Episodes
Sunday Mar 11, 2018
200. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (with Emily Benita)
Sunday Mar 11, 2018
Sunday Mar 11, 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
Wednesday Feb 21, 2018
Star Trek Discovery Redux
Wednesday Feb 21, 2018
Wednesday Feb 21, 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.
Monday Feb 19, 2018
197. Black Panther
Monday Feb 19, 2018
Monday Feb 19, 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
Monday Feb 12, 2018
196. The Netflix Paradox
Monday Feb 12, 2018
Monday Feb 12, 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
Monday Feb 05, 2018
195. The Good Place
Monday Feb 05, 2018
Monday Feb 05, 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
Saturday Dec 30, 2017
191. 2017 Wrap-Up
Saturday Dec 30, 2017
Saturday Dec 30, 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
Monday Dec 18, 2017
190. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Monday Dec 18, 2017
Monday Dec 18, 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
Monday Dec 11, 2017
189. The Disaster Artist (with Louise Le Cornu)
Monday Dec 11, 2017
Monday Dec 11, 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
Sunday Dec 03, 2017
188. Justice League
Sunday Dec 03, 2017
Sunday Dec 03, 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
Monday Nov 13, 2017
186. Dirty Dancing at 30 (with Michaela Livingstone-Banks)
Monday Nov 13, 2017
Monday Nov 13, 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
Monday Nov 06, 2017
185. Thor: Ragnarok
Monday Nov 06, 2017
Monday Nov 06, 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
Monday Oct 16, 2017
182. Twin Peaks: The Return (with Emily Benita)
Monday Oct 16, 2017
Monday Oct 16, 2017
One of the most talked about pop culture events of this summer was the unlikely resurrection of Twin Peaks, David Lynch and Mark Frost's landmark work which brought a new level of visual, thematic and philosophical sophistication to American television before flaming out in glorious fashion with one of the most harrowing series finales of all time.
Befitting a series which left its hero (Agent Dale Cooper, played by Kyle Maclachlan) trapped in a strange netherworld for a quarter of a century, Twin Peak returned feeling both familiar and not. The cast (at least, those who had not passed away in the intervening years) were back, but the tone was darker, more abrasive, and the story flew in the face of all conventions of the medium. Once the show had finished airing there had been time to take in a fuller view of Lynch and Frost's work, Ed sat down with writer and producer Emily Benita, who is currently the producer of the great history podcast Past Tense, to talk about The Return in a wide-ranging discussion that involved good, evil, grace, nostalgia, misogyny, stagnation...basically everything, and they didn't even scratch the surface.
Before all that, Matt and Ed talk about the week's news, including the latest fallout from the Harvey Weinstein scandal, Sylvester Stallone taking over as director of Creed 2, and James Corden being spectacularly terrible. But, like, more so than usual.
00:00:00 - 00:01:27 - Intro
00:01:28 - 00:30:17 - Matt and Ed discuss the news
00:30:18 - 02:22:45 - Ed and Emily discuss Twin Peaks: The Return
02:22:46 - 02:24:21 - Outro
Monday Oct 09, 2017
181. Blade Runner 2049
Monday Oct 09, 2017
Monday Oct 09, 2017
The long-gestating sequel to Ridley Scott's sci-fi classic Blade Runner hit theatres this week to glowing reviews and disappointing box office. As two recently converted Blade Runner skeptics, Matt and Ed talk about Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049, an ambitious movie which, like its predecessor, raises a lot of questions: Was Deckard a replicant? How much does it owe to the work of Andrei Tarkovsky? And is Jared Leto "perfectly tolerable" in this movie?
They also discuss the fallout of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the spectacularly dumb Rick and Morty/Szechuan sauce farrago, and whether Jessica Williams joining the cast of the Fantastic Beasts... sequel could possibly balance out the Eddie Redmayne-shaped void at the heart of that franchise.
00:00:00 - 00:01:47 - Intro
00:01:48 - 00:35:11 - News
00:35:12 - 01:26:41 - Matt & Ed talk about Blade Runner 2049 (Spoilers abound!)
01:26:42 - 01:33:44 - SRS Recommends & Outro
Monday Oct 02, 2017
180. Star Trek: Discovery
Monday Oct 02, 2017
Monday Oct 02, 2017
After a gap of twelve years, Star Trek is back on television! Sort of.
The latest iteration of Gene Roddenberry's sci-fi classic, Star Trek: Discovery, debuted on CBS All Access and Netflix (depending on your location) last week, so Ed (a Star Trek fan) and Matt (a Star Trek skeptic) watched the first two episodes and debated their merits, and ask what does a new Star Trek have to say about 2017? Also, is there too much exposition? Why are there so many Dutch Angles? And how is Discovery like The Lost Boys? Some of these questions are answered on this week's show.
00:00:00 - 00:01:18 - Intro
00:01:19 - 00:26:52 - News
00:26:53 - 01:07:50 - Matt & Ed talk about Star Trek: Discovery
01:07:51 - 01:13:57 - SRS Recommends & Outro
Monday Jul 10, 2017
177. The Leftovers (with Zoë Jeyes)
Monday Jul 10, 2017
Monday Jul 10, 2017
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
Tuesday Jul 04, 2017
176. Car Boys (with Nathanael Smith)
Tuesday Jul 04, 2017
Tuesday Jul 04, 2017
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
Monday Apr 17, 2017
Minisode: Mystery Science Theater 3000 is Back!
Monday Apr 17, 2017
Monday Apr 17, 2017
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.
Monday Apr 03, 2017
174. Five Came Back (with Noel Thingvall)
Monday Apr 03, 2017
Monday Apr 03, 2017
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
Monday Mar 27, 2017
173. Get Out (with Nathanael Smith)
Monday Mar 27, 2017
Monday Mar 27, 2017
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
Monday Dec 26, 2016
166. 2016 Round-Up
Monday Dec 26, 2016
Monday Dec 26, 2016
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