Shot/Reverse Shot

This past Saturday, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom, Jr. and Phillipa Soo left the cast of the Broadway show Hamilton, a wildly successful musical which has grown in prominence and cultural heft over the past year, to the extent that their departures were given the same treatment afforded to news surrounding popular TV shows and films. Since this represents an important transitional moment for the musical, Matt and Ed thought it would be a good time to take stock of the Hamilton phenomenon, their own thoughts and feelings about the play, and the way in which it addresses the difference between the past and history through a revolutionary mixture of Broadway, hip-hop, and actual history. They also mourn the passing of the great Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, unpack the minor furore surrounding Sulu being gay in the latest Star Trek film, and talk about experiencing "Felicity Huffman-esque intensity".

00:00:00 - 00:08:22 - Intro & News

00:08:23 - 00:54:22 - Matt & Ed discuss Hamilton

00:54:23 - 00:59:49 - SRS Recommends & Outro

Last Sunday HBO aired the finales of the sixth season of Game of Thrones, the fifth season of Veep, and the third season of Silicon Valley. Since the first two shows went through triumphant transitional seasons and the third is just really funny, Matt and Ed decided to talk about this uncommonly good block of programs. Warning: There are plenty of spoilers for all three shows.

They also pay tribute to several more luminaries who passed away this week, speculate on which video games Yasujirô Ozu would have adapted into films, and discuss the influx of new Academy members who are slowly making the Oscars less white.

00:00:00 - 00:16:13 - Intro & News

00:16:14 - 00:42:01 - Discussion of season six of Game of Thrones

00:42:02 - 00:52:00 - Discussion of season five of Veep

00:52:01 - 01:04:11 - Discussion of season three of Silicon Valley

01:04:12 - 01:08:36 - SRS Recommends & outro

ESPN's 30 For 30 strand has been producing great, fascinating documentaries about significant sporting events and athletes for years now, but the series may have reached its pinnacle with Ezra Edelman's seven and a half hour, five part miniseries about the life of O.J. Simpson. Encapsulating Simpson's football career, marriage, murder trial, slide into obscurity and eventual trial for burglary and kidnapping, Edelman's film also stands as a breathtaking examination of race, gender and celebrity in American society, the history of L.A. and systemic racism in the LAPD, and uses the prism of one man's life to tell the story of the society that created him. In short, it's excellent, and Matt and Ed thought it would be remiss of them not to discuss it.

In addition to talking about the documentary itself, they compare it to FX's also fascinating miniseries The People v. O.J. Simpson, ponder the impact that Brexit will have on the British film industry (spoiler: a significant and terrible one!) and evaluate the new Ghostbusters theme.

00:00:00 - 00:19:44 - Intro & News

00:19:45 - 00:53:23 - Matt & Ed discuss O.J.: Made in America

00:53:24 - 00:58:03 - SRS Recommends & Outro

Following a week of terrible sadness in the real world, this week's episode is about finding solace in art and entertainment. Matt and Ed discuss times in their lives when art helped them cope with heartbreak, bereavement and wrenching change, create a fictional Canadian basketball team, and try to describe one scene from Up without crying. 

They also pay tribute to Anton Yelchin, a hugely promising young actor who did a lot of great work in a tragically short period of time, and who deserved the chance to so much more.

00:00:00 - 00:01:37 - Intro

00:01:38 - 00:26:12 - Matt & Ed discuss the death of Anton Yeltchin and taking comfort from art

00:26:13 - 00:33:41 - SRS Recommends & Outro

After discussing disastrous movies last week, Matt and Ed talk about Disaster Movies this week. Specifically, they contrast the more human-centric stories of the genres '70s heyday against the inhumanity of the '90s force of nature entries into the genre, and the out-and-out disaster porn that has come to define so much of blockbuster filmmaking over the past decade. They also talk about Larry David maybe bringing back Curb Your Enthusiasm, the complexity of the Jack Frost series, and wonder which of his films Kevin Smith will cannibalise after he fails to make a Mallrats TV series.

