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Showing episodes and shows of
Ryan Ellis & Bev Ellis
Shows
Have You Ever Seen
A Star Is Born (1954)
Our 625th episode is another Ryan solo show, with the topic of the day being George Cukor's 1954 take on A Star Is Born. Judy Garland plays a movie star on the way up while James Mason plays a movie star on the way down. While Garland was the one who was struggling with addiction in reality, Mason's character is the one who's a raging alcoholic bringing much pain to his wife, who also happens to be his discovery. She sure can sing though in this "musical"...and she sings a lot. The film is WAY too long and, while...
2024-11-15
41 min
Have You Ever Seen
The Terminator
A sci-fi movie about nuclear war sounds like a depressing way to honour veterans on their day, but not when the podcast is about one of the greatest (horror) movies ever made. James Cameron didn't have much of a budget to make The Terminator, but it started a franchise. And it stars the unlikeliest of movie stars, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Michael Biehn and Linda Hamilton are terrific too, but Ah-nuld playing a murderous machine is his signature role, even if he's all wrong for an infiltration unit. He's a futuristic, murderous cyborg who's sent back in time to kill the...
2024-11-11
53 min
Have You Ever Seen
Dawn Of The Dead (2004)
Happy Halloween! Scary Movie Month comes to an end with this 622nd edition of Have You Ever Seen. No, this episode isn't about George Romero's 1978 zombie classic where humans hole up in a mall. Ryan's 3rd solo show in 3 days is about Zack Snyder's intense 2004 remake. The original had plenty of blood, guts and thrills, but also a lot of satire. This has even more gore, better acting and action scenes that are even cooler. Sarah Polley and Ving Rhames lead a not-remarkably-famous cast, most of whom DO hold their own and give us a few more emotional moments...
2024-10-31
48 min
Have You Ever Seen
The Blair Witch Project
Even though The Blair Witch Project didn't invent the genre, it's probably the best-known and the biggest hit of all the found footage movies. The online marketing campaign was especially revolutionary. It's a shame that Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez never hit these heights again as writers or directors, but they got so much mileage out of their made-up story, considering it was mostly improvised by the then-unknown Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael Williams. The unresolved mystery takes a lot of heat for its ambiguity, yet Ryan's one-man show talks about how haunting the whole thing still feels 25...
2024-10-30
42 min
Have You Ever Seen
The Amityville Horror
Halloween Week = extra episodes! Ryan talks by himself here about the 1979 Amityville Horror...and a little about the other Amityville flicks too...all of which are based on a horrific real-life tragedy that led to a (possibly made-up) haunting in that same house. James Brolin and Margot Kidder play newlyweds who move into a place on Long Island with her 3 kids, then it starts messing with all of them...especially Brolin's mind. Chairs rock on their own, furious flies fill a room, fathers get mad and walls bleed...but will the Lutzes listen to what Rod Steiger heard early...
2024-10-29
28 min
Have You Ever Seen
Pet Sematary
Fridays mean Ryan posts monologues on Have You Ever Seen and our 617th episode digs a one-man hole into Pet Sematary. Mary Lambert's 1989 horror show about unholy reanimation keeps on reminding us that "sometimes dead is better". The one who's always saying that, Fred Gwynne, is probably the best actor in this cast, although he's not THAT much better than the underwhelming Dale Midkiff or Denise Crosby. The horror highlights in the last act are excellent though. Pet Sematary also has many links to The Shining, which are 2 of the most-vivid Stephen King books. No, this gore-soaked film isn't...
2024-10-18
44 min
Have You Ever Seen
Young Frankenstein
This is our 31 days of films that have chills & thrills, but Have You Ever Seen's 3rd posting in Scary Movie Month (and our 616th episode overall) is far more funny than it is frightening. Just like Shaun Of The Dead last week, much mirth results from nitwits dealing with reanimated corpses. Mel Brooks' beloved blockbuster is a satire of the classic Universal monster story and he's got his co-writer Gene Wilder leading a fantastic cast. Gene is a riot himself in one of Ryan's Top 10 fave comedies, even if Young Frankenstein turned out to be A LITTLE less of...
2024-10-14
41 min
Have You Ever Seen
Black Christmas
Bob Clark made his name directing popular comedies in the '80s like Porky's and A Christmas Story, but his 1974 horror flick about a home-invading murderer has become a classic too. And that's good because Scary Movie Month 2024 is here! The ending of Black Christmas is one of the best in the history of horror...even if it also has MANY flaws. Ryan's one-man show gets into that, but also talks about how this film just might be better than ever. Clark's direction and his use of the camera are dynamite. Leading ladies and sorority sisters Olivia Hussey and...
2024-10-04
40 min
Have You Ever Seen
The Thin Man
In The Thin Man, William Powell and Myrna Loy are 2 married, childless adults living in the big city...and they like to drink. It's the Ellis Story! Well, no, but the 611th episode of Have You Ever Seen features those 2 comedic tipplers Nick & Nora trying to solve a murder (which is really more his job than it is "theirs"). But is this acclaimed yucks-fest actually funny enough to be so revered for its comedy scenes? Perhaps not. This film is really more effective as a whodunnit than as a laugher anyway. One thing that can't be questioned though is...
2024-09-20
34 min
Have You Ever Seen
The Killing Fields
Roland Joffe is not a director who's been beloved by critics over the years, but most seem to agree that his magnum opus is the Oscar-winning The Killing Fields. Sam Waterston plays an American journalist in war-torn Cambodia in the aftermath of the Vietnam war, when Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge went on a run of violence---especially against their fellow Cambodians---that was chilling. Haing S. Ngor won the Supporting Actor Oscar as Waterston's interpreter and compatriot who goes through horrors...and manages to make it out alive in this real-life tale of fear, friendship and politics. The Killing...
2024-09-16
38 min
Have You Ever Seen
Dead Poets Society
Ryan's first Friday show in 3 months tries to be extraordinary and also to seize a day or two in this monologue about Dead Poets Society. Robin Williams' performance as an inspirational poetry teacher at a posh prep school was up for an Oscar, but some critics thought his impressions of famous people was out of place. He IS funny, but his serious scenes are far more effective ("thank you, boys, thank you"). Robert Sean Leonard, a very-young Ethan Hawke and others are taught to think for themselves and to yawp barbarically in Dead Poets Society. They also learn about...
2024-09-06
47 min
Have You Ever Seen
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
For episode #600 of Have You Ever Seen, we're completing the Quentin Quest. With this, we have reviewed everything Tarantino has directed (well, discounting Four Rooms). Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is the man's most-emotional film and it's his most-personal too. The outstanding cast is headlined by the hilarious Leonardo Di Caprio, the gruff (and Oscar-winning) Brad Pitt and the sweet-as-honey Margot Robbie. She doesn't get as much to do as the guys do, but her lovely performance always brings one of us to tears. This film is funny, it's heartfelt, it's tense and QT gets back into "revisionist...
