Thumb War

️ FULL SPOILERS

Getting swallowed by a sperm whale is bad. Having to work through your daddy issues while you’re in there? Bit much.

We review Whalefall, Brian Duffield’s survival thriller starring Austin Abrams and Josh Brolin, based on the novel by Daniel Kraus. What looks like an underwater nightmare turns out to be an emotional story about grief, father-son relationships, and the least convenient place to have a breakthrough.

Jason and Rachel break down the claustrophobic whale scenes, the giant squid encounter, the gruesome body horror, and Whalefall’s ending. Austin Abrams f...

Did Elizabeth Holmes con Nathan Fielder? Or did Nathan Fielder just make the best movie of 2026?

This week, JD and Rachel go all in on You Can See Everything, the astonishing new A24 documentary from Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim about the disgraced Theranos founder and her final days before prison.

What begins as a surprisingly intimate portrait of Elizabeth Holmes quickly spirals into a bizarre, hilarious, and deeply unsettling examination of truth, manipulation, and the people who desperately want to believe their own bullshit.

We debate whether Holmes is a world-class con...

SPOILER ALERT

Jason and Rachel break down Mike Flanagan’s Carrie, the new modern reimagining of Stephen King’s classic horror story. Somehow we do eight hours of Carrie in under an hour.

We get into how the series updates Carrie White for 2026, the role of social media and smartphones in modern bullying, why the expanded runtime makes the characters much more complicated, and how Summer’s performance stacks up against Sissy Spacek’s iconic version.

️ Available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify

Support the show on Patreon for ad-free episodes & bonus content...

How can the funniest people we know NOT love Widow’s Bay?!

We need answers.

Our Patreon-only Thumb War episode is here, and we’re laying down our thumbs to shoot the shit:

Dune 3 hype vs. Avengers: Doomsday dread The movies and TV shows we can’t wait for—and the ones we’re already complaining about ️ Our entirely reasonable Matthew Rhys obsession Nathan Fielder, Elizabeth Holmes and celebrity felon roommates A mystery in our bed that probably should’ve stayed off the podcast

Plus Billie Jean King, Rachel’s new pickleball job...

️ Full spoilers throughout.

Jason and Rachel review Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother, Bassam Tariq’s wildly original action drama starring Mahershala Ali as a devout Muslim hitman struggling to protect his family after the death of his wife.

Yes, this is an action movie involving assassins, swords, gangsters and gunfights.

It is also very seriously about breast milk.

We get into Mahershala Ali’s incredible performance, the movie’s depiction of Muslim faith and community, Ramadan, grief, fatherhood, John Cho’s frighteningly sincere religious extremist...

️ MASSIVE SPOILERS throughout.

Jason and Rachel review Digger, Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s bizarre, expensive and extremely polarizing new film starring Tom Cruise, Jesse Plemons, Riz Ahmed, John Goodman and a ridiculously stacked cast.

And this is one you REALLY don’t want spoiled before seeing.

We get into the movie’s massive twist, Tom Cruise disappearing under layers of makeup, the strange fake cat, the surreal Terry Gilliam/Wes Anderson-style production design, the climate apocalypse storyline, Jesse Plemons playing another billionaire, Riz Ahmed as the only sane person in the roo...

SPOILER ALERT

Jason and Rachel review Primetime, Lance Oppenheim’s deeply uncomfortable fictionalized take on the world of To Catch a Predator, starring Robert Pattinson and Merritt Weaver.

Rachel says she’d rather watch Saw than sit through this again — and somehow still gives the movie a thumbs up.

We get into Robert Pattinson’s Chris Hansen-inspired character, the strange morality of predator-sting television, whether public humiliation actually solves anything, the gray areas the show refuses to acknowledge, and why the movie makes almost everyone involved feel compromi...

SPOILER ALERT

Jason and Rachel are joined by Hollywood Insider/Master of Macabre DanDanThePieMan to review Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil — a video game movie about what happens when a completely normal guy with no survival skills suddenly finds himself trapped inside a survival-horror nightmare.

Jason talks about discovering the original Resident Evil on PlayStation in the ’90s and staying up until sunrise watching friends play, while the gang gets into why this movie works by capturing the feeling of playing a video game instead of simply recreating the game’s story.<...

SPOILER ALERT

Jason and Rachel review The Uprising, Paul Greengrass’ Andrew Garfield historical rebellion movie that somehow becomes a Robin Hood origin story — a twist the marketing apparently decided to spoil before anyone got there.

