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PODCAST

2 Cents Critic

What"s new, folks? If you"re in the mood to listen to Arthur Howell (creator of the blog 2 Cents Critic) give his thoughts on books, movies, and TV shows, then join in! Podcast Twitter and Instagram: @two_centscritic Personal Twitter, Goodpods, StoryGraph, and Letterboxd: @arthur_ant18 Website: www.2centscritic.com Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/144101970-arthur-howell

tv & film

All Episodes

01:11:02

Interview with Filmmaker Chris Peckover (Better Watch...

2 Cents Critic ·

2025/11/08

Joining the podcast today is Chris Peckover, the director of the 2016 Christmas horror-comedy movie Better Watch Out. This program had actually devoted a whole episode to that suspenseful and grimly funny ride last holiday season, so it’s only fitting for Chris himself to finally hop into the guest seat. An alternate career path that Chris could have taken, the racist and xenophobic violence of anti-immigrant attitudes, the incel mindset, dark comedy being an important aspect of horror, and what

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02:57:02

#232 – Son of the White Mare | Directed by Marcell...

2 Cents Critic ·

2025/11/05

Tune in as Marie Nicola (Alt.Pop.Repeat and Past//Forward) circles back around to the podcast for a plunge into Son of the White Mare, the 1981 animated fantasy adventure movie about a horse’s human son who embarks on a quest to save the world with the help of his superpowers and his two brothers. The phallic depiction of a sword and other sexualized symbolism, encouraging more respect for animation and the age ranges it can appeal to, reading this film through a socialist lens, and the impact that

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01:50:24

#231 – The Worst Witch | Directed by Robert W. Young...

2 Cents Critic ·

2025/10/29

Tune in as Dustin Holden (The Rewatch Recap) jumps back onto the program for a discussion on The Worst Witch, the 1986 fantasy TV movie about the magical shenanigans that a good-hearted and accident-prone student undergoes at an esteemed witch academy. The blatant inspiration that the Harry Potter series must have drawn from this flick, the moments where this is somewhat a musical, and the absolutely campy fun of Tim Curry pop up as some of the subject matter for this episode.Directed by Robert W

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03:25:38

#230 – Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities...

2 Cents Critic ·

2025/10/22

Tune in as Rolo Tony (@PoorOldRoloTony) circles back around to the podcast in order to unpack Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, the 2022 horror anthology Netflix miniseries whose stories range from a grave robber who runs up against swarms of vicious rats and the squirm-inducing results of a mysterious lotion to the psychologically shattering impact of some macabre paintings and a consciousness-expanding event that has much more than its guests bargained for. The Lovecraftian flair in

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02:56:50

#229 – The Babadook | Directed by Jennifer Kent...

2 Cents Critic ·

2025/10/15

Tune in as Mama D (Petals of Support) returns to the program for a breakdown of The Babadook, the 2014 horror movie about the supernatural terror that a widowed single mother and her six-year-old son contend with after reading a children’s pop-up book about a top hat-wearing monster. Reading Samuel as autistic, the burdens of motherhood, children preventing their parents from getting a restful sleep, and the thematic connections between The Babadook and “The Murmuring” from Guillermo del Toro’s

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03:00:46

#228 – Taxi Driver | Directed by Martin Scorsese...

2 Cents Critic ·

2025/10/08

Tune in as Anna (@banananna024/@formergleek) returns to the podcast to talk all about Taxi Driver, the 1976 psychological drama film about a Vietnam War veteran who heads down a bitter and lonely path while working as a nighttime taxi driver and wrestling with what he views to be urban decay in New York City. Travis Bickle’s Madonna-whore complex, the multiple parallels and contrasts that can be drawn between this movie and Drive, Jodie Foster being so goddamn young here, and the charming chemistry

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02:36:09

#227 – The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager...

