"Hope"

This week, we continue our coverage of Robert Pattinson's banner year with a review of Lance Oppenheim's Primetime. An evocative snapshot of the downfall of mid-aughts ratings smasher To Catch and Predator, Primetime broaches the subject of bad people doing good things for the wrong reasons. We discuss its peculiar reception, a specific capture of post-9/11 rubbernecking media thirst, and the trifecta of powerful performances within the film.

The eighth live action Resident Evil and the third continuity reboot, 2026's latest entry finds horror wunderkind Zach Cregger (Weapons, Barbarian) at the helm of a flagging video game adaptation franchise. We discuss the unreasonably chilly fan reception, the dire state of game adaptations, and the many ways this new film is a much-needed punch in the arm for both the genre and the franchise.

This week, Jeff and Derek — sans Amir for one episode — review the wildly divisive South Korean blockbuster, Hope. Coming out of its Cannes premiere with a distinct "love it or hate it" vibe, Na Hong Jin's first film in a decade puts pedal to the metal with non-stop alien action. The question is, does its powder-keg tension balance with its...less-than-robust extraterrestrial CGI? We investigate.

As Derek takes a week off from the pod, Jeff and Amir return to the eerie world of Jane Schoenbrun with a review of their latest film: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. A Cannes darling that won the Queer Palm at the 2026 festival, Schoenbrun's latest explores the slasher genre, our relationship with horror, and the foundations of human sexual desire. A clap back against the academic distance we put between ourselves and a base enjoyment of guilty pleasure cinema, Camp Miasma dares to say: "If it gets to real you can always turn It off,"

Turning our August into an unofficial superheroes month on the podcast, this week we review the new Damon Lindelof-led entry in the DC Universe: Lanterns on HBO. We talk comics, the vision of James Gunn's cinematic world-building, and the star-studded cast of this sneaky superhero series. After a shaky and disappointing Supergirl in theaters, can Lanterns right the ship of DC adaptations? Or is James Gunn's new universe burning up before it even takes off?

Two years after its surprising first season, X-Men '97 returns to Disney Plus as the series dives straight into what was teased in the 2024 finale: Apocalypse. Can the show follow up its lean, gangbusters debut season with something just as worthwhile? Or will the loss of creator and writer Beau DeMayo spell trouble for this lore-heavy animated series? We discuss the eleventh hour changes, a show without its steward, and what we thought of X-Men '97's turbulent storylines.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is officially the biggest movie of all time, but does that mean it can shake the doldrums of comic book fatigue and a floundering Marvel Cinematic Universe? Destin Daniel Cretton (Short Term 12, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) aims to bring intimate character drama and street-level fisticuffs back to the Spider-Man franchise for its wildly anticipated fourth entry. Is it successful as a punch in the arm? Tune in and find out.

We're back in the land of prestige television with our review of the third season of HBO's House of the Dragon. Just two short episodes before the finale, we check in with Westeros and our differing opinions on this divisive series. Haters, apologist, and ones right down the middle, we discuss the penultimate season's strange structure, its epic bloodletting, and continued palace intrigue. Will it stick the landing? Only time will tell.

One of our longest episodes ever in which we review the movie of the summer: Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. We discuss the filmmaker's ongoing battle with his inner clinician, an updated ranking of the filmography, and the odd right-wing backlash facing the movie. Nolan continues from 2023's Oppenheimer his reflection of our own cracked modernity and its broad gesture towards the death of civility, but does The Odyssey maintain its predecessor's craft and evocative core? Tune in and find out.

Kenji Tanigaki's The Furious took TIFF by storm last year, and now, it's finally here. This week, we review this martial arts extravaganza and discuss its comparisons — justly or unjustly — to The Raid and The Raid 2. However, one thing is for sure: The Furious is one of the best action movies of the last decade, coming close to just reinventing the entire visual language of the action movies we love.