My final 2021 guests this week on the Deep Focus podcast are Jim Cummings and PJ McCabe, the co-directors, co-writers, and co-stars of IFC Films’ “The Beta Test,” Yes, this conversation is overdue. “The Beta Test” came out in late November, but it is available on all digital platforms to rent now, and let’s just say as a bit of a tease: you will see “The Beta Test” on our forthcoming list of the Best Films Of 2021 That You Didn’t See running in early January.

Continue reading ‘The Beta Test’: Jim Cummings & PJ McCabe Talk Their Dark Hollywood, Cancel Culture Satire at The Playlist.

“A hilarious skewering of the shallowness of the movie industry and the paranoia and mistrust that afflicts the guilty. Cummings and McCabe’s film touches a raw nerve with sharp, funny, awkwardly prickly provocation.” That’s our review, talking about “The Beta Test,” a new satirical feature from writer/director/actor/producer Jim Cummings (“Thunder Road,” “The Wolf of Snow Hollow.” Written and directed by Cummings and filmmaking pal PJ McCabe (who also co-stars in the film), “The Beta Test” premiered at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year and was eventually screened at the Tribeca Film Festival this past summer in North America.

Continue reading ‘Beta Test’ Trailer: Jim Cummings Tackles Toxic Masculinity & Hollywood Douchebaggery at The Playlist.

Indie anxiety auteur Jim Cummings’ work is always trembling nervously with the hum or uneasy apprehension. His brilliant debut, “Thunder Road” throbbed with the cringe-y tension of a grieving divorcee policeman on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and his follow-up, “The Wolf of Snow Hollow” layered murder mystery genre elements and the idea of the “toxic male beast within” on top of his signature jittery agitation.

Continue reading ‘The Beta Test’: Jim Cummings Tackles Douchebag Hollywood Agents In An Anxiety Horror About Being Canceled [Tribeca Review] at The Playlist.