Screener Squad: Unabomber

Unabomber movie review

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UNABOMBER MOVIE REVIEW

For two decades, the notorious Unabomber terrorized America, until 1996 when the FBI finally apprehended Ted Kaczynski, a former professor of mathematics now living as a recluse in a small cabin in Montana that lacked running water or electricity, but had a typewriter and lots of bomb-making equipment. A gifted student, the young Kaczynski skipped several grades and in 1958, when he was only 16 years old, he enrolled at Harvard University on a scholarship. During his sophomore year, the socially awkward Kaczynski (Jacob Tremblay) participated in a study led by Professor Henry Murray (Russell Crowe). At first, Murray seems like a mentor and father figure to Kaczynski. He flatters the younger man by telling him his high intelligence and strong convictions make him the perfect candidate to participate in the study. However, we soon discover that the true nature of Murray’s experiments are designed to break the will of the person being interrogated. Meanwhile, in the present day, FBI Agent Jo Ann Miller (an invented character played by Shailene Woodley) is trying to discover the identity of the Unabomber. When the Unabomber successfully extorts a major newspaper into printing his 35,000 word manifesto, Miller realizes that a linguistic analysis of the text might provide the breakthrough the Bureau needs to crack the case; if only her male counterparts would listen to her. There has been much speculation over the years as to whether Murray’s now discredited experiments contributed to the mental breakdown that led to Kaczynski’s murderous crimes, and this new Netflix film is firmly on the side of that argument. That’s an interesting premise for a period piece, but did it need a secondary plot about a fictional FBI agent trying to catch the Unabomber decades later, and will those two plot threads ever converge in a meaningful way? Our forensic reviewers Caroline, Jen, and Marco have sifted through the evidence, assessed the damage, and are ready to share their findings with you.

WATCH HERE

DIRECTED BY: Janus Metz Pedersen

STARRING: Jacob Tremblay, Russell Crowe, Shailene Woodley, Annabelle Wallis, Alexander Ludwig, Steven Ogg, Marc Menchaca, Gus Halper

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Marco Noyola (Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Audio Editor)

By day, Marco is a mild-mannered office worker, but by night he is a mild-mannered movie watcher. He does other mild-mannered stuff too.
“I’m not a film critic. I just play one on the Internet.”

 

Jena Perry (Screener Squad)

Jena Perry. Aka Luna. Aka Dion. Aka Memori. Aka Dog whisperer. Aka whiskey connoisseur. As you can see, depending on when you met this Oakland, California native, you have experienced a completely different person, each time. After finally deciding on a 13+year career choice as a Videographer and Radio Personality, Jena balances her time between pursuing her Doctorate in Philosophy, providing insightful and funny critiques on films and Television, raising her daughter and dog in Ohio, and constantly fighting off the existential dread that is being a dope black woman in America in the 20th century.

 

Caroline Sulek (Screener Squad, Trash in the Can)

Caroline Sulek resides in Mckinney, TX with her son Henry and two cats: Sally and Rocky. As a mom, corporate baddie, and unabashed lover of all things silly, spooky, and creative, she brings a unique perspective to the One of Us network. Her love of art and movies started long ago when she and her brother, Wright, would spend entire summer vacations in front of the TV and she would draw portraits of Wright as he sat watching for hours. Caroline has been a frequent guest and fan favorite of the Trash in the Can podcast with her brother, Wright, and his life podcast partner, Eric Samaniego. Caroline enjoys the most gruesome of horror movies and the most bingeable of reality shows and anywhere in between!

 

You can subscribe to the Highly Suspect Reviews and Screener Squad series of podcasts on iTunes, Spotify, and more, or use our RSS feed on whatever podcast service you use: https://oneofus.net/feed/theatrical-movie-review-podcast/ and please leave us a review!

Please think about becoming a paid subscriber to Oneofus.net, support our huge network of shows, and get access to tons of bonus shows and videos in our forums! We cannot keep this site going without support from our listeners. For added information about being a subscriber, the benefits, and the forums, please go here.


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Infestation: Fantastic Fest 2026 – Ghost in the Cell

Ghost in the Cell movie review

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GHOST IN THE CELL MOVIE REVIEW

Let’s just get out of the way from the get-go that this is in no way beholden to the film that you almost certainly thought of when you saw the title was Ghost in the Cell. There’s no anime referencing here. Instead you get the modern master of Indonesian genre cinema Joko Anwar (Satan’s Slaves, The Queen of Black Magic) trying to fuse together extreme horror, buddy comedy, a prison movie, a big action film, and even kinda-sorta musicals into one coherent piece. Ambitious is definitely a word to describe what Anwar takes on these days. The miracle is, Ghost in the Cell makes it work like gangbusters. Dimas is a journalist trying to finish his last piece before deadline. But his boss is not pleased and rakes him over the coals but shortly afterwards, a mysterious force takes ahold of his boss and slaughters him, leaving his pieces displayed like the artistic grand guignol corpses on the tv show Hannibal. Blamed for his death, poor wimpy Dimas is sent to prison where his fellow prisoners assume he won’t last long, especially after it’s clear that someone has it out for him, giving him a cellmate known for being a psycho killer. After the mysterious supernatural force delivers another horrific art piece out of killing the cellmate, Dimas’ fellow prisoners start to piece together the supernatural puzzle. Before it’s all over, many will die in a spectacular fashion, huge fights will deliver the solid action, and there will be multiple dance numbers. Seriously. Chris, Martin, and Mike dug the hell out of Ghost in the Cell (now perhaps playing at a theater near you…dude, go see it with an audience) and they rant about it accordingly here.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Joko Anwar

