"May the blessing of the Bomb Almighty and the fellowship of the Holy Fallout descend on us all this day and forevermore." With the success of the first Planet of the Apes film, 20th Century Fox rushed a sequel into production, something that was usually reserved for b-run serials. That first film, however, was a good crossover property – it had the genre elements but was made on an A-list level. That gave Fox the confidence that a sequel could work. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we...
Aug 23, 2018•56 min•Season 8Ep. 4
"Get your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!" Rod Serling discovered the strength of writing science fiction as a way to disguise commentary on society of the day which led to The Twilight Zone. His contributions to Franklin J. Schaffner’s science fiction film Planet of the Apes allowed him to do the same on a cinematic scale. With political, religious and social commentary, as well as commentary on nuclear war, Serling gave the series a definite point of view and contributed to the film ...
Aug 16, 2018•1 hr•Season 8Ep. 3
"My God, it’s full of stars!" After reading Arthur C. Clarke’s sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s film, director Peter Hyams was very interested in transforming it into a film. After getting the blessing from Clarke and Kubrick, he set to work. But inevitably, he was fighting an uphill battle – making a sequel to a film that many people consider to be one of the greats. In the end, the film was received well enough and turned a profit at the box office. But how well does it hold up today? Join us – Pet...
Aug 09, 2018•59 min•Season 8Ep. 2
"Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye." Before 1968, science fiction films were largely genre films that didn’t take themselves too seriously. The general consensus is that the change that allowed filmmakers to take science fiction seriously was Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Upon its initial release, critics and audiences were very split on the film but it eventually found its audience (thanks to a lot of hippies smoking weed during screenings). The film ...
Aug 02, 2018•1 hr 15 min•Season 8Ep. 1
"A Him gets noticed. A Her gets ignored. And for once, we’d like to be ignored." Steven Soderbergh never wanted to return to the helm for the Ocean’s franchise, but he was more than happy to get behind any future films, so when Warner Bros. said they wanted to return to the franchise with an all-woman cast in a spin-off, he signed on board as producer. Gary Ross and Olivia Milch were hired to write the script and Ross to direct, and with that, Ocean’s Eight was born. But will Ross and Milch be a...
Jun 28, 2018•1 hr 4 min•Season 7Ep. 49
"There’s a code amongst guys that shook Sinatra’s hand!" Even though Ocean’s Twelve was financially successful, it was largely disliked by audiences who saw it as a misfire. When the studio decided to make a follow-up, they returned the story to Vegas where the first film took place and made a film that largely feels like a return to form. But that doesn’t mean the film isn’t without its problems. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we continue our Ocean’s series with Steven Soderbergh’s ...
Jun 21, 2018•58 min•Season 7Ep. 48
"I mean Danny, it was one job that we did together so I don’t know where this whole, like, proprietary stance comes from. It seems a little possessive." The script for Ocean’s Twelve had a bit of a circuitous route to get to where it ended up. George Nolfi had sold his script entitled “Honor Among Thieves” to Warner Bros., but instead of making his film, the studio executives decided that his script would make for a great foundation to Soderbergh’s successful remake of the classic Rat Pack film ...
Jun 14, 2018•59 min•Season 7Ep. 47
"You brought music back into the house. I’d… forgotten."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, producer Catherine Hand joins us to talk about one of her favorite films, Robert Wise’s 1965 film The Sound of Music.We talk about how the story made it from Maria Von Trapp’s memoirs about her family to the big screen, with several detours along the way. ...
Jun 12, 2018•1 hr 15 min•Season 3Ep. 4
"It’ll be nice working with proper villains again." The decision to remake Ocean’s 11 with an ensemble cast of stars led to an incredible amount of turnover as stars became attached then had to bail out because of other film commitments. But with the final eleven actors locked in as Danny Ocean’s team of thieves, not to mention Andy Garcia and Julia Roberts in supporting roles, it’s hard to imagine the film working with any other cast except George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and the rest of ...
Jun 07, 2018•1 hr 1 min•Season 7Ep. 46
img "You’re just in time for the jokes." Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. were a part of what people called ‘The Rat Pack,’ a group of friends who all started hanging out regularly back at Humphrey Bogart’s and Lauren Bacall’s place. The members changed over time, but Sinatra, Martin and Davis always seemed to be the core trio. The three only appeared in a handful of films together, and the one they’re most known for is the heist film Ocean’s 11. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nel...
