On this week's show, Ed is joined by returning guest, and producer of the upcoming London Podcast Festival, Zoë Jeyes to talk about The Leftovers, HBO's wildly ambitious post-apocalyptic drama which recently aired its third and final season (so lots of SPOILERS ahead). In addition to tracking the way in which the show evolved from season to season, debating the meaning of the finale, and marveling at Justin Theroux's a̶b̶s̶ acting talent, they talk about London Podcast Festival Presents: Wrestling, a day devoted to podcasts celebrating the wonderful world of kayfabe.

Apologies in advance for some of the audio issues in this episode. We tried to reduce them as much as possible.

00:00:00 - 00:04:23 - Intro/Ed & Zoë talk about the London Podcast Festival

00:04:24 - 00:57:50 - Ed & Zoë discuss The Leftovers

00:57:51 - 01:02:49 - SRS Recommends & Outro

Film critic (and newly minted podcaster) Nathanael Smith returns to the show to talk about the recently completed Polygon web series Car Boys, an immensely funny show about crashing computer generated cars which wound up being intensely surreal and moving. They also talk about Nathanael's new podcast The VOD Pod, a show which provides a guiding light for those looking for something good to watch on streaming services, and look back on the first six months of 2017 and try to figure out if cinema is dead or not. Ed also finally gets to rant about Kong: Skull Island.

- Tony Zhou's video essay about Satoshi Kon, which Nathanael references towards the end of the episode, can be watched on his YouTube channel here.

00:00:00 - 00:06:10 - Intro/Ed and Nathanael talk about The VOD Pod

00:06:11 - 00:19:25 - Ed & Nathanael share their highlights from the first six months of 2017

00:19:26 - 00:45:18 - Ed & Nathanael talk about Car Boys

00:45:19 - 00:54:29 - SRS Recommends/Outro

In this minisode, Ed breaks down Twin Peaks for newcomers (or old fans who may have forgotten the salient details) ahead of the long-awaited revival of the show. He lays out the plot (not to mention the subplots), the reasons why the show's original run fell apart, and why people are so excited about the return of a show which ended ignominously more than 25 years ago. Ed also pays tribute to Car Boys, the recently completed YouTube series from Polygon.

00:00:00 - 00:02:30 - Intro

00:02:31 - 00:32:51 - Ed talks about Twin Peaks

00:32:52 - 00:38:34 - SRS Recommends & Outro

In an episode years in the making, Ed sits down with historian and friend Jack Rhoden to discuss the work of Kevin Costner. In addition to talking about specific films from the actor/director's back catalogue, they examine his status as a movie star, the almost mythic way in which he is used by some filmmakers to evoke a sense of Americana, and the peaks and valleys of a career that has had plenty of both. They also manage to compare Costner to both Lyndon Baines Johnson and indie-rock stalwarts Spoon, which is a pretty decent spectrum.

00:00:00 - 00:06:10 - Intro 

00:06:11 - 01:03:21 - Ed & Jack discuss the career of Kevin Costner

01:03:22 - 01:09:23 - SRS Recommends & Outro

The much-anticipated (by a fervert and vocal sub-section of comedy nerds) return of Mystery Science Theater 3000, the comedy series which raised mocking bad movies to an artform in the '80s and '90s, finally came to pass this weekend as Netflix aired 14 new episodes of the show. Despite new faces, new voices and new writers, the show remains pleasingly familiar and relentlessly funny. In this very short minisode, Ed offers a primer on the series for newcomers and discusses why it's a good continuation of the series for old fans, and the ways in which it makes for a better revival of a long-dormant series than The X-Files did.

This past Friday saw the release of Five Came Back, a three-part documentary series adapted from Mark Harris' great book "Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War", which recounts the story of five legendary Hollywood directors - Frank Capra, John Ford, John Huston, George Stevens, William Wyler - who left their careers behind and spent World War II making documentaries and propaganda for the U.S. military, in the process creating a series of films which shaped how audiences understood the war, and marked a significant development in the history of documentary filmmaking. The experience also took its toll on the filmmakers, leaving them scarred and having a profound impact on their work and lives.

Ed is joined by fellow podcaster and writer Noel Thingvall (@NoelCT) to discuss the series, the works of the directors profiled, and Five Came Back's place within the Netflix catalogue. 

00:00:00 - 00:02:52 - Intro

00:02:53 - 00:56:27 - Ed & Noel discuss Five Came Back

00:56:28 - 01:01:51 - SRS Recommends & Outro

Jordan Peele's Get Out has been an early highlight of 2017: a suspenseful, funny, unsettling thriller that explores social anxieties surrounding race in America in a way which manages to be both subtle and undeniably pointed. It's a remarkable debut, drawing on everything from Rosemary's Baby to Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and its continued success in the US is a testament to Peele's ability to pinpoint and deliver a swift shock to America's nervous system. Ed is joined for a SPOILER-filled discussion of the movie, as well as the broader discourse surrounding it, by fellow critic and Key & Peele fan Nathanael Smith (@NathanaelSmith on Twitter).

