Kyle is joined by podcast impresario and professional talker Pete Wright for a ten-slot love letter to one of the last movie stars who was equal parts matinee idol, quirky character actor, and chaotic neutral energy bomb: it’s Val Kilmer. No, this is not a definitive ranking of Val Kilmer performances (because, come on, that would be impossible and also wrong), but rather the moments that defined Val for them.

They cover everything from the obvious (Tombstone, The Doors) to the gloriously oddball (Top Secret, The Saint), to the just-barely-legal cinematic hallucinations (The Island of Dr. Moreau—which is to movies what “raw chicken sushi” is to food). Along the way, you’ll get tales of tuberculosis towns, awkward horse stories, and a beefy defense of “Real Genius” as the Rosetta Stone of the “Hot Smart Guy With a Joke” archetype.

Also: Val plays Elvis in True Romance—but you never get a full view of his face. That’s how cool he was. He didn’t even need a face. He could haunt your cinematic soul with a voice and some shadows. WHO ELSE CAN DO THAT?

So, pour yourself a drink, set your VHS copy of Willow to rewind, and settle in for a warm and weird walk through the career of a man whose IMDb is overflowing with range and at least one rogue documentary. And yes, they skip Top Gun. Why? Because Iceman was right. That’s why.

Links & Notes

• Support the show and get member perks: trustory.fm/join
• Watch “Val,” the heartbreakingly good documentary: Amazon Prime Video

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What are some other ways you can support us and show your love? Glad you asked!

• You can buy our movie-related apparel, stickers, mugs and more from our MERCH PAGE.
• Or buy or rent movies we’ve discussed on the show from our WATCH PAGE.
• Or buy books, plays, etc. that was the source for movies we’ve discussed on the show from our ORIGINALS PAGE.
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• Or sign up for AUDIBLE.

Welcome back to Behind the Sites, a long-overdue return to one of our favorite series here at The Next Reel. This series celebrates the technology behind the entertainment industry... specifically, the sites and apps we use to learn about the movies and shows of which we call ourselves fans.

Casey Liss is a podcaster, developer, and writer from Richmond, Virginia. However, these days, it might be hard to know in which order to put those things. He's one-third of the Accidental Tech Podcast, a must-listen for principled nerds, and half of Analog(ue) on Relay FM. But he's here today to talk about his latest app, Callsheet, an entertainment industry search experience that might just earn a prized spot on the home screen of your phone.

Along the way, Casey talks about the challenges that come with attempting to peel back the features of an existing monolith in order to create an app that is fast, yet still seemingly feature-complete. We talk about what goes into working on an app that is dependent on a third-party API in an era that has rendered API a dirty, profit-seeking word. Oh, and we talk about Plex. For members, we talk a lot about Plex.

Links & Notes

• Callsheet
• Callsheet on the App Store
• The Movie Database
• TheMovieDB API
• Casey did a guest spot on Mac Power Users with David Sparks and Stephen Hackett and, if you're as intrigued by a complex Plex set-up as I am, check out this episode and let's get ripping! (ripping our legal media acquired legally because we don't want to insinuate in any way that we condone that other sort of rubbish. -ed)

Learn how to support our show and The Next Reel’s family of film podcasts by becoming a member. It's just $5 monthly or $55 annually. Learn more here.

Join the conversation with movie lovers from around the world in our Discord community!

Here’s where you can find us around the internet:

• The Web
• Letterboxd
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Threads
• X
• YouTube
• Flickchart
• Pinterest
• Pete 
• Andy

What are some other ways you can support us and show your love? Glad you asked!

• You can buy our movie-related apparel, stickers, mugs and more from our MERCH PAGE.
• Or buy or rent movies we’ve discussed on the show from our WATCH PAGE.
• Or buy books, plays, etc. that was the source for movies we’ve discussed on the show from our ORIGINALS PAGE.
• Or renew or sign up for a Letterboxd Pro or Patron account with our LETTERBOXD MEMBERSHIP DISCOUNT.
• Or sign up for AUDIBLE.

Dust off that CD player, we’re heading back to the nineties! In today’s episode, Kyle and Rob get melodious as they each discuss the 5 albums that got them through college. No soundtracks or cast recordings here, they’ve come to rock!

Learn how to support our show and The Next Reel’s family of film podcasts by becoming a member. It's just $5 monthly or $55 annually. Learn more here.

Join the conversation with movie lovers from around the world in our Discord community!

Here’s where you can find us around the internet:

• The Web
• Letterboxd
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Threads
• X
• YouTube
• Flickchart
• Pinterest
• Pete 
• Andy

What are some other ways you can support us and show your love? Glad you asked!

