Two Reel Cinema Club

A Real Pain vs Journey to Italy: A Painful Journey

Come with us on a couple of trips to Europe this week at the Two Reel Cinema Club, as we join Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin on a tour of Poland in the new Oscar nominated comedy drama A Real Pain, and then catch up with Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders in Roberto Rossellini’s 1954 masterpiece, Journey to Italy. These two films both explore deep themes, encompassing death, art, love, poetry and bickering, and the parallels between them are myriad. But which one features a villa where we would gladly spend a few years? Which one keeps frustrating us with missed opportunities? Which one is stunningly beautiful? And which one left us asking ‘what’s changed’?
Plus we place a call to Interpol on behalf of the Cliche Squad, wonder what is the best thing to do if driving while sleepy, try travelling without moving thanks to our chemically inspired sponsor, get stranded on an island with a reclusive Japanese soldier, learn something about one of the UK’s biggest exports, start an adaptation of the greatest book of all time, taste a DIY menthol cigarette, and contemplate taking off all our clothes the next time we watch a film completely alone in the theatre…
If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media:
Instagram: @tworeelcinemaclub
Contact us at tworeelcinemaclub@gmail.com
Or come to our website, where we’ll be writing about the movies we cover in the show and a few more things besides: https://tworeelcinemaclub.com

Popcorn Counter: Pop Stars Movie Quiz

Welcome to our quarterly celebration of dead air and reflective silence: it’s the TRCC Popcorn Counter Quiz! This time around, we have thirty films released between 1957 and 2024, all starring pop stars. Can you guess the title and the star from the clues? Who is mostly made of oil and lotion? Who was the inventor of off-white paint? And when did Jennifer Connolly star in an episode of Fraggle Rock? 
If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media:
Instagram: @tworeelcinemaclub
Contact us at tworeelcinemaclub@gmail.com
Or come to our website, where we’ll be writing about the movies we cover in the show and a few more things besides: https://tworeelcinemaclub.com

A Complete Unknown vs Don't Look Back: An Incomplete Look Back

The mystique of Bob Dylan wafts through the Two Reel Cinema Club this week, as we watch the thoroughly enjoyable new biopic A Complete Unknown, and compare it to the actual Bob Dylan as he appears in the 1967 rock documentary Don’t Look Back. Two portraits of the Nobel Prize winning bard of the 20th century, but which reveals more of the real man? Which film features the most cigarettes? Which film reminds us of a teenage party? Which film really sings when the songs start? And which film stars the machine that kills fascists?
Plus Ralph Fiennes dressed as a priest, a Danish film about a girl with a needle, a new app that turns friends into money, a classic courtroom drama, a Guns N' Roses B side, and an appearance by the poster that inspired a ten year old. The times, they are a changin’….
If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media:
Instagram: @tworeelcinemaclub
Contact us at tworeelcinemaclub@gmail.com
Or come to our website, where we’ll be writing about the movies we cover in the show and a few more things besides: https://tworeelcinemaclub.com

Popcorn Counter: Film of the Year 2024

It’s that time again, our annual favourite episode, the Two Reel Cinema Club Film of the Year Show. Seven categories, including best film, best actor, best script, biggest clunker, and weirdest moment of the year. As usual, we’ve kept our nominations secret from each other, so expect some dramatic revelations, some laughter, some tears and some last minute negotiations. Who will win, who will lose, who will have a meltdown and who will climb onto the lighting gantry, spread their arms wide and shout out, ‘I’m the King of the World!’?
Featuring Jeffrey Wright, Mikey Madison, Joaquim Phoenix, Demi Moore, Lee Pace, Sebastian Stan,  Martin Amis, Anya Taylor-Joy, an animated dog and an animated cat…
If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media:
Instagram: @tworeelcinemaclub
Contact us at tworeelcinemaclub@gmail.com
Or come to our website, where we’ll be writing about the movies we cover in the show and a few more things besides: https://tworeelcinemaclub.com

