The Kick

He’s been called the Lizard King, the Iceman, the Dark Knight, and is constantly applying for the post of your Huckleberry. Val Kilmer is one of the most fascinating and elusive screen presences of the last 40 years. In the wake of his new memoir, Noah and Chance chronicle the highlights (and a few lowlights) of a roller-coaster career. We know there are far more important issues in the world right now, but we hope you’ll come along with us, at least from "Real Genius" to "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang."

American independent film lost a guiding light this month with the sudden passing of Lynn Shelton. From 2006 to 2019, Shelton created a multi-film roadmap for considering the dimensionality of place (often Seattle) and deep personal meaning from simple conversation. This week, Be Reel looks back at "We Go Way Back" (2006), "Humpday" (2009), "Your Sister's Sister" (2011), "Laggies" (2014) and "Sword of Trust" (2019) to celebrate an aspirational career, cut tragically short.

Hollywood and Bollywood both suffered an incalculable loss last month with the untimely passing of actor Irrfan Khan. Known to American audiences for his character work in "Life of Pi" and "Jurassic World", the icon in India spent 30 years embodying quiet masculinity in chameleonic performances, notably: "Paan Singh Tomar" (2012), "The Lunchbox" (2013), and "Piku" (2015). To start the show, Chance is joined by Vulture contributor Mallika Rao to discuss Khan's career and her tremendous remembrance of the actor, which you can read below.

https://www.vulture.com/2020/05/the-undefinable-something-of-irrfan-khan.html

With theaters still closed, the Be Reel guys turn their sights to Ryan Murphy's Netflix original miniseries "Hollywood," a send-up/revisionist history of postwar... Hollywood. Over seven hour-long episodes, we follow the cast and crew of the fictional film "Meg" as they rewrite American movie lore and vanquish countless obstacles for LGBTQ artists and artists of color. Is it alluring and ground-breaking reverie or anachronistic and reductive mumbo-jumbo? Action.

To celebrate Al Pacino’s 80th birthday, Be Reel zeroes in on one of the acting legend’s favorite archetypes—the ragged police detective. Today, we trace Pacino’s investigative methods all the way from iconic “Serpico” (1973) to controversial “Cruising” (1980) to charged “Sea of Love” (1989) to unimpeachable “Heat” (1995) to perhaps underrated “Insomnia” (2002), all the way to VOD schlock like “Hangman” (2017). It’s a trajectory that reveals Pacino's groundbreaking subtlety transforming into meme-able gravitas and intersects with some of the absolute best directors of the last half-century. Join us; there’s definitely a gold shield in it for you.

BE REEL is brought to you by California College of the Arts’ Writing MFA Program. Learn more about their wonderful work at cca.edu/writingmfa.

This week, Chance and Noah decipher the back half of Alex Garland's “Devs.” With the help of sci-fi writer Tochi Onyebuchi, the guys examine the exciting, loose-end-tying, head-scratching, quantum-defying final episodes of the FX on Hulu series.

Be Reel gives many thanks to this episode’s sponsors: Podcorn and California College of the Arts’ Writing MFA program.

-PODCORN: Explore sponsorship opportunities and start monetizing your podcast by signing up at podcorn.com/podcasters.

-California College of the Arts: Start your journey toward a writing MFA at CCA.edu/writingmfa.

For much of the late-20th century, Barbra Streisand was a ubiquitous star of stage, album, and screen. And the EGOT winner’s artistic vision was never clearer than in her three forays into directing, producing and starring in her own movies: "Yentl" (1983), "The Prince of Tides" (1991) and "The Mirror Has Two Faces" (1996). Each film features a touch of Streisand’s cross-medium talents: a little musicality, a little slapstick comedy, a little Judaism and feminism intermingling to define the persona of an underexplored show business icon.

BE REEL is brought to you by California College of the Arts’ Writing MFA Program. Learn more about their wonderful work at cca.edu/writingmfa.

It’s Old Rob versus New Rob, Sad Rob versus Not As Sad Rob, Zoë Kravitz versus John Cusack, Brooklyn versus Chicago, and sad music versus sad people on this week’s TV recap. The Be Reel guys take on Hulu’s “High Fidelity” (2020) and compare and contrast it to the other Nick Hornby adaptations they covered last week. Key moments include a debate about cancel culture, the original music on the show and where a S2 could possibly go. Hit it.

BE REEL is brought to you by California College of the Arts’ Writing MFA Program. Learn more about their wonderful work at cca.edu/writingmfa.

Welcome to the arrested world of Nick Hornby. In the movie adaptations of his books, you'll find man-children of all stripes, from John Cusack's iconic role in "High Fidelity" (2000), Hugh Grant's lovable cad in "About a Boy" (2002) and Ethan Hawke's loser indie rocker in "Juliet, Naked" (2018). We dive into this overly witty but emotionally stunted category to celebrate and examine the 20th birthday of "High Fidelity" and preview our forthcoming podcast on the Hulu remake starring Zoë Kravitz. Be on the lookout!

BE REEL is brought to you by California College of the Arts’ Writing MFA Program. Learn more about their wonderful work at cca.edu/writingmfa.

In March 2015, we started a movie podcast that was a little raw, a little tipsy, a little too much "White House Down." We've kept the pod going these five years and over 500 movie reviews for our friendship, for our relationship to friends and colleagues who listen and for all the tremendous (and even bad-good) films we never would've watched otherwise. We thank you kindly for spending some time with us. If you haven't rated the podcast or told your friend who digs movies about us, well, that's the best gift you can give five years in. All our old episodes live at BeReelPodcast.com and thank you again. Be reel.