Ryan and Chris pitch new ideas for Disney (they are just out of frame) so they can make their next billion-dollar movie. And what better way to mine IP than to go straight to the source: Disneyland.

Featuring: A Trip to the Moon (1902); Daisies (1966); Medicine for Melancholy (2008); Poor Things (2023); Mary Kwon Mary Kwon (????)

Josh Park is back to once again dive deep into the form of cinema itself and look at why filmmakers choose black and white or color (or both). We also discuss Josh’s newest film, Mary Kwon Mary Kwon. Follow their instagram for more details! @ marykwonmarykwon

Featuring: I Saw the TV Glow (2024)

Ryan and Kevin dive into the nostalgic horror extravaganza that is I Saw the TV Glow (2024). An unofficial part 2 to our previous polarizing film episode for Promising Young Woman (2020).

Featuring: Promising Young Woman (2020)

Ryan and Kevin look at the good and the bad of Emerald Fennell’s take on the rape-revenge thriller.

Featuring: The Great Gatsby (1974); The Great Gatsby (2013)

The great American classic The Great Gatsby has been adapted into a slew of different films, and we chose the only two you probably have heard of… Both the ’74 and ’13 The Great Gatsby films bring unique takes to this story, and we are diving in to see what parts work, and don’t.

Featuring: Ikiru (1952); Witness for the Prosecution (1957); Cinema Paradiso (1988); The Hunt (2012)

Folks, it’s happened. The pod has made it to episode 100 and what a journey it has been.  We have watched hundreds of films, made thousands of connections, and even cried on occasion. The next 100 will be legendary! And with that, we also bring an end to one of our favorite segments, the Letterboxd Top 250 Shuffle. Find out why and where we go next on the podcast about cinema, the people behind it, and the intersection of everything… Wind, Reel, & Print.

Happy (almost) Star Wars Day! Ryan and Chris go to the edge of the galaxy to bring you the next blockbuster Star Wars trilogy. Dave Filoni - the ball's in your court now.

Featuring: WALL·E (2008)

Kevin and Ryan delve into their second Pixar film of the podcast to discuss where it sits in the grand scheme of Pixar’s filmography, what happens when a large studio consumes a smaller one, and how Charlie Chaplin and WALL·E aren’t too dissimilar. Let’s fly!

Featuring: Dream Scenario (2023); The Drama (2026)

Kristoffer Borgli has made a splash, not only with these two very intriguing films, but also with past comments in regard to age-gap relationships (in this case 27 and 16 in Norway, which is technically legal but socially taboo). Naturally the conversations in this episode revolve around what it means to, or whether it is even appropriate to, separate the art from the artist. Can art extend beyond the artist? Or is their mark forever imbued within it?

Featuring: The Terminator (1984); A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001); I, Robot (2004); The AI Doc (2026)

What started as a viewing of The AI Doc (2026), and a couple of beers, quickly spun out into a larger conversation on artificial intelligence in movies. But not the tools! Instead we look into the material and ideas. How do these movies hold up to the real AI questions we are asking ourselves in this day and age? Beep boop.

Featuring: Happy Together (1997)

Toxic relationships aren’t so bad when they look this good! Kevin and Ryan do their first dive into Wong Kar-wai’s filmography and experience the awesome power of Hong Kong cinema.

Featuring: Project Hail Mary (2026)

What happens when both Kevin and Ryan see the same movie on opening weekend? We make an episode about it! This time it is the new space sci-fi film by Lord and Miller, brought to you by the greatest corporation - AMAZON. How does it hold up in the current sci-fi landscape and why did someone fall asleep in Kevin’s packed movie theater? Let’s find out!

Featuring: Closer (2004)

From play to screen, Mike Nichols is the king of the adaptation. But where does Closer (2004) land in his filmography? And we ask the dreaded question that has never been asked on this pod before: Which character would you date?

Featuring: Totally F***ed Up (1993); Mary Is Happy, Mary Is Happy (2013); Cleaners (2019); Little Women (2019)

It’s time to get meta! WR&P finally gets into metarealism, one of Kevin’s favorite topics of all-time. What started as a conversation on atemporal cinema turns into a bigger conversation on what metarealism is and how each of these films fits into the metarealism conversation. This is a fun one!

Mmmm, that’s good! Ryan and Chris lock themselves in the grocery store to come up with FOUR brand-new food mascot movies. It’s time to gather up some new IP, and create the next major mouth-watering film.

Start your engines! WR&P is driving right into the mind of Stephen King to discuss the John Carpenter adaptation Christine (1983) and King’s directorial debut (and final?) film Maximum Overdrive (1986). GAS IT!

