"Keep your friends close but your enemies closer." While The Godfather, Part II didn’t perform nearly as well as its predecessor at the box office, Francis Ford Coppola’s sequel certainly made its money back and, more importantly, has gone on to become a film that’s often cited as one of the greatest films ever made. It even has its contingency of fans who feel it’s the stronger film of the pair. But Coppola went into it not really that excited by the prospect of making a sequel and really only ...
Dec 08, 2016•1 hr 19 min•Season 6Ep. 23
"Blood’s a big expense." It was never a movie that was meant to be as big as it became. Robert Evans, Paramount head at the time, thought it would be a fun mobster movie designed to make a quick buck, capitalizing on the recent novel “The Godfather” by Mario Puzo. But Francis Ford Coppola saw something in Puzo’s novel; he saw a family chronicle that was a metaphor for capitalism in America. He saw a crime epic. And he set out to make that version of the book. In the end, despite the fights with ...
Dec 01, 2016•1 hr 39 min•Season 6Ep. 22
"I didn’t forget your breakfast. I didn’t bring you breakfast because you didn’t eat your din-din!" The animosity between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford almost seems the stuff of legend. Looking back from today, it’s hard to say how much there really was or if it was all conjured up by the studios and the press. But after hearing stories of the two and how things went after they collaborated on What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, it’s clear that there really was a... competitive nature, let’s just ...
Nov 24, 2016•1 hr 13 min•Season 6Ep. 21
"Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night." Bette Davis was on a streak of flops and just lost her contract with Warner Bros. when Joseph L. Mankiewicz offered her the role of Margo Channing in his new film All About Eve. She immediately saw it for what it was: an incredible role for a woman of her age in an incredible script. She leapt at the chance. It’s safe to say that by doing so, she created one of her most iconic performances in a film that’s gone on to be praised as one of t...
Nov 17, 2016•1 hr 2 min•Season 6Ep. 20
"Don’t let’s ask for the moon, we have the stars!" Irving Rapper’s 1942 film Now, Voyager may have met with mixed reviews but it certainly found its audience, showing that people were thrilled with the on-screen pairing of Bette Davis and Paul Henreid in a story about a woman learning to come out of her shell. It helped that Davis connected so much with this role. She fought for the part and got it, creating one of her iconic and romantic screen personas. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – ...
Nov 10, 2016•1 hr 15 min•Season 6Ep. 19
"You must hate me very much." Bette Davis was never one to shy away from roles, except perhaps from those that weren’t meaty enough. And she found a lot to work with in Lillian Hellman’s play “The Little Foxes” when William Wyler brought it to the big screen. And even though it meant endless fights on set with her director, Davis received her fifth Oscar nomination for her performance. It’s a dark film, but certainly one worth watching. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we kick off our ...
Nov 03, 2016•1 hr 11 min•Season 6Ep. 18
"The prettiest sight in this fine, pretty world is the privileged class enjoying its privileges."The Next Reel’s Speakeasy is an ongoing series of ours in which we invite an industry guest to join us and bring along one of their favorite movies to talk about. In this month’s episode, director Steve Miner joins us to talk about one of his favorites, George Cukor’s 1940 film The Philadelphia Story.We talk about the nature of this story and how it’s so much more than a screwball comedy, which is ho...
Nov 01, 2016•1 hr 24 min•Season 1Ep. 11
"Be Afraid. Be very afraid." There are certain people that are drawn to a movie because of reports about early screenings where audience members had to leave the theatre because the gore made them physically sick. Whether it’s an attraction to the gruesome horror films, a chance for some good jumps and frights or simply a curiosity to see what the filmmakers could have done to actually make people ill, gore can certainly boost a horror film at the box office. And that certainly was the case with...
Oct 27, 2016•1 hr 22 min•Season 6Ep. 17
"You don’t throw a whole life away just ‘cause he’s banged up a little." When Seabiscuit raced in the 30s, he drew more news than Roosevelt or Hitler. His match race against War Admiral was heard by 40 million people, statistically about as many Americans who tune in to watch the Superbowl every year. But he wasn’t just winning races – he was a hero for the little guy who lost everything in the Great Depression and was fighting for a second chance. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we w...
Oct 20, 2016•1 hr 17 min•Season 6Ep. 16
"They won’t understand why we do it. They won’t understand it’s about the men next to you. That’s all it is." There is a political side to military operations, and there is a military side. Regardless of the politics of the 1993 situation in Somalia, the battle of Mogadishu was a terrible one, leaving 19 US soldiers, a Pakistani soldier and a Malaysian soldier dead, not to mention the countless Somalis. Ridley Scott’s 2001 film Black Hawk Down, based on Mark Bowden’s book, tells the story of thi...