STARRING: Endy Arfian, Abimana Aryasatya, Yoga Pratama, Mike Lucock, Danang Suryonegoro, Lukman Sardi, Kiki Narendra, Bront Palarae, Aming, Tora Sudiro, Arswendy Beningswara, Morgan Oey, Haydar Salishz, Dewa Dayana, Marissa Anita, Rio Dewanto, Radja Nasution, Almanzo Konoralma, Faiz Vishal, Jaisal Tanjung, Ho Yuhang, Magistus Miftah

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss, Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Deliberations of Doom)

Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas in 1992 where ever since he’s dabbled in everything from plumber’s assistant to sandwich maker, from band to bar and theater management. An opportunity to see theatrical release films for free by becoming a critic on a local public access show called “The Reel Deal” turned into a full-time job when Chris and his friends decided to take it to the internet. They built the site Spill.com, adding multiple podcasts and animated features, to no small amount of success. During this time, a fortuitous friendship sprung up between Chris and young Brian Salisbury, who was also a local film critic, and they merged their forces of will, and their laundry list of ideas for shows, to eventually build this community of critics. While Brian eventually followed his heart to a new family, Chris continues on with a cast of colorful folks from all over the country (and a few others).

 

Martin Thomas (Highly Suspect Reviews, The Original Gentlemen)

In addition to having been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king…Martin Thomas has also been a professional comic book artist (Marvel, DC, First Comics, etc.), a TV personality (The Reel Deal), and a cartoon character (“Leon” from Spill.com). Currently, he can be found podcasting up a storm at DoubleToasted.com when he’s not one of “The Original Gentlemen.”

 

Mike J. McAllister (Screener Squad, Staff Writer, Head Video Editor)

Mike J. McAllister is an award-winning creative jack of all trades, and is pretty competent with most of them. He is a writer, director, animator, video editor, and motion graphics artist. He has tried his hand at nearly every form of artistic expression at least once. He was born and raised in Western Pennsylvania where he fell in love with film, writing and special effects at an early age. His obsession with film would lead him to being locally known as a “human IMDb” and being on a first-name basis with every video store clerk in town. He would study film in Pittsburgh before taking his talents to Austin. Not letting something like Tourettes get in his way, he has produced a handful of animated short films that have won awards from film festivals all over the globe. He has also written several yet-to-be-produced screenplays and TV pilots, with some of them being recognized in screenwriting competitions. He has even created motion graphics and animations for several clients, from movie theaters to Twitch streamers. When not creating or watching films, he enjoys MST3K, classic video games and buying vinyl records. He loves dogs, dropping obscure pop culture trivia and watching travel videos. He currently resides in Austin Texas and can be followed on the Instamagrams at @ohheyitsmikejm. His body of work can be found at his homepage or you can take a gander at his somewhat-impressive IMDb listing here.

 

You can subscribe to the Highly Suspect Reviews and Screener Squad series of podcasts on iTunes, Spotify, and more, or use our RSS feed on whatever podcast service you use: https://oneofus.net/feed/theatrical-movie-review-podcast/ and please leave us a review!

Please think about becoming a paid subscriber to Oneofus.net, support our huge network of shows, and get access to tons of bonus shows and videos in our forums! We cannot keep this site going without support from our listeners. For added information about being a subscriber, the benefits, and the forums, please go here.


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Infestation: Fantastic Fest 2026 – 5 More Minutes

5 More Minutes movie review

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5 MORE MINUTES MOVIE REVIEW

The time-loop time travel conceit in film and tv has been well explored, certainly since 1993’s Groundhog’s Day (although explorations of the idea in fiction go back to the early 20th century). The Spanish film 5 More Minutes which played at this year’s Fantastic Fest sets very specific boundaries to the loop, as the title indicates. It also adds a new rule: although everyone returns to their starting points at the end of the time loop, any changes which may have happened to them in the previous run remain. The story follows a bickering couple Toni (played by the film’s writer) and Barbara. They are driving out to the countryside where they are renting a house for the weekend to hash things out. A close call with a speeding car driven by their rental agent Carlos, leads to immediate tension with him as well when they arrive at the house. When the three realize that a loop has started and they start to explore the boundaries for means to escape, things get wilder and more violent. Choosing to go the bleaker route than most time-loop films, 5 More Minutes nevertheless seems to have been a hit with our critics Martin and Mike as they detail in their review.

