Critical Darlings

Blank Check Productions 42 - “Primetime” Takes A Seat (With Jessica Kiang)

Welcome to Critical Darlings: a podcast about the movies everyone is talking about, one new release after another. Every week, critics Richard Lawson and Alison Willmore cover the latest film driving the conversation—from big summer blockbusters to festival favorites, buzzy streamers, and major awards contenders. New episodes every Thursday. We’re a Blank Check Production! To catch up on our first miniseries covering the 2026 Oscars season, check out Blank Check on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Stick around on this feed for new episodes going forward. Produced by Benjamin Frisch Subscribe to Richard's newsletter, ⁠⁠Premiere Party,⁠⁠ and read Alison's work ⁠⁠at Vulture. Follow @blankcheckpod on ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠!

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Critical Darlings

Episodes

“Primetime” Takes A Seat (With Jessica Kiang)

Bonus: The Festival Circuit Explained, And Our Fall Festival Trip Report

"Resident Evil" Is How You Adapt A Video Game (With David Sims)

A Critical Darlings Mailbag

“Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” And Video Store Nostalgia

“Coyote Vs. Acme” And The Great Ketchup Rescue (With Connor Ratliff)

“Tony” Or, Bourdain Begins (With Jaya Saxena)

“The End Of Oak Street” Is Dino-mite (With Matt Singer)

“One Night Only” Is The Sex Purge (With Josh Gondelman)

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” Enters The Money-Verse (with Griffin Newman)

“The Invite” Or, Who’s Afraid Of Olivia Wilde? (With Emily Gould)

“The Odyssey” And Christopher Nolan’s Sad Dad Triumph (With Fran Hoepfner)

“Moana” Is Between The Rock And A Hard Place (With Ben Hosley)

“Minions And Monsters”, What Minions Taste Like, And Other Questions

“Supergirl” And The New DCU (With Patrick Willems)

“Stop! That! Train!”, “Leviticus”, and Pride At The Movies (With Colin Drucker)

“Disclosure Day” And Ranking Spielberg’s Alien Movies (With Starlee Kine)

“Masters of the Universe” And The IP Drought (With Mattie Lubchansky)

"Backrooms" And The Internet Horror Boom (With Ryan Broderick)

“Obsession” And Youtube Creators In Hollywood

Our Favorite Movies Of The Year So Far, And A Summer Blockbusters Preview

“The Sheep Detectives” And Amazon’s Box Office Bets (With Griffin Newman)

“The Devil Wears Prada 2” And The Future Of Tastemakers (With Who? Weekly)

"Michael" And The Jackson Biopic That Wasn't (With Danielle Hewitt)

"Mother Mary" And Fictional Pop Stars in Film

"The Drama" And The State of Provocateur Cinema

“The Mario Galaxy Movie” And The Changing Shape Of Video Game Adaptations

"Ready Or Not 2," "They Will Kill You," And The Decline Of Social Satire Horror

"The 2026 Oscars Ceremony" With Griffin Newman

"One Battle After Another" And Oscar Predictions with David Sims

"Sinners" And The Academy’s Growing Genre Acceptance with Sam Sanders

"Sentimental Value" And Belated Oscar Breakthroughs with Joe Reid

"Frankenstein" And The Craft Category Juggernauts with Bilge Ebiri

"The Secret Agent" And The Increasingly International Academy

"Bugonia" And The (Oscar) Favourites with Marie Bardi-Salinas

"Train Dreams" And Netflix’s Quest For Best Picture

"The 2026 Oscar Nominations" And Also Some Talk About "F1"

"Hamnet" And The History Of Oscar Villains with David Sims

"Marty Supreme" And The Precursor Circuit with Griffin Newman

Introducing Critical Darlings

"Project Hail Mary" And Lessons For Family Blockbusters

Critical Darlings Trailer