2024-07-15
1h 07
Have You Ever Seen
American Fiction
American Fiction is more of a dramedy or a clever satire than a true comedy, but few movies in recent years have been funnier than this is. Writer/director Cord Jefferson crafted a remarkable film, even though he balances maybe a few too many plots in his big-screen debut (racial strife, white guilt, difficult family issues, money troubles, inability to connect with people). The actors are always terrific in American Fiction though. Jeffrey Wright is especially wonderful in the leading role and he has chemistry with the entire cast, particularly with Tracee Ellis Ross. We really like this laugh-generator...
2024-06-17
1h 00
Have You Ever Seen
To Have And Have Not
Bogie and Bacall's first movie together was directed by Howard Hawks and was based on a book by Ernest Hemingway, so that's some serious cache. Of course, Hawks barely used anything from his friend's To Have And Have Not novel other than the title, even though the screenplay is filled with snappy lines. This is "Casablanca In The Caribbean" and it's set during the early days of World War II, but all of that is a backdrop for Bacall's star-making performance...which was also her debut. She and Bogart were married for real not too long after filming was...
2024-05-31
36 min
Have You Ever Seen
Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow
Ryan's quest to review at least one movie starring all the actors on the AFI's Top 50 Stars list has been achieved with this one-man-talk about Vittorio De Sica's comic anthology. Sophia Loren was the last one standing. She and "Mar-chell-o", not "Mar-cell-o" Mastroianni star in all 3 chapters of Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow, each time as Italian lovers. The 1st part of the film where they play a horny married couple is definitely the best and funniest segment. The actors have chemistry and the result of this pairing is a blend of the light and the somewhat dark, although this...
2024-05-17
33 min
Have You Ever Seen
On The Town
Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra were both tremendous movie stars, but their names haven't come up very often in 11+ years of Have You Ever Seen. So after covering plenty of dark films in recent weeks, Ryan talks alone in this 589th episode about these singers and dancers in their light musical romp. It's glossy and the songs are mostly good, but this Kelly/Donen affair is also silly and easy to mock. The 2 handsome stars---along with Jules Munshin---share the screen with Betty Garrett, Ann Miller and Vera-Ellen. Garrett and Miller play a couple of fast women, who make it...
2024-05-13
36 min
Have You Ever Seen
Little Caesar
The early-'30s were a tumultuous time, so it's fitting that we were introduced to violent gangster flicks during that timeframe. The Public Enemy & Howard Hawks' Scarface are both better than Mervyn LeRoy's Little Caesar, but Edward G Robinson's star-making performance is just as iconic as what Cagney & Muni did in their shoot-'em-up crime movies. And this is certainly a memorable film, with the pint-sized killer mowing down anyone who gets in his way. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. plays the Chicago mobster's best friend and while his character isn't as fleshed out as he could be (none of them are...
2024-05-06
27 min
Have You Ever Seen
Dark Victory
We've only covered Bette Davis twice before now (including the classic All About Eve), but she's nearly as good in Dark Victory as she was in that or in anything else she ever made. Geraldine Fitzgerald does solid work here too, but George Brent, Ronnie Reagan and even Humphrey Bogart just aren't as up to snuff. In any case, Edmund Goulding directs them all through a tragi-drama about a socialite (Davis) who gets a brain tumor, then falls in love with her brain doctor (Brent). And they're both liars. Have any of us been as dishonest as the lovebirds...
2024-05-03
28 min
Have You Ever Seen
Batman
Tim Burton's dark 1989 take on the billionaire who dresses as a bat came decades after Bob Kane and Bill Finger invented the character. And while Ryan talks a little about the other films in this long-running series (and the '60s TV show), the star of this one-man show is the '89 Batman. Michael Keaton proved the naysayers very wrong in this stylish comic-book adaptation (is he still the best Batman ever?) and Jack Nicholson has a gigantic ball playing the Joker. The rest of the cast nails it too, Prince's songs remain infectious and Danny Elfman's great themes...
2024-04-29
53 min
Have You Ever Seen
Revenge Of The Nerds
Since this is still Revenge Month, the time has come for a one-Ryan episode about Revenge Of The Nerds. Yes, there are a few controversial scenes where our otherwise-lovable heroes strike back against mean-spirited football players...although what they do to the jocks' snobby cheerleader girlfriends is far worse. But this IS a tacky, sex comedy that was made 40 years ago. Robert Carradine and especially Anthony Edwards are fun and sweet, but it's Carradine's character who---more than once---crosses the line with Julia Montgomery. Still, it's easy to enjoy the spirit and the sincerity of MOST of Jeff Kanew's silly...
2024-04-19
52 min
Have You Ever Seen
Hustlers
Outside of Out Of Sight, it's hard to find a Jennifer Lopez performance that's any better than her work in Hustlers. Her fair-weather friends in this though? Well, except for Keke Palmer, not so much. But J Lo's stunning sex appeal and swagger overwhelm everything else. Lorene Scafaria's Goodfellas-esque execution of the story are pretty snazzy too. She wrote and directed about some not-very-innocent exotic dancers stealing from Wall Street jerks who (legally) stole from others during the financial crisis. Hustlers is fun and kinetic, but we debated if viewers are A-OK with these women being greedy and reckless...
2024-04-08
54 min
Have You Ever Seen
Foxy Brown
Blaxploitation movies were very popular with audiences 50 years ago. Jack Hill's Foxy Brown is a classic largely because of Pam Grier, who was not only a staggering beauty with 12/10 sex appeal, but she also plays a badass you could root for. And her sublime performance in Jackie Brown happened largely because of how much QT liked this flick. Ryan's monologue tackles the story, of course, but also speculates about what a modern remake might look like. The possibilities are fascinating. So wear a series of terrific outfits and avenge your boyfriend as this one-man talk---our 581st episode and our...
2024-04-05
31 min
Have You Ever Seen
You Can't Take It With You
Jimmy Stewart wasn't a big star yet when he worked with Frank Capra for the first time in this picture. No matter. You Can't Take It With You belongs to the top-billed Jean Arthur and especially Lionel Barrymore anyway. A word that didn't come up in Ryan's solo show here is "screwball", although this Best Picture winner is clearly working in that genre. The flick just didn't make this fellow laugh. Of course, director Capra won his 3rd Oscar in just 5 years for this effort...and all 3 were screwball comedies. The man was in his element. At least his...
2024-03-22
35 min
Have You Ever Seen
Oscars Post-View 2024
It was an Oppenheimer kind of night. Some called the 2024 Academy Awards broadcast a snooze, but the Ellises had a good time watching the show, especially the comedy bits. The Mulaneys, the Cenas, the Spielbergs (yeah!) and especially the Goslings were funny and very entertaining. We also mostly agreed with---or at least respected---the people and the films that were given trophies. So settle in for the 576th episode of Have You Ever Seen as we break down what we thought about the best in 2023's motion pictures in our 2024 Oscars Post-View Show. Sparkplug Coffee sponsors this podcast...
