The Next Reel Film Podcast

“If you decide you’re not going to be reasonable, then one night when you come home, you’ll find me on the inside waiting for you, and that’ll be the night you’ll wish you’d never been born.”The Next Reel’s Speakeasy is an ongoing series of ours in which we invite an industry guest to join us and bring along one of their favorite movies to talk about. In this month’s episode, actor, comedian and d...

"You ever met anybody you didn’t kill?" Shortly after graduating from UCLA, Shane Black sold his first screenplay to Warner Bros. to the tune of $250,000. That script was “Lethal Weapon.” Black didn’t know it at the time, but he was on his way to changing the way Hollywood thought about big blockbuster action films and about screenwriters as well. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we kick...

"They were the footprints… of a gigantic hound!" Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce became synonymous with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson after appearing in 14 film versions of various stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Yet at the start, neither of them got top billing. Yet now, Rathbone’s look as the famous detective is the iconic look for him. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we wr...

"Give a boy a sense of humor and a sense of proportion and he’ll stand up to anything." Robert Donat defied the odds and beat both Clark Gable and Jimmy Stewart for the Best Actor Oscar in the 1939 Academy Awards with his portrayal of Mr. Chips in Sam Wood’s “Goodbye, Mr. Chips.” It’s a movie that celebrates school heroes everyone had (or should’ve) and connects in its ability to reflect back on t...

"Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore!" Victor Fleming didn’t just direct two movies in 1939, he directed two of what many consider to be the greatest films made – ”Gone With the Wind” and “The Wizard of Oz.” Where the former, though, has more problems to contend with in today’s society, what with its depiction of slavery and race in the South during the Civil War, the latter is nothin...

"We’re the victims of a foul disease called social prejudice, my child." When John Ford decided to helm “Stagecoach” in 1939, he hadn’t done a western since his days in the silent film era. Yet it was this film, along with his relationship with John Wayne, that would lead to him making arguably some of the greatest westerns in cinema. Yet with this film, it was really more of a chance to make a we...

“We women are so much more sensible. When we tire of ourselves, we change the way we do our hair or hire a new cook or decorate the house. I suppose a man could do over his office, but he never thinks of anything so simple. No, dear, a man has only one escape from his old self: to see a different self in the mirror of some woman’s eyes.” After getting taken off what ended up being the biggest film...

As part of our ongoing series on the people behind the sites and services that serve the film-loving community, today we’re talking to Matthew Buchanan, co-founder of Letterboxd.com. Letterboxd has become an indispensable service for film journalists, diarists, and fans, marked by a beautiful design and just the right mix of social connectivity. Matthew and team have created a robust community in...

“You’re upside down, sir.” It’s time for another Listener’s Choice episode! This time, 2015 Pony Prize winner Ben Lott gets to select and he chose Peter Bogdanovich’s 1972 screwball comedy “What’s Up, Doc?” Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we delve into one of Ben’s favorites. We talk about our initial expectations and experiences of this movie and how this film improves with conversatio...

“When I was small, I only knew small things, but now I’m five – I know everything!”The Next Reel’s Speakeasy is a new ongoing series of ours in which we invite an industry guest to join us and bring along one of their favorite movies to talk about. In this month’s episode, actress Dee Wallace joins us to talk about one of her relatively new favorites, Lenny Abrahamson’s amazing film “Room.” We tal...

“When you’re facing a loaded gun, what’s the difference?”“The Departed,” Martin Scorsese’s 2006 remake of “Infernal Affairs,” is the film he finally won his Oscar for. It’s a strong crime film and is definitely a Scorsese film with incredible camera work and intense violence, but is it as good as the original? Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we wrap up our Movies & Their Remakes ser...

As a part of our series on the movie sites we love, today we’re talking about one of our favorite movie projects. Jamie Benning has become, through great effort and time, custodian to the behind the scenes media of our most iconic films of the 70’s and 80s through his ultimate fan creations: Filmumentaries. In addition to his feature Filmumentaries on the original Star Wars trilogy, Raiders, and J...

“I’ve chosen to be the good guy.”“Infernal Affairs” may have won seven out of the sixteen Hong Kong Film Awards it was nominated for in 2002, including beating Zhang Yimou’s “Hero” as Best Film, but the majority of Americans probably didn’t hear of it until it was remade by Martin Scorsese four years later as “The Departed.” And while that’s a shame that it took so many people so long to discover...

