PODCAST · arts
Reel Deep Dive
by Ryan Valentine
Does the world really need yet another movie podcast?Probably not, but I made one anyways.
Episodes
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Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993)
This is the second film adaptation of Sheila Burnford's classic children's novel, but the first where the trio of animal protagonists have their thoughts conveyed to us through celebrity voice actors (Michael J. Fox, Sally Field, and Don Ameche). Like in the book and in the 1963 movie, we center…
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Double Feature: A Hard Day's Night (1964) vs. Spice World (1997)
Filmed on a shoestring budget and released with modest expectations for box office success, A Hard Day's Night is a fluffy, goofy, and deeply unserious film that happened to capture one of the 20th century's most beloved cultural institutions at the apex of their popularity. The movie's...
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Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn (1995)
Originally intended as a light, comedic riff on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball soon outgrew that modest ambition and became one of the most popular action-adventure serials in modern storytelling. Soon expanding into a multimedia franchise, the Dragon...
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Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation (1992)
Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation earns the esoteric distinction of being the first original animated movie to be released direct to video in the United States. That sounds like a minor fact (and it is), but the movie's commercial success paved the way for a cottage industry of…
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Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
The smash success of Universal's 1931 Frankenstein adaptation made a sequel practically mandatory. Director James Whale felt that it'd be impossible to top the first film and was therefore reluctant to return, but the studio eventually lured him back with a juicy paycheck, a promise to greenlight...
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Fantastic Voyage (1966)
Taking place in a world where the United States and the Soviet Union are engaged in an arms race over shrink ray technology, Fantastic Voyage has the premise of a low budget B movie. 20th Century Fox, however, cast the film with prominent movie stars, spent lavishly on special effects, and…
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Shorts: Fleischer Superman (1941-43)
Produced for an unusually high budget in the nascent years of the character, the seventeen animated shorts starring Superman marked a significant high water mark in the Golden Age of Animation. Crafted with care and using tech that was on the bleeding edge of film animation, the shorts were…
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Shorts: Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared (2011-16)
Produced on a whim by a bunch of art students in between their proper assignments, the first Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared Short went viral on YouTube. Centering on some hapless puppets experiencing existential horror through vividly graphic musical numbers, Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared struck a chord…
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Ponyo (2008)
Riffing on Hans Christian Anderson's "The Little Mermaid", Ponyo centers upon a young sea creature who bonds with a little boy on the surface world. Their budding relationship, however, is put to the test when the fundamental balance of nature is placed in jeopardy by both magical interference…
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Double Feature: Murder on the Orient Express (1974 & 2017)
One of the most popular authors to ever write anything, Agatha Christie would inevitably find Hollywood eager to adapt her work to the silver screen. As per usual, the quality of their many attempts has been uneven at best, but the enduring appeal of the murder mystery means that it's hard to...
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X-Men: First Class (2011)
Following the disappointing reception of X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and X-Men Origins Wolverine (2009), Fox decided that a soft reboot of their superhero franchise was in order. Set in the 1960's, X-Men: First Class juxtaposes the formation of the team alongside the Cuban Missile Crisis and the...
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Yellow Submarine (1968)
Largely greenlit because The Beatles felt that an animated feature would settle their three picture deal with United Artists without requiring much effort on their part, the cast and crew of Yellow Submarine were given a shoestring budget and a mere 11 months to crank out a completed movie....
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Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
Aside from Gone With The Wind, Meet Me in St. Louis is the most popular film released by MGM during the Golden Age of Hollywood. A lush, sentimental, and deeply nostalgic musical centered on a middle class family going through personal changes during the 1904 World's Fair, this film charmed...
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The Santa Claus (1994)
Originally written as a vehicle for Bill Murray, The Santa Claus was rebuilt around the comedic persona of sitcom actor Tim Allen and thrust into theaters shortly before the onset of the 1994 holiday season. While greeted with lukewarm reviews that damned it with faint praise, The Santa Claus was...
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Christmas With Batman (1992-2003)
Due to their penchant for solving problems by punching things, superheroes aren't inherently conducive to Christmas stories. They can, however, function as handy counterprogramming in the same way as semi-ironic seasonal fare like Die Hard, Gremlins, or Silent Night, Deadly Night. As such, most...
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Candyman (1992)
One of the most noteworthy slashers of its period, Candyman centers upon a Chicago semiotics student (Virginia Madsen) who blunders into the wrath of a supernatural folklore spirit (Tony Todd). Based on a Clive Barker short story that uses ghosts to symbolize income inequality in Liverpool,...
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The Neverending Story (1984)
Loosely adapted from the metafictional children's novel written by Michael Ende, The Neverending Story centers upon a young boy (Barret Oliver) who gets immersed into a fantasy book whose plot seems to be magically affected by how it is read. The most expensive film produced outside of America or...
