The Playlist Podcast Network

Like everything, it's been a strange world for the film industry in the midst of COVID-19. On this long-belated episode, Ryan Oliver is joined by Playlist Managing Editor Charles Barfield, and the former hosts of Playlist Podcast Adjust Your Tracking - Erik McClanahan and Joe von Appen - to discuss the state of theatrical moviegoing. We speculate on if theaters will hit their proposed July release...

He’s been called the Lizard King, the Iceman, the Dark Knight, and is perpetually applying for the post of your Huckleberry. Val Kilmer is one of the most fascinating and elusive screen presences of the last 40 years. In the wake of Val's new memoir, Noah and Chance chronicle the highlights of a roller-coaster career from 1985 to present. The questions are as high-minded and dire as Kilmer’s work:...

Over the last decade, you’ve undoubtedly seen both Sam Hargrave and his work without even knowing it. In fifteen years, he has racked up 80 credits working as either a stunt performer or stunt coordinator in both television and film. He's doubled for Hugh Jackman , Chris Evans , and Justin Timberlake , along with many others; and is responsible for staging some of the biggest and most exciting act...

American independent film lost a guiding light this month with the sudden passing of Lynn Shelton . From 2006 to 2019, Shelton created a multi-film roadmap for considering the dimensionality of place (often Seattle) and deep personal meaning from simple conversation. This week, Be Reel looks back at "We Go Way Back" (2006), "Humpday" (2009), "Your Sister's Sister" (2011), "Laggies" (2014) and "Swo...

Hollywood and Bollywood both suffered an incalculable loss last month with the untimely passing of actor Irrfan Khan . Known to American audiences for his character work in "Life of Pi" and "Jurassic World", the icon in India spent 30 years embodying quiet masculinity in chameleonic performances. Today, Chance and Noah look at some of his most notable Bollywood films: " Paan Singh Tomar " (2012),...

A candid and affable Josh Trank ("Chronicle") gets on the line to get candid about his " Fantastic Four " failures, his fruitful collaboration with Tom Hardy (which may yield more films) and his latest movie, the surreal fever dream that is " Capone " (or "Fonzo" as he still refers to it), starring the aforementioned "Mad Max" star.  For the belatedly returning (?) podcast show Deep Focus ver...

This week in the ever-flowing slipstream, Be Reel hosts Chance Solem-Pfeifer and Noah Ballard turn their sights to Ryan Murphy's Netflix original miniseries "Hollywood," a send-up/revisionist history of postwar... Hollywood. Over seven hour-long episodes, we follow the cast and crew of the fictional film "Meg" (Laura Harrier, Darren Criss, Samara Weaving, and more) as they rewrite American movie l...

While Apple TV+ 's first wave of content was met with a lukewarm response, it hasn't stopped the tech company from continuing to collaborate with A-List talent. The tech company has already joined forces with such talent as M. Night Shyamalan, Steven Spielberg, Jason Momoa, Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Kumail Nanjiani, Octavia Spencer , and countless others. However, the top tier collabora...

Heading into 2016, no director showed more promise than Justin Kurzel . After shocking audiences with his disturbing and intimate examination of the Snowtown Murders in 2011's " Snowtown ," the filmmaker instantly became one of Australia's exciting new voices. This excitement only amplified following his striking adaptation of Shakespeare's " Macbeth " starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotill...

To celebrate Al Pacino ’s 80th birthday, Be Reel zeroes in on one of the acting legend’s favorite archetypes—the ragged police detective. Today, we trace Pacino’s investigative methods all the way from iconic “ Serpico ” (1973) to controversial “ Cruising ” (1980) to charged “ Sea of Love ” (1989) to unimpeachable “ Heat ” (1995) to perhaps underrated “ Insomnia ” (2002), all the way to VOD schloc...

For much of the late-20th century, Barbra Streisand was a ubiquitous star of stage, album, and screen. And the EGOT winner’s artistic vision was never clearer than in her three forays into directing, producing and starring in her own movies: "Yentl" (1983), "The Prince of Tides" (1991) and "The Mirror Has Two Faces" (1996). Each film features a touch of Streisand’s cross-medium talents: a little m...

When it comes to contemporary sci-fi, Alex Garland sits at the highest level of Hollywood writers/directors/creators. Whether penning original ideas about humanity’s undoing (“Ex Machina,” “ 28 Days Later ,” “ Sunshine ”) or adapting bestselling books (“Annihilation,” “ Never Let Me Go ”) to his own specifications, Garland has had a hand in several of the most intriguing sci-fi and horror fil...