OFFICIAL TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Javier Ruiz Caldera

STARRING: Berto Romero, Belén Cuesta, Javier Cámara, Carlos Bernardino, Marc Soler, Clàudia Melo, Puchi Lagarde, Tian Tosas, Nia Tosas

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Martin Thomas (Highly Suspect Reviews, The Original Gentlemen)

In addition to having been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king…Martin Thomas has also been a professional comic book artist (Marvel, DC, First Comics, etc.), a TV personality (The Reel Deal), and a cartoon character (“Leon” from Spill.com). Currently, he can be found podcasting up a storm at DoubleToasted.com when he’s not one of “The Original Gentlemen.”

 

Mike J. McAllister (Screener Squad, Staff Writer, Head Video Editor)

Mike J. McAllister is an award-winning creative jack of all trades, and is pretty competent with most of them. He is a writer, director, animator, video editor, and motion graphics artist. He has tried his hand at nearly every form of artistic expression at least once. He was born and raised in Western Pennsylvania where he fell in love with film, writing and special effects at an early age. His obsession with film would lead him to being locally known as a “human IMDb” and being on a first-name basis with every video store clerk in town. He would study film in Pittsburgh before taking his talents to Austin. Not letting something like Tourettes get in his way, he has produced a handful of animated short films that have won awards from film festivals all over the globe. He has also written several yet-to-be-produced screenplays and TV pilots, with some of them being recognized in screenwriting competitions. He has even created motion graphics and animations for several clients, from movie theaters to Twitch streamers. When not creating or watching films, he enjoys MST3K, classic video games and buying vinyl records. He loves dogs, dropping obscure pop culture trivia and watching travel videos. He currently resides in Austin Texas and can be followed on the Instamagrams at @ohheyitsmikejm. His body of work can be found at his homepage or you can take a gander at his somewhat-impressive IMDb listing here.

 

You can subscribe to the Highly Suspect Reviews and Screener Squad series of podcasts on iTunes, Spotify, and more, or use our RSS feed on whatever podcast service you use: https://oneofus.net/feed/theatrical-movie-review-podcast/ and please leave us a review!

Please think about becoming a paid subscriber to Oneofus.net, support our huge network of shows, and get access to tons of bonus shows and videos in our forums! We cannot keep this site going without support from our listeners. For added information about being a subscriber, the benefits, and the forums, please go here.


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Infestation: Fantastic Fest 2026 – Donkey Princess

Donkey Princess movie review

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DONKEY PRINCESS MOVIE REVIEW

From the directors of the politically charged, surreal, animated fairytale film The Wolf House comes the politically charged, surreal, partially animated fairytale film Donkey Princess which was featured at Fantastic Fest this year. The story follows Princess Diana who lives in a magical kingdom with her father the king. When the king’s wife dies, he outlaws love in the kingdom. This is unfortunate timing as the princess has just fallen hard for a young man named Lalo. In case they are ever discovered, Lalo gives Diana a magical bracelet that he says can transport her to alternate realities so that at least in those worlds, they can be together. Soon, Lalo is indeed banished by the overprotective king and Diana takes off to parallel worlds to pursue their love (albeit, with alternate versions of Lalo…it is unclear what happens to the alternate versions of herself when she is transported to those worlds). Thankfully excising most of the incest themes that are dominant in the original Charles Perrault fairytale (but bits remain), Donkey Princess is an odd beast of a film still and one that defies easy interpretation of its goals. Chris, Wright, and Martin are here to read between the lines and give you their iffy conclusions.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña

STARRING: Andrew Bargsted, Antonia Giesen, Francisco Melo

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss, Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Deliberations of Doom)

Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas in 1992 where ever since he’s dabbled in everything from plumber’s assistant to sandwich maker, from band to bar and theater management. An opportunity to see theatrical release films for free by becoming a critic on a local public access show called “The Reel Deal” turned into a full-time job when Chris and his friends decided to take it to the internet. They built the site Spill.com, adding multiple podcasts and animated features, to no small amount of success. During this time, a fortuitous friendship sprung up between Chris and young Brian Salisbury, who was also a local film critic, and they merged their forces of will, and their laundry list of ideas for shows, to eventually build this community of critics. While Brian eventually followed his heart to a new family, Chris continues on with a cast of colorful folks from all over the country (and a few others).

 

Wright Sulek (The Other Boss, Trash in the Can, Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, One Man’s Trash, Screener Squad)

Wright hails from the northern suburbs of Dallas, Texas. His passion for filmmaking brought him to Austin to study and make movies. Since then he’s had his hand in acting, writing, and directing his own short films with numerous like-minded film geeks he’s met along his journey. His newest interest has brought him into the podcasting world. He co-hosted a few different movie related podcasts such as ‘And Now This’ and ‘The Match Cut’. He currently co-hosts with longtime friend, Eric Samaniego, where they talk shop about the grimiest, trashiest, lost gems of movies on their show, ‘Trash in the Can’. Wright also guests and hosts reviews on Screener Squad and Highly Suspect Reviews as well as co-hosts Digital Noise with Chris Cox. As of 2024, Wright has now been inducted into the Austin Film Critics Association as well as co-owns the One of Us network with Chris Cox.