Oct 13, 2016•1 hr 31 min•Season 6Ep. 15
"The whole town is over the moon." Every story has many facets, but often the big story hides some of the smaller facets. The Australian film The Dish is a perfect example of this. The big story? Apollo 11’s successful mission to the moon. The small story? The Australians working at Parkes Observatory – a radio telescope in the middle of a sheep paddock – that was critical to the success of the mission and was our link to the footage we’ve all seen of Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the surface ...
Oct 06, 2016•1 hr 11 min•Season 6Ep. 14
"You’re an errand boy sent by grocery clerks to collect a bill."The Next Reel’s Speakeasy is an ongoing series of ours in which we invite an industry guest to join us and bring along one of their favorite movies to talk about. In this month’s episode, cinematographer Paul Cameron joins us to talk about one of his favorite films, Apocalypse Now.We talk about why this film is such a key film for us and why Paul picked it, specifically the darkly poetic journey we go on with the characters, both in...
Oct 04, 2016•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 10
"I’ll say a prayer for you. A little prayer." Antoine Fuqua has talked about how much a fan he is of both westerns and of Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 film Seven Samurai. Knowing that, it’s frustrating to see that his retelling of Kurosawa’s film transplanted to the old west doesn’t stand as strong as Kurosawa’s film or even as strong as John Sturges’ own 1960 version, the original The Magnificent Seven. Still, it has a great cast playing some colorful characters and while largely forgettable is still ...
Sep 29, 2016•1 hr 23 min•Season 6Ep. 13
"From way up here, you all look like little ants!" Time heals all wounds, but the rift between Jeffrey Katzenberg and Disney may not apply. When Katzenberg, former chairman of Disney’s film division, left Disney after a bitter feud with CEO Michael Eisner, he formed DreamWorks with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen and soon began plotting his battle in animation with his former employer. So while Disney began working with Pixar on A Bug’s Life, he started working on Antz. And the great cinema ba...
Sep 22, 2016•1 hr 21 min•Season 6Ep. 12
"They called us scum-sucking pigs! Us!" It was the movie that had ‘hit’ written all over it. Three of the funniest actors starred together for the first time: Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short. One of the top comedy directors – John Landis – was at the helm. But for whatever reason, ¡Three Amigos! did not find its audience. Critics were harsh on it and, while it may have made its money back, it was not deemed a success. But time has proven that some films need time to find their audienc...
Sep 15, 2016•1 hr 1 min•Season 6Ep. 11
"All I am is what I’m going after."The Next Reel’s Speakeasy is an ongoing series of ours in which we invite an industry guest to join us and bring along one of their favorite movies to talk about. In this month’s episode, cinematographer Jayson Crothers joins us to talk about one of his favorite films, Michael Mann’s epic 1995 crime drama Heat.We talk about the world-building that Mann does here, giving us fascinating characters on both sides of the law along with the families they struggle to ...
Sep 13, 2016•1 hr 34 min•Season 1Ep. 9
"We deal in lead, friend." The Magnificent Seven is a breeze to watch. It’s fun. It has that clean vibe of early Hollywood westerns. Plus it’s based on Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, giving it some serious street cred. Despite all of that, however, it was quite a legal imbroglio to get made. Yet once released, it eventually became successful enough to spur three sequels, a TV series and more. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we continue our Seven Samurai family series with John Sturge...
Sep 08, 2016•1 hr 11 min•Season 6Ep. 10
"Once more, we survive." When you think of Akira Kurosawa, it’s easy to connect him to great samurai films like Ran, Throne of Blood, The Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo and Sanjuro. What’s surprising, however, is that he didn’t make his first samurai film until midway through his filmmaking career. That film, of course, is arguably his greatest film, Seven Samurai, which was released in 1954. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we start up our Seven Samurai Family series with Kurosawa’s masterp...
Sep 01, 2016•1 hr 19 min•Season 6Ep. 9
"How are we defining ‘contained?’"While working on The Informer! with Steven Soderbergh, screenwriter Scott Z. Burns was inspired by a scene with Matt Damon ranting about the germs Scott Bakula’s character left on a phone to explore the idea of a viral pandemic. From there, Contagion was born. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we conclude our disease film series with Soderbergh’s 2011 glimpse into how the world deals with a new disease outbreak. We talk about why this film works so well...
Aug 25, 2016•1 hr 6 min•Season 6Ep. 8
"Either the blindness spread the panic or the panic spread the blindness."When Fernando Meirelles showed his 2008 film Blindness to José Saramago, the author of the original book upon which it was based, Saramago loved it. Unfortunately for them, neither critics nor audiences connected with the allegorical film. It’s a tough watch with questionable character motivations and a fairly depressing world view. But some people still really love it, creating quite a variety of reactions to the film wel...
