The Kick

M. Night Shyamalan's "Glass" is the biggest hit of the young year, but does it make Chance and Noah wish they'd been dead the whole time? Today, we search for this heart of M. Night's unlikely super-hero trilogy, beginning with UNBREAKABLE (2000), continuing with SPLIT (2017) and culminating in GLASS. Guardian contributor Zach Vasquez joins the program!

This episode is brought to you by California College of the Arts MFA in Writing Program and Converse College MFA in Writing Program. Visit BeReelPodcast.com or ThePlaylist.net for more.

On this week's episode, we unbox the newly released "Escape Room" and two of its thrilling enclosed-space predecessors in 2002's "Panic Room" and the 1954 classic "Rear Window.”

This episode is brought to you by California College of the Arts MFA in Writing Program and Converse College MFA in Writing Program. Visit BeReelPodcast.com or ThePlaylist.net for more.

To close out 2018, Chance and Noah look back at this year's comedy offerings in what feels a bit like a slate of movies without a proper center. For today, we watched BLOCKERS to represent traditional studio fare (14:20), EIGHTH GRADE for an upstart indie (32:15), and SET IT UP for Netflix's full-on foray into rom-coms (48:00). Finally, we name our five favorite comedy performances of the year from films like GAME NIGHT, SORRY TO BOTHER YOU, and more (1:04:30).

Be Reel is part of The Playlist Podcast Network and is brought to you by Converse College MFA program and California College of the Arts MFA in Writing program. Find old episodes at bereelpodcast.com.

Listeners! This week, we're talking about the work of the recently deceased screenwriting legend William Goldman: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Princess Bride, and  All The President's Men. Slate editor Marissa Martinelli joins to discuss The Princess Bride novel.

This is also the first show available via ThePlaylist.net. And we're brought to you by California College of the Arts' MFA in Writing program and Converse College's Low-Residency MFA. Explore their programs at the links below!

https://www.cca.edu/academics/graduate/writing

https://www.converse.edu/program/master-of-fine-arts-mfa/

Have you ever found yourself out of a job? Dead criminal husband? Recently out of prison and looking for a quick payday? Well, gather up your girlfriends and rob a bank/gala/corrupt politician’s coffers! That’s the premise that links our three films today: “Widows,” “Set It Off” and “Ocean’s 8.” Aided by podcast favorite and Hollywood Reporter writer Ciara Wardlow, Chance and Noah break down the criminal exploits of these films' Bonnies loudly and proudly without Clydes. The guys discuss everything from Steve McQueen’s harrowing long takes, the surprisingly woke treatment of lesbians in a '90s action movie, and the troubling fact that all these movies (and many recent women ensemble movies) are directed by men.

What did you stream this weekend, partner? Well, the guys on Be Reel saddled up and saw the new Coen Bros movie, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, an anthology film set upon a very Coen Bros frontier. We’ve got a singing sharp shooter, a mumbling and lucky-as-hell prospector, and a stagecoach bound for hell. Chance and Noah chat about what distinguishes a topflight Coen movie, our favorites from the film's dozens of memorable performances, and speculate why Buster Scruggs might have originally been sold as a mini-series.

What connects indie comic book movie adaptations from the ‘90s and early ‘00s? Why they're all about demons, of course! Today, Chance and Noah dissect the gross, weird, often incoherent tendencies of 1994's "The Shadow", 1997's "Spawn" and 2004's "Hellboy" in a round-up of the lesser known Hollywood superheroes. Joining the guys to add superhero context is novelist Adam Nemett, whose debut WE CAN SAVE US ALL chronicles a group of Ivy League undergrads who form their own sort of Justice League to stop the threat of global warming. The three discuss Alec Baldwin's prosthetic nose and how a dagger is the real villain of "The Shadow", the sick campiness of John Leguizamo in a fat suit, and Guillermo del Toro failing to pick between sand Nazis and Rasputin for Hellboy's Big Bad. Look at the size of that whammer!

When the guys heard about Paul Dano's directorial debut, "Wildlife," they both admitted to pre-judging it as good-bad: a period piece, a troubled marriage, a child bearing witness to fighting. But much like the characters on screen, the film revealed itself to be much more nuanced than they had imagined. Today, we dive deep into this quiet Richard Ford adaptation and discuss the multitudes therein: a captivating Carey Mulligan, a simmering score, and a director clearly influenced by the greats he's acted for (PTA, Rian Johnson, and others). Then, Chance gets on the phone with Paul Dano to discuss his process, his collaboration with Zoe Kazan, and a few shots fired Dano wants to take back re: establishing shots and the Los Angeles Lakers.

At these dark times (read: Halloween, not the burning hellscape of our democracy, come on!) we look to the “Prince of Darkness” himself for frights and insights into the state of horror. This week, Chance and Noah watch and review John Carpenter’s “Halloween,” “The Fog” and “The Thing.” We’re joined by Andy Crump and Niela Orr to unpack articles they wrote for The Hollywood Reporter and The Ringer, respectively, about the legacy of 1978’s “Halloween” as it celebrates its 40th birthday and hits theaters again in its latest sequel form. Your hosts discuss everything from how Carpenter uses space to create terror, whether “Halloween” gets a free pass on its mediocre dialogue, and what makes the special effects in “The Thing” so brilliantly disgusting. Listen up!

Forget John Hughes and Freddie Prinze, Jr.! 2018 was a watershed year for high school movies as Hollywood has turned to best-selling YA novels to inform the future of "10 Things I Hate About You" and "Sixteen Candles." In this episode, Chance and Noah apply their maybe too lofty standards to "The Hate U Give," "Love, Simon" and "To All the Boys I've Loved Before." The guys break down all the racial fairy tales, internet hate crimes and the sex appeal of Peter Kavinsky, plus we welcome BuzzFeed reporter Krystie Yandoli to give some context about the production controversies behind "The Hate U Give" and shout out other YA material that’s not afraid to get political. Sometimes didactic and nonsensical, but always entertaining, this genre is certainly ripe for reappraisal by two white, heterosexual men 10 years removed from high school. Let’s do it.