WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BETTE & JOAN – EP.11 – WICKED STEPMOTHER & THE WHALES OF AUGUST
“Memories last forever.”
As our journey with these two legendary leading ladies comes to a close, we look at Bette Davis’ final movie performances, the infamous dark comedy Wicked Stepmother, which was haphazardly completed despite her walking out on the production. We also look at her final dramatic turn opposite fellow Hollywood vets Lilian Gish, Vincent Price, and Ann Sothern in the little-seen drama The Whales of August. John William Law, author of Wicked Becomes Her: Bette Davis and the Story Behind Wicked Stepmother and What Ever Happened to Mommie Dearest?, returns to talk about the two final entries in a remarkable career.
IG: @betteandjoanpod
YOUR HOST
Frank Calvillo (Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, What Ever Happened to Bette & Joan?)
Born and raised in South Texas, Frank currently lives in Austin and has been in love with movies ever since his father showed him some Three Stooges shorts when he was five years old. Today he loves all kinds of film, regardless of era, country, budget or genre. He believes every film has an audience and is at least one person’s favorite movie. After writing for Sight & Sound and Slackerwood, he now writes for Cinapse where his increasingly random taste in all flavors of cinema (from Rashomon to Mars Attacks!) continues to thrive. His ultimate goal is to write a script for his boyhood crush, Michelle Pfeiffer.
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.
There is missionary work all over the world, bringing the word of God to all sorts of places, even places you would not expect like a remote Ecuadorian volcano! Director Antonio Negret and writer Daniel Negret present another horror summer film feature in limited release, Shaman. Candice (Sara Canning) is all about those conversions and praising the Lord and his good works to all the indigenous people of this lost corner of the Ecuadorian world. The natives taken in by the faith are grateful for her beacon of light and joy. Candice’s personal source of happiness is her son Eliot (Jett Klyne) who’s about to be confirmed. Unfortunately, Eliot meets an unfortunate mishap after venturing into a cave the native children had warned him about. One pure hearted soul for Christ enters, and an ancient evil of darkness comes out. Father Meyer (Alejandro Fajardo) does all he can for Eliot but perhaps true salvation lies in the wisdom of the local Shaman (Humberto Morales). Candice must set aside pride in order to reach out to a practice and belief unlike her own to save her child from mysterious forces. Bradly, Kate, and Jordan hold communion and testify of their own faiths in higher powers, and discuss that cinematic dragon all demon possessed storytelling has been chasing since The Exorcist.
STARRING: Sara Canning, Daniel Gillies, Jett Klyne, Alejandro Fajardo, Humberto Morales, Mercy Lema, Segundo Fuérez, Matilde Lagos, Dylan Tacuri, Kuri Fuerez, Chiri Lema, Rosita Bonilla
YOUR REVIEWERS
Bradly Martin (Screener Squad, Eye on the Prize, Breakfast Pub)
Bradly Martin was born in the united states and grew up on a healthy diet of sports, films, and books. A rather shy lad who kept to himself, Bradly soon discovered the best way to know a person was to know what people liked. Throughout the years Bradly became a fan of many things and a fanatic of none. From Doctor Dre, to Doctor Strange and the who’s who of Whos. From Playstation to the Dreamcast and Marvel to DC. From LeBron James to James Bond and Lord of the Rings to Lord Palmerston (or Pitt the Elder if you agree with Wade Boggs) and is a huge fan of dad jokes and randomly obscure Simpsons references. Armed with a vast knowledge of comics, films, and pop culture. Bradly traveled the world making friends and sharing takes. As a young man Bradly married the love of his life young and grew older every year with each new child brought into the brood. If trends continue, Scientists predict that .2% of Canada (where Bradly and family reside) will be populated by Bradly’s children by the year 2029. You can hear him leading and listening to his favorite critics on the Screener Squad and Eye on the prize and maybe even provide some comments of his own.
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.