We get into the rough opening weekend, the confusing Robin Hood pivot, the lack of bows and arrows, Andrew Garfield as the Plowman, Jamie Bell as John Ball, the historically messy Peasants’ Revolt, Richard II going from simpering teen king to strategic despot overnight, and whether the movie’s modern political parallels are too blunt to ignore.

Subscr...

Jason and Rachel review Hope, the bonkers Korean monster movie set near the DMZ that somehow combines horror, comedy, action, alien empathy, anime energy, and a whole lot of running.

We get into why the movie is very long but rarely boring, the incredible production design, the cowardly/incompetent police chief who somehow becomes hilarious, the rookie cop stealing the show, the gross-but-funny alien dissection scene, the baby alien reveal, the creepy hunter garage, and Michael Fassbender’s digital alien.

Subscribe to Thumb War for movie reviews, TV breakdowns, horror chaos, an...

Full Patreon-only chaos is up now.

Subscribe to our Patreon account for the full episode!  http://bit.ly/44Mo8xU

Rachel is back from Nova Scotia, and she brought stories, thrift-store intel, small-town pop-in trauma, and a new insult Jason immediately regrets hearing.

This week’s Patreon episode has throat burps, lake-house dreams, naked-door-answering strategies, Wharf Rat Rally leather-daddy discourse, Frenchy’s chaos, Rachel discovering “gutter sluts,” Jason refusing to wear chaps and Crocs, Hazel learning the vacuum is the real enemy, Nathan Fielder’s secret Elizabeth Holmes doc, Dolly Parton mourning, and Metro-box d...

SPOILER ALERT

Jason and Rachel review Onslaught, a bloody throwback super-soldier B-movie that somehow includes weird kinks, terrible old-man makeup, exploding jack-o’-lanterns, bad barbecue, poison gas, practical squibs, and Dan Stevens looking like Cousin Matthew got trapped in a student film.

Jason wanted to like it. Rachel maybe kinda did. Mostly, it made us want to watch The Guest and Overlord instead.

Full spoiler review is up now.

️ Available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify

Support the show on Patreon for ad-free episodes & bonu...

Jason, Rachel, and Jesh continue their Star Wars journey with The Last Jedi, aka the movie that split the fandom in half like Snoke in a red throne room.

In our spoiler-filled review, we dig into why Jesh saw the movie five times in theaters, why Jason still loves Rian Johnson’s take, and why Rachel is having a harder time with Luke, Poe, Snoke, Rose, and one deeply upsetting green-milk moment.

We also talk about the opening bombing run, Poe’s Marvel-style comedy, the “bombs in space” nitpicks, Leia using the Force in space...

Jason and Rachel review The Dink on Apple TV, a pickleball comedy that somehow seems to hate pickleball.

We get into why the movie isn’t very funny, why the pickleball makes no sense, why the cast deserved better, how Andy Roddick and John McEnroe are wasted, why the “dink off” ending is painful, and how a Hallmark movie called Pickleball Christmas somehow did this premise better.

Plus: spoon mics in a backyard, Jake Johnson, Ed Harris, Mary Steenburgen, Ben Stiller’s gross doctor scene, fake pickleball extras, grunting, May-December weirdness, and the...

New Patreon Only episode is up!

Subscribe to our Patreon account for the full episode!  http://bit.ly/44Mo8xU

The August Patreon episode was recorded in a Bowmanville backyard with spoon mics, train noise, a loon, and Daddy Doyle possibly hearing way too much.

Jason and Rachel talk road trip chaos, Buc-ee’s, Texas Roadhouse, haunted car diagnostics, stale farts, Lawrence’s thousand-mile t-shirt journey, nostalgic garbage-beer smells, certified Santa sightings, Canadian snack pairings, and Rachel’s theory that Amazon trucks look obscene.

Also: Ghost Town as a Buc-ee’s poop anth...

SPOILER ALERT!

Rhaenyra wanted to be anointed queen, so naturally she killed the High Sept and may have started a full religious war. Great plan. No notes.

In our spoiler-filled recap of House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 8, the season finale, we break down Rhaenyra’s mad-queen spiral, Daemon calming her down with High Valyrian prophecy therapy, Baela finally calling her out, Alyn stepping up, and the disastrous decision to execute the one guy who could actually crown her.

