One Foot In Toon Town

In the late ’80s and throughout the 1990s, Hollywood conceived a new wave of animation, cross-branding and films for children. They looked half-animated and half-live action, with entries like “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”, “Space Jam” and “The Pagemaster.” On this week’s episode, Noah and Chance revisit that trio and that era in filmmaking to assess […]

Fight Crime Through Time

For as long as humanity has dreamt of traveling through time, it’s also dreamt of time manipulation as a means of preventing terrorism, apprehending warlords in future dystopias and stopping your younger self from killing your older self. But don’t take our word for it! This week, we watched a trio of “Fight Crime Through […]

Reeled In: “Room”

Spurred forth by Brie Larson’s Oscar victory, Noah and Chance watched “Room” for this mini-episode. Worthy of both tears and cringes as it was, a debate ensued about whether adaptational problems from Emma Donoghue’s 2010 novel are severe enough to derail this emotional study of trauma-sick mother and son.

Coen Kidnappings

On this week’s episode, Noah and Chance review the Coen Brothers’ three kidnapping films, 1987’s Raising Arizona, 1996’s Fargo and 2016’s Hail, Caesar!  Circumstances Have Changed, Jerry: Kidnapping With the Coen Brothers As a handsomely ratty Nicolas Cage dreams his exiting Raising Arizona monologue, his character, H.I. McDunnough, has a cautiously blissful vision of the future. On the sleeve, it’s full […]

Does That Make Me Crazy?

On this week’s episode, Chance and Noah tell you about everything but their childhoods. But a little personal disclosure is appropriate as they discuss three movies about therapists and their patients. Plus, Chance invites a counseling graduate student (to whom he’s also a live-in boyfriend) onto the show to talk about the accuracy and responsibility-of-representation sides of “A Dangerous […]

To Periscope Depth

On this week’s episode, Noah and Chance dive below the surface and into the high stakes, misunderstanding-wrought world of submarine movies. With a little help from retired navy man and sub expert John Clear, they take on the undeniable plot of “The Hunt for Red October” (1990), the bad movie genetics of “Below” (2002) and […]

Reeled In: “The Revenant”

Because they mostly like their suffering beautiful, Noah and Chance review “The Revenant” in this mini-episode. There’s talk of Emmanuel Lubezki’s gorgeous catastrophes, disagreements over whether Leo’s performance is interesting and comparisons to Alejandro Iñárritu’s previous outing. Plus, a friend of the program hops on for a segment we’re calling “The Kozal Proposal.”

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Movie Reviews & Reappraisals

Be Reel was a movie reviewing & reappraising podcast hosted by Chance Solem-Pfeifer and Noah Ballard.

We cherished our 8-year run, talking to filmmakers like Gus Van Sant, insulting each other’s taste, and laughing to high heaven.

Chance’s new movie podcast, The Kickcontinues to explore curated sub-genres and movie geekery. Noah is a frequent and beloved guest.

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One Last Attempt At Family (Or “The Hangover Pod”)