At a critical moment in the billionaire vs. bear thriller “The Edge” (1997), protagonist Charles Morse (Anthony Hopkins) espouses a rather odd theory of what kills most people stranded in the wilderness—shame. There are certainly many mean beasts in today’s “Man vs. Beasts: Alaska Edition” episode of Be Reel. But David Mamet’s script for “The Edge” might have a point. When terror takes hold in films like “The Edge,” it’s often not the gray wolves, and Kodiak bears that doom the humans.

Continue reading Man Vs. Alaska: ‘The Edge’ At 25, ‘The Grey’ & ‘Hold The Dark’ [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

Among the dozens of chilling lines delivered by Ed Kemper (Cameron Britton) in “Mindhunter,” one of the most instructive for understanding David Fincher’s filmography is Kemper’s simple definition of the serial killer: “people who hunt other people for a vocation.”

READ MORE: The Essentials: The Films Of David Fincher Ranked

The shockingly blunt description ascribes a perverse professionalism to a murderer’s deluded violence.

Continue reading David Fincher At 60: His Detectives, Serial Killers & Infinite Psychological Chess Game [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

“You know me?” Dale Dickey and Wes Studi vulnerably ask each other when their long-lost characters finally reunite in “A Love Song” (2022). By now, we sure do. Studi and Dickey are the very definitions of gritty, credible character actors who’ve imprinted themselves on cinephiles’ memories with decades of committed, vanity-less work. But now, director Max Walker-Silverman’s debut film—a charming country romance out July 29 from Bleecker Street—unfurls a new terrain.

Continue reading ‘A Love Song’: Wes Studi & Dale Dickey On Acting Bucket Lists & Finally Playing Romantic Leads [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

For the 10th anniversary of “Magic Mike,” Be Reel makes it rain critical reflection on Channing Tatum’s career-defining role and other standouts of the male stripper genre like “The Full Monty” (1997) and “Chocolate City” (2015). After watching all three, suffice it to say if this episode had a stage name, it would probably be “Cash Rich” or “Threatened Masculinity.” 

READ MORE: The 15 Best Male Striptease Scenes Before’ Magic Mike XXL Hits Theaters

Stephen Soderbergh’s “Magic Mike” is remembered today as a far darker entry to this soon-to-be-trilogy than “Magic Mike XXL” (2015).

Continue reading ‘Magic Mike’ At 10: Channing Tatum’s Still-Underrated Stardom & The Male Stripper Movie Subgenre [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

With its affection for loopy gadgets, unlikely friendships, and large vegetables, the new UK comedy “Brian and Charles” resembles a live-action Aardman film. (Think “Wallace & Gromit” shot to look like a documentary.)

On a new Be Reel, I chat with director Jim Archer (“The Young Offenders,” “Big Boys”) about his debut feature.

Continue reading ‘Brian And Charles’ Director Jim Archer Talks Rebellious Robots, Mannequin Heads & Mockumentary Pitfalls [Be Reel Pocast] at The Playlist.

For as long as movies have depicted nuns, movies have subverted nuns. Go back to the Powell and Pressburger thriller “Black Narcissus” (1947), and you’ll find filmmakers interested in the same themes of temptation, revulsion, and liberation captured in today’s Be Reel category. Granted, do “Sister Act” (1992), “The Nun” (2018), and “Benedetta” (2021) live up to the painterly standards of P&P?

Continue reading Fun With Nuns: ‘Sister Act’ at 30, ‘Benedetta’ and ‘The Nun’ [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

Countless movies capture the exhilaration and horror of high school, but only a select few resurrect those qualities for high school reunions. On a new Be Reel, we reminisce on this delightful and harrowing subgenre, featuring “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion” (1997), “Peggy Sue Got Married” (1986) and “Central Intelligence” (2016). There’s one universal takeaway: even one night of reliving high school sends grown adults off the deep end.

Continue reading ‘Romy And Michele’ At 25: The Transportive Insanity of High School Reunion Movies [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

In the wake of “Death On The Nile,” Be Reel peers through its spyglass at that classic sub-sub-genre Nautical Murder Mysteries. Along for the pleasure cruise is Mashable illustrator Bob Al-Greene, who’s currently working on the first-ever graphic novelization of an Agatha Christie mystery. We talk Hercule Poirot, Kenneth Branagh, and distracting CGI before diving into our other nautical murder mysteries: “Dead Calm” (1989) and “Murder Mystery” (2019).

Continue reading ‘Death On The Nile,’ ‘Dead Calm’ & The Nautical Murder Mystery [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

While 2020 kept so many families painfully apart, three acclaimed indies from last year made the opposite case: “Why do I see these people again?”

