Neighbours fight neighbours in this week’s pod, as we watch Alex Garland’s new, maybe-too-close-to-real-life, dystopian thriller Civil War and compare it with Ken Loach’s 1995 Spanish Civil War picture Land and Freedom. Both of these films are certainly thought-provoking, with action, bloodshed, tragedy and tension. But which one makes the best use of a rucksack? Which takes the most humane view of its characters? Which features a cameo from a well-known screenwriter? And which makes us think of...
May 01, 2024•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 111
You’re welcome to join us at the Popcorn Counter this episode, but speak up because we’ve got our noise cancelling headphones on. (You know, the ones for dogs, remember?) We’ve been listening to a few rival pods while we wait for the popcorn machine to warm up, but which would we sincerely recommend? What are the podcasts that make it into our subscriptions, and when do we find time to listen to them? And do we ever think about anything else besides movies? Featuring guest appearances from blaze...
Apr 24, 2024•16 min•Ep. 110
Is it term time already? It must be, because we’re heading back to school again, this time comparing the new, Oscar-nominated German drama The Teachers’ Lounge with 1967’s scholastic classic, To Sir With Love. There are so many elements in common here that you have to ask if someone’s been copying their homework: outsider teachers, rebellious pupils, racism in the classroom, and scarily self confident teenagers. But which film has an actual ending? Which film offers some medical truths? And whic...
Apr 17, 2024•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 109
Please be seated, the Court of the Popcorn Counter is now in session. We’re hosting a constitutional controversy of our own this episode, as we accuse Legal Dramas of the crime of being a bit boring and fundamentally uncinematic. And in true legal tradition, we flipped a coin beforehand to decide which one of us was going to prosecute and which defend. (Like so many movie lawyers, you can tell we’re only in it for the money.) Which film did we fall asleep in twice? Which film sees Julia Roberts ...
Apr 10, 2024•29 min•Ep. 108
It’s double anatomy at the Two Reel Cinema Club this episode, as we catch up on the last of the Oscar nominees with Anatomy of a Fall, the French courtroom drama that ended up with the Best Screenplay Academy Award this year. It’s a bloody and nuanced multilingual piece with a couple of dynamite performances, but is it possible that not quite enough happens? We’re comparing it to the 1959 Otto Preminger picture Anatomy of a Murder, starring the ever charming James Stewart and a young Lee Remick,...
Apr 03, 2024•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 107
Join us at the Popcorn Counter this episode for some late-to-the-party Oscars chat. Which nominated film was hit with plagiarism claims? Which film was like getting struck by a steamroller? What exactly is Barbie ‘adapted’ from? When is sound crucial? What are short films actually for? And how much controversy can we generate over the pronunciation of the word ‘controversy’? If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media: Instagram: @tworeelcinemaclub Contact us at tworeelcinemaclub@gmail.com ...
Mar 27, 2024•26 min•Ep. 106
Again? Seriously? Yes, welcome to our third podcast in a row to feature Nazis. These guys will just not go away. This episode we have watched the new Ava DuVernay docudrama Origin, and read the book it’s based on - Isabel Wilkerson’s non-fiction best seller Caste. We’re comparing it to what may be the first ever cinematic epic, 1915’s silent KKK movie Birth of a Nation. There’s a lot of highly emotional material here about the history of racism and prejudice, but we do have a few questions. Why ...
Mar 20, 2024•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 105
Join us at the Popcorn Counter this week as we ask: why are Nazis such commonly used villains in movies? Films and shows discussed include Hogan’s Heroes, Indiana Jones, Schindler’s List, Star Wars, Starship Troopers, Saving Private Ryan, The Producers, Das Schreckliche Mädchen, Germany Year Zero, and They Saved Hitler’s Brain. Give yourself a bonus mark if you can guess which of those films has the lowest Rotten Tomatoes rating… If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media: Instagram: @twor...
Mar 13, 2024•21 min•Ep. 104
Oh, dear, what have we gotten ourselves into this episode? Join us for a look at some of the most evil people in history as we watch the new Oscar nominated Auschwitz movie The Zone of Interest and compare it to the Nazis' own 1935 propaganda epic, Triumph of the Will. Light hearted fun is in short supply this time round, but we still manage to challenge evil with ridicule as we ask who exactly paid for all those jackboots? Which film features the most pathetic and ineffectual salute? Which film...
Mar 06, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 103
Sometimes at the Popcorn Counter we just go off on one. We have no idea how it happens, we try to plan these things out, but there it is. So join us this week for a high speed tour that takes in intermittent fasting, mind reading, Woody Allen, feral cats, raccoon families, French cinema’s tribute to the animal kingdom, the financial performance of canine movies and a lengthy guest appearance from Kiki the dog. Plus Mishima, Adaptation, and Wonder Boys. Also, this podcast includes maybe the most ...
