Have You Ever Seen

We haven't covered the controversial Woody Allen since we reviewed Annie Hall 5 years ago, but The Purple Rose Of Cairo has just gotta be seen and discussed. It's one of the man's best efforts. We spent 5 or 6 minutes near the top jawing about his very tainted legacy in this Next 192 Project, but the majority of the show gets into the bittersweet delights in the 35-year-old flick. Mia Farrow  and ...

If you're looking for a funny satire about identity and 1980s consumerism, then Mary Harron's adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' book might be exactly what you're craving. Or maybe you just want to ogle Christian Bale's half-naked body in all its perfection. If you did  that , at least you'd be noticing the guy, which is more than anyone in the actual film ever does. Despite the good looks, money, c...

For the 190th time, we give you a Next 100 Project podcast…and this lip-wag is about one graphically vicious movie. This modern noir that uses plenty of florid dialogue from '40s crime thrillers is no longer as effective on us as it was 15 years ago. Is it maybe just a little too much of the old ultra-violence (and ultra-nudity)? The ensemble cast mostly excels without getting a ton of screentime,...

It doesn't get much more timely (or germ-bedazzled) than the subject of the Next 189 Project. Steven Soderbergh's movie has actually gotten better now that it has some age on it. It's fast-paced and quite entertaining. It's also realistic, a bit scary and—something that's probably a big bonus for anti-Goopers— Gwyneth Paltrow dies horribly. No doubt, her death is one of the most-memorable offings...

Bonus episode! If you need some terrific movie recommendations to fill your free time in the next few weeks (or months, good God), we've each got 4 excellent suggestions for what to watch (and where to find them). Along with 11 trivia questions, that makes for---hold your breath and wait for it---19 movies to help you pass the time during the worldwide standstill that is COVID-19. Bev went with mo...

There have been many "hooker with a heart of gold" movies, but Pretty Woman has to be on the shortlist of the most lovable ones. That's largely because Julia Roberts is at her very best (a star was born) and Richard Gere is a great match for her. Credit to them and to director Garry Marshall for making millions of people root so hard for a corporate raider and a pro from Hollywood Boulevard to mak...

The first sequel in the long series of Universal's Frankenflicks is the best film out of all of them. James Whale's masterpiece feels incredibly modern for something that was made 85 years ago. It's also remarkably influential. There's the hermit scene (parodied so hilariously in Young Frankenstein), the gay subtext, the surreal sets, the 5 iconic minutes of the title character. The Next 187 Proje...

Since it's the movie of the moment (and the big winner at last month's Oscars), we thought the Next 186 Project was an ideal slot to cover Parasite.  Bong Joon Ho's  brilliant, pitch-black satire deals with class, the division between the rich & the poor and empathy…or the lack thereof from the rich AND the poor. We have complicated feelings about the richies in this picture (we're more sympatheti...

Here's some truth…it's March! We're on the other side of winter, people. Somebody wished upon a star, didn't they? Well, anyway, the Next 185 Project analyzes  Disney's ultimate morality tale , although we took issue with how this animated classic teaches kids these lessons. Those plotlines had us asking many Reasonably Good Questions. One big takeaway? Don't trust adults! But do toe the line and,...

At my signal, unleash Braveheartacus! The Next 184 Project gets into the issues of how Commodus (toilet!) is a "failson" and how the whole derivative story is a WWF-esque popularity contest. This Ridley Scott  /  Russell Crowe action flick that won big at the Oscars 20 years ago works even as well as it does because of Crowe's humanity and even, believe it or not, humour. But, of course, there are...

Warning: Catholics and Pope-lovers might want to steer clear of the Next 183 Project. S'pretty explosive stuff. We go hard on the church and the cover-up of the sex abuse scandal (a more accurate way to put that would be CHILD RAPE). As for the movie that shows how the intrepid journalists at the Boston Globe went about covering this controversial story,  Spotlight  is a rock-solid procedural fill...

Bonus episode! A terrific year for movies has been wrapped up with a surprise winner (and the right winner) of a slew of gold naked guys . Parasite was the delightful surprise champeen of 2019, taking home trophies for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and International Feature. We talked about how this was the "Diversity & Inclusion" Oscars, even though the nominees themselves...

Are you ready for some grief? Well, the world is a terrible place run by terrible tyrants, so probably. Let's try this again. Are you ready to hear us yammer on about people who are too stilted to deal with their grief? The Next 182 Project  ordinaries up its people  and argues that  Mary Tyler Moore's  neglectful mom character just has an inability to communicate and show emotion. Those are some...