LISTEN: ‘The Fellowship Of The Ring’ At 20: Heralding An Unmatched Trilogy’s Journey There And Back Again [Be Reel Podcast]

Playing a little 2021 catch-up, Be Reel drops by to visit “Spencer” (2021), “Shiva Baby” (2021), and “The Humans” (2021), exploring how families—be they English royalty or middle-class Americans—banter, bristle, covet nostalgia, push buttons, and flirt with genuine horror.

Continue reading The Nightmare Family Function Movies Of 2021 [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

Continue reading Muhammad Ali At 80: The Unwavering Film Legacy Of The Greatest [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

One doesn’t simply walk into a “Lord of the Rings” episode—at least not without a 20-year anniversary and amateur Tolkien scholar Brent Rivers on one’s side. On today’s blockbuster Be Reel, our fellowship reflects on an all-time great film trilogy, assessing LOTR’s bizarre relationship to star power, how Peter Jackson adapted almost anti-modern novels, and how the trilogy’s approach to franchise filmmaking stands alone.

Continue reading ‘The Fellowship Of The Ring’ At 20: Heralding An Unmatched Trilogy’s Journey There And Back Again [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

After many Thanksgivings spent sneaking away to record supersized episodes of Be Reel, we finally do the sensible thing and just cover films about Turkey Day itself. The trio of “Planes, Trains & Automobiles” (1987), “Home For The Holidays” (1995) and “The Ice Storm” (1997) explores the great lengths families go to gather, despite cornucopias of evidence that perhaps they shouldn’t.

Continue reading Thanksgiving Movies: The Holiday Canon’s Cranky Little Cousin [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

By Wes Craven‘s third decade reinventing Hollywood horror, the “Nightmare on Elm Street” creator found himself asking, “What’s the point of all this slashing?” He then embarked on a third act of socially critical and self-reflexive scary movies: “The People Under The Stairs” (1991), “Wes Craven’s New Nightmare” (1994), and “Scream” (1996).

LISTEN: ‘Ghost World’ At 20: The Vicarious Thrills Of Personal Ad Movies [Be Reel Podcast]

With two of those three titles celebrating anniversaries this autumn (30 for “People” and 25 for “Scream”), welcome to your Be Reel Halloween category as we dig into all the important ’90s Craven questions:

• What’s the most policially prescient element of “People?”
• Does “Scream” get enough credit for its sheer setpiece orchestration?

Continue reading Revisiting Wes Craven’s ’90s Nightmares [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

Before the DM or chatroom, if you wanted to connect with a stranger pseudo-anonymously, you bought a personal ad. This week, Be Reel seeks three films with classified ads as inciting incidents: “Desperately Seeking Susan” (1985), “Single White Female” (1992) and the now 20-year-old “Ghost World” (2001). Romance, murder and vicarious living abound, plus the story of Chance and Noah once answering an ad.

Continue reading ‘Ghost World’ At 20: The Vicarious Thrills Of Personal Ad Movies [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

It’s not yet August, but this summer has already smothered the United States in multiple record-breaking heatwaves. As with any crisis, Be Reel looks to the movies for wisdom, catharsis, and lunacy. This week, it’s three heatwave pictures: “The Seven Year Itch” (1957), “Do The Right Thing” (1989), and “Weekend at Bernie’s” (1989).

LISTEN: ‘Willy Wonka’ At 50: The Beauty And Peril Of Pure Imagination [Be Reel Podcast]

Now, this podcast category isn’t necessarily synonymous with, say, “Sweatiest Movies.” If so, we would’ve just watched and reviewed “Body Heat” (1981) three times.

Continue reading Hot Enough For You?: Enjoy Some Heatwave Films [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

In honor of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” (1971) turning 50, we’ve constructed a podcast category about bizarro adults and the puzzle worlds they make for kids.

LISTEN: An Ode To Movie Theaters In Movies [Be Reel Podcast]

After unpacking the simultaneous entrancement and discomfort of watching candymen, goblin kings, and world-builders covet innocent children for mysterious ends, Be Reel plunges into the alternate realities of “Willy Wonka,” “Labyrinth” (1986), and “Tomorrowland” (2015).

Continue reading ‘Willy Wonka’ At 50: The Beauty And Peril Of Pure Imagination [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

So says every warden on today’s podcast, Alcatraz was the most secure prison ever constructed. Film directors, of course, took that as a challenge and gave us movies about prisoners with dreams too big for the famous San Francisco jail. This week, Be Reel breaks out with “Birdman of Alcatraz” (1962), “Escape From Alcatraz” (1979), and “The Rock” (1996).

