Words and Movies

00:59:14

Reel 97b: Mini-Series, Part 2 (Lonesome Dove)

Words and Movies ·

2026/09/20

In which we continue and conclude our discussion of Lonesome Dove. The mini-series is clearly not a strictly American phenomenon (as evidenced by our last episode), but there was a while when that could easily be the argument. It seemed as though mini-series were ubiquitous during the 1970s and 80s. The first by-definition mini-series in the US was probably The Blue Knight, which aired on NBC in 1973 and later became a regular series starring George Kennedy in the role originally played by William

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00:51:57

Reel 97a: Mini-Series, Part 2 (Lonesome Dove)

Words and Movies ·

2026/09/20

The mini-series is clearly not a strictly American phenomenon (as evidenced by our last episode), but there was a while when that could easily be the argument. It seemed as though mini-series were ubiquitous during the 1970s and 80s. The first by-definition mini-series in the US was probably The Blue Knight, which aired on NBC in 1973 and later became a regular series starring George Kennedy in the role originally played by William Holden. But the one that broke it all open for television was

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00:31:47

Reel 96b: Miniseries Part 1 (Fanny and Alexander,...

Words and Movies ·

2026/09/06

This is the first of five episodes we'll be covering which deal with miniseries, rather than theatrical films. The idea here is that when television decides they're going to do "events" and create these limited series ("limited" in the sense that there's a fixed number of episodes and no more are on the table), budgets tend to go up and the caliber of actor you get improves as well. But for all that, we're going to start with a miniseries that was also a

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00:54:58

Reel 96a: Mini-Series, Part 1 (Fanny and Alexander)

Words and Movies ·

2026/09/06

This is the first of five episodes we'll be covering which deal with miniseries, rather than theatrical films. The idea here is that when television decides they're going to do "events" and create these limited series ("limited" in the sense that there's a fixed number of episodes and no more are on the table), budgets tend to go up and the caliber of actor you get improves as well. But for all that, we're going to start with a miniseries that was also a

en

00:56:47

Reel 95b: Careers Cut Short, Part 4 (River Phoenix)

Words and Movies ·

2026/07/25

Running on Empty is an interesting film by Sidney Lumet that, in our opinion, doesn't get enough love. Judd Hirsch and Christine Lahti play a married couple forced to go underground when their activist ways take an unfortunate turn and someone is accidentally killed. Now, that event took place nearly twenty years earlier, so it's mostly relevant as the setup to the film. In the present day, they have two boys: one is a tween and the other (Phoenix) is nearing the end of his high school career

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00:52:21

Reel 95a: Careers Cut Short, Pt.3 (River Phoenix)

Words and Movies ·

2026/07/25

In our last episode we looked at Grace Kelly, whose career was cut short by her own choice. She was given the option to be treated like a princess, or to go out and actually be an honest-to-god Princess. She chose both love and duty, since you can't really Princess and be a movie star at the same time. Fair. In today's episode, we look at a career that was cut short because the actor, who was otherwise very bright and talented, couldn't reel in his demons. River Phoenix died at the age

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00:48:49

Reel 94b: Careers Cut Short, Pt.2 (Grace Kelly)

Words and Movies ·

2026/07/12

In 1955, Kelly paired up with Alfred Hitchcock again, to make To Catch a Thief, co-starring Cary Grant. Grant plays a retired cat burglar who is suspected of committing a new series of robberies, so he sets up a big job as a kind of sting operation to nab the person who's making him look like he's returned to a life of crime. Grace Kelly plays one of his potential victims in this scheme, and there are all kinds of interesting twists that, when viewed through a modern lens, you may see

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00:49:06

Reel 94a: Careers Cut Short, Pt.1 (Grace Kelly)

Words and Movies ·

2026/07/12

Sean and I originally came up with something like a half-dozen subjects for this miniseries, including a few actors from Saturday Night Live who made the jump into films. But ultimately it became kind of unwieldy, so we limited ourselves to two full episodes. Hollywood and show business fame in general can be a brutal place, and careers can end for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes actors just fall out of favor (Uma Thurman or Orlando Bloom, perhaps). Sometimes they say/do something controversial

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01:01:41

Reel 93b: Searching For God, Pt.2

Words and Movies ·

2026/06/28

Terrence Malik has written and directed The Tree of Life, a sprawling story that starts in the 1960s, jumps to present-day and then goes back to the birth of the universe. And that's just in the first few minutes of the film. Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain are the O'Briens, a couple that learns their teenage son has died. Over the years it appears that they still haven't quite gotten over the loss. We go back and forth through their lives and see how their divergent philosophies shaped

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00:46:25

Reel 93a: Searching For God, Pt.1

Words and Movies ·

2026/06/28

Whether we choose to admit it or not, we're driven by some level of faith that something lies beyond our current plane of existence. Some of us simply hope so, some profess not to care, others will go wholeheartedly into some form of religion. And the search for God--however you view that particular concept--is a compelling one, especially when you tell a story about someone whose faith is being tested. To that end the Coen Brothers have come up with A Serious Man, the first of two films we'll be

