Shot/Reverse Shot

131. Piracy Redux

Since we released our Piracy episode a few months ago, we at Shot/Reverse Shot have received a lot of correspondence from people on both sides of the debate about piracy and its impact. So much so, that we felt that we had to respond. To that end, this episode finds Matt & Ed reading some of the reader responses and discussing what they say about the realities and justifications for piracy. They also discuss the homo-eroticism in Zack Snyder's work (which seems to be in full flower based on this image from Batman v. Superman), the Internet's response to the first Ghostbusters trailer, and Ed loses his goddamn mind over the trailer for ITV's forthcoming The Wine Show.

00:00:00 - 00:16:33 - Intro & News

00:16:34 - 00:44:36 - Matt & Ed read reader responses to the Piracy episode and discuss them.

00:44:37 - 00:52:25 - SRS Recommends & Outro

130. X Files Season 10 (with Michaela Livingstone-Banks)

To mark the end of the 10th season of The X Files, which finished last week, Ed and special guest X-pert Michaela Livingstone-Banks discuss the highs and lows of the revival, ponder the limits of nostalgia as the driving force behind art, and try their hardest to take Chris Carter to task for the terrible crimes he has committed against both art and science. Needless to say there are spoilers aplenty ahead.

If you're interested in Michaela's work in public engagement as it relates to science, then please visit Oxford Sparks or you can follow her on Twitter.

00:00:00 - 00:02:58 - Intro

00:02:59 - 01:35:16 - Ed and Michaela discuss Season 10 of The X Files

01:35:17 - 01:36:45 - Outro

129. Oscar Predictions 2016

With the Oscar ceremony fast approaching, Matt and Ed try to figure out which films will take home the statues on Sunday night. Along the way they discuss possible casting for the Mary Poppins sequel, whether It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia is more harrowing than The Revenant, and the extent to which Leonardo DiCaprio is exactly like Tom Green.

00:00:00 - 00:15:41 - Intro & News

00:15:42 - 00:55:44 - Matt & Ed try to predict the Oscars

00:55:45 - 01:00:10 - SRS Recommends & Outro

128. Friday Night Lights

On February 9th, 2011, one of the greatest TV shows of all time left the field for the last time. To mark the five-year anniversary of its passing, Matt and Ed pay tribute to Friday Night Lights by discussing what was unique about it, its influence, and its place in the pantheon of great television shows. They draw heavily on this oral history of the show from the dearly departed Grantland, which is well worth reading, particularly when it comes to the details of the show's production.

In addition to discussing the saga of Coach Taylor and Mrs. Coach, they express their ambivalence towards the BAFTAs, grapple with the staggering success of Deadpool, and solicit feedback from the Piracy episode, which will in turn form the basis of a future episode.

00:00:00 - 00:01:25 - Intro

00:01:26 - 00:10:55 - Discussion of the week's news

00:10:56 - 00:12:28 - A call for feedback on the Piracy episode

00:12:41 - 00:45:00 - Matt and Ed discuss Friday Night Lights

00:45:01 - 00:48:28 - SRS Recommends & Outro

127. Sports

In honour of this year's big game, this episode is all about Sports movies, from earnest documentaries to rousing crowdpleasers, with a sprinkling of talk about how insane it is that Joseph Fiennes has been cast to play Michael Jackson. 

00:00:00 - 00:01:50 - Intro

00:01:51 - 00:23:57 - Discussion of Sports Movies

00:23:58 - 00:29:58 - SRS Recommends & Outro

126. Sundance

To mark the end of the Sundance film festival for another year, Matt and Ed discuss some of the big news coming out of Park City, what films from the festival have piqued their interest, and what Sundance's place in the culture is now compared to its heyday in the mid-to-late '90s. They also establish the many ways in which Kevin Smith is exactly the same as a cartoon dog.

00:00:00 - 00:00:50 - Intro

00:00:51 - 00:24:38 - Discussion of Sundance

00:24:39 - 00:31:32 - SRS Recommends and Outro

Here is a link to the Nathan Rabin article mentioned towards the end of the episode which also inspired Matt and Ed's recommendations for the week.

125. Piracy

This week's episode is all about hot-button topics as Matt & Ed start with a discussion of the ongoing controversy over the Academy Awards' lack of diversity, as well as the soon-to-be-implemented  changes to the Academy's membership rules. (Ed also gets to talk about being branded an "SJW Sheep" by some dickhead on Twitter.) Then they delve into the world of piracy: why people do it (and why they say that they do it), how it has altered the film industry, and how it will continue to alter the ways in which people consume media.

00:00:00 - 00:14:36 - Intro & Discussion of the Oscars controversy

00:14:37 - 00:45:41 - Matt & Ed discuss Piracy

00:45:42 - 00:51:22 - SRS Recommends & Outro

David Bowie and Alan Rickman

A.K.A. "Shittiest Week Ever" Minisode.

