Have You Ever Seen Ryan Ellis & Bev Ellis

We post our last episode in June (#597 overall) and wrap up this month of joyful movies by yapping about the hilariously quotable This Is Spinal Tap. Director and co-writer Rob Reiner and the Guest/McKean/Shearer trio lead a team of funny people through 82 minutes of improv, providing us with so many classic lines. This is the greatest mockumentary of all time, a genre that Guest made his bread and butter as a director in the decades that followed. Still, while Tap's high points are gut-busters, there are more not-so-funny sequences than you might remember. This does bog down in the middle. Nevertheless, we laughed hard at the best parts. So smell a glove or two, dance around a tiny monument and be lukewarm water as you crank it to 11 while the Ellises offer you some grins in our chat about This Is Spinal Tap.
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Talk to us. We spend some time on Twi-X (@moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis), Bev uses that same @ on Threads and our email address is "haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com". Rate and review us in your podcast app (subscribe too) and do all that, but also comment and like us on YouTube (@hyesellis).

American Fiction is more of a dramedy or a clever satire than a true comedy, but few movies in recent years have been funnier than this is. Writer/director Cord Jefferson crafted a remarkable film, even though he balances maybe a few too many plots in his big-screen debut (racial strife, white guilt, difficult family issues, money troubles, inability to connect with people). The actors are always terrific in American Fiction though. Jeffrey Wright is especially wonderful in the leading role and he has chemistry with the entire cast, particularly with Tracee Ellis Ross. We really like this laugh-generator filled with secrets and lies, so take just a few days to write an entire book called "My Pafology" (then later call it...something else) and then settle in with the 596th edition of Have You Ever Seen.
You can get Sparkplug Coffee sent to your Boston-area beach house...or to any part of the U.S. and Canada. Use our "HYES" promo code and get a onetime 20% discount. Go to "sparkplug.coffee/hyes".
Let us know what you think by emailing us (haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com) or with a hello on Twi-X (@moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis). We also post all our shows on YouTube (@hyesellis in your browser), where you can comment, like and subscribe. Rate and review our podcast on your app as well.

Everybody cut (everybody cut) in the 1984 version of Footloose. The story takes us to a repressed middle-American town where dancing is outlawed until Kevin Bacon rages against that particular machine. He's the city slicker with fast feet who pushes back on John Lithgow's religious father figureness. They both do very good work here and so does the rebellious Lori Singer, but Chris(topher) Penn steals the entire film, especially when the brawny farmer learns the joy of dancing. Herbert Ross' movie also has an excellent soundtrack to help him balance the light side with the serious side. And since it's Ross, Footloose is even a musical of sorts. So don't angry dance at your workplace. Instead put our 595th episode into your '80s-era headphones and release the iron grip you have on your small town so the kids can just enjoy the prom.
Well, Actually: the mill is out of Bomont's jurisdiction because it's across COUNTY lines, not state lines. Also, the kids being terrorized by the brick through the window are Ren's cousins, not his nieces.
Sparkplug Coffee continues to sponsor Have You Ever Seen. Use our "HYES" promo code to snag a 20% discount off your next order. The website is "sparkplug.coffee/hyes".
Let's hear from you. We're @moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis on Twi-X and Bev uses that same @ on Threads. Our email address is "haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com". And we put all our shows up on YouTube. The destination in your browser is @hyesellis...or look up "Have You Ever Seen" YouTube's search bar. Comment, like, subscribe. Do that and also rate & review our eps on your podcast app too.

There were a few keystone movies about Generation X that came out around 30 years ago, but Reality Bites is one of the red-letter titles. Ben Stiller was making his directorial debut and he also plays the third part of a love triangle with Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke. Ryder was at her peak in this time frame while Hawke---who was at least doing something different than he had been doing up until then---is insufferable. Not that Winona's character isn't often a putz in Reality Bites too. What these college grads would call selling out is what mature people learn to call being able to compromise. Anyway, the soundtrack is phenomenal and both Ryder & Janene Garofalo are really good in Stiller's dated rom-com. So do what people don't do so much anymore and light up a lot of cigarettes as these unremarkable people get up In Your Face in the 594th episode of Have You Ever Seen.
If you're going to smoke, you might as well drink coffee too. And we have a sponsor that sells such things: Sparkplug Coffee. Our "HYES" promo code will save you 20% off your next order. Go to "sparkplug.coffee/hyes".
Feedback is our friend. Fire off some posts to us on Twi-X (@moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis). Contact Bev on Threads (@bevellisellis). Email us (haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com). And since we post all of our shows on YouTube (@hyesellis in your browser), you can comment, like and subscribe on that site. Also, rate and review us in your podcast app.

Bogie and Bacall's first movie together was directed by Howard Hawks and was based on a book by Ernest Hemingway, so that's some serious cache. Of course, Hawks barely used anything from his friend's To Have And Have Not novel other than the title, even though the screenplay is filled with snappy lines. This is "Casablanca In The Caribbean" and it's set during the early days of World War II, but all of that is a backdrop for Bacall's star-making performance...which was also her debut. She and Bogart were married for real not too long after filming was finished, building on the sexual and romantic chemistry they have in the film. While To Have And Have Not is far from perfect, it has more than just "Steve" and "Slim", even though it doesn't need much more than them. So put your lips together and light up a cigarette (and also blow) as Ryan rides solo in this 593rd episode.
Sparkplug Coffee can't be bought by people who live in Martinique, but Canadians and Americans can nab a 20% discount (onetime only) by using our "HYES" promo code. The website you should go to is "sparkplug.coffee/hyes".
Say hi to us on Twi-X (@moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis) or to Bev on Threads (also @bevellisellis). Email is an option too (haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com). Rate and review our podcast in your app, but also find us on YouTube (@hyesellis). Comment, like and also subscribe.

Memorial Day is a good time to talk about a war movie, even if the intense Edge Of Tomorrow is almost as witty as it is heart-pounding. The one that's better known as "Live Die Repeat" has a Groundhog Day-esque hook as military hype man Tom Cruise restarts a day every time he dies. Emily Blunt is in "keep up with me" badass mode while Cruise uncharacteristically plays a coward who doesn't have all the answers, but eventually learns (most of) them. Director Doug Liman has built an excellent resume these past 3 decades and he's just about at his best guiding the Edge Of Tomorrow cast and crew through their "let's do it again" paces. Our 592nd episode is ready to airdrop onto the beach to take on the vicious aliens who are determined to take over the planet, so pop your buds into your ears and celebrate the holiday hearing us yap about how the Mimics and the humans of Earth fight in France...over and over again.
Well, Actually: the UDF is the "United Defense Force". Also, for the record, A Quiet Place Day One comes out in late June.
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Get in touch with us about this episode or any of our 591 others. To get to us on email, you've got "haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com". Twi-X handles are @moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis. Threads for Bev is that same @. And since we post all of our shows on YouTube (@hyesellis), you can comment there and like and subscribe. You can do some of those things and also rate & review our work on your podcast app too.