- Here's a link to the Alexander Huls article on watching disaster movies after experiencing an actual disaster than Matt and Ed mention during the episode.

00:00:00 - 00:18:30 - Intro & News

00:18:31 - 00:38:11 - Matt & Ed discuss disaster movies

00:38:12 - 00:44:45 - SRS Recommends & Outro

Inspired by the Internet's less than Zen response to the announcement that Star Wars: Rogue One is undergoing reshoots, a story which has inspired some of the most furious handwringing since the last round of Star Wars rumours, Matt and Ed talk about why reshoots are not necessarily a bad thing, then go on to discuss troubled film productions in general; the ones that produced classics, the ones that resulted in forgotten films, and the ones that fall somewhere in between. They also reminisce about the terrible King Kong ride at Universal Studios, tentatively celebrate the possibility that Captain Marvel and the next Bond film may be directed by women, and chart a potential John Carney Apology Spiral.

00:00:00 - 00:18:03 - Intro & News

00:18:04 - 00:55:28 - Matt & Ed discuss the Rogue One reshoots and troubled film productions

00:55:29 - 01:01:05 - SRS Recommends & Outro

In this slightly delayed episode, Matt and Ed complete their Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll trilogy with, funnily enough, an episode on Rock & Roll. They discuss films about musicians (both real and fictional), movies starring musicians, and take plenty of time to talk about the notorious 2000 gangster movie Honest, starring three quarters of All Saints and a Nazi lobster. They also pitch ideas for the latest Halloween film, reminisce about their youthful misunderstandings about Spinal Tap, and bemoan the dickishness of John Carney. Matt also provides compelling evidence for why Sexy Beast and OK Computer are basically the same.

00:00:00 - 00:13:02 - Intro & News

00:13:03 - 00:29:16 - Matt & Ed review Honest

00:29:17 - 00:56:36 - Discussion of Rock & Roll in film

00:56:37 - 01:02:46 - SRS Recommends & Outro

The second part of the Sex, Drugs and Rock n' Roll trilogy finds Matt and (an intensely sick and croaky) Ed discussing representation of drug use in film and TV, how cinema reflects shifting attitudes to different substances, and the ways in which Requiem for a Dream and Reefer Madness are basically the same film. They also discuss the slew of TV cancellations that occurred last week, imagine a crazier version of Easy Rider than the one we have, and Matt discusses the less glamorous side of the Cannes film festival.

00:00:00 - 00:22:12 - Intro & News

00:22:13 - 00:55:38 - Discussion of Drugs in film & television

00:55:39 - 01:00:22 - SRS Recommends & Outro

NOTE: This episode contains spoilers for Captain America: Civil War and some elements of the Civil War comic crossover event.

We interrupt your regular scheduled programming to bring you a rare film review episode (we will do our episode on Drugs next week). Like much of the rest of the world, Matt and Ed saw Captain America: Civil War this weekend and it created an Iron Man/Captain America-style split in the Shot/Reverse Shot team in which one of them liked it more than the other. They work through their conflicted feelings about Marvel's latest behemoth, while also finding time to impersonate Michael Gambon, talk about mistrusting Bill Weasley, and fantasy-cast the best/worst remake of The League of Gentlemen imagination.

Marking the beginning of a new trilogy of tangentially related episodes, this week's show is all about sex in cinema. Matt and Ed run through the history of sex in Hollywood and the varying levels of censorship that have been applied to it, discuss what makes for good and bad sex scenes, and ponder the particular peccadilloes of major filmmakers. They also come up with a few killer band names, bemoan the untimely demise of Indiewire, and compare their respective abilities to survive in a zombie and snow-based tabletop game.

00:00:00 - 00:20:58 - Intro & News

00:20:59 - 00:56:54 - Matt & Ed discuss sex in film

00:56:55 - 01:03:38 - SRS Recommends & Outro

Jon Bois' Pretty Good series can be viewed on SBNation, as can Breaking Madden and the sublime "The Death of Basketball".

Correction: Ed mistakenly says at one point that Stanley Donen directed Pillow Talk. The film was in fact directed by Michael Gordon.