We dive deep into Bay Area B-movie horror and end up in the toxic sludge of Milpitas! And you won’t believe what we find! First-time filmmakers! Stop-motion! Day-for-night-for-day! It’s something that must be seen to be believed.

Ryan and his old friend Joe check out the new film climbing the charts, Iron Lung (2026)! Made by the YouTuber Markiplier, does it have the sauce to be an actual film? Or is it just another studio cash grab? The answer is actually quite simple, but you still gotta listen in!

What is a podcast? Is it just a sequence of numbers, letters ,and glyphs scrolling infinitely through space and time only to be deciphered by the machine overlords of the distant future, after humanity’s grand enslavement? Or is it just Ryan and Kevin talking about The Matrix (1999)? Good question!

Ryan and Kevin sit down to talk about A SINGLE MOVIE. This time they set their sites on a PTA classic, The Master (2012). Following a few years after There Will Be Blood (2007), PTA came out swinging once again with his take on post-war masculinity and the magnetism of desire. The desire to belong and the desire to dominate. This film is a doozy! Come and join us. But not in a cult way! Promise!

Ryan and Kevin go through every nominee in the new 2026 Oscar’s lineup. The shoe-ins, the surprises, and the WTFs. 2025 was a wild year, and it’s almost time to crown the champ!

We’ve all thought at one point or another, “hey, I think this is a good idea for a movie,” or “why aren’t they making that movie… but better?” So we went down to the Wind, Reel, & Print lab and came up with a solution… for us at least. It is the WR&P Writer’s Room! The new series follows Ryan and Chris (from the podcast “How Do We Human” and the creative mind behind the YouTube channel “Sassy Milkshake”) as they brainstorm movie ideas from inception to casting. This week they talk Muppet adaptations and, man, there are too many possibilities! What will be the next "A Muppet Christmas Carol?" or "Muppet Treasure Island?" Listen and find out.

Featuring: Ran (1985); Princess Mononoke (1997); Good Will Hunting (1997); The Celebration (1998)

IT’S BACK. Episode 10 of the Letterboxd Top 250 Shuffle is here and it is full of late 90’s gems. From the first Dogme 95 film to a Kurosawa adaptation of Shakespeare and from one of Miyazaki’s finest to Affleck and Damon’s breakout film, this episode has it all.

Featuring: Watchmen (2009)

Who watches the Watchmen? WR&P DOES. Ryan talks the director’s cut of Zack Snyder’s Watchmen (2009) with super-fan Danny (Ryan’s second oldest friend) and they discuss the depth of character development, faithfulness to the original graphic novel, and whether the villain got it right in the end. Put on your cowl and listen in.

Featuring: Eddington (2025); One Battle After Another (2025); Bugonia (2025)

America is the land of guns and paranoia, and this accidental trilogy of films cuts deep into what defines this country, for better and worse. Kevin and Ryan wade into the swamp of politics and filmmaking to see what exactly these three films speak to about the American experience. GOD BLESS THE USA.

Featuring; Christmas Vacation (1989)

Old friends Ryan and Chad reminisce over the Christmas classic Christmas Vacation (1989). They talk about some of their favorite scenes, speculate about what the boss ACTUALLY got as a gift, and settle whether resistance to cold is a midwestern genetic trait (??). Listen in and Merry Christmas!

Hot off the press! We talk about what’s going on in the news: the WBD and Netflix merger. But it’s Wind, Reel, & Print, so we go deep into money in filmmaking, the degradation of our economy, and even conjure up our own filmmaking funding alternative! Get in here!

Featuring: Jurassic Park (1993); The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997); Jurassic Park 3 (2001); Jurassic World (2015); Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018); Jurassic World Dominion (2022); Jurassic World Rebirth (2025)

It is time to enter the depths of Jurassic hell. Ryan and Kevin will stop at nothing to deepen their understanding of film movements, trends, and history, which has led them to a 7-film series that is both Ryan’s foundational films and his worst nightmares. Hold onto your butts!

Featuring: The Silence of the Lambs (1991); Cure (1997); Shutter Island (2010); Gone Girl (2014)

Time to get academic! Ryan brings his sister Julia on the pod, who is currently in graduate school studying psychology, to talk and analyze four movies that blend both genre and science. Did the mental health professionals of Shutter Island really follow the right techniques? What is the difference between a Red Herring and a MacGuffin? Listen to find out!

Featuring: Frankenstein (2025)

Del Toro is back with his unique blend of victorian horror and sympathetic monsters to bring about a new adaptation of the classic Frankenstein tale. How might this film relate to today (AI, anyone??) and what might Ryan and Kevin think of it? Well you’ll just have to listen to find out!