We also talk Helaena’s tragic final scenes, the white horse vision, the...

SPOILER ALERT

Is Spider-Man: Brand New Day the best movie of the year? Jason is not joking. Mostly.

This week on Thumb War, Jason, Rachel, and special guest Jesh break down Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Tom Holland’s return as Peter Parker, the loneliness after the memory wipe, the Punisher/Spider-Man buddy-comedy energy, Jean Grey’s shocking arrival, Bruce Banner, MJ and Ned, organic webbing, second puberty, mutant power dampeners, and whether Marvel is officially back.

Plus: Tom Holland’s wild eyebrow, bodega cleaner placement, Marisa Tomei blame...

SPOILER ALERT

Sunfire is back, Aegon is giving speeches, Rhaenyra is begging a sleeping psychic for validation, and Aemond’s mommy issues have somehow gotten worse.

This week on Thumb War, we’re breaking down House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 7: The Dragon in Winter, aka the episode Rachel would like to rename Let Sleeping Dragons Lie.

We get into Rhaenyra spiraling, Helaena’s gray mare dream, Aemond’s nightmare sex hallucination, Alicent choosing poison over direct murder, Gwayne’s excellent horse dismount, Ormund’s finger-in-a-box diplomacy, Sheepstealer...

New Patreon episode is up, and this one goes fully off the rails.

Subscribe to our Patreon account for the full episode!  http://bit.ly/44Mo8xU

It’s the July Patreon episode of Thumb War, and Jason and Rachel are laying down their thumbs for movie recommendations, Nolan rankings, celebrity crushes, and general nonsense.

This month, we talk The Invite, Motor City, Sheep Detectives, Hazel’s love of Babe, Rachel and Jason’s top Christopher Nolan movies, Paul Reubens/Pee-Wee nostalgia, 90s hot-guy...

SPOILER ALERT

Criston Cole wanted a blaze-of-glory death song. Instead, he got arrows and immediate irrelevance.

This week on Thumb War, we’re breaking down House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 6: Faceless Man or The Butcher’s Ball?, aka the episode Rachel correctly renames The Hubris and the Humbling.

We get into the Butcher’s Ball, Black Aly shutting Criston Cole up, Alicent and Helaena being absolutely terrible at escaping, Rhaenyra trying royal customer service and hating every second of it, Daemon badly hiding his extremely white hair u...

SPOILER ALERT

Rhaenyra has the throne, but King’s Landing has rats, unpaid guards, murdered gold cloaks, graffiti problems, rogue dragons, and one very tense small council.

This week on Thumb War, we’re breaking down House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 5: Unbowed and Unbent, aka the episode where nobody relents, nobody listens, and Daemon being right is somehow the most annoying development of all.

We get into Criston Cole’s guerrilla warfare era, Alice Rivers’ Harrenhal magic, the black goat/Vhagar conspiracy, Aemond’s haunted mommy issues, Alicent chugging t...

SPOILER ALERT

Christopher Nolan made The Odyssey, and somehow the loudest movie of the year is about a guy who just wants to go home.

This week on Thumb War, we’re joined by Dan to break down Nolan’s massive Greek mythology epic: Matt Damon as Odysseus, Tom Holland as Telemachus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Robert Pattinson, Jon Bernthal, Benny Safdie, Samantha Morton, Elliot Page, Charlize Theron, gods, monsters, boats, gongs, suitors, and one dog scene that nearly destroyed us.

We talk about the IMAX spectacle, the punishing Dolb...

SPOILER WARNING

Aegon has gone from the Iron Throne to the latrine.

This week on Thumb War, we’re breaking down House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 4, where Ormond Hightower takes over Tumbleton from a bathtub, sniffs his perfume ball, flashes the room, and apparently starts setting up a holy war against the Targaryens.

Meanwhile, Aegon and Larys stumble upon Sunfire — who may or may not be dead — before Aegon gets assigned the worst job in Westeros: scraping shit out of latrines with a guy named Tangled Tongue.

We a...

We’re continuing our journey through the Star Wars sequel trilogy with Episode VII: The Force Awakens, aka the movie that made everyone feel like Star Wars was finally back… at least for a little while.

In this spoiler-filled Force Awakens rewatch, we revisit the magic of seeing a brand-new Star Wars movie in theaters, the brilliance of that first trailer, the reveal of Kylo Ren’s extremely cool and extremely dangerous crossguard lightsaber, and why this movie still moves like a rocket from the opening crawl to the final shot.

