The Reel Take Podcast

Acting! The craft!  To inhabit the soul of a character and bring it to life is a talent not granted not many. Yes, medical professionals and first responders may save lives, yes, scientists may work to discover solutions to humanity's problems... but an actor Acts! And there's nothing an actor likes more than those rare occasions when they are given a chance to give due respect to their chose...

This week we're using the power of friendship to overthrow a sadistic regime and throw a spotlight on Indian Telugu-language epic action drama R.R.R. (Rise! Roar! Revolt!). Set in 1920s India, the film follows two historical figures in the resistance to the British empire: Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem. They never met in real life, but this film asks, what if they did?... and what if thei...

With the recent release of Olivia Wilde's DON'T WORRY, DARLING, all the speculation on the behind the scenes going's on, all the scrutiny of its Canne premiere and all the talk about who hates who, we thought it a good opportunity to look at some of cinema's most troubled productions. We discuss wet-movies, opulent-movies, sweaty-movies and dangerous-movies, all with one thing in common... they we...

This week it's time for another spotlight episode as we figuratively travel back to early 20th century Florence and cinematically travel back to 1985 to look at one of Sinead's famourites, A ROOM WITH A VIEW. When Lucy Honeychurch and her aunt Charlotte discover that they have been assigned a room 'sans' view in the Florentine pensione, the Emersons come to the rescue. She quickly falls in love wi...

Beloved '80s classic E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is getting a theatrical re-release this year to celebrate the film's 40th anniversary, so what better time to take a look back at the film that went down in cinema history and launched a plethora of less than stellar knock-offs. This week it's a case of E.T. and Mac and Me, and Nukie and Xtro (the black sheep of the family) as we look at not only the...

A rambling loner teams up with a group of misfits to bring justice to a lawless landscape. But enough about our podcast! This week, it's time to saddle up as we shine the spotlight on 1985's SILVERADO, written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan. Scott Glenn, Kevins Kline and Costner, Danny Glover, Jeff Goldblum, Brian Dennehy, John Cleese, Linda Hunt and more find their fates entwined in the troubled...

After our summer sabbatical, we're back baby! And since at this time of year everyone gets fixated on the return to school, we thought it a good time to look at some of cinema's less than perfect mentors. Whether they've actually obtained their teaching qualifications and stand at the head of the class with a lesson plan, or they're more of a mentor who takes an impressionable young charge under t...

In our second special episode on the inaugural Boyne Valley International Film Festival, which took place at Droichead Arts Centre in August of 2022, we talk to many of the film makers whose work was shown as part of a great weekend of short film. Set against the beautiful backdrop of the Boyne Valley, curated by filmmaker and Boyne Valley native Frank W. Kelly and Collette Farrell, Droichead...

The inaugural Boyne Valley International Film Festival, takes place at Droichead Arts Centre over Friday 12th and Saturday 13th August.  Set against the beautiful backdrop of the Boyne Valley, curated by filmmaker and Boyne Valley native Frank W. Kelly and Collette Farrell, Droichead Arts Centre Director, this two day event features the best short films from around the country, and the w...

FM104's Thomas 'Crossy' Crosse is used to rubbing elbows and hob-nobbing with the celeb great and good from all over the world, (hanging out in Disney with some Marvel Movie stars... check! Getting the low down on the celebs that are not as nice as we'd like...check! Finding out what people shout at Julia Roberts in the street...check!) So we're were delighted he had a window in his schedule and d...

All work and no play makes Calvin a dull boy in this week's spotlight film, 2012's RUBY SPARKS. From the directors of Little Miss Sunshine Johnathon Dayton and Valerie Faris, i t centers on author Calvin Weir-Fields (played by cinema's favourite weirdo Paul Dano), who after a prolonged episode of writer’s block, writes a scene about a woman named Ruby Sparks, (played by the film's writer, Zoe Kaza...

This week we pop in for a quick pre-podcast sharpener as we look at drinking movies! And whether your tipple of choice is a glass of vino while touring the vineyards of California, an aged malt from the Highlands or something a little fruitier served up by a Top Gun, we are sure to have something that will quench your thirst and help you leave your troubles behind. We usually write a bit more for...

I've heard of updating your operating system, but what 2013's HER from director Spike Jonze posits is 'What if you could date your operating system?'. It's time for a spotlight episode and this week we're looking at the story of one man and his love for an artificial intelligence. Joaquin Phoenix is Theodore Twombly, a man desperate to connect, whose profession is composing beautiful handwritten l...