“If you’re looking for sterling character, you’re in the wrong place.”In the early 80s, Peter Hyams was trying to get a western made. Unfortunately for him, no studio was interested in the genre right then; as far as they were concerned, westerns were dead. Then Hyams made the realization that westerns were still alive but that they’d been transposed to the world of sci-fi. And with that, he wrote...

 “People’ve gotta talk themselves into law and order before they do anything about it, maybe because down deep, they don’t care – they just don’t care.”“High Noon” is often cited as one of the greatest westerns ever made, and a lot of that praise is likely because it was so different from other westerns at the time. It was bleak and black-and-white. There was hardly any action in it. And it was a...

“I would ask you if you could remain emotionally detached, but I don’t think that’s your problem. Is it, Bond?”The Next Reel’s Speakeasy is a new ongoing series of ours in which we invite an industry guest to join us and bring along one of their favorite movies to talk about. In this month’s episode, visual effects supervisor and director Matthew Gratzner joins us to talk about one of his faves, M...

“Behold, the mighty hunter.” Lee Tamahori’s first foray in Hollywood, ‘Mulholland Falls,’ didn’t fare all that well. Luckily, his follow-up with 1997’s ‘The Edge’ made money and allowed him to keep working in the business. (Though if you look at his foray in the Bond franchise, ‘Die Another Day,’ maybe it’s not so lucky after all.) But does the movie feel like something from a David Mamet script?...

As a part of our series on the movie sites we love, you’d probably guess that we couldn’t go very far without talking to Nathan Chase and Jeremy Thompson, the team behind Flickchart.com. Over the years, Flickchart has become central to our own ranking of films we review on this show, and offers a fun — if enormously frustrating at times — paradigm for stack ranking our favorites. It’s at once a se...

“The good news is you’re fired.” David Mamet won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 with his play “Glengarry Glen Ross.” The play really exemplified Mamet-speak and its transition to film retained that, despite the fact that it took eight years to make it to the silver screen. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we continue our David Mamet as Screenwriter series with James Foley’s 1992 film Glengar...

“He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That’s the Chicago way, and that’s how you get Capone!” Brian De Palma was coming off a couple of box office disappointments when he signed on to bring David Mamet’s script “The Untouchables” to life. The studio was hoping for something akin to a movie version of their old TV show but this...

A few weeks ago, we ran across a new site dedicated to movie trailers. It’s called Trailer. Town and it’s a clean, well-organized home for our favorite form of promotion. This week on Shorts, we’re joined by Joel Farris and Alex Carvalho, half of the Trailer. Town team and founders of the site to talk about trailers, spoilers, and the importance of curation in a messy Youtube world.  Sundries Trai...

“So much of the time, we’re just lost.” David Mamet wrote screenplays for several years before he jumped into the director’s seat, and while some of them still distinctly sound like Mamet’s writing, others really don’t. The ‘Mamet Speak’ isn’t there, or perhaps it’s just less obvious. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we kick off another Mamet series, this time focusing on films he worked...

“I’m not an actor, I’m a movie star!”The Next Reel’s Speakeasy is a new ongoing series of ours in which we invite an industry guest to join us and, instead of bringing their favorite cocktail, we have them bring along one of their favorite movies to talk about. In this inaugural episode, actor Abraham Benrubi joins us to talk about one of his faves, Richard Benjamin’s 1982 comedy gem “My Favorite...

“I’ve got a feeling beneath those jeans, there’s something wonderful just waiting to get out.” Happy New Year! Goodbye 2015, hello 2016. And what better way to kick off the new year of shows than with Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1997 epic glimpse into the golden age of porn. With an epic New Year’s party that transitions the story from the halcyon days of porn in the 70s to its characters’ declines in...

“They might even replace the dog as the family pet.” ‘Tis the holiday season, which means it’s time for another Next Reel Christmas movie, and how better to share in the joy and festivities of the Christmas season than with some wacky laughs and slimy gore from Joe Dante’s 1984 horror comedy “Gremlins.” Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we celebrate another end of the year with some holid...