The Kick

Since early fairy tales, the wolf and red riding hood have done battle towards grandmother’s house. Of course in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, this predator/prey relationship continues in our cinema—usually ending in murder. On this week’s episode, we look at cult classic "Wild Things," and two recent additions to this genre of teen girls plotting against skeezy older men, "Thoroughbreds...

Thirty years after "Bull Durham," Kevin Costner remains one of baseball's most recognizable avatars. Between 1988 and 1999, the square-jawed, iron-armed movie star made three films about the quintessentially American aura of the game: "Field of Dreams," "Bull Durham," and "For Love Of The Game." This week, we're joined by Houston Chronicle reporter and Astros beat writer Hunter Atkins to assess Co...

There's nothing more compelling than an unlikely spy — especially a good femme fatale out of her depth! Noah and Chance gather their best intelligence (read: listening to Marc Maron's podcast) and are fully authorized to debrief you on Jennifer Lawrence in "Red Sparrow," Angelina Jolie in "Salt" and Melissa McCarthy in "Spy." We talk star power, agency in female-led action movies and why Paul Feig...

Are you a top scientist gearing up to investigate an unexplainable phenomenon at a great distance from home? We warned you in one of our very early episodes to be careful. The rule still applies as Chance and Noah dissect Alex Garland’s sophomore film "Annihilation," Netflix’s Super Bowl Hail Mary “The Cloverfield Paradox,” and Paul W.S. Anderson’s cult classic “Event Horizon” in this deep dive in...

It’s that time again, movie-lovers! The Oscars — aka the Yom Kippur of cinema — are upon us again. It's five hours of network television so the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences can remember its 2017 highs (and lows) and take its own political temperature. This year, our preview takes the form of Chance chiming in while Noah fills out his office's Oscar ballot. They talk dark horses and sn...

Alan Moore is inarguably among the best regarded comic writers of all time, but he’s also a mystery wrapped in an enigma. This week, Chance and Noah break down three comic-to-film adaptations in search of the man behind "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," "V for Vendetta" and "Watchmen." The guys are joined by Jake Dilley (24:10) of St. Louis' Comic HQ store to give a bit of context on Alan M...

Because there aren't enough opinions out there about Ryan Coogler's "Black Panther," broken white boys Chance and Noah unpack the political read and narrative construction of this Marvel blockbuster. Is Wakanda a utopia or an acknowledgement of violence's place in society? Is globalism a responsibility or a danger for a tech- and resource-rich country? Unclear! But what is clear is that both guys...

Let the flags wave, the trumpets sound, and the Pink Eye medication take effect quickly! Chance and Noah are here to represent their podcast at the Winter Olympics of movies past. After some initial thoughts on the 2018 games, your hosts get into Miracle (2004), Cool Runnings (1993), and Eddie The Eagle (2016). They're all movies inspired by true underdog stories with the sap, grandstanding, and t...

It takes two to tango, and Chance and Noah try not to step on each other’s feet in this week’s episode of Be Reel. Your hosts unpack the romances, trials and tropes of dance movie classics and upstarts alike with “Dirty Dancing,” “Save the Last Dance” and “Step Up,” questioning why these movies were made, if boppin’ around in your seat is a litmus test for quality, and why your mom (plus one of yo...

What better way to deconstruct the method to Nicolas Cage's apparent madness than by looking at telling moments in which he played dads ... bad dads! In the newly released "Mom and Dad," Cage loses his cool and endeavors to murder his children (5:05). Plus, film critic Andy Crump joins our show to discuss why this new VOD horror outing contains the best Cage freakout in a decade (23:20). In "Match...

Chance and Noah do a podcast, and you're going to hear us ROAR! On this week's episode, we take on pop musicians by unpacking their self-produced documentaries. In Demi Lovato's "Simply Complicated," the guys are torn about objectivity and ulterior motives. In Justin Bieber's "Never Say Never," Chance and Noah spar over whether Bieber is a talented performer or a symptom of parasitic celebrity cul...

Once every five (or so) years, Academy Award-winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis takes to the screen to embody a powerful masculine figure. On the heels of his announcement that this month's "Phantom Thread" will be his final picture, Chance and Noah look back at career touchstones of an actor with the chiseled features of piece of coinage. From this year's Reynolds Woodcock to Bill "The Butcher" Cutti...

