Welcome to the official Substack of Unspooled, the podcast where actor/comedian Paul Scheer and film critic Amy Nicholson try to answer one simple question:
What makes a movie truly great?
We started by working through the AFI Top 100, challenging its blind spots and outdated picks. Then we decided to build our own canon—a smarter, stranger, more representative list of essential films, called The API List.
Since 2018, we’ve taken listeners on a cinematic journey across decades, genres, and timelines. From Citizen Kane to Crouching Tiger, Paddington 2 to Jeanne Dielman, Jackass to Lawrence of Arabia—every episode is a chance to dig into the art, chaos, legacy, and weird trivia that make movies unforgettable.
What You’ll Get Here
This newsletter is your behind-the-scenes pass to the Unspooled universe. Subscribers get:
Bonus thoughts from Paul and Amy
Episode recaps and extended commentary
Hot takes and trivia that didn’t make the final cut
Polls, listener questions, and API List updates
Live show news and bonus audio drops
Occasional arguments about Grease or Love Actually (again)
Whether you’re here for the film criticism, the comedy, or just to yell about whether The Dark Knight deserves canonization, you’re in the right place.
What’s the API List?
The API List is our ever-evolving canon of the greatest films of all time—movies we believe are worth preserving, rewatching, and arguing about forever. Some are obvious, some are listener picks, and some were added under mysterious circumstances during a live show. All are up for debate.
You can see the full list here, and yes—The Jackass Films are on it.
Subscribe to join our film-loving community and help us keep shaping the canon—one movie at a time.
