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Mike gives lightning hot takes to Dave and Darren on the myriad of film he managed to watch since the previous week. Just look at that list.

“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” “Devotion,” “Bones & All,” “Good Night Oppy,” “Strange World,” “The Menu,” “She Said,” “The Wonder,” and “Spirited”

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Mike discusses with Dave, and Darren how real-world events (read: Chadwick Boseman’s death) have made “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” “a bit of a bummer,” especially when paired with “dumb jokes” that don’t land — are you sick of Marvel movies yet? Well, then, “Aftersun,” set in the present, reflects upon a character’s “beautiful, sad” family history, and it does grief considerably better than “Black Panther”’s director Ryan Coogler; and “The Good Nurse,” a drama concerning Jessica Chastain’s efforts to neutralize Eddie Redmayne, a suspected serial killer. While Chastain shines, Redmayne’s general dislikeability prevents audience-interaction with his character beyond sheer irritation. And who wants to go to the movies to be irritated?

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “Aftersun,” and “The Good Nurse”

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Mike discusses with Dave, and Darren how The Banshees of Inisherin could have been darker, considering the subject is loneliness in late middle-age and digit-removal in early-1920s Ireland, but is fine with its likability; how Armageddon Time is a little bit “afterschool-special-ly” for a film with a title like Armageddon Time, but, since it’s set in mid-Eighties Manhattan grade school, he “quite liked it” anyway; and how Decision to Leave, “a Korean take on Vertigo,” is playful, scary, and funny, with an “innocent-ish” ingénue — like a Hitchcock film (whether Korean or not left unspoken).

“The Banshees of Inisherin,” “Armageddon Time,” and “Decision to Leave”

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Dave and Darren discuss with Mike Schulz re Cate Blanchett getting #MeToo’d in TÁR; the power of Danielle Deadwyler’s performance of Emmett Till’s mother in Till; how unfortunate Call Jane is for being well-meaning, despite the worthiness of its subject matter (the late-Sixties/early-Seventies Jane Collective, the group of Chicago women who, with considerable personal risk, arranged for other women to have safe, illegal abortions until the 1973 Roe v Wade decision); and a “cruddy PG-rated Exorcist rip-off” that is Prey for the Devil.

Code of Conductor: “TÁR,” “Till,” “Call Jane,” and “Prey for the Devil”

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Mike, Dave, and Darren discuss “one of the most remedial” hits of late (Black Adam); Ticket to Paradise, which is somehow worse than Black Adam (might be the lack of capes); and Triangle of Sadness, the Palm D’Or film where the cast is as loathsome as Ticket to Paradise, but the laughs at their loathsomeness actually land.

“Black Adam,” “Ticket to Paradise,” and “Triangle of Sadness”

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Mike, Darren, and Dave discuss the dubious merits of “Halloween Ends,” “Terrifier,” and the forthcoming “Black Adam” and “Ticket to Paradise,” and the unalloyed joy promised by a “Twister” sequel, at long last.

“Halloween Ends”

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Mike discusses with Dave and Darren how Amsterdam delivered “weird diversions” (“Quirky, but not in a funny way”), as if it was a dozen different films playing out at once — which didn’t please Mike’s fellow-watchers — but probably deserves a second viewing; and the adaptation of Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, “obnoxious in the way of most Hollywood children’s movies,” though Javier Bardem performs a “comically alert” performance, a million miles away from Anton Chigurh. Also, hopes that Halloween Ends is true to its advertizing. . .

“Amsterdam” and “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile”

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Mike, Darren, and Dave discuss Smile‘s effectiveness as well as its profitability (contrasted with the reboot “Jeepers Creepers: Reborn”) and Bros‘s effectiveness despite its box office.

“Bros,” “Smile,” and “Jeepers Creepers: Reborn”