at the ultra-wealthy. Neither film did particularly well critically or at the box office, but they raise a fascinating question for Critical Darlings: Has the Trump-era social satire horror film finally

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34 results

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