 

Martin Thomas (Highly Suspect Reviews, The Original Gentlemen)

In addition to having been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king…Martin Thomas has also been a professional comic book artist (Marvel, DC, First Comics, etc.), a TV personality (The Reel Deal), and a cartoon character (“Leon” from Spill.com). Currently, he can be found podcasting up a storm at DoubleToasted.com when he’s not one of “The Original Gentlemen.”

 

You can subscribe to the Highly Suspect Reviews and Screener Squad series of podcasts on iTunes, Spotify, and more, or use our RSS feed on whatever podcast service you use: https://oneofus.net/feed/theatrical-movie-review-podcast/ and please leave us a review!

Please think about becoming a paid subscriber to Oneofus.net, support our huge network of shows, and get access to tons of bonus shows and videos in our forums! We cannot keep this site going without support from our listeners. For added information about being a subscriber, the benefits, and the forums, please go here.


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A Better Yesterday – Ep. 6: Making Sense of Nonsense

A Better Yesterday - A show about the history of Hong Kong action films

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A BETTER YESTERDAY – EP 6: MAKING SENSE OF NONSENSE

Ross O’Brien talks with Bey Logan about mo lei tau—Cantonese “nonsense talking”—and how Stephen Chow turned it into the dominant Hong Kong film genre of the 1990s.

Starting from the end of the heroic bloodshed cycle, they trace the shift from Chow Yun-fat’s rain-soaked hitmen to Stephen Chow’s fast-talking, genre-bending absurdity in films like God of Gamblers (1989) and All for the Winner (1990). Bey explains how mo lei tau grew out of Cantonese wordplay, the Hui brothers’ comedies, imported American humor, and Hong Kong’s gambling, hustling and kung fu culture.

They discuss Chow’s 1990s run—Fight Back to School, Justice, My Foot!, King of Beggars, God of Cookery, King of Comedy—and his recurring persona: the sarcastic underachiever who stumbles into greatness. They also look at how low-budget comedies outperformed big action films, how triad financing shaped (and then receded from) the industry, and how Chow’s decision to make fewer, bigger event films preserved his influence.

The conversation moves to Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle, CJ7 and The Mermaid, asking what survives when mo lei tau crosses language barriers and why Chow may have been wise to avoid Hollywood. Finally, they consider whether these “nonsense” comedies are actually the best record we have of 1990s Hong Kong life.

Films discussed:
God of Gamblers (1989)
All for the Winner (1990)
Fight Back to School (1991)
Justice, My Foot! (1992)
King of Beggars (1992)
God of Cookery (1996)
King of Comedy (1999)
Shaolin Soccer (2001)
Kung Fu Hustle (2004)
The Mermaid (2016)

 

Bey Logan and Stephen Chow

Bey hanging out with Stephen Chow

 

YOUR HOSTS

 

Bey Logan (A Better Yesterday)

Bey Logan is a Hong Kong-based screenwriter, producer and martial arts film historian. His films include Jackie Chan’s ‘The Medallion’ and ‘The Twins Effect’, Sammo Hung’s ‘Dragon Squad’ and ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny’, which starred Donnie Yen and Michelle Yeoh. He has produced documentaries about Bruce Lee, as well as a book entitled ‘Bruce Lee and I’. Bey’s recent publications include the two-volume ‘36 Chambers of Kung Fu Cinema’.

 

Ross O’Brien (A Better Yesterday)

Ross O’Brien writes about technology and economics in Asia from a fishing village on Hong Kong’s Lantau Island. Most evenings he stares out at the South China Sea, fretting about what the salt air is doing to his comic books and Del Rey paperbacks. He has no film credits to speak of, unless you count the voice-overs he did for Vidal Sassoon shampoo commercials when he was hard up in Singapore in the 1990s.

 

You can subscribe to the A Better Yesterday podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and more, or use our RSS feed on whatever podcast service you use: https://oneofus.net/feed/a-better-yesterday/ and please leave us a review!

Please think about becoming a paid subscriber to Oneofus.net, support our huge network of shows, and get access to tons of bonus shows and videos in our forums! We cannot keep this site going without support from our listeners. For added information about being a subscriber, the benefits, and the forums, please go here.


