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Critical Darlings

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

    This week, it's The Mario Galaxy Movie! The second film in the Nintendo/Illumination franchise is already a global hit despite less than stellar reviews. It is nevertheless a fascinating film: an amalgam of stunning animation and music, ful

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

    This week we’re eating the rich with two new horror films that share devilishly similar premises: Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come and They Will Kill You both feature women fighting back against satanic cults run by rich elites in order to prote

  3. "Project Hail Mary" And Lessons For Family Blockbusters

    Beam me up…Rocky!? Critical Darlings is back, from outer space, in our new feed, talking about the first blockbuster of the year. Project Hail Mary, directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller for Amazon, is a family-friendly science fiction fil

  4. "The 2026 Oscars Ceremony" With Griffin Newman

    It’s Critical Darlings’ biggest morning! After a marathon season, we react to this year’s Academy Awards: the winners, losers, presenters, performances, and awkward play-offs. One Battle After Another and Sinners nearly split the ballot wit

  5. Critical Darlings Trailer

    Welcome to Critical Darlings, where 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 eve

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

    What time is it? It’s time to study the revolutionary texts with David “Rocketman” Sims! On our last episode before The Oscars, we’re talking about One Battle After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic about parental legacy, revolutionary i

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

    This week we’re joined by Sam Sanders of The Sam Sanders Show to discuss Sinners, the most nominated film in Academy Awards history. With sixteen nominations across directing, writing, music, and acting categories, Sinners is a somewhat sur

  8. "Sentimental Value" And Belated Oscar Breakthroughs with Joe Reid

    This week we’re in hygge mode, uncovering traumas in our generational home with the host of This Had Oscar Buzz, Joe Reid! One of the breakout Oscar films of the year is Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, a warm, realist Norwegian film abou

  9. "Frankenstein" And The Craft Category Juggernauts with Bilge Ebiri

    This week we’re brooding, Victorian style, with Vulture’s Bilge Ebiri! Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is a Best Picture nominee and is well represented in the craft categories, but it has only one acting nomination, for Jacob Elordi’s hu

  10. "The Secret Agent" And The Increasingly International Academy

    Viva Brazil! Today we discuss Best Picture nominee The Secret Agent, the simmering, colorful Brazilian thriller about a man on the run, starring the dreamy Wagner Moura and directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho. The story, about retaining perso

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

    Honey, we’re buzzing about Bugonia with Marie Bardi-Salinas! The movie surprised us with its appeal to Oscar voters, but maybe it shouldn’t have: Director Yorgos Lanthimos and star, frequent collaborator Emma Stone, have proven themselves O

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

    On today’s show, Richard and Alison hop on a boxcar and stare wistfully as the 20th century passes them by with Best Picture nominee Train Dreams. They discuss director Clint Bentley’s lush, if somewhat sanded-down take on Denis Johnson’s n

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

    It’s Hollywood’s biggest morning! Join Richard and Alison (plus a vacationing Producer Benjamin Frisch) as they pick apart the biggest snubs and surprises of the year: Sinners breaking the all-time nominations record! The Secret Agent surgi

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

    This week, we’re joined by David Sims as we orbit the Golden Globes and their Best Drama winner, Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet. In the vibes-based reality of awards season predictions, Hamnet has emerged as a potential spoiler to the season’s other f

  15. "Marty Supreme" And The Precursor Circuit with Griffin Newman

    This week, we’re only slightly hung over from last night’s New York Film Critics Circle Awards! Griffin Newman joins the pod to discuss the event, where, among dry-run Oscar speeches from Amy Madigan, Rose Byrne, and Wagner Moura, we saw Et

  16. Introducing Critical Darlings

    Welcome to Critical Darlings, a new podcast miniseries from Blank Check: A conversation about the awards season conversation, one contender at a time. On Critical Darlings, critics and Blank Check alumni Richard Lawson and Alison Willmore g

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