{"podcast":{"title":"Critical Darlings","slug":"critical-darlings-7771666","podcast_index_feed_id":7771666,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/THI7214278819","website_url":null,"image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/b70a2598-2185-11f1-9391-2f87e0e925cc/image/4c25862893adddea3f0c270dc90ba01c.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Blank Check Productions","episode_count":39,"summary":"Welcome to Critical Darlings: a podcast about the movies everyone is talking about, one new release after another. Every week, critics Richard Lawson and Alison Willmore cover the latest film driving the conversation—from big summer blockbusters to festival favorites, buzzy streamers, and major awards contenders. New episodes every Thursday. We’re a Blank Check Production! To catch up on our first miniseries covering the 2026 Oscars season, check out Blank Check on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Stick around on this feed for new episodes going forward. Produced by Benjamin Frisch Subscribe to Richard's newsletter, ⁠⁠Premiere Party,⁠⁠ and read Alison's work ⁠⁠at Vulture. Follow @blankcheckpod on ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠!","last_synced_at":"2026-09-17T16:18:27.969877+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/critical-darlings-7771666"},"episode":{"title":"“Moana” Is Between The Rock And A Hard Place (With Ben Hosley)","slug":"moana-is-between-the-rock-and-a-hard-place-with-ben-hosley","published_at":"2026-07-16T08:01:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/critical-darlings-7771666/moana-is-between-the-rock-and-a-hard-place-with-ben-hosley","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/critical-darlings-7771666","url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/THI2408419000.mp3","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/THI2408419000.mp3","summary":"You’re welcome…again! This week we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel of Disney’s “live-action” remakes, with Moana.  As noted on last week’s episode, Producer Ben Frisch is out on a Minions-related leave of absence, so we’re joined by Producer Ben Hosley, to talk about this especially contrived-feeling cultural product. It used to be that Disney remakes were sure to break a billy at the box office, but that’s no longer the case, with only the recent Lilo and Stitch remake having any legs. Moana’s disappointing landing makes us wonder if the steam is truly run out of the remake machine.  While the movie itself is a little flimsy, it affords us the opportunity to go deep on its most controversial performance and star, Dwayne “Mr. Rock” Johnson, as Maui. Like the remakes themselves, Johnson used to be an undeniable box office draw, but in recent years his films have also begun to disappoint. We do a career retrospective to try and puzzle out what, if anything, has gone wrong. Next week, we’re joining the boys on the boat, with The Odyssey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices","meta_description":"You’re welcome…again! This week we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel of Disney’s “live-action” remakes, with Moana.  As noted on last week’s episode,…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":4779,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/critical-darlings-7771666/episodes/moana-is-between-the-rock-and-a-hard-place-with-ben-hosley/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/critical-darlings-7771666/moana-is-between-the-rock-and-a-hard-place-with-ben-hosley.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}