Michael Keaton in THE FOUNDER
2017 Movie ReviewsBOFCAMoviesSpoilerpiece Theatre

Spoilerpiece Theatre Episode 132: The Founder

Evan Crean

“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 132 below, we review The Founder and Split. This week Kris excitedly announces the Amazon release of Blood of the Tribades, the sexy lesbian vampire homage to Hammer horror that features him in a villainous role. Before the guys dive into the week’s movies, Kris issues a correction to his description of The Bye Bye Man at the request of a listener. With corrections and plugs out of the way, Dave steps up to spoilerpiece The Founder (at 8:41), a chronicle of how Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton) transformed McDonalds from a small fast food chain owned by hardworking brothers (John Carroll Lynch and Nick Offerman) into a multi-billion-dollar company. Dave shares its unique take on Kroc as a character, revealing how Kroc starts out sympathetic, but becomes an incredible shyster as the film progresses. Then all three of us tackle Split (at 27:16), M. Night Shyamalan’s twisty thriller about a group of teenage girls abducted by man with multiple personalities (James McAvoy). Wes marvel at McAvoy’s dynamite performance as well as great turns by Betty Buckley and Anya Taylor-Joy, although we find the movie’s ending lacking and a little icky. The plus side: Dr. Kris has some ideas for how it could be improved.

Listen:

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 .