The Top 100 Project

Whether you call it the Scottish play or whether you just call it Macbeth (because you don't worry about silliness like believing saying words is bad luck), this notorious Shakespeare work has been turned into a movie many different times. Outside of the Joel Coen version last year, nobody ever did it as well as and certainly not any better than Japanese master Akira Kurosawa did in Throne Of Blood. Big, bold Toshiro Mifune is the samurai warrior who doesn't handle it very well when he gets to be in man in power while his lady (Isuzu Yamada) schemes, manipulates and then just can't get that spot out. From the incredible set design to the deliberately contrasting styles of acting to the inevitable tragedy of the foretold ending, Throne Of Blood is the kind of production that sucks you in while also never letting you relax. So speak in ghostly metaphors while prophesizing someone's future as the Ellises' Analysis chats at you for the 466th time.   An order (or many orders) of Sparkplug Coffee is a fine accompan

Bonus episode! On this Veteran's Day (or Remembrance Day, if you're a fellow Canadian), Ryan offers up another unexpected vocal essay, this time about a marine who's killed during a hazing that goes terribly wrong. Everybody in Rob Reiner's cast---led by an enthusiastic and charismatic Tom Cruise---is good or at least solid in this film, but A Few Good Men belongs to Jack Nicholson. His uber-famous "you can't handle the truth" monologue has a lot more going for it than just being a classic movie rant. The point of this episode is to dig deeper into that speech and to look past his reputation as a great villain to see the shades of grey in not only him, but in the two young men he ordered to "train" a substandard marine. So don't let a jarhead give you a Code Red. Just be crystal clear about my orders and download this one-man show about A Few Good Men. Oh, and to share your thoughts about this or any other podcast we've ever done, tweet me or Bev while that's still an option (@moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis)

It's one thing to be an underdog who isn't expected to win when running for political office, but what if your increasingly-bland message wins over more people than your idealistic views ever did? Well, if you're Robert Redford, Michael Ritchie and Oscar-winning screenwriter Jeremy Larner, you make a sly comedy about it.  The Candidate pokes clever fun at the California senatorial race back when satire wasn't as common a genre as it is now. It also identifies the political parties by name, brings up hot-button issues that are somehow STILL hot-button issues today and then even makes you wonder if you should actually be rooting for Redford's character to win. Yup, The Candidate is a perhaps-forgotten gem that's very worthy of a rediscovering. So on the day before America votes legitimately for perhaps the last time, go the better way and stuff 40 minutes of the surprisingly-calm 465th Ellises' Analysis into your life. As for what do we drink now, that should be Sparkplug Coffee. They dole out 20% discounts to

This is the rare time we've ever posted an episode on Halloween, so to put an appropriately freaky bow on Scary Movie Month, we've chosen to discuss a film that's always frightened at least one of us. David Lynch has been the master of unsettling horror (BOB!) amidst everyday settings since his career kicked off 45 years ago. That talent might be epitomized in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. This eerie prequel to the ground-breaking TV series certainly can make a person's skin crawl. Sheryl Lee is almost operatic, but she's also extraordinary playing one of Lynch's many tragic blondes. The psychotic break Laura Palmer suffers became a running theme in so much of Lynch's work and Lee nails it just as effectively as Watts or Dern or Pullman did. Okay, maybe not quite as good as Watts. The original Twin Peaks series and the 2017 follow-up miniseries came up a lot during this episode, so be prepared to hear about TV almost as much as film. Indisputably, this brand has staying power with its diehard fans and you'll

Bonus episode! In addition to the 4 horror pictures that we chose to discuss during Scary Movie Month, Ryan got inspired to sit down alone and produce more October talky time by looking back at Halloween the day before Halloween. Which version of Halloween though? Inquire within! Most of the entries in this 13-picture series came up at one point or another, so this 22-minuter is an in-the-know look at what Michael Myers and Laurie Strode have been up to for a good chunk of the past 44 years. So to gear up for the spookiest day of the year, check out this one-man show that takes you to Haddonfield and talks about the un-speaking, mask-wearing, teenager-stalking, knife-brandisher who likes to end people's lives on a night intended for candy-begging.   You can tweet Ryan (and Bev, for that matter): @moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis. Email is also a communications option: top100projectpodcast@gmail.com. And come back to this channel on Halloween itself to hear the Ellises analyze Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.

