The Reel Take Podcast

It's a very special episode this week as all the way from Los Angeles we talk to bass player, producer, and music director Paul Bushnell about his life as a jobbing musician and his experience working on the seminal Irish movie from 1991, The Commitments. You can't move for '30 year retrospectives' about Alan Parker's film at the moment and, never one to miss a bandwagon as it rolls by, The Reel T...

This week The Reel Take goes to War! But because we are delicate souls we have elected to encase ourselves in several inches of armored plating and cocoon in a massive mobile killing machine designed only for destruction. On the suggestion of a loyal listener, this episode we will be discussing the 1998 film The Beast (also known as The Beast of War ), the story of the crew of a Soviet tank who ta...

We have hit the lofty heights of episode 31, the first episode of a brand new season, and since it's a debut of sorts, what better time to look at those first outings from our favourite film-makers. We have it all: premiere outings that mark artists as ones to watch, whether they be a Hollywood legend that would go on to cast a long shadow in a 60 year career, a previously unknown stage actor who...

It's the end of the world this week (not really, but we are taking a few weeks off as we've hit Take 30!) so what better time to look at endings and apocalypses of all types....we got your alien armageddons, your ape dystopias, your overcrowded hell-scapes, your environmental doomsdays and of course, your killer viruses, guaranteed to turn you into a brain munching zombie or a fanatical robe weari...

It's us against the world this week as we fight the prevailing tide of popular opinion and tackle those films where we think we're right and everybody else is wrong... Whether it's a classic of cinema that everyone loves and Ross hates, a children's favourite that leaves Sinead cold, or a gory Game of Thrones style bloodbath that came 12 years too soon for everyone except Niall, buckle up and get...

It's time for another special guest. This week, we talk to a fellow film fan who is also a musician, a writer, an actor, a stand-up comedian, (and he has a podcast and throws a great dinner party...) but don't trust him with your whistle. We are delighted to speak with Joe Rooney about one of his favourite films, Terrence Malick's 1978 masterpiece DAYS OF HEAVEN, as well as some of his fondest fil...

Happy Easter! As well as our regularly scheduled special Easter episode this week, we thought we'd treat you to a segment from the archives. Way back in 2019, on our radio segment Reel Reviews, we did a special feature about 'Easter Eggs' in movies - no not the chocolate variety, but the little inside jokes that film makers often add to their movies for those in the know. So sit back, treat yourse...

Easter is almost upon us and while some of our hosts believe it a time to reflect on hope, renewal, new life and how no winter lasts forever and no spring skips its turn, one of us (Sinead) thinks it's just an excuse to indulge their most decadent inclinations with the rich flavor of delicious chocolate. Whichever side of the debate you favour, this episode has something for everyone! The life of...

It's time for another Dealer's Choice episode, and this week, we turn our attention to an actor whose career spanned over half a century. He was best known as the epitome of suave seductive danger in the role of Commander James Bond, but he went on to great things outside Her Majesty’s Secret Service. From troubled cops to Victorian master criminals and Franciscan sleuths, it's time to look at som...

It's S. Patrick's Day, so what better time for a parade of some of cinema's most heinous wrongs against the Irish people. From atrocious accents to puerile paddywhackery, we cover offences from misdemeanors to capital crimes, including the most recent entry on the charge sheet, 2020's Wild Mountain Thyme. We answer questions like: Why is a film about Irish people in Ireland named after a Scottish...

To celebrate International Women's Day (alright, we know we're a day late but two thirds of this podcast is done by men, so what do you expect?) we decided to look at three female directors whose work we admire. A trailblazing actress turned director from the golden age of Hollywood, a writer/director responsible for some of the most famous romantic comedies of all time and a woman who defined the...

This week we once again take a trip back in time as we fill in some gaps in our cinema knowledge by catching up with the year's nominees for Best Picture at the 56th annual Academy Awards in 1984 visit the dystopian hell-scape that was 1984 to fill in some gaps in our cinema knowledge  Mr. Orwell would tell you it was a dystopian hell-scape ruled over by a ruthless regime intent on stripping...

In this week's episode, we present a salute to 'That Guys'. We’ve all been there: You’re watching a film, and you recognize the actor on screen, you've seen him in a million movies, but you just can’t name him. Though most often appearing in supporting roles, these unsung heroes of cinema deserve to have a spotlight shone on them, and what better way than devoting an entire episode The Reel Take t...

It's thirty years since the world fell in love with Anthony Hopkins as a whacky cannibal by the name of Hannibal (even though we'd already met the character five years before when Brian Cox did a turn in Michael Mann's neo-noir Manhunter, and we would go Mads for Mr. Mikkelsen's interpretation on the small screen). It's still Tony's performance opposite opposite Jodie Foster in Jonathan Demme's mu...

On this day, in 2019, on LMFM radio, Sinead, Ross and Niall met for the first time for Reel Reviews on the 11-1 Show to talk about film. It's still going every Friday at 12.15, although Ross has left for bigger and better things. But two years and a good few podcast episodes later, these three are still at it. Here, as a special Valentines Day gift to listeners of the Reel Take is the first ever t...

It's almost Valentine's Day so like a thoughtless spouse, we bring you the same gift we got you last year.... Before there was THE REEL TAKE, there was REEL REVIEWS PART DEUX, and because all the shops were shut and there were no flowers left at the petrol station, here's the our Reel Reviews Part Deux 2020: Rom Com Special. It's all the same great film banter, but we're looking each other in...

1975 and a little film about a great white shark terrorising a resort town changes the landscape of cinema forever. It created the summer blockbuster as we know it, launched the career of arguably one of the best known directors in Hollywood history and it made an entire generation wary of what lies beneath the waves. So it makes sense that in setting out to tackle such a behemoth, we enlist the a...

Buckle up and prepare to hit the road, as this episode we're getting all vehicular for a high octane discussion about car movies and road-trips. Three desperate characters with nothing to lose ...trapped in a hot metal box on wheels ...desperately trying to cover as much distance as possible and escape the demons of our past. Will Niall avoid the road blocks and evade the po-po to make it across c...

Have you heard? Rumour has it that this week's episode of The Reel Take is all about movie myths! From ghostly apparitions in 80's comedies to X-rated shenanigans in Disney animation, we look at the true and not so true famous legends connected to films down through the years. So get out your ball of red yarn and prepare to make connections the 'sheeple' are too blind to see, as we delve deeply in...

It's a case of Three Podcasters and a Little Episode this week in our first outing for the new year of 2021....and since the year is newly minted and but a baby we decided to look at movies about babies. So join us won't you, as we bicker about whether to let Ross cry or self-soothe, who's turn it is to do Niall's 3am feed, and exactly who gave Sinead refined sugar when they know it makes her hype...

Take a trip back in time with us this week when we visit 1975 and fill in some gaps in our cinema knowledge by catching up with that year's nominees for Best Picture at the 47th annual Academy Awards. The Godfather Part II went home with the gold and has been baptised into the pantheon of film classics. But in this age of mass surveillance, why aren't more people talking about The Conversation? Is...

In  a very special episode of the podcast, much like an anthropomorphic candelabra voiced by Jerry Orbach, we invite you to 'Be Our Guest'.  Well, more specifically, we invite actor, musician, illustrator and all round nice guy Will Guppy (the talent behind our theme tune) to be our guest. And what a charming guest he turns out to be. We sit down with Will and discuss one of his favourit...

In the first of our Dealer's Choice episodes, where we examine the career of one particular movie maker, Ross has selected screen writer, director and sometimes actor Shane Black. He began his career being eviscerated by the Predator and went on to become one of Hollywood's most well-known action screenwriters. But perhaps most pertinently, he is also responsible for kicking off Ross' favourite ev...

The saying goes 'A good beginning is half the task', and so it is for our favourite filmic fore-wards. The opening of a movie can set the tone for what's to come, and some of them even earn a place in cinematic history. From a snow globe slipping from the fingers of a dying millionaire as he mouths the mysterious word 'Rosebud', to the plucky blockade runner Tantive IV being captured by the Imperi...

There are, as the old adage goes, no small parts, only small actors and in this week's episode of the podcast, we put that to the test when we look at those scene stealing cameos that might be light on screen time, but live long in the memory of film goers.