Feb 28, 2024•23 min•Ep. 102
We enjoy a clever and ironical look at black cinema this episode as we watch the hilarious and heartfelt Oscar-nominated feature American Fiction, and then compare it to the 1961 Chicago drama A Raisin in the Sun. Plus we see the return of the Two Reel Book Club, as we’ve also read the book and the play that gave birth to each film. But how do the two films differ in their explorations of racism? Which film could have made life even harder for its characters? Which film uses anti-cinematic photo...
Feb 21, 2024•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 101
As George W Bush famously once asked, ‘Is our children learning?’ Join us in the specially commissioned TRCC Popcorn Counter Lecture Theatre as we celebrate our 100th episode. There we try to distill the lessons we’ve garnered from recording two years of podcasts into ten condensed nuggets of insight. Has all that viewing and talking about films made us any wiser, or just hoarser? Can we apply the intelligence of George Orwell to the podcaster’s craft? Why does Oppenheimer get mentioned not once...
Feb 14, 2024•29 min•Ep. 100
After watching Dogtooth recently, we’re convinced that endings are hard. Or are they? Join us at the Popcorn Counter as we take a look at movie endings good and bad from the history of cinema, Including: John Sayles’ Limbo, Birdman, The Long Good Friday, North by Northwest, Planet of the Apes, Fight Club, Top Gun Maverick, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and The Libertine. (…How do you like us now?) If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media: Instagram: @tworeelcinemaclub Contact us at tworeelcinem...
Feb 07, 2024•24 min•Ep. 99
A new Hayao Miyazaki film from Studio Ghibli has appeared! The Boy and the Heron is the master animator’s first feature length work in more than ten years, and on this week’s episode we dive deep into its mysterious, dreamlike world and measure it up against what might be the studio’s greatest feature, 1988’s My Neighbour Totoro. It’s no great surprise to find a lot of common ground here, with both films examining magic, love, fear and family crises. But which of the two is filled with so many i...
Jan 31, 2024•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 98
How many times has Frankenstein been made into a movie? More times than we remember, it turns out. There’s Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Young Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein 2, yes, yes, yes. But what about Robocop? The Fly? The Six Million Dollar Man? Even one of our own scripts was a Frankenstein story. What does Frankenstein have in common with socialism? And what connects Mary Shelley to Philip K Dick? Join us at the Popcorn Counter as we slowly figure out that Frankenstein is th...
Jan 24, 2024•17 min•Ep. 97
What happens when you put the brain of a baby in the body of an adult woman? You get Sexy Frankenstein, apparently. At least that’s the opinion of the new Yorgos Lanthimos picture Poor Things starring Emma Stone, which is out in the UK this week. We’re comparing it to Lanthimos’ 2009 feature, Dogtooth, which first brought him to international prominence. And it turns out there’s plenty of common ground between these two curious, violent, comic fables. But which film reminds us of Terry Gilliam? ...
Jan 17, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 96
Ines Braga hangs out at the Popcorn Counter with us this week, where she confesses that she really doesn’t like musicals. But there are a few notable exceptions, including last week’s masterpiece West Side Story. Is there a rule that distinguishes good movie musicals from bad ones? Why do The Lion King, Frozen and Moana succeed where others do not? Is it possible to go wrong when you have the Beatles catalogue to draw from? And how does Clint Eastwood fit in to all this? If you enjoyed the show,...
Jan 10, 2024•19 min•Ep. 95
Tonight, tonight, we’re joined by screenwriter Ines Braga to sing a song of two musical pictures, the new Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro, helmed by A Star is Born director Bradley Cooper, and Bernstein’s own 1961 masterpiece, West Side Story. They’re both very enjoyable, but which one has more to say about contemporary la la la la la l’America? Which one paints the most vivid picture of toxic masculinity? Which one can’t quite decide whose story it wants to be? And who forced Stephen Sondheim ...
Jan 03, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 94
It’s the show we’ve been anticipating for the last twelve months, the Two Reel Cinema Club Film of the Year Show. We’ve seen some masterpieces this year, we’ve seen some real clunkers, we’ve seen some incredible performances and we’ve seen some very eye catching hats. Who will win, who will get a dishonourable mention, and who will leave the ceremony emotional, drunk and bitter as their personal security staff roll them into the back of a white limo with lightly stained upholstery? We’ve kept ou...
Dec 27, 2023•40 min•Ep. 93
Happy Holidays from the Two Reel Cinema Club, as we watch one of the funniest, dourest and most heartfelt Christmas films we’ve seen in years, Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers. We discover it perched under the mistletoe kissing a film forty years its senior, 1983’s English private school drama Another Country. These two films both examine privilege, wealth and class, while simultaneously exploring the depths of the human heart. But which one features a triple tragedy? Which revolves around a wonk...