Step up, step up to hear our chat about a movie that focuses on the, let's say, more unusual circus performers...although Freaks isn't actually about the show the public gets to see. In fact, Tod Browning's revenge story focuses almost entirely on the humdrum lives (and sometimes maniacal actions) of the sideshow characters in this traveling caravan. Just don't cross one of these so-called freaks because if you mess with one, you mess with all of them. The title characters have layers though and there's not a lot of black and white in this film, even though it's literally a black-and-white film. So learn to accept that you're one of us (one of us!) as the 463rd Ellises' Analysis yammers in your ear about the 90-year-old Freaks. Just don't let anyone spike your cup of coffee with anything that'll harm you... and make that unspiked beverage Sparkplug Coffee. Do you like 20% discounts? You'll get one if you use our promo code ("top100project") at checkout. Also, tweet us (@moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis), email

Deadites and Kandarian demons, we're back after a week off with a PG-rated talk about the extremely R-rated Evil Dead II. Director Sam Raimi, star Bruce Campbell & their friends were able to pull off a monumental blend of comedy and horror in this landmark sequel. Actually, the laughs outnumber the shrieks. The gore-soaked set pieces and the creativity of the low-budget effects get an A+, but the narrative and some of the performances aren't as excellent. Campbell though, that B-movie legend, has boatloads of charisma and his go-for-broke director was good enough at his craft to go on to become a respected maker of blockbusters. So fire up your chainsaw hand, grab your boomstick and kindly make your easily-swallowed soul available for a possession as the 462nd Ellises' Analysis picks apart the groovy goods & the bloody bads of Evil Dead II. Also, when you're covered in stage blood, the only soothing option is to drink Sparkplug Coffee. Use our promo code ("top100project") and get a 20% discount. And j

We begin our 7th Scary Movie Month with this 461st Ellises' Analysis. Poltergeist is a slow-burn horror show with an insane finale as Tobe Hooper and Steven Spielberg throw a bunch of angry ghosts at the loving Freeling family. The movie also has a sense of humour to balance out at least some of the trauma these little children go through. Full marks to the cast. Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, the novice actors playing their kids and the adults playing the bizarro ghost chasers all keep it real amidst all the pandemonium. We also talked about this movie's supposed curse, about who really directed it and about whether or not it's actually scary to 2 middle-aged podcasters. So don't dig a pool in the back yard if there are vengeful dead people down there, but DO toss your television out into the hall and then GO INTO THE LIGHT (of your cell phone) as we hash out Poltergeist. As for a good way to keep you up at night, so you can battle the spectral kidnappers hiding in your electronics, order Sparkplug Coffee

Lady Bird was a perfect way for Greta Gerwig to start her directing career. She got to make a movie based on her own life, set in her home city of Sacramento, with a young woman in the lead role, which succeeded at the box office and was beloved by critics. Mic drop. A huge plus is that Gerwig's caustically funny flick has an atypical ending to a coming-of-age story, contrast to the easy answers these kinds of movies tend to serve up. Saoirse Ronan is tremendous (this is nothing new) as the prickly, Sacramento-hating high-schooler who renamed herself to the dismay of her ultra-passive-aggressive mother. Laurie Metcalf is great as that mother, as is Tracy Letts as Ronan's father. Really, the whole cast in Lady Bird is something else. So don't dive out of a moving vehicle to win a car-gument, but come to understand that sometimes love hurts as we bring you the 460th Ellises' Analysis. By the way, leaving home to go to college is not an easy transition, but it IS easy to buy Sparkplug Coffee wherever that Canadi

We haven't covered a Paul Thomas Anderson movie in over 6 years, so it's high time we found out what's up in his funny opus about a makeshift family doing drugs and shooting porn. Burt Reynolds is fantastic and he's so likable in Boogie Nights, but it was Mark Wahlberg who said to Hollywood "hello, I'm a big, bright shining star" after this ode to the '70s burst onto the scene. The entire cast is marvelous and almost all of them (Moore, Cheadle, Reilly, Walters, Hoffman, Graham, etc) play their characters like innocent children. Everything is changing around them, although they themselves don't really change. Yes, it's yet another film about a glorious rise and a brutal fall, but PTA's script and direction find ways to make the story fun (for a while anyway) as he classily films this seedy subject. So don't be a certain kind of idiot (an idiot, an idiot, an idiot...) as the 459th Ellises' Analysis peels back many layers of the one about a delusional family that just happens to make adult films. You can probab

