Inside Man is a clever heist film with the twist staring you in the face from the beginning. It's also the first Spike Lee or Jodie Foster film to be reviewed on Have You Ever Seen in quite some time. Foster and Denzel Washington's scenes together are fantastic. The 2 of them, plus Clive Owen, Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe and Chiwetel Ejiofor deliver. Ironically, though, for a film with such intensity for 2 straight hours, the actors are generally calm. Well, Denzel is showboating, but he's Denzel. You can't reign in that charisma machine. So for my 734th episode, settle in to hear about a snappy caper film as I monologue about Spike Lee's biggest hit, Inside Man.

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It's a short one for episode #733 of Have You Ever Seen, as I discuss Anthony Mann's biopic about the best-selling bandleader from the '30s & '40s. Smash hits Moonlight Serenade & In The Mood are Glenn Miller's 2 most-recognizable songs, tunes you'll know the minute you hear them. This is a straight-ahead "based on real people" movie (including his loving wife, Helen), but Mann, who often worked with James Stewart in this era, was an underrated director. And while Jimmy has OFTEN come up on this podcast, this is a first for June Allyson...and we also have a memorable cameo by the great trumpeter Louis Armstrong. So, honestly, take a listen to my sentimental review of the sentimental Glenn Miller Story.

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I've got another multi-movie episode here in the 732nd edition of Have You Ever Seen. Jacques Tourneur directs Out Of The Past and Robert Siodmak is at the helm of The Spiral Staircase, even if it feels at times like one directed the other. Yet they both do a very good job with these films noir, including killing off many of their characters. Rhonda Fleming is in both, but in Past you've got Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas & Jane Greer, who gives one of the better performances in the history of femmes fatale. In Staircase, Dorothy McGuire, George Brent and Ethel Barrymore have centre stage...and they all deliver too. The first flick has a VERY complex plot, while the second is a straight-forward "a killer is on the loose" whodunit. So lend me 50 minutes of your time as I scoop out the innards of Out Of The Past and The Spiral Staircase.

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W.C. Fields makes his debut on Have You Even Seen in this 731st episode where I talked about 3 of his classic laugh-fests: International House, It's A Gift and The Bank Dick. George Burns & Gracie Allen turn up in International House and Una Merkel plays Fields' daughter in It's A Gift, so we've got 4 AFI Old-Timey Actors in one super-show. First up, you get the "Grand Hotel of comedy", where the gags are quite risqué (even considering it was made before the production code), followed by the funniest one in this three-pack: It's A Gift. Fields is REALLY in textbook mumbling, drunken form in The Bank Dick, with its all-over-the-place plot and random gags. So to bring this Easter Weekend home, cue up my one-man-show about the House, the Gift and the Dick, as W.C. does his thing as only he could.

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Easter probably called for a chat about the silent version of either The Ten Commandments or Ben-Hur, but no. I'm talking about a 1932 Ernst Lubitsch rom-com that's excellent with the rom, yet only smile-inducing with the com. Covering Trouble In Paradise also gets Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis and Herbert Marshall on Have you Ever Seen for the first time. They're all well-served by the infamous Lubitsch Touch. Here a rich, pampered, unworthy fail-daughter (Francis) is set up to be ripped off by clever thieves (Hopkins and Marshall). But they're all likable, the romance(s) work great and you even end up rooting for all the characters, even though each of them could easily seem despicable. Lubitsch: one of the greats in this genre. So cue up Trouble In Paradise in this 730th edition of HYES, where I give you the info about some pre-Code lovin' and stealin' European shennanigans.

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While America is yet again fighting a war in the Middle East, I end Oscar Month by getting into the doin's of a legit WWI hero in Howard Hawks' Sergeant York. Gary Cooper plays the real-life hero, a dirt-poor man from the Tennessee mountains who's forced the join the army (mother), even though he's ag'in killin'. But when the chips are down, he's courageous and talented enough to kill a lot of Germans! America's entry into WWII helped make this the #1 hit of 1941. It also led to an Oscar for Super Duper Cooper, even though he often comes across as fake when talking like the real Alvin no doubt talked. But Mr. Stiff's conversion from no-goodnik to Bible lover to German killer (and his romance with a very young Joan Leslie) IS heartfelt. Plus, the great Hawks was almost incapable of making an unwatchable movie. So whet your sights when they force you to be a doughboy while you also cue up the 729th episode of Have You Ever Seen.

