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Have You Ever Seen

Ryan Ellis

Ryan and Bev Ellis are partners in film nerdery who share their often humorous musings on the AFI's 1998 & 2007 lists of the greatest 100 American films ever made. But we finished with that in December 2015, so now we just review anything we feel like!

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Monday · 42 min
Godzilla Minus One
Takashi Yamazaki wrote and directed one of the great monster movies of recent decades...and it IS the best Godzilla flick I've ever seen. The kaiju that wreaks so much havoc on Japan right after the country was decimated during WWII is no hero to the humans in Godzilla Minus One. It's actually a bit of an angry god who means them much harm with its atomic breath. They devised some incredible Oscar-winning VFX shots of the big beast and its carnage, yet Yamazaki also knows how to show human moments with Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe raising a baby girl who isn't even their own. This thrilling movie about guilt and perseverance has so much heart. So gather your courage (and get over your PTSD) to go on a suicide mission against a mutated water freak because, yes, episode #768 gets into the nuclear guts of Godzilla Minus One. Tasks for you? Subscribe, first of all. Rate the podcast and review it. Email me: haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com. Tweet me (@moviefiend51), Bluesky (ryan-ellis) or follow me on Letterboxd (RyanHYES).
Friday · 30 min
The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari
Robert Weine was on the forefront of German expressionist filmmaking and the director's Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari is one of the greatest films made in that style. The bizarre sets and odd camera angles (not to mention the all-encompassing nightmarish quality) remain one of a kind. Weine even goes and gives us a twist ending that turns all we've seen on its head! His wonderfully weird silent movie starring Werner Krauss as the doctor and Conrad Veidt as his somnambulist puppet/killer has often been called the first-ever horror film. So settle in for episode #767 as Scary Movie Month Fridays it up with a dig into The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari. To connect with me, try Twitter (@moviefiend51), Bluesky (ryan-ellis) or Letterboxd (RyanHYES). My email address is "haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com." Also, please do the subscribing, rating and reviewing things.
October 12 · 34 min
Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein
Celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada or Columbus Day in America with episode #766. Even though this continues to be Scary Movie Month, laughs one-up scares in Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein. Charles Barton's flick has comedy legends Bud & Lou hamming it up with horror icons Dracula, the Wolfman and…you know who. Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney Jr. got one more crack at playing their most-famous roles. Several gags in the last 20 minutes are funnier than anything in the first hour, but the whole enterprise is consistently amusing. So try to get your buddy (CHICK!) to finally listen to your worries that Universal monsters are planning to steal your brain as I jam about Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein. Connection section: subscribe, first of all! Rate the show (5 stars) and jot down a positive review. Email me (haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com). On Letterboxd, I'm "RyanHYES", on Twitter I'm "@moviefiend51" and on Bluesky I'm "ryan-ellis."
October 9 · 28 min
You're Next
Adam Wingard went on to direct a few Godzilla blockbusters, but his You're Next is one of the most-successful, low-budget mumblecore movies. Or, in this case, "mumblegore." Ti West and Joe Swanberg are big parts of the mumble movement too, although Sharni Vinson is the standout in this cast. She's excellent as the final girl who can REALLY fight back in a star-making role that wasn't. She defends her boyfriend's house mostly alone from a home invasion by masked men who use crossbows & axes to whack one family member at a time. There are 3 funny "upend the genre" moments in You're Next. Those beats (and Vinson) are the main reasons to see this. So enjoy a Friday episode as I yip about You're Next. Rate and review this podcasting venture for me during this 11th Scary Movie Month (or any time), but also become a subscriber. All that is free, as is sending me a message on social media ("@moviefiend51" on Twitter and "ryan-ellis" on Bluesky). Letterboxd? That's "RyanHYES." My email is "haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com".
