Coquette

Nearly every Stanley Kubrick film has been featured on Have You Ever Seen now that we're spending about an hour reviewing Barry Lyndon. In this 663rd episode, we analyze the gold-digging, underwhelming dueler played by Ryan O'Neal, an Irish soldier (turned gambler) who also turns out to be a terrible stepfather. Even though he's good as the opportunistic Redmond Barry, he's outshone by Patrick Magee, Steven Berkoff and particularly Leon Vitali as his lordly stepson. Barry Lyndon is one of the best-looking movies of 'em all, so it appropriately won Oscars for the look and the design. The pace is deliberate and the story is a very blow burn in this episodic epic. So enjoy Cinco de Mayo by hearing us throw it back and forth about these ordinary people in extraordinary times as we play some games of chance with Barry Lyndon. Sparkplug Coffee sponsors Have You Ever Seen. The website is "sparkplug.coffee/hyes". Use that "HYES" promo code and enjoy a onetime 20% discount. Subscribe to our channel in your app, but also on YouTube (@hyesellis in YouTube's search bar). Rate the show and write a review, but also do some commenting, liking and following on the 'Tube. Respond to us with a message on Twi-X (@moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis) or Bluesky (ryan-ellis and bevellisellis). We're always eager to read an email too: haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com.

5 Mai 57min

Clarence Brown's family classic National Velvet is what's on tap in the 662nd edition of Have You Ever Seen. A pre-teen, horse-obsessed Elizabeth Taylor sheds tears from time to time, but she's remarkably optimistic all the same, especially about her beloved equine chum, "The Pie".  Anne Revere won an Oscar for playing Taylor's preternaturally calm mom, while top-billed Mickey Rooney was starting to grow out of his annoying "I'm always overdoing it" phase. He's actually pretty good in this, playing a young loner with horse PTSD. They're the main players in this classic sports film, even if the horse-training and the steeplechase sequence at the end represent all the sportiness. So don't be a screechy kid brother. Just walk down an English road to make some friends while you ear up Ryan's one-man-show about the emotionally satisfying National Velvet. Our sponsor: Sparkplug Coffee. Their website: "sparkplug.coffee/hyes". Their offer: a onetime 20% discount if you use our "HYES" promo code. Subscribe to our channel, but also rate this podcast in your app and maybe write a review too. Contact us via email (haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com) or on social media (Twi-X: @moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis or Bluesky: ryan-ellis and bevellisellis).

2 Mai 49min

To put a finishing touch on this year's Revenge Month, our 661st episode has some fun with Colin Higgins' feminist comedy where a mediocre man gets major comeuppance for treating the women in his office so badly. If only Nine To Five was as funny as its reputation says it is. The tonal problems are partly because this started out as a serious look at how hard women have it in the workplace. Flawed or not, we DID enjoy the flick. It helps that Higgins knows how to tell a good story and his 3 stars make a great team. Jane Fonda was at her peak of stardom in this period (although she gave herself the worst role of the 3 main characters), while Lily Tomlin is the ultra-competent heart of the group. It's Dolly Parton's charm and effervescence that steal the movie though. So don't poison your boss' coffee, even if he IS a sexist, lying, egotistical, hypocritical bigot. Just dial up Have You Ever Seen's back-and-forth about Nine To Five. Well, Actually: at the 15:40 mark, the line "Roz imagines" should have been "Vi imagines". Pour yourself a cup of ambition known as Sparkplug Coffee and get yourself a 20% discount by using our "HYES" promo code. Go to "sparkplug.coffee/hyes". Rate our podcast and write a review, but also subscribe. Find us on YouTube (@hyesellis in the 'Tube's search bar) and subscribe/comment/like there as well. We'd be happy to get an email from you. It's "haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com". On social media, Ryan is "@moviefiend51" on Twi-X and "ryan-ellis" on Bluesky, while Bev is "@bevellisellis" on Twi-X and "bevellisellis" on Bluesky.

28 Apr 40min

As Easter weekend comes to an end, Ryan posts a solo show about another intense blood-feud here in Revenge Month. Leonardo DiCaprio went through hell and finally won his Oscar while auteur Alejandro G. Iñárritu won his 4th in 2 years for their work on The Revenant, a violent, gory, grueling and beautifully-photographed survival story. There's a running theme of racism against Native Americans in here too, who are on their own vengeance quest. Tom Hardy is fantastic as Leo's antagonist, who earns the enmity of a man nearly killed by a bear after he kills that man's son. And the hunt is on. So grab your musket & your knife and eat some raw fish & even some raw liver as this lengthy monologue about The Revenant represents Have You Ever Seen #660. We're sponsored by Sparkplug Coffee. They offer our listeners a 20% discount. Our "HYES" promo code will achieve that. The website is "sparkplug.coffee/hyes". Rate and review our podcast in your favourite app (subscribe too), but also seek us out on YouTube ("@hyesellis" goes in the search bar on YouTube). Drop in a comment about the episode, but also like it and subscribe. Contact us by email: haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com. Or contact us on Twi-X (@moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis) or on Bluesky (ryan-ellis and bevellisellis).

