The Unenthusiastic Critic concludes her 2020 marathon of "Christmas-adjacent" movies, with an unjustly forgotten suspense thriller from the 1970s: Daryl Duke's The Silent Partner (1978), starring Elliott Gould and Christopher Plummer. First, this week, we're having a brief discussion about The Year in Review, as we discover which movies The Unenthusiastic Critic is glad she watched in 2020, which ones she is angry she watched, and which ones she doesn't even remember watching. Then,...

The Unenthusiastic Critic's 2020 Christmas-Adjacent Movie Marathon continues, as Michael and Nakea watch the perfect film for 2020's holiday season: Alfonso Cuarón's dystopian nativity story CHILDREN OF MEN (2006), starring Clive Owen, Julian Moore, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Clare-Hope Ashitey, and Michael Caine. Premiering on Christmas Day 2006, CHILDREN OF MEN was a box-office flop, failing even to make back its budget. With every subsequent year, however, Cuarón's dark fable has only seemed...

It's beginning to look a (very little) bit like Christmas, as The Unenthusiastic Critic's annual "Christmas-adjacent" movie marathon begins with Norman Jewison's "Moonstruck" (1987), starring Cher, Nicolas Cage, Vincent Gardenia, Danny Aiello, and Olympia Dukakis. First, this week, we're acknowledging that the holiday spirit is going to be hard to come by in 2020, and discussing how Nakea's most festive plan for the season is to murder the plastic snowman on our neighbors' front...

The cat's in the bag and the bag's in the river, as Michael and Nakea enjoy a #Noirvember viewing of Alexander Mackendrick's SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (1957). Sweet Smell of Success was a total flop when it opened in 1957, proving too smart and too cynical for the movie-going public. Since then, however, it has been recognized as a stone-cold, pitch-black masterpiece, featuring career-best performances from Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis, a jazzy Elmer Bernstein score, gorgeous cinematography...

This week The Unenthusiastic Critic is manifesting her destiny by watching Kevin Costner's epic western Dances with Wolves (1990) for the first time. Celebrating its 30th anniversary this month, Costner's big-budget directorial debut was widely expected to be a costly flop. Instead, it became a box-office hit, a critical triumph, and a big winner on Oscar night. The film was almost universally hailed for its progressive and sympathetic portrayal of indigenous communities, and welcomed as a...

There's no place like home, as The Unenthusiastic Critic's 2020 Halloween Movie Marathon concludes with Bryan Bertino's harrowing home-invasion thriller THE STRANGERS (2008), starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman. Michael has been disappointed with Nakea's absence of actual fear throughout her horror movie ordeal, so this time he's chosen what seems like the perfect movie to creep her out, one that plays to all of her particular paranoias. Critically panned when it arrived in 2008,...

Our horror movie marathon continues with Ari Aster's Hereditary (2018), starring Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, Ann Dowd, Alex Wolf, and Milly Shapiro. First, we're starting off this week's Halloween episode by talking about Halloween itself: discussing our favorite costumes, sharing our memories of trick-or-treating, and—most importantly—arguing over the best (and worst) Halloween candy. Then, we're sitting down for The Unenthusiastic Critic's first viewing of Hereditary. Ari Aster's...

The Unenthusiastic Critic's 2020 Halloween Movie Marathon continues with a spooky suspense masterpiece, Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940). First, this week, Michael is getting into the Halloween spirit by planning some romantic outings here in Chicago that he and Nakea can enjoy together. Will Nakea opt for the haunted hotels? The graveyard with the disappearing statues? Or the cemetery turned public park where—in Poltergeist fashion—they moved the headstones, but not the bodies? (Or will...

The Unenthusiastic Critic's 2020 Halloween Movie Marathon continues with Guillermo del Toro's The Devil's Backbone (2001). First, this week—to help convince Nakea of the value of this marathon—we're talking about a new study from the University of Chicago, which proves that horror movies help people prepare psychologically to deal with real-world problems like global pandemics.  Then, we're sitting down for Nakea's first viewing of The Devil's Backbone, del Toro's predecessor and...

The funeral is about to begin! The Unenthusiastic Critic's 2020 Halloween Movie Marathon gets underway with Don Coscarelli's Phantasm, from 1979. First, we're discussing the charm of "bad" horror movies: those clunky, cheesy, DIY movies made with more love than skill or money. And Michael tries to get to the bottom of why Nakea—whose favorite Stephen King movie is Sleepwalkers—likes bad horror movies more than good ones. Then, we're sitting down for Nakea's first viewing of Phantasm, a...

This week Michael and Nakea are revisiting an under-seen, under-appreciated film noir, Carl Franklin's Devil in a Blue Dress (1995), which celebrates its 25th anniversary this month. The world of 1940s Los Angeles is a familiar one from countless private-eye movies, but Devil in a Blue Dress—based on the first of Walter Mosley's best-selling detective novels about Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins—made both the story and the setting fresh by centering a Black protagonist, and lovingly recreating...

This week Michael and Nakea are revisiting an under-seen, under-appreciated film noir, Carl Franklin's Devil in a Blue Dress (1995), which celebrates its 25th anniversary this month. The world of 1940s Los Angeles is a familiar one from countless private-eye movies, but Devil in a Blue Dress—based on the first of Walter Mosley's best-selling detective novels about Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins—made both the story and the setting fresh by centering a Black protagonist, and lovingly recreating...

This week we're getting Ghibli with it, as we sit down for The Unenthusiastic Critic's first viewing of Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away (2001). First, we're having a preliminary conversation about some of our favorite female child protagonists, discussing how it changes a story to feature a girl and not a boy, and unpacking the exact meaning of the loaded word "plucky." Then, we're watching Nakea's first Studio Ghibli film, Miyazaki's Oscar-winning classic from 2001. Join us for a...

This week we're getting Ghibli with it, as we sit down for The Unenthusiastic Critic's first viewing of Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away (2001). First, we're having a preliminary conversation about some of our favorite female child protagonists, discussing how it changes a story to feature a girl and not a boy, and unpacking the exact meaning of the loaded word "plucky." Then, we're watching Nakea's first Studio Ghibli film, Miyazaki's Oscar-winning classic from 2001. Join us for a...

This week, The Unenthusiastic Critic is suiting up for her first viewing of a dynamic duo of movies: Batman (1989) and Batman & Robin (1997). Coming on the scene when comic book movies were considered a money-losing proposition, Tim Burton's smash-hit became the template for modern blockbusters—in ways both good and bad—and set the stage for Hollywood's ongoing, multi-billion-dollar love affair with costumed avengers. But, just a few years later, Joel Schumacher's godforsaken sequel...

This week, The Unenthusiastic Critic is suiting up for her first viewing of a dynamic duo of movies: Batman (1989) and Batman & Robin (1997). Coming on the scene when comic book movies were considered a money-losing proposition, Tim Burton's smash-hit became the template for modern blockbusters—in ways both good and bad—and set the stage for Hollywood's ongoing, multi-billion-dollar love affair with costumed avengers. But, just a few years later, Joel Schumacher's godforsaken sequel...

This week, The Unenthusiastic Critic is dressing down Brian De Palma's controversial suspense thriller Dressed to Kill (1980), starring Angie Dickinson, Michael Caine, Nancy Allen, Keith Gordon, and Dennis Franz. Released 40 years ago this week, Dressed to Kill was met with fiercely polarized reviews and angry political protests. A meticulously-crafted homage to De Palma's spiritual mentor Alfred Hitchcock, the film features some dazzling shots and some brilliantly executed set pieces. It...

This week, The Unenthusiastic Critic is dressing down Brian De Palma's controversial suspense thriller Dressed to Kill (1980), starring Angie Dickinson, Michael Caine, Nancy Allen, Keith Gordon, and Dennis Franz. Released 40 years ago this week, Dressed to Kill was met with fiercely polarized reviews and angry political protests. A meticulously-crafted homage to De Palma's spiritual mentor Alfred Hitchcock, the film features some dazzling shots and some brilliantly executed set pieces. It...

The Unenthusiastic Critic's hatred of musicals faces its ultimate test, as Michael and Nakea return from a long hiatus to experience Hamilton for the first time. Lin-Manuel Miranda's smash Broadway hip-hop history lesson has seduced almost all the critics, broken almost all the records, and won nearly all the awards. But it has also been met with some backlash, including accusations that it is using black actors and music to erase people of color and whitewash America's troubling founding...

The Unenthusiastic Critic's hatred of musicals faces its ultimate test, as Michael and Nakea return from a long hiatus to experience Hamilton for the first time. Lin-Manuel Miranda's smash Broadway hip-hop history lesson has seduced almost all the critics, broken almost all the records, and won nearly all the awards. But it has also been met with some backlash, including accusations that it is using black actors and music to erase people of color and whitewash America's troubling founding...

This week's podcast is absolute murder, as The Unenthusiastic Critic enjoys her first viewing of Alfred Hitchcock's Rope (1948), starring Jimmy Stewart, John Dall, and Farley Granger. First, we're talking about murder, in a somewhat macabre conversation about body disposal, serial killing, and which zodiac signs are naturally predisposed to homicide. Along the way we're talking about Leopold and Loeb—the real-life inspirations for Hitchcock's thrill-seeking intellectuals—and we're learning...

This week's podcast is absolute murder, as The Unenthusiastic Critic enjoys her first viewing of Alfred Hitchcock's Rope (1948), starring Jimmy Stewart, John Dall, and Farley Granger. First, we're talking about murder, in a somewhat macabre conversation about body disposal, serial killing, and which zodiac signs are naturally predisposed to homicide. Along the way we're talking about Leopold and Loeb—the real-life inspirations for Hitchcock's thrill-seeking intellectuals—and we're learning...

This week Michael and Nakea are sharing some popcorn while watching Barry Levinson's Diner (1982), starring Kevin Bacon, Tim Daly, Steve Guttenberg, Paul Reiser, Mickey Rourke, Daniel Stern, and Ellen Barkin.  First, we're making much ado about nothing: literally. One of the most influential (if frequently overlooked) comedies of the 1980s, Diner helped invent the narrative concept of "nothing"—centering meaningless pop-culture banter and the minutiae of everyday life—and helped inspire...