The Spool

The Spool 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!

The Spool is back! And fittingly, it returns with a Sarah Gorr review of Insidious: Out of the Further, an installment o...
01/09/2026

The Spool is back! And fittingly, it returns with a Sarah Gorr review of Insidious: Out of the Further, an installment of a horror franchise that seemingly can’t be killed.

In the world of high-sheen, surface-level studio horror franchises, Insidious is relatively solid. It follows the expected pattern. The first, released in 2010, now ranks as something of a modern classic. With each passing installment, the concept gives a little less mileage. Then comes 2023’s The...

Tim Stevens praises THE END OF OAK STREET's effective balance of scares and humor, calling it a late-summer treat.https:...
14/08/2026

Tim Stevens praises THE END OF OAK STREET's effective balance of scares and humor, calling it a late-summer treat.

https://buff.ly/TLkysx6

It’s strange how big a difference a shift in perspective can make. For over a decade, the Jurassic World franchise has repeatedly told its characters—and filmgoing audiences—that dinosaurs are passé. Yawn. Honk-shoo. That’s why they needed to DNA splice new, scarier thunder lizards or cente...

REACHER Season 4 forces the big man to use his brain more, but don't worry, there's still plenty of violence, declares T...
13/08/2026

REACHER Season 4 forces the big man to use his brain more, but don't worry, there's still plenty of violence, declares Tim Stevens.
https://buff.ly/jO0fGeS

One of the delights of Reacher's first two seasons was seeing this enormous man be the best. He was consistently be the smartest, strongest, and most dryly sarcastic cat in any room. The creative team messed with the formula a bit in Season 3 with the titular hero (Alan Ritchson) finally met a dude....

Tim Stevens pushes deep into ONE NIGHT ONLY, a film whose baffling premise eventually derails a pretty decent romantic c...
08/08/2026

Tim Stevens pushes deep into ONE NIGHT ONLY, a film whose baffling premise eventually derails a pretty decent romantic comedy.

https://buff.ly/eTx34aO

There’s an adage that goes, “People are rarely not weird about sex.” Don’t worry about looking it up. Just trust us on this one. One Night Only and the reactions it’s inspired have clearly demonstrated the number of specific and varied ways people can be weird about the beast with two back...

TONY may play with the facts of Anthony Bourdain's life, but that doesn't stop it from being a five-star film, argues Sa...
07/08/2026

TONY may play with the facts of Anthony Bourdain's life, but that doesn't stop it from being a five-star film, argues Sarah Gorr in her review.

Thanks to the wild success of Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie earlier this year, audiences should be a little less surprised by Matt Johnson’s slippery relationship to reality, rules, and expectations. Blackberry, a funny and riveting telling of the rise and downfall of the creators of the pr...

The Ryan Murphy/Bret Easton Ellis collab THE SHARDS is SO them, it borders on parody. Unfortunately, Tim Stevens isn't l...
06/08/2026

The Ryan Murphy/Bret Easton Ellis collab THE SHARDS is SO them, it borders on parody. Unfortunately, Tim Stevens isn't laughing. Read his review now.

https://buff.ly/9qDmAO5

Bret Easton Ellis has a distinct style. That’s always been a part of his appeal. You can hear a passage from Less Than Zero, American Psycho, or Lunar Park and recognize the same pen behind them even if you couldn’t identify the author by name. In the new series The Shards, based on his novel of...

TED LASSO's return is a rough one, observes Lasso-enthusiast Tim Stevens. There are signs of improvement over the first ...
06/08/2026

TED LASSO's return is a rough one, observes Lasso-enthusiast Tim Stevens. There are signs of improvement over the first four episodes, but the biggest recommendation he can offer is half-hearted.

https://buff.ly/qrE6K1B

I love Ted Lasso. Yes, even the overstuffed and hurried third season, which, in retrospect, left several subplots stranded or too swiftly wrapped. So, while the show did find a satisfying ending, I was still open to more seasons. Thus, I have anticipated Ted Lasso Season 4 with a mix of interest and...

SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY is a limber return for the Webslinger to the big screen that will nonetheless leave some fans ...
31/07/2026

SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY is a limber return for the Webslinger to the big screen that will nonetheless leave some fans unhappy, says Tim Stevens.

Adaptation is a tricky thing. One need only look at the current controversy around The Odyssey to see that. Homer and Emily Wilson occupy decidedly different literary spaces than Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, and the hundreds of creators who have penned and drawn Spider-Man since. Yet they all share a comm...

With two behemoths at the box office this weekend, is it worth hunting down MOTOR CITY for a little bit of counterprogra...
31/07/2026

With two behemoths at the box office this weekend, is it worth hunting down MOTOR CITY for a little bit of counterprogramming? Tim Stevens lets you know.

Creating a near-wordless film in the modern era is a challenging exercise. Sometimes it utterly implodes, as with John Woo’s 2023 Silent Night, my pick for worst film of that year. When done interestingly, however, it can reveal how much storytelling one can do entirely visually without a word spo...

BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER Season 2 is back and more brutal. Does it work though? Read what Tim Stevens has to say in his ne...
29/07/2026

BATMAN: CAPED CRUSADER Season 2 is back and more brutal. Does it work though? Read what Tim Stevens has to say in his new review. https://buff.ly/3jcTBL4

In a review written exactly two years to the day I’m writing this one, I complained that Batman: Caped Crusader did too little to differentiate itself from Batman: The Animated Series. My argument, reduced to its essence, was: with all the talent this show has, why ape an already existing take on ...

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