Unraveling pop culture one thread at a time. Reviews, interviews, news and podcasts.
A weekly podcast dedicated to discussing a different film each week, along with a custom cocktail and drinking game. Subscribe to us on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher, and visit us at www.alcohollywood.com!
15/11/2024
It isn't that Sarah Gorr thinks GLADIATOR II is perfect. It's that Denzel Washington's star power, Ridley Scott's chutzpah, and those glorious glistening thighs were more than enough to get swept up in.
I saw Gladiator II two days after election day. By then, the results had been certified, sinking the country’s liberals and leftists of the country into a pit of mourning, terror, and rage. As I vacillated between feeling like a live wire and nothing at all, watching a movie was both the only and ...
14/11/2024
Joy is a solid, if unspectacular, film about the invention of IVF that nonetheless feels ripe to meet this moment in history, argues Tim Stevens.
Try as hard as one might, there is no objective evaluation of art. First, there are all the biases—conscious and unconscious—each person brings to the work. Then there are factors like mood, health, comfort, and company. Finally, there are current events. The latter is especially relevant to Joy...
13/11/2024
CROSS consistently lets down its lead actor Aldis Hodge, reports Tim Stevens.
When it comes to storytelling, especially when adapting a character that has starred in more than 30 novels and three films, it doesn’t matter if the plot relies on tropes. It matters how one utilizes those tropes. When it comes to the Ben Watkins-created Cross, there are few actors better suited ...
12/11/2024
Tim Stevens praises THE STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT: UNLOCKING THE TRUTH documentary series for smart pacing and structure while being frustrated by its unwillingness to draw any kind of conclusion.
Doctor Philip Zimbardo is something of the Stan Lee of modern psychology. And like the famed Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief turned mascot, that vibe has met mixed reviews. The two share an undeniable charisma and enthusiasm that tends to butt up against a frequently characterized slippery grasp of hi...
11/11/2024
ST. DENIS MEDICAL is a mixed bag in the early going, but Tim Stevens sees potential if NBC gives the show a little time to work out the kinks.
Sometimes, there’s nothing wrong with a television show or film from a creativity or ex*****on standpoint. Sometimes, it just has bad timing. It’s still unclear which--or how much of each--is true of St. Denis Medical after screening the six episodes (1-5, 7) provided to critics. Certainly, the ...
08/11/2024
Despite its title, SAY NOTHING gave Tim Stevens plenty to speak on, and praise. Check out his effusive review now.
There is objective good in this world, and it is possible to know it. That does not, however, mean that everything done in pursuit of that good is itself objectively reasonable. That’s the underlying message of so much of Say Nothing, a nine-episode look at the Troubles in Ireland predominantly th...
05/11/2024
YOUR MONSTER might shamble a bit and have some undeniable warts, but Tim Stevens argues it is still worth a watch for its portrait of a dismissed woman's righteous indignation (and a sweet boogieman).
Doppelganger films are a weird but fairly well-documented phenomenon at this point. They’re two films with eerily similar plots. However, their release dates happen so closely together, tarring either as plagiarism is unfair. And yet, their plots share eerie similarities. Think your Deep Impact an...
01/11/2024
Tim Stevens is just as impressed as everyone with Kieran Culkin in A REAL PAIN, but also takes time to sing the praises of Jesse Eisenberg's triple act of acting, writing, and directing.
Many interpret the magic of the movies as referring to film’s ability to show audiences something they’ve never seen, immersing them in worlds they’ll never visit. But the flip side of it is also true. Sometimes, movies can magically ground viewers in worlds achingly familiar, surrounded by pe...
30/10/2024
Justin Harrison likes plenty about WE LIVE IN TIME but not enough to ignore all that it is missing.
Almut (Florence Pugh) and Tobias (Andrew Garfield) have the kind of meet-cute that hits with a bang, forgive the pun. A rising chef and a techie for Weetabix, respectively, they meet when she strikes him with her car. Unaware that the reason he was on the road was running to get a pen to finally sig...
30/10/2024
BEFORE revisits the tired trope of "mental illness or supernatural event" and overstays its welcome to boot, despite a solid, controlled lead performance from Billy Crystal, writes Tim Stevens.
Like a good cop, Eli (Billy Crystal) is sure at the start of Before that if he solves this one last case, he can retire happily. The difference is Eli is a psychiatrist, not a cop. And the case isn’t some unsolved murder or wild heist. It’s a little boy, Noah (Jacobi Jupe). Noah is a child in th...
22/10/2024
The one, the only Clint Worthington returns with his column looking at the Criterion Collection's Flash Sale. What are the discs you want and need? Clint knows!
It's finally fall—the leaves are changing, the temperature is lowering, and it's time for cuffing and pumpkin spice latte seasons to perk up. And, like clockwork, Criterion gifts us with their twice-annual half-off sales. This month, there's a lot to offer, from old-school spookiness for Halloween...