October 5 · 38 min
Green Room
Punk rockers have to fight back against their drug-peddling, murderous hosts in the second edition in Have You Ever Seen's 11th Annual Scary Movie Month. Green Room isn't going to make you jump in fright or sweat out every pore, but it IS an intense experience as Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawkat and Imogen Poots try to avoid being murdered by Patrick Stewart and his jerky group of neo-Nazis. Arms are left in very bad condition, dogs go for the jugular and the body count is enormous for a fairly contained movie. The violence isn't gratuitous in Jeremy Saulnier's dark thriller, but it IS brutal...and there's much bloodshed. So 1-2-3-4 listen to episode #764. the 10-year-old Green Room. Well, Actually: Alia Shawkat should be pronounced as it looks: "Shaw-cat," not "Shaw-cot." Also, I've seen Rebel Ridge since recording this episode (which is intense and well-acted like Green Room is...and I recommend it too). Subscribe to this show in your podcast app. Drop a 5-star rating. Jot down some words in the form of a review. Contact me via email (haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com), Twitter (@moviefiend51), Bluesky (ryan-ellis) or Letterboxd (RyanHYES).
October 2 · 22 min
The Burning
The 11th Annual Scary Movie Month starts on a Friday this year…and this 763rd episode spends (or wastes) time talking about an early entry in the slasher genre. The Burning is all about an abusive caretaker named Cropsey being burned nearly to death in a stupid prank, then the mutilated man comes back years later for revenge against anyone…and everyone. Tony Maylam's hack shriek-fest isn't scary. It's just cheesy and grisly. Not in a fun way either, even with all the rampant nudity. This lazy dreck is slickly made, at least, with major players like the Weinsteins working behind the scenes. So sharpen your hedge clippers and crash a summer camp as Jason Alexander cracks jokes and the blood flies as I do a thing about The Burning. Subscribe to this channel in your podcasting app. Rate and review my work too. Find me on Letterboxd (RyanHYES). Email me: haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com. And the socials are "@moviefiend51" on Twitter and "ryan-ellis" on Bluesky.
September 28 · 35 min
Yojimbo
It's fitting that with Scary Movie Month right around the spooky corner, here's a Japanese classic that's all about death. Yojimbo is the first Akira Kurosawa film on Have You Ever Seen in quite a few years. And just like in Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne Of Blood and so many of his others, it's been very influential on other filmmakers. Longtime AK collaborator, Toshiro Mifune, plays a selfish ronin who works 2 sides of a gang war against each other. The antihero is, as he always was, very Kabuki, but also very commanding. He's the star of a bloody and violent B&W classic as people die while Sanjuro rides the fence (and also kills plenty of the townsfolk). So grab a fistful of this 762nd episode as I relate some thoughts about Yojimbo. Be a subscriber! Rate the show, review it too. Find me on Letterboxd (RyanHYES). Email me (haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com). On Twitter I'm "@moviefiend51" and Bluesky "ryan-ellis."
September 21 · 1 hr 5 min
One Battle After Another
For the 8th year running, Have You Ever Seen spends time on the film that won Best Picture several months earlier. Paul Thomas Anderson finally won not just 1, but 3 Oscars for his funny, often-thrilling action movie. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a former revolutionary (and perpetual nitwit pothead) who's raising Chase Infiniti on his own, since her mother (a dangerously dynamic Teyana Taylor) ratted on their fellow terrorists. Sean Penn is a vicious, racist lawman who's sexually obsessed with Taylor while Benicio Del Toro is a goofy, yet helpful karate sensei. PTA's flick is complicated, since it's all about often-unlikable rabble rousers whose actions got people killed. Fun experience though! I talked a lot about Oscar rival Sinners early on in this episode too, by the way. So don't be a rat OR a terrorist. Just dance backwards while in police custody as I enjoy a few small beers and toss episode #761 your way. Subscribe to this chat show in your app, click a 5-star rating and even write up a "you should listen to this" review. On Letterboxd, I'm "RyanHYES." On Twitter, I'm "@moviefiend51." On Bluesky, I'm "ryan-ellis." And my email is "haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com."