Aug 18, 2016•1 hr 35 min•Season 6Ep. 7
"Very odd what happens in a world without children’s voices."It’s unfortunate that Alfonso Cuarón’s film Children of Men never found the audience it deserved, at least theatrically. Sure, it has been hailed as one of the best films of the year it was released, is often cited as one of the best science fiction films of the 21st century and was critically praised but for whatever reason, the audiences didn’t show up. The film lost money on its theatrical release. But Cuarón’s film is brilliant. It...
Aug 11, 2016•1 hr 41 min•Season 6Ep. 6
"How’d you like to wake up in the morning and be him?"The Next Reel’s Speakeasy is an ongoing series of ours in which we invite an industry guest to join us and bring along one of their favorite movies to talk about. In this month’s episode, cinematographer Sam Levy joins us to talk about one of his favorite films, John Huston’s 1972 boxing film Fat City. We talk about the depressing story presented here as these characters try to reach the good life and why some of us can connect easier to it t...
Aug 09, 2016•1 hr 25 min•Season 1Ep. 8
"You can’t stop the signal."Most people involved in making Joss Whedon’s 2005 film Serenity acknowledge that it was a near miracle that they got to make it. The TV show upon which it was based, “Firefly,” was canceled before its 14 episodes all aired and it seemed dead. Luckily, the rabid fanbase clamored loud enough and Universal saw that there may be an audience for a continuation of the story after all. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we continue our Disease Films series with Whedo...
Aug 04, 2016•1 hr 38 min•Season 6Ep. 5
"You have to love its simplicity. It’s one billionth our size and it’s beating us."After making Das Boot, Wolfgang Peterson came to Hollywood and began a new period in his life making big spectacle films, often action thrillers. Unfortunately, that meant when it came time to make his 1995 film Outbreak – stemmed from the world’s curiosity in the Ebola outbreak in Africa paired with the release of Richard Preston’s article “Crisis in the Hot Zone” and subsequent book – the powers that be felt tha...
Jul 28, 2016•1 hr 36 min•Season 6Ep. 4
"We’re not dealing with the flu virus here."George A. Romero made The Crazies just a few years after making his breakout film Night of the Living Dead in ‘68, but with the popularity of Romero’s zombie film and the others in his ‘Dead’ trilogy still to be determined, he was still a struggling indie filmmaker. So it was with a very meager sum that he set out to make The Crazies and delivered a very interesting piece of work, even if it often fails in its storytelling. Join us – Andy Nelson and Pe...
Jul 21, 2016•1 hr 23 min•Season 6Ep. 3
"It should’ve been left up to the scientists! It’s a colossal mistake! Tell the President I said so!"Michael Crichton’s space disease thriller hit the public at the perfect time – when everyone was afraid of the astronauts accidentally bringing back space viruses upon returning to Earth. Crichton wrote the book in a very pseudo-scientific way that made it feel like more of a scientific documentation of a real happening, and it worked gangbusters for his readers. When Robert Wise decided to adapt...
Jul 14, 2016•1 hr 26 min•Season 6Ep. 2
"You are discarded. You are the refuse of the past."Richard Matheson’s 1954 vampire horror novel “I Am Legend” helped influence the zombie genre (it was the inspiration for the ‘68 George Romero film “Night of the Living Dead”) and popularized the concept of a worldwide apocalypse due to disease. Yet for some reason, filmmakers haven’t been able to crack the story. It’s been made into three different films, and it doesn’t seem like any of them have gotten it right. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy...
Jul 07, 2016•1 hr 3 min•Season 6Ep. 1
"You have to know who you are and what you are. It’s the only way you’ll lead decent lives."The Next Reel’s Speakeasy is an ongoing series of ours in which we invite an industry guest to join us and bring along one of their favorite movies to talk about. In this month’s episode, costume designer Alana Morshead joins us to talk about one of her favorite films, Mark Romanek’s 2010 film “Never Let Me Go” based on the book by Kazuo Ishiguro.We talk about the science fiction nature of this story and ...
Jul 05, 2016•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 7
"Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the war room!" Stanley Kubrick didn’t do comedy often which is a shame because “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” is arguably one of the funniest films ever made. What’s interesting is that Kubrick intended on making a serious film about one of his greatest fears at the time: the threat of nuclear war. But after several attempts at finding the right way to tell the story seriously (including one involving aliens wat...
Jun 30, 2016•1 hr 25 min•Season 5Ep. 55
"Would’ve been a quiet night, too, if it hadn’t been for those meddling kids!" Stop-motion animation has been a part of film since nearly the beginning, starting with a toy circus coming to life in 1898’s “The Humpty Dumpty Circus.” Since then, it’s undergone many critical changes and improvements as filmmakers have experimented with what they could do with it, and in 2012, Laika released the first stop-motion animated feature film to use a 3D color printer to create the character faces. The mov...
Jun 23, 2016•1 hr 24 min•Season 5Ep. 54