...

House of the Dragon S3E3 Review: SPOILER ALERT

Rhaenyra has King’s Landing… but she might also be losing her mind.

This week on Thumb War, we break down House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 3, aka what Rachel calls Rhaenyra’s Unraveling. The Red Keep is haunted, the music is screaming, everyone is starving, Corlys is furious, Daemon wants to burn the world down, and Rhaenyra decides the best way to win over the nobles is to serve them a beautiful feast of rats.

Rachel loved the ep...

New Patreon episode is up, and this one goes fully off the rails.

Subscribe to our Patreon account for the full episode!  http://bit.ly/44Mo8xU

We start with Jason’s new life as a five-milligram gummy guy, somehow turn rehab into a vacation fantasy, revisit Rachel’s hospital bed-rest era, and then get into a bunch of quick recommendations: Toy Story 5, Sisu: Road to Revenge, Widow’s Bay, The Death of Robin Hood, and the Russell Crowe Robin Hood that might deserve another look.

Then it’s Patreon AMA time, featuring 90s celebri...

SPOILER WARNING

The new Supergirl movie had everything we wanted on paper: Milly Alcock as a more broken, bitter Kara Zor-El, a fresh contrast to Superman’s optimism, Krypto the Superdog, Jason Momoa as Lobo, and a chance to keep the new DC Universe momentum going after James Gunn’s Superman.

Unfortunately… we did not love this one.

In this spoiler-heavy Supergirl movie review, we break down why the movie felt more like DC’s Babysitters Club than a bold new superhero adventure, why Kara’s “punk ro...

Spoilers, obviously. Dragons, definitely. Sensible decisions? Not so much.

House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 2 gave us grief, dragons, snot, Shakespearean drama, Aemond chaos, Daemon’s terrible management style, and ravens apparently running on 5G.

We’re breaking down the whole episode — Rhaenyra’s spiral, Aemond at Harrenhal, Larys and Aegon, Alice Rivers, Corlys’ family mess, and whether the show is pushing Rhaenyra toward full Mad Queen territory.

Watch/listen now.

Available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts & Spotify

Support the show on Patreon for ad-free episodes & bonus content : http://bit.ly/44Mo8xU...

Jason and Rachel are back in Westeros for a spoiler-filled recap and review of House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 1.

The premiere picks up with the Dance of Dragons fully igniting: the Battle of the Gullet, Jace making reckless choices, Rhaenyra being sidelined, Baela and Rhaena facing dragon-sized consequences, Criston Cole seeing the true horror of the war, Aegon and Larys fleeing King’s Landing, and Aemond becoming even more unsettling.

We talk Team Black, Team Green, Winter Wolves, Sheepstealer, Alicent, Daemon, the Hightowers, Targaryen dysfunction, and why this episode’s main lesson is that youn...

Spoilers for Disclosure Day.

Jason and Rachel review Disclosure Day, Steven Spielberg’s new alien movie starring Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colman Domingo, Colin Firth, and Wyatt Russell.

There are things to like here: Emily Blunt is great, Colman Domingo remains a human weighted blanket, and a few sequences feel like vintage Spielberg. But the movie’s big alien reveal, TV station climax, confusing character logic, and “world peace / just listen” ending left us deeply frustrated.

We talk Close Encounters comparisons, little green men, thumb drives, World War III, invisible fire trucks, AI-era ske...

Spoilers ahead for Masters of the Universe.

Jason and Rachel review Masters of the Universe, the new He-Man movie from Amazon MGM and Mattel.

Rachel grew up on He-Man, She-Ra, and the whole Masters of the Universe toy-cartoon universe. Jason mostly remembers it as the moment he realized cartoons could just be commercials for toys. So naturally, expectations were complicated.

We get into why the new Masters of the Universe feels like it can’t decide what kind of movie it wants to be, whether He-Man works as modern IP, the strange tone, th...

Spoilers for Scary Movie.

Jason and Rachel review Scary Movie, the sixth installment in the franchise and the return of the Wayans Brothers.

The movie brings back Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Ghostface, horror spoof chaos, offensive jokes, stoner comedy, and a whole lot of nostalgia — but did it actually make us laugh?

We talk about the Wayans Brothers returning to the franchise, the Teyana Taylor cold open, the packed-but-quiet theater experience, Scary Movie 3 holding up surprisingly well, The Naked Gun comparison, whether the jokes pull their punches, and why this reboot left us mo...

