The Reel Cut

After the utter horror of 2020, both for the accessibility of cinema and the box office in general, 2021 saw the second coming of the theatre experience, back with a bang and sorely missed. From the new phase of superhero blockbusters to more independent and thought-provoking pieces, there was plenty to sink our teeth into. You know the drill, 3 chaps, 3 choices for favourite films of the year.

The Reel Cut Season 2: Electric Bugaloo. Never has there been a more hyped return since Stone Cold Steve Austin delivered a stunner to every member of the WCW roster in 2001. Scott was too busy prioritising being a new father to turn up for the premier episode of season 2 so that meant it was up to the gargantuan shoulders of Mark and Nick to carry us through a retrospective of 2021 TV highlights. It was all following the same formula till Nick turns us into an episode of Lore half way through as we delve into the insane background of the set to ITVs hit mini-series Time. 

One became two in this last few weeks as The Reel Cut welcomed another father to its ranks. Scott won't be with us on this episode as he welcomes a new life into the world of his own creation, the paternity pay from The Reel Cut is quite frankly a breach of international human rights so he won't be gone long as he can't afford to be. In his absence, Mark and Nick (already a wizened and battle hardened dad) discuss who the best movie papas are in tribute to the new arrival. We also break down a few of our favourite horror movie cliches with All Hallows Eve right around the corner and offer up more than a few suggestions of spooky cinematic treats to feast upon this ghoulish season.

As a man with a certain taste in films that left no room for the broad shoulders and wide chests of Yankee superheroes, Nick has long shunned the allure and come-to-bed eyes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Having recently sat down to watch all films from Phase 1 to 3, Nick was finally ready to tackle this pop culture abomination and breakdown our favourite and least enjoyable parts of the series. 

It's confessional time at TRC HQ. We all have these dark, twisted secrets that lay beneath the patio slabs in our minds. To narrow it down from the countless media related skeletons in our closets, we must choose one guilty pleasure TV show, one movie and one actor. Prepare for some controversial and down right incorrect opinions.

After our summer holidays, TRC is back with Mark and Scott as Nick takes yet another week off - the greedy, greedy pig. The discussion is on childhood movies that shaped us and and our personalities. David Lynch may be the reason Scott is such an emotionless android having stolen his innocence at a tender age with a certain Willem Dafoe inspired motion picture. Whereas Paul Reubens performance as a pale man-baby gave Mark the tools he needed to be the man he is today. Join us on the chez lounge as we delve deep into our cinematic psyche.

What is life without a good crime documentary series to watch on an evening? Netflix, of course, is the undisputed don of the streamers when it comes to these shows and rules over the others with an iron fist. That's not to say the other smaller factions of Amazon Prime and Sky Boxsets don't have their own hidden gems in this regard. We each break down our current favourite picks and hopefully introduce you to your new favourite binge watch.

Sports are something that you could quite easily separate from the movie industry, an entertainment format on its own that captures the passion and tribalism of human nature. Often times, events in sport can be stranger than that of a Hollywood plot line, the closing day of the 2012 Premier League season for instance was a day of unbelievable raw emotion. Do we need then to relive sporting moments, dramatised on film? The short answer is, sometimes. It has to be the right movie with the perfect tone. We break down our favourites, from Billy Beane to Ernie McCracken, and from Niki Lauda to every Kevin Costner character ever put before a camera.

Award season came to an abrupt and awkward end last month with the 93rd Oscars. Banished from the evening were controversies surrounding the lack of diversity amongst the acting/directing nominees, and in the gaping void they left behind came criticism around the reshuffling of the ceremony itself. In a year filled with opportunities for smaller, independent pictures to succeed and bathe in the warm glow of Hollywood's spotlight, the awards suffered their worst year on viewership of all time. Was that deserved and was that indicative of the gongs themselves being given to unworthy pieces of work? Absolutely not. Let's break down why.

Shorter than a TV series, longer than a movie. The middle bowl of porridge. Just right. The limited series should in fact be named the 'unlimited series' because the potential in story telling within 8-10 episodes of a self contained story is vast, and has been proven on many occasions to be the perfect blend of character development and plot. Like an RBMK reactor in a Ukraine power plant, there has been an explosion of great choices within the last decade or so, we break down our favourites and wax lyrical like a beautifully delivered philosophical sonnet from Rustin Cohle.

