Best Bev Ellis Podcasts (2024)

1
Under The Skin 45:16

1h ago45:16

45:16

Scarlett Johansson playing a cold, indifferent alien probably wasn't something her fans expected from her. She was an A-lister who was a key figure in all those Marvel movies, but here she was in Under The Skin, the only actor of note in a detached art film. The movie star even gets nude a lot in her role as a succubus who learns how to feel empath…

1
The Thin Man 34:58

5h ago34:58

34:58

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 yu…

1
The Killing Fields 38:40

7h ago38:40

38:40

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 f…

1
Boyhood 48:00

19d ago48:00

48:00

Some film shoots (like the one for Apocalypse Now) seem to last 12 years, but here's a movie with a production schedule that was DELIBERATELY that long. Although gimmick aside, Boyhood is Richard Linklater's lauded attempt to show the slow growth of a fractured family, with the focus on Ellar Coltrane going from 6 to 18. Linklater's daughter Lorele…

1
Dead Poets Society 47:53

22d ago47:53

47:53

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 s…

1
Memorable Times At The Movies 29:39

11d ago29:39

29:39

We continue our summertime trend of posting listicles on holidays as we exchange 10 (or perhaps a few more) theatrical experiences that stuck with us. Many of these are about laughing at funny movies with enthusiastic audiences, but sometimes the experience was seat-grippingly scary...or it might have even been an angry time at the flicks. Document…

1
Oppenheimer 1:07:42

1M ago1:07:42

1:07:42

2023 was the year of Barbenheimer, but it was the movie about serious science that went on to win 7 Academy Awards this past spring. Oppenheimer was also an absolute blockbuster, which is par for Christopher Nolan's course. He always just goes around making monster hits that also get critical acclaim. Although while the spectacle in this film wowed…

1
Run Lola Run 41:22

1M ago41:22

41:22

Franka Potente never became a bonafide movie star after Run Lola Run, but her intensely iconic work in this breakout movie remains awesome 25 years later. Tom Tykwer has had a solid career of his own since writing and directing this video-game-esque flick with the butterfly-effect gimmick. He and future collaborators the Wachowskis were making some…

1
Body Heat 41:46

2M ago41:46

41:46

For our 604th drop in the Have You Ever Seen bucket, we're highlighting the steamy noir Body Heat. And, hey, what happened to sex thrillers?! Well, not everyone is as good at making them as Lawrence Kasdan was...in his debut as a director, no less. Many stars of these kinds of stories are not often as hot together as William Hurt and newcomer Kathl…

1
Movie Hot Takes 37:37

2M ago37:37

37:37

In recent months, holidays have meant an excuse to post listicles on this channel, so here we go again for podcast #603. In this, we give our Hot Takes about a wide range of film topics. They include: self-indulgent Method actors, the problem with directors' cuts, the need for more sex thrillers, whether or not a certain cartoon is sexist and which…

1
The Iron Giant 41:24

2M ago41:24

41:24

If you are what you choose to podcast, then we choose to say a lot of nice things about Brad Bird's debut cartoon. As wonderful as the animation and the voicework are and as touching and emotional as the story is, The Iron Giant somehow failed at the box office. Maybe it wasn't funny or fun enough for people who were used to Disney style 'toons? Ma…

1
A Serious Man 46:00

2M ago46:00

46:00

Joel & Ethan Coen's ultra-Jewish film was a project that was very personal to them. Their '60s-set A Serious Man takes a humorous look at the trials of Job in the form of Michael Stuhlbarg, an actor who's done many great things in the past 15 years, but this was his breakout. Stuhlbarg looks for meaning in this often-funny, but often-impenetrable a…

1
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood 1:07:02

3M ago1:07:02

1:07:02

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…

1
Cleo From 5 To 7 40:32

3M ago40:32

40:32

The French New Wave was headlined by names like Truffaut & Godard, but Agnes Varda was a vital writer/director in the movement too. Her Cleo From 5 To 7 is set in in Paris and plays out in real time (90 minutes, though, not 2 hours). The beautiful and compelling Corinne Marchand wanders around the city, killing time until she will find out whether …

