A Reel Education

Our latest episode takes a look at Michael Crichton’s Westworld. Tim’s son Alex joins us for this movie about a futuristic theme park where nothing could possibly go wrong but, due to exceptionally bad design flaws, things do! Yul Brynner stars as a gunslinger who seems to have tired of constantly being beaten by rich tourists with no shooting skills. We enjoyed the movie but it has a few plot holes and we make sure to discuss the most glaring.

Next up, we are going to watch Ocean’s Eleven (2001)!

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We’ve been promising this movie for a while and finally it is time for us to watch The Big Lebowski! Breanna Cecile joins us to watch this film she compares to John Steinbeck’s ‘The Pearl,” which may be about the most intelligent observation made by any guest on our podcast ever. Certainly more intelligent than any observation made by our hosts. While this is not likely the best Coen Brothers film, it is probably their most popular. We take a deep dive into world of The Dude. Abide with us.

Next up is…we haven’t decided yet! Which may be for the best given our recent history.

The post Episode 114 – The Big Lebowski appeared first on A Reel Education.

We had a bit of an unintentional hiatus there because Melissa and Tim had a heck of a time coordinating schedules. We’re back and we are watching The Omen with guest Kyle Dekker. Tim also hasn’t seen the film so we have two newbies with a film Melissa watched on nearly constant loop when she was a kid. We take a look at this Son of the Devil horror film and spend a lot more time talking about Patrick Troughton than we probably should given the film stars Gregory freaking Peck. Hard to believe this is the first time we’ve watched a film starring Mr. Peck but at least we’ve finally fixed that problem!

Next up. we promise it’ll be The Big Lebowski.

The post Episode 113 – The Omen appeared first on A Reel Education.

Barb Lind returns as we look at yet another film nominated for Best Picture in 2018 – Get Out! Melissa is actually the only member of our podcasting crew who has seen the movie so Tim and Barb both get to experience it for the first time. This is the work of first time writer/director Jordan Peele who is best known for his comedic work. Get Out uses the horror genre to explore race relations and it is pretty damn creepy. If you haven’t watched it yet, you should!

Next up, we are finally going to watch a Coen Brothers film as we have a newbie experience The Big Lebowski!

The post Episode 112 – Get Out appeared first on A Reel Education.

As is our annual tradition, we sat down and watched the most recent winner for Best Picture. This year, it is a genre film by Guillermo Del Toro – The Shape of Water! Semi-regular guest newbie Barb Lind re-joins us to watch this fable about a fish man. We talk about Doug Jones because you kind of need to do that if you are going to be talking about a movie by Guillermo Del Toro as well as the rest of the cast. We also bring up being hit in the fact with a 2×4 more than once. Because that’s the kind of podcast we run here.

Up next, we will be watching another film nominated for Best Picture in 2018 – Get Out!

The post Episode 111 – The Shape of Water appeared first on A Reel Education.

This week is unusual because Melissa couldn’t make it and Tim was forced to be the movie expert. This proved difficult as it was only his second time watching the film! He and guest Kelvin Hatle do their best as they watch a favorite of many people who were children in the 80’s – The Goonies! Produced by Steven Spielberg, this film feels incredibly dated if you weren’t into it in the first place. Still, it holds a place of affection in the hearts of many so we take a look at what makes it tick.

Next up is…we don’t know! Whatever movie wins the Academy Award for Best Picture.

The post Episode 110 – The Goonies appeared first on A Reel Education.

Kyle Dekker joins us to watch a Western that is a not even a little bit subtle allegory for the behavior of Hollywood during the House UnAmerican Activities Committee hearings – High Noon! Gary Cooper won an Oscar for his powerful portrayal of a man who slowly comes to realize that nobody will stand up for him in his time of greatest need. We talk a lot about how much John Wayne hated this film because John Wayne really hated this film. Screenwriter Carl Foreman had to leave the country for England while this movie was filming so he had some knowledge of the damage the HUAC could do. We had a ball watching the movie and we hope you enjoy it as well!

Coming up next: Goonies! This time for sure!

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We promised you Goonies but we had a scheduling mix-up so this episode brings you Exit Through the Gift Shop instead! This documentary produced by acclaimed street artist Banksy starts out as a documentary about finding Banksy but then it turns into something quite different. Tim is our newbie for this one and he spends much of the episode talking about what people are willing to pay for art.  Like so many documentaries, what makes this one memorable is not the movie that they wanted to make but the movie that they stumbled into making.

Next up, we are going to watch High Noon!

The post Episode 108 – Exit Through the Gift Shop appeared first on A Reel Education.

We conclude our Crime Spree series (for now) with the ultimate Christmas action movie – Die Hard! Elliot James is our unsuspecting novice and he joined us to watch Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman chew scenery and destroy a building. This child of the Rambo genre actually created a genre of it’s own (the “Die Hard in a…” genre) and established the superstar cred of both Rickman and Willis. Elliot was surprised to enjoy the movie and there is a good chance you might be too!

Up next, we are going to stay in the eighties and watch The Goonies!

The post Episode 107 – Die Hard appeared first on A Reel Education.

We continue our crime spree (or crime wave depending on what Tim decided to call it this episode) with the groundbreaking Quentin Tarantino film Pulp Fiction! This movie was so important that we had to get two guests to watch it with us!  The first is newcomer Patrick Fisher and the second is Tim’s now eighteen-year-old son Alex Wick! We watch the film and then talk about how it transformed filmmaking and production in the two decades that have followed.

Next up, we are going to continue with crime films and also watch some more Bruce Willis as we watch Die Hard!

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