I could tell you how much it grates on me to see certain clichés in film, but then I'd have to kill you. Here at TRC we were born ready to tackle this subject, and we certainly aren't too old for this sh..! As the streets of Britain still remain quiet (too quiet) we attempt to run down a few of our most frustrating tropes that seem to crop up in almost every run of the mill Hollywood production. Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way, but clichés are our middle names so cover us, we're going in.

As the saying goes, there are no second chances at a first impression. An introduction to a character has great potential in setting them up for the rest of the film, how they speak, the way they walk, the cut of their jib - all should give subtle clues into their entire personality. Well, the best character introductions do this. So far in the Top 5 series, this was our toughest challenge, whittling down 9 exceptional examples to a perhaps controversial 5. There are tears, there is sulking and there are many expletives of disbelief contained within this episode. And those are just from Nick.

Appreciation for good music often walks hand in hand with a love for great cinema. When the two come together and it works, that usually translates into a transcendent artistic experience. The images on screen are ignited and emphasised by the lyrical or rhythmic poetry that binds it, the notes and melodies given fresh and vibrant emotional weight by the scenes they accompany. We love a movie soundtrack. We love it when film makers take existing music and use it to elevate the moments on screen, whether that be big and bombastic or quiet and sombre, there are some truly great examples out there in the world where it's done right.  Warning: Grease does not feature in the attached podcast (my apologies to John Travolta).

Do you know what they call The Reel Cut in France? It's just Le Reel Cut I imagine, like Le Big Mac but that's beside the point. It's time for another of our deep cuts into one of our most beloved areas of modern entertainment: the pop cultural phenom that is Quentin Tarantino. Come check out the big brains on all three of us as we chat favourite QT movies. 

What would have happened if the some of your favourite movies had their scripts green lit in a different decade? Or what about the films that had bags of potential on paper that didn’t make the grade due to poor production choices; what if they were remade? And most crucially... who would you cast? These are the tough questions we don’t shy away from, we embrace the challenge of recasting the “un-recastable” and remaking the unspeakable.

Rotten Tomatoes has grown into quite the critical beast, hanging bulbous and overripe on the virtual vine.  Even in it's infancy it has collated some of the most world renowned critics' reviews that could be classed as contentious at best. We're here to debunk, expose and critique these critics; give them a taste of their own medicine if you will. How'd you like them tomatoes, Gene Siskel? 

We are a man down this week and like any strong company of men, we have left a man behind and continued on without him. Our usual anchor, Scott, is absent so tune in as Mark and Nick steer this ship straight into the rocks. We're reacting to the Golden Globes 2021 awards nominations with as much know-how as we can for two guys that haven't been to the cinema in 13 months. For the second half of the show, we're taking a trip down memory lane and talk about our most memorable experiences in the cinema itself, in hopes that it may inspire anyone listening to rush back as soon as we able and save the industry we all share an affinity for.

It was the TV behemoth that dominated pop culture for the vast majority of the 2010s. Breathtaking highs and heart-breaking lows, love it for what it was or hate it for what it became but it's undeniable that this was one of the greatest and grandest spectacles ever to grace the humble television screen. An enviable wealth of eclectic characters inter-weaving between an all encapsulating and engaging story line, if Game of Thrones taught all of it's acolytes one thing it's that we don't deserve nice things (here's lookin' at you Season 8).

We're at it again. We couldn't help ourselves, once we got a taste for it in movie deaths we had to come back for round two. Deaths in TV shows often carry more emotional heft than they do in movies. They can completely change the course of entire seasons, alter character motivations and become pop culture shock moments that we all share simultaneously in our homes via the small screen. Death, as they say, is the great equaliser, but you'll always have a TV favourite, and we have nine choices right here to whittle down to that famous five.

Happy 2021! A great movie death can cement a film's place in cinematic history. But what defines 'best movie death'? Maybe it's what it means to the story and the impact it carries to the characters story arcs? No? Well what about the drama, the surprise, the gore or the creativity of it all? It can be almost impossible to describe why we enjoy a good movie death when it's often such a depressing and challenging subject in  reality, but one thing is for definite - that scene in Deep Blue Sea where Samuel L. Jackson is bitten in half by genetically engineered, super-intelligent CGI sharks has brought joy to millions. I can't put in to words how or why it's amazing, it's just a universal truth.