The Top 100 Project

The 532nd edition of Have You Ever Seen talks about a noir that not everyone is aware of, but they should be. Pickup On South Street crackles. Richard Widmark plays a pickpocket, but he remains an anti-hero from the start to the finish...even though crime stories are often about redemption after bad behaviour. He's got (an eventually) loyal "dame" in Jean Peters, he's got a shack right on the river and he's got a friend in sweet informer Thelma Ritter. Samuel Fuller's snappy story has a lot of political subtext, which becomes flat-out text because there are Communists all over this thing. Throw in a couple of vivid punch-ups and some obstinate cops trying to recover a microfilm and you've got a pretty great little thriller. So don't be sore. Just indulge in Ryan's one-man podcast about Fuller's Pickup On South Street. Sparkplug Coffee doesn't need to dunk its product into the drink, but they DO give our customers a 20% discount...if those customers will just use our "HYES" promo code. Go to "sparkplug.coffee/

And thus the people who started this podcast to review the AFI's Top 100 Lists have now made a point of talking about the Sight & Sound list. S&S critics ranked Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles in the #1 spot last December, which is the main reason we committed 200 minutes to watch it...let alone decided to review it. Ryan went on a passionate rant about their controversial Top 100, which led to a pretty heated debate about the merits of this lugubrious motion picture and other "women who suffer" films. Not that Jeanne Dielman doesn't find a way to draw you in. Chantal Akerman's feminist look at a widowed mother who lives a dull, repetitive life with her son is Ozu-like in its shot compositions, the unmoving camera and the (very) long takes. We watch process---do we ever---and not much happens as we see Delphine Seyrig go about her routine...until her entire world is rocked. And what causes it to be rocked? Invest a solid hour in our review of an acclaimed example of "slow cinema"

Martin Scorsese is the master director of movies that glamorize scumbag criminals without passing judgement on their terrible behaviour. He's (almost) in Goodfellas territory here, featuring a reprehensible-but-charismatic criminal who's too young for all this power and opportunity to do bad things. Perhaps Marty is also showing us a funny version of his own drug-addled past in The Wolf Of Wall Street and perhaps Leonardo DiCaprio is playing closer to his real self than he had before...or has since. What's for certain is that Leo's Jordan Belfort is addicted to money (well, he admits to THAT) and this 530th edition of Have You Ever Seen addresses that and the other MANY addictions of all these crummy characters. The movie is too long and excessive, but Leo and his penny-stock friends are extremely excessive too. It fits. Kudos to all for making this 3-hour motion picture so consistently entertaining. But also, we WILL judge them and truly, F these people. If you don't do enough drugs to sedate 25 horses, perh

As we "celebrate" the Civic Holiday, Bev takes the week off and Ryan monologues in the 529th episode of Have You Ever Seen. The underrated Hal Ashby always got great performances out of his actors during that incredible run he had in the '70s. In Coming Home, he uses a plethora of classic songs---so many classic songs---to back up his stars' excellent work. Oscar winners Jon Voight and the remarkable Jane Fonda are romantic and sexy together. He's a veteran who returns from Vietnam unable to walk, while Bruce Dern comes back unable to cope. Fonda's married to Dern, but falls for Voight. Triangular problems! This teeth-chatter about Coming Home got quite political about government and war, so perhaps that requires a trigger warning for those who don't agree with the Ellises' liberal views. In any case, if you've got 37 minutes, fire up a podcast about a classic movie that all of us should probably feel obliged to see. Sparkplug Coffee is our sponsor. They offer a 20% discount to any customer who puts our "HYES

If Harrison Ford isn't the most-successful movie star in history, then he's at least on the shortest of shortlists. And he's almost a silent-film actor in The Fugitive, while Oscar-winner Tommy Lee Jones as his dogged antagonist is positively verbose. Ford gets to play smart, determined and driven to find the one-armed man who killed his wife, despite having a terrible lawyer representing him. Jones is the federal marshal out to find him, who's likewise smart, determined and driven. It's such a credit to The Fugitive that a woman gets murdered, there's medical fraud, friends betray friends and yet Andrew Davis still finds so many ways to make this such a fun film. Let the 528th episode of Have You Ever Seen use not just one arm, but two to unscramble the mystery as we realize it's time to stop running. Well, Actually: Ryan was thinking of Joseph Kosala as the real Chicago cop who plays Ron Dean's detective partner. Also, Dean, IS a Chicagoan, but Richard Riehle (the guard on the prison bus) is not. Also also,

