The Next Reel Film Podcast

“Infernal Affairs” may have won seven out of the sixteen Hong Kong Film Awards it was nominated for in 2002, including beating Zhang Yimou’s “Hero” as Best Film, but the majority of Americans probably didn’t hear of it until it was remade by Martin Scorsese four years later as “The Departed.” And while that’s a shame that it took so many people so long to discover this 2002 Hong Kong gem by directors Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, it’s great that they did discover it. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we continue our Movies & Their Remakes series with Lau’s and Mak’s crime thriller “Infernal Affairs.”

In the early 80s, Peter Hyams was trying to get a western made. Unfortunately for him, no studio was interested in the genre right then; as far as they were concerned, westerns were dead. Then Hyams made the realization that westerns were still alive but that they’d been transposed to the world of sci-fi. And with that, he wrote “Outland.” Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we continue our Movies and Their Remakes series with the ‘remake’ of “High Noon,” Hyams’ 1981 film “Outland.”

“High Noon” is often cited as one of the greatest westerns ever made, and a lot of that praise is likely because it was so different from other westerns at the time. It was bleak and black-and-white. There was hardly any action in it. And it was a character piece. This story didn’t have to be set in the old west – it could work in many genres (as we’ll explore next week). It’s more about the protagonist and his struggle to stay true to what he believes in the face of incredible odds. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we kick off our Movies and Their Remakes series with Fred Zinnemann’s 1952 classic “High Noon.”

Lee Tamahori’s first foray in Hollywood, ‘Mulholland Falls,’ didn’t fare all that well. Luckily, his follow-up with 1997’s ‘The Edge’ made money and allowed him to keep working in the business. (Though if you look at his foray in the Bond franchise, ‘Die Another Day,’ maybe it’s not so lucky after all.) But does the movie feel like something from a David Mamet script? Or does it fall into formulaic Hollywood junk? Join us—Pete Wright and Andy Nelson—as we wrap up our ‘David Mamet as a screenwriter’ series with ‘The Edge.’

David Mamet won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 with his play “Glengarry Glen Ross.” The play really exemplified Mamet-speak and its transition to film retained that, despite the fact that it took eight years to make it to the silver screen. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we continue our David Mamet as Screenwriter series with James Foley’s 1992 film Glengarry Glen Ross.

Brian De Palma was coming off a couple of box office disappointments when he signed on to bring David Mamet’s script “The Untouchables” to life. The studio was hoping for something akin to a movie version of their old TV show but this team opted to tell a more focused story, and that is both the success and failure of this movie. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we continue our ‘Mamet as screenwriter’ series with 1987’s “The Untouchables.”

David Mamet wrote screenplays for several years before he jumped into the director’s seat, and while some of them still distinctly sound like Mamet’s writing, others really don’t. The ‘Mamet Speak’ isn’t there, or perhaps it’s just less obvious. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we kick off another Mamet series, this time focusing on films he worked on only as screenwriter.