Featuring: Zoolander (2001); Tropic Thunder (2008)

Ryan is joined by Chris (the brain behind the YouTube channel “Sassy Milkshake,” one half of the podcast “How Do We Human?” and a wonderful old friend) to talk about these two influential movies in each of their childhoods. Plus get an inside look at what their college experience was like, watching movies for free in LA, and that cameo at the beginning of Zoolander(!?!?).

Featuring: The Threepenny Opera (1931); Vivre sa vie (1962); Palindromes (2004); Chi-Raq (2015)

Wind, Reel, & Print is going back to the classroom to take a deep dive into Brechtian cinema! A term that has come up in a number of previous episodes, these four movies finally give Ryan his “aha” moment with the idea and reveal just how much this idea/genre plays into exactly what this podcast is all about. Plus “Palindromes,” the sleeper hit!

Featuring: Troll 2 (1990)

THE BOYS ARE BACK. It's Halloween and time for a scary movie. Ryan is joined by Chad and Joe, from the infamous and elusive Salad Brain Productions, to talk about the “worst” film ever made. But did we just stumble into a gem? Time to find out!

Featuring: Before Sunrise (1995); Mary and Max (2009); Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009); Incendies (2010)

We dive back into our favorite segment and come out the other side even bigger Denis fans. Plus two stop-motion films? The beginning of a Richard Linklater trilogy? The Top 250 is deep and we are wading into it.

Featuring: The Big Sleep (1946); Red River (1948); Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953); Rio Bravo (1959)

It’s director time! WR&P is familiar with some of Howard Hawks’ greatest works (Bringing up Baby and His Girl Friday) and his elevation of the Screwball genre, but what about everything else? Musicals? Westerns? Film Noir? This man had his hands in everything and we take a peek at some of his most admired work spanning all of these genres.

Featuring: Singin' in the Rain (1952); The Sound of Music (1965); The Little Mermaid (1989); Mamma Mia! (2008)

Lights! Camera! Music! Kevin & Ryan talk the history of musicals, the inherent meta-ness of the genre, and why The Sound of Music is one of the greatest films of all time. The longest regular episode to-date, and it is well-deserved!

Featuring: Pokemon: The First Movie (1998); Pokémon the Movie 2000 (1999); Pokémon 3: The Movie (2000); Pokémon 4Ever (2001); Pokémon Heroes (2002)

Ash, Pikachu, Misty, Brock, Ryan, & Kevin. We journeyed into our youth to see if the Pokemon movies have the sauce and find out just how close they came to greatness (one of them anyway).

Featuring: Treasure Island (1950); Muppet Treasure Island (1996); Treasure Planet (2002)

ARGH MATEY. Long John Silver may be one of the most interesting characters in all of media, and in this episode Ryan and Kevin speak about how him and many of the other themes and characters of Treasure Island have evolved over the decades. Plus our pitch for the next Treasure Island adaptation!

Featuring: Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)

Following the Disney Renaissance of the 20th century, things began to putter out, or more aptly, sink into the ocean. As children of the 90’s, Ryan and Kevin remember Atlantis fondly and discuss its place in animation history. Plus the “Fart Theory™.”

Featuring: Reefer Madness (1936); Up in Smoke (1978); How High (2001); Pineapple Express (2008)

WR&P goes deep undercover to expose the true ills of society: Marijuana! Ganja! The Devil’s Lettuce! Listen in as Ryan and Kevin explore the history of the stoner film genre, all the way from the propaganda film of the 1930’s to the buddy comedies of the late 20th century, and beyond.

Featuring: A Bug’s Life (1998); Chicken Run (2000); Robots (2005)

At the dawn of the new millennia, animated films began its rapid transition from physical medium to computer generation and changed the film industry altogether. Steve Jobs’ Pixar signaled the move away from Disney’s 2D cell animation and Aardman’s claymation, and foreshadowed the complete tech takeover that Hollywood has been experiencing since the 2010s. With months-long labor strikes, VFX artists unionizing, and Hollywood studios monopolizing nearly every other week, the phrase “means of production” carries a double meaning when it comes to critiquing the film industry from a Marxist perspective. To gain an elementary understanding of how Marxist theory operates, WR&P cohosts Ryan and Kevin throw it back to the early aughts and the late 90s with three animated children’s flicks from three different animation studios that echo sentiments of class consciousness, consumption, and materialism.

Featuring: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964); Raging Bull (1980); The Father (2020); I’m Still Here (2024)

In a new episode of WR&P’s Letterboxd Top 250 Shuffle, Ryan & Kevin pin two cinema classics against two recent Oscar darlings. Despite the drastic jump in time, this particular collection is rare in its thematic cohesion. As our own reality tears at the seams, these four films build a portrait of this slow descent into destruction. Although these stories originate in history and/or fiction, the threat of nuclear warfare, the impacts of toxic masculinity, the complete loss of identity and memory, and fascist governments ripping apart families are all current events which continue to affect our society today.