John Garfield didn't even live to see 40, but he DID make several good films in the '40s. In Body And Soul, he's a decent guy who finds himself in a love triangle and makes many bad career decisions. It's the age-old story of a boxer who gets mixed up with the wrong people. Robert Rossen's acclaimed picture isn't remarkably original, but it's a well-made film. The man who directed The Hustler knew what he was doing when it came to putting sports on the silver screen. Ryan's monologue also gets into Rossen's ties to Communism and how he named names to HUAC. Body And Soul's cast and production team had a whole whack of people who leaned red, in fact. So grow a conscience as you fight for your life in this brief 527th one-man podcast. Sparkplug Coffee sponsors us. Go to "sparkplug.coffee.hyes" and shop to your heart's joy, then use our "HYES" promo code to save 20% off your next order. Our podcasts are on YouTube...as of the beginning of this year anyway. Your destination is @hyesellis in your browser. You can s

Bev is not a fan of biopics or of Sean Penn, but even she knows that Gus Van Sant's Milk is a great example of both. Harvey Milk was a passionate, charming, hard-working activist who was gunned down by Dan White just as he was starting his political career, but there WAS some whitewashing of his personal life in this. Still, Penn is so authentic. The movie, which mixes in plenty of real footage, very much is too. Okay, the leading actors aren't gay, but at least the director, writer, producers and many of the background actors are. Maybe that's why---even though it's about politics as much as it is about homosexuality---the film is as lusty as it is. The supporting cast (from Franco to Hirsch to Brolin to Pill to Garber) do admirable work, although Diego Luna has to play an impossibly childish character...and doesn't do it very well. Not even that slip-up can ruin one of the better based-on-a-true-story excursions of the past few decades. So join us in the Castro and give 'em hope as we yap for over an hour i

Everything Everywhere All At Once turned into an unlikely hit last year, then went on to win 7 Oscars just a few months ago. That means it was time for us to cover it because we always review the winner of Best Picture at some point later that summer. Actually, we talked a lot in this episode about many different Oscars shows and we jumped around a lot regarding the plot...which is fitting for a movie about the multiverse. The Daniels' frenetic sci-fi, comedy, action-adventure family drama is a mash-up of jokes, pathos, horror, sincerity and lots of outright silliness. Michelle Yeoh and Stephanie Hsu make a terrific mother/daughter combination, while Hsu's alter ego is one of the best villains in recent years. Kwan & Scheinert's 2nd film uses those stars (along with Jamie Lee Curtis and Ke Huy Quan) to explore a slew of ideas...and references many different forms of entertainment in doing that exploring. Still, considering some people have compared this to a Tik Tok video, EEAAO is a fairly simple story a

Spencer Tracy & Katharine Hepburn were a great duo and they made many movies together, but they specialized in romantic comedies. Adam's Rib is a rom-com that does a great job with the rom, but isn't nearly funny enough to be called great at the com. The plot has some problems too. George Cukor's courtroom movie has been acclaimed by nearly everybody, but Ryan took real issue in this solo venture with the way Hepburn defends her client. Still, Cukor and his stars pieced together a well-made movie, even if the laughs are lacking. So don't cry (or pretend to cry) about our 524th Have You Ever Seen podcast, but settle in with your Pinky and hear what one man has to say about Adam's Rib. Well, Actually: Frances McDormand DOES have 4 Oscars just like Hepburn does, but one of those was for producing Nomadland, so it's correct to say she's won 3 Oscars for acting specifically. Classic movies are best enjoyed with classic coffee. And, in a lovely twist of fate, we're sponsored by Sparkplug Coffee. Use our "HYES"

Bullitt is famous for its car chase (an action scene that many movies have tried---and usually failed---to equal or surpass), but this police thriller has got so much more going for it than just that. As for this being called an action film, well, it's actually more of a murder mystery. Steve McQueen is his trademark Mister Cool, but his romance with Jacqueline Bissett also gives him humanity. It's not like the beautiful actress gets to do much more than that though. Bullitt's biggest problem, however, is that there are some confusing plot turns that don't always make sense. All those topics are discussed in Ryan's solo show that focuses on one bad weekend in the heart of San Francisco. The 523rd Have You Ever Seen is a brief one, so lock in for just over a half-hour monologue about Peter Yates' cop classic. Our sponsor is Sparkplug Coffee. They will give you a 20% discount if you use our "HYES" promo code. The destination in your browser is "sparkplug.coffee/hyes". To get in touch with us, you've got the Twi

