Episode 529: "The Deliverance" and "Mountains"

Spoilerpiece Theatre

It’s a 50-50 week on Spoilerpiece, as one of the movies we watch is crap, and one is a joy from start to finish. First, the crap, because we didn’t want to end on a sour note: Lee Daniels’ THE DELIVERANCE (2:12), a derivative dumpster fire of a possession story cribbed from better possession stories. What makes it so awful, though? Glad you asked! Every character but one in this movie is an asshole. Like, a serious asshole. Andra Day’s Ebony? Asshole. Glenn Close as her mother, Alberta? Asshole. Mo’Nique as the world’s meanest social worker? Total asshole. We at Spoilerpiece don’t usually need to root for a character, but when you’re watching a movie and hope the demon wins, something is amiss. But then there’s the salve: MOUNTAINS (26:10), director and co-writer Monica Sorelle’s drama about a Haitian immigrant demolition worker living in Miami (Atibon Nazaire), his wife (Sheila Anozier), and their very American son (Chris Renois). All the bad vibes from THE DELIVERANCE are instantly erased! Praise Jesus! (If you have the misfortune of seeing THE DELIVERANCE, you’ll understand.) And over on Patreon, our August poll winner is NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, the non-Eon Bond film featuring Sean Connery’s return as 007.