The Spool

Think twice before skipping Paradise Season 2 When Paradise ads started running late in 2024, they seemingly promised a rather straightforward, if elevated concept, murder mystery. The President of the United States, Cal Bradford (James…

PARADISE is back! It isn't quite as strange Season 1, reveals @UnGajje.bsky.social, but it makes up for it with an overall deeper grasp of the characters' emotions.

Strap up and settle in for a ride with stunning dom-com Pillion Pillion’s premise sets out to turn as many heads as star Alexander Skarsgård did in his leather halter-top ensemble at the film’s BFI premiere. Playfully referred to as a “dom-com”, it’s a peek into…

PILLION is one of 2026's first must-watch films, argues @sgorr.bsky.social. Check out why in her review:

School Spirits Season 3 honors the invisible You can sometimes feel a show overcomplicating itself to keep going past its natural end. The prime example of this is Lost’s middle seasons, which many pointed to as wheel-spinning. Their case is…

SCHOOL SPIRITS Season 3 returns this week and @UnGajje.bsky.social praises its ability to navigate new characters and plotlines without losing track of the main cast or overcomplicating the show's charms.

The Beauty is a beast My first real writing about television was recapping episodes of Nip/Tuck. I can’t recall exactly which season exactly. What I can say for sure is it wasn't early, when the series was at its best.…

THE BEAUTY is a return to form for Ryan Murphy, but one needs to keep in mind all the good and bad that can mean, argues @UnGajje.bsky.social.

His & Hers? More like wild & unbelievable It may not be fair, but endings often ruin an otherwise sound film or television series. Perhaps more than any other act, it is the final one that sends an audience out into the world happy, excited,…

Great acting can't save HIS & HERS from an ending that spikes all the interesting moral questions the series wrestles with until that point, argues @UnGajje.bsky.social.

Ben brings B-horror back big in Primate Primate answers the question of “What’s wrong with Ben?” more swiftly and simply than imagined. The second the lights dim, the film opens with a quick, and slightly bizarre, mini-history of rabies. It...

@sgorr.bsky.social, on the other hand, felt the vibes were great for an early-January animal as a monster B-movie horror feature. thespool.net/reviews/film...

@lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social found herself frustrated by the scripts frequent missteps, especially as the monkey madness was surprisingly satisfying. thespool.net/reviews/film...

ICYMI, we had a split decision over at The Spool on #PRIMATE, the new ape-antics film now in theatres.

Don’t bother getting to know People We Meet on Vacation People We Meet on Vacation has one of those deliciously perfect romantic comedy premises. Poppy (Emily Bader) and Alex (Tom Blyth) are mismatched strangers thrown together by the coincidence of both…

PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION leaves @UnGajje.bsky.social feeling like he'd prefer a staycation.

Magellan is an historical epic that eliminates the epic If you walk into Magellan expecting a Filipino Master and Commander, you will walk out disappointed. The story of the famed explorer has all the makings of an historical epic. Years on the high seas.…

While not without its problems, MAGELLAN successfully captures the scale of the explorer's life without elevating the man to a legend, says @sgorr.bsky.social.

Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 3 takes a messy, heartfelt bow Not to open a review by making it all about me, but I love me an epilogue. Much like Rob Gordon, I can’t fully say if I have a propensity for wistfulness because of epilogues or a love of epilogues...

While the internet is obsessing over secret episodes, @UnGajje.bsky.social keeps his eye fixed on the #StrangerThings finale (so far), pointing out its visual shortcomings and emotional triumphs.

Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 2 get tangled There’s a lot satisfying about Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 2. Unfortunately, it happens alongside a lot of table setting and running in place. Part of what’s to blame lies with how (Netflix? The…

On the eve of #StrangerThings finale, check out @UnGajje.bsky.social's take on its Christmas Day penultimate set of episodes, a trifecta of installments that spun the show's wheels but nailed its emotional beats.

Counting Crows: Have You Seen Me Lately? reveals a piece of the band but it’s just a little piece In the spirit of the band chronicled by director Amy Scott’s new documentary Counting Crows: Have You Seen Me Lately? here’s a bit of naked vulnerability. I’m a massive Crows fan. Their first album,…

COUNTING CROWS: HAVE YOU SEEN ME LATELY? is a music doc made with skill, but @UnGajje.bsky.social can only mildly recommend it as it never finds the sweet spot where diehards and newbies can enjoy it in equal measure.

Dust Bunny a hopped up visual feast from Hannibal crew Aurora (Sophie Sloan) has a monster of a problem. And it is living under her bed. This isn’t a metaphor. Nor is it some friendly critter that hangs with James P. Sullivan and Mike Wazowski. In…

@lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social sees DUST BUNNY as a unique gift to the next generation of film nerds, courtesy of two of the geniuses behind HANNIBAL.

Amanda Seyfried’s the hand that rocks too familiar The Housemaid The job market’s tough for everyone, especially for The Housemaid protagonist Millie Calloway (Sydney Sweeney). Recently out on parole after a lengthy prison sentence, she needs a job and a place to…

Amanda Seyfried's all-in performance isn't enough to make all-too-predictable THE HOUSEMAID worth hiring, concludes @lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social.