Like seemingly the entire world, we were deeply saddened to hear of the death of David Bowie this week, then knocked right on the fucking floor by the death of Alan Rickman a few days later. We had hoped to put together a fuller episode about the two men, but unforeseen circumstances made that impossible. However, we submit this minisode, in which Ed talks about what Bowie and Rickman meant to him growing up and now, as a modest tribute. With apologies to Camilla Long, we're really sad about these two artists passing and we're going to go on about it.

124. 2016 Preview

Happy New Year! As is customary, a new season of Shot/Reverse Shot starts by looking at the release schedule and considering what cinematic delights the year ahead has in store. Matt and Ed run down the blockbusters, independent curios and outright oddities that will be hitting screens in 2016, and make the first reference to So Solid Crew that anyone anywhere has made in at least 10 years.

123. 2015 Round-Up

Another year has come and gone, and now we need to try and make sense of it. Fortunately, Matt and Ed are up to the task, and in this bumper round-up of the year they talk about some of the big film and TV stories, pitch some ideas for Episode VIII to Rian Johnson (#QuiJohnCandy), before finishing with a countdown of the Shot/Reverse Shot Top 10 Films of 2015. 

It's a silly, joyous end to a long, strange year, and we hope that you've enjoyed listening to the show as much as we have enjoyed making it.

00:00:00 - 00:01:58 - Intro

00:01:59 - 00:11:05 - Round-up of film news in 2015

00:11:06 - 00:22:26 - The big hits and colossal misses at the box office

00:22:27 - 00:27:07 - Disappointments

00:27:08 - 00:41:59 - A rundown of the worst films of the year

00:42:00 - 00:50:54 - The year in TV

00:50:55 - 01:41:30 - The SRS Top Ten films of 2015

01:41:31 - 01:43:26 - Outro

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Seeing that Matt and Ed spent the better part of a year talking about how much they were looking forward to a new Star Wars movie, it would be downright silly for them not to talk about the film now that it's actually out in the world.

To that end, this bonus episode is a spoiler-filled one in which the boys talk about The Force Awakens: what they liked about it, what didn't work, and how it compares to the other films in the saga.

Here is a link to the Mike Ryan article, "The Redemption of Han Solo in The Force Awakens", that Ed mentions towards the end of the episode.

Christmas Minisode!

Annoying real-life things like families and that prevented Matt and Ed from being able to record a full episode this week. Instead, they decided to talk before the release of The Force Awakens about what they hope to see (and not to see) in one of the most anticipated films of all time, their favourite (and least favourite) Christmas movies, and how shit turkey is. Think of it as a stocking stuffer ahead of next week's bumper end of year spectacular!

Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and have a lovely time from Shot/Reverse Shot!

122. Michael Winterbottom

Matt and Ed finish their year-long series of artist profiles with a discussion of the work of British director Michael Winterbottom, a filmmaker who seems determined to take on every genre imaginable, and who will invent genres if he has to. In addition to discussing how fun his meta experiments can be and how dull his hardcore sex experiment was, they discuss British cinema's inferiority complex, which bands offer the modern equivalent of national service, and reminisce about awkward romantic(?) encounters.

00:00:00 - 00:02:29 - Intro

00:02:30 - 00:44:56 - Discussion of the work of Michael Winterbottom

00:44:57 - 00:46:43 - Outro & Deleted Scene

121. Wasted Potential

Inspired by Spectre and its insistence on squandering the scenery-destroying talents of Christoph Waltz, Matt and Ed are talking about Wasted Potential this week. They discuss artists who don't fulfill their potential due to the actions of others (Orson Welles), because of their own choices (Marlon Brando), or just because they stopped trying (Robert De Niro, Al Pacino etc.). They also wonder if Jesse Eisenberg's awful-looking performance as Lex Luthor in Batman v Superman is secretly brilliant, share their #hottake on the recently announced BIFA winners, and accidentally create a mashup of Night of the Hunter and Shadow of the Colossus.

00:00:00 - 00:12:57 - Intro & News

00:12:58 - 00:51:09 - Matt and Ed discuss Wasted Potential

00:51:10 - 00:55:38 - SRS Recommends & Outro 

- Here is the Nathan Rabin article on Wish I Was Here that Matt references during SRS Recommends.

120. Pixar

To mark the release of The Good Dinosaur, as well as the 20th anniversary of the release of Toy Story, Matt and Ed talk about the work and legacy of Pixar. In addition to discussing the merits and oddness of The Good Dinosaur (which involves some mild spoilers), why exactly Cars 2 is awful, and what makes the culture of Pixar unique in big-budget studio filmmaking, they plug Ed's line of sneakers, pitch a show based on the career of Lance Reddick, and wonder if Pixar helped fake the moon landing.

00:00:00 - 00:15:52 - Matt & Ed discuss the week's news.