Wind Reel & Print “wraps” their first season with a celebratory WR&P Awards Ceremony. Cohosts Ryan and Kevin summarize the last year of podcasting by pinpointing landmark episodes that transformed, defined, and elevated our understanding of cinematic language. The First Annual WR&P Awards closes with an exciting announcement of this year’s winners for Best Screenplay, Best Actor(s), Best Director, and Best Picture.

Having mentioned the film in a number of previous episodes, Kevin’s fascination with Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon” finally comes to fruition. In a heartfelt suicide note to Hollywood, Chazelle returns to his supposed entertainment industry comfort zone, relishing in the chaos and thrilling drama that defined his early successes in “Whiplash” and “La La Land”. After bombing at the box office, “Babylon” aims to achieve a cult following status with its grotesque humor and fantastical Hollywood episodes offering more than what initial viewers gave it credit for.

Wind Reel & Print uncovers the secrets to Soviet cinema via the guidance of filmmaker Lev Kuleshov and his humbly named theory the “Kuleshov effect”. In an introductory lesson to film editing, this founding principle of film theory draws attention to the cut as the primary building block of film-meaning creation. Despite the inherent self-explanatory nature of this concept, this episode serves as an important reminder of the impacts Soviet film theorists had on the development of cinematic language, with the “Kuleshov effect” and the montage helping usher in film as the defining art form of a modern industrial society.

Featuring: Annie Hall (1977); [500] Days of Summer (2009)

What does the Academy Award-winning Woody Allen and Hollywood hearthrob Joseph Gordon-Levitt have in common? We’re actually not too sure either. But their movies felt like an appropriate pair to cut against. Both “Annie Hall” and “[500] Days of Summer” take the romcom genre to meta extremes and WR&P cohosts Ryan and Kevin examine the formal and narrative aspects that loosely define a meta romcom, namely the use of atemporal editing and the narrative focus on memory.

Featuring: Angels in the Outfield (1994); The Fan (1996); Moneyball (2011)

In possibly the biggest reach in WR&P history, Kevin bundles three Bay Area-based baseball movies in an attempt to define the local region through America’s Favorite Pasttime. From Brad Pitt’s Billy Beane to Robert De Niro’s fanatic antics, baseball is universally cherished as a game of passion. It stands as one of the iconic symbols of American and masculine identity, with both Ryan and Kevin sharing connections with baseball and their respective fathers. While the Bay Area ties aren’t incredibly strong across all three films, Ryan proposes how “Moneyball” echoes the sentiment of how Oakland has been poached of sports vivacity.

Featuring: Cyrus (2010); Drinking Buddies (2013); Frances Ha (2012); Computer Chess (2013)

Per our initial “Mumblecore” episode, WR&P examines the original Mumble-corps in the years following their break onto the scene. Andrew Bujalski, Joe Swanberg, Greta Gerwig, and the Duplass Brothers return for another round of complicated relationships and inventive independent film modes. Kevin coins terminology around this movement to explain the ways these filmmakers embrace bigger budgets and different cinematic styles.

Featuring: Nosferatu (1922); Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979); Nosferatu (2024)

As a quasi-sequel to the “Vampire Movies” episode, Wind Reel & Print folds in the cinematic traditions of Nosferatu. Beginning with F.W. Murnau’s 1922 version and ending with Robert Eggers’ recent rendition, Ryan and Kevin cover the aesthetic differences between these three films and how this pertains to director style, regionality, and time period of production.

Featuring: Howl’s Moving Castle (2004); Winter Light (1963); The Ascent (1977); Mulholland Dr. (2001)

How do you connect a Japanese animation, a Swedish tragedy film, a Soviet WWII drama, and an American dream picture? Regardless of film form or narrative structure or country of origin, the Letterboxd Top 250 surely guarantees a “good movie” fortified with captivating stories and profound aesthetics that ultimately question what it means to be human. This week’s collection concentrates on concepts of death as a symbol of life cycles and transition, featuring films from Hayao Miyazaki, Ingmar Bergman, Larisa Shepitko, and the late David Lynch.

Featuring: The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959); The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity (1959); The Human Condition III: A Soldier’s Prayer (1961)

Despite all the double features, director retrospectives, and genre reviews, Wind Reel & Print has never fully embraced the comforts of a true trilogy. Directed by celebrated WR&P alum Masaki Kobayashi, “The Human Condition” stands as possibly the greatest trilogy ever committed to film and seemed fitting for the pod’s first cinema mini series. While traversing through various settings and multiple ensemble casts, this epic narrative consistently drives home themes of humanism while providing thoughtful social critique and astounding visual imagery. Ryan and Kevin bow down at the altar of Kobayashi’s monumental The Human Condition Trilogy.