The Voice of Hind Rajab is an essential awards season watch I can’t pretend The Voice of Hind Rajab is easy viewing. It’s a daunting story of a five-year-old Palestinian girl trapped inside a car as Israeli forces close in while Red Crescent humanitarian aid…

@sgorr.bsyk.social knows the premise of THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB sounds daunting. She urges everyone to see it anyway.

Melodramatic Little Disasters frequently commits plot malpractice Did you know everyone is just awful? That’s the de facto message of Little Disasters, the latest of what is an increasingly cookie-cutter subgenre that boasts all the trappings of prestigious…

@UnGajje.bsky.social doesn't think LITTLE DISASTERS is a big enough deal to earn the title "disaster," but he wants to be very clear that he thinks it is bad.

Wake Up Dead Man is worth resurrecting for When you are winning, most will frown on changing the game plan. Talk to an expert, though, and they’ll tell you the best coaches are the ones who do exactly. They recognize when a winning formula is…

WAKE UP DEAD MAN, the latest #KnivesOut film, hits Netflix today. Look back at @UnGajje.bsky.social's review during its theatrical run to encourage you to schedule your weekend around seeing it.

Hamnet an emotionally aching achievement from Chloé Zhao Anything can wield importance. An empty room? The setting of a child’s first steps. An old country song? The score for a first kiss. It is all a matter of perspective, emotion, and memory. For…

#Hamnet opens wide today. Check out @lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social's emotionally rich response to the film on The Spool now.

Jay Kelly and the ambiguity of redemption Hollywood loves a story about itself. Hollywood also loves a tale of a guy who’s successful but miserable because of that success. Jay Kelly, Netflix’s newest offering from director Noah Baumbach,…

@UnGajje.bsky.social wrestles with JAY KELLY before ultimately concluding that its ambiguity is an advantage.

Now familiar Stranger Things Season 5 Part 1 still generates sparks While there is more to television than openings and endings, one can get a long way by doing them well. Stranger Things Season 5 Part 1 effectively reminds audiences that those are two of the things t...

After last night's Tonight Show special on #StrangerThings, why not revisit @ungajje.bsky.social's review of Season 5's first part.
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Rian Johnson breaks with his #KnivesOut formula some in #WakeUpDeadMan, delivering a film that balances its humor and twisty mystery with an earnest evaluation of faith and religion, says @ungajje.bsky.social.

thespool.net/reviews/film...

Wicked: For Good is too slow, somber for own good Typically, two-part movies are the opposite of the Beach Boys’ discography: better in the back half. The first parts of multi-installment movies shot back-to-back, like The Deathly Hallows or…

Looking for a film to keep the entire family happy this post-Thanksgiving weekend? @lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social says you can do worse than WICKED: FOR GOOD. Of course, you can also do better, namely with the franchise's first installment.

No Other Choice but to love this darkly comic tale The Ax, the American novel No Other Choice adapts, was written in 1997. It came on the tail-end of a period marred by corporate downsizing, with 6 million jobs slashed between 1987 and 1993. The…

@sgorr declares Park Chan-wook's latest, NO OTHER CHOICE, a gift and one of the year's best. (See link in bio)

A Man on the Inside Season 2 empathetically embeds in academia Times are hard in higher ed. Well, times are tough all over, if we’re honest. But higher ed is in the midst of a decades-long struggle. People who happily attended colleges and universities and…

@UnGajje.bsky.social praises A MAN ON THE INSIDE Season 2 for empathetically embracing another group too quickly shoved aside as being "outdated": liberal arts institutions. Not to get too punny, but there's no Sophomore slump here.

Nothing accidental about the masterful It Was Just an Accident OOne of the last interviews in Jafar Panahi’s 2015 feature Taxi centers on Nasrin Sotoudeh. In her brief screentime, the human rights lawyer talks about the psychological experiences of those…

IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT is a masterpiece, declares @lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social.

The Running Man has rebellious dreams, no drive In his 2025 book One Day, Everyone Will Always Have Been Against This, author Omar El Akkad references a 2016 Roy Scranton essay. In it, El Akkad writes that the veteran “[confronts] the reality that…

@lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social admires THE RUNNING MAN's rebel heart, but can't deny its leading man derails the whole thing.

Bat-Fam is for the kiddos We age in stages when it comes to television. Or at least that’s this writer’s theory. First, TV is just a collection of colors, shapes, and noises. Hopefully, your parents have selected pleasant…

@UnGajje.bsky.social admits he's too old for BAT-FAM, but that doesn't mean the series doesn't have its charms.

Now You See Me Now You Don’t isn’t quite magical One can imagine an incredible film about magicians that plays it entirely straight. A picture that relys entirely on the performers’ talents for sleight of hand and stagecraft. The magicians as con…

@UnGajje.bsky.social is here for the cheesy thrills of a NOW YOU SEE ME NOW YOU DON'T, a film that's short on logic but long on charm.

Many reasons to match Pluribus In many ways, it is a familiar tale. Something has come to Earth and changed the population. Everyone still looks like people, but they no longer sound or act quite right. Think Invasion of the Body…

There are so many things @UnGajje.bsky.social wants to tell you about #Pluribus. But, unfortunately, he can't. So he'll just tell you it's great.