{"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":"“The Sheep Detectives” And Amazon’s Box Office Bets (With Griffin Newman)","slug":"the-sheep-detectives-and-amazon-s-box-office-bets-with-griffin-newman","published_at":"2026-05-14T08:01:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/critical-darlings-7771666/the-sheep-detectives-and-amazon-s-box-office-bets-with-griffin-newman","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/critical-darlings-7771666","url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/THI8365974617.mp3","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/THI8365974617.mp3","summary":"Wake up sheeple, it’s The Sheep Detectives! This week we’re joined by our very own executive sheepherder Griffin Newman to discuss the new cozy mystery for families. After the mysterious death of their shepherd, played by Hugh Jackman, his band of sheep team up to solve the mystery in a picturesque British countryside. Surprisingly, it’s very good! Knitting together themes of memory and grief, tied up in a wooly bow. We discuss the plot and characters, our histories with upsetting kid’s movies, the exceptional voice performance of Julia Louis-Dreyfus and more. We get into Amazon and MGM’s current play for the box office, fall down a He-Man rabbit hole, and also talk about some other cozy mysteries. Next week, we look back at the year so far, and look forward with a Summer movie preview. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices","meta_description":"Wake up sheeple, it’s The Sheep Detectives! This week we’re joined by our very own executive sheepherder Griffin Newman to discuss the new cozy mystery fo…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":5360,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/critical-darlings-7771666/episodes/the-sheep-detectives-and-amazon-s-box-office-bets-with-griffin-newman/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/the-sheep-detectives-and-amazon-s-box-office-bets-with-griffin-newman.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}