2024-03-12
33 min
Have You Ever Seen
Coquette
Surprise! Back in January, Ryan posted a solo show talking about Horse Feathers. Well, here's another unexpected, unpromoted show about a movie star from the early days of cinema. Mary Pickford is a legend for business reasons though as much as she is for her films. She was a producer when not many women were AND she created the United Artists studio with Chaplin, Griffith and Fairbanks. Coquette is not her best-known title, but it DID win her an Oscar. And this early talkie is better than expected, especially considering the dreadful numbers on Rotten Tomatoes. Sound was still...
2024-03-08
25 min
Have You Ever Seen
Oscars Preview 2024
This is our 9th Oscars Preview Show and this is one of the few times where we don't have too many bad things to say about the nominees. Bev went easier on Oppenheimer than she did last summer after seeing it. We each have nothing but praise for some of the great (downer) films like Anatomy Of A Fall and The Zone Of Interest. At least the Academy didn't overlook funny flicks because 2 gut-busters (Barbie and American Fiction) are up for major awards too. In short though, 2023 was the year of Barbenheimer. Both megahits are likely to win trophies...
2024-03-04
1h 01
Have You Ever Seen
Mogambo
While not a classic, Mogambo has a lot going for it. They took the production to several countries in Africa to get authentic scenery for this passionate love story. Big stars like Clark Gable, Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly do the love triangle thing and John Ford (who had just won his 4th Oscar) is their director. And what these legends of cinema made 70+ years ago is fine. It's just far from marvelous. Gable alternates his romantic interest between Gardner & Kelly, which isn't logical. Anyway, Ryan is on his own again in this 571st episode of Have You Ever...
2024-02-23
33 min
Cycling Oklahoma
Ryan Drummond Chasing the Professional Dream
Imagine pedaling through the thrills and spills of competitive cycling with a rising star as your guide. That's exactly what we're bringing to your ears as Ryan "Ry Ry" Drummond, a prodigious cyclist from Oklahoma City/Bentonville, joins us to share his journey from mastering bunny hops to conquering international races. Ryan's narrative isn't just about the bike; it's a family affair, with a National Champion dad, Pro Racer sister and mom who is working to help develop the next generation with USAC. Together, we unpack the contrasts between American and European cyclocross, with Ryan's firsthand experiences highlighting the...
2024-02-16
1h 01
Have You Ever Seen
Manhattan
So Woody Allen, huh? One of the most controversial men in show business wasn't always that way...at least not publicly. He made many funny classics back in his salad days. Manhattan is certainly one of them. Woody and Marshall Brickman wrote plenty of great lines and hilarious scenes, plus Gordon Willis' cinematography is fantastic. The story and themes in this complicated love rhombus, however, are at least partially ruined by the director's real-life issues. Ryan's solo show addresses the controversies about Woody's dating life, his marriage to his step-daughter and what he may have done to another step-daughter...
2024-02-09
37 min
Have You Ever Seen
Arthur
All of our February podcasts will be about romantic/passionate films with one-word titles...and we begin "Love In A Word Month" with a chat about Arthur. Steve Gordon's blockbuster comedy was the rare laughy performance that won an Oscar. John Gielgud took it home for what is the funniest role in the movie. Dudley Moore, on the other hand, cackles at every joke he makes when he's drunk, although at least he's actually sweet when he's not playing it blitzed. Liza Minnelli brings a lot of sass to this male-dominated yuckfest as Moore's love interest. She has chemistry...
2024-02-05
40 min
Have You Ever Seen
The Picture Of Dorian Gray
Not many movies make decorative artwork a sinister part of the story...but The Picture Of Dorian Gray does. Albert Lewin's handsome adaptation of Oscar Wilde's story about a painting that evolves to show the dark deeds of the lead character while he remains young is a popular concept. It's been remade many times. In this 1945 version, Hurd Hatfield's intentionally soulless performance as Dorian is one of the least-interesting parts of the film. George Sanders gets many caustic lines though and Angela Lansbury is the heart of the movie, even though she's not in it very much. This ranked...
2024-01-26
26 min
Have You Ever Seen
Horse Feathers
Hey, it's a surprise podcast! A little bonus magic here in mid-January. Well, it's been more than 10 years since the Marx Brothers have come up on Have You Ever Seen, so they were due. Norman McLeod's football comedy is just as anarchic as Groucho, Chico and Harpo's other red-letter titles were. Trouble is, most of their zany puns and sight gags come across as "more of the same". They're hitting the same beats with different settings and different character names. So you know what you're getting from the Marx boys (although at least this kind of tomfoolery doesn't necessarily...
2024-01-19
23 min
Have You Ever Seen
Best Movies Of 2023 & Emailbag
We're in "let's look back at 2023" mode as we discuss our fave flicks of last year (so far) and also answer listeners' emails, tweets and YouTube comments. It wasn't a great 12 months at the movies, although we still have to see a lot of red-letter titles before we can make a final call on that. The writers' and actors' strikes were huge stories that might have long-lasting effects, but apart from the whopping successes of Barbenheimer, Sound Of Freedom and Taylor Swift's record-destroying concert film, the biggest story of '23 was the massive failure of most of the superhero...
2024-01-01
30 min
Have You Ever Seen
The Bachelor And The Bobby-Soxer
To wrap up our podcasting year with a record-shattering 77th episode, Ryan is once again on a solo mission to review something that's considered a classic. And while it's always a pleasure to see Cary Grant and Myrna Loy, the reason to cover The Bachelor And The Bobby-Soxer is that it represents our first Shirley Temple (Black) flick. She's one of the title characters---you can guess which one---while Cary plays the other title character in another in his long line of rom-com hits. He was the master of the smiley love stories, especially those in the screwball genre. But i...
2023-12-29
30 min
Have You Ever Seen
A Christmas Story
Television marathons helped A Christmas Story become a huge favourite this time of year, but Bob Clark's holiday comedy didn't need to be stuffed down people's throats. It earns the rep of being one of the greatest Christmas movies by being funny and sweet. Jean Shepherd's joyful memories of his own life as a kid growing up about 80 years ago in Indiana offset some of the bad memories, whether it be a furnace or a Farkus. The story is episodic by design, but the running storyline is of course Peter Billingsley's obsession with someone making sure to put a...
2023-12-15
44 min
Have You Ever Seen
Ball Of Fire
The early '40s was a hugely successful time for director Howard Hawks and his Ball Of Fire stars, Barbara Stanwyck & Gary Cooper. This isn't their crowning achievement (partly because it just isn't as funny as other comedies each of them made), but it's fun and the love story is certainly enjoyable. Hawks was talented enough to excel at making movies in nearly every genre, but he was always in his element when it came to the laughs. Cooper's typical stiffness works well for this nerdy grammarian too. The great Stanwyck though is a little inconsistent as the title...
