About Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

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.

NBN Episodes hosted by Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics:

October 14, 2024

Out of Sight

Hosted by Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

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…

October 7, 2024

Kramer vs. Kramer

Hosted by Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

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…

September 30, 2024

As Good as It Gets

Hosted by Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

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 …

September 23, 2024

Strangers on a Train

Hosted by Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

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…

September 16, 2024

Croupier

Hosted by Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

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…

September 9, 2024

L. A. Confidential

Hosted by Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

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…

September 2, 2024

For a Few Dollars More

Hosted by Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

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…

August 26, 2024

To Have and Have Not

Hosted by Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

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…

August 19, 2024

Thief

Hosted by Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

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…

August 12, 2024

Training Day

Hosted by Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

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…

August 5, 2024

Oppenheimer

Hosted by Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

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…

July 29, 2024

Collateral

Hosted by Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

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…

July 22, 2024

The Graduate

Hosted by Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

“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 …

July 15, 2024

Auto Focus

Hosted by Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

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…

July 8, 2024

Manhunter

Hosted by Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

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

July 1, 2024

Forbidden Planet

Hosted by Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

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

June 24, 2024

After Hours

Hosted by Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

“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…

June 17, 2024

Bringing Out the Dead

Hosted by Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

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…

June 10, 2024

Broadcast News

Hosted by Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

An Academy darling that has faded into the background, Broadcast News (1987) still holds up as Network’s little brother. They don’t make ’em like thi…

June 3, 2024

American Movie

Hosted by Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

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…

May 27, 2024

Goodnight Mommy

Hosted by Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

Goodnight Mommy (2014) is a perfect “office movie”: one difficult to recommend to others and better when watched alone. It’s strong stuff. Young boys…

May 20, 2024

Modern Romance

Hosted by Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

When looking for love, we don’t attract what we want--we attract what we are. That’s one of the many ideas dramatized in Modern Romance (1991), our t…

May 13, 2024

First Reformed

Paul Schrader

Hosted by Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

In a recent interview, Paul Schrader said he was lucky with Taxi Driver because he “caught the zeitgeist.” He may have done so again with First Refor…

May 6, 2024

Hobson’s Choice

Hosted by Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

Hobson’s Choice (1954) is the perfect example of a very specific genre: the capitalist romance. Filled with a Dickensian love of humanity and featuri…