Grosse Pointe Blank, the 1997 movie about assassin Martin Q. Blank, played by John Cusack, who begrudgingly returns to his hometown for his 10 year high school reunion, is 25 years old! So it's the perfect opportunity to talk about this hit man experiencing an existential crisis, and a few others, who it's fair to say, aren't. When did the hired killer become cool? Whether it be Alain Delon in tre...

In this week's episode we shine the spotlight on 2001's HEIST. As intricate as a Swiss watch, David Mamet's tale of a veteran thief out for one last score before he retires might not sound like it's anything new, but with a stellar cast like Gene Hackman, Delroy Lindo, Rebecca Pidgeon, Sam Rockwell and Danny DeVito firing off zingers like bullets - (plus firing off actual bullets), it's must see f...

In the words of Joshua, the super-computer from the 1983 film Wargames, shall we play a game? Much like Global Thermonuclear War, when it comes to Hollywood's attempts to adapt video games into a successful movie franchise, the only way to win might be not to play. It's a world-wide billion dollar industry with a built in devoted audience, recognisable characters and visuals that should be right a...

For this week's Spotlight episode we travel to 2005 in order to actually travel back to the mid 70's to talk about Catherine Hardwicke's LORDS OF DOGTOWN, a fictionalized take on the true story of a group of brilliant young skateboarders raised in the mean streets of Santa Monica, California as they perfect their craft in the empty swimming pools of unsuspecting suburban homeowners, pioneering a t...

Cinema’s history is littered with criminals making film goers an offer you can't refuse... to take a seat at the table and carve out a piece of the action. Gritty or romantic , coolly silent or loaded with tough talk,  gangster movies are the films where crime pays.... at least for a while. Although it came many years after the gangster explosion of the 30s and 40s, Francis Ford Coppola's 197...

For this week's spotlight episode we put on our Asics Gel-Nimbus 24s (Runner's World Best in Test 2022), cue up our 'Thumpin Techno' playlist on Spotify and hit the streets to talk about 1998's Lola rennt ( Run Lola Run). Forget Sandy and Keanu on a bus, this is one of the finest depictions of speed committed to film. At once a high octane breakneck thriller that leaves you gasping for breath, Tom...

This week we forgo the flashy thrills of Hollywood to take you around the world in 80 minutes (actually closer to 90) as we look at some gems of International film. And there really is something for all tastes on our menu this week. Fancy a pitch black comedy about a couple that may just have irreconcilable differences, all the way from the fjords of Norway, well then may we recommend I ONDE DAGER...

You know the kind of movie that never gets old and whenever you see it you laugh just as hard as you did the first time you watched it. For some people it might be a workplace comedy about a group of teenagers trying to save a music store. For others it might be a tremendously problematic children's movie about how consumerism and venality are things to aspire to. And for other's it might be this...

It's that time of year when the whole world turns green and all eyes are on the island of Ireland. So what film classic have we chosen to mark St. Patrick's Day this year? The classic John Ford film THE QUIET MAN, showcasing the Duke's on screen chemistry with our own Maureen O'Hara? Nah.  DARBY O'GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE, a film that traumatised generations of Irish schoolchildren with it'...

With a title like She's All That, you would be forgiven for thinking this might be a spotlight episode on the 1999 teen comedy of the same name, but as it's being released on International Women's Day, we thought it a perfect opportunity to spotlight the career of one of the most International of Women in cinema, Meryl Streep. Polish in Sophie's Choice, English in the Iron Lady, Australian in A Cr...

The world of film is about to go batty once more with the long awaited release of THE BATMAN, from director Matt Reeves and featuring Robat Battinson as Bruised Wayne. So it's the perfect time to take a look at the cinematic career of the caped crusader, stretching all the way back to 1943 when he first appeared in the Columbia Pictures serial BATMAN, right up to his most recent iteration in what...

This week we travel back to 1994 and ask the question, what if Kevin McAllister was actually an even less likeable materialistic sociopath as we look at the film that made a wide eyed young Ross Leahy into the covetous, selfish, venal, avaricious egomaniac he is today. Disney's BLANK CHECK tells the story of twelve-year-old Preston Waters who after a run in with a criminal, receives a blank check...