2 Cents Critic ·

2025/10/01

Tune in as Hannah, Rebecca, and Sarah (Can I Spoil Something?) join 2CC to unpack The House Across the Lake, the 2022 thriller novel by Riley Sager that follows a grieving and alcoholic actress as she spies on her neighbors while taking shelter at her family’s lake house in Vermont, where she ends up fixating on the mystery of one such neighbor who goes missing. How this book carries out its nonlinear storytelling, the many foolish choices that Casey makes as a protagonist, the polarizing ambition

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02:20:48

#226 – Blue Ruin | Directed by Jeremy Saulnier...

2 Cents Critic ·

2025/09/24

Tune in as Robyn Zabukovec (@TheFinalGirly) circles back around to the podcast to cover Blue Ruin, the 2013 revenge thriller about the brutal and messy fallout from a quest for vengeance on which a drifter embarks against the man who killed his parents twenty years ago. Movies that have “sound” in the title and other easy ways to snag an Oscar, the underrated con artist flick I Care a Lot and other parts of Macon Blair’s filmography, reading an anti-violence message in Jeremy Saulnier’s work, and

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02:49:48

#225 – Memento | Directed by Christopher Nolan (with...

2 Cents Critic ·

2025/09/17

Tune in as Anna (@banananna024/@formergleek) returns to their guest seat for a breakdown of Memento, the 2000 neo-noir thriller film about a former insurance claims investigator who uses notes, Polaroids, and tattoos to navigate his way through anterograde amnesia and hunt down whoever is responsible for killing his wife and giving him this memory disorder in the first place. The unusual path that this movie takes for its nonlinear storytelling, the war propaganda of Black Hawk Down, doubting the

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02:34:44

#224 – Looper | Directed by Rian Johnson (with Brett...

2 Cents Critic ·

2025/09/10

Tune in as Brett Salter (Irish Salt) rejoins the podcast for a review and recap of Looper, the 2012 sci-fi thriller about a hitman who has to contend with messy timey-wimey mechanics, crime syndicate enemies, and a mission in which he needs to kill a future version of himself that’s been sent back to his present-day world. The ways in which the messiness of time travel does and doesn’t work for Looper, its penchant for stuffing women into maternal stereotyping, and wondering if Rian Johnson fully

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02:25:52

#223 – Nightcrawler | Directed by Dan Gilroy (with...

2 Cents Critic ·

2025/09/03

Tune in as Shawn Murphy (Men Who Like Men Who Like Movies!) hops back into his guest seat for a discussion on Nightcrawler, the 2014 neo-noir crime thriller about a stringer who roams Los Angeles after nightfall with a camcorder in hand and twists the city into his own morbid landscape of news fodder. The ridiculousness of the Oscars snubbing Jake Gyllenhaal for this career-defining performance, appreciation for nepo babies who acknowledge their privilege, the importance of knowing how to haggle,

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03:10:19

#222 – Trance | Directed by Danny Boyle (with Marie...

2 Cents Critic ·

2025/08/27

Tune in as Marie Nicola (Alt.Pop.Repeat and Past//Forward) jumps back onto 2CC for a plunge into Trance, the 2013 neo-noir thriller about the twisty-turny journey of hypnotherapy that an art auctioneer undergoes in order to figure out where a lost painting went in the midst of a heist. The roots that this mindbender has in a British TV movie from 2001, casting doubt on the supposed efficacy of hypnotism, the major role that Goya’s artwork plays in Trance’s symbolism, and the shaved pubes of it all

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02:42:22

#221 – Sweetpea | Created by Kirstie Swain (with Anna)

2 Cents Critic ·

2025/08/20

Tune in as Anna (@banananna024/@formergleek) jumps back onto the podcast for a review and recap of Sweetpea, the 2024 darkly comedic thriller TV show about a newspaper assistant who is enduring too many trials, including the return of a bully from school, and gets pushed to the point of unleashing those bloodthirsty desires that have been lurking underneath her meek appearance. Anna’s recent MCU watches, comparing Rhiannon Lewis to Joe Goldberg and Dexter Morgan, unreliable narrators like Katniss

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01:41:37

#220 – I Saw the Devil | Directed by Kim Jee-woon...

