The Authors
| Greg Smith & Scott T. Allison |
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Reel Heroes 10th Anniversary
Well Scott, it’s been ten years that we’ve been writing Reel Heroes reviews. I suppose I owe you a gift of aluminum or tin.
And I owe you a belly-button lint brush and a red clown nose that you can wear during moments of stress.
It’s hard to believe that we’ve written over 400 reviews of heroes in the movies. After all this time, I thought we might look back on how Reel Heroes came to be, and maybe some of our favorite / least favorite films – and any lessons learned.
We met doing improv comedy back in 2005. After about five years we both left improv. I started the Agile Writer Workshop using Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey as the basis for helping beginning writers create a first-draft novel in six months. I was also going to the movies, looking for the hero’s journey in motion pictures.
One day in 2011 I was scrolling through Facebook, when I came across the announcement of a book called “Heroes: What they are and Why We Need Them.” I was surprised when it turned out to be co-authored by my old friend Scott Allison
Yes. In every hero’s journey, there are a few key synchronicities and serendipitous encounters that can be life-changing. One day Butch met Sundance; Frodo met Sam; and Gilligan met the Skipper. Greg, if I am the peanut butter, you are the (bowl full of) jelly.
Some day a great AI-poet will write poems about our bromance, Greg. It’s been fun and rewarding to explore the nuances of heroism in film and TV. I’m glad we’re celebrating our tinsel clown nose anniversary.
Scott, one of the features of the Agile Writer Method is breaking the story into 8 stages. I borrowed this idea from screenwriters. Today, when I watch a motion picture, I find myself dissecting the movie into these 8 stages. So, when I see a film and forget to analyze it – and no longer see the “seams” that comprise the movie – I realize I’ve gotten caught up in the story. That’s a movie I probably want to see again.
So, my favorite films of the last 10 years are ones I want to see again and again.
- The Martian
- About Time
- Enders Game
- Gravity
- Interstellar
- Iron Man 3
- Whiplash
- Wonder Woman
Greg, writing hundreds of reviews has taught us a lot about the components of a good movie. The hero’s journey is the centerpiece, the emotional center of gravity. My favorite movies are ones that I find myself thinking about for days afterward, and they invariably contain a vivid heroic transformation. These are the movies I want to see more than once and sometimes many times.
My favorite movies from the past 10 years are listed below. Note that we overlap in a couple of places. Also note that I didn’t give a few of these films the full 5 out of 5 Reels when they came out. I’ve since upgraded my ratings of them. Here goes:
- The Fault in Our Stars
- Hidden Figures
- Joy
- Whiplash
- Room
- 12 Years a Slave
- Interstellar
- Wind River
Those are some great films, Scott. I think what makes these films great are how we can live vicariously through the heroes. Whether their outcomes were good, great, or even abysmal, we learn a life lesson from them. George R. R. Martin once wrote: “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” And I think that is true for the stories we live in movies as well.
These are stories of transformation. Where the hero starts out in one place in their lives, and through a series of events are transformed – usually into something better or greater than they were. Or, they have a revelation that changes their outlook on their life. (My favorite film “It’s a Wonderful Life” is an example of the latter.) In “Joy” we see the hero overcome her modest origins and overcome sexism to deliver an invention to the world. She starts out insecure and uncertain. But by the end of the film, she’s mastered the world of corporate politics and earned the respect of her father.
The other thing I love about great films is the exposing of our shared values. Often the hero starts out with some personal deficiency – a lack of character. And by fixing this lack of character, they demonstrate what we as a culture value as a virtue. In “Whiplash” our hero Andrew overcomes an abusive mentor to become a great jazz drummer. His drive and determination lead him to become what he was destined to be.
Greg, you’ve mentioned some rock solid criteria for “movie greatness”. I’ll add my own two cents.
First, let’s acknowledge our love for inspiring heroes and the journey of the hero that makes the hero so gosh-darn inspiring (forgive my language). Notice that in my list you’ll see heroes who are compelled to overcome significant and painful adversity. Life is hard for all of us, and the movies tend to give heroes an especially daunting challenge.