Jordan Cobb (Screener Squad)
Born with a comic book in one hand, a camera in the other, and in front of the television as WrestleMania played out, Jordan Worth Cobb was thus birthed into this crazy world. A Digital Filmmaking major from the University of Central Arkansas, Jordan has done it all in film from directing, writing, editing, and producing in addition to skills involved in film and TV criticism, journalism, and years of podcasting experience. On any given day, her ADHD riddled brain bounces focus from film to pro wrestling to TV to superheroes to noir to video games to espionage and yes, even to sports. She played little league you know. For more of this eccentric nerd, you can follow her on Twitter here and read her original writings on Deepest Corners of My Notebook.
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.
Lou Diamond Phillips is Brent – a miserable director forced to endure weeks of his own awful community theater production of Julius Caesar. Worse still, he suspects his wife is having an affair with his dim-witted leading man. But when the theater’s janitor reveals a dark secret, Brent may finally have a way out… if he’s willing to get some blood on his hands. Friends, Romans, Countrymen – lend us your ears! Have Lewayne, Mike, and T.C. come to bury Et Tu or praise it? Will it be remembered as a grievous fault or rise to cult greatness? The noble Screener Squad shall decide, and you may hear the full verdict now!
T.C. De Witt is a multi-awarded writer/director originally from Wisconsin and now based in Los Angeles. His life has been devoted to the arts since he was a child. He’s been a stage performer, playwright, stand-up comic, film and television actor, radio DJ, podcaster published author, recorded musician, and comic writer/illustrator. He is now a professional screenwriter and has been thriving for the past decade, regularly offering his talents to production studios in LA, Chicago, Milwaukee, and internationally in Sydney and Poland. He’s provided content for Amazon Prime, Netflix, and several YouTube partners. His films have screened internationally, and his stageplays have been performed across the country. In the last ten years, he has directed 57 films, 23 episodes of his series The One Minute Rewatch, 300+ episodes of podcasts, and his multi-award-winning short film Screen: Righter screened at the Festival de Cannes in 2016. He has released two feature films, The Princess Knight and A Christmas Sunset. He thrives on collaboration and the thrill of sharing stories in all forms.
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.
Lewayne White (Screener Squad)
Lewayne’s earliest memories are of watching movies and reading comics, which instilled in him a sense of wonder, a vivid imagination, and unrealistic expectations. It also means he spends a lot of time watching movies, writing scripts for them, and trying to get them made. He lives in the middle of middle America after landing there as a child, and has remained there mainly because he hates packing.
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.
If you want a seriously freaky friday this weekend, you should probably go see Weapons. But, if you’re looking for a retread of the 2003 film with Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan only now with more folks switching bodies, well, there’s Freakier Friday. Anna (Lohan) is now a music producer and manager having given up being a rock star herself (after apparently some degree of success at it) for her daughter Harper (Julia Butters). Harper is a high schooler now and would rather be surfing than studying but the real pain in her ass is a British transplant Lily (Sophia Hammons) and the two do NOT get along. When they both get in trouble, Anna is called in for a meeting with the principal along with Lily’s single dad Eric (Manny Jacinto). Sparks fly between the two and after a very Disney channel from the 2000’s style time-passing montage, they’re getting married in a few days. Which, of course, makes Lily and Harper rage queens. So enter that ol’ magic and before you can say ‘lazy cash-in’, Harper and Anna have switched bodies and Lily has switched with Harper’s grandmother, Tess (Curtis). Anyway, you get it. This film clearly was not made for Chris, Wright, and Frank but you can’t give the ‘but it’s for kids’ excuse because two of them really liked the 2003 film. But seriously, go see Weapons instead. Otherwise we might have to suffer through Freakiest Friday and please…I beg of you…don’t let that happen.