September 14 · 53 min
Wonder Boys & X-Men: The Last Stand
Wonder Boys and X-Men: The Last Stand might not have much in common, except they made my Top 10 lists in 2000 and 2006. In this 760th episode, I first dug into the lived-in, lovely loneliness in Curtis Hanson's movie about fans of the printed word. Wonder Boys is funny, offbeat and quite satisfying. Michael Douglas leads a terrific cast while the likes of Maguire, Downey, McDormand and Holmes are varying degrees of wonderful too. Just delightful. Then my X-Men 3 review got even more time. The huge-budget production was rushed, there were probably too many actors in the cast and it (apparently) betrayed the classic Dark Phoenix storyline from the comics. Still, I continue to find it exciting and surprising. So maybe you can be The Cure as Have You Ever Seen does some Wondering and some Standing. Well, Actually: Frances McDormand was in Sam Raimi's Darkman, so she WAS in a superhero film. Subscribe to the podcast in your non-mutated app. Rate, review, comment, share. Follow me on Letterboxd (RyanHYES). Email me (haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com). And on the socials, I'm "@moviefiend51" on Twitter and "ryan-ellis" on Bluesky.
September 7 · 51 min
Ace In The Hole
What a scoop! The Labour Day episode talks about what's going down in Billy Wilder's caustic Ace In The Hole. His gift was comedy, but he could obviously handle the serious stuff too. Here he wrote and directed a searing drama about crooked cops, the opportunistic media, bad wives, leeches, ghoulish gawkers...and 1 suffering victim. Ace In The Hole was underappreciated 75 years ago and it was a box office bomb. It's thought of as a classic now, even if it isn't perfect. Kirk Douglas didn't have a problem playing heels...or overacting. He does both here. He's a greedy, self-loathing newspaperman who keeps a man trapped under rubble for many days longer than necessary just so he can publish several human-interest stories. The victim's wife, Jan Sterling, is a vicious jerk too. So do some hollering (and be hollered at) as I put out a bulletin about Wilder's indictment of everybody in show #759. Well, Actually: Kirk Douglas' stroke happened only a few weeks before he was given an Honorary Oscar in 1996, not a few years before. Subscribe to Have You Ever Seen. Rate the podcast. Review it. Email (haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com), Twitter (@moviefiend51) and Bluesky (ryan-ellis). On Letterboxd, I'm "RyanHYES".
August 31 · 37 min
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
To put a close on August (a month that ended up being about performers performing), I'm getting into the doin's about Howard Hawks' amusing musical starring those mega-watters Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe. Well, pseudo-musical. Hawks was one of the best directors of rom-coms...and THAT material in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is at least close to his typical level. The elaborately excellent costumes, the Technicolor and the "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" number just aren't what he was best at, but even that good stuff works well too. The dual love story is snappy amidst all kinds of hoopla about diamond-digging, especially over a tiara. So jump on a boat while you cavort with a bunch of hunky guys and sing about your favourite mineral as I break it all down in this 758th edition of Have You Ever Seen. Subscribe to this podcast in your app. Write up a review and rate the podcast too. Look for me on Letterboxd (RyanHYES), Twitter (@moviefiend51) and Bluesky (ryan-ellis). And if you like to write things in long form, email me (haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com).
August 24 · 52 min
Dumbo & Show People
The 757th episode is all about performers. First, Disney's hit about a flying elephant who gets loaded and sees pink elephants is the focus. Dumbo's print on Disney Plus is beautiful. The voicework is also good, plus it's charming, sweet, and (controversial black crows aside) the mother-loves-child story is eternal. Next up was the silent comedy, Show People. Director King Vidor and star Marion Davies were a good team on more than 1 project back then, yet neither has previously been discussed on Have You Ever Seen. Just as in reality, Davies is good at being light and fun in this engrossing comedy, although her character masquerades as a serious actress. There are cameos by many big stars, including Chaplin and 4 actors on my AFI Old-Timey Actors list. So touch trunks with your mom at the circus and also fall for both of your co-stars as I talk about the thrill of performing in this talk about Dumbo and Show People. If you have thoughts you want to share about Jumbo Jr. and/or the People of Show, email me: haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com. Tweets can go to "@moviefiend51", Blueskys to "ryan-ellis" and I also post on Letterboxd (RyanHYES). Subscribe to the channel and also rate and review me.
