Project Hail Mary

Unspooled

Paul Scheer & Amy Nicholson

Tv & Film, Film Reviews

4.5 • 5K Ratings

🗓️ 23 March 2026

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Paul and Amy drop an emergency episode to blast off with Project Hail Mary, the rare big-swing sci-fi that Ryan Gosling leads with charisma, heart, and a whole lot of hope. They break down Gosling’s turn as a very unprepared hero, the emotional pull of his unlikely bond with Rocky, Sandra Hüller’s commanding presence, and why this Spielberg-esque adventure feels like a throwback in the best way. You can join the Unspooled conversation on Paul’s Discord at https://discord.gg/ZwtygZGTa6 Follow Paul and Amy on Letterboxd for more of their movie hot takes! https://letterboxd.com/paulscheer/ https://letterboxd.com/theamynicholson/ Paul’s book Joyful Recollections of Trauma is out now! Find it at https://www.harpercollins.com/products/joyful-recollections-of-trauma-paul-scheer Check out more of Paul's writing on his Substack https://substack.com/@paulscheer Episodic Art by Kim Troxall: https://www.unspooledart.com/ Learn more about the show at Unspooledpod.com, follow us on Twitter @unspooled and on Instagram @unspooledpod, and don’t forget to rate, review & subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or where you listen to podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, everyone and welcome to
0:12.7	Unspooled
0:14.0	Emergency episode.
0:17.4	That's right, every now and then
0:18.8	we get a chance to talk about a movie that just came out because we feel like it's in the zeitgeist. Everyone is talking about it and everyone's seeing it. And Amy, that movie is Project Hail Mary.
0:35.9	Yeah. Let's get into it, man. I saw this movie a month ago, and I've been so
0:39.0	stoked to be able to talk about it with people because I just, I don't know, my intro of my review,
0:44.2	I said that this is a wholesome science fiction that satisfies like a jumbo serving of apple pie and
0:49.5	milk, and I thousand percent stand by that. I just needed this as a big, big snack.
0:54.6	I love that you said that, And it really encapsulated something that I felt, which was,
1:00.2	where are these movies and why are we not making more of them? It's a cheat to say that this is
1:07.6	Spielberg-esque, but that's what it made me feel like. It made me feel like the movies from my
1:13.4	youth. It's funny. It's dramatic. It's beautifully shot. It's adventure. It has this charismatic
1:22.0	lead. Everything about it really works. It just feels like it's not doing anything different. It's just doing
1:29.7	everything that we love all together in one film, right? Yeah. It really got me thinking about how
1:36.7	most of our movies about space and sci-fi are pretty depressing. And I love them. Like I love
1:42.8	Alien. But Alien is all about we go off into space and we take our problems with us because we are a depressing. And I love them. Like, I love Alien. But Alien is all about, we go off
1:45.1	into space and we take our problems with us because we are a plague. And this is like, you know what, what if we just went up to space and really did our best and made it work out? Now, we will be talking a little bit of spoilers here. But just, we'll try not to, actually. Right. Well, just kind of talk about things that people are talking about,
2:01.7	but if you want to bookmark this
2:03.3	and come back to it after you've watched it,
2:04.7	you might have done. We'll try not to, actually. Right. Well, just kind of talk about things that people are talking about.
2:01.7	But if you want to bookmark this and come back to it after you've watched it, you might enjoy it more.
	...

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