1
10 Directors' Most-Underrated Movies 40:29

3M ago40:29

40:29

Have You Ever Seen doesn't post listicles or Top 10 lists very often, but for episode #598 on a holiday in our home and native land, that's exactly what you're getting on Canada Day. We each talked about 5 different directors and the most-underrated movie each of them has made, with an unintentional theme of twins and doppelgangers coming up again …

1
This Is Spinal Tap 47:47

3M ago47:47

47:47

We post our last episode in June (#597 overall) and wrap up this month of joyful movies by yapping about the hilariously quotable This Is Spinal Tap. Director and co-writer Rob Reiner and the Guest/McKean/Shearer trio lead a team of funny people through 82 minutes of improv, providing us with so many classic lines. This is the greatest mockumentary…

1
American Fiction 1:00:01

3M ago1:00:01

1:00:01

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, inabili…

1
Footloose 47:35

4M ago47:35

47:35

Everybody cut (everybody cut) in the 1984 version of Footloose. The story takes us to a repressed middle-American town where dancing is outlawed until Kevin Bacon rages against that particular machine. He's the city slicker with fast feet who pushes back on John Lithgow's religious father figureness. They both do very good work here and so does the…

1
Reality Bites 49:00

4M ago49:00

49:00

There were a few keystone movies about Generation X that came out around 30 years ago, but Reality Bites is one of the red-letter titles. Ben Stiller was making his directorial debut and he also plays the third part of a love triangle with Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke. Ryder was at her peak in this time frame while Hawke---who was at least doing so…

1
To Have And Have Not 36:56

4M ago36:56

36:56

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'…

1
Edge Of Tomorrow 51:21

4M ago51:21

51:21

Memorial Day is a good time to talk about a war movie, even if the intense Edge Of Tomorrow is almost as witty as it is heart-pounding. The one that's better known as "Live Die Repeat" has a Groundhog Day-esque hook as military hype man Tom Cruise restarts a day every time he dies. Emily Blunt is in "keep up with me" badass mode while Cruise unchar…

1
Dial M For Murder 39:26

4M ago39:26

39:26

After 3 weeks off, Bev returns to the podcast to chat about Alfred Hitchcock's chamber piece. His Dial M For Murder stars a few very talented liars. Well, the characters are, not the actors. The best of those is Ray Milland, who's tremendous in this as one of Hitchcock's most-diabolical villains. His wife was unfaithful and he has a coldblooded pla…

1
Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow 33:34

4M ago33:34

33:34

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 …

1
On The Town 36:56

5M ago36:56

36:56

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 …

1
Little Caesar 27:09

5M ago27:09

27:09

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. …

1
Dark Victory 28:10

5M ago28:10

28:10

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…

1
Batman 53:16

5M ago53:16

53:16

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 stylis…

1
Cape Fear 46:46

5M ago46:46

46:46

Our 6th of 7 episodes during this Revenge Month takes us to America's Deep South as we talk about Robert Mitchum making Gregory Peck's life a living hell in Cape Fear. What's more, the convicted rapist threatens the lawyer's family in some of the worst way's a hateful person can. "Rape" is never spoken in the dialogue, but it's a constant theme. Mi…

1
Revenge Of The Nerds 52:19

5M ago52:19

52:19

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 tha…

1
Mandy 48:00

6M ago48:00

48:00

Nicolas Cage can't be accused of making safe choices during his 40+ years of acting. He's appeared in his share of crap this century, but he also has plenty of terrific titles on his resume. Mandy is one of the best ones he's ever starred in and it's certainly one of his most unique. Director Panos Cosmatos leads Cage through a phantasmagoric odyss…

1
Hustlers 54:01

6M ago54:01

54:01

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…

1
Foxy Brown 31:50

6M ago31:50

31:50

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'…

1
Gone Girl 1:09:45

6M ago1:09:45

1:09:45

Gone Girl begins our 2nd (Probably) Annual Revenge Month as Rosamund Pike plays a narcissistic sadist who wants vengeance on her lazy, cheating husband. Ben Affleck plays that husband, a very-flawed man who has to deal with tabloid "journalists" as he tries to figure out why his wife is missing...and possibly dead. David Fincher's mystery movie has…