2023-12-01
38 min
Have You Ever Seen
Her
For the 4th and final time, we're re-reviewing a movie we discussed 10 years ago. Some films age badly, while some become more relevant. Her is extremely relevant! We didn't have any idea just how addicted to devices our culture would get when this movie came out in late-2013. We're a society of people who are lost in their phones, so the science fiction in Spike Jonze's Oscar-winning story might soon become science fact. In the futuristic Her, Joaquin Phoenix is a lonely writer living in Los Angeles who falls in love with a computer program. Scarlett Johansson provides the...
2023-11-20
57 min
Have You Ever Seen
Philadelphia
Hollywood studios hadn't made very many major movies about AIDS before 1993, so Philadelphia represented a fairly safe way into this difficult subject. Many considered Jonathan Demme's picture soft and weak, but Ryan's solo show tries to explain why his approach was the right one. Casting stars like Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington in the leading roles was a huge step to drawing people in. And while Hanks won his first Oscar as a gay man wrongfully dismissed by his law firm, Denzel is just as good...although in an entirely different way. But, yes, there are troubling issues with...
2023-11-17
56 min
Have You Ever Seen
Gilda
Glenn Ford is in Gilda more than Rita Hayworth is and the story is more about his character than hers, but the film still belongs to the gorgeous redhead. She was a true movie star, who had sass, brains, marvelous screen presence and remarkable sex appeal. It's easy to see why the prisoners in The Shawshank Redemption loved watching Charles Vidor's movie over and over again. It isn't a perfect '40s noir though. It has terrific dialogue, but the story is overstuffed. The happy ending isn't really earned either, especially since this has subplots like Germans trying to...
2023-11-03
34 min
Have You Ever Seen
The Exorcist
This year's Scary Movie Month has turned into a month of undisputed horror classics, especially in these one-Ryan shows. Halloween was discussed on October 9th. Now it's time for one of the best-made, freakiest frightfests ever. William Friedkin's mega-blockbuster won 2 Oscars---it should have won more---and it remains beloved in the eyes of many, even if repeated viewings dampen the skin-crawling moments a little. Not that The Exorcist couldn't terrify the uninitiated, even if the greatly-diminishing returns of the 5 sequels have done nothing to continue its legacy. Those mostly-unworthy follow-ups are highlighted here too, but the main event is the 1973...
2023-10-20
1h 01
Have You Ever Seen
Friday The 13th
Ryan talked alone about the classic slasher flick Halloween on Monday. The solo episode this time gets into the business of one of its offshoots...Friday The 13th. In fact, all 12 of the Fridays are discussed here, so this is not a traditional review of one particular film. Iconic mass murderer Jason Voorhees---and his mother before him---successfully killed people at the cursed Camp Crystal Lake for nearly 30 years...and people kept paying money to see them do it. Even though the first one is a pretty good whodunit, none of these horror shows feel scary anymore...and most of...
2023-10-13
43 min
Have You Ever Seen
Halloween
It was nearly a year ago that Ryan monologued about Rob Zombie's Halloween. Well, our 540th episode was an overdue time to monologue about John Carpenter's legendary original. In this one-man show, you'll get a record number of asides, but also some theories that might answer questions that people have had about the movie for the past 45 years. This father of all modern slasher movies is influential because of its style and its themes. It's also beautifully made (especially considering the low budget), the music is classic and Michael Myers was instantly an iconic villain. Although you can't kill...
2023-10-09
48 min
Have You Ever Seen
Ugetsu
We're still over a week away from Scary Movie Month, but Ryan is here to monologue about a Japanese ghost story anyway. Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu has long been ranked on many esteemed critics' lists of great films...including the Sight & Sound. And it should be. It's beautifully made and, while it isn't particularly frightening, it's eerie. Ugetsu's story is basically just a love of money & power versus a love of home & family. So get your priorities straight (and listen to your wife!) as the 537th edition of Have You Ever Seen breaks down Mizoguchi's 70-year-old spookfest. How...
2023-09-22
29 min
Have You Ever Seen
Mrs. Doubtfire
Since this 534th episode of Have You Ever Seen hits the airwaves on Labour Day, it felt right to talk about a character who has FOUR different jobs in one movie. Mrs. Doubtfire is a funny film that has...well, to be honest, lost a lot of its comedic zing 30 years on, although the serious scenes still have a lot of emotional sting. This might be the most-personal movie the lovable Robin Williams ever made. He went through not 1 but 2 divorces, he "did voices", he once lived in San Francisco and he probably enjoyed racking up in-character insults at...
2023-09-04
39 min
Have You Ever Seen
Pickup On South Street
The 532nd edition of Have You Ever Seen talks about a noir that not everyone is aware of, but they should be. Pickup On South Street crackles. Richard Widmark plays a pickpocket, but he remains an anti-hero from the start to the finish...even though crime stories are often about redemption after bad behaviour. He's got (an eventually) loyal "dame" in Jean Peters, he's got a shack right on the river and he's got a friend in sweet informer Thelma Ritter. Samuel Fuller's snappy story has a lot of political subtext, which becomes flat-out text because there are Communists...
2023-08-25
26 min
Have You Ever Seen
Jeanne Dielman
And thus the people who started this podcast to review the AFI's Top 100 Lists have now made a point of talking about the Sight & Sound list. S&S critics ranked Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles in the #1 spot last December, which is the main reason we committed 200 minutes to watch it...let alone decided to review it. Ryan went on a passionate rant about their controversial Top 100, which led to a pretty heated debate about the merits of this lugubrious motion picture and other "women who suffer" films. Not that Jeanne Dielman doesn't find a way to draw...
2023-08-21
59 min
Have You Ever Seen
Coming Home
As we "celebrate" the Civic Holiday, Bev takes the week off and Ryan monologues in the 529th episode of Have You Ever Seen. The underrated Hal Ashby always got great performances out of his actors during that incredible run he had in the '70s. In Coming Home, he uses a plethora of classic songs---so many classic songs---to back up his stars' excellent work. Oscar winners Jon Voight and the remarkable Jane Fonda are romantic and sexy together. He's a veteran who returns from Vietnam unable to walk, while Bruce Dern comes back unable to cope. Fonda's married to...
2023-08-07
37 min
Have You Ever Seen
The Fugitive
If Harrison Ford isn't the most-successful movie star in history, then he's at least on the shortest of shortlists. And he's almost a silent-film actor in The Fugitive, while Oscar-winner Tommy Lee Jones as his dogged antagonist is positively verbose. Ford gets to play smart, determined and driven to find the one-armed man who killed his wife, despite having a terrible lawyer representing him. Jones is the federal marshal out to find him, who's likewise smart, determined and driven. It's such a credit to The Fugitive that a woman gets murdered, there's medical fraud, friends betray friends and yet...