Continue reading ‘The Rock’ At 25 & The Legacy Of Alcatraz Movies at The Playlist.

Hollywood is a self-reflexive industry, and filmmakers a self-reflexive bunch. Case in point, if Be Reel were to undertake “Movies About Making Movies” as a podcast category, it would include more titles than we could probably watch in a year. Now, there aren’t quite as many films focused on where we watch our movies, but the history of theaters popping up in the pictures stretches all the way back to the transportive fantasy of Buster Keaton’s “Sherlock Jr.

Continue reading An Ode To Movie Theaters In Movies [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

Despite directing with one of the most distinct voices in action-movie history, John Woo’s evolution is among the most amazing elements of a career-best known for blazing barrels, shadow selves, and “heroic bloodshed.” To celebrate the Hong Kong legend’s 75th birthday, Be Reel looks back at a career that took off so dynamically in 1986 with “A Better Tomorrow” that it altered Hong Kong fashion and movie-going practices.

Continue reading John Woo At 75: Three Eras, Two Barrels, One Vision That Forever Changed Action Cinema [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

No matter your age, no matter your fear tolerance, there’s a moment in most every Henry Selick film you’re certain you’ll be devoured. Boogie men, nightmare rhinos, and button-eyed imposter moms leap toward the lens from the famous stop-motion animator’s menagerie of monsters. Even more, they appear just as lifelike as Selick’s beautifully anguished protagonists in “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” (1993), “James and the Giant Peach” (1996), and “Coraline” (2009).

Continue reading Henry Selick: The (Pumpkin) King Of Stop Motion Animation [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

If you want to take a shallow view of how today’s Be Reel amnesia trifecta ended up all falling in the 1996-2001 range, blame it on two hosts in their early-30s. But we would argue there was something in the water in the five-year window that gave us “Memento” (2001), “Mulholland Drive” (2001), “The Long Kiss Goodnight” (1996), not to mention the first of the ‘Bourne‘ movies.

Continue reading ‘Memento’ At 20: Generative Repression & Amnesia’s Golden Movie Era [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

Decades before he carried Batman’s breakfast, grunted “bah-humbug” at the Muppets, and launched a thousand mediocre Cockney impersonations, Michael Caine mostly played transgressors.

LISTEN: Kasi Lemmons: The Power of Myth, History, And Black Love [Be Reel Podcast]

In films like “Alfie” (1966), “The Italian Job” (1969), “Get Carter” (1971), and “The Man Who Would Be King” (1975), Caine brought a streetwise intelligence to a gallery of anti-social rogues: philanderers, killers and colonialists.

Continue reading The Man Who Would Be Caine [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

Kasi Lemmons is the rare filmmaker as comfortable in dreamworlds as histories. This week, Be Reel celebrates the groundbreaking director’s 60th trip around the sun by discussing three of Lemmons’ best-known films: “Eve’s Bayou” (1997), “Talk To Me” (2007), and “Harriet” (2019). 

We’re thrilled to be joined by Christina Baker, a professor of critical race and ethnic studies at the University of California, Merced and the author of “Kasi Lemmons: Interviews.” Baker has written extensively on Lemmons’ films and interviewed the director herself, crafting new theories about Lemmons’ expertise with symbolism and her commitment to storytelling via deep, complex character relationships. 

LISTEN: Alan J.

Continue reading Kasi Lemmons: The Power of Myth, History, And Black Love [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

This Valentine’s Day, “The Silence of the Lambs” celebrates 30 years of haunting imaginations and changing serial-killer cinema forever.

On this week’s Be Reel, Noah and Chance appreciate the many inimitable qualities of Jonathan Demme‘s 1991 classic, including its lack of genre fealty, its simultaneous intensity and restraint, and how it perfectly positions Clarice Starling as the true detective (so to speak) and Hannibal Lecter as a beyond-memorable side dish.

Continue reading Revisiting ‘Silence of the Lambs’ At 30 & The Lecterverse’s Wide Menu Detectives And Demons [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.

Though he made his best films in an era when auteurism was redefining American cinema, Alan J. Pakula never quite landed (or sought) the name recognition of peers like Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, or William Friedkin.

Most famous for “All the President’s Men” (1976) and “Sophie’s Choice,” (1982) Pakula built a career focused on the fateful decisions we make and rules we break—both as characters on screen and behind the camera.

Continue reading Alan J. Pakula: A Master Director (And Derailer) Of American Mysteries [Be Reel Podcast] at The Playlist.