The Playlist Podcast Network

To celebrate Al Pacino’s 80th birthday, Be Reel zeroes in on one of the acting legend’s favorite archetypes—the ragged police detective. Today, we trace Pacino’s investigative methods all the way from iconic “Serpico” (1973) to controversial “Cruising” (1980) to charged “Sea of Love” (1989) to unimpeachable “Heat” (1995) to perhaps underrated “Insomnia” (2002), all the way to VOD schlock like “Hangman” (2017). It’s a trajectory that reveals Pacino's groundbreaking subtlety transforming into meme-able gravitas and intersects with some of the absolute best directors of the last half-century. Join us; there’s definitely a gold shield in it for you.

For much of the late-20th century, Barbra Streisand was a ubiquitous star of stage, album, and screen. And the EGOT winner’s artistic vision was never clearer than in her three forays into directing, producing and starring in her own movies: "Yentl" (1983), "The Prince of Tides" (1991) and "The Mirror Has Two Faces" (1996). Each film features a touch of Streisand’s cross-medium talents: a little musicality, a little slapstick comedy, a little Judaism and feminism intermingling to define the persona of an underexplored icon. * * * -You can find "The Prince of Tides" newly added to the Criterion Collection: https://www.criterion.com/films/29571-the-prince-of-tides -BE REEL is brought to you by California College of the Arts’ Writing MFA Program. Learn more about their wonderful work at cca.edu/writingmfa.

When it comes to contemporary sci-fi, Alex Garland sits at the highest level of Hollywood writers/directors/creators. Whether penning original ideas about humanity’s undoing (“Ex Machina,” “28 Days Later,” “Sunshine”) or adapting bestselling books (“Annihilation,” “Never Let Me Go”) to his own specifications, Garland has had a hand in several of the most intriguing sci-fi and horror films of the past 20 years. This week, Be Reel studies most things Garland, with an emphasis on his screenwriting, leading  to our forthcoming recap of his new Hulu/FX show "Devs.” Keep your eyes peeled for that shortly. 

Before the entire world shut down, there was an extremely good Kelly Reichardt movie ("First Cow") halfway into theaters. Now it's shelved indefinitely, but our career-spanning look at the American independent stalwart continues. Known for their lived-in detail, complex female leads and incisive social commentary, Reichardt titles like "Wendy and Lucy" (2008), "Meek's Cutoff" (2010) and "Night Moves" (2013) examine the age-old cracks in the Pacific Northwest's rebellious mythology. Of course, the guys also discuss what they've been watching in this time of social distancing, and Chance shares a telling bit from his recent interview with Reichardt. 

Who do you become when no one can see you? Today’s Be Reel category doesn’t take a rosy view of how already powerful dudes would use the power of invisibility. In light of the new "Invisible Man" film starring Elisabeth Moss and directed by Leigh Whannell, we rope in and review an additional trio of invisible pictures, including "The Invisible Man" (1933), "Memoirs of an Invisible Man" (1992) and "Hollow Man" (2000). Timestamps below! 0:00 -- The Invisible Man (2020) Spoiler-Free 16:00 -- Spoilers for The Invisible Man (2020) 26:00 -- James Whale's The Invisible Man (1933) 40:15 -- John Carpenter's Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992) 54:10 -- Paul Verhoeven's Hollow Man (2000)

"The Invisible Man" may only be his third directorial effort, but Leigh Whannell has been terrorizing audiences for years. From "Saw," to "Dead Silence," to the "Insidious" franchise, Whannell (and his frequent collaborator James Wan) is one of the masterminds behind some of the 21st Century's most iconic and effective scares. His latest film reinvents the classic Universal monster for a modern audience through a chilling tale of a woman (Elizabeth Moss) who believes she is being stalked by her supposedly deceased abusive partner. While the writer/director evoked fear through his timely analogy of the gaslighting ghouls of today, he also looked to the past to draw from a lost genre. The rise of big-budget superhero blockbusters over the past two decades has minimized the frequency of mid-budget genre films. Outside of the "John Wick" franchise, you'll only really find them under the Blumhouse banner. Whannell's second feature, "Upgrade" (a Blumhouse production), showcased his reverence for the bygone era as it harkened back to the John Carpenter sci-fi action body horror films of the 80s and 90s. With "The Invisible Man," Whannell once again returns to the mid-budget well to revitalize 90s adult thrillers featuring A-List talent. Outside of David Fincher, not many filmmakers are successfully recapturing the magic of those mid-budget genre pieces. Perhaps this is why Whannell's latest was not only inspired by Fincher's work but why Fincher himself is somewhat of an aspirational figure to Whannell. Aside from the works and people that inspired "The Invisible Man," Whannell discussed the state of horror, weaponizing an audience's cinematic knowledge, his collaborations with Jason Blum and James Wan, his favorite LA sushi hotspot and much more. "The Invisible Man" is now playing in theaters everywhere.