2023-07-31
1h 02
Have You Ever Seen
Body And Soul
John Garfield didn't even live to see 40, but he DID make several good films in the '40s. In Body And Soul, he's a decent guy who finds himself in a love triangle and makes many bad career decisions. It's the age-old story of a boxer who gets mixed up with the wrong people. Robert Rossen's acclaimed picture isn't remarkably original, but it's a well-made film. The man who directed The Hustler knew what he was doing when it came to putting sports on the silver screen. Ryan's monologue also gets into Rossen's ties to Communism and how he...
2023-07-28
25 min
Have You Ever Seen
Adam's Rib
Spencer Tracy & Katharine Hepburn were a great duo and they made many movies together, but they specialized in romantic comedies. Adam's Rib is a rom-com that does a great job with the rom, but isn't nearly funny enough to be called great at the com. The plot has some problems too. George Cukor's courtroom movie has been acclaimed by nearly everybody, but Ryan took real issue in this solo venture with the way Hepburn defends her client. Still, Cukor and his stars pieced together a well-made movie, even if the laughs are lacking. So don't cry (or pretend to...
2023-07-14
36 min
Raising A Billion Dollars with Ellis Hammond
The Wealthy Kingdom | 1-1 with Ryan Pineda and Ellis Hammond
00:00 - The Wealthy Way: Bringing Faith to Business and Living a Truly Purposeful Life Creating a Platform for Christian Entrepreneurs 08:51 - Launching Local Bible Studies Nationwide: A Vision for Wealthy Kingdom 13:28 - Ryan Pinieda's Vision for Discipleship and Building A Successful Business 17:49 - Gaining Influence Through Faith and The Power of the Holy Spirit 22:16 - Open to What God Can Do: A Life-Changing Experience 26:37 - Exploring Christianity & Real Estate: A Journey of Discovery 30:57 - Real Estate Strategy in 2021: Focusing on Single Family and Starting a Fund 35:24...
2023-07-10
51 min
Have You Ever Seen
Bullitt
Bullitt is famous for its car chase (an action scene that many movies have tried---and usually failed---to equal or surpass), but this police thriller has got so much more going for it than just that. As for this being called an action film, well, it's actually more of a murder mystery. Steve McQueen is his trademark Mister Cool, but his romance with Jacqueline Bissett also gives him humanity. It's not like the beautiful actress gets to do much more than that though. Bullitt's biggest problem, however, is that there are some confusing plot turns that don't always make sense...
2023-07-10
33 min
Have You Ever Seen
Superman
Superman has been a patriotic force on the big screen seemingly forever, but Richard Donner and his team did it best in 1978. Except for Superman II, none of the sequels or reboots hold any kind of candle to Donner's Supes, especially when it comes to the ways in which Christopher Reeve chose to play him. He's great when he's Superman, but greater at playing Clark Kent. No one else has ever come close. This, of course, is a film with Marlon Brando as Space Dad, Gene Hackman as the arch rival and Margot Kidder as the lovable love interest...
2023-06-30
48 min
Have You Ever Seen
Sleepless In Seattle
Nora Ephron's When Harry Met Sally screenplay made for a classic romantic comedy. It's one of the best in the genre. Sleepless In Seattle, however, is a rom-com that isn't funny and we didn't even find it particularly romantic, partly because the couple we're supposed to root for don't even meet until the end. That's a clever idea, but we don't think it works to keep these 2 great stars apart for so long. Tom Hanks plays a sad-sack and Meg Ryan plays a stalker. Yeah. We said it. This even has the dreaded trope that we never enjoy: a...
2023-06-19
48 min
Have You Ever Seen
Scarface
Before anyone gets all excited that this is a review of the Pacino/DePalma version of Scarface, Ryan's latest solo show actually focuses on the Hawks/Muni version. The 1983 "little friend" comes up a lot though, so it's almost like getting 2 reviews in 1. And you should be just as excited about the 1932 original anyway because Paul Muni, director Howard Hawks and producer Howard Hughes (yup, him) teamed up to make a true gangster classic. Muni plays a bootlegger and a mass murderer of criminal rivals, so he's basically Al Capone. For a film that came out only about 5 years...
2023-06-16
35 min
Have You Ever Seen
Serpico
Sidney Lumet and Al Pacino were a terrific combination in the mid-70's and their Serpico is an effectively gritty motion picture, just like their Dog Day Afternoon would be 2 years later. Pacino is nearly at his best in this, even though he feels more like a character actor in a huge cast of character actors than he does a movie star. The real-life Frank Serpico was an absolutist who risked deadly retribution for refusing to take pay-offs. Pacino is nothing if not authentic here, so he's playing a maddening man, an idealist who just will not be pragmatic...
2023-06-05
47 min
Have You Ever Seen
Stalag 17
POW movies might seem like a dime a dozen now, but 70 years ago they weren't common. And POW comedies? They really weren't a thing. Of course, The Great Escape set an iconic standard a decade after Stalag 17 that was hard to match...and it doesn't match it. Billy Wilder's film is filled with hijinks and physical comedy, but not even the brilliant funnyman was able to make something that's actually got a lot of laughs. It's solid work, at least, and it's an effective mystery about just who is the Nazi rat embedded with our heroes. By design, William...
2023-06-02
39 min
Have You Ever Seen
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
With Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse hitting theatres on Friday, we're taking a fond look at INTO The Spider-Verse. This monumental achievement in animation wowed the world 5 years ago, but what really set it apart were 2 big things...heart and humour. Of course, Lord & Miller were heavily involved, so laughs were a given. What's almost as impressive is that this covers many of the same Spider-beats as other films about this character, but the rehash is done in such inventive and lovely ways that you can't say you're going down the same old road. This feels fresh. Shameik Moore heads...
2023-05-29
54 min
Have You Ever Seen
Sounder
Who's a good boy?! Well, the miracle dog who licks his gunshot wound back to health is the Morgan family's very-good boy. Black sharecroppers in 1930s Louisiana had it tough enough, but they finally got their own movie in the early '70s and then had to play second fiddle to...the dog?! But, okay, they don't. Young Kevin Hooks is actually the main character, although Paul Winfield and Cicely Tyson got the accolades and the Oscar nominations for playing his parents. Martin Ritt was an underrated director who was always good on social issues. His Sounder isn't all...
2023-05-22
29 min
Have You Ever Seen
Key Largo
Have You Ever Seen #512 takes a bus down to the Florida Keys to see what Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and Edward G. Robinson are up to at Lionel Barrymore's hotel. Bogart and co-writer/director John Huston are back doing another noir after The Maltese Falcon made them major players in the industry 7 years earlier. Key Largo was also released the very same year as their masterpiece, The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre. There's a lot of content packed into this strong script, but Huston ties it all together in a tidy 100-minute runtime. Everyone gets a chance to shine...
2023-05-19
34 min
Have You Ever Seen
Moana + Is The Rock The Biggest Star In The World?