Jason and Rachel review The Ugly Stepsister, a Norwegian body horror take on Cinderella now streaming on Hulu.

Told from the perspective of Elvira, the eldest stepsister, the movie turns the familiar fairy tale into a grotesque nightmare about beauty standards, class, desperation, and what women are forced to do to survive in a world built around male approval.

We talk body horror, Brothers Grimm fairy tales, the tapeworm scene, eyelash sewing, foot mutilation, sound design, feminist horror, and why this worked for us way more than The Substance.

Jason and Rachel review Obsession, the breakout horror hit from writer-director Curry Barker.

The movie follows Bear, a hopeless romantic who uses the mysterious “One Wish Willow” to make his crush love him — only to discover that getting exactly what you want can be an absolute nightmare.

We talk about the movie’s huge word-of-mouth success, its TIFF Midnight Madness buzz, Curry Barker’s horror-comedy style, Andy Richter, toxic longing, magical consent nightmares, and why Jason is already calling this one of the best movies of the year.

Available on YouTube, A...

Jason and Rachel enter the Backrooms for a spoiler-filled review of A24’s new horror movie from Kane Parsons, the creator behind the viral Kane Pixels YouTube series.

We talk creepypasta, no-clipping, liminal spaces, yellow wallpaper, internet horror, YouTube filmmakers breaking into Hollywood, and whether Backrooms works as a full-length movie or should have stayed a terrifying online mystery. Is it scary? Is it frustrating? Is it the next evolution of horror? We get lost in all of it.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information ab...

Jason, Rachel and Jesh continue the Thumb War Star Wars rewatch with a spoiler-filled review of The Mandalorian and Grogu.

Is it a real Star Wars movie, or does it feel like The Mandalorian Season 4 got squeezed into a theatrical release? We discuss Grogu as a character vs. Grogu as a toy, Pedro Pascal’s helmet-based performance, the lack of stakes, the surprisingly strong opening sequence, Sigourney Weaver, Jeremy Allen White, Rotta the Hutt, Dave Filoni cameos, Star Wars fatigue, and whether Baby Yoda still has the juice.

Ash came in wi...

A very special Patreon-only Thumb War hang with our old friend Derek — actor, real estate adjacent mogul, Puerto Vallarta correspondent, East Side Mario’s survivor, and proud owner of several extremely specific Canadian entertainment memories.

We get into his A Simple Wish days, Howie Mandel’s “Sprinkles,” Kids in the Hall proximity, Instagram hate comments, pickleball pain, live-action Disney confusion, the Rock’s wig/body/face situation, and a chaotic ranking of ’90s Disney animated classics.

This is not a review episode so much as three people slowly remembering they’ve known each other forever.

Subscribe...

Jason, Rachel, and guest Jeshua Kidd revisit Star Wars: Episode VI — from Jabba’s Palace and Luke’s rescue plan to Leia, Han, the Ewoks, the Emperor, Vader’s redemption, and all the strange little choices that make this such a beloved, messy, muppety Star Wars movie.

We also get into George Lucas’ Special Edition changes, including Jedi Rocks, the CGI additions, and why some of those updates still drive fans absolutely insane.

Is Return of the Jedi the weakest of the original trilogy? The most fun? Secretly underrated? Let’s get into it.

Subscribe...

Jason and Rachel review The Devil Wears Prada 2, the 2026 sequel directed by David Frankel and starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Lucy Liu, and BJ Novak. 

They saw it opening day — and came out on opposite sides of the aisle. 

This episode covers everything: the sequel's box-office performance, the unnecessary love subplot, Miranda's evolving (and arguably defanged) character, Nigel's long-overdue moment, and the question everyone's asking — does The Devil Wears Prada 2 earn its existence, or is it just nostalgia bait? 

Full spoilers for both films. You've been warned. 

New epis...

Subscribe to Thumb War on Patreon to hear the full episode or give our free trial a go to hear more.

This week’s Patreon episode is a classic Thumb War hang — a little music, a little chaos, and a lot of tangents. We get into going to concerts solo, fall down a music rabbit hole (including some strong bass player takes), and somehow end up in a surprisingly heated gym story and a truly bizarre news moment. Loose, funny, and all over the place — exactly how these episodes tend to go. Appreciate you guys for bei...