May 31, 2018•1 hr•Season 7Ep. 45
"We were born into this job." Time travel stories come in all shapes and sizes – some are more focused on the fun and entertainment. Others use the conceit to allow for explorations of themes and ideas. Robert A. Heinlein’s short story “—All You Zombies—” is more the latter, and the Spierig brothers – Michael and Peter – do a great job adapting it for the silver screen with their film Predestination. And while it’s easy to get lost in time loops and find fault in rules and story construction, th...
May 24, 2018•1 hr 1 min•Season 7Ep. 44
"We used to look up in the sky and wonder at our place in the stars. Now, we just look down and worry about our place in the dirt." Christopher Nolan certainly is a filmmaker with ambition. People may argue one way or the other about his story construction, or his editing style, or his attachment to film even, but it’s hard to argue that he’s not a filmmaker who is working hard to push big ideas out into the world of film. His 2014 film Interstellar, which he wrote with his brother Jonathan, pus...
May 17, 2018•1 hr 5 min•Season 7Ep. 43
"All the time travel in the world can’t make someone love you." If anyone has a handle on clever stories and quirky characters in romantic comedy dramas, it’s writer-director Richard Curtis. Whether it’s Four Weddings and a Funeral or Love, Actually or Notting Hill, he’s proven himself adept at writing (and sometimes directing) believable characters in charming situations falling in love with each other. Which is perhaps why his 2013 time travel film About Time is slightly frustrating. Yes, the ...
May 10, 2018•59 min•Season 7Ep. 42
"Right now, there are three of me. You’re going to help me get rid of the other two." After receiving an Oscar nomination for his short film 7:35 de la mañana, Spanish director Nacho Vigalondo went to work using his moment of glory to get his first feature written and financed. As is so often the case, he finally got it released years later, but Timecrimes was critically acclaimed and became quite the sci-fi festival darling. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t get the push it needed for its theatrical r...
May 03, 2018•56 min•Season 7Ep. 41
"Who gets a hold of this much land unless they took it off someone else?" Looking at the characters James Dean played in his three leading roles, it’s clear that he was excited to play complex characters that weren’t easy to define as simply ‘protagonist’ or ‘antagonist.’ In his final film, Giant, Dean plays a cowhand that could have easily become a love interest in the first half of the film before he takes a darker turn later on. After looking at his previous films, it seems absolutely like a ...
Apr 26, 2018•1 hr 8 min•Season 7Ep. 40
"You’re tearing me apart!" Possibly James Dean’s most iconic role, Rebel Without a Cause hit theaters in the fall of 1955 – less than a month after Dean’s tragic car crash that took his life – and immediately found its audience. The movie was a success, thanks in a large part to all of the teens that connected with the characters and the story, seeing more of themselves on-screen than they had before. Dean’s death made the film something to talk about, but the fact that the film had something to...
Apr 19, 2018•1 hr 20 min•Season 7Ep. 39
"Someday, he’s gonna know who his real son is!" James Dean was the lead in only three films released in 1955 and 1956. He died tragically in a car crash on September 30th, 1955, only ever getting to see one of his three films finished. What he never got to see is how the performances he gave in those three films left an indelible impression on cinema, creating a voice for teenagers of the day and a cult icon for decades since. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we look back at James Dean...
Apr 12, 2018•1 hr 5 min•Season 7Ep. 38
"I think we just lost the family audience."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 and inventor Nic Sadler joins us to talk about one of his favorite films, Bob Fosse’s 1979 film All That Jazz.We talk about the incredible honesty with which Fosse made this semi-autobiographical film and why it resonates so well with us. We discuss how...
Apr 10, 2018•1 hr 26 min•Season 3Ep. 3
"There’s no such thing as a perfect person." After the box office failure of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and the box office success of Oldboy, Park Chan-Wook wanted to continue with the themes he’d been exploring of revenge but he wasn’t sure what angle to use. That’s when he struck on the idea of having a female protagonist. That, paired with the concept of justified vengeance, gave Park the idea he needed and Lady Vengeance was born. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we wrap up our ser...
Apr 05, 2018•1 hr 19 min•Season 7Ep. 37
"I’m a sort of scholar, and my field of study is you." After the box office failure of his previous film, Park Chan-Wook worked hard with his next script to make something that would really draw people in. He cast two of South Korea’s biggest stars to play the leads and based it on a successful manga comic, weaving a dark mystery together that was very operatic. And it worked! His 2003 film Oldboy was a huge box office success and garnered incredible praise for everyone involved. It also helped ...
