The Top 100 Project

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 been an easy sell to the moneymen 70 years ago. Their romcom is pretty good and it is indeed funny & romantic (at times), but we had trouble buying the love story. Holden is not at his best, while Bogie seems miscast...and also somewhat disinterested. Audrey is about as charming and likable as she always was though, plus Wilder certainly knew what he was doing while making a comedy. Ups, downs. So put on a fancy dress and try to close that big deal to rake in mucho bucks as you hear us gab about Sabrina in our 570th episode. Sparkplug Coffee offers excellent beans to Canadians & Americans. They'll give our listeners who use our "HYES" promo code a one-time 20%

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 has. The hook here is that the always-serious Greta Garbo gets to be funny ("Garbo Laughs"). And she's great in this. She's lovable when she softens, but playing it straight as a stern Russian was her route to comic gold. She and Melvyn Douglas are a wonderful rom-com couple. As for Ninotchka's story, it's all about how capitalism is fun while communism is a dreary, almost-cultlike oppression. Politics has rarely resulted in such mirth. So loosen up and put on your ugly hat as the 569th edition of Have You Ever Seen digs into a classic comedy that's---get this---actually funny. And Just To Be Clear: Sig Ruman is German and Alexander Granach was born in what is now Uk

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 themes in this complicated love rhombus, however, are at least partially ruined by the director's real-life issues. Ryan's solo show addresses the controversies about Woody's dating life, his marriage to his step-daughter and what he may have done to another step-daughter when she was a child. Yeah, Manhattan wasn't an easy one to review. In any case, this 568th episode in the Have You Ever Seen series has one man trying to figure out how to feel about another man's oddball love life. There's nothing complicated about Sparkplug Coffee. Buy some. You can take advantage of a 20% discount by using our "HYES" promo code. Go to "sparkplug.coffee", then add "/ hyes" to the

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 at every joke he makes when he's drunk, although at least he's actually sweet when he's not playing it blitzed. Liza Minnelli brings a lot of sass to this male-dominated yuckfest as Moore's love interest. She has chemistry with the other 2 guys. It's just that we wish we'd laughed a lot more often and---while the violent climax at the wedding is amusing---the last 5 minutes of the movie are dreadfully unearned. It was a bad ending to what was already a flawed story. So alert the media that our 567th tall glass of Have You Ever Seen is rather critical of Arthur. Chase away your blistering hangover with some Sparkplug Coffee. You'll get a 20% discount by using our "HY

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 main characters. People are complex, which is a truth that Soderbergh understood even at this young age. So hit the play button on an antiquated technology that most young people have probably never even seen as our 566th episode is all about a man and several women sitting down to talk about Sex, Lies, And Videotape. Well, Actually: it's true that Rocky has a big critical/audience split on Rotten Tomatoes, but Forrest Gump's big split is the opposite...the audiences on that site like it a lot more than critics do. The kinds of explicit conversations people have in this movie would be broached even easier if they all had a cup of coffee. Sparkplug Coffee offers Have

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's intentionally soulless performance as Dorian is one of the least-interesting parts of the film. George Sanders gets many caustic lines though and Angela Lansbury is the heart of the movie, even though she's not in it very much. This ranked on AFI's Top 100 Thrills and it's not scary all these decades later, but that doesn't mean there isn't something eerie going on. So stop obsessing about your looks as the 565th doodle of Have You Ever Seen (and another solo show by Ryan) investigates the supernatural goings on in The Picture Of Dorian Gray. Check out our sponsor: Sparkplug Coffee. They continue to offer a onetime 20% discount to anyone who uses our promo code (

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 boring leech is a top-notch liar...and, oh, there's that ever-fascinating angle where an actor plays a character who has to act. This is Anthony Minghella at his best, both his clever screenplay and his direction. And this is the guy who directed the Oscar juggernaut that was The English Patient. Fun ride. So realize it's better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody as our 564th European jaunt takes Have You Ever Seen into the sinister world of The Talented Mr. Ripley. The talented purveyors of beans at Sparkplug Coffee offer our audience a 20% discount. Just use our "HYES" promo code. So it's "sparkplug.coffee/hyes". Feedback is welcome. Comment, rate, review and s

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 come across as "more of the same". They're hitting the same beats with different settings and different character names. So you know what you're getting from the Marx boys (although at least this kind of tomfoolery doesn't necessarily age badly), but was Horse Feathers actually funny? Ryan's monologue in our 563rd podcast tries to answer that question. Sparkplug Coffee isn't nutty like Horse Feathers is. It's a rock-solid product and you can save 20% off your next order by using our "HYES" promo code. Go to "sparkplug.coffee/hyes". If you'd like to speak to us, go to Elon's weirdo site and hit us with a tweet-x (@moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis). Bev is on Threads as