The day after we talked about a classic animated film set in the ocean---Finding Nemo---Ryan posts a solo gab about another highly-enjoyable seafaring adventure comedy called Moana. The Disney blockbuster is formulaic, but it's fun and fantastically well-made. So, yes, this monologue spends 10 minutes yipping about Moana, but the real thrust of this 509th episode of Have You Ever Seen is a breakdown of Dwayne Johnson's career in film. Is The Rock actually "the biggest star in the world", as his wrestling colleagues have been saying for years? Ryan deluges you with facts and figures to analyze just how...
2023-05-02
45 min
Have You Ever Seen
Finding Nemo
Disney will monopolize Have You Ever Seen's first 2 days of May. We start the month with Finding Nemo, which even 20 years later remains one of Pixar's best stories and feats of animation. Even though he's one of the funniest people in Hollywood, Albert Brooks has to play the killjoy, so the laughs are courtesy of the supporting voice cast, especially Ellen DeGeneres. Her Dory is one of the great characters in all of Pixar, both from a comedy standpoint, but also from a lovability standpoint. We spent a lot of time talking about her checkered real-life history, plus we...
2023-05-01
50 min
Have You Ever Seen
Working Girl
Join Ryan for a solo trip back to the era of big shoulder pads and huge hair in this 506th edition of Have You Ever Seen. Working Girl represents the first time a Mike Nichols film has been hashed out on this channel since the fall of 2014. His feminist venture into the comedy arena does something The Graduate didn't. It gets funnier as it goes along. Melanie Griffith's character has long been considered an icon of woman empowerment. How much ARE we supposed to root for Tess though? For good reasons or not, she's lying to everyone around her...
2023-04-21
42 min
Have You Ever Seen
Cat Ballou
A feisty and gorgeous Jane Fonda is a perfect accompaniment to this Easter Monday. Or even if young Jane has nothing to do with the rabbit holiday and even if this is far from her most-challenging role, she DOES headline a fun comedy-western where she gets some payback. And that's fitting since this is Revenge Month. Lee Marvin won the Best Actor Oscar for his dual role as the killer villain and the drunken "hero". Comedy performances don't often result in Academy Awards, so his win still stands out. Elliot Silverstein does a good job managing those tonal changes...
2023-04-10
28 min
Have You Ever Seen
12 Years A Slave
We did a brief review of 12 Years A Slave when the film came out nearly 10 years ago. Here in Oscar Month 2023, we delve a lot deeper with the benefit of perspective. This tough-but-necessary film is the pinnacle of slavery movies, partly because it was written and directed by black men (John Ridley and Steve McQueen). Prestige Movies have had far more inclusion in the above-the-line jobs in the decade since, so there's clearly been progress in the film business. As for the story, Solomon Northup was a free man who was forced into this terrible life. It seems even...
2023-03-27
1h 03
Have You Ever Seen
Braveheart
If we had covered Braveheart about 20 years ago, most people would have said, "that Mel Gibson is an incredible movie star and can he ever direct a battle scene!" But that nutty Aussie is a complex man. The fun-loving reputation he had in his prime is in tatters now that we've all learned about his many, many flaws in the ensuing years. Yet the man is (or was) a terrific actor---even in a movie where he plays a Scotsman---and a talented director of violent action. Bonus: this is a natural lead-in to the "Revenge Month" theme we'll have in...
2023-03-24
45 min
Have You Ever Seen
Marty
Marty is one of the most-understated winners of the Best Picture Oscar there's ever been. And at just 90 minutes long, it's also the shortest. Director Delbert Mann's film has a heavy layer of sadness, yet also has plenty of uplift and hope. Paddy Chayefsky wrote him a simple story and Mann tells it quite effectively. Sparks fly when Ernest Borgnine meets Betsy Blair at a dance, but his friends and his mother turn up their nose at her. And that's the film. This is just a quiet, pleasant, day-in-the-life movie about regular people trying to find love and happiness. A...
2023-03-10
29 min
Have You Ever Seen
Oscars Preview 2023
The 95th Academy Awards are coming up on Sunday, so it's time for us to break down what was nominated, what we think should win and what we think WILL win gold on March 12th. There might be quite a few newbies going up on stage because most of the actors and directors have never been nominated before. 2022 was a year of underdogs and comebacks, from Brendan Fraser to Ke Huy Quan, but also one in which luminaries like Angela Bassett and Jamie Lee Curtis finally got a real chance to win an Oscar. So download our 496th podcast...
2023-03-06
58 min
Have You Ever Seen
Badlands
It took us nearly a decade to talk about a Terrence Malick film, but our first of his is his first-ever motion picture. Malick was an artist right from the start, although Badlands is unlike just about everything he's directed since because it's mostly a two-hander with a brief running time. Sissy Spacek and the Jimmy Dean-esque Martin Sheen have probably never been so monotone, but their deliberately detached performances stand out compared to other histrionic "serial killer on the road" characters. Malick has the entire cast playing it low-key, in fact, and he doesn't glamourize his main characters...
2023-02-27
40 min
Have You Ever Seen
Roman Holiday
Our Month Of Crazy Stupid Love wouldn't have been complete without an episode about one of the most-beloved love stories Hollywood has ever made. Of course, William Wyler's Roman Holiday is reprising a lot of Frank Capra's superior It Happened One Night. Roman Holiday isn't as funny as its inspiration, but it's amusing and very enjoyable. Gregory Peck is looser than he normally was and Oscar-winner Audrey Hepburn is just as likable & charming as she always was. And they sell true love (or at least infatuation) during their one day together, tooling around Italy and not being honest about...
2023-02-24
30 min
Have You Ever Seen
There's Something About Mary
Peter and Bobby Farrelly's most-successful comedy was 27th on the AFI's Top 100 Laughs 23 years ago. It's a movie that stands out on that list because very few of those other grinners go for broke like this does. There's Something About Mary often toes the line (sometimes even crosses it) with wildly politically incorrect material, but it was—and still is---truly funny. Guts were busted in our house for a full 2 hours, even at a lot of the cringe comedy. Ben Stiller and Cameron Diaz are a good match, but Lee Evans and especially Matt Dillon steal the movie from th...
2023-02-13
50 min
Have You Ever Seen
The Way We Were
When you cast two movie stars to play people who are 180 degrees apart philosophically, but who fall in love anyway, sometimes you make a mint. Okay, you OFTEN do. Hollywood loves the "opposites attract" formula. The Way We Were is a stellar example of this. It was an award-winning blockbuster 50 years ago, largely because of Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford, but also because of the beloved theme song. Never underestimate popular music. Streisand does undeniably strong work in this film as the social-justice underdog. Robert Redford basically gets to play himself---the perfect man for whom everything comes easily---but he...
2023-02-10
29 min
Have You Ever Seen
She Done Him Wrong
Reviewing She Done Him Wrong was simply a ploy to finally talk about Mae West. She was a major star nearly 100 years ago and is considered an icon. This was her story idea and the film came out just before the Hays Code would prevent so many sexy outfits and double entendres to fill a movie. Ryan's monologue here focuses on how the film doesn't work because director Lowell Sherman couldn't balance the tone, plus the movie just isn't funny. There's also way too much going on in a 64-minute film and there's certainly not enough Cary Grant. And...
