Shot/Reverse Shot

95. Nostalgia

This week, like a couple of Billy Pilgrims, Matt and Ed are looking backwards and forwards simultaneously as they talk about nostalgia, and how it has informed films like the marketing behind the recently released Mad Max: Fury Road and the forthcoming Jurassic Park and Vacation sequels. They discuss the unstable nature of nostalgia, which can bring fans onboard or completely alienate them if it isn't used correctly, how some films manage to subvert nostalgia in interesting ways, as well as the kinds of films that make them nostalgic. They also find time to talk about Cannes, the rumours that Marvel is looking to hire Ava DuVernay to direct one of their forthcoming films, and whether or not J.K. from Jamiroquai has connections to the U.S. Army.

94. Ang Lee

In the fourth SRS Artist Profile, Matt and Ed look at the work of Ang Lee, a filmmaker who has worked in multiple genres, on multiple continents and in multiple languages over the course of his career, creating a body of work which is incredibly diverse yet distinctly his own. They discuss the reasons why his early films, which dealt with cross-generational conflict and Taiwanese identity in the West, made him the perfect choice to direct a Jane Austen adaptation, his ill-advised venture into broad comedy, and his endlessly fascinating take on The Incredible Hulk, which looks even more radical in such a superhero-addled age. They also find time to discuss one of nature's greatest sights: a wild Nick Nolte.

93. Avengers: Age of Ultron

Spoiler Warning: This episode contains discussion of specific plot points in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but also of a crucial plot point in the Civil War comics which may be a spoiler for the forthcoming Civil War film (but then again may not). If you want to avoid the Civil War spoilers, then please skip this timecode: 31:30-33:00.

A new blockbuster has arrived so the world sent up the SRS signal and Matt and Ed answered the call.(If you're wondering, the signal is a silhouette of Jeff Bridges drinking a cup of tea.) The release of Marvel's second Avengers movie leads to a discussion of the film's merits as a film and as a piece of the studio's multi-film cinematic universe; Joss Whedon's ability to jungle comedy, characters and action; and whether or not the need to set up five years' worth of storytelling hurt Age of Ultron's ability to tell its own story. 

This episode also captures Matt and Ed's live reactions to the first picture of the cast of Suicide Squad, which just so happened to be released as they were recording. Needless to say, they react about as well as they did to the first image of The Joker.

92. Unmade Films

Inspired by the very entertaining documentary Jodorowsky's Dune, about one of the most fascinating and influential films never made, this week's episode revolves around films that only exist in the minds of their creators, or in some magical pocket dimension where all possibilities happen at once. In exploring the topic, Matt and Ed talk about films that were made at some point but had a potentially more interesting version somewhere in their development, films that never made it past the script phase but wound up being scavenged for parts in other films that did, and the reasons why some films never come together, either because they're too expensive or too insane. If you want to hear about how Jurassic World could have been a lot nuttier (and probably more interesting) or why every film should be written by Nick Cave, then this is the episode for you.

91. Marketing and Hype

After a punishing week that saw the release of a trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, a teaser for the trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, a trailer for Fantastic Four: This Time We'll Get It Right, We Promise and, of course, the Internet-breaking trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Matt and Ed decided to sit down and talk about the state of movie marketing today. In addition to freaking out a little bit over seeing Han and Chewie on screen again, they discuss the ever decreasing amounts of footage being released as trailers, the ways in which marketing drives the feeding frenzy of click bait criticism (and vice versa) and the ways in which the team behind The Force Awakens both play into and defy these trends. 

They also find time to talk about Marvel's Daredevil and the baffling low-budget British musical Walking on Sunshine, because not everything takes place in a galaxy far, far away. Some of it takes place in the cheaper-to-film parts of Italy.

Spoiler Warning: From 21:30-22:00, there is a brief discussion of the trailer for Terminator Genisys which reveals an apparently significant plot point which is itself revealed in the trailer, so fair warning if you are trying to avoid that trailer.