• You can buy our movie-related apparel, stickers, mugs and more from our MERCH PAGE.
• Or buy or rent movies we’ve discussed on the show from our WATCH PAGE.
• Or buy books, plays, etc. that was the source for movies we’ve discussed on the show from our ORIGINALS PAGE.
• Or renew or sign up for a Letterboxd Pro or Patron account with our LETTERBOXD MEMBERSHIP DISCOUNT.
• Or sign up for AUDIBLE.

Rather than try and talk about our favorite animated movies, this list has our ten favorite animated sequences from movies. Maybe it’s the best part of a terrible movie or the crown jewel of an amazing film, but things are going to get animated (and emotional!) on this episode.

Learn how to support our show and The Next Reel’s family of film podcasts by becoming a member. It's just $5 monthly or $55 annually. Learn more here.

Join the conversation with movie lovers from around the world in our Discord community!

Here’s where you can find us around the internet:

• The Web
• Letterboxd
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Threads
• X
• YouTube
• Flickchart
• Pinterest
• Pete 
• Andy

What are some other ways you can support us and show your love? Glad you asked!

• You can buy our movie-related apparel, stickers, mugs and more from our MERCH PAGE.
• Or buy or rent movies we’ve discussed on the show from our WATCH PAGE.
• Or buy books, plays, etc. that was the source for movies we’ve discussed on the show from our ORIGINALS PAGE.
• Or renew or sign up for a Letterboxd Pro or Patron account with our LETTERBOXD MEMBERSHIP DISCOUNT.
• Or sign up for AUDIBLE.

Kyle and Rob are back to talk Trek. This time, our list is stand alone episodes of Star Trek that meant something to us. No two-parters or movies are allowed. Make it so!

Learn how to support our show and The Next Reel’s family of film podcasts by becoming a member. It's just $5 monthly or $55 annually. Learn more here.

Join the conversation with movie lovers from around the world in our Discord community!

Here’s where you can find us around the internet:

• The Web
• Letterboxd
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Threads
• X
• YouTube
• Flickchart
• Pinterest
• Pete 
• Andy

What are some other ways you can support us and show your love? Glad you asked!

• You can buy our movie-related apparel, stickers, mugs and more from our MERCH PAGE.
• Or buy or rent movies we’ve discussed on the show from our WATCH PAGE.
• Or buy books, plays, etc. that was the source for movies we’ve discussed on the show from our ORIGINALS PAGE.
• Or renew or sign up for a Letterboxd Pro or Patron account with our LETTERBOXD MEMBERSHIP DISCOUNT.
• Or sign up for AUDIBLE.

Kyle and Rob are back to discuss 10 alternate cuts of movies. Call them Director’s Cuts, Ultimate Editions, Assembly Cuts, whatever you want, we’re here to talk about ten other versions of the films we love. (And one we hate!)

Learn how to support our show and The Next Reel’s family of film podcasts by becoming a member. It's just $5 monthly or $55 annually. Learn more here.

Join the conversation with movie lovers from around the world in our Discord community!

Here’s where you can find us around the internet:

• The Web
• Letterboxd
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Threads
• X
• YouTube
• Flickchart
• Pinterest
• Pete 
• Andy

What are some other ways you can support us and show your love? Glad you asked!

• You can buy our movie-related apparel, stickers, mugs and more from our MERCH PAGE.
• Or buy or rent movies we’ve discussed on the show from our WATCH PAGE.
• Or buy books, plays, etc. that was the source for movies we’ve discussed on the show from our ORIGINALS PAGE.
• Or renew or sign up for a Letterboxd Pro or Patron account with our LETTERBOXD MEMBERSHIP DISCOUNT.
• Or sign up for AUDIBLE.

Everything you wanted to know about licensing but were afraid to ask!

Physical copies vs. digital copies. Ownership from one country to another. Andy and Steve are joined by entertainment attorney Donald Smiley and distributor & owner of Archstone Entertainment Scott Martin to talk about a lot of these behind-the-scenes bits of the business of film production.

Learn how to support our show and The Next Reel’s family of film podcasts by becoming a member. It's just $5 monthly or $55 annually. Learn more here.

Join the conversation with movie lovers from around the world in our Discord community!

Here’s where you can find us around the internet:

• The Web
• Letterboxd
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Threads
• X
• YouTube
• Flickchart
• Pinterest
• Pete 
• Andy

What are some other ways you can support us and show your love? Glad you asked!

• You can buy our movie-related apparel, stickers, mugs and more from our MERCH PAGE.
• Or buy or rent movies we’ve discussed on the show from our WATCH PAGE.
• Or buy books, plays, etc. that was the source for movies we’ve discussed on the show from our ORIGINALS PAGE.
• Or renew or sign up for a Letterboxd Pro or Patron account with our LETTERBOXD MEMBERSHIP DISCOUNT.
• Or sign up for AUDIBLE.