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Infestation: Fantastic Fest 2026 – Phreaker

Phreaker movie review

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PHREAKER MOVIE REVIEW

If you’ve ever listened to us talk about Fantastic Fest, you’ve heard us say that often it’s the films that weren’t on your radar at all that end up on your ‘best of the fest’ lists. It’s rare for one of those films to be one of the minority of entries in the fest that aren’t even really genre films. For our critics, Phreaker was one of those. The story follows Jake, a blind teenager who is bullied at school, has an mom who is largely absent due to her constantly working and trying to keep their finances from crashing, and a brother who resents him. Beset by loneliness, Jake discovers ‘party lines’ you can call just to talk with groups of other folks. Through that, he ends up finding a mentor in Ray, who reveals his own past as a ‘phreaker’. Using imitative tones, Jake is taught that the phone system can be manipulated into not charging you for your calls. But Jake has imitative skills that go into almost a mutant ability level of mastery and soon, he’s manipulating the entire system for money, power, and revenge against some black hat hackers. Chris, Martin, Mike, and Wright absolutely loved this fascinating story that surprised them at every turn.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Adam Yorke

STARRING: Cole Asher Phillips, Robb Wells, Enrico Colantoni, Stephen Kalyn, Rick Hoffman, Carly Street, Giorgia Whigham, Natasha Mumba, Rob Ramsay, Dayton Sinkia, Jake Brennan, Maria Syrgiannis, Josh Stone, Joshua Puranda, Tim Finnigan, Tori Barban, Karen Burthwright, Sarah Gervais, Chris Handfield, Emily Nixon, Jim Annan, Janice Hawke, Mark MacRae, Cole Lilliman, Cory Bertrand

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss, Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Deliberations of Doom)

Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas in 1992 where ever since he’s dabbled in everything from plumber’s assistant to sandwich maker, from band to bar and theater management. An opportunity to see theatrical release films for free by becoming a critic on a local public access show called “The Reel Deal” turned into a full-time job when Chris and his friends decided to take it to the internet. They built the site Spill.com, adding multiple podcasts and animated features, to no small amount of success. During this time, a fortuitous friendship sprung up between Chris and young Brian Salisbury, who was also a local film critic, and they merged their forces of will, and their laundry list of ideas for shows, to eventually build this community of critics. While Brian eventually followed his heart to a new family, Chris continues on with a cast of colorful folks from all over the country (and a few others).

 

Wright Sulek (The Other Boss, Trash in the Can, Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, One Man’s Trash, Screener Squad)

Wright hails from the northern suburbs of Dallas, Texas. His passion for filmmaking brought him to Austin to study and make movies. Since then he’s had his hand in acting, writing, and directing his own short films with numerous like-minded film geeks he’s met along his journey. His newest interest has brought him into the podcasting world. He co-hosted a few different movie related podcasts such as ‘And Now This’ and ‘The Match Cut’. He currently co-hosts with longtime friend, Eric Samaniego, where they talk shop about the grimiest, trashiest, lost gems of movies on their show, ‘Trash in the Can’. Wright also guests and hosts reviews on Screener Squad and Highly Suspect Reviews as well as co-hosts Digital Noise with Chris Cox. As of 2024, Wright has now been inducted into the Austin Film Critics Association as well as co-owns the One of Us network with Chris Cox.

 

Martin Thomas (Highly Suspect Reviews, The Original Gentlemen)

In addition to having been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king…Martin Thomas has also been a professional comic book artist (Marvel, DC, First Comics, etc.), a TV personality (The Reel Deal), and a cartoon character (“Leon” from Spill.com). Currently, he can be found podcasting up a storm at DoubleToasted.com when he’s not one of “The Original Gentlemen.”

 

Mike J. McAllister (Screener Squad, Staff Writer, Head Video Editor)

Mike J. McAllister is an award-winning creative jack of all trades, and is pretty competent with most of them. He is a writer, director, animator, video editor, and motion graphics artist. He has tried his hand at nearly every form of artistic expression at least once. He was born and raised in Western Pennsylvania where he fell in love with film, writing and special effects at an early age. His obsession with film would lead him to being locally known as a “human IMDb” and being on a first-name basis with every video store clerk in town. He would study film in Pittsburgh before taking his talents to Austin. Not letting something like Tourettes get in his way, he has produced a handful of animated short films that have won awards from film festivals all over the globe. He has also written several yet-to-be-produced screenplays and TV pilots, with some of them being recognized in screenwriting competitions. He has even created motion graphics and animations for several clients, from movie theaters to Twitch streamers. When not creating or watching films, he enjoys MST3K, classic video games and buying vinyl records. He loves dogs, dropping obscure pop culture trivia and watching travel videos. He currently resides in Austin Texas and can be followed on the Instamagrams at @ohheyitsmikejm. His body of work can be found at his homepage or you can take a gander at his somewhat-impressive IMDb listing here.

 

You can subscribe to the Highly Suspect Reviews and Screener Squad series of podcasts on iTunes, Spotify, and more, or use our RSS feed on whatever podcast service you use: https://oneofus.net/feed/theatrical-movie-review-podcast/ and please leave us a review!

Please think about becoming a paid subscriber to Oneofus.net, support our huge network of shows, and get access to tons of bonus shows and videos in our forums! We cannot keep this site going without support from our listeners. For added information about being a subscriber, the benefits, and the forums, please go here.


