Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

episodes

Two friends with strong opinions watch films separately then discuss them on the show for the first time. Can their friendship survive? Join Mike and Dan as they discuss one film each episode--and in only fifteen minutes, give or take a few. There are no long pauses, pontifications, or politics--just two guys who want to share their enthusiasm for great movies. On Twitter. On Letterboxd. Email: fifteenminutefilm@gmail.com.

A Star Is Born (1937): A Film by William Wellman

March 16, 2026

A Star Is Born (1937)

A Star Is Born has been filmed four times, but the first version is the best: a combination of Singin’ in the Rain and Death of a Salesman, David O. S…

Boiling Point

March 2, 2026

Boiling Point

A Film by Philip Barantini

Every other movie seems to be touted as a “tour de force”--but Philip Barantini’s 2021 look at ninety minutes in the life of a chef and everyone aroun…

His Girl Friday: A Film By Howard Hawks

February 16, 2026

His Girl Friday

The average estimated words-per-minute in a feature film is 90; His Girl Friday (1940) clocks in at 240. And yet the fast dialogue is only one of its…

Twentieth Century: A Film by Howard Hawks

February 2, 2026

Twentieth Century

Twentieth Century (1934) is a screwball comedy that moves like a runaway train and we are delightfully tied to the tracks. John Barrymore’s audacious …

The Dead

December 22, 2025

The Dead

John Huston

“Yes, the newspapers were right: snow was general all over Ireland.” That line from James Joyce’s story is heard at the end of John Huston’s 1987 ada…

Wings of Desire

December 8, 2025

Wings of Desire

Wings of Desire (1987) is a film that stays with the viewer; part of how it works is to flood the viewer’s mind with images that seem, at first, disco…

The Purple Rose of Cairo

November 24, 2025

The Purple Rose of Cairo

Something film fanatics often say is that a particular director’s work is really “about the movies.” Sometimes that’s true and sometimes it isn’t–but…

The Beast

November 10, 2025

The Beast

Bertrand Bonello

Have you ever felt that you keep making the same mistakes or that you have fallen into a pattern that could be Exhibit A as proof of reincarnation? T…

The Trip

October 27, 2025

The Trip

My Dinner with Andre (1981) is a film that uses the simple premise of two men sharing a meal as a vehicle for exploration of how we should live our li…

Miami Vice

October 13, 2025

Miami Vice

Many movies tell us how to watch them. Whether it’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, Casablanca, or Rear Window, movies steer the viewers to certain reaction…

History Is Made at Night

September 29, 2025

History Is Made at Night

Every so often, you encounter The Perfect Movie: something with a screenplay, cast, and direction that combine in a way that reminds you of what happe…

The Straight Story

September 15, 2025

The Straight Story

Everybody was shocked when, in 1999, David Lynch released a G-rated film with a Norman Rockwell setting that didn’t have a dark underbelly or wild rev…

Excalibur

August 25, 2025

Excalibur

John Borman

We’ve seen many attempts at transferring Mallory’s Le Morte d’Arthur and its variants onto the screen, but none of them capture the spirit of the orig…

The Boston Strangler

August 18, 2025

The Boston Strangler

In a film in which the audience buys its tickets knowing who will play the title role, what happens when you don’t have him enter the frame until a so…

If I Should Die Before I Wake

July 25, 2025

If I Should Die Before I Wake

Flannery O’Connor said that stories about pious children tend to be false. She’s right, of course, but she doesn’t even say the half of it: stories a…

Moonstruck

July 21, 2025

Moonstruck

Our episode on Moonstruck (1987) was almost never made: as with Manchester By the Sea, Dan harbored an irrational suspicion against it–but when he fin…

Love and Mercy

July 7, 2025

Love and Mercy

A film by Bill Pohlad

Love and Mercy A film by Bill Pohlad Love and Mercy (2014) is a film that shows how the sausage is made, in terms of both the music and the man. We …

American Gangster

June 23, 2025

American Gangster

Ridley Scott

American Gangster (2007) is Ridley Scott’s homage to The French Connection: it’s got the right cars, clothes, and colors and is based on another true …

Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning

June 3, 2025

Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning

The eighth installment in one of the most entertaining franchises ever made, The Final Reckoning is Tom Cruise’s Return of the King. Whether it suffe…

Heist

May 28, 2025

Heist

Caper movies aren’t like others involving criminals: there’s an aesthetic to a caper that’s as important to the thieves as it is to the viewers. Heis…