Two Reel Cinema Club – The website of the podcast Two Reel Cinema Club. Every episode we watch two films, one old and one new, and try to connect the dots.

Popcorn Counter: Tariffs

Popcorn seems to have got more expensive like everything else recently. And now we may be looking at tariffs on the film business. But how would these proposed tariffs work? And what might they mean for movie fans as well as moving picture professionals?

Join us at the popcorn counter as we discuss Jon Voight’s proposals for MAGA’s film industry master plan with special guest Mike Primmer, and try to figure out what it all means. Are we looking at a renaissance for domestic film production? Or are we facing purity tests and a flurry of conservative movies? And will the whole thing last more than a week before the news cycle moves on to the next big story?

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

BlueSky: @tworeelcinemaclub

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 Friend vs My Life as a Dog: My Life As The Friend Of A Dog

We’re joined by the film industry’s premier sound recordist this episode, as Mike Primmer sits down with us to talk about dog movies. We’ve seen The Friend, the new Bill Murray/Naomi Watts light drama, recorded by Mike, and we’re comparing it to the much loved Swedish 1985 coming of age picture My Life as a Dog. Two films about loss, grief, change, wagging tails and vinyl records. But which film reminded us of a Hallmark picture? Which film is based on the best book we’ve read this year? And what secrets will Mike reveal about the making of the film?

Plus a quick trip to a dystopian TV future, a trip to see a choral masterwork, a revisit of a 2005 modern classic about bats, a flashback to a marriage proposal, and we get Pavlov in to ring the spoiler bell.

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

BlueSky: @tworeelcinemaclub

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

Popcorn Counter: Chicken Jockey!

Post author By James Ruzicka
Post date 7 May 2025

Okay, that’s it. We don’t understand anything anymore.

This week we went to see A Minecraft Movie. It’s not a masterpiece. But we spent more time watching the audience than watching the film. Join us at the Popcorn Counter as we talk about the meme-ification of cinema, the Rocky Horror Picture Show, TikTok and the end times, Tommy Wiseau and the best way to clear up popcorn from a carpet. Altogether now: ‘Flint and Steel!’

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

BlueSky: @tworeelcinemaclub

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

Mickey17 vs Blade Runner: Attack of the Clones

Post author By James Ruzicka
Post date 30 April 2025

We’re going off-world this episode, joining Robert Pattinson on an ice planet in Bong Joon Ho’s new satirical clone adventure Mickey17, before crashing back to a ruined, rainy Earth to compare it to Ridley Scott’s flawed 1982 masterpiece Blade Runner. Two films about artificial humans and the value of life, but which one deals eloquently with eternal themes and which one can’t make up its mind what it wants to say? Which one feels fresh and contemporary, and which one feels like a satire that’s been overtaken by the news? Which one was originally going to be a Scorsese film? And where exactly are the electric sheep?

Plus we ask if there is an Oscar curse, remember Mr Spock making love to a rock monster, reminisce over TDK tapes, enjoy a teenage lesbian romance with a surprising left turn, have a quick lesson on Fregoli syndrome, send Sandra Bullock into space and let Fellini float into the air.

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

BlueSky: @tworeelcinemaclub

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

Popcorn Counter: What is Plaguing Today’s Biggest Movies?

Post author By James Ruzicka
Post date 23 April 2025

We’ve got to stop reading, it’s just making us mad. This week at the popcorn counter we’ve been looking at Namwali Serpell’s article in the recent New Yorker about ‘The New Literalism’, and boy do we have something to say. Serpell’s been to the multiplex a lot lately, and frankly if we’d just come out of Gladiator II and Megalopolis like she has, we’d probably be annoyed too. But is ‘on the nose’ story-telling really a new phenomenon? Or do some films still value showing instead of telling? And is there a difference between a film being too long and a film being too wide?

Here’s the article if you want to check it out yourself: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/critics-notebook/the-new-literalism-plaguing-todays-biggest-movies

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

Instagram: @tworeelcinemaclub

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

Popcorn Counter: Netflix’s Old Movie Problem

Post author By James Ruzicka
Post date 16 April 2025

You may have read as we did recently in The Hollywood Reporter about ‘Netflix’s Old Movie Problem’. But is there really a problem? Does it matter if old movies aren’t available on Netflix? Join us at the popcorn counter where we’ll talk about discoverability, Quentin Tarantino, algorithms and the BBC Moviedrome. Which country has the biggest Netflix library? Is there anything to stop young people enjoying films from 1939? And what is our proposed solution to the whole ‘problem’?

Here’s the article, if you want to read it for yourself: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/streaming-impact-classic-fillms-algorithm-1236146209/

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

Instagram: @tworeelcinemaclub

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

Popcorn Counter: Alice in Brazil with Inês

Post author By James Ruzicka
Post date 9 April 2025

We’ve set the Popcorn Counter up at the beach this episode, to enjoy a coconut water and a chopp with last week’s guest Inês Braga. She tells us about the experience of writing Alice, the first HBO production made for South America, fills us in on life in Rio, gives us a watch-list of some of the greats of Brazilian cinema, reflects on changes in Brazilian society over the last twenty years, and recommends a little music by Ezra Collective. Please bring your own towel.

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

Instagram: @tworeelcinemaclub

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

I’m Still Here vs Four Days in September: I’m Still Here in September

Post author By James Ruzicka
Post date 2 April 2025

We’re heading to the southern hemisphere this week and taking regular guest Inês Braga with us, as we catch up with the Best International Feature Film Oscar winner, I’m Still Here, and compare it to 1997’s Brazilian kidnap drama Four Days in September. Two adaptations, two films about the Military Dictatorship, two films starring Fernanda Torres, two films with similar timely themes. But which film has five endings? Which film stars the cutest dog? Which film is bookended with images of resistance? And which film was so tense it made us drop our avocado?

Plus Inês explains the real background of both films, discusses Brazilian acting dynasties and tells us about meeting Walter Salles. And in between all these revelations, we also squeeze in a penguin in a classroom, a trip to the North Sea, a Trumpian biopic, a new British version of AI, a very diffident lifeguard and a huge crowd of nepo-babies.

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

Instagram: @tworeelcinemaclub

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

Popcorn Counter: A Conversation About Gene Hackman

Post author By James Ruzicka
Post date 26 March 2025

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?

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

Instagram: @tworeelcinemaclub

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

Popcorn Counter: Small Gold Man

Post author By James Ruzicka
Post date 19 March 2025

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?

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

Instagram: @tworeelcinemaclub

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