STARRING: Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Julia Butters, Sophia Hammons, Manny Jacinto, Mark Harmon, Chad Michael Murray, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Rosalind Chao, Vaness Bayer, Christina Vidal Mitchell, Haley Hudson, Ryan Malgarini, Lucille Soong, Stephen Tobolowsky, Jordan E. Cooper, Elaine Hendrix, Chloe Fineman
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, 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.
Frank Calvillo (Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, What Ever Happened to Bette & Joan?)
Born and raised in South Texas, Frank currently lives in Austin and has been in love with movies ever since his father showed him some Three Stooges shorts when he was five years old. Today he loves all kinds of film, regardless of era, country, budget or genre. He believes every film has an audience and is at least one person’s favorite movie. After writing for Sight & Sound and Slackerwood, he now writes for Cinapse where his increasingly random taste in all flavors of cinema (from Rashomon to Mars Attacks!) continues to thrive. His ultimate goal is to write a script for his boyhood crush, Michelle Pfeiffer.
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.
Weapons has one of the most intriguing premises in recent memory. At 2:17am in Maybrook, seventeen children in the same class leave their homes and vanish in the middle of the night. Not only does Zach Cregger’s newest film sets up the audience for a mysterious and haunting story, but then reveals itself to be a sprawling character study of the people affected by the missing children. Justine Gandy (Julia Garner) is the teacher of the students who have disappeared. She’s now the town’s scapegoat and starts to go into a downward spiral with processing what has happened to the students she truly cared for. Archer Gradd (Josh Brolin) is the father of one of the missing kids and is the most vocal of the community, stopping at nothing to figure out what has happened. We also follow Paul (Alden Ehrenreich) is a cop and James (Austin Abrams) is a homeless drug addict and burglar who both get caught up in the mystery. What Cregger does so well in this film is how he intertwines each character’s story into one another and gives each of them enough weight to understand their importance to the resolution of the story. To talk about specific plot points does the film experience injustice since it’s such a satisfying watch to see the terrifying mystery unfold. Wright, Drew, Alan, and Marco discuss the sophomore effort from Zach Cregger and how it may be one of the best films of the year.
STARRING: Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Cary Christopher, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Benedict Wong, Amy Madigan, Toby Huss, June Diane Raphael, Whitmer Thomas, Callie Schuttera, Clayton Farris, Luke Speakman, Scarlett Sher
YOUR REVIEWERS
Wright Sulek (The Other Boss, Trash in the Can, Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, 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.
Alan Galinsky (Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Deliberations of Doom)
Born and raised in Texas, Alan Galinsky is a lifetime movie fan. As a youth, he would rent multiple movies every weekend and go to the theater for the latest releases, and that pace has remained steady. When Alan isn’t watching movies, you can find him talking about movies. When he’s not talking about movies, you can find him playing music in the band Delicate Boys.
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.”
Drew Tinnin (Screener Squad, Highly Suspect Reviews, Deliberations of Doom)
Drew Tinnin is a Rondo Award nominated interviewer and critic who has worked at SiriusXM’s Fangoria Radio and Fangoria magazine in NYC, as well as the London-based Dazed Digital. Currently a regular contributor to the Dread Central Network, he’s excited to join up with some old friends and other film fans on One of Us as a new contributor to Screener Squad.
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.
When it comes to successful harvesting, all you need is a strong work ethic, a team of farmers dedicated to the crop, and a handful of teachers with patience to cultivate the next generation of harvesters. This is community, this is life. Every once in a while though that community turns into a Wicker Man situation. Ritual replaces hard work and the rain is replaced by horrific acts of violence. Writer-director Stuart Ortiz presents Strange Harvest. The community of farmers in our allegory today will be played by a single serial killer referred to as Mr. Shiny (Jessee J. Clarkson) and the crop? The innocent souls of Southern California. Det. Joe Kirby (Peter Zizzo) and Det. Alexis ‘Lexi’ Taylor (Terri Apple) are our talking head narrators in this docu-style series pulling us through the maze of murders perpetrated by the illusive killer, his manifesto of madness, and the strange triangular symbol found at every crime scene. Heebie-Jeebies check? More checked than the king in the hands of an amateur in a game of chess against a master. To further the mixed metaphors, Mr. Shiny is always three steps ahead. Bradly, Kate, and Lewayne are back on that summer horror binge conjuring up a review for the ages, leaving a breadcrumb trail of clues leading up to their final thoughts that will tear the mystery wide open. Listen if you dare.