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Infestation: Fantastic Fest 2026 – The Spiral

The Spiral movie review

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THE SPIRAL MOVIE REVIEW

Coming off a run at some other major festivals and the announcement that it will be the Italian entry for Best International Feature Film at the upcoming Academy Awards, The Spiral is getting a lot of discussion right now. From a young Italian director Paolo Strippoli who has already gotten lots of praise for his previous three films, The Spiral is a different animal than his previous entries. On a dark and stormy night, a mother shows up unexpectedly at her adult daughter’s home. She is there to reveal the darkest of family secrets: that they only prosper because the mother made a deal with the devil many years before. Now that the time has come for the devil to get its due, the mom doesn’t know what to do, but Alice might have an idea. Martin and Kate got to see this at Fantastic Fest and are here to thoroughly praise it and implore you to seek it out for yourself.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Paolo Strippoli

STARRING: Jasmine Trinca, Romana Maggiora Vergano, Gabriella Telegrafo, Adriano Giannini, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Andrea Genovese, Alessandro Carbonara

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Martin Thomas (Highly Suspect Reviews, The Original Gentlemen)

In addition to having been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king…Martin Thomas has also been a professional comic book artist (Marvel, DC, First Comics, etc.), a TV personality (The Reel Deal), and a cartoon character (“Leon” from Spill.com). Currently, he can be found podcasting up a storm at DoubleToasted.com when he’s not one of “The Original Gentlemen.”

 

Kate Chambers (Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad)

Kate is a certified horror fiend and Horse Girl™. Her name isn’t short for anything. A native Austinite, she graduated with a BFA in Film Production from the University of Colorado Boulder then returned to the Lone Star State to make her home amid the cinephiles of the Alamo Drafthouse and the Austin Film Society. In her spare time, you can find her either down at the barn with her noble steed Jazz, watching as many movies as possible (often at work), cuddling with her pair of black cats and writing horror scripts, or nursing a beer in any available body of water… or doing Duolingo, where she’s currently on a 1000+ day streak.

 

You can subscribe to the Highly Suspect Reviews and Screener Squad series of podcasts on iTunes, Spotify, and more, or use our RSS feed on whatever podcast service you use: https://oneofus.net/feed/theatrical-movie-review-podcast/ and please leave us a review!

Please think about becoming a paid subscriber to Oneofus.net, support our huge network of shows, and get access to tons of bonus shows and videos in our forums! We cannot keep this site going without support from our listeners. For added information about being a subscriber, the benefits, and the forums, please go here.


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Highly Suspect Reviews: Digger

Digger movie review

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DIGGER MOVIE REVIEW

Director/Co-writer of Digger Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Birdman) has made a film that is structured in such a way that it is completely impossible to discuss without giving away the game it plays with the audience. Thus, this Highly Suspect Review of the film spends only a little time upfront in non-spoiler territory before diving into a review that fully reveals all the moving parts. We give full warning before we get there. The story follows Digger Rockwell (Tom Cruise) an elderly and unimaginably wealthy and powerful oil baron. Everyone trembles before him and his Texas-style loud-mouthed swagger, except possibly his half-sister Emma (Sandra Hüller). When he is informed that his gigantic drilling project in Greenland has gone awry in the worst possible projected sense and the effects are going to put humanity into an environmental disaster immediately of proportions wildly beyond any capacity to cover-up or ignore, he swings into action. But that is only the tip of the gigantic apocalyptic iceberg of the story Iñárritu is telling, and he’s not always telling you everything. Deliberately heightened performances give this the feel of a comedy but despite John Goodman, Riz Ahmed, Michael Stuhlbarg and more being all-in, some of us were too horrified by the scenario playing out to be able to laugh. Chris, Wright, Eric, Marco, and Spidermike team up to try to get a handle on the all but unhandleable and deeply divisive Digger and decide whether it’s great or terrible, and whether they love or hate it. Honestly, we’re still not entirely sure.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Alejandro G. Iñárritu

STARRING: Tom Cruise, Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons, Robert John Burke, Emma D’Arcy, Burn Gorman, Sophie Wilde, Pip Torrens, Mercedes Hernández, Danny Kirrane, Corey Johnson

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss, Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Deliberations of Doom)

Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas in 1992 where ever since he’s dabbled in everything from plumber’s assistant to sandwich maker, from band to bar and theater management. An opportunity to see theatrical release films for free by becoming a critic on a local public access show called “The Reel Deal” turned into a full-time job when Chris and his friends decided to take it to the internet. They built the site Spill.com, adding multiple podcasts and animated features, to no small amount of success. During this time, a fortuitous friendship sprung up between Chris and young Brian Salisbury, who was also a local film critic, and they merged their forces of will, and their laundry list of ideas for shows, to eventually build this community of critics. While Brian eventually followed his heart to a new family, Chris continues on with a cast of colorful folks from all over the country (and a few others).

