Two Reel Cinema Club

Watch the skies! Wait, no, DON’T watch the skies, look away!! Jordan Peele’s new scifi horror film Nope dives screaming onto the screen this episode, raining blood, coins and general dread on the audience. But what’s it really about? And is it as skilful in its exploration of the lives of people of colour in a science fiction scenario as John Sayles’ 1984 picture The Brother From Another Planet? J...

We’ve been let down by modern cinema’s conservative and risk averse distribution policies this week, meaning our scheduled film My Old School never turned up. So for the first time we’re recording a film podcast without actually having seen a film. Great. Instead we spend the time talking about some of our favourite school based films that HAVE shown up in the past. And in penance for our poor pla...

Okay, no-one’s really sure how this happened, but bear with us. Somehow, somehow, in a logical, progressive fashion, we set out to discuss the legacy of colonialism and in the end managed to segue from an examination of Victorian museum design to the movie Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Yes, yes, it could have happened to anyone. Just don’t expect us to ever do it again. If you enjoyed the show, find us on...

This episode we’re PUNCHING TIGERS IN THE FACE with the incredible Indian breakout hit RRR.  And if that’s not overpowering enough, we’re also watching 1939 adventure movie classic Gunga Din.  Join us for a measured discussion of colonialism, nationalism, cinematic idioms, and LITERALLY THROWING A MOTORCYCLE OVERARM AS A WEAPON WHILE EVERYTHING ELSE ON SCREEN EXPLODES! If you enjoyed the show, fin...

At the popcorn counter this time we try to list our top three war films, only to find we’ve out manoeuvred each other and ended up with a pyrrhic victory: five good movies and one that’s so bad it earns a whole new rating. If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media: Twitter: @tworeelcineclub Instagram: @tworeelcinemaclub Or come to our website, where we’ll be writing about the movies we cove...

There are lots of advantages to putting God in your film. No-one knows what they look like, so casting can be as crazy as you like, and (so far) they never sue over the unlicensed use of their image. We try to remember as many examples of God on screen as we can while we queue at the popcorn counter. Inevitably we will have missed a few - but that’ll all be sorted out by Judgement Day, won’t it? I...

Ancient gods meet the Marvel Cinematic Universe in this episode, as Thor: Love and Thunder clashes with 1963’s Jason and the Argonauts. Join us for epic tales of the Quest for the Three S’s: swords, sandals and semi-naked men.  But it turns out there’s more than just escapism on screen, as the two films also tell a parallel story about how ideas of empowerment and responsibility have changed over...

After sneaking a musical instrument into the popcorn counter, we prove once and for all that neither of us is Bob Dylan, but we have seen some kick ass concert movies. Which ones stand out and is the live music feature film due a comeback? If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media: Twitter: @tworeelcineclub Instagram: @tworeelcinemaclub Or come to our website, where we’ll be writing about t...

We’re All Shook Up this episode by the frenetic gyrations of Baz Luhrmann’s new biopic Elvis, another example of style trumping substance. But it’s hardly the first Hollywood film about white people making money out of black music - that might be The Jazz Singer, famously the first talkie (except it isn’t…) from 1927. Has cinema or the world changed as much as we hope in the last 95 years? If you...

Don’t believe what your parents told you, monsters are definitely real. After watching Godzilla and Jurassic World, we talk at the Popcorn Counter about a few of our favourite monster pictures, explain why we’re wary of swimming in three feet of water and lament the end of the broadcast television late night scare movie. If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media: Twitter: @tworeelcineclub I...

We’ve been to see Jurassic World Dominion for this episode, the sixth movie in a franchise that now feels a little like it dates back 65 million years. There’s a lot of stuff on fire in this film, but can it hold a candle to 1954’s Godzilla, the original Jurassic monster movie that stamped out the template for resurrected dinosaur flicks with its enormous, three toed foot? If you enjoyed the show,...

Forty years into his career Tom Cruise has his biggest opening ever. Has any actor ever had a career like that before?  Join us at the popcorn counter for a quick Cruise-a-thon, followed by an even quicker exit when we figure out who we should be careful of. If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media: Twitter: @tworeelcineclub Instagram: @tworeelcinemaclub

This episode we feel the need… the need for a broad reassessment of cinema’s portrayal of the military industrial complex.  Top Gun: Maverick sees Tom Cruise return to flight school after 36 years, but can it fly higher and faster than John Ford’s 1945 John Wayne picture They Were Expendable? And has the way cinema views militarism changed since World War 2? If you enjoyed the show, find us on soc...

Join us at the Popcorn Counter, where this episode we’re shooting the breeze about Martial Arts Cinema.  Warning: may contain scenes of two men talking about something they know nothing about. If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media: Twitter: @tworeelcineclub Instagram: @tworeelcinemaclub

We scoot across the multiverse and slide between parallel worlds in this episode, as we look at the new A24 picture Everything Everywhere All At Once, and revisit its ancestor, The Matrix. Has the world moved on since 1999? And find out why we wish one of these movies was available in suppository form... If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media: Twitter: @tworeelcineclub Instagram: @tworee...

This time while we queue at the Popcorn Counter, we talk all about actors who play actors who like actors who play actors. What’s the difference between an actor and a movie star? And who’s the Queen of the Hall of Mirrors?   If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media: Twitter: @tworeelcineclub Instagram: @tworeelcinemaclub  

Join us as we hit each other over the head with a big stick with ‘IRONY’ written on it. This episode we watch the new Nic Cage picture The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, and line it up against 1999’s Being John Malkovich. Is it possible to die from too much irony? Because it kind of feels like that’s possible.   If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media: Twitter: @tworeelcineclub Inst...

We always have ideas left over from recording main episodes, so we're going to start sharing some of them at the Popcorn Counter.  This time: our favourite meals in movies.  And is it the food or the company that's most important?

Hold onto your aprons as blood pours off the screen in this episode: Robert Eggers’ new, hyper violent Viking revenge tale The Northman draws a sword to challenge Ingmar Bergman’s 1957 classic The Seventh Seal. Which of them has the most to say about love, faith and death? And which of them has some naked dudes fighting near lava?

Everyone’s favourite rotoscope animator Richard Linklater returns to screens with Apollo 10 1/2 this month.  How does his new film about weightlessness measure up against his rather heavier 2006 picture A Scanner Darkly?

Three men, one woman, an isolated house, a gun. This episode we watch Netflix's new 90 minute thriller Windfall, and measure it up against 2004's German indie feature The Edukators. Lots of ideas in common here, but how do the body counts compare?

Two Afghan refugee stories this time, comparing current release Flee with 2002's In This World.  Both detail harrowing journeys across borders and through the hands of traffickers.  Have we learned anything in the last twenty years, or does the story remain the same?

Two Almodovar movies this episode: 2021's Parallel Mothers and 1999's All About My Mother.  What's changed in 22 years of Almodovar's career, and how much do the two films have in common? (Spoiler: a lot.)

This episode we watch the much acclaimed new Paul Thomas Anderson film Licorice Pizza and take it for a date with one of its primary influences, Amy Heckerling's debut feature Fast Times at Ridgemont High.  Two groups of teenagers from the 1970s and the 1980s: will they party on down by the pool or will they get into a fight over who scratched their older brother's car?

This episode we watch the famously expensive new Netflix feature Red Notice, and measure it up against 1955 French noir classic Rififi.  Two heist movies, but do they have more in common than that?