In an attempt to repair an irreparable movie, Wind Reel & Print tackles the complicated reputation of Jim Carrey’s 1994 film “The Mask”. Despite having higher reviews than Weird @ WR&P favorite “The Cat in the Hat”, both Ryan and Kevin find “The Mask” to be rather lackluster and quite displeasing. Convoluted in its influence and intention, this comic book adaptation fares better in memory than in execution.

Featuring: Early Abstractions (1965); Belladonna of Sadness (1973); Fantastic Planet (1973); Mad God (2021)

In the spirit of “getting weird”, WR&P cohosts enter their intergalactic space portal and travel to unique worlds of the experimental and the animated. With guided tours from alien extraordinaires such as Phil Tippett and René Laloux, this adventurous animation exploration remains steeped in blooming psychedelia and rugged world-building. Ryan and Kevin introduce the pod to different representations of animation style by diving straight into the deep end.

Featuring: Gone with the Wind (1939); Wizard of Oz (1939); Citizen Kane (1941); Casablanca (1942)

The Wind Reel & Print locomotive continues into the capital city of Golden Age Hollywood as the pod takes on the Mt. Rushmore of Hollywood filmmaking. With nothing much else to add to the nearly century-long conversation, Ryan and Kevin get candid with their opinions on early age movie magic, folding their own life experiences into the history of Hollywood while capturing the awe that audiences may have experienced upon original release. WR&P punches their ticket for the next stop.

Featuring: It Happened One Night (1934); Trouble in Paradise (1932); Bringing Up Baby (1938); His Girl Friday (1940)

Taking a restful stop at Screwball Station, the Wind Reel & Print locomotive takes another trip into the land of Golden Age Hollywood. With special appearances from the likes of Clark Gable, Katherine Hepburn, and Cary Grant, this whirlwind visit to the early days of cinema brings eclectic adventures, head-scratching hijinks, and lightning-fast dialogue. Ryan and Kevin return with exciting tales.

WR&P cohosts catch the opening weekend premiere of Brady Corbet’s moving Oscar-nominated movie The Brutalist (2024). While digesting the film’s impact, Ryan and Kevin praise movie for its insistence on being a serious picture, complete with an overture and an intermission and a real appreciation for sound and image. Kevin also reads into the film’s political position.

Featuring: Birth of a Nation (1915); The Jazz Singer (1927); Gummo (1997); Bamboozled (2000)

Wind Reel & Print explores the history of racism and exploitation in the entertainment industry as Kevin bundles four films that deal with minstrel shows and vaudeville. Starting with the invention of cinematic language at the top of the Twentieth century, this important podcast conversation aims to connect close ups and sound design with the KKK and blackface. Accompanied by Spike Lee’s daring dissection in 2000’s Bamboozled, WR&P cohosts examine the exploitative nature of the camera and how America’s racist history has impacted the entertainment industry.

After catching last weekend’s number one box office movie, Ryan and Kevin offer their initial reactions to Ryan Coogler’s newest picture “Sinners”. While connecting this film to Coogler’s debut feature “Fruitvale Station”, WR&P cohosts discuss the progressions of the director’s filmmaking career, including his interest in American race politics, his collaborations with actor Michael B. Jordan, and his Marvel-ized storytelling technique.

Featuring: Notorious (1946); Maltese Falcon (1941); Double Indemnity (1944); Sunset Boulevard (1950); The Third Man (1949)

Taking direct influence from German Expressionism, American filmmakers rebranded the dark and paranoid into their own film noir. Popularized in the 1940s and subsequently revived into contemporary movements of neonoir and neon noir, this postwar film genre took Expressionism’s heavy contrast and overlaid it onto stories sourced from hardboiled crime fiction novels of the 1930s. WR&P cohosts Ryan and Kevin dissect four iconic titles from this classic American film genre while utilizing Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious (1946) as a comparative film to cut against.

Featuring: The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), An Autumn Afternoon (1962), The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

As Ryan and Kevin do the Letterboxd Top 250 Shuffle, the podcast lands on a quartet of films that uncover the holes we climb out of. Whether that be systems of oppression, wartime prison labor camps, or lofty existential questions, life always presents us with dark caves in which we can gestate while crawling to the light.

Featuring: The Fall (2006), Anora (2024)

Wind Reel & Print review their recent visit to San Francisco’s historic Roxie Theater to catch a chance double feature consisting of Tarsem’s “The Fall” and Sean Baker’s recent Oscar-darling “Anora”. (Special Shoutout to Willie!)