1
Jojo Rabbit 53:23

6M ago53:23

53:23

This 579th edition of Have You Ever Seen wraps up our 9th Annual Oscar Month on the very day that also happens to be this podcast's 11th anniversary. Jojo Rabbit is one of the funniest movies of recent years and it's also one of the best. The tone is remarkable and it's consistent, especially considering something as deadly serious as Hitler, Nazis…

1
You Can't Take It With You 35:37

6M ago35:37

35:37

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 g…

1
Going My Way 49:01

6M ago49:01

49:01

Oscar Month takes us back to the long-ago past as we talk about the genial one that took home 7 Oscars 8 decades ago. But Going My Way didn't make it easy on us. This fluffery somehow one-upped the Double Indemnity at those Academy Awards. Bing Crosby even won a trophy for his role as a helpful priest, despite having a real-life personality that co…

1
Oscars Post-View 2024 33:49

7M ago33:49

33:49

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 …

1
The Last Emperor 49:20

7M ago49:20

49:20

Our first Best Picture winner in this year's Oscar Month, The Last Emperor, went 9 for 9 at the awards that year. John Lone, Joan Chen and Peter O'Toole are all solid in the starring roles, but there's something fairly soulless and even a little opaque about this spectacular production...especially for a Bernardo Bertolucci film. Bertolucci and his…

1
Coquette 25:00

7M ago25:00

25:00

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 stud…

1
Oscars Preview 2024 1:01:23

7M ago1:01:23

1:01:23

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 di…

1
Contempt 50:51

7M ago50:51

50:51

Jean-Luc Godard was prolific after he went from reviewing films to making them in the early '60s. He directed a few classics of the French New Wave, many of which are beloved by Sight & Sound voters. In Contempt, bombshell Brigitte Bardot is impossibly beautiful, but she's also quite good at playing passive-aggressive anger. She and the dreamy Ital…

1
Mogambo 33:34

7M ago33:34

33:34

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 ma…

1
Sabrina 45:32

7M ago45:32

45:32

It's President's Day in America, it's Family Day here in Ontario and it's also Black History Month, but it's also "Love In A Word" Month on Have You Ever Seen...and we continue to talk about romantic movies with one-word titles. Sabrina has a tremendous pedigree. Billy Wilder directing Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn and William Holden must have be…

1
Ninotchka 45:29

8M ago45:29

45:29

Ernst Lubitsch is one of the directors of the classic era who hasn't stayed in people's minds as much as others have. He's not as revered as, say, Billy Wilder...who happens to be a co-writer of Ninotchka. But Ernst had the famous "Lubitsch Touch", where he was able to effortlessly blend jokes and romance with a good story as well as anybody ever h…

1
Manhattan 37:37

8M ago37:37

37:37

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 t…

1
Arthur 40:40

8M ago40:40

40:40

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 …

1
Sex, Lies, And Videotape 51:52

8M ago51:52

51:52

Steven Soderbergh's debut film is the 4th and final selection in this year's "Month Of Bev". Sex, Lies, And Videotape represents career-best performances by Andie MacDowell and Laura San Giacomo, although it was James Spader who got all the raves for his calm frankness. Peter Gallagher has the least-sympathetic and least-dimensional role of the 4 m…

1
The Picture Of Dorian Gray 26:39

8M ago26:39

26:39

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…

1
The Talented Mr. Ripley 48:54

8M ago48:54

48:54

Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and the rest of the terrific cast of The Talented Mr. Ripley were all in the middle of a remarkable run of greatness in the late '90s, but this is the thriller that sometimes gets forgotten. Is this Damon's best performance? It's certainly the rare killer he's played...and he's really good at being bad. The bor…

1
Horse Feathers 23:14

8M ago23:14

23:14

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 co…

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