90. Susan Sarandon

For their latest artist profile, Matt and Ed decided to discuss the work of Susan Sarandon. As well as talking about her breakthrough as Janet in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and career highlights from the '80s and '90s, they talk about what the different roles she has played say about sexism in Hollywood and how her choices both play into and challenge it, whether or not her work in an Adam Sandler vehicle can be classified as a transgression against the Orthodoxy, and Ed describes the near breakdown he had while watching the ensemble monstrosity that is The Big Wedding.

They also find time to offer a radical solution to the woes befalling the Twin Peaks revival and get really angry about Hollywood's diversity problems.

89. Creative Partnerships

Following the news that John Williams will not be composing the score for Steven Spielberg's forthcoming Cold War thriller Bridge of Spies, Matt and Ed decided to talk about long-running and significant creative partnerships in film. As well as director/composer combinations like Spielberg/Williams, Hitchcock/Hermann and Kitano/Hisaishi, they discuss what working with the same editor from film to film gives a director, how working with the same actors can allow filmmakers to plumb new depths, and the ways in which these kind of relationships can fall apart, and what effect that can have on future projects. It all ends with a proposal for a new "Michael Sheen plays a famous British person" film that is inspired/ridiculous.

88. Shakespeare

Partly inspired by news of a new, 300-fied version of Romeo & Juliet, but largely because they're both fans, this week finds Matt and Ed talking about cinematic adaptations of the works of William Shakespeare. In addition to discussing good adaptations and bad adaptation, traditional adaptations and adventurous adaptations, they discuss their own personal relationships with Shakespeare's work, including a brief digression on theclassic '90s Disney series Gargoyles, the reinterment of Richard III, and Ed's René Goscinny-inspired childhood.

87. Matt and Ed Have Nothing

In a break from the usual format, this episode of Shot/Reverse Shot isn't based around any particular theme. With no central topic to discuss this week, Matt and Ed instead discuss some of the big stories of the week including the death of Terry Pratchett, the rapidly expanding Ghostbusters universe, HBO's The Jinx, and some film about wars among the stars. They also try to figure out a way of proving once and for all just how tall Vince Vaughn is.

86. What Does It Take For A Film To Flop?

Inspired by the spectacular lack of success of Andy and Lana Wachowski's Jupiter Ascending, this week's episode is given over to films that failed and failed big at the box office. After discussing the aforementioned space opera and the Wachowskis' other flops, Matt and Ed talk about some of the biggest money losers ever, how hard it is to determine how much money a film actually lost, and what factors can make a film fail.

85. Parks and Recreation

We're saying goodbye to the residents of Pawnee, Indiana this week as Parks and Recreation ascends to sitcom heaven. Matt and Ed talk about what made the show so special, how jumping forward three years helped make the final season so strong, and offer up their favourite episodes, jokes and characters from one of the deepest benches in sitcom history. 

They also pay tribute to Harris Wittels, a writer for the show and prodigiously talented comedian who passed away suddenly just prior to the finale, and whose work both on and off the show they enjoyed a great deal.

Goodbye, Parks and Rec, you beautiful, rule-breaking moth.

84. Clint Eastwood

Shot/Reverse Shot have got sunshine in a bag this week because Matt and Ed are talking about the work of Clint Eastwood. In between discussing French documentaries and struggling to say "Joe Pesci," they delve into Eastwood's status as an icon of the Western genre, the merits of American Sniper (and the toxicity of the debate surrounding it), and lay into Jersey Boys with a passion and intensity alien to anyone involved with that film.

83. Why Do We Care About the Oscars?

With the Academy Awards mere days away, Matt and Ed discuss why exactly they care about the Oscars, especially since they both occasionally hypocritically dismiss them as not really meaning anything. In so doing, they talk about the real commercial and artistic impact that an Oscar nomination can have, wonder if the Academy secretly hate Martin Landau, and talk about some of the odder wins/snubs in Oscar history. They also try to predict who will win on Sunday, foolishly.

Notes:

- Here is the article by Mark Harris on the narrative of "X and Y" films in Oscar season that Ed mentions in the episode.