After a short trip to the scenic American town of “Dogville”, WR&P cohosts Ryan and Kevin report back with glowing reviews. Delivering on the Lars von Trier promise, this 2003 Nicole Kidman-led experimental drama explores Brechtian approaches to narrative and nihilistic ruminations on the Land of the Free. Kevin points a finger at Ryan.

WR&P embarks on another stay-cation as Ryan quizzes Kevin on the local impact of Ryan Coogler’s directorial feature debut “Fruitvale Station”. Released in 2013 with the support of Sundance, this quaint little picture quietly attains the booming voice of the Bay Area. Through its social realist aesthetic and dedication to Oakland faces and places, Coogler’s “Fruitvale Station” pinpoints a grander American narrative of black existence disrupted by the perils of police brutality.

Despite landing one of the lowest marks in Wind Reel & Print history, Kevin Costner’s 1995 star vehicle “Waterworld” buoys as an intriguing Hollywood blockbuster with …so much… potential. This unabashed “Mad Max” ripoff is clearly missing the George Miller spark, perfectly executing fantastical dystopian possibilities while operating with a completely deflated screenplay. Ryan and Kevin thus open dialogue on ways to improve story and character while fortifying thematic elements.

Ryan sends the derrick back into the well as he recalls memories formed around Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2007 Oscar-darling “There Will Be Blood”. Armed with the Daniel Plainview ‘stache, the WR&P co-host still finds reverence in the film’s portrayal of toxic masculinity, its discussion of proto-American capitalism, and how this all ties into the work of Upton Sinclair.

Featuring: Sansho the Bailiff (1954), Andrei Rublev (1966), Central Station (1998), Eureka (2000)

On this week’s episode of Wind Reel & Print’s Letterboxd Top 250 Shuffle, cohosts Ryan and Kevin pull out the Bingo sheets as they prepare to define what it means to be a Top 250 film. Examines the human condition through personal trauma? Check! Includes overly mature children protagonists alongside emotionally stunted adults? Check! Elevates the cinematic medium through intentional artistic choices? Check! Cinema as a religious experience? BINGO!! This particular collection of films shatters all expectations of what cinema has to offer and sends our cohosts deeper into the ocean.

Featuring: The Loveless (1981), Point Break (1991), Detroit (2017)

As a quasi-response to “Nashville”, this week’s WR&P podcast episode centers director Kathryn Bigelow and a trio of titles spanning her entire filmmaking career so far. Bigelow’s knack for rugged masculinity and right-leaning political views challenges the ways we consider gender and patriotism when it comes to discussing American filmmakers. In the post-”Hurt Locker” portion of her filmography, Bigelow settles firmly into the calling card of American mythology, or what Ryan describes as “bizarro Robert Altman”.

Featuring: Dracula (1931), The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967), Interview with a Vampire (1994), What We Do in the Shadows? (2014)

WR&P co-hosts Ryan and Kevin define the narrative and aesthetic parameters of the “Vampire Movie” by examining four films which cover nearly a century of blood-sucking cinema. With a meta-text predating movies themselves, the vampire archetype and its accompanying narrative encasement creates an iconography which can endure remakes, parodies, satires, and revivals. From Transylvania to New Zealand, the vampire myth continues to travel far and wide to frighten imaginations everywhere.

What does it mean to watch a movie? Are you watching for the plot or the aesthetics? Are you looking to be entertained or emotionally stirred? Do you want to be able to think about it or do you just want to turn your brain off? These are all important questions to ask when you step into the proverbial theater. WR&P cohosts Ryan and Kevin take the time to consider what they prioritize when they watch a movie.

Featuring: Funny Ha Ha (2002), The Puffy Chair (2005), Mutual Appreciation (2005), Nights and Weekends (2007)

Ryan and Kevin explore the Mount Rushmore of Mumblecore by focusing on films by Greta Gerwig, Andrew Bujalski, the Duplass Brothers, and Joe Swanberg. Though the label is often loathed by the filmmakers who made these movies, mumblecore remains one of the formative film movements within digital filmmaking. Born in the forethought of the 2008 housing crisis alongside the advent of consumer-grade digital cameras, this minimalist New Wave-esque approach to low-to-no budget filmmaking represents an important stepping stone between reality television and online exhibitors such as YouTube and Netflix.

As a personal recommendation, Kevin introduces 2005’s “Just Like Heaven” as a San Francisco-based Bay Area movie. Featuring Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo and directed by supernatural rom-com expert Mark Waters, this mid-2000s relic leaves whispers of screwball and mumblecore character types within what Ryan describes as “elevated Hallmark”. The discussion soon deviates into a formulation of rewatching movies and finding appreciation in films you used to watch during childhood.