18/10/2024
WOMAN OF THE HOUR takes a piece of "oh that's so weird" true crime trivia and gives it a soul, says Tim Stevens.
If you’ve ever encountered those “normal looking photos with a scary backstory” posts on social media or are interested in odd true crime stories, chances are good you’re familiar with the plot of Woman of the Hour. In broad strokes, Cheryl Bradshaw (Anna Kendrick, also in the director’s c...
16/10/2024
Tim Stevens reviews SHRINKING Season 2, praises its evolution, and confesses he was likely too harsh on its first season.
Shrinking Season 2 picks up a bit down the road from where Season 1 ended in time, but it immediately reconnects with its final moments. That is when Jimmy’s (Jason Segel) client Grace (Heidi Gardner) took his guidance a bit too much to heart and violently interrupted the negative patterns in her ...
10/10/2024
While not even remotely faithful to the source material, TEACUP casts an enthralling hypnotic spell, remixing familiar tropes into a largely satisfying whole, writes Tim Stevens.
Straight away, to be clear, Teacup is a corker of small-scale science fiction paranoia. It clearly has thoughts about life in our country and the world on its mind. It utilizes the genre's potential for metaphor well throughout. Still, one feels compelled to note that series creator Ian McCulloch ha...
10/10/2024
CADDO LAKE Is an eerie sci-fi mystery that actually pays off, says Tim Stevens in his review.
Life and death in Caddo Lake are hard. Paris (Dylan O’Brien) lost his mom to a car accident that nearly took his life as well. While he never says it outright, his survivor’s guilt is written all over his face and in his body language. Paris is trying to make a go of reconnecting with those he.....
08/10/2024
DISCLAIMER indicts the audience's willingness to sign off on revenge, aided by excellent performances from Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline, reports Tim Stevens in his review.
If you’ve seen or read enough stories about vengeance, chances are good you’ve encountered the saying, “He who seeks revenge digs two graves,” or some variation. Likely misattributed to Confucius, its meaning nonetheless carries weight. The new drama Disclaimer wrestles with the adage far mo...
07/10/2024
ICYMI Tim Stevens quite enjoyed THE FRANCHISE...until he didn't. MAX's new satirical look at superhero filmmaking nails the jokes early and then repeats them over and over.
Have you ever just absolutely killed at a party? Everything you’re saying is hitting. Every joke connects, every random aside delights? Then you use some of the same gags at work a few days later, and, again, you crush? Then you trot them out at dinner with a few friends, and there are laughs, but...
04/10/2024
Called neither horror nor comedy by Tim Stevens, the nevertheless intriguing "horror-comedy" IT'S WHAT'S INSIDE has what works--its central idea, its visual scheme--undercut by thin characterization and story structure problems.
In description, It’s What’s Inside reads like a cousin to two great recent films. First, there's the “friends get together for a reunion and it goes very wrong” Bodies, Bodies, Bodies. Then, there the “through a devilishly simple device, people tap into something they rapidly lose control ...
Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Spool posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Contact The Business
Send a message to The Spool:
Videos
Teaser Trailer - The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Same teenage witch, new problems. Kiernan Shipka stars in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina drops on Netflix October 26th.
Want your business to be the top-listed Media Company?
Share
Our Story
In 2011, Alcohollywood started as a weekly film review podcast started by two theatre kids in Chicago - film critic Clint Worthington and mixologist Jared Latore. Altogether, the podcast has amassed more than a quarter million downloads, and two nominations for Best Food/Drink Podcast at the People’s Choice Podcast Awards. The podcast is a longtime member of the Chicago Podcast Coop, and has performed live shows at the Chicago Podcast Festival and PodSlam.
Seven years later, Alcohollywood has rebranded into a full-fledged film and television outlet called The Spool, with a growing staff of writers edited by Worthington, now a Tomatometer-approved member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and Senior Writer for Consequence of Sound.
We’ve interviewed filmmakers, actors and authors including Mads Mikkelsen, Penny Lane, Filmspotting’s Josh Larsen, Zoe Lister-Jones, Felix van Groeningen, Leigh Whannell, Terry Notary, Aneesh Chaganty and Sev Ohanian, and others. We’ve also covered festivals such as Sundance, Reeling LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Fantasia Fest, Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, and the Chicago International Film Festival.
While the Alcohollywood podcast has come to a close, The Spool features two new podcasts - More of a Comment, Really..., a weekly interview podcast in which Worthington talks to actors, filmmakers, and others from the wide world of film and TV; and Hall of Faces, in which Worthington and TV critic Allison Shoemaker (and guests) debate which characters belong in their patented pantheon of TV’s greatest roles.
Go to thespool.net to find news, podcasts, reviews, interviews and festival coverage.
