April 15th, 2018
That's right: Jurassic Park turns 25 years old this year and death will come for us all. Matt and Ed discuss the legacy of Steven Spielberg's groundbreaking blockbuster, the ways in which it changed how films are made and sold, and why it became a touchstone for an entire generation (even if they don't like it as much as a lot of people do). They also dig into the Netflix-Cannes feud, the Apu controversy surrounding The Simpsons, and pay tribute to Milos Forman.
00:00:00 - 00:36:30 - Intro & News
00:36:31 - 01:15:10 - Matt & Ed discuss Jurassic Park
01:15:11 - 01:21:08 - SRS Recommends & Outro
April 8th, 2018
When it was published in 2011, Ernest Cline's Ready Player One got a fairly warm reception as a diverting mashup of pop culture, gaming, and accessible quest narrative, wrapped up in a warm, comforting blanket of nostalgia for the ephemera of the 1970s and 80s. Over the past seven years, its reputation has proven much more divisive, in part because of Cline's subsequent work, but mostly because the kind of geek culture he celebrated has become much darker and more complicated. Matt and Ed talk about all that in regards to the film adaptation, directed by Steven Spielberg, as well as Amazon's big-budget TV gambles and the dystopian potential of Birmingham.
00:00:00 - 00:25:48 - Intro & News
00:25:49 - 01:09:15 - Matt & Ed discuss Ready Player One
01:09:16 - 01:17:06 - SRS Recommends & Outro
March 26th, 2018
Inspired by the hand-wringing over the middling performance of Red Sparrow and this tweet by Zoe Kazan, this week's episode is all about movie stars. How has movie stardom changed since the star system first took shape in the early days of Hollywood? Are there any movie stars in the traditional sense now that Hollywood is so franchise focused? Is stardom ultimately more harmful than helpful? Matt and Ed consider all of the above, as well as which recurring characters from Sex and the City they wouldn't vote for.
00:00:00 - 00:16:36 - Intro & News
00:16:37 - 01:05:12 - Matt & Ed discover Movie Stars
01:05:13 - 01:15:25 - SRS Recommends & Outro
March 11th, 2018
For their 200th episode, Matt and Ed are joined by returning guest Emily Benita for a SPOILER-rich discussion about the third season of The CW's Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and why its depiction of mental illness (combined with amazing songs, a brilliant cast, and a remarkable tonal flexibility) make it one of the best shows on television. They also determine once and for all which way the characters from The Office would have voted in the Brexit referendum.
00:00:00 - 00:04:09 - Intro
00:04:10 - 00:39:50 - News
00:39:51 - 01:27:57 - Matt, Ed and Emily discuss Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
01:27:58 - 01:35:11 - SRS Recommends & Outro
March 4th, 2018
Following on from last year, when Ed picked the best Best Picture winners in Oscar history, Matt and Ed join forces to highlight the times when The Academy got Best Director right. Also, since the episode was recorded mere hours before this year's Oscars, they try to predict the major awards so that their foolishness can be preserved for all time.
February 25th, 2018
Inspired by some recent stories about people rediscovering ER, Frasier and Friends on streaming services, Matt and Ed spend this week's episode talking about the joy of eschewing the glut of new TV shows in order to dig into the classics, as well as what those older shows can teach us about how television, and culture more generally, have changed. They also discuss the great GQ profile of Brendan Fraser, what their great-grandparents would make of their current jobs, and the pitch for the Friends finale that Ed wrote when he was 16.
00:00:00 - 00:05:17 - Intro
00:05:18 - 00:21:11 - News
00:21:12 - 01:14:16 - Matt & Ed discuss discovering older TV shows
01:14:17 - 01:21:25 - SRS Recommends & Outro
February 21st, 2018
BONUS EPISODE!
Matt and Ed check in with Star Trek Discovery after the end of its first season. Did the series overcome Matt's inherent Star Trek skepticism? Did the show's charming cast make up for its at time rough writing? Were there too many shocking twists? Was Jesse Plemons' character in The Post an assassin? All these important and totally relevant questions are raised and answered in this episode.
February 19th, 2018
Ryan Coogler's Black Panther, the 18th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, opened last week to great reviews and record-breaking box office, so Matt and Ed sat down to discuss the cultural and social significance of the film, particularly in regards to whose stories get told by Hollywood. They also shrug at the then-freshly announced BAFTA results and decide which actors could play a "young, sexy" Churchill.
