EPISODE 051: LESSONS IN FILM GENRE

Featuring: Early Abstractions (1965); Belladonna of Sadness (1973); Fantastic Planet (1973); Mad God (2021)

In the spirit of “getting weird”, WR&P cohosts enter their intergalactic space portal and travel to unique worlds of the experimental and the animated. With guided tours from alien extraordinaires such as Phil Tippett and René Laloux, this adventurous animation exploration remains steeped in blooming psychedelia and rugged world-building. Ryan and Kevin introduce the pod to different representations of animation style by diving straight into the deep end.

EPISODE 050: LESSONS IN FILM HISTORY

Featuring: Gone with the Wind (1939); Wizard of Oz (1939); Citizen Kane (1941); Casablanca (1942)

The Wind Reel & Print locomotive continues into the capital city of Golden Age Hollywood as the pod takes on the Mt. Rushmore of Hollywood filmmaking. With nothing much else to add to the nearly century-long conversation, Ryan and Kevin get candid with their opinions on early age movie magic, folding their own life experiences into the history of Hollywood while capturing the awe that audiences may have experienced upon original release. WR&P punches their ticket for the next stop.

EPISODE 049: LESSONS IN FILM HISTORY

Featuring: It Happened One Night (1934); Trouble in Paradise (1932); Bringing Up Baby (1938); His Girl Friday (1940)

Taking a restful stop at Screwball Station, the Wind Reel & Print locomotive takes another trip into the land of Golden Age Hollywood. With special appearances from the likes of Clark Gable, Katherine Hepburn, and Cary Grant, this whirlwind visit to the early days of cinema brings eclectic adventures, head-scratching hijinks, and lightning-fast dialogue. Ryan and Kevin return with exciting tales.

EPISODE 048: THEATER ADVENTURES

WR&P cohosts catch the opening weekend premiere of Brady Corbet’s moving Oscar-nominated movie The Brutalist (2024). While digesting the film’s impact, Ryan and Kevin praise movie for its insistence on being a serious picture, complete with an overture and an intermission and a real appreciation for sound and image. Kevin also reads into the film’s political position.

EPISODE 047: LESSONS IN FILM HISTORY

Featuring: Birth of a Nation (1915); The Jazz Singer (1927); Gummo (1997); Bamboozled (2000)

Wind Reel & Print explores the history of racism and exploitation in the entertainment industry as Kevin bundles four films that deal with minstrel shows and vaudeville. Starting with the invention of cinematic language at the top of the Twentieth century, this important podcast conversation aims to connect close ups and sound design with the KKK and blackface. Accompanied by Spike Lee’s daring dissection in 2000’s Bamboozled, WR&P cohosts examine the exploitative nature of the camera and how America’s racist history has impacted the entertainment industry.

EPISODE 046: THEATER ADVENTURES

After catching last weekend’s number one box office movie, Ryan and Kevin offer their initial reactions to Ryan Coogler’s newest picture “Sinners”. While connecting this film to Coogler’s debut feature “Fruitvale Station”, WR&P cohosts discuss the progressions of the director’s filmmaking career, including his interest in American race politics, his collaborations with actor Michael B. Jordan, and his Marvel-ized storytelling technique.

EPISODE 045: LESSONS IN FILM HISTORY (GENRE)

Featuring: Notorious (1946); Maltese Falcon (1941); Double Indemnity (1944); Sunset Boulevard (1950); The Third Man (1949)

Taking direct influence from German Expressionism, American filmmakers rebranded the dark and paranoid into their own film noir. Popularized in the 1940s and subsequently revived into contemporary movements of neonoir and neon noir, this postwar film genre took Expressionism’s heavy contrast and overlaid it onto stories sourced from hardboiled crime fiction novels of the 1930s. WR&P cohosts Ryan and Kevin dissect four iconic titles from this classic American film genre while utilizing Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious (1946) as a comparative film to cut against.

EPISODE 044: LETTERBOXD TOP 250 SHUFFLE

Featuring: The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), An Autumn Afternoon (1962), The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

As Ryan and Kevin do the Letterboxd Top 250 Shuffle, the podcast lands on a quartet of films that uncover the holes we climb out of. Whether that be systems of oppression, wartime prison labor camps, or lofty existential questions, life always presents us with dark caves in which we can gestate while crawling to the light.