Look at us covering one of the whitest movies ever on MLK Day. Well, it's quite a film that happens to be about many compelling things: lying, cheating and masculinity. It's also legitimately funny. Swedish writer/director Ruben Ostlund has made a career out of filming the uncomfortable and he loves to show people who are trying to save face. In Force Majeure, we've got a marriage on the rocks after Johannes Kuhnke fails his family in a crisis, which brings about a bitter conflict with his wife (Lisa Loven Kongsli). So don't be a coward when a lot of snow is rushing your way or when a bus driver is making you uneasy, but feel free to ugly cry in front of your family as the 562nd Have You Ever Seen podcast banters about Force Majeure. Well, Actually: the proper pronunciation of Ostlund's last name DOES seem to be to rhyme the first 3 letters with "frost", not "toast" or "boost". Also, Ostlund has indeed directed a few other films besides his Big Three, including Involuntary and Play. Sparkplug Coffee sponsors

Buster Keaton's silent comedies were classics, but they were also action thrillers. He was one of the greatest and gutsiest stuntmen/actors in history. That stuff is phenomenal, so the only real problem with The Navigator is the same as it was in Sherlock Jr last year. Namely, the movie just isn't all that funny. The Navigator's ending sequence has the most laughs and most of the best stunts though. And it helps that Stoneface has chemistry with Kathryn Maguire, who was also his lady love in Sherlock Jr. Here they're in a movie about two pointless, rich people having to fight for their lives while lost at sea. We eventually get into some casual racism, but The Navigator IS a century old. So, instead of dwelling on that, have fun making bad breakfast and then defending your ship from hungry natives as this 561st episode of Have You Ever Seen ambles through The Navigator. For The Record: Monday's episode will be Ruben Ostlund's Force Majeure. Our schedule was changed, so the original throw we recorded was to a

We begin the 9th Annual Month Of Bev by chatting about a cult classic that features punks, Reaganomics and odd automobiles. Repo Man was Alex Cox's debut (Sid And Nancy came 2 years later) and it was also very early in Emilio Estevez's film career. The man who would basically stop acting in motion pictures about 15 years later is just okay here. He's joined in this sci-fi/comedy by veteran character actors like Tracey Walter and Harry Dean Stanton. The movie still touches Bev's Gen-X heart, despite a clunky middle section and an unsatisfying ending. This is a weird flick, but you have to admire that everyone involved embraces the weirdness and had fun making it. Well, maybe not Stanton. So drive your Chevy Malibu across the country---no matter what danger the trunk contains---and obey the code as our 560th edition of Have You Ever Seen pieces through Repo Man. To Be Clear...: Gary Oldman's co-star in Sid & Nancy is Chloe Webb (playing Nancy Spungen). Also, Sy Richardson WAS indeed one of the writers of Ma

We're in "let's look back at 2023" mode as we discuss our fave flicks of last year (so far) and also answer listeners' emails, tweets and YouTube comments. It wasn't a great 12 months at the movies, although we still have to see a lot of red-letter titles before we can make a final call on that. The writers' and actors' strikes were huge stories that might have long-lasting effects, but apart from the whopping successes of Barbenheimer, Sound Of Freedom and Taylor Swift's record-destroying concert film, the biggest story of '23 was the massive failure of most of the superhero movies released by Marvel and DC. And then, yes, we dropped some names and (finally!) responded to our loyal listeners who took the time to write to us. This 559th episode of Have You Ever Seen is a tidy 30 minutes, so get cozy on New Year's Day and spend some time with the Ellises as we tell you what we thought of the year that was. Well, Actually: Ryan messed up the names of superhero movies a few times in this episode. Chris Nolan dir

To wrap up our podcasting year with a record-shattering 77th episode, Ryan is once again on a solo mission to review something that's considered a classic. And while it's always a pleasure to see Cary Grant and Myrna Loy, the  reason to cover The Bachelor And The Bobby-Soxer is that it represents our first Shirley Temple (Black) flick. She's one of the title characters---you can guess which one---while Cary plays the other title character in another in his long line of rom-com hits. He was the master of the smiley love stories, especially those in the screwball genre. But is either the comedy or the love story in Irving Reis' light-hearted Oscar-winner particularly convincing though? And did Shirley Temple actually wear bobby sox? That last question isn't answered in this 558th dose of Have You Ever Seen, but a lot of other ones are, as this half-hour monologue breaks down The Bachelor And The Bobby-Soxer. The year may be over, but you can continue to enjoy a 20% discount from Sparkplug Coffee in 2024, if you

We post our final podcast of this year about a Christmas movie a day early, even though The Lion In Winter is only tangentially a Christmas movie at all. James Goldman wrote a complex King Lear story based on real people in director Anthony Harvey's authentic, dirty, unkempt Oscar-winner. Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn lead a fabulous cast (well, except for one person), as they fill the movie with sound and fury, although perhaps all the machinations take them back where they started. We took shots at the concept of royalty (then or now) and also the incestuous nature of those who wear silly crowns, but at least The Lion In Winter is engrossing and entertaining about such silliness. So be kind enough to let your spouse out of the hoosegow for the holidays as our 557th jingle bell digs into King Henry II, Eleanor Of Aquitaine and their not-so-loving children. Well, Actually: Walter Brennan won 3 Oscars for Best Supporting Actor back in the '30s, so Hepburn was only tying him with her 3rd win for this perf

