{"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":24,"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":"2026-06-04T18:19:24.868644+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/critical-darlings-7771666"},"episode":{"title":"Our Favorite Movies Of The Year So Far, And A Summer Blockbusters Preview","slug":"our-favorite-movies-of-the-year-so-far-and-a-summer-blockbusters-preview","published_at":"2026-05-21T08:01:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/critical-darlings-7771666/our-favorite-movies-of-the-year-so-far-and-a-summer-blockbusters-preview","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/critical-darlings-7771666","url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/THI5140656700.mp3","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/THI5140656700.mp3","summary":"Coucou les cheris! As Cannes is underway on the Riviera, we take a break from our usual movie-of-the-week format to look back at the year so far, and look forward to this summer. We count down our top 5 favorite movies of the year (that haven’t been covered on the show), including big studio movies and European arthouse fare. We’ll also take a temperature check on the summer blockbuster slate, from The Mandalorian & Grogu, Disclosure Day, Spider-Man, The Odyssey, and more. Finally, we’ll hear a transmission from Alison and Richard, live from Cannes, to discuss the festival so far. Your wish has been granted! Next week, we’re talking about Obsession, from director Curry Barker and Blumhouse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices","meta_description":"Coucou les cheris! As Cannes is underway on the Riviera, we take a break from our usual movie-of-the-week format to look back at the year so far, and look…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":5688,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/critical-darlings-7771666/episodes/our-favorite-movies-of-the-year-so-far-and-a-summer-blockbusters-preview/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/our-favorite-movies-of-the-year-so-far-and-a-summer-blockbusters-preview.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}