Words and Movies

We stick with the fantasy thing for one more week, but with a different spin, as we examine a pair of films that have more of a "What If?" thing going on. In the first half of our episode we have INSIGNIFICANCE (1985), based on the play of the same name by Terry Johnson and directed here by Nicolas Roeg. We see four almost-unnamed famous people come together in a very interesting way in...

In this half of the episode we're talking about Hanna, directed by Joe Wright and starring Saoirse Ronan in the title role. This is truly a modern-day story, with story beats that have fairy-tale aspects to them...and a couple of scenes that are more overtly related to fairy tales. This film was the basis for the Amazon Prime TV series of the same name, and we spend a little time exploring the...

We continue our series of modern-day fairy tales with The Bride With White Hair, from 1993. It's a Wuxia film with a star-crossed lovers element, and while it might be a little confusing early on, stick with it and you'll be glad you did.

In this second half of the episode, we're reviewing Mona Lisa, a film from 1986 directed and co-written by Neil Jordan. Bob Hoskins and Cathy Tyson are an unlikely pair doing unlikely stuff. And if you've noticed that I haven't drawn the specific parallels to the fairy tales involved, you'd be correct. You'll have to listen to the episode for that. COMING ATTRACTIONS: In Reel 6...

This is the first of two episodes where we look at fairy tales told through a modern lens. In this half, we start off with Ball of Fire (1941), directed by Howard Hawks and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Gary Cooper and a host of character actors. Stanwyck plays a woman hiding out from the police because she's a material witness to a crime. She finds herself staying with a house full of scholars w...

We conclude our short series with a look at Ocean's Eleven, directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring George Clooney and a Cast of Thousands. In both films everybody seems to be having some breezy fun, but the purpose of that fun is kind of different, and it works better here. Again, that's in our humble opinions.

Ordinarily, when we see a film that's a remake of a previous movie, we tend to say that the original was better. But in this second of two episodes, we discuss a pair of films in which the remake was the superior version, at least in our humble opinions. Here in Part One, we're looking at The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), directed by John McTiernan and starring Pierce Brosnan and René Russo....

In Part 2 of our episode, we go to 1988 and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, starring Michael Caine and Steve Martin, directed by Frank Oz. It's the second of FOUR different versions of this story: the original from 1964, this version, and then two which involved gender flips. Of the four, this is the best one, so say we. COMING ATTRACTIONS:  We continue this remake conceit with another pair of films...

We so often complain that Hollywood has no original ideas, but then we're also forced to concede occasionally that from time to time, the remake actually does a better job of telling the story. We don't enjoy conceding that, but that's the way it goes sometimes. With that in mind, this is the first of two episodes taking a look at films whose remakes surpassed the originals. First one...

Here in Part Two, we look at the 2016 edition of Loving . This film, which was directed by Jeff Nichols, stars Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton as Mildred and Richard Loving, the real-life couple who turned their relationship into a Federal case. COMING ATTRACTIONS: Our next episode is the first of two in which we examine remakes that surpassed their originals. And we start with The Man Who Knew Too M...

We return to the well of two films whose only commonality is their title. In this episode we look at Loving , from 1970 and 2016. The first half of our episode stars George Segal and Eva Marie Saint, and was directed by Irvin Kershner. Segal stars as a freelance artist who's attempting to revitalize his career just as his marriage to Eva Marie Saint begins to fall apart. It's a serious sto...

Our conversation jumps to 1987. This No Way Out stars Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman and Sean Young in a story of Cold War intrigue. We practically guarantee that you'll be caught off-guard by the way everything resolves. Strap yourself in; we had a LOT to say.

For the next two episodes, we'll be looking at films whose only commonality is their title. In this episode we're screening two films titled No Way Out . In the first half, it's the 1950 version starring Sidney Poitier in his feature film debut, along with Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell and Stephen McNally. Poitier is a doctor who runs into race issues and a medical complication during...

In Part Two of our episode, it's Starship Troopers , from 1997. Paul Verhoeven takes us to a far future society in which everyone is free so long as you're a Fascist. There are a lot of elements of Robert A. Heinlein's original story in there, but it's definitely a different plot line and a different mentality that, in hindsight, may have been more prescient than anyone suspected a...

We've covered several different kinds of adaptations, and the one thing that they have in common is that they're in some way faithful to their source material. This time around, not so much. And that's why this episode is titled "Subversive Adaptations." In these two films, the intent of some portion of the original story has been turned on its head to give you a similar stor...

...nope, still ain't done. From Texas we come to Boston and 2003's Mystic River, directed by Clint Eastwood. It's a powerful film about a trio of boys, one of whom is caught up in a bad situation. Many years later, this event still haunts all three of them. COMING ATTRACTIONS: Join us as we take on a couple of subversive adaptations. First up is Kiss Me Deadly , from 1955. Then we jump...

...but it sure ain't done with us. And that's what's going on with this week's extra-packed episode. We have a couple of films wherein the characters are trying to deal with events in the distant past. We start it off with Lone Star, from 1996. John Sayles directed this film about a sheriff who's living in his father's shadow in a small Texas border town, and a murder from...

In the second half of our episode, we're looking at the Oscar-winning film PARASITE, co-written and directed by Bong Joon Ho. In this film, a poor Korean family slowly infiltrates themselves into the lives of a wealthy family. That they do so isn't necessarily bad; how they do it is a little on the questionable side. But there are a lot of twists and turns in this dark comedy, and every ti...

TANSTAAFL: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch As we get back on track with our episode counts, we discover the downside of capitalism, specifically that there are people who need to take advantages of cracks in the system to get along. In the first half of our episode we take a peek at SHOPLIFTERS, from 2018 and directed by Hirokazu Koreeda. It's a look at a very unusual family in T...

In Part 2 of this episode, we look at the 2002 film Rabbit-Proof Fence , directed by Philip Noyce. In this film the characters aren't confronting their sins, but it's a modern-day reckoning of events that have taken place within the lifetimes of some people who are still alive today. You'll find yourself running through a gamut of emotions as you trail three young girls as they make th...

What happened to Episode 59? I hear you saying. Well...I explain it at the start of the episode, but the short answer is that I had a post-production issue, so the episode will be delayed. So because Episode 60 is the last of the Around the World in 20 Films series, we decided to release this one and give you a brand-new Episode 59 next time around. And just temporarily ignore the previews for Epi...

In Part 2 of this week's episode, we move to Spain, for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), directed by Pedro Almodovar. It's a movie that takes some serious subject matters and plays them for comedy, but despite that there are no false notes among all the weird coincidences we bump into. COMING ATTRACTIONS: We return to Asia for our next episode. Our first entry is the Japan...

Films featuring women as the central character often have depressingly similar threads moving through them, as though women in general were monolithic beings. This time around, we continue our trip Around the World in Twenty Films with a look at two films centered on women who are affected by their jobs, but who aren't defined by them. In Part One we have When A Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960)...

In the second half of our episode we're looking at events After the Wedding, from 2006. As with most big events, people learn things about themselves--and each other--and this is no exception. But the revelation that takes place this time around has some strange implications for someone who'd come to the event for another reason altogether. COMING ATTRACTIONS: Our journey Around the World...

Weddings are funny things, but mostly if you're not directly involved with them. They're typically big and with that bigness comes the big drama that comes with large numbers of people coming together in one place. But there's also a commonality to these events, even if the specific rituals are different. In this episode we continue our Around the World in Twenty Films series, first wi...