STARRING: Peter Zizzo, Terri Apple, Andy Lauer, Matthew Peschio, Allen Marsh, Roy Abramsohn, Christina Hélène Braa, Janna Cardia, Brandon Christensen, Jessee J. Clarkson, Lisa Cole, Nicole Dionne, Dawsyn Eubanks, Matthew M Garcia, Jenee Gill, Garon Grigsby, Brendan James Hanarhan, Heath Harper, David Hemphill, Alistair David Hertz, Oscar Jordan, Michael Karan, Rigo Obezo, Marisa Petroro, Angel Prater, Bernadette Perez, Joel Searls, Tim Shelburne, Samantha Stephens, Ross Turner, Coleen Tutton, Travis T. Wolfe Sr.
YOUR REVIEWERS
Bradly Martin (Screener Squad, Eye on the Prize, Breakfast Pub)
Bradly Martin was born in the united states and grew up on a healthy diet of sports, films, and books. A rather shy lad who kept to himself, Bradly soon discovered the best way to know a person was to know what people liked. Throughout the years Bradly became a fan of many things and a fanatic of none. From Doctor Dre, to Doctor Strange and the who’s who of Whos. From Playstation to the Dreamcast and Marvel to DC. From LeBron James to James Bond and Lord of the Rings to Lord Palmerston (or Pitt the Elder if you agree with Wade Boggs) and is a huge fan of dad jokes and randomly obscure Simpsons references. Armed with a vast knowledge of comics, films, and pop culture. Bradly traveled the world making friends and sharing takes. As a young man Bradly married the love of his life young and grew older every year with each new child brought into the brood. If trends continue, Scientists predict that .2% of Canada (where Bradly and family reside) will be populated by Bradly’s children by the year 2029. You can hear him leading and listening to his favorite critics on the Screener Squad and Eye on the prize and maybe even provide some comments of his own.
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.
Lewayne White (Screener Squad)
Lewayne’s earliest memories are of watching movies and reading comics, which instilled in him a sense of wonder, a vivid imagination, and unrealistic expectations. It also means he spends a lot of time watching movies, writing scripts for them, and trying to get them made. He lives in the middle of middle America after landing there as a child, and has remained there mainly because he hates packing.
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.
It’s a dark and stormy night and you’ll never make it to your final destination on these roads. Better check into a motel for the night. It would be quite unfortunate if that was your final destination after all! What you never know about these seedy looking places just off the freeway and outside of towns is, what was the property like before? Perhaps a nice scenic view of nature’s wonders, or maybe it was the site of a satanic worship! Your number one streaming service for all things horror, Shudder, presents an eight episode series about checking into a motel with a gruesome history, Hell Motel. A group of experts on various aspects of serial killers and true crime are gathered at the motel where decades before a series of brutal murders took place where the culprits were never caught. Paige Harper (Paula Brancati) is the former slasher film diva. Andy Lecavalier (Jim Watson) is a professor with a thesis on murder that his colleagues mock. Adrianna (Genevieve DeGraves) is a beautiful young woman with a true crime podcast and a penchant for sleeping with famous killers. Kawayan (Emmanuel Kabongo) is a famous artist whose works are all inspired by serial killings. Blake (Atticus Mitchell) is a survivor of a massacre, and plenty of extras to pile on the body count. Crow (Shaun Benson) is a spiritualist who specializes in contacting murder victims. Ruby (Brynn Godenir) and Portia (Michelle Nolden) are the current owners of the motel who have invited all their guests as a promotion for the newly opened infamous spot. And then there’s Shirley (Yanna Mcintosh) and Floyd Dantree (Gray Powell) who are an couple seeking adventure who are unfortunate enough for their RV to break down outside the motel during a huge storm, but they may have secrets of their own. Bradly, Kate, and Lewayne come clean on a hot mic with their history of true crime, adoration of Shudder, and how they feel about the slasher told in an episodic format.