For the 5th year in a row, we present a February gab about the world's biggest awards show. The Next 181 Project represents the longest episode the Ellises have ever done and that's because there is A LOT to discuss about this year's show. Not everyone will agree with our…let's say uneasy feelings about Joker  or  Little Women . Many people will also strongly disagree with our resounding boos for ...

Mrs. Ellis' final selection in the "Month o' Bev" did indeed (as she intended) provide fodder for a furious back-and-forth. The movie in question in the Next 180 Project believes in individuality and personal freedom…and also laying it on very thick (thick lipstick especially). Then again, David Lynch  was never known for subtlety. His "comedy" isn't particularly funny, but his love story doesn't...

Darren Aronofsky's cautionary tale is over the top, loud, a bit dated and sometimes hysterical, but it's also heartbreaking. And it was influential, especially on commercials and movie trailers. Might it also be thought of as a horror film? We have thoughts. The Next 179 Project goes down all those avenues and also gets into the film's many technical merits, particularly the editing and the music....

For some, this was the greatest movie of the twenty-tens, but, whether you dig the flick or not, it's hard to argue that it predicted the future. Now that social media has become a gigantic, world-changing industry (for good and—far too often—for bad),  David Fincher's   Facebook Movie has even more relevance than it did 10 years ago. The Next 178 Project digs into "nerd misogyny", wonders how big...

We end 2019 with a show about our favourites of the year and our year in podcasting. The bulk of the episode though highlights our faves of the past decade. In this Next 177 Project, we count from 10 down to 1 about which pictures impressed us the most between 2010 and 2019. No spoilers about what those titles will be....well, except to say that we didn't even find room on our lists for Inception...

Before you see Greta Gerwig's take on Louisa May Alcott's classic feminist novel, gobble up our chat about Gillian Armstrong's 25-year-old version. The Next 176 Project throws a big hug around Winona Ryder  and her fellow March girls (especially  Claire Danes ) because your contract as a human pretty much demands you fall in love with lovely people like these. Ryder's effervescent performance as J...

Chevy Chase and Randy Quaid might repel people with their off-screen antics, but they and the rest of this cast do some terrific comic work in National Lampoon's 30-year-old holiday hit. The Next 175 Project has one of us gushing about this nostalgic fave while the other is set on nailing Sparky's epic anti-boss rant . Writer/producer  John Hughes'  decade-long run of beloved comedies was still in...

The Next 174 Project is a dandy of an episode as we rage on about slavery, racism, offensive words…and all of it in what ended up being Quentin Tarantino's biggest hit . He wasn't at his best in this flick, although that doesn't mean his direction or Oscar-winning writing are anything close to bad. He certainly always casts well and the performances by Leonardo DiCaprio ,  Jamie Foxx ,  Christoph...

Puppet your way into our portals for a lot more than 15 minutes as the Next 173 Project does some Malkoviching . This pic is remarkably creative and it's often high-larious. It's also one of the weirdest, saddest comedies of the past 30 years…or perhaps ever. There's more than a little darkness and pain, which doesn't always jibe with those explosive larfs. Director Spike Jonze and one of the worl...

We're back after a week off as we chat about the iconic Muppets in  their first movie . The Next 172 Project raves about the incredible puppetry and voice-work by  Jim Henson ,  Frank Oz and their cohorts. Those guys are unquestionably amazing, but Bev isn't thrilled that they are all, in fact, guys. Why weren't ladies being given at least SOME of the jobs of putting hands up felt bums? And why—ot...

To honour Veterans/Remembrance Day, the Next 171 Project harkens back to the Gulf War to dig into the rare war comedy that succeeds at both being funny AND shooting stuff up. Writer/director  David O. Russell's  moderate success helped firm up the acting cred of his Three Kings :  George Clooney ,  Mark Wahlberg  and  Ice Cube , all of whom are huge power-players in the industry now. And let's not...

Gabourey Sidibe's debut and Mo'Nique's outstanding performance (which won her a gold naked guy) are easily the highlights of the character study that is the subject of the Next 170 Project. Neither of those actresses has been cast much since (we discuss some of the reasons why), but they'll be hard-pressed to ever surpass what they did here anyway. Lee Daniels'  2nd film is certainly his best work...