It's become a tradition for us in recent history to cover a disaster film on or near the 4th Of July, so this year's choice is the Auteur Of Explosions, Michael Bay. Armageddon is crass, it has tonal problems, it's edited into incoherence, but, truth is truth, this blockbuster still worked on at least one of us. And we both acknowledge how entertaining it is. Bay's macho, in-your-face filmmaking style seems appropriate for a story about wisecracking oil drillers being asked to become spacemen and then save the planet from an asteroid coming to wipe out all life on the planet. We spent a lot of time mocking the "science", although tension and emotion help soothe SOME of those factual problems. What works best of all though is an eclectic cast, most of whom weren't stars yet (Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, Owen Wilson, Michael Clarke Duncan). Of course, not even Affleck has ever gotten to be as big as Bruce Willis was then and continued to be for another decade. Oh, and Steve Buscemi! He always makes things better. So

Superman has been a patriotic force on the big screen seemingly forever, but Richard Donner and his team did it best in 1978. Except for Superman II, none of the sequels or reboots hold any kind of candle to Donner's Supes, especially when it comes to the ways in which Christopher Reeve chose to play him. He's great when he's Superman, but greater at playing Clark Kent. No one else has ever come close. This, of course, is a film with Marlon Brando as Space Dad, Gene Hackman as the arch rival and Margot Kidder as the lovable love interest, yet this flick belongs to the newcomer Reeve. As for the story, there are some flaws in logic, even considering this story is such a fantasy to begin with. After all, we're talking about an alien boy scout who gets sick around rocks from his home planet, yet tries his time-travelling best to stop a violent land swindler from destroying Hollywood. Anyway, Ryan is working alone on this one---and talking about most of the Kal-El movies---but the focus is on the blockbuster from

As far as ensemble "a few days in the life of a bunch of people" movies go, Short Cuts is not only one of Robert Altman's best...it's one of the best anyone has ever made. He maintains a consistent tone and pace beautifully for over 3 hours. It's even pretty tense for a character study. Altman also ties all these Los Angelenos together brilliantly, even though Raymond Carver's short stories aren't inter-connected the way the film is. And that's the key word because this is a movie about people trying to make connections...and often failing miserably. The actors---Lemmon, Robbins, Moore, Tomlin, JJ and so many more---are mostly tremendous...with some notable exceptions (cough cough the baker). Just like Short Cuts itself, these characters are flawed, but they are oh so human and relatable. So get comfortable, but keep your clothes on as our 520th episode analyzes a truly excellent picture made by a master filmmaker. Well, Actually: Madeleine Stowe is in fact fully naked when she's posing for Julianne Moore's p

Nora Ephron's When Harry Met Sally screenplay made for a classic romantic comedy. It's one of the best in the genre. Sleepless In Seattle, however, is a rom-com that isn't funny and we didn't even find it particularly romantic, partly because the couple we're supposed to root for don't even meet until the end. That's a clever idea, but we don't think it works to keep these 2 great stars apart for so long. Tom Hanks plays a sad-sack and Meg Ryan plays a stalker. Yeah. We said it. This even has the dreaded trope that we never enjoy: a precocious kid who bosses adults around. So, yeah, you could say we weren't fans of Sleepless In Seattle...but we sure had a blast making fun of it. So join us for our 519th edition of Have You Ever Seen, unless your deal-breakers are allergies or a weird laugh. We've got a little of both, so we are, thus, undeserving of love. Sparkplug Coffee offers our listeners a 20% discount. Those listeners just have to use our "HYES" promo code. Go to "sparkplug.coffee/hyes". You can communi

Before anyone gets all excited that this is a review of the Pacino/DePalma version of Scarface, Ryan's latest solo show actually focuses on the Hawks/Muni version. The 1983 "little friend" comes up a lot though, so it's almost like getting 2 reviews in 1. And you should be just as excited about the 1932 original anyway because Paul Muni, director Howard Hawks and producer Howard Hughes (yup, him) teamed up to make a true gangster classic. Muni plays a bootlegger and a mass murderer of criminal rivals, so he's basically Al Capone. For a film that came out only about 5 years into the sound era, this is pretty terrific technically too. So dial up the 518th lip-wag about Scarface as the Italians battle the Irish in 1920s Chicago while everyone else faces the wrath of a man who has an unhealthy interest in his own sister. Sparkplug Coffee doesn't need to use vicious tactics to get their product sold. They just gently suggest you buy some. They even offer a 20% discount to anyone who uses our "HYES" promo code. Use