2023-01-27
22 min
Have You Ever Seen
The Defiant Ones
For the 2nd time this week, Have You Ever Seen talks about escaped convicts. And just 3 days before Martin Luther King Day, Ryan offers up an oral essay about 2 on the run while dealing with '50s-era racism in America's south. The Defiant Ones---unlike Out Of Sight---is deadly serious. One legendary actor in Sidney Poitier and one underrated one in Tony Curtis work well together as two people who are forced to work together to survive with a posse in hot pursuit. The last 30 minutes of the film and the ending itself are puzzling, but Stanley Kramer's dynamic Oscar...
2023-01-13
30 min
Have You Ever Seen
Sherlock Jr.
A Buster Keaton film hasn't been reviewed on this channel in going on 10 years, so Sherlock Jr. seemed like the perfect way to end that drought. It's an acclaimed pratfall comedy done by the stone-faced silent stuntman who also knew how to tickle the bones that are funny. But is this movie actually funny? It's rightly famous for the gimmick where Keaton's projectionist character has a dream and literally walks into the movie he's screening. Before the superior second half and also during the first half set in the real world, he does some crazy brave things. The print...
2023-01-06
23 min
Have You Ever Seen
The Shop Around The Corner: You've Got Snail Mail
Bonus episode! As the holiday season envelops us all and the end of 2022 draws near, Ryan turns his eye to an 82-year-old (supposed) Christmas movie starring Margaret Sullavan and Jimmy Stewart. The 2 Hungarian shop-workers spend most of the 100 minutes of Ernst Lubitsch's rom-com fussing and feuding, not knowing they're also pen pals who are actually crazy about each other. Yup, this was You've Got Mail before Tom and Meg were even born. The Shop Around The Corner is pleasant and winning, but it's a shame that the com isn't as effective as the rom...which has its failings too. The hoo...
2022-12-23
23 min
Have You Ever Seen
Halloween: Defending Rob Zombie's Remake
Bonus episode! In addition to the 4 horror pictures that we chose to discuss during Scary Movie Month, Ryan got inspired to sit down alone and produce more October talky time by looking back at Halloween the day before Halloween. Most of the entries in this 13-picture series came up at one point or another, so this 22-minuter is an in-the-know look at what Michael Myers and Laurie Strode have been up to for a good chunk of the past 44 years. So to gear up for the spookiest day of the year, check out this one-man show that takes you to...
2022-10-30
21 min
Have You Ever Seen
The Bad And The Beautiful
We cover a lot of movies about movies on this channel. For the 437th Ellises' Analysis, we're digging into what Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas and friends are up to in The Bad And The Beautiful. The story paints Douglas' studio boss as a charismatic devil, but Ryan has sympathy for said devil (yet again) because the bad man is just not bad enough. Perhaps Vincente Minnelli or his actors or even MGM pulled their punches so they wouldn't alienate powerful people in Hollywood. Still, the workaholic David Selznick stand-in who steps on plenty of people never goes into full-on...
2022-04-11
49 min
Have You Ever Seen
Oscars Preview 2022
The 94th Academy Awards are only days away and for the first time in many years, we weren't big fans of a lot of the nominees. For that matter, we weren't huge fans of most of the 2021 movies in general. Judging by what many respected critics are saying, the Ellises are the outliers. Well, groupthink is dull anyway, right? We'll be tweeting live on the big night (@moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis) as Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall host the most controversial Oscars in years, especially considering ABC's baffling edict to cut a slew of the awards presentations to speed up...
2022-03-21
1h 02
Have You Ever Seen
Lost Highway
The “Month Of Strange Love” goes to extremely trippy places in the 430th Ellises’ Analysis as we try our best to decipher what’s going on in Lost Highway. The American original David Lynch is a wonderful enigma who often gets big-name actors to go to strange places in his baffling art films that don’t always make obvious sense. Look closer though and you also might notice that even this auteur often repeats themes in his most-noteworthy titles like Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive and this. In this outing, Bill Pullman/Balthazar Getty (Billthazar Pully?) is a shockingly unreliable narrator a...
2022-02-21
1h 01
Have You Ever Seen
Starship Troopers
We begin the 7th Annual Month O’ Bev with a spirited chat about one of her favourite satires. Starship Troopers was a split decision in this 423rd Ellises’ Analysis though because Ryan just doesn’t have a good feeling about Paul Verhoeven’s intergalactic war flick. It’s deliberately campy and it’s lathered in self-aware propaganda, plus the F/X are marvelous, but it also has tonal problems. Casting beautiful young(ish) people like Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards and Dina Meyer just so you can put them and so many other people through bloody hell and rip ’em to pieces i...
2022-01-03
53 min
Have You Ever Seen
Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
There’s no greater way to celebrate episode #420 of The Ellises’ Analysis than to talk about one of the side-splittingest stoner movies ever made. Harold And Kumar Go To White Castle is crass, politically incorrect, gross and often pretty dumb, but it’s also funny to the EXTREEEEEEME! From the hysterical Neil Patrick Harris cameo to the surreal fantasy sequences to the eternal “Hold On” sing-along, Danny Leiner’s pot-n-burgers flick just keeps delivering joy. It’s also got more depth than you might think, partly because of the unusual-at-the-time diverse cast (particularly John Cho & Kal Penn as the leads). So let...
2021-12-13
43 min
Have You Ever Seen
White Christmas
The holiday season is here and who wouldn’t enjoy a getaway to an apparently gigantic northeastern inn during the Christmas break? Well, one Ellis wouldn’t enjoy that vacation as much as the other. Actually, we agreed that White Christmas is overlong, that there’s too much going on in the erratic screenplay and that the film has one of the worst Idiot Plots of all time. Still, because of all that joyful singing & dancing by Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen, the film is more than watchable. Those actors (not to mention Dean Jagger) are the he...
2021-12-06
44 min
Cycling Oklahoma
Tables Have Turned - Perrin interviews Ryan
The tables have turned and Perrin asks me the questions that I ask everyone. You will get to know about my past athletic adventures and how I got started in endurance sports. We cover how and why I set up Ellis Endurance Lab and why the podcast startedInstagram @ellisendurancelab @ryanconquer
2021-11-10
1h 15
Have You Ever Seen
Nomadland
It’s only been about a month since this year’s weird Oscars, but this was a good time for the 394th Ellises’ Analysis to spend a solid hour unraveling the beauty of the heartfelt winner of Best Picture. As she so often is, Frances McDormand is quiet, stern and so real. She lets her fellow performers and Chloe Zhao’s story come to her. Fern/Fran accomplishes more with a simple gesture than most people do in a 10-minute monologue. And she’s working with mostly unprofessional actors! They’re real nomads basically just playing themselves, but they all shine (e...