21 Apr 1h 6min

Posting a podcast about Munich on Easter Weekend wasn't a deliberately provocative choice. Posting this mostly-effective "you'll pay for that" procedural during Revenge Month WAS intentional. Episode #659 of Have You Ever Seen is a Ryan monologue about Palestinian terrorists kidnapping and then assassinating Jewish athletes at the 1972 Olympics...and then the Israelis siccing a hit squad on those who planned it. Upbeat blockbuster filmmaker Steven Spielberg isn't squeamish about showing viciousness and bloodshed when he makes an Important Movie. Trouble is, he gets so heavy-handed in the last half-hour, as Eric Bana struggles with the moral ramifications (and blowback) after what he & his team have done. A pre-stardom Daniel Craig is part of that team, as are Geoffrey Rush & Ciaran Hinds. There's no quibble with their performances. It's just the 9/11 parallels and the politics of the unending conflict in the Middle East that repeatedly smack you in the face. In any case, there's much to discuss about what Black September did (not so much the PLO by the way, but that specific terrorist group) and then what the Jewish hit squad did as payback. Grab a bag of beans from Sparkplug Coffee. Our listeners can enjoy a onetime 20% discount by using our "HYES" promo code. The website is "sparkplug.coffee/hyes". Not only should you subscribe to our channel in your app, but we hope you'll rate and review our podcast too. Also, look for us on YouTube (@hyesellis in the search bar). Like the episode, comment about it, you know. Share your own feelings about the films we discuss. On the media that is toxically social, find us on Bluesky (ryan-ellis and bevellisellis) and Twi-X (@moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis). Our email address is "haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com".

18 Apr 48min

We reach the mid-point of Revenge Month with a French crime classic that features one of the greatest heist scenes in cinema history. Which has arguably never been topped, with its use of clever thieving techniques, intricate teamwork between the 4 main characters…and silence. Rififi is violent, many people die, it even has a drug addict and it has that brilliant break-in sequence where our "heroes" steal a lot of diamonds. Jules Dassin had been blacklisted by Hollywood during the Red Scare nonsense in the '50s, so he went over to Europe and directed Jean Servais and many (not well-known) international actors. There's a lot going on here, especially the subtext about Dassin's treatment by Hollywood, but the centerpiece break-in is the highlight. So get your handgun locked & loaded to get revenge on the gangster who made it personal as we post episode #658 of Have You Ever Seen, a back-and-forth about Rififi. Sparkplug Coffee sponsors this podcast. Go to "sparkplug.coffee/hyes" and then use our "HYES" promo code to save 20%. Subscribe to Have You Ever Seen on your app, but also rate us and write a review. Hit up YouTube as well (@hyesellis in the search bar) and subscribe to our channel, but also comment, stroke the like button, and all that stuff. Let us know your thoughts about our audio stylings with an email (haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com). On social media, we're @moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis on Twi-X and ryan-ellis and bevellisellis on Bluesky.

14 Apr 42min

The blood-soaked Blood Simple represents the debuts of not only auteurs Joel & Ethan Coen, but also their star (and Joel's future wife) Frances McDormand. They don't seem to agree though with the widely-shared view that their first film was an expertly-plotted noir. It's one of their best movies, in fact. When the Coen Brothers go down to Texas to shoot a nihilistic movie about death and contract killings, classics like this and No Country For Old Men result. And considering it was an independent production without any stars, it was quite a hit. The brilliant highlight sequence is John Getz covering up what he thinks is the murder of Dan Hedaya, the man he's cuckolded. So enjoy episode #2 in Revenge Month and our 657th episode overall as we, yes ARE having a good time in our yellow suit and hat while we review Blood Simple. Well, Actually: the Sundance film festival (the "Utah/US Film Festival" as it was known at first) got its start in 1978, while the Toronto International Film Festival got its start in 1976. Also, Dessau is a neighbourhood in Austin, Texas, so the "Dessau" in the sign outside the club must refer to that. Also also, the reason Ray stops the car and runs away in shock is because he hears noise coming from the "dead" body in the back seat. Acquire outstanding beans from Sparkplug Coffee. They give our listeners a onetime 20% discount if they use our "HYES" promo code. The website? Why, it's "sparkplug.coffee/hyes". Subscribe to our podcast in your app, but also rate and review it. We post on YouTube too (@hyesellis in YouTube's search bar), where you can drop some comments and help us out by liking the show. Contact us on social media. On Twi-X, we're @moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis. On Bluesky, we're ryan-ellis and bevellisellis. And our email address is "haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com".

7 Apr 48min

Have You Ever Seen's 656th podcast begins our 3rd (Annual, probably?) Revenge Month and Oldboy's plot o' vengeance is particularly sinister. Park Chan-wook's sadistic South Korean thriller has several unforgettable moments, including the one-take hallway hammer fight and the shocking, blood-soaked climax. Choi Min-sik is quite terrific in the lead role, an ordinary man who's forced to live in the solitude of a private prison for 15 years, not even knowing why. He loses his freedom, his family and nearly his mind. Once he's unexpectedly let out, he goes on a vicious rampage as he tries to figure out who locked him up and why...only to finally learn the reason in an "I never saw THAT coming" twist. So get your fried dumplings and live octopus ready to eat while you also try to avoid various forms of mouth trauma as Ryan solos on a podcast about Oldboy. Sparkplug Coffee is our sponsor. The website is "sparkplug.coffee/hyes". Using that "HYES" discount code will result in a onetime savings of 20%. Rate and review our podcast in your app, but also find us on YouTube (@hyesellis is the link on YouTube). Comment about the episode, like it...and subscribe as much as you possibly can. Contact us by email: haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com. Or find us on Twi-X (@moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis) or on Bluesky (ryan-ellis and bevellisellis).

4 Apr 38min