2 Cents Critic ·

2025/08/13

Tune in as Andy (Fat Dude Digs Flicks Movie Podcasts) heads back to his comfy seat on the program for a review and recap of I Saw the Devil, the 2010 thriller-horror movie about the cat-and-mouse game that a vindictive NIS agent plays with the serial killer who viciously murdered his fiancée. The bleakness of revenge, the grimly humorous edge that this film shows off, and the raw aggression of Kyung-chul going up against the stoic coldness of Soo-hyeon make up a few of the subjects on this

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02:50:36

#219 – As Good as Dead by Holly Jackson (with Jessica...

2 Cents Critic ·

2025/08/06

Tune in as Jessica and Saunya (Opinionated Lushes) hop back onto the program to review and recap As Good as Dead, the 2021 YA mystery-thriller novel by Holly Jackson that reunites us with a traumatized and determined Pippa “Pip” Fitz-Amobi as she uncovers more murderous happenings and secrets in this conclusion to the A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder trilogy. Continuing to read Pip as autistic-coded, the morally gray twists and turns that this book boldly pulls us through, cops being able to legally

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02:57:27

#218 – The Innocent | Directed by Oriol Paulo (with...

2 Cents Critic ·

2025/07/30

Tune in as Rolo Tony (@PoorOldRoloTony) returns to 2CC for a breakdown of The Innocent, the 2021 Netflix mystery-thriller miniseries about the secrets and violence that burst out into the open after a husband and soon-to-be father, who had served four years in prison for negligent homicide, starts receiving strange texts about his wife. Repeatedly comparing this show to Gone Girl, handling (and mishandling) depictions of sexual violence, rooting for Mario Casas to make a career transition to

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02:43:32

#217 – A Quiet Place | Directed by John Krasinski...

2 Cents Critic ·

2025/07/23

Tune in as Anna (@banananna024/@formergleek) circles back around to the show for a breakdown of A Quiet Place, the 2018 horror movie about a family’s quest to survive a post-apocalyptic world in which monsters use their acute sense of hearing to hunt down their prey. Pushing back against the pro-gun reading of this movie, asking questions about its many plot and worldbuilding holes, John Krasinski’s career arc from comedy to horror and action, and the dangers of having a baby in such a

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01:51:34

#216 – Upgrade | Directed by Leigh Whannell (with...

2 Cents Critic ·

2025/07/16

Tune in as James Willey (Movie Good or Movie Bad?) joins the podcast for a discussion on Upgrade, the 2018 cyberpunk action thriller about an auto mechanic’s vengeful quest to uncover who murdered his wife and left him paralyzed in the process—a quest that he pursues with the help of a chip implant that can take over a human’s motor functions. The references that this movie may very well be dropping to Tesla and Elon Musk, the dark comedy that this manages to slip into its tale, and the trope of

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02:26:24

#215 – Wanted | Directed by Timur Bekmambetov (with...

2 Cents Critic ·

2025/07/09

Tune in as Betsy Gorham (Never Seen It with Betsy and Trent) jumps onboard the program to talk all about Wanted, the 2008 action movie about a miserable office worker who gets to unlock his bullet-curving potential after joining an assassin organization of which his murdered father was a member. The energy of this movie (as well as the Mark Millar/J.G. Jones comic book series that it’s based on) getting so damn aggro, all the time this spends hammering home its themes of fate and faith, the Fast

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03:08:51

#214 – Shiki | Created by Fuyumi Ono and Ryu Fujisaki...

2 Cents Critic ·

2025/07/02

Tune in as Marie Nicola (Alt.Pop.Repeat) pops back onto 2CC for a breakdown of Shiki, the 2010 horror anime series about a secluded and quiet village that becomes plagued by what initially seems like a fast-moving and ruthless anemia epidemic, but actually turns out to be a growing clan of vampires. The difference between cinema and animation from Western and Eastern regions, the deep pit of moral ambiguity and nihilism that Shiki plunges itself into, the tragic arc of Sunako, and vampirism often

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251 results

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