Critically Acclaimed #323 | Oscar Shorts and Predictions 2025!

This week, Bibbs and Witney review the blockbuster video game movie A MINECRAFT MOVIE, the public domain comedy slasher SCREAMBOAT, the game show biopic THE LUCKIEST MAN IN AMERICA, and co-director Finn Wolfhard's comedy slasher (hey, another one!) HELL OF A SUMMER.A Minecraft Movie - 7:07 Screamboat - 44:41 The Luckiest Man in America - 1:01:10 Hell of a Summer - 1:13:12 Review Round-Up - 1:24:07Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork to get exclusive podcasts and exciting rewards, like exclusive series, commentary tracks, and much more!Email us at [email protected], so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

How bad could SNOW WHITE possibly be? Could it really be worse than THE ALTO KNIGHTS?Bibbs and Witney review those big epic flops, and also the horror movie THE WOMAN IN THE YARD, the post-apocalyptic musical O'DESSA, the feel-good antifascist penguin flick THE PENGUIN LESSONS, the public domain slasher POPEYE THE SLAYER MAN, and the sci-fi monster movie ASH!Snow White - 2:32The Woman in the Yard - 35:45The Alto Knights - 48:45O'Dessa - 1:02:53The Penguin Lessons - 1:15:52Popeye the Slayer Man - 1:23:31Ash - 1:35:14Review Round-Up - 1:42:30Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork to get exclusive podcasts and exciting rewards, like exclusive series, commentary tracks, and much more!Email us at [email protected], so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Because our patrons demanded it, Bibbs and Witney present their picks for the best films that flagrantly knocked off a pre-existing work!You can probably think of plenty of so-called "mockbusters" but movie history is littered with great films, many of them classics in their own right, that wouldn't have been made - at least at the same time, in the same way - if it weren't for the success or notoriety of another release.UPDATE: There were some phantom sound effects in the last few minutes of the podcast as originally uploaded, A new version has been uploaded with the audio fixed. Editing a podcast while you have COVID is tricky. Our apologies.Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork to get exclusive podcasts and exciting rewards, like exclusive series, commentary tracks, and much more!Email us at [email protected], so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Also on WE'VE GOT MAIL, Bibbs and Witney talk about movies famous for one shot or cinematic technique, why they've been too hard on Bones in the original STAR TREK, who should direct and star in one of the most exciting sci-fi movie ideas of all time, the difference (if there is one) between fiction and fan fiction, great Jesus and stoner movies, and a controversial element of CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD they forgot to mention in their review!Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork to get exclusive podcasts and exciting rewards, like exclusive series, commentary tracks, and much more!Email us at [email protected], so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold review the Russo Brothers' THE ELECTRIC STATE, the Looney Tunes movie THE DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP, the Shudder horror film THE RULE OF JENNY PEN, Steven Sodebergh's spy thriller BLACK BAG, Bong Joon Ho's sci-fi satire MICKEY 17, the ultraviolent action comedy NOVOCAINE, the animated Clive Barker-inspired family film NIGHT OF THE ZOOPOCALYPSE, the cult horror movie OPUS, the Zambian dark comedy ON BECOMING A GUINEA FOWL, the wrestling biopic QUEEN OF THE RING, the PTSD drama MY DEAD FRIEND ZOE and the all-star horror comedy THE PARENTING!(Please note: We forgot to talk about the Oscars. Also, Bibbs accidentally gave said "C-Minus" instead of "C-Plus" for one of the films in the review round-up, but it should be clear that he's praising it.)The Electric State - 2:50The Day the Earth Blew Up - 30:19The Rule of Jenny Pen - 47:25Black Bag - 57:50Mickey 17 - 1:06:34Novocaine - 1:16:19Night of the Zoopocalypse - 1:30:44Opus - 1:39:45On Becoming a Guinea Fowl - 1:46:33Queen of the Ring - 1:53:15My Dead Friend Zoe - 2:00:44The Parenting - 2:06:29Review Round-Up - 2:14:22Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork to get exclusive podcasts and exciting rewards, like exclusive series, commentary tracks, and much more!Email us at [email protected], so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The year was 1997, and American networks were racing to release their first animated primetime series just for adults! SOUTH PARK may be the one we all remember now, but Ralph Bakshi's forgotten HBO series SPICY CITY - a sexy cyberpunk noir anthology - hit the airwaves first!M. Lopes Da Silva, the author of INFINITY MATHING AT THE SHORE & OTHER DISRUPTIONS, joins film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold to explore this ambitious series, its animation influences, and exciting visions of the future. Buy it here! And follow M. Lopes Da Silva on BlueSky!But mostly they just want to know, was it CANCELED TOO SOON?Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork to get exclusive podcasts and exciting rewards, like exclusive series, commentary tracks, and much more!Email us at [email protected], so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Because our patrons demanded it, film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold present a companion piece to their BEST MOVIES OF THE 21st CENTURY (SO FAR) list! It's their picks for THE WORST MOVIES OF THE 21st CENTURY (SO FAR)!Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork to get exclusive podcasts and exciting rewards, like exclusive series, commentary tracks, and much more!Email us at [email protected], so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

We're down to the wire but we made it, right on time! Bibbs and Witney review all 15 of this year's Oscar-nominated shorts and present they think will win - and SHOULD win - in every category! It's 2 1/2 hours of Oscar goodness!Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork to get exclusive podcasts and exciting rewards, like exclusive series, commentary tracks, and much more!Email us at [email protected], so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

There's nothing brave about CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD (or new, for the matter), but Bibbs and Witney review it anyway!Plus: Osgood Perkins' horror comedy THE MONKEY, Scott Derrickson's monster-fightin' romance THE GORGE, the long-awaited return of BRIDGET JONES (she's MAD ABOUT THE BOY), the indie horror film THE DEAD THING, and Daisy Ridley tackles terrorists in CLEANER!Captain America: Brave New World - 2:05The Monkey - 40:24The Gorge - 53:57Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy - 1:04:41The Dead Thing - 1:15:20Cleaner - 1:24:40Review Round-Up - 1:36:17Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The dubba-dubba-WB won a bidding war for a cartoon sitcom about a mutated family who live in the landfill of an affluent suburb. Then they canceled it after only eight episodes!Will Ferrell and Jean Smart co-star in THE OBLONGS, a relic of early 2000s boundary-pushing comedies that didn't always age well. Was this the big exception?Filmmaker CHELSEA SPIRITO joins William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold to decide if THE OBLONGS was... CANCELED TOO SOON! Click here to support her new short film BRAIN SPOTTING!Subscribe on Patreon at www.patreon.com/criticallyacclaimednetwork to get exclusive podcasts and exciting rewards, like exclusive series, commentary tracks, and much more!Email us at [email protected], so we can read your correspondence and answer YOUR questions in future episodes!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy