Wind, Reel, & Print

EPISODE 053: LESSONS IN FILM MOVEMENTS   Featuring: Mad Max (1979); Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975); Dead Calm (1989); Walkabout (1971)   From the outback gothic Ozploitation of “Mad Max” to the proto-Lynchian affect of “Picnic at Hanging Rock”, the impact of Australian New Wave remains resoundingly influential albeit relatively unheard of. Boasting contemporary Hollywood headliners such as Nicole K...

EPISODE 052: WEIRD @ WR&P   In an attempt to repair an irreparable movie, Wind Reel & Print tackles the complicated reputation of Jim Carrey’s 1994 film “The Mask”. Despite having higher reviews than Weird @ WR&P favorite “The Cat in the Hat”, both Ryan and Kevin find “The Mask” to be rather lackluster and quite displeasing. Convoluted in its influence and intention, this comic book ad...

EPISODE 051: LESSONS IN FILM GENRE   Featuring: Early Abstractions (1965); Belladonna of Sadness (1973); Fantastic Planet (1973); Mad God (2021)   In the spirit of “getting weird”, WR&P cohosts enter their intergalactic space portal and travel to unique worlds of the experimental and the animated. With guided tours from alien extraordinaires such as Phil Tippett and René Laloux, this adventuro...

EPISODE 050: LESSONS IN FILM HISTORY   Featuring: Gone with the Wind (1939); Wizard of Oz (1939); Citizen Kane (1941); Casablanca (1942)   The Wind Reel & Print locomotive continues into the capital city of Golden Age Hollywood as the pod takes on the Mt. Rushmore of Hollywood filmmaking. With nothing much else to add to the nearly century-long conversation, Ryan and Kevin get candid with thei...

EPISODE 049: LESSONS IN FILM HISTORY   Featuring: It Happened One Night (1934); Trouble in Paradise (1932); Bringing Up Baby (1938); His Girl Friday (1940)   Taking a restful stop at Screwball Station, the Wind Reel & Print locomotive takes another trip into the land of Golden Age Hollywood. With special appearances from the likes of Clark Gable, Katherine Hepburn, and Cary Grant, this whirlwi...

EPISODE 048: THEATER ADVENTURES   WR&P cohosts catch the opening weekend premiere of Brady Corbet’s moving Oscar-nominated movie The Brutalist (2024). While digesting the film’s impact, Ryan and Kevin praise movie for its insistence on being a serious picture, complete with an overture and an intermission and a real appreciation for sound and image. Kevin also reads into the film’s political p...

EPISODE 047: LESSONS IN FILM HISTORY   Featuring: Birth of a Nation (1915); The Jazz Singer (1927); Gummo (1997); Bamboozled (2000)   Wind Reel & Print explores the history of racism and exploitation in the entertainment industry as Kevin bundles four films that deal with minstrel shows and vaudeville. Starting with the invention of cinematic language at the top of the Twentieth century, this...

EPISODE 046: THEATER ADVENTURES   After catching last weekend’s number one box office movie, Ryan and Kevin offer their initial reactions to Ryan Coogler’s newest picture “Sinners”. While connecting this film to Coogler’s debut feature “Fruitvale Station”, WR&P cohosts discuss the progressions of the director’s filmmaking career, including his interest in American race politics, his collaborat...

EPISODE 045: LESSONS IN FILM HISTORY (GENRE)   Featuring: Notorious (1946); Maltese Falcon (1941); Double Indemnity (1944); Sunset Boulevard (1950); The Third Man (1949)   Taking direct influence from German Expressionism, American filmmakers rebranded the dark and paranoid into their own film noir. Popularized in the 1940s and subsequently revived into contemporary movements of neonoir and neon n...

EPISODE 044: LETTERBOXD TOP 250 SHUFFLE   Featuring: The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), An Autumn Afternoon (1962), The Silence of the Lambs (1991)   As Ryan and Kevin do the Letterboxd Top 250 Shuffle, the podcast lands on a quartet of films that uncover the holes we climb out of. Whether that be systems of oppression, wartime prison labor camps, or lofty existent...

EPISODE 043: THEATER ADVENTURES   Featuring: The Fall (2006), Anora (2024)   Wind Reel & Print review their recent visit to San Francisco’s historic Roxie Theater to catch a chance double feature consisting of Tarsem’s “The Fall” and Sean Baker’s recent Oscar-darling “Anora”. (Special Shoutout to Willie!)

EPISODE 042: META MOVIES   After a short trip to the scenic American town of “Dogville”, WR&P cohosts Ryan and Kevin report back with glowing reviews. Delivering on the Lars von Trier promise, this 2003 Nicole Kidman-led experimental drama explores Brechtian approaches to narrative and nihilistic ruminations on the Land of the Free. Kevin points a finger at Ryan.