August 17 · 54 min
Barton Fink
This is the 11th time a Coen Brothers film has been discussed on Have You Ever Seen, although this black comedy is slyer than many of the others. There's also a lot of violence and horror in Barton Fink. It's covering a lot of ground. John Turturro plays the title character, a Broadway playwright who's hired to write a wrestling picture in 1941 Hollywood. After dealing with writer's block for what seems like weeks on end, his script gets meta...and things get weird. John Goodman plays a complicated character with a lot of wit and devilishness while John Mahoney, Judy Davis, Jon Polito and Steve Buscemi contribute their quirks to this one too. Joel & Ethan have Barton talking a lot about the common man in this very uncommon dramedy. T'is a theme. So take your head-box to the beach and contemplate your dark future in California as I fill out close to an hour of talk time in this 756th episode with a look into Barton Fink. Well, Actually: in the "So I Got Thinkin'" about some of the summer's big releases, Milly Alcock was misidentified Milly "Adcock." Subscribe to Have You Ever Seen in your podcast application. Rate the show and review it as well. Find me on Letterboxd (RyanHYES). I tweet (@moviefiend51) and lurk on Bluesky (ryan-ellis). Email is "haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com).
August 10 · 41 min
Brute Force & Heaven's Gate
The 755th episode of Have You Ever Seen is a doubleheader of oldies with very little in common. First, it's Jules Dassin's tough and uncompromising prison-break drama, Brute Force. It was brutally violent for 1947 audiences, as Burt Lancaster, Charles Bickford and friends team up to bust out...partly to escape Hume Cronyn's vicious captain of the guards. It's one of the great jailbird flicks, even if it's been surpassed by the likes of Cool Hand Luke and Shawshank in the 8 decades since. Then I touched on Michael Cimino's infamous Heaven's Gate...although that review is more of a defence of a movie that took a lot of heat for ending the "Director's Era" of the 1970s. Hey, Cimino made a good-looking western with a terrific cast (Kristofferson, Walken, Hurt, Bridges, Huppert)...and now the movies made by the "he ended the party" scapegoat is viewed much more favourably. So dedicate about 42 minutes to my 2-pack about the Brute and Gate. Subscribe to this podcast in your app. Write a review, rate the show. Tell some friends. Follow me on Letterboxd (RyanHYES), Twitter (@moviefiend51) and Bluesky (ryan-ellis). The email option is "haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com".
August 3 · 58 min
Aliens
A holiday Monday is a good time to cover a classic: the action/sci-fi/horror that is Aliens. James Cameron's blockbuster was his follow-up to his action/sci-fi/horror hit The Terminator. This might have been a horrible experience for the director and his production team, but everybody involved came up with one of the greatest sequels of all time. Humans battle xenomorphs and the result was many iconic moments and lines of dialogue...and there's a sympathetic feminist at the centre. Sigourney Weaver's best-known character works so well off the likes of Biehn, Henn, Reiser, Henriksen, Paxton and Goldstein...and, of course, those slimy aliens. So get away from her you something or other and cue up that incredible escape music as this 754th edition of Have You Ever Seen talks about the awesome 40-year-old flick we call Aliens. Well, Actually: I forgot to mention the trivia question for next week's show about Brute Force (and Heaven's Gate). It's just that Burt Lancaster is a convict in Brute Force, but he's also a convict in a more-famous prison movie. Which one? You can dream now and you can also subscribe to the channel in your app. Rate, review, follow, look me up on Letterboxd (RyanHYES). Email me (haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com). And if you like youse some social media, I'm on Twitter (@moviefiend51) and Bluesky (ryan-ellis).
July 27 · 46 min
The 39 Steps & Woman On The Run
Robert Donat & Madeleine Carroll were due for a reviewin' on Have You Ever Seen, so episode #753 has them starring in a Hitchcock movie. Ol' Al has come up a lot on this channel...and The 39 Steps isn't even in his Top 10 best movies. This fun thriller was one of his best movies made in England, sure, but his resume is filled with plenty of better stuff. In this one (where the title itself is Hitch's "McGuffin"), Donat pulls off repeatedly impressive escapes, even though he's an ordinary and innocent man falsely accused. That's a regular Hitchcock trope...and the end result is highly entertaining. Then I talked Ann Sheridan in Norman Foster's Woman On The Run. She's a cool customer who has to outfox the cops and also a curious reporter (Dennis O'Keefe) to find her husband, who fled after witnessing a murder. Sheridan is a big name I've never reviewed either...and this not-so-famous flick ended up being a solid bit of entertainment too. To tell me YOUR thoughts about The 39 Steps and/or Woman On The Run, fire off an email (haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com). Tweet me (@moviefiend51) or Bluesky me (Ryan-Ellis). I'm on Letterboxd (RyanHYES). Also, subscribe to this show, rate it, review it and spread the word to your fellow film fans.