 

Wright Sulek (The Other Boss, Trash in the Can, Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, One Man’s Trash, Screener Squad)

Wright hails from the northern suburbs of Dallas, Texas. His passion for filmmaking brought him to Austin to study and make movies. Since then he’s had his hand in acting, writing, and directing his own short films with numerous like-minded film geeks he’s met along his journey. His newest interest has brought him into the podcasting world. He co-hosted a few different movie related podcasts such as ‘And Now This’ and ‘The Match Cut’. He currently co-hosts with longtime friend, Eric Samaniego, where they talk shop about the grimiest, trashiest, lost gems of movies on their show, ‘Trash in the Can’. Wright also guests and hosts reviews on Screener Squad and Highly Suspect Reviews as well as co-hosts Digital Noise with Chris Cox. As of 2024, Wright has now been inducted into the Austin Film Critics Association as well as co-owns the One of Us network with Chris Cox.

 

Marco Noyola (Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Audio Editor)

By day, Marco is a mild-mannered office worker, but by night he is a mild-mannered movie watcher. He does other mild-mannered stuff too.
“I’m not a film critic. I just play one on the Internet.”

 

Michael Riojas (Screener Squad, Highly Suspect Reviews)

The man with the ever-changing nicknames. Born in Austin, Riojas was rocketed to Del Rio, Texas, a literal Smallville. In his youth, he was bitten by a radioactive… okay, look. Mike is not very good at this whole “talking about himself” thing. But he has been so obsessed with comics, video games, and anime since childhood- that if one has to choose between listening to Joe Quesada or Mike over any obscure Spider-Man trivia, they go to him (or, at least Martin Thomas once said so). He is also a big fan of “Ghostbusters” (he even owns his own jumpsuit and two, that’s right, TWO proton packs!), collects toys and video games, and will defend “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace” if provoked. He lives in Austin with his beloved Dachshund-Maltese and trusted sidekick, Dean. He can also be heard on RageSelect. He can be found on Twitter and Instagram.

 

Eric Samaniego (Trash in the Can, Heart/Felt, Make a Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews)

Eric Samaniego is a multi-award show watching, sometimes comedian, sometimes writer who began life as a Muppet and 1930s screwball comedy obsessed goon and still carries a torch for all things felt, funny, and a little bit unhinged. With a passion for genre films, poor taste, and whiskey, he co-hosts Trash in the Can, a podcast that digs through cinema’s dustbin in search of the best worst movies alongside longtime co-conspirator Wright Sulek. Eric and Wright also bring their love of cinematic oddities to the big screen with One Man’s Trash, a monthly live screening series at Violet Crown Cinema in Austin, Texas, spotlighting cult classics, forgotten flops, and anything proudly wearing the label “so bad it’s good.” He also hosted Heart/Felt, a limited podcast series celebrating the 70th anniversary of The Muppets and the enduring legacy of Jim Henson. He has a new limited series on One of Us that explores the films and life of comedy legend Mel Brooks called Make a Noise. When not podcasting, Eric serves as an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who was the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797.

 

You can subscribe to the Highly Suspect Reviews and Screener Squad series of podcasts on iTunes, Spotify, and more, or use our RSS feed on whatever podcast service you use: https://oneofus.net/feed/theatrical-movie-review-podcast/ and please leave us a review!

Please think about becoming a paid subscriber to Oneofus.net, support our huge network of shows, and get access to tons of bonus shows and videos in our forums! We cannot keep this site going without support from our listeners. For added information about being a subscriber, the benefits, and the forums, please go here.


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Necromancer Ep 149 – Fjord-uh Boys: The Worst Person in the World (2021)

Necromancer Ep 149 - The Worst Person in the World

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NECROMANCER EP 149 – THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD

There’s no way the necromancers would leave Norway without having a cigarette or two with Renate Reinsve, the actress that makes heartbreak feel good in a fjord like this. Horror fans like Bret know Reinsve from her scramble through the Backrooms. Will rom-com obsessed Shira find her scramble from guy to guy as compelling in 2021’s The Worst Person in the World? Listen to find out and then freeze because these horror remixes are ice cold.

 

YOUR HOSTS

 

Shira More (Necromancer, Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad)

Shira grew up in Dallas, TX, and need only put her palm to the ground to sense the direction of a semi-annual sale. She knows a little about a lot of things: Mary Shelley, Survivor (yes it’s still on), Otome Isekai’s, Slavoj Zizek. Is she method acting a supporting character in a Hallmark Christmas movie or is she just extremely undiagnosed? We’ll never know. When Shira’s not campaigning for French Kiss (1995) to finally be on streaming, you’ll find her debating the charming and unsettling similarities between rom coms and horror movies with Bret Dorman on the Necromancer podcast.