STARRING: Paula Brancati, Jim Watson, Shaun Benson, Genevieve DeGraves, Atticus Mitchell, Emmanuel Kabongo, Brynn Godenir, Michelle Nolden, Gray Powell, Yanna McIntosh, Eric McCormack, Mike Taylor, Mercedes Morris, Daniel Kash, Christopher Jacot, Lauren Lee Smith
YOUR REVIEWERS
Bradly Martin (Screener Squad, Eye on the Prize, Breakfast Pub)
Bradly Martin was born in the united states and grew up on a healthy diet of sports, films, and books. A rather shy lad who kept to himself, Bradly soon discovered the best way to know a person was to know what people liked. Throughout the years Bradly became a fan of many things and a fanatic of none. From Doctor Dre, to Doctor Strange and the who’s who of Whos. From Playstation to the Dreamcast and Marvel to DC. From LeBron James to James Bond and Lord of the Rings to Lord Palmerston (or Pitt the Elder if you agree with Wade Boggs) and is a huge fan of dad jokes and randomly obscure Simpsons references. Armed with a vast knowledge of comics, films, and pop culture. Bradly traveled the world making friends and sharing takes. As a young man Bradly married the love of his life young and grew older every year with each new child brought into the brood. If trends continue, Scientists predict that .2% of Canada (where Bradly and family reside) will be populated by Bradly’s children by the year 2029. You can hear him leading and listening to his favorite critics on the Screener Squad and Eye on the prize and maybe even provide some comments of his own.
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.
Lewayne White (Screener Squad)
Lewayne’s earliest memories are of watching movies and reading comics, which instilled in him a sense of wonder, a vivid imagination, and unrealistic expectations. It also means he spends a lot of time watching movies, writing scripts for them, and trying to get them made. He lives in the middle of middle America after landing there as a child, and has remained there mainly because he hates packing.
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.
Since Rick and Morty debuted in 2013 (yes, it’s really been that long), it has grown from an absurd sci-fi comedy into a layered, multiverse-spanning saga full of emotional depth, dark humor, and some surprisingly tight continuity. Rick has evolved from a detached god-complex genius to a man haunted by his past, and Morty has gone from a naïve sidekick into a self-aware, emotionally driven young hero in his own right. With the collapse of the Central Finite Curve, Rick Prime, and Evil Morty’s major shakeups behind us, Season 8 begins in the aftermath — Rick’s long-standing quest for vengeance is now a fresh scar, not a lingering mystery. The Smith family is more autonomous than ever, and new threats emerge from the interdimensional wreckage. T.C. and Mike are slipping through the folds of space, time, and Beth’s walk-in closet to bring their take on Season 8.
STARRING: Ian Cardoni, Harry Belden, Chris Parnell, Spencer Grammer, Sarah Chalke, Stephen Root, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Danny DeVito, Kate Micucci, Coraline Butterworth, Tom Kenny, James Gunn, Zack Snyder, Charlie Day, Eliza Coupe, Maurice LaMarche, John Rhys-Davies, Georgia King, Tom Davis, Jon Allen
YOUR REVIEWERS
T.C. De Witt (Screener Squad)
T.C. De Witt is a multi-awarded writer/director originally from Wisconsin and now based in Los Angeles. His life has been devoted to the arts since he was a child. He’s been a stage performer, playwright, stand-up comic, film and television actor, radio DJ, podcaster published author, recorded musician, and comic writer/illustrator. He is now a professional screenwriter and has been thriving for the past decade, regularly offering his talents to production studios in LA, Chicago, Milwaukee, and internationally in Sydney and Poland. He’s provided content for Amazon Prime, Netflix, and several YouTube partners. His films have screened internationally, and his stageplays have been performed across the country. In the last ten years, he has directed 57 films, 23 episodes of his series The One Minute Rewatch, 300+ episodes of podcasts, and his multi-award-winning short film Screen: Righter screened at the Festival de Cannes in 2016. He has released two feature films, The Princess Knight and A Christmas Sunset. He thrives on collaboration and the thrill of sharing stories in all forms.