They also get distracted and spend a portion of the episode talking about how great Gugu Mbatha-Raw is, because why wouldn't they? She's amazing.

00:00:00 - 00:04:19 - Intro

00:04:20 - 00:58:49 - Ed & Nathanael discuss Get Out (spoilers start in earnest at 21:00)

00:58:50 - 01:05:03 - SRS Recommends & Outro

In this episode - which, despite being inspired by a film called The Irishman and being recorded over St. Patrick's Day weekend, is categorically not a St. Patrick's Day episode - Ed is joined by critic and podcaster Kayleigh Donaldson (@Ceilidhann on Twitter) to discuss Netflix's recent acquisition of Martin Scorsese's long-gestating gangster epic, as well as how the growth of upstart studios and distributors like Netflix, Amazon, A24, Blumhouse and Annapurna Pictures are shaking up the status quo in Hollywood. There's also some talk about whether or not Jeff Bezos is trying to kill God.

Kayleigh's piece on The Irishman, "How Netflix Stole Martin Scorsese's Dream Project From Hollywood" can be found on Screen Rant.

00:00:00 - 00:01:30 - Intro

00:01:31 - 01:10:44 - Ed and Kayleigh discuss The Irishman, Netflix and Amazon's original film slate, the death of the mid-budget movie, Blumhouse. A whole bunch of stuff, really.

01:10:45 - 01:16:50 - SRS Recommends & Outro

Somehow, it's been twenty years since Buffy the Vampire Slayer debuted on the WB, a humble start for a show which would go on to build a huge cult following and fundamentally alter fantasy and sci-fi storytelling on television. To help unpack this momentus occasion, Ed is joined by Zoë Jeyes and Ellie Graham to talk about the highs ("Hush", "The Zeppo", "Once More with Feeling") and lows (that weird sex episode) of the series, its continuing metaphorical richness, and the vagaries of BBC scheduling.

00:00:00 - 00:02:23 - Intro

00:02:24 - 00:59:21 - Ed, Ellie & Zoë discuss Buffy the Vampire Slayer

00:59:22 - 01:04:31 - SRS Recommends & Outro

In this minisode (which in no way lives up to the term because it's just as long as every other episode but shush) Ed counts down the ten best films to ever win Best Picture from the Academy Awards. It's almost relentlessly positive, unless his picks enrage you. Listen to find out if they do!

NB: This episode was recorded before the Oscars ceremony, so, er, don't be surprised that I didn't manage to predict the weirdest damn thing to ever happen at the Oscars.

The Academy Awards are mere days away, and Ed is joined by returning guest Zoë Jeyes to talk about this year's nominees: the surprises (both pleasant and not), snubs and frontrunners that comprise one of the most interesting slates in years. They also try to predict who will walk away with the big prizes on Sunday, something which seems easier than usual this year, which probably means they're totally wrong.

00:00:00 - 00:46:21 - Ed & Zoë discuss the Oscar nominees

00:46:22 - 01:16:18 - Oscar Predictions

01:16:19 - 01:21:11 - SRS Recommends & Outro

Inspired by the US release of The Girl with All the Gifts, a fantastic British zombie movie that offers an exciting and emotionally complex take on the genre, Ed is joined by John Hunter to talk about the film, as well as the ongoing dominance of zombies in pop culture. They also try to explain the success of TV shows like The Walking Dead and iZombie, draw parallels between the rise of zombie fiction and the concurrent rise of superhero cinema, and discover unusual parallels between the zombie and Western genres.

Note: The zombie cop show Ed was trying to remember towards the end of the episode was Babylon Fields.

00:00:00 - 00:05:27 - Intro & News

00:05:28 - 00:20:25 - Ed & John discuss The Girl with All the Gifts

00:20:26 - 00:54:51 - Ed & John discuss Zombies in pop culture

00:54:52 - 00:59:19 - SRS Recommends & Outro 

Ed is joined by Kat Chirnside and Ryan Finnigan, the co-founders of Rare Giants to talk about their work screening films that have beneifted from restoration and preservation. In addition to talking about their debut screening - which will be of In Cold Blood at Sheffield Hallam's The Void on March 6th - they discuss films which blur the line between truth and fiction, as well as the passing of John Hurt.

Follow Rare Giants on Twitter - @raregiants

It's Awards Season, and with a gap in the schedule between the Golden Globes and the Oscars, Ed decided to leap into the fray with Shot/Reverse Shot's first ever awards ceremony: The First Annual Anna Faris Memorial Award for Making the Best of a Bad Situation, in which praise is showered on the actors who did good work in bad movies, or who at the very least made shrewd choices when deciding to sign on to be in bad movies. Mainly, it's an opportunity for Ed to talk about how much he enjoys Billy on the Street.