00:15:53 - 00:25:55 - Discussion of The Good Dinosaur, with some spoilers

00:25:56 - 00:49:22 - Discussion of Pixar in general

00:49:23 - 00:54:34 - SRS Recommends & Outro

- Here is Ian Edwards' Shark Attack routine, which is referenced towards the end of the episode.

119. Matt's Birthday, 2015

It's Matt's Birthday! In keeping with a recently established tradition, that means that this episode is a grab bag of topics decided by the birthday boy, including what films Matt and Ed loved as kids which they are wary of now, the odd experience of watching a film for the first time that has been referenced so much in pop culture that you know every detail about it, and whether or not Star Wars: The Force Awakens has any chance of being good.

In between all of that, they look forward to the return of Mystery Science Theatre 3000, Matt discovers the joy that is Friday Night Lights, Ed does an impression of latter-day David Bowie, and they uncover the secret behind Bob Odenkirk and David Cross' creative partnership.

00:00:00 - 00:23:02 - Intro & Discussion of the week's news.

00:23:03 - 00:54:20 - Matt's Special Birthday Discussion.

00:54:21 - 01:02:34 - SRS Recommends & Outro

118. Madonna

It's artist profile time again, and this week Matt and Ed discuss the cinematic work of Madonna. In addition to getting to grips with the (few) highs and (plentiful) lows of her work in cinema, they also try to contextualise her acting and directing in terms of her broader work as a musician and a performer, imagine a version of Swept Away starring Jason Statham, and accidentally create Middle Earth's greatest rapper.

117. Spies

There's a new Bond film out and, despite planning to, neither Matt or Ed were actually able to see it in time for this episode on Spies and espionage in cinema. Regardless of a lack of Spectre discussion, they still have plenty to talk about since 2015 has seen the release of a surprisingly large number of spy movies, ranging from the moodiness of Bond to the goofiness of Spy. They delve into the sociological and psychological underpinnings of spy movies, wonder why there are so few examples of realistic spy movies in a contemporary setting, and talk about Archer a lot.

They also find time to discuss the forthcoming returns of Star Trek and Jon Stewart to television (or a streaming service and HBO, at any rate), voice concern about the trailer for Warcraft, and talk about a monster movie that isn't Tremors, for once.

00:00:00 - 00:19:35 - Intro & discussion of this week's news.

00:19:36 - 00:52:21 - Matt and Ed talk about Spy movies.

00:52:22 - 00:57:19 - SRS Recommends & Outro

116. Halloween Special 2015

It's a veritable Werewolf Bar Mitzvah this week as Matt and Ed tackle things both spooky and scary. After discussing some not especially frightening news (unless you find the prospect of an all-female Ocean's Eleven unduly threatening, in which case get over it), they talk about Charlie Lyne's new documentary Fear Itself (which is available exclusively on the BBC iPlayer), before engaging in a more general natter about terrifying moments in otherwise benign movies, their favourite horror films, and why foreign language horror films are sometimes more evocatively scary than English language ones. There's also some nonsense in there about Komodo dragons.

The Deadspin article Ed mentions in the SRS Recommends segment can be found here.

00:00:00 - 00:16:42 - Intro & Discussion of the week's news

00:16:43 - 00:24:45 - Matt and Ed talk about Fear Itself

00:24:46 - 00:48:52 - Discussion of scary moments in non-horror movies, favourite horror movies, and foreign language horror

00:48:53 - 00:55:02 - SRS Recommends, Outro, and a spooky musical treat

115. Cinemagoing

In what can only be described as a jam-packed episode, Matt & Ed, inspired by an interview with UCL professor Melvyn Stokes, who is conducting a study of British cinemagoing habits in the 1960s, talk about their own cinemagoing experiences. This very quickly shifts to them wondering whether or not cinema as a mass medium is doomed, and whether George Lucas is a Cassandra-like prophet of things to come. Scary stuff. 

Before that, though, they tackle the week's news (which is dominated by Back to the Future and Star Wars, unsurprisingly), respond to some listener mail, and pay tribute to Sheffield cinema legend Dr. Clifford Shaw, who passed away this week at the age of 96.

As mentioned in the episode, you can find details of Melvyn Stokes' study at www.ucl.ac.uk/cinemamemories. You'll also find the questionnaire, which can be completed online, or sent via post.

Thanks again to Professor Stokes for agreeing to the interview, as well as to Dr. Patrick Glen for setting up and conducting it.

00:00:00 - 00:12:31 - Intro & News

00:12:32 - 00:19:36 - Listener Mail

00:19:37 - 00:23:19 - Tribute to Dr. Clifford Shaw

00:23:20 - 00:32:35 - Interview with Professor Melvyn Stokes

00:32:36 - 01:02:02 - Discussion of Cinemagoing

01:02:03 - 01:06:55 - SRS Recommends & Outro