July 20 · 53 min
Blow Out
John Travolta, Nancy Allen and director Brian De Palma teamed up to make the brilliant horror flick Carrie in 1976, but the team was nearly at their best 5 years later in this one about movie-makers. The show-offy De Palma, who mostly made thrillers, loved his characters to be all kinds of shades of gray. Mission possible here. Blow Out's set-ups & pay-offs are excellent...and the ending is operatic, symbolic and powerful. That perfect scream is heartbreaking. This violent tragedy is well-crafted, with inspirations from Antonioni's Blow-Up and the incident at Chappaquiddick. So go get some sound effects for the foley department as this 752nd episode of Have You Ever Seen examines the suspense/conspiracy thriller Blow Out. Well, Actually: at around the 44-minute mark, it should have been The Black Dahlia "was at the end of a pretty poor (box office) run" in 2006, not Femme Fatale. That was released in 2002. Subscribe to this podcast in your app. Rate the show. Review it. Tweet me (@moviefiend51). Bluesky me (Ryan-Ellis). Letterboxd me (RyanHYES). Email me (haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com).
July 13 · 47 min
Stranger Than Fiction
Will Ferrell's popularity peaked right around 20 years ago, but he was about as huge as comedy stars got in 2006. In Marc Forster's Stranger Than Fiction, he isn't goofing around...although maybe that was to his fans' discontent. And he's not in tragedy or a comedy, but a dramedy...and the man who had always gone big proved he could also play quiet, nerdy and sad. Emma Thompson is a famous author writing & narrating everything he does...and it upends his life. Falling for the woman he's auditing--the Maggie Gyllenhaal character--upends it too. Stranger Than Fiction also has Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah and Tony Hale doing good work in a pretty great movie. So, taxman, strap on your trusty wristwatch as I dig into a touching filmic experience in this 751st edition of Have You Ever Seen. Rate this podcast and maybe even jot down some words in the form of a review. Subscribe, of course, and do some social-media following. I'm "@moviefiend51" on Twitter, "Ryan-Ellis" on Bluesky, "RyanHYES" on Letterboxd and "haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com" is the email.
July 10 · 34 min
Beau Geste
The French Foreign Legion called the 3 Geste boys and they trekked off to Africa to end up in William Wellman's tense adventure flick. It's an action-war film that ends with a long, but well-paced siege inside a fort. Gary Cooper is miscast as the title character (he's too old and too American), but he has pretty good chemistry with Ray Milland and Robert Preston, who play his brothers. Susan Hayward is briefly in this too, although Brian Donlevy steals the movie as a jerk sergeant...and got an Oscar nomination for it. There's also a movie-long mystery here after someone steals their benefactor's expensive sapphire. But who...and why?! So tune in for episode #750 as white bros go on assignment in Africa and play war with the locals in Beau Geste. Subscribe to Have You Ever Seen in your app. Jot down a nice review and rate the show too. How do you get in touch? Well, I'm "@moviefiend51" on Twitter, "Ryan-Ellis" on Bluesky and "RyanHYES" on Letterboxd. Prefer email? Well, that's "haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com."
July 6 · 36 min
The Founder & Silence
Let's go back to December 2016 when John Lee Hancock's The Founder and Martin Scorsese's Silence were positioned as Oscar contenders. Neither won a gold trophy, but Hancock made the better movie. The Founder is a big-business biopic about Ray Kroc sharking Dick & Mac McDonald out of their own fast-food creation, then franchising McDonald's worldwide. The product isn't so good now, but the film about it is very entertaining, especially Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch's chemistry as the McDonald's brothers. Then I reviewed Silence, although that section is really an evaluation of the noted gangster maestro's religious passion projects...and how Marty is just not at his best when his movies are explicitly about faith. So get drive-though as you swallow this 749th episode where I preach about The Founder & Silence. Subscribe to Have You Ever Seen in your podcast application. Rate the show and review it as well. Also, I like to be contacted. The email address is haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com. Twitter is "@moviefiend51", Bluesky is "ryan-ellis" and Letterboxd is "RyanHYES".

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