A Reel Education

This episode is a return to the world of Federico Fellini with two guests as we all try to determine if Melissa’s hatred of the film is misplaced.  La Dolce Vita is considered one of Fellini’s masterpieces.  But is it? We watch the film and do our best to appreciate it as film geeks.  You can decide for yourself how well we do

Please note: this episode was hacked.  The episode is fine but the post itself was meddled with.  Sorry about that.

Our next episode will be about The Man Who Would be King!

The post Episode 85 – La Dolce Vita appeared first on A Reel Education.

It is a new year and we celebrate with a ridiculous movie that may not be great but is way better than it had any right to be.  Kelvin Hatle joins us to watch Josie and the Pussycats, a subversive comedy about product placement and corporate greed. It is also exceptionally silly and features an absolutely amazing performance by Parker Posey.  You have probably never watched this movie and while it is surprisingly dated for a film only fifteen years old, it is still a lot better than anyone could have expected.

Our next film will be an entirely different experience as we watch La Dolce Vita!

The post Episode 84 – Josie and the Pussycats appeared first on A Reel Education.

We have a first this week – it is the first episode of our podcast that doesn’t feature Tim at all!  Instead, Melissa is joined by Lauren Haven and John Youker.  They are present to watch the classic Beatles Film, A Hard Day’s Night!  This rather light and frothy mixture of Beatles music and a rather limited plot proved to be far more popular than the producers had dreamed.  John, Lauren, and Melissa discuss reactions to the film as well as spending some time talking about Christmas movies!

Our next film will be Josie and the Pussycats!

The post Episode 83 – A Hard Day’s Night appeared first on A Reel Education.

For our latest episode, we watched Purple Rain with our good friend and podcasting mega–star, Matt Allex.  In spite of being from Minneapolis, Matt has somehow never seen the film and we were able to enjoy him trying to unpack everything that is going on.  For such an iconic film, it is surprisingly clunky whenever Prince and the Revolution are not on stage performing.  We talk about the dichotomy between what takes place on stage at First Avenue and what takes place off stage in the steam tunnels of Minneapolis.  We also talk about the differences between the venue of First Avenue as it exists and the venue of First Avenue as it appears in the film.

Our next movie will be A Hard Day’s Night!

The post Episode 82 – Purple Rain appeared first on A Reel Education.

For this episode, we are joined by Kyle Dekker from Hot Chocolate Media.  He joins us to watch the Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense! Directed by Jonathan Demme of Silence of the Lambs fame, this bare bones concert film is considered to be one of the best in the genre.  We talk a bit about the film itself, the band featured, and our personal experiences with the film in the late 80’s and the early 90’s.  Then we all go out and listen to the soundtrack.

Next up, we’ll still with some 80’s music nostalgia as we watch Purple Rain!

The post Episode 81 – Stop Making Sense appeared first on A Reel Education.

Today, we return to the world of Stanley Kubrick to experience 2001: A Space Odyssey in 70mm glory.  We are joined by a panel of guests including regular Allee Ellingsburg, Scott Keever, and Richard Brantley.  Almost everyone had seen the film before but this was the first time most had seen it in a theater.  Few other movies are as transformed by sitting in a movie theater as 2001.  We talk about a lot of things but one thing we didn’t record is a pre-movie segment.  We just dive right into the film on this one so if you are used to listening to our opening segment and then watching the movie, look out!  Spoilers are right out of the gate!

Next up, we are going to shift gears and watch Stop Making Sense.

The post Episode 80 – 2001: A Space Odyssey appeared first on A Reel Education.

As we continue with our October horror theme, we take journey to the Overlook hotel to watch Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Shining!  Our newcomer to this journey is Sean O’Loughlin, who joined us a while back to watch Hugo!  Once you’ve watched this film, we suggest you watch the documentary Room 237, this video by Imagine Dragons, and a trailer for the film cut to make it look like a romantic comedy!

Next up, we’ll be sticking with Stanley Kubrick as we watch 2001: A Space Odyssey!

The post Episode 79 – The Shining appeared first on A Reel Education.

This week, Susanne Becker joins us to watch the horror classic Halloween!  Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence star in a movie that pretty much served as the source for every masked killer horror trope from the 1980’s.  Make no mistake, though, this film did them all first and, in many ways, it is still the best.  While the film may not have aged as well as some of the other classic titles we’ve watched, it is still some very impressive work by Horror virtuoso John Carpenter.

Next up, we will be watching The Shining!

Note: You may be wondering where our episode of Bringing up Baby has gone.  Sadly, we had severe technical difficulties with the recording and we were unable to salvage anything.  Sorry.

The post Episode 78 – Halloween appeared first on A Reel Education.

This episode focuses on one of the best films of the 1990’s (or any decade): The Shawshank Redemption!  Alee Ellingsburg returns to watch this prison drama that is structured about as well as a movie can be structured.  Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman star in this movie that was one of the first true home video phenomenons.  Tim pretty much takes over this episode because he really loves the film.  You’ll have to forgive him for that.

Our next film will be Bringing Up Baby.

The post Episode 77 – The Shawshank Redemption appeared first on A Reel Education.

This week, we take a look at one of the most iconic films of the 70’s, Taxi Driver! We are joined by movie know nothing Salsa Sterling as we explore Martin Scorsese’s dark masterpiece.  We follow Jody Foster from The Silence of the Lambs to her breakout role more than decade prior. This film also established Robert DeNiro on the A list where he has remained there ever since.  And, of course, it features one of the most iconic scenes in film.  It is so well known, the odds are you have seen dozens of parodies even if you have never watched the original.  Join us to explore this dark vision of psychosis.

Our next movie will be, surprisingly, more upbeat as we watch The Shawshank Redemption.

The post Episode 76 – Taxi Driver appeared first on A Reel Education.