 

Bret Dorman (Necromancer, Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad)

Bret Dorman was forged in the frost-bound realms of Rochester, New York, tempered in the iron winds of Chicago and the marble-shadowed courts of the Greater DC dominion, before casting his banner beneath the blazing sun of Austin, Texas. There he found not only fellowship in the revels of cinema and story, but his fiercest ally and beloved wife, Sonia Santamaria, with whom he roams the wide roads of the world in restless adventure. Though he lends his voice boldly to the chronicles of film with Necromancer Podcast, he is no mere teller of tales — for he has wrought sagas of his own in moving shadow and light, including Godzilla P.I., The World’s Best, and Violence of the Sun. In his hall dwell three cunning feline familiars — Johnny, Tony, and Ringo — and when not questing abroad, he and his companions wage noble battles of wit and strategy in games both tabletop and arcane.

 

You can subscribe to the Necromancer podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and more, or use our RSS feed https://oneofus.net/feed/necromancer/ on whatever podcast service you use: and please leave us a review!

Please think about becoming a paid subscriber to Oneofus.net, support our huge network of shows, and get access to tons of bonus shows and videos in our forums! We cannot keep this site going without support from our listeners. For added information about being a subscriber, the benefits, and the forums, please go here.


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Infestation: Fantastic Fest 2026 – Kick On

Kick On movie review

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KICK ON MOVIE REVIEW

After being kicked out of a club for fighting, a group of young party folks make a decision to go up the drug food chain and head to the 9th floor apartment of the son of a Russian gangster to acquire more ‘party favors’. Eden is in a relationship with Drew who is the most hesitant of the foursome about this admittedly ill-advised course of action and Eden can’t stop thinking about her end-stage ill sister who requires treatments that their family cannot afford. Zack, who got them kicked out of the club for attacking a handsy club-goer trying to get with his younger sister, is the one who has enough connections to get them welcomed in this drug den, and assures the others that even though this Russian is the son of a Keyser Soze level gangster, he’s not like his dad. And, ya know, although Ray IS a little crazy and high AF, he’s not like his dad. After a bit of tension the group is welcomed and Ray insists they stick around and party. For awhile, and for a montage, everything is surprisingly pretty great for the group, as Ray really does know how to have a good time. But then, well, shit goes down. Not wanting to get into any specifics and spoil things for ya, things devolve into a stand-off between Ray with his cronies and the group who have blocked themselves up in a back bedroom in the apartment. No one really wanted the evening to go this way, including Ray, but once the violence starts, it just escalates past the point of no return. Chris and Wright take their hats off (please ignore the bald spots) to this incredibly tense and gory action film that they call one of the best of this year’s Fantastic Fest. While it certainly recalls the 2015 movie Green Room, Kick On is its own animal and deserves a wide audience.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Nick Kozakis

STARRING: Markella Kavenagh, Nikolai Nikolaeff, Jacek Koman, Ras-Samuel, Nikita Chronis, Thom Green, Eddie Baroo, Julian Weeks, Kaitlyn Boyé, Tyrone Ngatai, Carlia Capozza, Lana Golja, Alexander Lloyd, Lily Major, David Margetts, Eliza Matengu, Finola Xie

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss, Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Deliberations of Doom)

Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas in 1992 where ever since he’s dabbled in everything from plumber’s assistant to sandwich maker, from band to bar and theater management. An opportunity to see theatrical release films for free by becoming a critic on a local public access show called “The Reel Deal” turned into a full-time job when Chris and his friends decided to take it to the internet. They built the site Spill.com, adding multiple podcasts and animated features, to no small amount of success. During this time, a fortuitous friendship sprung up between Chris and young Brian Salisbury, who was also a local film critic, and they merged their forces of will, and their laundry list of ideas for shows, to eventually build this community of critics. While Brian eventually followed his heart to a new family, Chris continues on with a cast of colorful folks from all over the country (and a few others).

 

Wright Sulek (The Other Boss, Trash in the Can, Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, One Man’s Trash, Screener Squad)

Wright hails from the northern suburbs of Dallas, Texas. His passion for filmmaking brought him to Austin to study and make movies. Since then he’s had his hand in acting, writing, and directing his own short films with numerous like-minded film geeks he’s met along his journey. His newest interest has brought him into the podcasting world. He co-hosted a few different movie related podcasts such as ‘And Now This’ and ‘The Match Cut’. He currently co-hosts with longtime friend, Eric Samaniego, where they talk shop about the grimiest, trashiest, lost gems of movies on their show, ‘Trash in the Can’. Wright also guests and hosts reviews on Screener Squad and Highly Suspect Reviews as well as co-hosts Digital Noise with Chris Cox. As of 2024, Wright has now been inducted into the Austin Film Critics Association as well as co-owns the One of Us network with Chris Cox.

 

You can subscribe to the Highly Suspect Reviews and Screener Squad series of podcasts on iTunes, Spotify, and more, or use our RSS feed on whatever podcast service you use: https://oneofus.net/feed/theatrical-movie-review-podcast/ and please leave us a review!

Please think about becoming a paid subscriber to Oneofus.net, support our huge network of shows, and get access to tons of bonus shows and videos in our forums! We cannot keep this site going without support from our listeners. For added information about being a subscriber, the benefits, and the forums, please go here.


Subscription Levels



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