Two Reel Cinema Club

We’ve set up the reel to reel, we’ve planted our hidden microphones and we’ve put on our headphones, so it’s time to pay tribute to the late Gene Hackman and his finest film, The Conversation, at the Popcorn Counter this week. But which of Hackman’s many other outstanding movies stick in our minds? What was his connection to Dustin Hoffman? Which was his most famous hat? When did he put in an epidural? How do we manage to get deflected into a discussion about Alan Parker? And are John Grisham and Michael Crichton the same guy?

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We’re sending our tuxedos back to the dry cleaners once again now that awards season is over. But did the Oscars thrill or disappoint this year? And more importantly, did we get it right? Which gong did we cheer at home, and which left us shrugging our shoulders? What do we think about the screenplay winners and who would have picked up the awards if we’d been in charge? Who would Letterbox’d have given the awards to? Who goes to the movies? And did we spot any trends that suggest what kind of films we’ll be seeing in the next few years?

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We’re taking a trip back to the 1970s this episode, as we watch the new Oscar-nominated, Munich Olympics-based reconstruction-drama September 5, and compare it to Steven Spielberg’s film about the aftermath of those same events, 2006’s Munich. Two tense movies about truthfulness, integrity and violence. But which one features accountants chasing accountants? Which one takes full advantage of Aristotle’s principles? Which one quotes directly from a 1976 TV movie? Which one appeals to the nerd in both of us? And which one features maybe the most misconceived scene we’ve watched in years?

Plus a message from a Cuban outfitter, a singalong with an R&B legend and friend of John Lennon, a trip to a surreal but disappointing office complex, a reflection on the importance of endings, and a content warning about Eric Bana’s face.

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After spending the week in Mexico last episode, we’re drinking a Corona at the Popcorn Counter and reflecting on Mexican cinema as a whole. Is there more to Mexican movies than Día de Muertos and narco-gangsters? Which Mexican director used to hang out with Andres at the coffee shop all the time? Which movie made its Mexican director so much money they could buy West London? Which Mexican director got their start at Maine Media Workshops? And who is the Mexican cinematographer who brought so many successful films to life?

If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media:

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We’re heading to Tijuana this episode, as we watch two films set in Mexico made nearly seventy years apart. Emilia Pérez, the new Netflix transgender narco-gangster musical, has thirteen Oscar nominations and a whole lot of bad press. But does it deserve the controversy and the opprobrium, or were audiences just expecting something different? We’re comparing it to 1958’s Touch of Evil, Orson Welles’ last great noir picture which was also maligned on release but is now considered a classic, especially in its 1998 restored cut.

Two takes on racism, prejudice, drug gangs and cross border travel. But which film features a star who looks like they’ve been dipped in chicken fat? Which film is studded with little lights from start to finish? Which film has the longest uninterrupted take? Which lead actor is surprisingly flexible? Which film offers two Gabors for the price of one? And which film contains everything that conservative commentators hate? 

Plus a lot of ceilings and mirrors and deep focus, an appearance from Madonna with a hand drier, an Australian stop frame Tim Burton-a-like, a refugee story from Senegal, a new way to decorate your car, a 1950s equivalent of pounding techno, and a really, really weak radio.

If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media:

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Or come to our website, where we’ll be writing about the movies we cover in the show and a few more things besides: https://tworeelcinemaclub.com

We’re mourning one of the most unique voices in modern cinema at the Popcorn Counter this week, as we discuss the career of David Lynch and his impact both on the world in general and on our own lives in particular. What happens when you pitch a film as ‘Lynchian’? What does Ronald Reagan have to do with his emergence? Was he the true originator of Peak TV? Which version of Dune do we prefer? And which of his films drilled a hole straight into our heads?

If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media:

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Or come to our website, where we’ll be writing about the movies we cover in the show and a few more things besides: https://tworeelcinemaclub.com

Hit the road with us this week, as we get stuck at temporary traffic lights in Surbiton on the way to the Popcorn Counter and use the time to recall some of our favourite road movies. But what IS a road movie? Can it be set on a boat? Or a plane? Or a sidewalk? Or in space? Plus we watch a very young Sting, stroll along the yellow brick road, drink some effing Merlot, take a cruise down the Nùng River, and drive off a cliff.

If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media:

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Or come to our website, where we’ll be writing about the movies we cover in the show and a few more things besides: https://tworeelcinemaclub.com

Come with us on a couple of trips to Europe this week at the Two Reel Cinema Club, as we join Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin on a tour of Poland in the new Oscar nominated comedy drama A Real Pain, and then catch up with Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders in Roberto Rossellini’s 1954 masterpiece, Journey to Italy. These two films both explore deep themes, encompassing death, art, love, poetry and bickering, and the parallels between them are myriad. But which one features a villa where we would gladly spend a few years? Which one keeps frustrating us with missed opportunities? Which one is stunningly beautiful? And which one left us asking ‘what’s changed’?

Plus we place a call to Interpol on behalf of the Cliche Squad, wonder what is the best thing to do if driving while sleepy, try travelling without moving thanks to our chemically inspired sponsor, get stranded on an island with a reclusive Japanese soldier, learn something about one of the UK’s biggest exports, start an adaptation of the greatest book of all time, taste a DIY menthol cigarette, and contemplate taking off all our clothes the next time we watch a film completely alone in the theatre…

If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media:

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Or come to our website, where we’ll be writing about the movies we cover in the show and a few more things besides: https://tworeelcinemaclub.com

Welcome to our quarterly celebration of dead air and reflective silence: it’s the TRCC Popcorn Counter Quiz! This time around, we have thirty films released between 1957 and 2024, all starring pop stars. Can you guess the title and the star from the clues? Who is mostly made of oil and lotion? Who was the inventor of off-white paint? And when did Jennifer Connolly star in an episode of Fraggle Rock? 

If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media:

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Contact us at [email protected]

Or come to our website, where we’ll be writing about the movies we cover in the show and a few more things besides: https://tworeelcinemaclub.com

The mystique of Bob Dylan wafts through the Two Reel Cinema Club this week, as we watch the thoroughly enjoyable new biopic A Complete Unknown, and compare it to the actual Bob Dylan as he appears in the 1967 rock documentary Don’t Look Back. Two portraits of the Nobel Prize winning bard of the 20th century, but which reveals more of the real man? Which film features the most cigarettes? Which film reminds us of a teenage party? Which film really sings when the songs start? And which film stars the machine that kills fascists?

Plus Ralph Fiennes dressed as a priest, a Danish film about a girl with a needle, a new app that turns friends into money, a classic courtroom drama, a Guns N’ Roses B side, and an appearance by the poster than inspired a ten year old. The times, they are a changin’….

If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media:

Instagram: @tworeelcinemaclub

Contact us at [email protected]

Or come to our website, where we’ll be writing about the movies we cover in the show and a few more things besides: https://tworeelcinemaclub.com