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Character Studies: Muffin from Bluey (2018-2023)
Centered upon the vivid imaginations of a family of anthropomorphic blue heelers, Bluey is an animated children's television show that has taken the world by storm thanks to its endearing characters, playful sense of humor, and emphasis on gentle parenting and unstructured play. In many ways…
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Cyrano (2021)
Derived from Erica Schmidt's musical retelling of Edmond Rostand's oft-staged play, Cyrano stars Peter Dinklage as the titular protagonist. Caught in romantic intrigue alongside him is Haley Bennett as Roxanne and Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Christian. The basic plot of this version isn't too…
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Pokémon: The First Movie (1998)
Released when the Pokémon multimedia franchise was at the zenith of its initial mania, Pokémon: The First Movie received critical scorn but easily became an unqualified smash due to its passionate international fanbase of 6-11 year olds. Very much in this demographic is Latisha, who joins Ryan…
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Vampyr (1932)
Looking to take on a more commercial project after the lackluster box office of the critically acclaimed The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), writer/director Carl Theodore Dreyer decided that a horror movie was the way to go. Loosely adapted from Sheridan Le Fanu's story collection 'In a Glass...
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Time After Time (1979)
Writer/director Nicholas Meyer is best known for his contributions to the better Star Trek films of the 1980's, but he was noticed by the Federation due to Time After Time, a quirky romcom in which a time traveling H.G. Wells pursues Jack the Ripper across 1970's San Francisco. Anchored by a cast...
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The Ring (2002)
Based on Koji Suzuki's 1991 novel and loosely remade from Hideo Nakata's 1998 film adaptation, the 2002 Hollywood take on The Ring was a sleeper hit that shrewdly played off a number of prevalent trends found at the turn of the millennium (it lifted its color palette from The Matrix, it featured…
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Seed of Chucky (2004)
The fifth installment in the Child's Play/Chucky franchise, Seed of Chucky involves the titular killer doll starting a family. While noted upon its release for leaning into the campier elements of the slasher genre, Seed of Chucky might be distinguished more by its focus on transgender themes, an...
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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
Bigger, bolder, more ambitious, and more character-driven than its predecessor, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 also got better reviews and took in a heftier box office. It is often cited as one of the few MCU movies that possesses a distinct visual character and a unique directorial voice. Ryan…
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Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Among the most successful and beloved films in the expansive Marvel Studios catalog, Guardians of the Galaxy was initially seen as a bit of a risk due to its offbeat character designs and obscure source material. However, because of strong performances, a fun array of needle drops, and…
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Legend (1985)
Featuring lavish sets, elaborate makeup effects, numerous references to European folklore, and ascending new superstar Tom Cruise as the main protagonist, Legend was director Ridley Scott's attempt to transfer the appeal of the fantasy genre from the printed page to the silver screen. It failed…
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Shorts! The Three Stooges with Curly Howard (1936-47)
The most popular, visible, and imitated member of The Three Stooges by a significant margin, Curly Howard's manic physical comedy, childlike comedic persona, and arsenal of catch phrases were often perceived as the core of the comedy team's popular appeal. Often seen as a tragic figure beyond the...
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Spaceballs (1987)
Spaceballs yielded mediocre box office returns and was widely criticized as a creative misfire for director/co-writer/supporting actor Mel Brooks, but it quickly found an audience through home video and constant broadcasts on basic cable. By lampooning the culturally-omnipresent Star Wars...
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Meet the Feebles (1989)
Shortly after Bad Taste (1987) and well before The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), Peter Jackson directed a lowbrow Muppets parody entitled Meet the Feebles. Taking place on a puppet-run variety show comparable to what Kermit and the gang typically do, the anthropomorphic animals in this film…
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Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue (1990)
The success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988) demonstrated that splashy cartoon crossovers would grab a great deal of attention. One of the more odd and timely results of this fact was Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue, an anti-drug PSA where Bugs Bunny, Papa Smurf, Garfield, Alf, Winnie the Pooh,...
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Session 9 (2001)
Session 9 is a mediocre horror movie released to a collective shrug at the turn of the last century. It is, however, notable to Ryan, Sylvan, and Cheryl since it was filmed in their hometown and set at Danvers State Hospital, a reputably haunted mental institution that inspired H.P. Lovecraft's...
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Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge (1989)
Infamous exploitation film producer Thomas Fries, hoping to kick start a slasher movie franchise comparable to Halloween or Friday the 13th, greenlit Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge, a project that retold Phantom of the Opera in a suburban mall with superfluous nudity, splatter effects, and...
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Cat People (1942)
Following the commercial disappointment of artistically ambitious films like Citizen Kane (1941) and the Magnificent Ambersons (1942), RKO began shifting its priorities towards workmanlike crowd pleasing instead of chasing Oscars. Among other things, this meant restructuring its B-movie division....
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House on Haunted Hill (1959)
Shamelessly churned out to capitalize on the success of Shirley Jackson's megahit horror novel The Haunting of Hill House, this low budget thriller was given the legally distinct title of House on Haunted Hill in the hopes of tricking audiences into thinking it was an official adaptation. That...