2021-05-31
59 min
Have You Ever Seen
Oscars Preview 2021
For the 6th year in a row, we present our Oscars Preview. This strange year featured a slew of wonderful movies, almost none of which we were able to see on the big screen. Stupid airborne germs! Nevertheless, the candidates for Best Picture are a strong crop. Most of them are diverse, socially aware and about timely topics. Even though Mank is The Irishman of this year’s bunch (so many nominations, yet so unworthy of them), the rest of the flicks up for the top gold naked guy range from good to fantastic. From Nomadland to Minari to So...
2021-04-19
52 min
Have You Ever Seen
Bridesmaids
We kick off 2021 and we also begin the 6th Annual Month O’ Bev with an extensive discussion about the funny-lady flick Bridesmaids. Hold on. Women can be funny?! Well, we crapped all over that tired old chestnut, but we also, conversely, admired the serious angles this movie often takes. The ending might seem upbeat, but the future might not be so rosy for these “friends”. We debated if this is a film for women way more than it is for men, we disagreed about the necessity of the gross-out scene and we got pretty deep into the fierce but childi...
2021-01-04
1h 02
Have You Ever Seen
Fruitvale Station
To close out this epic year of #BlackLivesMatter protests, we’re tackling a heartbreaking movie about the real-life murder of a young black man by a white cop. Fruitvale Station was made independently and most the cast & crew were not well known back then, although we all know how big a star Michael B. Jordan has become since. He ‘s been terrific in all 3 of director Ryan Coogler’s films, although not even Jordan can match the transcendent work of Octavia Spencer. We spent some time reminiscing about some of our own New Year’s experiences in this 374th Ellises’...
2020-12-28
47 min
Have You Ever Seen
Almost Famous
Almost Famous is one of the most charming and enjoyable pictures of the past 20 years, so it provides us with much fat to chew on in the 360th Ellises’ Analysis. Well, okay, only one Ellis loves it. The other Ellis is no fan of Cameron Crowe’s ultra-personal road movie about friendship, love and rock ‘n’ roll. A big part of the disagreement is that we’re split on the effectiveness of Kate Hudson’s work and especially about how she was written by Crowe, but only a paranoid Billy Crudup can deny that Patrick Fugit is lovable & delightful in his very...
2020-09-14
1h 02
Have You Ever Seen
Midsommar
Our 355th episode closes out July with the ideal movie for the middle of the summer…Midsommar! Ari Aster’s provocative breakup movie isn’t as outstanding as his marvelous debut (Hereditary), but it’s got a lot of meat on the bear-bone. And if you enjoy foreshadowing in your films, you’ll be in heaven with this one. Geez, it’s painted on the walls! Both of us do have major problems with the ending, even though our issues aren’t entirely the same ones. We have no complaints about the work of the remarkable Florence Pugh…even if some of the t...
2020-07-27
1h 08
Have You Ever Seen
19 More Movies To Get You Through COVID-19
Bonus episode! For the 2nd time during the pandemic, we offer up a pithy gab where we give you some ideas about flicks you should let enter your eyeholes during this isolating time. We even tell you where you can find them. Each Ellis has 4 recommendations (using 19 words to sell you the movie, although we cheated a bit here and there) and there are 11 trivia questions as well, giving us a grand total of…19. Bev answered more of the trivia questions than she did in the March 26th episode—who said she got a few hints?!—and maybe those hints...
2020-05-02
21 min
The cATalyzing Podcast for Athletic Trainers
All Things Per Diem Athletic Training - K. Ellis Mair, EdM, ATC (Go4Ellis)
At different points of our professional careers, most athletic trainers dabble in per diem work, either as an independent contractor or through an employer. Per diem athletic training is a fantastic way to build experience, grow your network, add additional income, and establish foundations for future jobs. When it comes to working as a per diem athletic trainer, it is not as simple as just showing up and providing excellent care. In this episode, Ryan Stevens sat down with K. Ellis Mair, founder of Go4Ellis, to discuss her journey and "all things per diem", many aspects which any athletic...
2020-01-24
42 min
Have You Ever Seen
Saw
The judgmental jerkholes who host the Next 169 Project want to play a game. That's great! Games are fun. Or maybe this game is over-stuffed with often illogical twists and it spawned a gore-filled franchise. Director James Wan and writer/co-star Leigh Whannell teamed up to make a tension-filled, low-budget film, but their product was also an inspiration for Escape Rooms. Hey, we’re fans of those! So, anyway, we did a lot of things in this ep. We ripped on the cheap production values, we used the words “ret-conned” & (believe it or not) “restraint” and we talked a lot about the Saw...
2019-10-28
59 min
Have You Ever Seen
Green Book
"Controversy Month" begins with this Next 160 Project podcast as we cover a clumsy flick about a virulent racist learning to respect at least 1 (brilliant) black person. Green Book was popular with a lot of people and even won the Best Picture Oscar for Peter Farrelly. Yup, the guy who made Dumb And Dumber. And, yes, it’s got some winning qualities as the actors, particularly Mahershala Ali, do some lovely work. Well, the usually reliable Viggo Mortensen…not so much. The fact is, this Driving Miss Daisy for the 2010s is even more inadequate than last year’s Best Picture winne...
2019-08-12
1h 05
Have You Ever Seen
Speed
It’s the 300th Ellis episode! Yup, the Next 153 Project represents the 3×100 times you’ve heard Bev & Ryan invade your earholes. Of course, there are more than 300 podcasts in total on this channel, but the numbers get confusing and who’s counting anyway? So…Speedgimmewhatineed! This is such a fun thriller and it’s one of the very best of the Die Hard ripoffs. Jan de Bont (directing his first-ever film!) hit a major home run. Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock make a terrific team and one of us also has big hearts for Dennis Hopper as the mad bomber. We talk abo...
2019-06-10
40 min
The Ryan Sullivan Show
THE Ryan Sullivan Show - Guest Ryan Ellis
THE Ryan Sullivan Show has dropped a new episode and this week we welcome PR Representative for Go Fas Racing and a Part-Time driver of the #99 Toyota Supra in the NASCAR XFinity Series, Ryan Ellis! Our conversation begins with Ryan sharing his racing background as a third generation driver and his rise to his current position in the industry. Then he talks about his preparation in terms of physical fitness, how drivers' improve their skills and the differences between cars in competition. Next Ryan talks about his experience in-race, the safety of the...
2019-06-10
00 min
Have You Ever Seen
Brightburn
It's the return of the Now Playing Project! Horror flick Brightburn (aka A-Hole Superman) opens this weekend and Ryan decided to *gasp* pay money to see it on Friday afternoon. It's the new age of horror, man. You gotta support these creative ventures. This is a solo review. No Bev or Chris in this one. Oh, and there are huge spoilers in this episode, pretty much from the start. Also, Ryan gives you a couple minutes worth of thoughts about Avengers: Endgame for good measure. On the Twitter thingamastuffs, look for @moviefiend51
2019-05-25
12 min