Not only are we reviewing Christmas movies this month, but Trading Places makes for the 2nd of 3 screwball comedies you will be able to find on this channel by the end of December. And like those other two, John Landis' romp tells a good story, but isn't very funny. Dan Aykroyd was established as a star, but Eddie Murphy was just starting his legendary movie career while Jamie Lee Curtis was making a successful transition from horror into comedy. Don Ameche, Ralph Bellamy and plenty of others get chances to shine too in this very watchable comedy. They just didn't make us laugh. This episode isn't all fun and games either because we discussed the offensive content and we talked about Landis' involvement in The Twilight Zone tragedy. So bet a buck on the 556th edition of Have You Ever Seen as rich jerks toy with people's lives just because in the Christmassy blockbuster known as Trading Places. Well, Actually: the great R-rated laugh in Coming To America that's discussed at the 15-minute mark is early on in th

Television marathons helped A Christmas Story become a huge favourite this time of year, but Bob Clark's holiday comedy didn't need to be stuffed down people's throats. It earns the rep of being one of the greatest Christmas movies by being funny and sweet. Jean Shepherd's joyful memories of his own life as a kid growing up about 80 years ago in Indiana offset some of the bad memories, whether it be a furnace or a Farkus. The story is episodic by design, but the running storyline is of course Peter Billingsley's obsession with someone making sure to put a Red Ryder BB gun under the tree. He's ideally cast and pretty good as Ralphie, but Melinda Dillon is terrific as his mother and Darren McGavin is having a ball playing The Old Man. Ryan's solo show triple dog dares you not to shoot your eye out as this 555th episode of Have You Ever Seen breaks down the enduring classic that is A Christmas Story. You can still get some Sparkplug Coffee to put under the tree or in somebody's stocking. Our "HYES" promo code pl

We're taking a short break from covering Christmas movies by talking about Arthur Penn's The Miracle Worker. Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke are tremendous as the battling teacher and student. Both won Oscars as Bancroft's Anne Sullivan teaches manners and ASL to Duke's deaf and blind Helen Keller. The real Keller was intelligent, stubborn, ferocious and---disabilities or not---also a bit of a jerk. Sullivan pushes back though and DOESN'T have the patience of Job. This is a hard job, especially during their epic 9-minute battle in the dining room. The Miracle Worker is a movie about making connections and they eventually do that...as do we by comparing this difficult girl to our beloved dogs. Forgive us, it's what we know best. So put on some dark glasses and resist the urge to grab food right off people's plates as our 554th water pump of Have You Ever Seen analyzes this biopic about 2 extraordinary women. Sparkplug Coffee is extraordinary too. They will give our listeners a onetime 20% discount if said listene

Holy moly, the 553rd ice-fish of Have You Ever Seen kicks off the Christmas season as Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau bring their crabby charm to the title characters. But the 2 comedy legends are only Grumpy Old Men with each other. They're quite sweet to everybody else, especially to each other's kids and---most of all---to the new babe in town, Ann-Margret. The love story between her and the 2 old coots is not an angle we fully believed in, partly because the decades-long feud is is the REAL love story going on here. Darryl Hannah and Kevin Pollak help make this movie work as well as it does because neither the script nor the direction by Donald Petrie are anything special. Still, we laughed, we ho ho ho'ed and we felt the cold in that small Minnesota town. So don't be a putz or a moron, but DO bring your recently-repaired fishing pole to a frozen lake as we give you the ins and the out(take)s of Grumpy Old Men. Unless the IRS is ready to take your house, you can probably afford Sparkplug Coffee. It'll help

The early '40s was a hugely successful time for director Howard Hawks and his Ball Of Fire stars, Barbara Stanwyck & Gary Cooper. This isn't their crowning achievement (partly because it just isn't as funny as other comedies each of them made), but it's fun and the love story is certainly enjoyable. Hawks was talented enough to excel at making movies in nearly every genre, but he was always in his element when it came to the laughs. Cooper's typical stiffness works well for this nerdy grammarian too. The great Stanwyck though is a little inconsistent as the title character, who uses Cooper and his friends before falling for him (and for them). The inconsistency might be a script problem more than something Babs is failing to do. But while she was more suited to play a lying schemer in The Lady Eve that same year, she DOES help make this rom-com parable about the 7 dwarfs a screwball time at the movies. Ryan's going solo again in this 552nd yapfest of Have You Ever Seen, kids, so get ready to learn lots of

Even though John Sturges is one of the most underrated directors of all time, remaking Seven Samurai could have turned out to be a big mistake if it failed. Instead, The Magnificent Seven is fun, cool and exciting...and it has a layer of sadness too. Sadness and desperation have been unintentional themes in our movies this month, actually. Still, it's hard not to make your western cool when you've got names like Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn and Charles Bronson in the cast. Who's your favourite of the Seven? What's your favourite broad gesture by a member of the cast? We discussed those things and we discussed how Mag Seven is revered now, but wasn't the blockbuster that it seems like it should have been when it came out. Perhaps the straightforward "good guy vs bad guy" western was a dying genre in 1960, even though this is similar to the greatest horse-and-gun movies in that it has more complications and angles than it seems at first. So go on location down in Mexico and do the right thing for a