With the restoration and re-release of Elem Klimov's underappreciated war epic "Come and See," Chance and Noah steel themselves to revisit the film's famously immersive, brutal, even dangerous portrayal of the WWII Eastern Front. (A child actor's hair literally turned white, folks.) Listen as we dive back into the Russian film’s production history, myth, canonization, and assess the lines between majesty and gratuitousness. The 2k restoration from Janus Films opens this month in New York City.

We lost an icon earlier this month with the passing of Kirk Douglas at the age of 103. But what made him such an era-defining star in classics like "Spartacus"? That indomitable chin? That triangle torso? No, there’s something deeper and cannier to how the heartthrob-turned-super-producer cemented his own role as a prophet in the mid-century American movie religion. This week, Be Reel looks back at five movies that defined Douglas' career: “Ace in the Hole” (1951), “The Bad and the Beautiful” (1952), “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” (1954), “Paths of Glory” (1957) and “Spartacus” (1960).

Whether their torment is played for laughs, cold shivers, or #MeToo rage, assistants get a raw deal on screen. This week, as Kitty Green’s incisive new drama “The Assistant” rolls out around the country, Chance and Noah look at the role of assistants in cinema and real life, also revisiting “The Devil Wears Prada” (2006) and “Secretary” (2002). They're thrilled to be joined by Daily Beast writer Cassie Da Costa to discuss her essay on "The Assistant" and recount her own experiences with a troubling film industry internship.

Fans of Indie Beat, rejoice... we have returned. On this episode we spoke to filmmaker Alexander Jorgensen. Jorgensen, originally hailing from Canada, has made a number of films since planting himself in the US of A. He started off focusing most of his time exploring various visual ideas via indie music videos while also paying the bills by picking up random cinematography or post-production gigs here and there. But personal things were brewing. He mounted number of short films -- he worked twice with San Francisco actor Geo Epsilanty, once for an engrossing portrait-doc titled "Self-Diagnosis" and followed that with the somber absent-father narrative "Only Blood" -- and also completed the comedic genre piece "Reasons to Kill" about a hitman interviewing potential clients. But it was his documentary "Uncomfortable Truths" that really crept in and took hold of Jorgensen's mind. This short film followed a few of the personalities who hang around Ground Zero in New York City, spreading the gospel that the World Trade Center attacks on September 11th were, in fact, an inside job. It's a really charged, energetic film, focusing on people that, let's be honest, most of us tend to walk quickly away from. Jorgensen lets his subjects do the speaking for themselves, often letting the camera linger as they use their best arguments to convince passers-by about the many mysteries surrounding Building 7. The movie climaxes showing the repetitive, cyclical nature of their work -- a masterful stroke with two potential takeaways. Is Jorgensen asking if they are just continually beating the same dead horse to no avail, or is he showing how dedicated people can be when they have such passion for a political project, regardless of what that activist subject is? This short received a great response and, seeing as the same people were out there nearly every weekend of the year, Jorgensen went back and continued to shoot. He also expanded the idea, incorporating television news footage and also interviewing one of the directors of your stoner college roommate's favorite movie next to "Waking Life," "Loose Change." The resulting feature documentary, "Truther Or: I Am Not A Conspiracy Theorist," is an engaging portrait of the various facets of the truther movement, showcasing the community they've made for one another and even displaying the fractions amongst the movement. Their may be one or two fights or minced words: you'll just have to see for yourself! The film can be streamed now on both Vimeo and Amazon Prime. We had Jorgensen on the pod to talk about this new film and also his time spent staying up late in haunted houses for work, documentaries in the streaming age, and much more!