Cube Critics

Cube Critics Jacob Aloi, Alex V. Cipolle and Aron Woldeslassie discuss 'Dumb Money,' 'El Conde' and 'Red, White & Royal Blue'

Cube Critics Samantha Matsumoto and Aron Woldeslassie discuss "Reality" and "Ultimatum: Queer Love"

Cube Critics Aron Woldeslassie and Samantha Matsumoto check out "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" and season three of Netflix's "I Think You Should Leave."

Cube Critics Aron Woldeslassie and Samantha Matsumoto check out "White Men Can't Jump" and "Polite Society."

Cube Critics Aron Woldeslassie and Euan Kerr talk "Fast X" and "Barry."

Cube Critics Aron Woldeslassie and Euan Kerr discuss "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" and "Mrs Davis."

Cube Critics Samantha Matsumoto and Aron Woldeslassie discuss "John Mulaney:Baby J" and "Are you there God? It's me. Margaret."

Cube Critics Aron Woldeslassie and Samantha Matsumoto discuss "The Diplomat" and "Yellowjackets: Season 2.”

Cube Critics Aron Woldeslassie and Samantha Matsumoto discuss "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" and "Beef."

Cube Critics Samantha Matsumoto and Aron Woldeslassie discuss "Rye Lane" and May Martin's "SAP."

Cube Critics Samantha Matsumoto and Aron Woldeslassie discuss "The Last of Us" and "Daisy Jones and The Six"

Cube Critics Samantha Matsumoto and Aron Woldeslassie predict the winners of Sunday's Oscars

Aron and Sam review “Creed III” and “Cocaine Bear.”

The Cube Critics review the reality show "The Traitors" and the mockumentary "Cunk on Earth."

Cube Critics Aron Woldeslassie and Samantha Matsumoto discuss "You People" and "Poker Face."

Movie awards season is in full swing. MPR News' Cube Critics have suggestions for the movies you need to see and the ones they think you can skip.  Plus, they share their thoughts about the politics behind awards shows, why some of the best movies get snubbed and whether awards shows still matter. Guests: Aron Woldeslassie is an associate producer for the American Public Media podcast Smash Boom Best. He's also the co-host of Cube Critics. Samantha Matsumoto is an associate producer for MPR News with Angela Davis, and a co-host of Cube Critics. Euan Kerr is an editor at MPR News. He's a former Cube Critics co-host, and now he produces and edits the show. Here is a list of the movies both our guests and our callers talked about in the show. The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity. Click the audio player above to listen to the full conversation. Films that stood out ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once' Samantha Matsumoto: This movie is probably one of the best examples of that big, overstaffed movie and how to do it right. I had never, or so rarely, seen a movie about an Asian family where people got to feel so human and messy. Much of it is in Chinese and touches on queer Asian identity. It's so specific, but also so universal. ‘The Banshees of Inisherin' Aron Woldeslassie: It's the story of two friends. And one of the friends just doesn't want to be friends anymore. The pacing has been done so incredibly, that you're both shocked and not at all surprised at everything that happens. It's very funny and it gives the viewer a sense of melancholy that I think they can enjoy. ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' Aron Woldeslassie: It was such a step outside of what we would expect from a standard Marvel film. I don't think I've ever watched an action film that was dedicated to mourning and how pain can take you to so many extreme places. ‘The Whale' Euan Kerr: It is a really claustrophobic, thought-provoking film about the meaning of life, the meaning of love, relationships. It's really engaging but it's also hard to watch. ‘Aftersun' Euan Kerr: This is an amazing puzzle of a movie, because very little is actually explained about what is going on other than you have a sense that there is something ominous on the horizon. It doesn't move very fast. There's no action in it. But it is just riveting. ‘RRR' Samantha Matsumoto: This is a three-hour-long movie. It's an epic about these two men in colonial India. They're both revolutionaries and they strike up this friendship. When I think about movie magic and what movies can do, I think that this movie is a great example of it. Movies our host and guests thought were snubbed ‘Nope' Aron Woldeslassie: I think that “Nope” was the best film of 2022. I watched it three times. It's everything that you want from a suspenseful alien film and we get some really great performances, honestly. ‘The Woman King' Euan Kerr: It's a story about gender. It's a story about what was happening when the slave trade was occurring in the 1800s and the various communities' choices. This is a thought-provoking piece with a little bit of history that perhaps a lot of people don't know about. It was kind of strange that we didn't hear more about that. Listener favorites, flops Listeners called into the show and shared films that stood out or disappointed them. Here are a few of them. ‘Catherine Called Birdy' It is loosely based on a children's novel by Karen Cushman and it's a medieval comedy about a 14-year-old girl avoiding marriage. Much of the story is about how she's coming of age, but it's also about her realizing in the end, she's going to get married, but she wants to do it on her own terms. It's a nice movie to look at visually and fun to watch. — Mina in Minneapolis ‘Avatar: The Way of Water' I wanted to love it. I felt like they added so much military action and bigotry, and they were trying so hard to appeal to the action movie audience. It had some beautiful underwater sequences, but overall, I was disappointed. — Shawn in Bemidji ‘Causeway' I loved this movie with Jennifer Lawrence. It's about a soldier returning from the Middle East with a traumatic brain injury and her adjustment to life and the friendships she develops. That movie really stuck with me so I highly recommend it.  — Katy in Edina