We haven't reviewed that many silent movies in our previous 516 episodes, but #517 gets into Harold Lloyd's business. There are reasons the sometimes-overlooked silent comedian doesn't have the legacy that Chaplin and Keaton do, even though he should be just as well-remembered. He had the charm of the Tramp and he performed dangerous stunts the way Keaton did. Directors Newmeyer and Taylor's 100-year-old flick is fun and it has a great pace. Their Safety Last is also the rare comedy that's also a thriller and ALSO tells a good story. And then we get the climax, with that incredible extended sequence where Lloyd climbs a building despite encountering many pitfalls. So spend more money than you can afford on your loved one and take crazy chances to earn a big stack of cash as we talk about a non-talkie in Safety Last. Sparkplug Coffee sponsors this podcast and they offer our listeners a 20% discount when they use our "HYES" promo code. Hit up "sparkplug.coffee/hyes" and explore the drinking options. You can con

Sidney Lumet and Al Pacino were a terrific combination in the mid-70's and their Serpico is an effectively gritty motion picture, just like their Dog Day Afternoon would be 2 years later. Pacino is nearly at his best in this, even though he feels more like a character actor in a huge cast of character actors than he does a movie star. The real-life Frank Serpico was an absolutist who risked deadly retribution for refusing to take pay-offs. Pacino is nothing if not authentic here, so he's playing a maddening man, an idealist who just will not be pragmatic. Yes, rampant corruption in the police department is bad, but the system has been rotten forever. There aren't easy answers about how to fix it. In any case though, this deliberately-paced cop drama is interesting and well-made. So stick by your principles and don't work harder to collect bribes than at doing your actual job as we offer you our 516th dash of Have You Ever Seen. Our sponsor is Sparkplug Coffee. If a one-time 20% discount appeals to you, use ou

POW movies might seem like a dime a dozen now, but 70 years ago they weren't common. And POW comedies? They really weren't a thing. Of course, The Great Escape set an iconic standard a decade after Stalag 17 that was hard to match...and it doesn't match it. Billy Wilder's film is filled with hijinks and physical comedy, but not even the brilliant funnyman was able to make something that's actually got a lot of laughs. It's solid work, at least, and it's an effective mystery about just who is the Nazi rat embedded with our heroes. By design, William Holden never clicks with the other actors, which makes his Oscar-winning performance quite effective. So slip contraband in your pantleg as you plug some buds into your ears to hear the 515th edition of Have You Ever Seen, Ryan's solo show about Stalag 17. Sparkplug Coffee sponsors us and they give their customers a one-time 20% discount if they use our "HYES" promo code. Plug "sparkplug.coffee/hyes" into your browser. Contacting us continues to be an easy experien

With Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse hitting theatres on Friday, we're taking a fond look at INTO The Spider-Verse. This monumental achievement in animation wowed the world 5 years ago, but what really set it apart were 2 big things...heart and humour. Of course, Lord & Miller were heavily involved, so laughs were a given. What's almost as impressive is that this covers many of the same Spider-beats as other films about this character, but the rehash is done in such inventive and lovely ways that you can't say you're going down the same old road. This feels fresh. Shameik Moore heads a great voice cast in which some of the biggest names like Cage, Pine and Kravitz have some of the smallest parts. We talked about all sorts of angles in this 514th dose of Have You Ever Seen, but barely even brought up race...or that Miles Morales is in fact a bi-racial teenager in a superhero movie. This film is just so much deeper than labels. So prepare for the release of the funky sequel by settling in for our yammer

Who's a good boy?! Well, the miracle dog who licks his gunshot wound back to health is the Morgan family's very-good boy. Black sharecroppers in 1930s Louisiana had it tough enough, but they finally got their own movie in the early '70s and then had to play second fiddle to...the dog?! But, okay, they don't. Young Kevin Hooks is actually the main character, although Paul Winfield and Cicely Tyson got the accolades and the Oscar nominations for playing his parents. Martin Ritt was an underrated director who was always good on social issues. His Sounder isn't all that political, but Ryan DID get a little political about idiotic racism in this one-man show, So as you enjoy Victoria Day, settle in for a 30-minute monologue about a hardworking family (and their dog) in this 513th edition of Have You Ever Seen. Sparkplug Coffee is our sponsor. They'll give a 20% discount to those who use the "hyes" promo code. Go to "sparkplug.coffee/hyes". You can certainly write to us. We're emailable (haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmai