THE TENDER BAR, C’MON C’MON, and RED ROCKET on Episode #389

Ben Affleck and Tye Sheridan in George Clooney's film THE TENDER BAR

It’s movies-that-studios-are-pushing-for-awards week on Spoilerpiece! First up, Evan and Dave talk about Mike Mills’ C’MON C’MON (1:48), a funny drama starring Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny, who steps in to take care of his nephew Jesse (Woody Norman) while Jesse’s mother Viv (Gaby Hoffman) tends to her husband, Jesse’s father, who has bipolar disorder. That’s a clunky description, but don’t hold that against us because it’s a great conversation about a movie that’s firmly plugged into its emotional arc. Next, everyone saw THE TENDER BAR (22:03), director George Clooney’s coming-of-age drama, about JR (Daniel Ranieri as a kid and Tye Sheridan as a young adult), who moves with his mother (Lily Rabe) to her childhood home. Good news: Her brother, JR’s Uncle Charlie, is Ben Affleck. The bad news? Not enough Ben Affleck. Lastly, we talk about RED ROCKET (39:15), Sean Baker’s alternatingly funny yet uncomfortable comedy-drama. A washed-up porn star (a terrific Simon Rex) returns to his working class Texas hometown, crashing into his estranged wife’s life, and striking up a creepy romance with a 17-year-old (Suzanna Son), whom he’s trying to groom into a porn career that he hopes will restart his own.

Over on our Patreon, we talk about FARGO, the Coen brothers’ comedic thriller starring Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, and Steve Buscemi. If you join our $5 tier, you’ll get immediate access to that conversation and more than 200 bonus episodes!

Listen:

Download Here – and don’t forget to follow us on Apple PodcastsPandoraStitcher, or Spotify! Call us at 862-21–PIECE (862-217-4323) or send us an e-mail: spoilerpiece AT gmail.com.

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HOUSE OF GUCCI, THE CARD COUNTER, and WEST SIDE STORY with Guest Charlie Nash on Episode #387

Lady Gaga smirks with a cigarette in her mouth that she's about to light in the movie House of Gucci

We don’t all agree on HOUSE OF GUCCI, but we do all agree that Lady Gaga is great in it

Frequent guest Charlie Nash stops by this week to fill in for Megan. He offers a quick plug for his new podcast, Almost Major, before he reviews Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of WEST SIDE STORY (6:09), which despite his admitted bias against a particular actor in it, offers great spectacle and inspired tweaks to the original story. Next, we all discuss Paul Schrader’s THE CARD COUNTER (16:30), an intense tale about trauma and guilt starring Oscar Isaac, Tye Sheridan, Tiffany Haddish, and Willem Dafoe. After that we delve into Ridley Scott’s HOUSE OF GUCCI (39:28), a movie about wealth and manipulation that we have polarized reactions to. One thing we do agree on: Lady Gaga is great in it. And in this week’s Patreon exclusive audio, we talk about a Patron’s request, Ted Demme’s 1994 dark Christmas comedy, THE REF, starring Denis Leary!

Listen:

Download Here – and don’t forget to follow us on Apple PodcastsPandoraStitcher, or Spotify! Call us at 862-21–PIECE (862-217-4323) or send us an e-mail: spoilerpiece AT gmail.com.