- Here is Dan Olson's video on the editing in Suicide Squad, which Ed mentions at one point and is well worth half an hour of your time.

- There's no clip for The Angry Birds Movie because that film is poison even in audio form.

Happy New Year, listeners! As is customary, we start a new year and a new season with a look ahead at what the world of film has to offer. To help in that endeavour, Ed is joined by this episode's guest, writer John Hunter. As they go through each month up to and including August, they wonder if xXx: The Return of Xander Cage will be Vin Diesel's Unforgiven, try to divine which films will enjoy a healthy afterlife of being endlessly repeated on BBC2, and attempt to maintain their cool when talking about the Twin Peaks revival.

00:00:00 - 00:03:11 - Intro

00:03:12 - 01:37:59 - Ed and John preview the year in film

01:38:00 - 01:49:54 - Ed and John discuss non-film art they are anticipating in 2017

01:49:55 - 01:52:34 - Outro

Happy Holidays, listeners! As is customary, the final show of the year (and Matt's final show until Winter of 2017) is a round-up of 2016. The boys talk about the Golden Globe nominations and what they auger for awards season, the hits and misses at the box office, and some of the many wonderful artists who passed away this year. They see out this annus horribilis by counting down the official SRS Top Ten of 2016.

Have a happy New Year and we'll see you in 2017!

Here is a link to David Ehrlich's Top 25 Films of 2016 countdown, which Ed mentions during the show.

00:00:00 - 00:04:52 - Intro & News

00:04:53 - 00:23:57 - 2016's Box Office Hits and Misses

00:23:58 - 00:26:52 - The Year in Celebrity Deaths

00:26:53 - 00:42:56 - Worst Film of the Year, Disappointments, Honorable Mentions

00:42:57 - 01:38:40 - Top Ten Films of 2016

01:38:41 - 01:40:42 - Outro

After the somewhat successful performance of Star Wars: The Force Awakens last year, Disney have decided to take a punt on another Star Wars movie. As two people somewhat familiar with and amenable to the series, Matt and Ed watched Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and decided to talk about the first so-called "standalone" Star Wars movie - what works, what doesn't, and how it stacks up against the other installments. They also reveal the real reason for the much-discussed reshoots, wonder why Darth Vader chose to live in the worst place imaginable, and paint Ben Mendelsohn as the Willy Wonka of the Star Wars universe.

Needless to say, there are spoilers. (Also some audio issues due to a faulty mic. We sincerely apologise for that.)

As some listeners may know, because we've been casually referencing it for months, Matt will be taking a sabbatical from the show starting in January so that he can go traveling around the Americas for much of next year. Since this is the last regular episode of the year, and we just passed the five-year anniversary of the first recording sessions for Shot/Reverse Shot, this week's episode is all about goodbyes in film and TV. Matt and Ed cover noble goodbyes, angry goodbyes, hopeful goodbyes, and a bunch of different flavours of farewell. They also wonder if they like Moulin Rouge!, consider the similar paths taken by the Fast and Furious and Mission: Impossible franchises, and co-create a sitcom about forgotten characters from other TV shows.

00:00:00 - 00:09:32 - Intro & News

00:09:33 - 00:28:15 - Matt & Ed say what they've learned from five years of podcasting

00:28:16 - 01:04:17 - Matt & Ed discuss Goodbyes in film and TV

01:04:18 - 01:11:23 - SRS Recommends

Sometimes actors and directors get stuck making one type of movie and, through their own choice or external circumstances, they try something completely new and unexpected. In this episode, Matt and Ed discuss successful reinventions, the ones that failed, and the times when whole careers were sent off in a new direction by one fateful film. They also discuss The Hamilton Mixtape, how many good films came out in 1999, and the controversy surrounding the production of Last Tango in Paris and the broader problems of how it has been reported.

00:00:00 - 00:18:45 - Intro & News

00:18:46 - 01:00:35 - Matt & Ed discuss Playing Against Type

01:00:36 - 01:06:12 - SRS Recommends & Outro

Note: We sincerely apologise for the brief, scattered audio issues in the first half of the episode. There was some static on the recording and while almost all of has been edited out, there were a few moments where it couldn't be removed.

Matt and Ed are both battling illness this week, but they persevered in order to talk about loving imperfect art - those films and TV series that are close to their hearts despite having clear and glaring flaws. At the same time, Matt introduces the world to a new Star Wars character, and Ed reminisces about a wildly unsuccessful supernatural sitcom from the late '90s.

Also, this is the terrible Ruben Blades song that Ed sings terribly at one point in the episode.

00:00:00 - 00:16:00 - Intro & News

00:16:01 - 01:03:07 - Matt & Ed discuss loving Imperfect Art

01:03:08 - 01:09:58 - SRS Recommends & Outro