Unfortunately, Dave can't make it this week (we miss you), but we (Evan and Megan) carry on in his stead. First we cover Michael Angarano's dramedy SACREMENTO (2:14), where a free-spirited guy (Angarano) cons his anxiety-ridden best friend (Michael Cera) into taking a road trip to, you guessed it, Sacramento. The movie, which co-stars the vastly underused Maya Erskine and Kristen Stewart, has the occasional poignant moment or funny line but is too scattershot for our taste. Next, we review Christopher Landon's thriller DROP (23:02), which stars Meghann Fahy as a widowed, domestic abuse survivor and mother who is terrorized by anonymous threatening messages on her first date in years. We really dig its central mystery, lead performance, intense atmosphere, and sharp commentary on abuse. And in this week's Patreon exclusive audio, we talk about Martha Coolidge's 1985 comedy REAL GENIUS in honor of the late Val Kilmer!

This week Evan and Megan watched (and Dave partly watched) the micro budget thriller GAZER (2:22), directed by Ryan J. Sloan, and written by Sloan and star Ariella Mastroianni. Frankie (Mastroianni) has dyschronometria, a neurological condition where an individual struggles to perceive and track the duration of time. So when Frankie accepts a high-risk job for a decent chunk of money, it’s safe to say things don’t work out like she expects. Then everyone watched FREAKY TALES (21:20), one movie made up of four sci-fi/action/martial arts anthology bloodfests that features lots of characters killing neo Nazis. Oh, and it takes place in 1987, which makes everyone (especially Evan) very happy. And we're all extremely happy that it has a whole lot of Pedro Pascal. Over on Patreon, we watched PRINCESS MONONOKE in honor of its 4K restoration.

Sometimes we accidentally stumble into a theme at Spoilerpiece, and this week's theme is movies that make us dissolve into choking sobs. First, Megan and Dave weigh in on THE PENGUIN LESSONS, a movie that should be slight; a high school English teacher in politically fraught 1972 Argentina (Steve Coogan) rescues a pengiun and then everyone learns something. Megan and Dave agree: This movie should not work. It should be treacly and stupid...but it made us weep. Legit tears, not tears cheaply jerked from us. Kudos to Coogan for navigating the screenplay's potential pitfalls - he is excellent - and director Peter Cattaneo for laying off the sentiment. Next, Evan joins Megan and Dave to dicuss BOB TREVINO LIKES IT, featuring superb turns by Barbie Ferreira and John Leguizmo as two lonely people who strike up an unlikely and deep friendship that helps shepherd them through emotional trauma. This movie made us sob real tears. (Again, not jerked, but earned.) And then over on Patreon our Women's History Month poll winner is the disaster that is ANGIE, directed by Martha Coolidge and starring Geena Davis; this movie is head-scratchingly bad.

Evan, Megan, and Dave take in two derivative films this week: ASH (2:37), a horror/sci-fi hodgepodge headed up by Eiza González and Aaron Paul about an astronaut who wakes up to find her crew killed, features just about every horror/sci-fi trope since ALIEN hit screens in 1979. Then there's LOCKED (25:17), a thriller starring Bill Skarsgård as a petty criminal trapped and tortured in an impenetrable SUV owned by bad-dude Anthony Hopkins. Over on Patreon, we watched the 1975 noir NIGHT MOVES, starring Gene Hackman, who left us in February.

This week Evan, Megan, and Dave watched one dud and one banger. The dud: THE ELECTRIC STATE (1:55), the latest crap-fest from the Russo brothers. This unfunny sci-fi comedy stars Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, and Ke Huy Quan. The banger: NOVOCAINE (26:00). Assistant bank manager Jack Quaid has a genetic condition in which he can't feel pain. So when bank robbers kidnap his would-be girlfriend (Amber Midthunder), he uses the condition to his advantage to try to save her. Over on Patreon, we talk about the 2006 Spike Lee heist film INSIDE MAN.

It's a week for horror on Spoilerpiece. Megan and Dave talk about THE RULE OF JENNY PEN (2:10), featuring Geoffrey Rush as a judge recovering from a stroke, John Lithgow as a sadist, and Jenny Pen as Lithgow's evil puppet cohort. Then Evan joins in for STARVE ACRE (20:59), in which two grieving parents find a mummified oak tree and tend to a reanimated rabbit that may or may not be malevolent. Yeah, it's weird. Over on Patreon, we talk about the 2025 Oscars.