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00:58:22

Reel 92B: Critical Response, Pt.2

Words and Movies ·

2026/05/03

In Part 2 of our episode we look at Barry Levinson's Liberty Heights, from 1999. This was the fourth time that Levinson went to the well of life in Baltimore, and the second we've looked at (we still need to get to Tin Men and Avalon). The film is not a response to any of his Baltimore films, but was a response to his portrayal of Dustin Hoffman's character in the film Sphere, which got him thinking about his youth and led to the story seen here. COMING ATTRACTIONS: In our next episode

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00:49:43

Reel 92A: Critical Response, Pt.1

Words and Movies ·

2026/05/03

FIlm directors have to have a thick skin when it comes to criticism. But once in awhile, it gets to them and they let it show. More often than not, they say that the critics are out of touch with audience tastes. Others will own their failures: Roland Emmerich, for example, admitted that Independence Day: Resurgence didn't work and that he probably shouldn't have been the director. And some directors respond by making another movie that takes the criticism head-on. That's the topic of

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00:56:49

Reel 91b: Humphrey Bogart Joins the Resistance, Pt.2

Words and Movies ·

2026/02/01

We continue this episode with To Have and Have Not, a 1944 production directed by Howard Hawks. In this film, Bogart plays a sport tourism fisherman who's asked to use his boat to assist the French Resistance in Martinique. He meets up with Marie "Slim" Browning (Lauren Bacall) and that's where the fireworks started, both on and off screen. If you don't know how to whistle, Bacall offers up a fine lesson for you. COMING ATTRACTIONS: Next time, we take our first foray into

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01:06:13

Reel 91a: Humphrey Bogart Joins the Resistance, Pt.1

Words and Movies ·

2026/02/01

Casablanca is a film that Sean and I have wanted to cover for a long time, but there was a little bit of a struggle to find a good film to pair it with. Not because there were so few, but because there were so MANY. Finally we came up with focusing on Humphrey Bogart himself rather than on the overall theme of the film. And then there was the realization that Bogart had a couple of films where he was a reluctant hero in a World War Two setting, with the key word being "reluctant." So we

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00:53:07

Reel 90b: At the Ballet, Pt.2

Words and Movies ·

2025/11/20

In the second half of our episode, we take a peek at THE COMPANY (2003), a fictional story involving a real ballet company, with a couple of actors thrown in who aren't professional ballet dancers. As with any Altman film, there's a lot going on, usually simultaneously, and there are are a couple of throughlines making their way through a bunch of set pieces. But once you get used to Altman's cadences, you'll enjoy yourself throughout. COMING ATTRACTIONS: In our next episode,

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00:47:54

Reel 90a: At the Ballet, Pt.1

Words and Movies ·

2025/11/20

In today's episode we're going to have a look at a couple of films made several decades apart that look at the goings-on behind the scenes in ballet companies. In this half of the episode, we're reviewing THE RED SHOES (1948), directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. We have impresario-type behavior, composers with big egos, love triangles, and all of it rather thinly overlaid on a Hans Christian Andersen story. But that's not a bad thing, even though there's at least

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00:41:39

Reel 89b: Backstage Adaptations, Pt.2

Words and Movies ·

2025/11/12

In Part 2 of today's episode, we look at TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY, directed by Michael Winterbottom. Steve Coogan is an exaggerated version of himself (we hope), playing the title character in the film adaptation of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. He's constantly sparring with another actor in the film over the relative importance of their roles. The director doesn't appear to have a good handle on the source material, but oddly enough the two people

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00:53:42

Reel 89a: Backstage Adaptations, Pt.1

Words and Movies ·

2025/11/12

Hey there! LTNS!Today we take a look at a pair of films that deal with the creation of a film, but the catch is that the source material is notoriously difficult to adapt. Consequently the crux of the story we see involves the difficulty the creators are having putting the thing together. We start with ADAPTATION (2002), directed by Spike Jonze. We've got a terrific ensemble cast including Nicolas Cage, Chris Cooper, Meryl Streep and more. Cage is a man who suffers from anxiety and depression,

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00:23:20

Short Subject: Sean Looks Back at the Sundance Film...

Words and Movies ·

2025/09/25

As you no doubt know, actor/director/producer Robert Redford died last week at the age of 89. Now, lots and lots of people took the time to look back at his film career, so Sean and Claude took a different tack and reviewed a different aspect of Redford's legacy: the Sundance Film Festival. Redford wasn't one of the original founders, but he came in very early in the process, and just having his name attached to it gave the festival a new focus and level of prestige.

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00:51:41

Reel 88a: Backstage Drama II, Part 1

Words and Movies ·

2025/09/23

Way, way back in Episode 12, we looked at Stage Door and All About Eve, a couple of films about the theater industry that had practically no theater in them. We're going back to that well only only 76 episodes later, with today's look at two films that also deal with stage performers and the things that go into getting something on the boards. But where Part 1 stuck to the United States, this time around we take you to Europe. Here in the first half we bring you Topsy Turvy (1999), a British film

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