Hundreds of Beavers vs Beaverland: About Sixty Beavers

It’s yet another episode about four legged mammals this week, as we watch the riotous black and white physical comedy indie hit Hundreds of Beavers and compare it with the clever, witty and mind bending 2014 Chilean documentary Beaverland. These films offer two very different views of the industrious, furry dam-builders, while at the same time telling very similar stories. But which one had us asking, ‘Is this real?’ Which one surprised us with a connection to sex work? Which one made us genuinely laugh out loud? And which one has the most to say about humanity’s stewardship of the natural world?
Plus we celebrate the word ‘cartoonery’, we ponder the difference between Leonardo da Vinci and Leonardo DiCaprio, we buy a piece of heavy duty gardening equipment, we attend a Christmas party with some long haired German guys, we watch Paul Schrader’s anthemic new Canadian misfire, we wonder if Christopher Nolan can write, and we ask: if he doesn’t have a surname, how does Homer’s agent know where to send the royalty cheques?
If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media:
Instagram: @tworeelcinemaclub
Contact us at tworeelcinemaclub@gmail.com
Or come to our website, where we’ll be writing about the movies we cover in the show and a few more things besides: https://tworeelcinemaclub.com

Popcorn Counter: Censorship

There’s a shocking and perplexing development at the Popcorn Counter this week, as we tell the tale of how Google recently censored and deleted one of our podcasts. What was the objectionable material? Racism? Sexism? Incitement to violence? Or… a Sanskrit quotation from Oppenheimer? We discuss the history of censorship in the UK, the curious rules of film classification in the US, and the terrifying dangers to society presented by nipples. What does the future hold for film censorship? And what will Google have to say about our next podcast?
If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media:
Instagram: @tworeelcinemaclub
Contact us at tworeelcinemaclub@gmail.com
Or come to our website, where we’ll be writing about the movies we cover in the show and a few more things besides: https://tworeelcinemaclub.com

Anora vs Belle de Jour: Belle Anora

It’s our annual Christmas episode at the Two Reel Cinema Club, and in keeping with the festive season, this year we’re watching two films about sex workers. Wait, what? Join us as we talk about the new, Sean Baker-directed, heavily award-tipped drama Anora, and compare it to the dream-like 1967 Luis Buñuel classic Belle de Jour. Two different takes on sex work, more than fifty years apart - but how much has really changed? Which film could be renamed Vapes and 808s? Which film reminded us of Where’s Waldo? And which film left us asking: what’s in the box?
Plus a revisit of a 20 year old Ryan Reynolds comedy, a genius idea for an ATM business, a serious question about the BBFC, a Christmas spent with Bruce Willis, a new subscription service from our subscription-mad sponsors, and even more butts than the Substance. Happy Holidays!
If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media:
Instagram: @tworeelcinemaclub
Contact us at tworeelcinemaclub@gmail.com
Or come to our website, where we’ll be writing about the movies we cover in the show and a few more things besides: https://tworeelcinemaclub.com

Popcorn Counter: An Inconvenient Anecdote

Did we ever tell you about the time we met Al Gore? Join us at the Popcorn Counter to hear how we encountered the man who was almost the President of the United States, and what it had to do with the film industry. Plus, once we’re on the subject of An Inconvenient Truth, we ask why there aren’t more environmental films, given the size of the problem. Movies mentioned include Silent Running, The China Syndrome, Oppenheimer, The Cove, Darwin’s Nightmare, Virunga, My Octopus Teacher, Koyaanisqatsi and more. Should we eat creatures that can solve crosswords better than us? What happens when humans abandon land? And why do we want to go to Mars when we have a perfectly good planet to mess up right here?
If you enjoyed the show, find us on social media:
Instagram: @tworeelcinemaclub
Contact us at tworeelcinemaclub@gmail.com
Or come to our website, where we’ll be writing about the movies we cover in the show and a few more things besides: https://tworeelcinemaclub.com