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Dodsworth is the feature attraction in this 728th talk on Have You Ever Seen, but then there was an unexpected 2nd review in this episode. I spent 10 or 12 minutes on the George Arliss 1929 Oscar-winner, Disraeli…the one about the late-1800s British Prime Minister's quest to buy the Suez Canel. As for Dodsworth, we've got another winner from William Wyler, who directs Walter Huston & Ruth Chatterton as a middle-aged couple who just aren't clicking anymore. He retires and they vacation in Europe, but that love just might be gone. So ditch Zenith for exotic European locales (or maybe even for Egypt) as I present monologues about Dodsworth and Disraeli.

Well, Actually: just to be clear, an actor CAN get nominated for Oscars in the leading AND supporting categories in the modern era (as Al Pacino, Julianne Moore and Jamie Foxx have), but can't get 2 noms in the same category the way Arliss did back when Disraeli was made.

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In what will become a trend for at least the next little while, I've got 2 reviews in one episode here in podcast #727. First, I detail my favourite moments, lines and scenes in Wolfgang Petersen's In The Line Of Fire. John Malkovich has rarely been in better form as the villain and Clint Eastwood has never been funnier or more charming as the hero. Malkovich wants to assassinate the president and Secret Service man Clint is determined to stop him. Then Best Picture winner of 1931, Wesley Ruggles' Cimarron, gets more of my usual beat-by-beat analysis. It's a western about a successful newspaperman and lawyer (Richard Dix) who has wanderlust...and his racist wife (Irene Dunne) who evolves on that issue and becomes a leader in the town. So rendezvous with my, uh, show about both In The Line Of Fire and Cimarron.

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Sinners and One Battle After Another finally got to lock up on the biggest awards stage there is...and they both got plenty of gold. PTA won 3 trophies and his One Battle got the top Oscars (Picture and Director, plus 4 others), but the record-breaking Sinners (nominees-wise, at least) saw Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan honoured for writing and acting. This 726th edition of Have You Ever Seen breaks down every single winner of every single award, has a few thoughts about the night's politics (it was a LITTLE more finger-pointing than it has been in other recent years) and we had that long, but necessary tribute to the many people who died. Conan hosted the show again (pretty fun times again) and Ryan is your host of the 2026 Oscars Post-View.

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One day after the 2026 Academy Awards and right smack in the middle of Oscar Month is the one that won its own 4 trophies 25 years ago. A Beautiful Mind is a touching love story about a real-life paranoid schizophrenic: Nobel-Prize winner John Nash (and his put-upon wife Alicia). Ron Howard & his team play fast and very loose with the facts, including how Nash's condition manifested AND casting Jennifer Connelly as Nash's Hispanic wife. Still, though, Russell Crowe is dynamite as our main man and the supporting performances by Ed Harris, Paul Bettany & Christopher Plummer are terrific. And Howard does well to make a movie about math, but doesn't overload us with it. So laugh at yourself and also about the need for fluid exchange while trying to tune out the voices in your head as this 725th edition of Have You Ever Seen jabbers about A Beautiful Mind.

Note: the second movie in the episode on March 23rd will actually be Cimarron, not Dodsworth (which I'll cover on March 27th instead).

Don't worry about the Red Scare or those sneaky Communists. Just calmly share your opinion about this movie (and others) with an email ([email protected]) or a tweet (@moviefiend51) or a Sky (ryan-ellis).

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The 98th Academy Awards are finally less than a week away, so I've got an in-depth analysis of the major nominees. It's more wide open than it's been in a very long time, with seemingly only PTA (Best Director), Jessie Buckley (Best Actress) and a few of the technical awards feeling like they're locks. And maybe THEY aren't either! It wasn't an incredible year at the movies, yet these are mostly good candidates. Although much like last year, the Academy seemed to nominate just 6 or 8 movies in nearly every category! In any case, the race between One Battle After Another and Sinners (with its record-breaking number of nominations) will be settled on the 15th, so find out where I stand before we get there this 724th edition of Have you Ever Seen.

Well, Actually: oops, it's pronounced "Yo-kim" Trier and "Vog-nuhr" Moura...and Moura plays THREE roles in The Secret Agent, not just two. Also, this was recorded before the WGA awards (Sinners and One Battle After Another both won) and, yes, the SAG wins for Michael B. Jordan and Amy Madigan DO feel like potential up-enders in the Oscar races.

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