2016 Movie ReviewsBOFCAMovies

Spoilerpiece Theatre Episode 84: The Witch

“Spoilerpiece Theatre” is a weekly movie podcast where I talk about new releases with fellow BOFCA critics Dave Riedel and Kris Jenson. We don’t give a shit about spoilers. We just want to talk about the movies.

In Episode 84 below we review The Witch and Babes in Toyland. The episode starts out with a conversation about Prince, where Kris gets real life events spoilerpieced. Then after a very brief review of Babes in Toyland, a Janet Jackson tangent, and singing, we address some listener questions that arrived via voicemail and email. Along the way, we stumble into tangents about Forrest Gump, Vin Diesel, and The Brattle Theatre’s owl before we move on to the main event: our review of The Witch. All three of us love its ratcheting sense of dread and how it becomes terrifying, bordering on horrifying in its final act. Plus early, Dave admits that there’s a moment in it that makes him feel very uncomfortable as a new dad. Following some differentiation between rabbits and hares, and talk of famous last words in the movie, we all laud The Witch for its good direction, great recreation of its time period, and excellent detail. In fact, we spend so much time talking about it, that we don’t get a chance to explore Tim Burton’s Batman, which was also on the agenda. Alas, we’ll just have to review it in Episode 85, so be sure to watch it in advance as prep.

Evan Crean

Hello! My name is Evan Crean. By day I work for a marketing agency, but by night, I’m a film critic based in Boston, MA. Since 2009, I have written hundreds of movie reviews and celebrity interviews for Starpulse.com. I have also contributed pieces to NewEnglandFilm.com and to The Independent, as a writer and editor. I maintain an active Letterboxd account too. In addition to publishing short form work, I am a co-author of the book Your ’80s Movie Guide to Better Living, which is available on CreateSpace and Amazon. The book is the first in a series of lighthearted self-help books for film fans, which distills advice from ’80s movies on how to tackle many of life’s challenges. On top of writing, I co-host and edit the weekly film podcast Spoilerpiece Theatre with two other Boston film critics. I’m a founding member and the current treasurer for the Boston Online Film Critics Association as well. This site, Reel Recon.com, is a one-stop-shop where you can find links to all of my past and present work. Have any questions or comments after checking it out? Please feel free to email me (Evan Crean) at: ecrean AT reelrecon DOT COM .