The ‘Booksmart’ Box Office Controversy, ‘The Perfection,’ ‘Brightburn’ & Much More [Podcast]

It was a packed Memorial Day weekend for film— both theatrically and streaming—and we attempt to cover most of it on this week’s iteration of The Playlist Podcast.

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On this episode, Jenny Nulf (Director of Programming, Austin Asian American Film Festival) returns to the show to help navigate through the minefield of titles that came out over the holiday weekend. Neither of us saw box office champion “Aladdin,” (our review) but we touch on the more interesting releases who unfortunately felt the hurt at the box office at the expense of the Disney behemoth. We start with Olivia Wilde‘s highly-acclaimed “Booksmart” (our review) and attempt to breakdown the discourse surrounding its underwhelming box office performance, and briefly talk about the James Gunn-produced “Evil Superman” horror film “Brightburn” (our review).

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The true meat of our episode though is an in-depth review of “The Perfection” (our review) the Richard Shepard-directed horror/thriller that debuted at last year’s Fantastic Fest to positive marks, and hit Netflix this last Friday. There’s a lot to unpack, but while we find a few things worthwhile about the film, both of us are ultimately underwhelmed by it, and feel that we make a strong case as to why.

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We also find time at the end to champion the surprise Netflix release of “The Lonely Island Presents: The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience,” a “visual poem” that sees Akiva Schaffer and Andy Samberg portray Oakland A’s legends Mark McGwire and José Canseco, respectively.

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