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.
DIGITAL NOISE EPISODE 359 – THIS PODCAST, EVERYONE LISTENING TO IT, THEIR EXPERIMENT
Chris and Wright have some heavy lifting to do here if humanity is to survive our nightmarish future. That means turning you on to the right home release movies (it’s key, don’t question it, your ancestors will thank us). That means diving into TWO of Wright’s favorite movies of all time, one of his least favorite, at least two awesome hidden gems, finally their take on one of the most popular movies of 2025, and so much more.
All titles were sent to Digital Noise by the distribution companies in question for the purpose of review. No other compensation was involved. The opinions here are our own.
PLEASE USE OUR IMAGE LINKS TO BUY ANY OF THESE TITLES ON AMAZON. IN FACT, PLEASE USE THEM AS YOUR STARTING POINT FOR ANYTHING YOU BUY OFF OF AMAZON. WE ARE AN AFFILIATE AND RECEIVE COMPENSATION FOR PURCHASES MADE FROM OUR LINKS.
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, 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 now subscribe on iTunes (or the podcast service of your choice that accepts RSS feeds) to just the Digital Noise Podcast! Either search for Digital Noise on your podcast service or use our RSS URL https://oneofus.net/feed/weekly-video-review-podcast
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.
Maciej Kur is back and he is once again covering the Annecy Animation Festival in France! Spidermike joins him to take a look at some of the wild new animated films from around the world coming out soon. Finally, a French movie from this very French festival of Annecy: the story of Amélie, a little girl who was born a vegetable and unable to develop. But when she turns the age of two and a half, miraculously she starts walking and forming full sentences. It’s easy for her to make this leap, as apparently she is God. The film tells the story from her point of view starting from her unfortunate birth circumstances. But making flowers grow, causing earthquakes and parting the sea takes the second stage to Amélie. With her Belgian parents and siblings moving to Japan, she befriends the house help and learns Japanese customs, as well some important life lessons on the way. And hey, if this story (based on the autobiographical book Amélie et la Métaphysique des Tubes) isn’t enough for you yet, holy cow! The visuals are like an art book come to life!
STARRING: Loïse Charpentier, Victoria Grobois, Yumi Fujimori, Cathy Cerda, Marc Arnaud, Laetitia Coryn, Haylee Issembourg, Isaac Schoumsky, François Raison, Emmylou Homs
YOUR REVIEWERS
Maciej Kur (Infestation)
Maciej Kur is a Polish comic and film script writer, director and reviewer, and decidedly the biggest fan and most loyal supporter of Oneofus.net. A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw with a master’s degree and the Academy of Film and Television. Co-creator of the comic book series Dollicious and Emilka Sza (with Magdalena Kania ) and Lil i Put, (with Piotr Bednarczyk ) and many others. Awarded in 2014 for a comic book in the spirit of Janusz Christa and awarded for “Złoty Puchar” in 2023. He wrote scripts for new comic books in the Polish cult series “Kayko and Kokosh”, as well as episodes of an animated series based on it (available on Netflix). He wrote for many other shows including “Kicia Kocia” (Kitty Kotty), “Pompik the Bison”, “Pucio”, “Hip-Hip and Hurra” and the upcoming animated movies “The Shrew of Destiny” and “Tytus, Romek and A’tomek”. He also directed a documentary about Polish animation legend “Witold Giersz”. Big lover of the art of animation and comic books.
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.
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.