00:00:00 - 00:12:38 - Intro & News
00:12:29 - 01:00:42 - Matt & Ed discuss Black Panther
01:00:43 - 01:07:28 - SRS Recommends & Outro
February 12th, 2018
Netflix surprised everyone last Sunday when they announced that the third film in the Cloverfield franchise would be debuting on their streaming service immediately after The Big Game, despite nobody having seen it and there being no advance hype or build up. But was this a bold new approach to film distribution, or the result of Paramount, desperate to offload a bad film, finding an outlet for it? Why not both? Matt and Ed address these questions and more as they address the considerable flaws of The Cloverfield Paradox, and the greater conundrum of Netflix itself; a service which has the potential to bring films to a huge audience instantaneously, but which more often than not serves as a place where films go to be forgotten.
They also discuss the first Solo trailer and others bits of Star Wars news, get excited about the forthcoming Black Dynamite followup, and note the deaths of John Mahoney, Reg E. Cathey, and Johann Johannsson.
00:00:00 - 00:04:35 - Intro
00:04:36 - 00:38:17 - News
00:38:18 - 01:23:21 - Matt & Ed discuss The Cloverfield Paradox and Netflix more generally
01:23:22 - 01:31:16 - SRS Recommends & Outro
February 5th, 2018
The second season of The Good Place wrapped up this week, so Matt and Ed talk about why it's one of the most exciting, adventurous and moving sitcoms of all time (not to mention super funny). Be warned: there's plenty of spoilers, so best wait until you're fully up to date with The Good Place. They also discuss the New York Times article on Uma Thurman, whether Guillermo del Toro has the Best Director Oscar in the bag this year, and the surprising way in which Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is like Titanic.
00:00:00 - 00:29:07 - Intro & News
00:29:08 - 01:08:12 - Matt & Ed discuss The Good Place. Again: SPOILERS.
01:08:13 - 01:13:31 - SRS Recommends & Outro
January 29th, 2018
The nominations for the 90th Academy Awards were announced this week, so Matt and Ed talk about the movies they were happy to see get nominated (Get Out) and the ones they weren't (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), as well as what the nominees say about the Oscars as an institution at a time of social upheaval and introspection. They also get mad about Peter Rabbit and mourn the deaths of Dolores O'Riordan, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Mark E. Smith.
00:00:00 - 00:04:31 - Intro
00:04:32 - 00:30:13 - News
00:30:14 - 01:21:51 - Matt & Ed discuss the 2018 Oscar Nominations (spoilers for Three Billboards from 49:00 until 01:01:30
01:21:52 - 01:28:16 - SRS Recommends & Outro
January 14th, 2018
As awards season kicks into high gear, Matt and Ed talk about who they think are the best actors working today, a discussion which inevitably gets derailed by talk about Method Acting as an exercise in performative masculinity, the ways in which critics devalue comedic performances, and Adam Driver's chest.
00:00:00 - 00:27:28 - Intro & News
00:27:28 - 01:14:51 - Matt & Ed talk about the best actors working today
01:14:52 - 01:19:20 - SRS Recommends & Outro
January 8th, 2018
It's a brand new year, which means it's time to look ahead at what 2018 has to offer. After laying out their New Year's Resolutions, Matt and Ed sift through the release schedule to highlight some of their most anticipated movies coming out between now and August (with one October release that they forgot to remove from the episode plan), as well as some which they don't have high hopes for but which could still be interesting. They also talk about German New Year's traditions, become possibly the first podcast in history to joke about the long-forgotten ABC sitcom Teen Angel, and accidentally come up with a title for the next great Sundance sensation.
You can see the sketch Dinner for One, which Matt talks about in the intro, on YouTube.
00:00:00 - 00:12:42 - Intro
00:12:43 - 00:20:42 - News
00:20:43 - 02:04:29 - Matt & Ed Preview the Year's Movies
02:04:30 - 02:09:59 - SRS Recommends & Outro
December 30th, 2017
As the last hours of 2017 slip away, Matt and Ed sit down to look back on the past 12 months and discuss the highs and lows. What movies were shocking successes? What films flopped unexpectedly? And what were the prevailing stories that leapt out to them? They also discuss David Ayer's Bright, a late but strong contender for worst film of the year, before running down the ten best films of the year, as chosen by Shot Reverse Shot's guest contributors.
00:00:00 - 00:03:06 - Intro
00:03:07 - 00:30:50 - A rundown of some of the big news stories of the year
00:30:51 - 00:47:35 - Matt and Ed discuss Bright and other cinematic lowlights
00:47:36 - 00:50:32 - Honourable Mentions
00:50:33 - 01:40:07 - The Shot/Reverse Shot Top Ten Films of 2017
01:40:08 - 01:40:47 - Outro
December 18th, 2017
It's December, and you know what that means: new Star Wars! Matt and Ed search their feelings and discuss the considerable merits of Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi, and their own wildly different responses to its bold aesthetics, thrilling action sequences, and surprising complexity.