You know how when you have 10 days off work you basically just start devouring movies? Press play to hear your hosts dig into "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," "Call Me By Your Name," "I, Tonya," and "Bright." From *perhaps* the best Star Wars ever made to the worst thing Netflix ever spent 90 million dollars on, happy new year, friends.

Our year-end episode has arrived, friends, and here's what's on the agenda: 2:40 - Noah took himself to "Blade Runner 2049," so we catch up on Denis Villeneuve's towering dystopian sequel. 18:25 - We circle back to review "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri," a movie in which Frances McDormand tries to burn down the whole world with her eyes. 33:20 - Your hosts begin to wrap up 2017, each c...

If you've seen "The Room," you know it transcends the filmic category of "so bad it's good." There's a sense of tragedy, ambition, and madness all bubbling somewhere in that 2003 cult phenomenon, a phenomenon celebrated and investigated by James Franco's "The Disaster Artist." This week, with the help of film critic and Mousterpiece Cinema host Josh Spiegel, we dig into three films about movie dir...

Every Thanksgiving, your strangely committed hosts watch six movies for something they call The MegaPod. For the third iteration, we drafted movies from franchises we thought we might otherwise not get to in the course of our normal episode selections. As always, our families just loved that we had to watch 12 hours of movies over the weekend. Check out the choices and timestamps below. 6:40 - "Ja...

Our annual MegaPod approaches! Oh, you don't know what that is? Don't sweat it. It just means we watch six movies instead of three. This year we've selected six candidates from whatever film franchises we want, draft-style. They're all free on streaming services, so listen here for our surprise picks, the ensuing cheers and guffaws, watch along with us, and get ready for the full episode to drop a...

On this new mini-episode, Noah and Chance discuss "Lady Bird," the witty and affecting new film portrait of a teenage girl's last lap around Catholic high school in 2002 Sacramento. The directorial debut from Greta Gerwig has garnered near-universal acclaim, and we add our voices to that choir, praising the film's accessible star performance and appreciating how Sacramento makes both for a great a...

When friend groups reunite in country houses, this week's genre teaches us that old songs, old wounds, and binge drinking aren't far behind. Having just hung out in the Poconos two weeks ago (and gone 2 outta 3 from that list), we decided to watch three movies that all owe something to "The Big Chill" and the experience of getting out of town with old buds. We watched "Peter's Friends" (1992) and...

2003's "The Recruit" is about a CIA recruiter played by Al Pacino recruiting a CIA recruit played by Colin Farrell. But can a CIA recruiter played by Al Pacino be trusted? 2017's Fall Classic celebration was, in some small part, about Noah and Chance recruiting a dozen other people to watch a middling action-thriller instead of enjoying the natural beauty of the Poconos. Could the hosts of Be Reel...

In our Halloween episode, we read the tea leaves of three movies about crews of witches supporting each other, fighting demonic men, and (in one case) sucking the lifeblood from small children. And while "Practical Magic," "Hocus Pocus" and "The Witches of Eastwick" might appear to cry out for a #CovenGoals celebration of witchy power, these movies are a pretty wild broom-ride of giant performance...

Once Batman, now Birdman, Michael Keaton either became world famous by accident, and then went missing on purpose, or the other way around. The 68-year-old actor’s circuitous career is marked by distinct eras — from zany ‘80s comedies, to block-busting New Hollywood fare, to 15 pretty lean years, to a comeback in 2014. On this week’s show, we watched three films where Keaton plays his favorite con...

The air is chilling, the leaves are changing, and, boy, do these back-to-school films love to show us just that. On this week’s podcast, we discuss three films shaped around a new year at boarding school. Whether at Hogwarts in 2004 or Ivy League feeder academies in 1959, these boarding school movies all hinge on how an outsider fits into an environment steeped in WASP-ness, wealth, and tradition....

In this week's mini-episode, Noah and Chance review and rate the new, smash-hit adaptation of Stephen King's "It." While Noah is almost finished with King's dictionary-sized 1986 novel, Chance came completely cold to this story about an evil force terrorizing small-town kids in the form of a killer clown.  While Noah fills Chance in on the issues director Andrés Muschietti's adaptation doesn't tou...

On a new Be Reel, we enter the Matrix trilogy, which is streaming in its entirety on Netflix. The franchise, of course, begins with one of the most iconic action films of modern times, and we bring in IGN's Sean Finnegan to discuss how and why "The Matrix" is still relevant and surprising 18 years after its release. Then, it's on to the nearly five hours of sequels: "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The...