Be Reel

I've said from the beginning that this podcast represents freedom—specifically the freedom to beg far-flung thinkers to talk about canonical movies. This week, our Motorcycle Rebel kick arrives at "Easy Rider" (1969), and motorcycle bard / journalist J. Peter Thoeming, aka THE BEAR, is on the show to talk about how this countercultural touchstone relates to Faust, road safety, backaches, and searching for America. Keep up with The Bear's writing here: https://www.advrider.com/author/thebear/

Let's start the engines on a new kick! Now through the end of June (when "The Bikeriders" hit theaters), we're tracing the archetype of the motorcycle rebel. Most historians agree the first biker picture was "The Wild One" (1953) starring an iconically moody and leather-clad Marlon Brando. Today, author Burt Kearns joins the show to share how "The Wild One" became a flashpoint for censorship, anti-hero adulation, and movie posters. Kearns' new book "Marlon Brando: Hollywood Rebel" is out now. https://www.marlonbrandobook.com/

It's match point of our sports-romance kick and hooooo, baby. "Challengers" is here, and we've got writer Alex Barr on the program to discuss this year’s sweatiest, hungriest, horniest movie. We talk tennis as sex, sex as tennis, the movie's use of food, unexplained bruises, a different side of Zendaya, bafflingly inventive cinematography, and so much more.

A cop and robber touch souls—and bods while skydiving at 120 mph—on the penultimate episode of our sports-romance kick. It's "Point Break" week, baby. Bennett Campbell Ferguson is here to dig into everyone's favorite surfing-skydiving-beach football spectacular. We break down good vs. goofy Keanu, assess how Kathryn Bigelow's first big hit epitomized her directing style, and try to figure out what to call Swayze's take on the femme fatale.

This week, dreams of soccer stardom clash with a host of familial and cultural expectations. Writer Jessie Tu (Women’s Agenda, “The Honeyeater”) is here to break down how "Bend It Like Beckham" (2002) changed the culture, showcased heartfelt father-daughter relationships, and everything happening in that one dizzying nightclub scene. Plus, is this another movie where the romance is not between the obvious athletes? Just sayin'.

Tie the boards to the ‘61 Chevy, and let's take this sports-romance series into the waves! Writer Emma Specter (Vogue) is here to discuss why "Blue Crush" is the ultimate women’s sports "sleepover movie." We also get into the power of Michelle Rodriguez on a jet ski, a healthy fear of the ocean, and whether the romance in “Blue Crush” is between the right characters. Emma's debut memoir "More, Please" is out July 9! Preorder here: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/more-please-emma-specter?variant=41074415042594

Four quarters, two players, one game for your heart. No movie in this sports-romance series creates team chemistry between the "sports" and "romance" like LOVE & BASKETBALL. The fantastic Jordan Robinson (Queens of the Court) joins the program to discuss the movie's on-court realism, athlete couples, the enormous pressures on college basketball players, and the LOVE & BASKETBALL character she finally feels bad for two decades later. Listen to Jordan's WNBA podcast, Queens of the Court, with basketball legend Sheryl Swoopes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/queens-of-the-court/id1681606343 And read her 2020 remembrance of Love & Basketball, feat. countless great interviews: https://www.theringer.com/movies/2020/4/21/21228610/love-and-basketball-20-year-anniversary

What if a washed-up tennis journeyman (Paul Bettany) and a rising phenom (Kirsten Dunst) made a pact to hook up before every round of Wimbledon? That's a big swing from this 2004 rom-com, but how's its follow-through? Noah Ballard (Verve) joins our sports-romance kick to analyze the darker movie at the core of "Wimbledon," savor the film's giant cast, and regale us with racquet-sports anecdotes from his own life.

She's a pairs figure skater who keeps rejecting partners; he's a washed-up hockey player. Can they win gold by falling in love and performing an unthinkable maneuver? With a setup like that, "The Cutting Edge" (1992) is the perfect launchpad for our Sports Romances kick. Emily L. Newman (Texas A&M Unversity-Commerce) is here to break down the banter, the costumes, the battle of the sexes, and the Pamchenko Twist as a symbol of impossible love.

At last, we've arrived at our first kick's climactic question: Is "Dune: Part Two" a superior sequel? Bennett Campbell Ferguson (Willamette Week) is here to answer emphatically. We talk sandworm setpieces, Chalamet's gravitas or lack thereof, and this sequel's complex relationship to fate and character development.