It goes without saying that there are a lot of spoilers. Like, tons.
00:00:00 - 00:19:30 - Intro & News
00:19:31 - 01:41:44 - Matt & Ed discuss Star Wars: The Last Jedi
01:41:45 - 01:47:30 - SRS Recommends & Outro
December 11th, 2017
This week saw the release of James Franco's The Disaster Artist in the U.K., as well as its wide release in the U.S. Based on the book of the same name by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell, Franco's movie tells the story of the making of The Room, the legendarily terrible "drama" directed by Tommy Wiseau. Matt talks with guest Louise Le Cornu about The Room in general, his experiences organising screenings of the film, and the clear love and affection for it on display in The Disaster Artist, then rejoins Ed to talk about the cult fascination surrounding Wiseau, and the ways in which Franco draws out the pathos of an outlandish figure. They also talk about candle-making, whether John Goodman would be a good dinner guest, and dinosaur court cases. It's a silly one.
You can watch David Ehrlch's Best Films of 2017 countdown video here.
You can watch Sufjan Stevens' Tonya Harding video here.
00:00:00 - 00:09:19 - Intro
00:09:20 - 00:34:26 - News
00:34:27 - 01:10:06 - Matt & Louise talk about The Room
01:10:07 - 01:36:26 - Matt & Ed talk about The Disaster Artist
01:36:26 - 01:42:06 - SRS Recommends & Outro
December 3rd, 2017
Matt and Ed trudged to cinemas on their respective sides of the Atlantic to watch Justice League, the film that was meant to be the DC universe's answer to The Avengers, but which has underperformed to a startling degree. They discuss the film's difficult production, the missteps that Warner Bros. took over multiple movies that led to Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon having to introduce half the cast of the movie instead of getting on with the plot, and what, if anything, about the movie gives them hope for future DC movies. They also talk end up talking about awards season, the Infinity War trailer, and SM:TV Live.
00:00:00 - 00:04:16 - Intro
00:04:17 - 00:40:25 - News
00:40:26 - 01:35:42 - Matt and Ed discuss Justice League
01:35:43 - 01:45:16 - SRS Recommends & Outro
November 20th, 2017
It's Matt's Birthday, which means he has free rein to talk about any subject he wants this week. Topics include the biggest pricks in cinema history, male role models in movies, and planning a birthday film festival.
00:00:00 - 00:16:55 - Intro & News
00:16:56 - 00:56:25 - Matt & Ed discuss a bunch of stuff
00:56:26 - 01:05:50 - SRS Recommends & Outro
November 13th, 2017
Thirty years ago, the world was first introduced to Frances "Baby" Houseman and Johnny Castle. In the years since, Dirty Dancing has spawned legions of fans, a successful musical adaptation, a misbegotten prequel and a TV remake best left forgotten, which is good going for a low-budget movie starring two relative unknowns with a plot that hinges on an abortion. Matt and Ed are joined by returning guest Michaela Livingstone-Banks to talk about Dirty Dancing as a phenomenon, their favourite moments from the movie, and what, if anything, Johnny has to do with the JFK assassination.
00:00:00 - 00:03:52 - Intro
00:03:53 - 00:24:32 - News
00:24:33 - 01:16:42 - Matt, Ed & Michaela talk about Dirty Dancing
01:16:43 - 01:22:17 - SRS Recommends & Outro
November 6th, 2017
The third film in the Thor strand of the MCU hit US theatres this past weekend and was met with a tidal wave of positive reviews and huge financial success. Perhaps more excitingly, at least from Matt and Ed's point of view, Thor: Ragnarok is the latest film from New Zealand writer/actor/director Taika Waititi. They discuss the ways in which Waititi retained his personality and sense of humour despite a vastly increased budget and higher scrutiny, whether Ragnarok represents a change in direction for Marvel, and how weirdly funny Jeff Goldblum is in the movie. They also talk about the latest batch of sexual assault scandals coming out of Hollywood, Amazon's mad idea to remake Lord of the Rings as a TV show, and how hard it is to explain Bonfire Night to non-British people.
Here is the article about Taika Waititi insisting on hiring Aboriginal people to work on Ragnarok.
Here is the Every Frame a Painting video about the MCU's bland musical palette.
00:00:00 - 00:03:02 - Intro
00:03:02 - 00:29:42 - News
00:29:43 - 01:27:19 - Matt & Ed discuss Thor: Ragnarok and the state of Marvel movies in general
01:27:20 - 01:37:08 - SRS Recommends & Outro
