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.

Manchester by the Sea

October 21, 2024

Manchester by the Sea

You can’t judge a book by its cover or a movie by its poster. When Mike suggested Manchester by the Sea (2016) for the pod, Dan hooted and derided hi…

Out of Sight

October 14, 2024

Out of Sight

The second-best movie based on an Elmore Leonard novel, Out of Sight (1998) does what Netflix and other platforms try to do all the time: throw a bunc…

Kramer vs. Kramer

October 7, 2024

Kramer vs. Kramer

Robert Benton’s 1979 interior drama turned out to be one of the biggest films of the 70s. While we might appreciate Dustn Hoffman now more often than…

As Good as It Gets

September 30, 2024

As Good as It Gets

For years, Dan avoided this movie, fearing it was like a Hallmark Holiday Classic or Very Special Episode of Mad About You. But after our episode on …

Strangers on a Train

September 23, 2024

Strangers on a Train

Strangers on a Train (1951) may not be an “obvious Hitchcock” like Vertigo, Rear Window, or North by Northwest, but it’s fascinating, rewatchable, and…

Croupier

September 16, 2024

Croupier

Has your day today been worth narating? If it were retold in the pages of a novel, would anyone read it? Are you worthy of narration? Most of us wo…

L. A. Confidential

September 9, 2024

L. A. Confidential

If L. A. Confidential (1997) were two degrees campier, it would seem like Dick Tracy–but Curtis Hanson made sure to capture the spirit of James Ellroy…

For a Few Dollars More

September 2, 2024

For a Few Dollars More

A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966) are collectively known as “The Man with No Name…

To Have and Have Not

August 26, 2024

To Have and Have Not

Howard Hawks’s To Have and Have Not (1944) is more Hollywood than Hemingway–something for which we should all be grateful. The film is a wonderful ex…

Thief

August 19, 2024

Thief

Everyone loves a good heist movie that depends on the combination of cold, logical planning and some element going sideways–and Thief is one of the be…

Training Day

August 12, 2024

Training Day

Do you need to be a wolf to protect the sheep? That’s the question at the heart of Training Day (2001), in which Ethan Hawke plays the lead and Denze…

Oppenheimer

August 5, 2024

Oppenheimer

Any director other than Christopher Nolan would have done one of two things with this material: made an Oceans Eleven at Los Alamos or a cradle-to-gra…

Collateral

July 29, 2024

Collateral

Collateral was made in 2004, ten years after Speed—and while both films have the same story of a good guy trying to stop a killer in real time, Collat…

The Graduate

July 22, 2024

The Graduate

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to begin our descent into Los Angeles.” So begins The Graduate (1967), which everyone loves but which many of us …

Auto Focus

July 15, 2024

Auto Focus

A great movie that is very difficult movie to recommend because of its subject matter, Paul Schrader’s Auto Focus (2002), the story of TV-star Bob Cra…

Manhunter

July 8, 2024

Manhunter

Anthony Hopkins has defined the popular conception of Hannibal Lector and, by extension, the erudite serial killer. But before The Silence of the Lam…

Forbidden Planet

July 1, 2024

Forbidden Planet

A dramatized thought experiment like best episodes of Star Trek, Forbidden Planet (1956) is a wonderful reminder of how people in the past envisioned …

After Hours

June 24, 2024

After Hours

“Kafkaesque” is the word usually used to describe After Hours, Martin Scorsese’s 1985 comedy—a fair point, since there’s a scene in the film that dram…

Bringing Out the Dead

June 17, 2024

Bringing Out the Dead

What is the proper—or most effective—response to a barrage of horror and pain? The closest that screenwriter Paul Schrader ever came to a comedy (alb…

American Movie

June 3, 2024

American Movie

If you’ve seen Hearts of Darkness, you can better appreciate what Coppola endured while making Apocalypse Now; if you’ve seen River of Dreams, you can…