Who do you become when no one can see you? Today’s Be Reel category doesn’t take a rosy view of how already powerful dudes would use the power of invisibility. In light of the new " Invisible Man " film starring Elisabeth Moss and directed by Leigh Whannell, we rope in and review an additional trio of invisible pictures, including " The Invisible Man " (1933), " Memoirs of an Invisible Man " (1992...

" The Invisible Man " may only be his third directorial effort, but Leigh Whannell has been terrorizing audiences for years. From " Saw ," to " Dead Silence ," to the " Insidious " franchise, Whannell (and his frequent collaborator James Wan ) is one of the masterminds behind some of the 21st Century's most iconic and effective scares. His latest film reinvents the classic Universal monster for a...

With the restoration and re-release of Elem Klimov 's underappreciated war epic " Come and See ," Chance and Noah steel themselves to revisit the film's famously immersive, brutal, even dangerous portrayal of the WWII Eastern Front. (A child actor's hair literally turned white, folks.) Listen as we dive back into the Russian film’s production history, myth, canonization, and assess the lines betwe...

We lost an icon earlier this month with the passing of Kirk Douglas at the age of 103. But what made him such an era-defining star in classics like " Spartacus "? That indomitable chin? That triangle torso? No, there’s something deeper and cannier to how the heartthrob-turned-super-producer cemented his own role as a prophet in the mid-century American movie religion. This week, Be Reel looks back...

Whether their torment is played for laughs, cold shivers, or #MeToo rage, assistants get a raw deal on screen. This week, as Kitty Green’s incisive new drama “ The Assistant ” rolls out around the country, Chance and Noah look at the role of assistants in cinema and real life, also revisiting “ The Devil Wears Prada ” (2006) and “ Secretary ” (2002). They're thrilled to be joined by Daily Beast wr...

Fans of Indie Beat, rejoice... we have returned. On this episode we spoke to filmmaker Alexander Jorgensen. Jorgensen, originally hailing from Canada, has made a number of films since planting himself in the US of A. He started off focusing most of his time exploring various visual ideas via indie music videos while also paying the bills by picking up random cinematography or post-production gigs...

After years of cratering in Noah's office Oscars pool, we've dispensed with the official bubbling and brought in a third voice to make sense of Hollywood's biggest (and often obtusest) night. Acclaimed "Sweet & Low" author Nick White returns to BE REEL to predict and critique the 2020 favorites. Highlights include Noah's surprise anointing of "The Irishman" for Oscars glory, Chance's historica...

As always, IndieBeat is part of  The Playlist Podcast Network —which includes The 4th Wall, Be Reel, The Discourse, and more – and can be heard on  iTunes ,  AnchorFM,  Soundcloud ,  Stitcher , and now on  Spotify . To listen on this page, you can stream the podcast via the  AnchorFM  embed below or up top. Follow us on  iTunes , and you’ll get this pod...

"Bad Boys, bad boys / whatcha gonna do / whatcha gonna do when we rate and review?" It’s 2020, and Columbia Pictures has dug deep into its intellectual property vault for a 17-year dormant Will Smith franchise with no meaningful reason to continue. Perhaps more surprising, the latest installment—" Bad Boys For Life "—is a hit . For those who know the Bad Boys franchise only as one big exploding ca...

With December all but gone, Noah and Chance reflect on the year in film with a series of semi-original accolades. What was their favorite 2019 performance with no awards potential? Biggest in-theater laugh? Favorite shot? Steepest letdown? What movie will be talked about differently in 2029? In the end, they give their Top 10 lists and bid the year in movies a fond farewell. Happy new year!

This week, Chance and Noah dare to ask a question posed by many conned, spurned and murdered Patricia Highsmith characters: "Who are you, Tom Ripley?" As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of Anthony Minghella’s seminal Matt Damon vehicle " The Talented Mr. Ripley ," we seek out the character’s origins in the acclaimed Highsmith novels and the many resulting film adaptations. In addition to the 199...

Ryan Oliver is joined by Lindsey Romain (Nerdist, Heylo Reylo) and Playlist Editor-in-Chief Rodrigo Perez to discuss "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker," the ninth - and final - film in the "Star Wars" saga. 0:00-31:34: “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” Review 31:35-1:43:16: “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” ***SPOILERS*** 1:43:17 - End: The Grab Bag        &nbs...

It’s less than two weeks until Christmas, so it’s only fitting that The Fourth Wall’s fifteenth episode, an interview with the impassioned and intelligent “ Uncut Gems ” composer Daniel Lopatin , also known by his music persona Oneohtrix Point Never , would be preceded by a mini-tailspin of manic energy more stressful than the click-clack of going shopping at the mall a few days before the holiday...