This week, Glenn and Daniel check out a pair of thrillers, starting with Blacklight, a Liam Neeson thriller currently only in theaters, which provoked rare agreement that it is one of the worst movies we’ve ever reviewed on the podcast. Then we found a breath of fresh air with Steven Soderbergh‘s Seattle-set (and Seattle-shot) thriller, Kimi, a thoroughly modern take on a Hitchcockian thriller set in the modern, tech-infused, poverty-laden corporate surveillance state in which we live, new on HBO Max.

Finally, speaking of Hitchcock, we concluded with the Strangers on a Train of romantic comedies, in which a thoroughly charming Jenny Slate and Charlie Day play a pair of new acquaintances who each conspire to undo the other’s recent breakup, with the messy and enjoyable I Want You Back, new on Prime Video (51:42).

May contain NSFW language.

FilmWonk rating (Kimi): 8 out of 10
FilmWonk rating (Blacklight): 2 out of 10
FilmWonk rating (I Want You Back): 7.5 out of 10

Show notes:

• [02:41] Review: Kimi/Blacklight
• [33:18] Review: I Want You Back
• Glenn just wrote a 10YA re-evaluation of Liam Neeson in The Grey, a film that improved with age, which made Blacklight even harder to stomach.
• Kimi prompted us to look up what happened to the Arkansas first-degree murder case that hinged on evience obtained from an Amazon Echo device – the case was eventually dropped due to what prosecutors declared was insufficient evidence to support a murder charge.
• Derek DelGaudio has a small and important role in Kimi, which gave us a chance to plug his excellent 2021 Hulu special, “Derek DelGaudio’s In & Of Itself“.

Listen above, or download: Kimi, Blacklight, I Want You Back (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play)