Mar 29, 2018•1 hr 12 min•Season 7Ep. 36
"I’m not just any ordinary person." Park Chan-Wook never set out to make a trilogy. His ‘vengeance trilogy,’ in fact, only was later dubbed that by international critics who felt the three films were connected through themes of revenge, violence, and salvation. Luckily, he was able to make the second and third films in this ‘trilogy’ because this first one didn’t connect with audiences and it lost money. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we kick off a new series looking at Park Chan-Woo...
Mar 22, 2018•1 hr 10 min•Season 7Ep. 35
"Everybody isn’t thieves and murderers." It seems that after finding such success making films about real world situations in _The Hurt Locker_and Zero Dark Thirty, director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal wanted to keep going in that direction with their next project. They learned about the riots in Detroit in 1967 and, after doing many interviews, settled on a particular incident that took place at the Algiers Hotel. This ended up becoming the film Detroit, which was released almost...
Mar 15, 2018•1 hr 9 min•Season 7Ep. 34
"I’m watching the sky, sir, and it’s doing some amazing things!"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, one of the many Andy Nelsons in the film world — specifically Andy Nelson the re-recording mixer — joins us to talk about one of his favorite films, Bill Forsyth’s 1983 film Local Hero.We talk about why the film resonates to this day and why the fi...
Mar 13, 2018•1 hr 13 min•Season 3Ep. 2
"It’s a state of mind." Kathryn Bigelow already showed everyone that she could handle action in her films with projects like Near Dark and Blue Steel when she and her husband-at-the-time James Cameron took on the task of doing rewrites to her new project Johnny Utah. With Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves coming on board to play the two leads, she was ready to prove herself yet again. And while she didn’t walk away with a film as successful as Cameron’s T2, she did end up with one of her highest g...
Mar 08, 2018•1 hr 11 min•Season 7Ep. 33
"Normal folks, they don’t spit out bullets when you shoot ‘em, no sir!" When trying to figure out a way to stand out for her first solo directorial project, Kathryn Bigelow and her co-writer Eric Red decided to add elements of the vampire genre to the western they were developing. And thus, Near Dark was born. Unfortunately, her film came out a few months after the big vampire film of the year, The Lost Boys, and hers was lost in the shuffle. Despite that, her film still left enough of a mark th...
Mar 01, 2018•1 hr 14 min•Season 7Ep. 32
"Hello, gorgeous." Watching Funny Girl now, you would never guess that it was Barbra Streisand’s film debut. Sure, she originated the role on Broadway four years earlier, but performing on stage can be quite different than on film. Luckily, with William Wyler helming the project, she was in the right hands and delivered an iconic performance in a film that was a box office smash at the time. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we conclude our Musicals From the 60s series with Wyler’s 1968...
Feb 22, 2018•1 hr 14 min•Season 7Ep. 31
"Men say it’s criminal what women’ll do. What they’re forgetting is this is 1922." By 1967, Julie Andrews was at the top of her game. Since Mary Poppins came out, she’d been in hit after hit, from The Sound of Music to Torn Curtain, so it was surely a thrill for her to jump into another musical – Thoroughly Modern Millie – with George Roy Hill, who had just directed her in Hawaii. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we continue our Musicals From the 60s series with Hill’s 1967 film Thorou...
Feb 15, 2018•1 hr 16 min•Season 7Ep. 30
"Paris is small for a great passion like yours." Jacques Demy already had great success with his 1964 musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg when he stepped up to direct The Young Girls of Rochefort. Continuing his same colorful style, Rochefort explodes with pastels and a supersaturated palette, not exactly lining up with the styles preferred by Demy’s French New Wave pals. That being said, he still found ways to subvert the genre so well established by Hollywood. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nel...
Feb 08, 2018•1 hr 12 min•Season 7Ep. 29
"I feel what’s to happen all happened before." Anyone who watched 2013’s Saving Mr. Banks knows what a difficult time Walt Disney had getting the rights to P.L. Travers’ “Mary Poppins” novels so he could make the cinematic adaptation. It’s quite a story, but what you don’t get from watching that film is the incredible experience of watching Mary Poppins itself. Sure, at a cursory glance, it’s a very episodic film with seemingly disconnected sequences of the titular character as she nannies the B...
Feb 01, 2018•1 hr 16 min•Season 7Ep. 28
"Do you know what I hate about the Americans? Everything. Especially cowboys." With the surprise success of the fourth entry into the “Die Hard” franchise, it was inevitable that the studio would push for yet another film. It took six years, but eventually, they got it made. The script that was developed for the fifth film was the first one developed from an original idea in the franchise and was written by the scribe behind the theatrical adaptation of The A-Team. The director was brought on af...
Jan 25, 2018•1 hr 17 min•Season 7Ep. 27