Dec 20, 2023•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 92
You might think we saw enough hats for one lifetime last week in Napoleon and Barry Lyndon but no, we want more. Join us as we doff our hats to the finest headgear in Hollywood. Which is the most famous hat in cinema? Who has the biggest hat in the MCU? How did cowboys decide between a black and a white hat? What hat did Zack Braff force Natalie Portman to wear in Garden State? And which of us has a friend who made a hat for Madonna? Well… a kind of hat… If you enjoyed the show, find us on socia...
Dec 13, 2023•19 min•Ep. 91
Join us in the Eighteenth Century this episode as we compare the new Ridley Scott feature Napoleon with its 1975 forefather, Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon. It’s an explosion of candlelight and costume design, huge battles and intimate character moments. But it does make us wonder: why is the French Language no longer the Lingua Franca of cinema? What exactly are drummers for on the battle field? And which is the most famous vagina in cinematic history? Plus: the definition of a good surgeon, th...
Dec 06, 2023•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 90
Persepolis, Watchmen, Ghost World, American Splendor, Akira, Gemma Bovary… can you see the pattern yet? After watching David Fincher’s The Killer last week, we look at films that have been adapted from graphic novels. Which ones work, and which ones don’t? And what’s the common factor that makes a good adaptation? Plus, we talk about Paul Giamatti and Scarlett Johansson, falling asleep while Tokyo explodes, video game Visual Novels, Wordle for film nerds, Steve Buscemi’s type casting, and using ...
Nov 29, 2023•22 min•Ep. 89
Two films, two assassins, and two hundred thousand bullets this episode, as we watch the new David Fincher film The Killer and compare it to John Woo’s 1989 breakout Hong Kong action spectacular The Killer. There’s no denying the technical craft on display here, but while there’s a lot of bloodshed is there perhaps a little too much rumination? Which of these films should really be described as a comedy? Which one is dedicated to Martin Scorsese? Which film spent most of its budget on candles an...
Nov 22, 2023•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 88
It’s not just a feeling in your bladder, it’s actually true. Films really are getting longer. After struggling with the length of Killers of the Flower Moon last week, we analyse a few statistics about how film length has changed in the last forty years. Is it to do with length of a VHS tape? Or is the rise of streaming to blame, like it is for everything else? Are ‘event films’ the only reason people will leave the house now? What happened to the double feature? Isn’t everything supposed to be ...
Nov 15, 2023•18 min•Ep. 87
We take two dark journeys into the American West in this episode as we watch the new Martin Scorsese picture Killers of the Flower Moon, and compare it to Sergio Leone’s 1969 classic Once Upon a Time in the West. It’s an epic total of six hours of gunshots, dirt, crime, money, corruption and revenge, all in Cinemascope. But which film is a textbook in cinematic story telling? Does either film justify its run time? Which actor do we consider the Big Mac of movie stars? And why do we both wish we ...
Nov 08, 2023•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 86
After watching Sliding Doors and Past Lives the other week, you find us writing our own romcom at the Popcorn Counter this episode. We ask ourselves: how many tropes can we squeeze into one pitch? The answer seems to be all of them, as we fold mismatched undercover cops, crazy best friends, a high stakes bake off, dance lessons on the beach, a wedding at a castle, a tiny car, kissing in the rain and a shared parachute into the mix, creating a romcom monster of box-office-destroying proportions… ...
Nov 01, 2023•21 min•Ep. 85
Watching Blackberry last week made us wonder how many hours of cinema are watched on a tiny, pocket-sized smartphone screen these days. Now that many of us have a fifty five inch OLED at home, are the days of cinema numbered? What will become of the experience of watching a movie in a big, dark room full of strangers? Will VR headsets and short form video kill movie going, or will new innovations like the Las Vegas Sphere and grass roots community movie clubs save us? Plus: the one weird trick o...
Oct 25, 2023•21 min•Ep. 84
We get down to business at the Two Reel Cinema Club this episode, as we watch the very entertaining new Canadian comedy-drama Blackberry, which explores the multi-billion-dollar early days of the smartphone, and compare it to Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2007 masterpiece There Will Be Blood. They’re two stories about big money, separated by a century, but with many touchstones in common. But which film had to recast a central character well into shooting? Which film has the most incredible soundtrack?...
Oct 18, 2023•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 83
Money is all we can think about at the popcorn counter this week, after watching two films about money last week. What are our top five financial films of all time? And can we answer five trivia questions about the insanity of film financing? What film made the most money, who got the biggest payday ever, and what clunker lost the most money? Do we prefer films about stealing money or saving it? And see if you can spot our own clunker when we forget who made American Graffiti… (Disclaimer: the v...
Oct 11, 2023•27 min•Ep. 82