Spike Lee has spent most of his long career directing movies about racial strife, but 25th Hour isn't really about that. The terrorist attack on 9/11 wasn't even a year old when they were making this movie, so Lee instead chose to lace those complicated feelings throughout what is otherwise a quiet character study about one man's last day of freedom. Edward Norton is strong (as he always is) in the leading role as an intelligent drug dealer who made bad decisions and has to face the consequences, but the supporting cast is excellent too. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rosario Dawson, Brian Cox and Anna Paquin all shine. It's Barry Pepper though who gets to play the character with the most layers. And the heartbreaking ending that evokes a certain 1980s Jesus movie is what makes 25th Hour so memorable. So know that it's all right (even if it probably isn't going to be all right) as the 458th Ellises' Analysis worries about a future in prison while enjoying one last day. To stay awake for 24 hours, guzzle a few mugs o

Fittingly for Labour Day, we're talking about eating the rich and helping out the poor. Even with his butler job in My Man Godfrey though, the suave William Powell isn't exactly Johnny Lunchbox. He gets to wear a tuxedo and work in the ritzy house of a wealthy family of zany idiots. It could be worse. We were overdue to cover a Carole Lombard film, although her committed comic performance is a bit marred by the way they wrote her to be so whiny and annoying. It also doesn't help that she's jamming love down Powell's throat as Gregory La Cava's picture is presenting a romance that's hard to root for. Even if we let the workplace sexual harassment slide, there's that bizarre ending. Nevertheless, it's certainly better than some of the movies from this era that the AFI put on their various lists. So don't sock the 457th Ellises' Analysis for wanting a "protege" and if you must be phony, at least be a good guy as we serve you a podcast about My Man Godfrey on a silver platter. And if you don't like a bunch of pre

Before you pop the 456th Ellises' Analysis into your ears, we offer a trigger warning if you still root for a certain Floridian man-child. His name was often besmirched and we didn't pull too many punches in comparing him to the way Queen Anne is portrayed in The Favourite. Olivia Colman is dynamite (and won a surprise Oscar) playing the whiny royal in Yorgos Lanthimos' sex-filled-yet-unsexy dark comedy. By the Greek auteur's standards, this is an accessible film, but it's probably still off-putting to a lot of people. It's also women-centric and the men barely matter, so THAT may be off-putting to a lot of people. Basically, if you don't like a movie (or your humble podcasters) getting political in off-putting ways, maybe just skip this one. But, whatever your choice, don't be an unqualified badger who toys with the likes of Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone. Instead, be careful what you wish for...although you don't have to just WISH for Sparkplug Coffee. You can buy as much as you like and you'll get a 20% disco

While we probably wouldn't be thrilled if the characters played by Brooklynn Prince and Bria Vinaite in The Florida Project were our next-door neighbours, we absolutely loved watching them in this film. In this and in Tangerine, director Sean Baker has shown he really knows how to make an authentic and enjoyable movie with inexperienced actors. Here they're desperate people in impossible circumstances, but they're also making the most of a tough life. Who needs Disney World when they're this good at making their own fun! All the rookie actors are wonderful, but Willem Dafoe stands out too in one of his sweetest roles, a hotel manager who really cares about the little people who need a little help sometimes. So give us a break, lady, as the 455th Ellises' Analysis talks about Baker's modern-day version of the Little Rascals. If you care to score a 20% discount on Sparkplug Coffee, use our promo code at check-out ("top100project"). Also, shoot us some tweets (@moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis), email us (top100p

Adrian Lyne directed plenty of sex thrillers in his career, but none of them were quite the zeitgeisty blockbuster that Fatal Attraction was. Glenn Close's legendary performance as a disturbed woman who falls hard for Michael Douglas' unfaithful man remains one of the most fascinating things she's ever done. Her movie annoyed feminists though, especially when Close (against the actress' will) did things you can't really excuse. We didn't love the action-packed ending, but the original conclusion wasn't satisfying either. The best thing Lyne and writer James Dearden do in this film though is give the 2 leads plenty of dimensions and motivations throughout the story. You can pick sides, but it's difficult to see either of them as a true villain. Well, until maybe the last 30 minutes. So leave a little girl's beloved pet in the yard where it belongs, live up to your responsibilities and don't ignore the 454th Ellises' Analysis. Also, listening to a woman lecture you on tape would be an easier task if you have Sp

