Episode 115: SPECIAL EVENT

Over the past year WR&P has featured dozens upon dozens of films, but now it’s time to crown our favorites. Ryan and Kevin each select winners (and honorable mentions) for four categories — Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Picture. 

Episode 114: WR&P 360

Featuring: It’s a Wonderful Life (1946); Rocky (1976); Top Gun (1986); Field of Dreams (1989); Minari (2020); The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974); The Stepford Wives (1975); Boyz in da Hood (1991); The Stepford Wives (2004); Team America: World Police (2004); Killers of the Flower Moon (2023); The Great Train Robbery (1903); Stagecoach (1939); Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969); Brokeback Mountain (2005); No Country for Old Men (2007); M*A*S*H (1970); The Long Goodbye (1973); 3 Women (1977); The Player (1992); A Prairie Home Companion (2006); Bonnie and Clyde (1967); The Graduate (1967); The Godfather (1972); Jaws (1975); Taxi Driver (1976)

The America 25 for 250 series is WR&P's first multi-part deep dive into cinema, the people behind it, and the intersection of everything. Check out the full 5+ hour conversation, where Ryan and Kevin look to understand America through 25 films spanning every genre and era of cinematic history.

Episode 113: AMERICA 25 FOR 250

Featuring: Bonnie and Clyde (1967); The Graduate (1967); The Godfather (1972); Jaws (1975); Taxi Driver (1976)

The America 25 for 250 series comes to a close with this final episode, which takes a look at the influential American film movement known as New Hollywood. 

Episode 112: AMERICA 25 FOR 250

Featuring: M*A*S*H (1970); The Long Goodbye (1973); 3 Women (1977); The Player (1992); A Prairie Home Companion (2006)

Continuing on the journey to watch 25 films that capture the essence of America, Ryan and Kevin decide on their pick for the quintessential American director — Robert Altman. Altman has been a mainstay topic on WR&P since the early days, including an entire episode on the director already, but there’s always more Altman to be had and these next five movies are a perfect addition to the discussion.

Episode 111: AMERICA 25 FOR 250

Featuring: The Great Train Robbery (1903); Stagecoach (1939); Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969); Brokeback Mountain (2005); No Country for Old Men (2007)

It’s time to discuss WR&P’s pick for the most American genre — the western. Ryan and Kevin chat about 5 films that span the entire history of cinema and why the Western is so perfectly American.

Episode 110: AMERICA 25 FOR 250

Featuring: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974); The Stepford Wives (1975); Boyz in da Hood (1991); The Stepford Wives (2004); Team America: World Police (2004); Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

WR&P talked about the American dream… but what about the American nightmare? Ryan and Kevin discuss what lurks on the opposite side of America’s greatest ideals, what happens to those that don’t succeed, and the 5 (technically 6) movies that look into the darker side of the American experiment.

Episode 109: AMERICA 25 FOR 250

Featuring: It’s a Wonderful Life (1946); Rocky (1976); Top Gun (1986); Field of Dreams (1989); Minari (2020)

Can the American Dream be distilled into cinematic form? Ryan and Kevin discuss this and five movies that might come close. Happy 250th, America!

Episode 108: AMERICA 25 FOR 250

Kevin and Ryan intro their brand new series for WR&P, America 25 for 250.

Episode 107: LESSONS IN FILM MOVEMENTS

Featuring: Farewells (1958); Ashes and Diamonds (1958); Mother Joan of the Angels (1961); Passenger (1963)

We go back to 1950’s / 60’s Poland to check out one of the legendary film movements, the Polish Film School. Poland was creating its new national identity after its brutalization during World War 2 and cinema played an important part in that national identity-making process. These four films are uniquely Polish, and Ryan and Kevin take it all in and discover just how deep the wounds of that time went.

Episode 106: CINEMA SINGLES

Featuring: Capote (2005)

Ryan and Kevin talk biopics with Bennett Miller’s Capote (2005). Where is the line between fiction and non-fiction? And what is the filmmaker’s responsibility to telling an accurate and true “true story?” Ryan and Kevin hash it out!