Ryan and Kevin refresh their childhood memory by revisiting a Dick Van Dyke B-side in 1968’s “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”. WR&P cohosts discuss why this rewatch settled into disappointment while stressing the negative impacts of industry and market pressures on the creative process.

Featuring: McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), Nashville (1975), Secret Honor (1984), Short Cuts (1993)

How do you pinhole a director who dabbled in a little bit of everything? Wind Reel & Print recruits cinema-lover Sam Isola to help dissect the ever-evolving filmmaking style of Robert Altman. Specifically choosing four films outside of his mainstream hits, Sam paints a panoramic portrait of Altman’s personal obsessions, from highlighting America’s fraught history and mythology to fragmenting narratives with ensemble storylines and imperfect technique.

Featuring: Do The Right Thing (1989), Z (1969), Rocco and His Brothers (1960), A Woman Under the Influence (1974)

In one of the more devastating episodes of the Letterboxd Top 250 Shuffle, Ryan and Kevin explore a deeply traumatizing cinematic quartet ranging from blazing political thrillers to tense family dramas.

Featuring: All About Eve (1950), Showgirls (1995)

On recommendation from MOViES4MANiACS’ Jesse Hawthorne Ficks, WR&P hosts Ryan and Kevin examine the narrative similarities of Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s classic Hollywood picture “All About Eve” and Paul Verhoeven’s raucous dark comedy “Showgirls.” They note how both these films leverage performance and cyclical narrative structure to comment on gender roles and the controlling nature of patriarchal systems.

Featuring: The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

In this special Bay Area double feature, Ryan and Kevin explore the differences between a locally-made San Francisco film and a Hollywood movie set in the same city. While Joe Talbot’s “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” boasts a heightened indie appeal with the support of Sundance and A24, the Will Smith-led “The Pursuit of Happyness” finds its roots in the studio system. How do these two perspectives affect and reflect in the story and visual design? Does production mode influence the authenticity of a film’s story or the credibility of its characters?

Featuring: Le Petit Soldat (1963), Une Femme est une Femme (1961), Bande à part (1964), Alphaville (1965)

After introducing the Godard-Karina timeline with Vivre sa vie, Kevin takes Ryan deeper into the pairings’ cinematic universe. Ryan highlights how each film stands as unique cinematic experiences, both upholding promises of New Wave Cinema and trailblazing under Godard’s poetic visions and Karina’s powerhouse performances. The relationship between Godard and Karina becomes invariably forefronted in the construction of, the viewing of, and the discussion of these movies, emphasizing the ways reality and cinema blend into each other.

Featuring: Pink Flamingos (1972), The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)

While centering the word “disgust”, Ryan and Kevin explore drag queen characters and the traditions of rage bait in a special double feature highlighting John Waters’ “Pink Flamingos” and Stephan Elliott’s “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert”. Ryan detests Waters’ deplorable Trash Cinema (probably as Waters intended), while Kevin vocalizes distaste for the inherent racism and transphobia laden in “Priscilla”. In search for cinematic context, Ryan and Kevin ultimately settle into a conversation about the similarities of Blaxploitation and Queer Exploitation cinema, and how “Pink Flamingos” relates to contemporary provocateurs such as Harmony Korine.

Standing firmly in its “mild cult following”, Ryan and Kevin aka Thing 1 and Thing 2 delve deep into the magical madness of 2003’s The Cat in the Hat. This Dr. Seuss adaptation certainly presents as a wacky wonderland full of jokes and hijinks, however, over the film’s 82-minute runtime, it slowly uncovers sweet-and-sour secrets. From director Bo Welch’s experience as a production designer for Tim Burton to the instilled playfulness of Seuss’ original work, The Cat in the Hat remains a walking contradiction continually pacing through our minds.

Featuring: The Student of Prague (1913), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), Metropolis (1927), M (1931)

In an attempt to unravel this early 20th-century genre from its War World I context, Ryan presents German Expressionism as a convergence of several industry pressures. Coinciding with art movements from the same era, the cinematic version of Expressionism developed into one of history’s first film movements. While standing at the midpoint between the First and Second World Wars, Expressionism seemingly encapsulated the mistrust and anxiety coursing through Germany at the time. And yet, the dark social themes and intense chiaroscuro set the tone for American noirs and Hollywood monster movies and continue to influence contemporary filmmakers to this day.

Featuring: Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Hollywood Chinese (2007)

It’d be difficult to talk about the Bay Area without discussing the region’s prominent Asian American community and John Carpenter’s “Big Trouble in Little China” seemed like the perfect opportunity to start that conversation. Accompanied by Arthur Dong’s 2007 documentary “Hollywood Chinese”, Ryan and Kevin examine the ways “Little China” portrays its Asian American characters before diving into the goofiness of this Kurt Russell-led fantasy action thriller.