In Far From Heaven, Todd Haynes pays loving homage to sumptuous 1950's Douglas Sirk melodramas. This movie is actually more ambitious than anything Sirk ever did though. Haynes tackles multiple controversies in his "Issues Film", including closeted homosexuality and romance between a black man & a white woman. The actors---especially Julianne Moore---are excellent. Moore, Dennis Quaid and Dennis Haysbert play it very close to the chest and they make their director's deliberately phony-sounding dialogue come across as true and accurate. These characters have three-dimensions and many shades of grey and they all get hurt by the way society was back then...and in some ways still is. Incidentally, we neglected to mention that Haynes himself is gay. We also skated over the horrible act of conversion therapy, which no one should have ever had to go through. And we didn't make the connection that Moore played ANOTHER desperately suppressed '50s housewife in her other 2002 Oscar nomination (The Hours). So don't a

Unlike many of the immature '80s teen comedies that were obsessed with sex, the star-making Fast Times At Ridgemont High stands out for not treating it like a leering joke. Amy Heckerling's first film actually cares about the young women in the huge cast, especially Jennifer Jason Leigh. Sean Penn is uncharacteristically hilarious in one of his characteristically Method roles, but this movie belongs to JJL. She gets to be funny sometimes the way Penn and Judge Reinhold do, sure, but her story gets into dark territory like unwanted pregnancy and abortion. Heckerling and Cameron Crowe (this was his first screenplay) do a masterful job of balancing that kind of serious material with a steady string of laughs. Anyway, you don't have to scalp tickets to listen to the 452nd Ellises' Analysis, especially if you're a cool guy who's intimidated by the intense football player. Just be somebody's baaaay-by tonight. And if you want to sip some coffee while learning about Cuba and having some food, then you should become

Some movies stand out for being great, some stand out for being terrible and some stand out for how juicy the behind-the-scenes stories are. There's always been more gossip about the behaviour of What Ever Happened To Baby Jane co-stars Bette Davis and Joan Crawford than there's been talk about the movie itself. And art imitated life because the actresses playing the sisters in Robert Aldrich's thriller had a mutual hate affair. Crawford has the subdued role as the paraplegic former movie star while Davis gets to eat every little bit of that lovely scenery as the alcoholic former child star. They're tremendous. It's a long movie though, considering their conflict is pretty much the entire reason this film exists. We also didn't think the twist holds up. Still, you can't beat juicy and Baby Jane is that, as is the gossipy jabber in the 451st Ellises' Analysis. So guzzle down some Sparkplug Coffee while you hear us talk about Jane guzzling her booze. You'll get a 20% discount on your next order of Sparkplug (no

Bradley Cooper started his journey to become one of the most-versatile and most-respected actors of his generation when he starred in Silver Linings Playbook. In so many movies since then (and several films before then, really), he's been far better than a 5/10. Writer/director David O. Russell expertly mixes romance & comedy with serious issues like mental illness & irrational rage. Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence (who took home an Oscar), Robert De Niro and the rest of the eclectic cast are very up to the challenge. All of their reactions when they make the parlay after the goofy dance is reason enough to love this movie. So strap on your garbage bag and go for a little run with the kooky love of your life, then sit down with your extended family to enjoy some homemades as you all listen to the 450th Ellises' Analysis together. But, my cherie amour, if you dig on the java, you should also go to Sparkplug Coffee's website and apply our promo code ("top100project") at check-out. That will get you a one-time

There might not be a better accomplishment than to make a movie that has cynics like us want to stand up and chant "USA, USA!" Wolfgang Petersen's Air Force One does just that. Harrison Ford's dogged toughness and his humanity as perhaps the most-popular president in film history is the key here, but the rest of the large cast (especially Gary Oldman as a Russian terrorist) is pretty great too. There are also surprisingly timely echoes of many recent real-life events. In fact, here's a warning for those who don't want to hear us rip on a certain golf-obsessed Floridian: skip ahead a few minutes at the 13-minute mark. But this movie doesn't even need any of these shreds of verisimilitude. It's just a wonderfully entertaining thriller that makes you want to go back to the beginning and watch it again! We also opened up the comment bag at the end of this 449th Ellises' Analysis, which brought about a pretty big announcement. So while a dozen different terrible things are happening in the country that celebrates