Heeeere's Danny! On the penultimate episode of our "Superior Sequels" kick, horror specialist Molly Henery nominates "Doctor Sleep," the 2019 sequel to "The Shining." A bold take? Perhaps! But Stephen King certainly agrees, and Molly goes deep on the film's sweeping character development and visual choices. We talk Mike Flanagan's adaptation skills, 300-year-old tophats, and expand a moon landing conspiracy theory. Steam or shine, The Kick continues.

“Like a kids’ movie for adults,” Susan Tomorrow describes the joyful anarchy of "House II: The Second Story." For her Superior Sequel, the Clinton Street Theater programmer and co-owner nominates this 1987 horror-comedy where any dimension, genre, or plot U-turn is possible in the next room over. Zombie grandpas, crystal skulls, pterodactyls, Bill Maher—there truly is no telling where this one will go.

Sometimes, "superior sequel" status is declared right in the movie's title. This week, Bennett Campbell Ferguson is here to nominate "The Bourne Supremacy" (2004) for its frenetic action, underrated love story, and Matt Damon's cargo shorts. We also break down Greengrass vs. Liman, sing the Bourne theme almost immediately, and get *this close* to remembering our real names.

Some folks think "Home Alone 2" is just the same movie again (and they're right). But to others, it's an "obscene artifact"—and a superior sequel at that. On today's show, old friend and literary agent extraordinaire Noah Ballard makes his case for why Kevin McCallister's Christmas déjà vu succeeds in going darker, showcasing unforgettable audio technology, and presaging the ills of the next American century. Everybody say, "Hiya, pal!"

You hear that? ... Is it Eywa's heartbeat? Or the birth of a new podcast? Today, we start our first-ever kick with "Avatar: The Way of Water" (2022). It's a sequel with twice the cast, twice the mo-cap, and twice the reasons for Jim Cameron never to doubt himself. Fantastic writer (and some would say "Avatar guy") John DiLillo is here to unpack Way of Water's refinement of the 2009 original, go beyond the spectacle, and act as the guinea pig for a segment called "Truth or Trivia." "The  Kick" is proudly part of the Now Playing Network. Artwork by Amy Moore. TheKickCast.com by Michael Todd.

Starting next week in this feed, you'll get the first episodes of "The Kick," a new movie podcast from Chance Solem-Pfeifer. The pod will unfold in themed miniseries, the first of which is "Superior Sequels." For 6 weeks, guests will nominate and celebrate sequels they prefer to the original film. There will be games, deep questions, sequel philosophy, and equal doses of fun and obsessiveness. Let's roll.

It's rare for a journey-woman actor to suddenly garner an international spotlight in her 50s, but equally rare to grab a film by the horns the way Dolly de Leon does in "Triangle of Sadness." The Golden Globe-nominated de Leon swung by the podcast to talk about crafting character backstory that altered Ruben Östlund's biting, hysterical script and how starring in a Palme d'Or winner changes her career. "Triangle of Sadness" is on VOD now and highly recommended.

After nearly 8 years, dear listeners, 'Be Reel' is riding off into the sunset. But not before we talk about one of the year's most intriguing horror films (and maybe films, period)—"Barbarian." If basements and plot twists aren't your thing, you can skip to 37:28 to hear a retrospective game/quiz we whipped up to celebrate 700 movies reviewed and reappraised. We can't thank you enough. Please do keep this feed in your heart/eyeline for whatever comes next. And for once in your life...

Man versus beast movies often make for electric Hollywood skirmishes, but Alaskan settings heighten the conflict even further. On today's Be Reel, Chance and Noah discuss "The Edge," "The Grey" and "Hold The Dark"—a trio of films about how outsiders to The Last Frontier find their lives (and masculinity) threatened by howling winds and howling wolves. (We would like to dedicate this episode to Bart the Bear and saying "Charles" without pronouncing the 'r'.)

One of Hollywood’s foremost chroniclers of obsession and a legendary obsessive himself, David Fincher has made serial killers and their pursuers central to his career in films like “Se7en” (1995), “Zodiac” (2007) and “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” (2011). Ahead of Fincher's 60th birthday, Be Reel investigates all the absurd kinship, crippling loneliness and gallows humor at the dark heart of Fincher’s career-defining murder mysteries.