Cube Critics Aron Woldeslassie and Samantha Matsumoto discuss "Shrinking” and "Banshees of Inisherin"

Cube Critics Aron Woldeslassie and Samantha Matsumoto discuss "Women Talking" and "That 90s Show"

Cube Critics Samantha Matsumoto and Aron Woldeslassie meet "M3gan" and "Velma"

Cube Critics Samantha Matsumoto and Aron Woldeslassie discuss "Glass Onion" and "Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical"

Cube Critics Aron Woldeslassie and Samantha Matsumoto choose their best - and worst - movies of 2022

Cube Critics Aron Woldeslassie and Samantha Matsumoto discuss "Pinocchio" and “Babylon"

The Cube Critics return to Pandora with "Avatar: The Way of Water," the sequel to the 2009 blockbuster "Avatar." Plus, they review "Violent Night."

Cube Critics Aron Woldeslassie and Samantha Matsumoto review "Spoiler Alert" and "Love, Lizzo".

Cube Critics Aron Woldeslassie and Samantha Matsumoto discuss the second seasons of "White Lotus" and "Inside Job."

Cube Critics Aron Woldeslassie and Samantha Matsumoto discuss "Interview with a vampire" and "Goodnight Oppy"

Cube Critics Samantha Matsumoto and Aron Woldeslassie get “Weird” and then head to “Atlanta.”

Aron and Samantha review "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," the sequel to the 2018 Marvel movie "Black Panther."

The Cube Critics share their thoughts on the new movies "The Good Nurse" and "Armageddon Time.”

Cube Critics Samantha Matsumoto and Aron Woldeslassie see "Tar" and "Black Adam" - and celebrate Chris Mulkey

The Cube Critics review the mystery “Amsterdam,” out in theaters, and spooky Netflix original “Mr. Harrigan's Phone.”

Cube Critics Aron Woldeslassie and Samantha Matsumoto discuss "Bros" and "Smile."

Cube Critics Aron Woldeslassie and Samantha Matsumoto discuss "Sheng Weng: Sweet and Juicy" and "Catherine Called Birdy."

Aron and Sam review the new murder mystery “See How They Run.” And Euan Kerr returns to review “The Woman King.”

The Cube Critics review the documentary “My Old School” and the mockumentary “Honk For Jesus Save Your Soul.”

The Cube Critics reviewed Reservation Dogs on FX and Untold: Operation Flagrant Foul on Netflix, in front of an audience at the Minnesota State Fair.

Cube Critics Aron Woldeslassie and Samantha Matsumoto discuss "Tuka & Bertie" and "League of their Own"

Cube Critics Samantha Matsumoto and Aron Woldeslassie discuss "Bodies, Bodies, Bodies" and "Prey"

Cube Critics Aron Woldeslassie and Samantha Matsumoto discuss "Easter Sunday" and "Uncoupled"

Cube Critics Aron Woldeslassie and Samantha Matsumoto discuss "Easter Sunday" and "Uncoupled"

Cube Critics Aron Woldeslassie and Samantha Matsumoto discuss "The Gray Man, " "Not OK" and "Vengeance"

Cube Critics Aron Woldeslassie and Euan Kerr say 'yes' to "Nope" and sing the praises of "Hallelujah"