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!
Episodes
Showing 20 of 28- “Supergirl” And The New DCU (With Patrick Willems)7/2/20261 hr 35 min
- “Stop! That! Train!”, “Leviticus”, and Pride At The Movies (With Colin Drucker)6/25/20261 hr 29 min
- “Disclosure Day” And Ranking Spielberg’s Alien Movies (With Starlee Kine)6/18/20261 hr 30 min
- “Masters of the Universe” and the IP Drought (With Mattie Lubchansky)6/11/20261 hr 31 min
- "Backrooms" And The Internet Horror Boom (With Ryan Broderick)6/4/20261 hr 36 min
- “Obsession” And Youtube Creators In Hollywood5/28/20261 hr 21 min
- Our Favorite Movies Of The Year So Far, And A Summer Blockbusters Preview5/21/20261 hr 35 min
- “The Sheep Detectives” And Amazon’s Box Office Bets (With Griffin Newman)5/14/20261 hr 29 min
- “The Devil Wears Prada 2” And The Future Of Tastemakers (With Who? Weekly)5/7/20261 hr 39 min
- "Michael" And The Jackson Biopic That Wasn't (With Danielle Hewitt)4/30/20261 hr 32 min
- "Mother Mary" And Fictional Pop Stars in Film4/23/20261 hr 30 min
- "The Drama" And The State of Provocateur Cinema4/16/20261 hr 30 min
- “The Mario Galaxy Movie” And The Changing Shape Of Video Game Adaptations4/9/20261 hr 27 min
- "Ready Or Not 2," "They Will Kill You," And The Decline Of Social Satire Horror4/2/20261 hr 13 min
- "Project Hail Mary" And Lessons For Family Blockbusters3/26/20261 hr 14 min
- "The 2026 Oscars Ceremony" With Griffin Newman3/17/20261 hr 53 min
- Critical Darlings Trailer3/16/20262 min
- "One Battle After Another" And Oscar Predictions with David Sims3/12/20261 hr 29 min
- "Sinners" And The Academy’s Growing Genre Acceptance with Sam Sanders3/5/20261 hr 28 min
- "Sentimental Value" And Belated Oscar Breakthroughs with Joe Reid2/26/20261 hr 18 min