- Harris' book, Pictures at a Revolution, is an essential and entertaining work of film history that's especially interesting in examining what the Oscars can mean in a broader cultural context. 

82. Historical Accuracy

Considering the ongoing controversy surrounding Ava DuVernay's civil rights drama Selma and its relatively minor deviations from history (as well as the ongoing non-controversy surrounding Morten Tyldum's The Imitation Game and its multiple, egregious deviations from history) Matt and Ed decided to ask why historical inaccuracy is so often used as a criticism against works of fiction, where exactly the line  between inaccuracy and artistic license lies, and wonder if Dave Lister holds the real truth behind the Kennedy assassination.

81. Why Are There So Few Perfect Trilogies?

This week, Matt and Ed ponder why it is that so many film series are able to produce two good-to-great films, then fumble it when they have to make a final film to round out the trilogy. What is it about third films that makes them so prone to failure, and why do some series manage to avoid those pitfalls? They try to answer those questions, though not without deviating into an apoplectic rant about Return of the Jedi.

80. Richard Linklater

In the first of what will become a monthly feature, this episode finds Matt and Ed discussing the career of director Richard Linklater, the veteran of American independent cinema who is currently the toast of the town thanks to the critical and commercial success of Boyhood.

To add a structure to this episode and all future artist profiles, the boys have picked five of Linklater's films to focus on, each of which falls into a specific category: Breakthrough, Most Successful, Oddity, Dud and Crowning Achievement. That means that they get to talk about the gentle pleasure of watching Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy walk around lovely locations and the more exuberant sight of Jack Black leading a rock and roll rebellion.

Please feel free to suggest artists you'd like us to profile in the future.

79. The Hobbit Trilogy

December saw the release of the third and final film in Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy, a series which saw the man who turned a series of dense books into three fairly swift films do the opposite by transforming a short, snappy novel into three bloated epics. As fans of Jackson's Lord of the Rings films, not to mention his pre-LOTR work, who were disappointed by the Hobbitses, Matt and Ed decided to sit down and talk about the two trilogies in depth in order to figure out where the second trilogy went wrong. Along the way they talk about Star Wars, discuss the desirability of dwarfs and coin the term "Twilightise".

Links:

• Here is the interview with Viggo Mortensen referenced in the episode.
• This is the Cracked article that is briefly discussed.

78. 2015 Preview

Happy New Year! We're back and we're looking forward to what lies on the horizon in 2015 in our traditional preview. We talk about the films we're excited about, the ones that we're curious about, and the ones that are sure to dominate the cultural conversation for weeks and months at a time. We also highlight some TV shows that we're excited about, and offer (hopefully) tantalising glimpses of what we have planned for the podcast itself in the year ahead.

77. 2014 Round-up

2014 was a great year for cinema and a pretty good one for Shot/Reverse Shot. The same kind of terrible films got released that somehow get green lit every year, but you seemingly couldn't move for interesting, intelligent and entertaining films in pretty much every genre and at most budgets. Meanwhile, we put out more episodes than we ever have before, completed our Alternate 100 project, and sought to push ourselves and the format of the show as much as we possibly could. 

We've got great plans for how we can grow and evolve in 2015, but for the moment we're taking the time to talk about 2014: the good, the bad, the "why is Colin Farrell riding a flying horse?" We also find time to talk about what a fantastic year it was for comedy on television, and chart the ways in which movie marketing went completely insane in 2014.

Thank you all for listening this year. Stay safe over the holidays and we'll see you in the New Year!

76. The Alternate 100: Part 10

And now/the end is near/and so we face/the final top ten.

Yes, our year-long journey through the undervalued and under-appreciated comes to its close and while we didn't exactly save the best for last - all 100 films could really be considered the best, really - we certainly go out with a great selection. We discuss time travel, basketball and (arguably) Jack Nicholson's best performance, and try not to get distracted by thoughts of Willem Dafoe in Morrisons. Enjoy, and remember: pimp-slapping Patricia Nixon into a china cabinet can be a sign of excessive force.