EPISODE 041: BAY AREA FLICKS   WR&P embarks on another stay-cation as Ryan quizzes Kevin on the local impact of Ryan Coogler’s directorial feature debut “Fruitvale Station”. Released in 2013 with the support of Sundance, this quaint little picture quietly attains the booming voice of the Bay Area. Through its social realist aesthetic and dedication to Oakland faces and places, Coogler’s “Fruit...

EPISODE 040: WEIRD @ WR&P   Despite landing one of the lowest marks in Wind Reel & Print history, Kevin Costner’s 1995 star vehicle “Waterworld” buoys as an intriguing Hollywood blockbuster with …so much… potential. This unabashed “Mad Max” ripoff is clearly missing the George Miller spark, perfectly executing fantastical dystopian possibilities while operating with a completely deflated s...

EPISODE 039: FOUNDATIONAL FILMS   Ryan sends the derrick back into the well as he recalls memories formed around Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2007 Oscar-darling “There Will Be Blood”. Armed with the Daniel Plainview ‘stache, the WR&P co-host still finds reverence in the film’s portrayal of toxic masculinity, its discussion of proto-American capitalism, and how this all ties into the work of Upton Si...

EPISODE 038: LETTERBOXD TOP 250 SHUFFLE   Featuring: Sansho the Bailiff (1954), Andrei Rublev (1966), Central Station (1998), Eureka (2000)   On this week’s episode of Wind Reel & Print’s Letterboxd Top 250 Shuffle, cohosts Ryan and Kevin pull out the Bingo sheets as they prepare to define what it means to be a Top 250 film. Examines the human condition through personal trauma? Check! Includes...

EPISODE 037: LESSONS IN FILM HISTORY (DIRECTORS)   Featuring: The Loveless (1981), Point Break (1991), Detroit (2017)   As a quasi-response to “Nashville”, this week’s WR&P podcast episode centers director Kathryn Bigelow and a trio of titles spanning her entire filmmaking career so far. Bigelow’s knack for rugged masculinity and right-leaning political views challenges the ways we consider ge...

EPISODE 036: LESSONS IN FILM HISTORY (GENRE)   Featuring: Dracula (1931), The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967), Interview with a Vampire (1994), What We Do in the Shadows? (2014)   WR&P co-hosts Ryan and Kevin define the narrative and aesthetic parameters of the “Vampire Movie” by examining four films which cover nearly a century of blood-sucking cinema. With a meta-text predating movies themse...

EPISODE 035: FILM THEORY DISCUSSIONS   What does it mean to watch a movie? Are you watching for the plot or the aesthetics? Are you looking to be entertained or emotionally stirred? Do you want to be able to think about it or do you just want to turn your brain off? These are all important questions to ask when you step into the proverbial theater. WR&P cohosts Ryan and Kevin take the time to...

EPISODE 034: LESSONS IN FILM HISTORY (FILM MOVEMENTS)   Featuring: Funny Ha Ha (2002), The Puffy Chair (2005), Mutual Appreciation (2005), Nights and Weekends (2007)   Ryan and Kevin explore the Mount Rushmore of Mumblecore by focusing on films by Greta Gerwig, Andrew Bujalski, the Duplass Brothers, and Joe Swanberg. Though the label is often loathed by the filmmakers who made these movies, mumble...

EPISODE 033: BAY AREA FLICKS   As a personal recommendation, Kevin introduces 2005’s “Just Like Heaven” as a San Francisco-based Bay Area movie. Featuring Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo and directed by supernatural rom-com expert Mark Waters, this mid-2000s relic leaves whispers of screwball and mumblecore character types within what Ryan describes as “elevated Hallmark”. The discussion soon d...

EPISODE 032: WEIRD @ WR&P   Ryan and Kevin refresh their childhood memory by revisiting a Dick Van Dyke B-side in 1968’s “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”. WR&P cohosts discuss why this rewatch settled into disappointment while stressing the negative impacts of industry and market pressures on the creative process.

EPISODE 031: GUEST STARRING SAM ISOLA   Featuring: McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), Nashville (1975), Secret Honor (1984), Short Cuts (1993)   How do you pinhole a director who dabbled in a little bit of everything? Wind Reel & Print recruits cinema-lover Sam Isola to help dissect the ever-evolving filmmaking style of Robert Altman. Specifically choosing four films outside of his mainstream hi...

EPISODE 030: LETTERBOXD TOP 250 SHUFFLE   Featuring: Do The Right Thing (1989), Z (1969), Rocco and His Brothers (1960), A Woman Under the Influence (1974)   In one of the more devastating episodes of the Letterboxd Top 250 Shuffle, Ryan and Kevin explore a deeply traumatizing cinematic quartet ranging from blazing political thrillers to tense family dramas.

EPISODE 029: DOUBLE FEATURES & TRILOGIES   Featuring: All About Eve (1950), Showgirls (1995) On recommendation from MOViES4MANiACS’ Jesse Hawthorne Ficks , WR&P hosts Ryan and Kevin examine the narrative similarities of Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s classic Hollywood picture “All About Eve” and Paul Verhoeven’s raucous dark comedy “Showgirls.” They note how both these films leverage performance a...