Featuring: The Shining (1980), Paper Moon (1973), Apur Sansar (1959), Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2021)

Within the context of children and trauma, bowling with bumpers offers a safeguard against the pitfalls of gutterballing. Yet, the restrictive boundaries remain an airtight personal prison, a stronghold fortress of subconscious trauma responses eerily established as a predestined child. The newest episode of the Letterboxd Top 250 Shuffle presented by Wind Reel & Print provides a glimpse into a range of genre musings on the effects of death and trauma on the child psyche. From screwball revivalists and Neorealism fanboys to former YouTube sensations and cinematic GOATs, this week’s batch of movies certainly complete the frame.

Featuring: Gremlins (1984), Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)

Joe Dante’s “Gremlins” takes over the studio and threatens the hosts with a good time. Combining classic Spielbergian filmic language with Dante’s knack for meta-mindset, both the original and the sequel deliver on its perceived promise of weirdness.

After watching Hayao Miyazaki's iconic action drama “Princess Mononoke” in theaters, Ryan and Kevin take a moment to discuss the film's story, characters, themes, and social commentary. The WR&P hosts also highlight the difference between a subbed and dubbed version.

Featuring: Nobody Knows (2004), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), A Man Escaped (1956), Aftersun (2022)

This latest episode of the anticipated Letterboxd Top 250 Shuffle features a quartet of films that scratch at an existential itch by affirming life as a resounding act of faith. Here at Wind, Reel, & Print, we reserve the belief that cinema bears the power to change your life, and nothing evokes this sentiment more than this week’s collection of films. From stories as small and intimate as a family vacation in Greece to something as large as the story of the universe, each of these four films search for the spirituality in cinema.

In the podcast’s formal introduction to director Richard Linklater, the WR&P hosts dissect the genre-bending “Hit Man” starring Hollywood’s newest movie star Glen Powell. In discussing Linklater’s prolific filmography, Ryan and Kevin touch on how the filmmaker chooses to extend his creative range while remaining loyal to his actor-friendly writing process and rehearsal sessions.

Steeped in classic Bay Area imagery and counterculture ideology, Hal Ashby’s definitive “Harold and Maude” is a seemingly perfect example of Bay Area Cinema. But the podcast conversation deviates from local geography and cultural history, as Ryan highlights the film’s proto-Wes Anderson-isms and Kevin traces the film’s metamodern philosophical ponderings.

Featuring Shadows (1959), The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), She’s Gotta Have It (1986), Shakespeare in Love (1998)

In an effort to track recent film history, podcast hosts Ryan and Kevin examine the trajectory of independent cinema through a collection of films by John Cassavetes, Roger Corman, Spike Lee, and Miramax. The discussion wanders away from the films themselves, instead focusing on these four prominent film pioneers and how they define indie cinema with budgetary restrictions, creative freedom, and opposition to the Hollywood system.

Featuring: Hulk (2003); Unfriended: Dark Web (2018); May December (2023)

WIND, REEL, & PRINT formally welcomes local Bay Area filmmaker/educator/critic Josh Park as the podcast’s first official guest. While examining the ways Netflix manipulates film grain, Josh highlights how the principles of fragmentation are essential to the craft of filmmaking while Ryan and Kevin question the implications of fragmentation in relation to the developments of new cinema technology.

Featuring: City Lights (1931); The Red Shoes (1948); Landscape in the Mist (1988); Red Beard (1965).

Ryan posits, “What is beyond a miracle?” There are few words that can describe the insurmountable cosmic intervention required to produce a movie of quality, and each film on the Letterboxd Top 250 stands as a fortified record of cinema’s miracles. This episode of the 250 Shuffle offers a brief lesson in film history with four master filmmakers presenting their unique version of cinematic excellence.

In their first foray into Bay Area Cinema, Ryan and Kevin take a look at recent Sundance indie darling Didi (2024) from writer/director Sean Wang. The co-hosts chat about the film’s writing choices and how it stacks up against other coming-of-age movies.

The WR&P Pod gets weird with David Cronenberg’s Videodrome (1983), a sci-fi body horror flick that delves into the depths of underground television. While praising the filmmakers’ practical effects and neon-noir story aesthetics, Ryan and Kevin fall down the rabbit hole of deciphering Videodrome’s meaning.

For Wind, Reel, & Print’s first double feature, Ryan and Kevin cross-examine Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story (2019) and Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage (1974). They explore how both films depict marriage through divorce, reflect the director’s married life, and subtly hint at a meta movie within a movie.