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Meet the Robinsons (2007)
Released during a period with increased competition from rival studios, Meet the Robinsons marks a transitional period in Disney's approach to animated feature films. The company had just bought Pixar and appointed John Lasseter as chief creative officer. Meet the Robinsons was already nearing...
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Harvey Girls (1946)
Originally developed as a dramedy for Clark Gable, the success of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma! compelled MGM to retool Harvey Girls as a musical romcom for Judy Garland. Boasting massive sets, lavish costumes, a saturated technicolor palette, and several elaborate song and dance numbers,...
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Shorts! The Three Stooges with Moe Howard (1934-48)
The leader of The Three Stooges both on and off the screen, Moe Howard's comedic role in the troupe usually boiled down to driving the plot and handing out slapsticky abuse to his subordinates. The trappings of vaudeville all but demanded that at least one of the performers take on such a role…
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Over The Garden Wall (2014)
A TV miniseries created by animator Patrick McHale for Cartoon Network, Over the Garden Wall focuses upon two siblings who are lost within a strange, mystical, and existentially-threatening forest. Its emphasis on dark fantasy and 1890's pop culture provided stark contrast to the other fare being...
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King Kong (1933)
Often perceived as the first Hollywood blockbuster, King Kong casts an undeniably long shadow upon movie history. Its special effects, soundtrack, and emphasis on larger-than-life spectacle established precedents that big tentpole movie releases still follow to the modern day. A number of its...
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Care Bears II: A New Generation (1986)
While originally conceived as greeting card mascots with an accompanying toy line, the Care Bears debuted in a market where children's media was freshly-deregulated and immersed in shameless commercialism. It was perhaps inevitable that these characters would be spun off into an animated toy...
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Titane (2021)
Winner of the Palme d'Or at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, Titane is about a serial killer (Agathe Rousselle) who goes on the run after she kills her parents and gets impregnated by a car. She winds up impersonating the long-lost son of a firefighter (Vincent London) and the two ultimately form a...
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Cinderella (1950)
This may be difficult to consider in an era where Disney is arguably the world's most powerful entertainment conglomerate, but there was a period where the company was in a precarious state (multiple periods actually, but we're talking about the postwar era). Disney was in massive debt in the…
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Pleasantville (1998)
Centering on two teens in the then-modern 1990's getting transported to the world of an idyllic (yet vaguely unsettling) 1950's sitcom, Pleasantville uses broad symbolic imagery to paint a picture about personal growth, the pressures of conformity, and the ever-lingering threat of…
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Gatlopp (2022)
A riff on the "supernatural board game" subgenre that was shot on a microbudget during the Covid-19 pandemic, Gatlopp focuses on four estranged friends who briefly reunite when one of them starts going through a tough divorce. Their awkward attempt to reconnect ultimately leads to them trying out...
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Key Episodes: Spongebob Squarepants (1999-2004)
Spongebob Squarepants was far from a sure thing when animator Stephen Hillenburg pitched him to Nickelodeon executives, but the program quickly became a gigantic hit that transformed the network, the children's television landscape, and the millions of kids who watched the show religiously....
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Super Mario Bros (1993)
One of the most infamous celluloid turkeys of its time, the 1993 film adaptation of the Super Mario video game franchise suffered from a disinterested IP holder, thousands of rewrites, an annoyed and confused cast, and a disastrous shoot supervised by an inexperienced directorial team. The film...
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Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)
Derived from the popular (and controversial) stage musical composed by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, Norman Jewison's 1973 version of Jesus Christ Superstar is a deeply timely reflection of the spiritual and socio-political issues gripping the environment that produced it. While a box office...
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The Maxx (1995)
Based on the idiosyncratic comic series by Sam Kieth and William Messner-Loebs, The Maxx centers on a vagrant with delusions that he's a mighty superhero. While ineffective in the real world, The Maxx is powerful and important in the world of The Outback, a fantasy version of Australia that…
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Shorts! The Three Stooges with Larry Fine (1934-52)
While his screen persona is arguably the least defined of the Three Stooges, Larry Fine is frequently argued as the glue that holds the act together. While not as driven as Moe, as wild as Curly, or as physical as Shemp, Larry's role as the relative voice of reason (and his penchant for bizarre...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Does the world really need yet another movie podcast?Probably not, but I made one anyways.
HOSTED BY
Ryan Valentine
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Reel Deep Dive have?
Reel Deep Dive currently has 204 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Reel Deep Dive about?
Does the world really need yet another movie podcast?Probably not, but I made one anyways.
How often does Reel Deep Dive release new episodes?
Reel Deep Dive publishes regularly with 204 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Reel Deep Dive?
You can listen to Reel Deep Dive on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Reel Deep Dive?
Reel Deep Dive is created and hosted by Ryan Valentine.
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