Joseph Campbel and Chris Vogler have talked about heroes being in the belly of the whale, the dark night of the soul, and the innermost cave. In The Fault in Our Star, our two heroes have a deadly cancer and operate on borrowed time, or so they think. They fall in love and it’s heart wrenching when one hero dies and the other lives. You must have a heart of stone not to be emotionally moved at the deepest of levels when watching this film.
Another theme among my favorite movies is the theme of the underdog who stares down societal barriers and shatters those roadblocks through sheer force of will, grit, and resolve. In Hidden Figures and 12 Years of Slave, remarkable heroes endure horrible prejudice, discrimination, and oppression. These heroes do not accept the status quo and find ways to break wrongheaded rules and constraints on their ability to flourish.
Even Jennifer Lawrence’s character in Joy is belittled and underestimated just for being a woman who dares to be innovative in a man’s world. We watch, we learn, and we behold a hero does what needs to be done even when the doing seems impossibly hard and painful. Heroic storytelling is always more than entertainment; it is a primer on how to persevere and transform in this hard thing called life.
Scott, there were also some real “clunkers” we had to wade through. For myself, I got a lot of “Superhero Fatigue” watching all those Marvel and DC films. Here are a few of the movies I hope to never see again – and wish I had never seen to begin with
- The Big Wedding
- The Circle
- The Counselor
- Fantastic Beasts
- Grown Ups 2
- Movie 43
- Any Transformers Film
In “The Big Wedding” we saw so many elements of bad storytelling: Great actors given bad dialog, ethnic stereotypes, people behaving badly and getting rewarded for it. “Fantastic Beasts” and “Transformers” reminded us that computer generated graphics doth not a movie make. Grown Ups 2 showed us that lazy storytelling results in a lazy experience. And “Movie 43” … the less said of it the better.
In all cases, the lack of attention to the hero and their transformation resulted in a story that we cannot become invested in. When you tell a story and neglect the time-honored tradition of heroic transformation, you create a forgettable – even regrettable – movie.
Greg, there were some movies that were so bad that I’d rather drink from a goblet of vomit than watch them again. These films stole hours of my life which I’ll never get back. In fact, I really resent having to think about these films again.
- The Big Wedding
- The Visit
- Movie 43
- The Counselor
- The Other Woman
- Machete Kills
- Any Transformers Film
I remember really resisting the idea that bad movies were important to watch. Buy hey, we need to burn our hands on the stove to learn not to touch the damn thing. These terrible movies show us what not to do. We learn that movies are bad when the hero’s journey isn’t fully formed, when poor storytelling and lackluster direction dominate, when overused tropes and cliches are everywhere, and when actors’ performances just don’t ring true.
We really can’t look back on the last decade without acknowledging the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on us and the film industry. Once we all started sheltering in place, movie theaters were empty and the film industry was decimated. And Reel Heroes, like almost everyone in the world, started watching more streaming films and mini-series.
We reviewed some very good online shows. Here they are and some of my thoughts on them:
- Devs
- Get Back (Beatles Documentary)
- The Queen’s Gambit
- Being the Ricardos
- Don’t Look Up
Greg, my list of outstanding online movies and series is identical to yours. These five shows you’ve listed are must-see-streaming-TV.
Reel Heroes started as a lark and yet over the last 10 years we’ve reviewed over 400 different films, conducted many seminars, and written two books together. Who knew that what started as a couple geeky guys doing improv comedy would lead to such a large body of work?
And through all the good and bad films what’s emerged is a clear message – people want heroes. Heroes show us what’s good and what’s not-so-good about humanity. Movie heroes remind us of our virtues and shared values. All storytelling is, after all, a communication of what is important to us as a culture.
Scott, on this, our Aluminum Anniversary, I want to say thank you for ten years and over 400 reviews on Reel Heroes. It’s been a great journey. I’m looking forward to another decade of working with you.
Greg, it’s been an honor and a pleasure watching movies with you, agreeing with you about them on occasion, disagreeing with you now and then, and learning about what makes a great movie hero.
As I’ve said many times, most of us think we watch movies to be entertained. In reality, movies serve educational, inspirational, and mythological functions. Good storytelling is key to our growth and well-being. We need heroic myths to show us how to muster up the courage and resilience to overcome life’s challenges.
Greg, you and I have been buddy heroes. We met doing Improv here in Richmond, we went our separate ways, and then got reunited through our interest in movie heroes. If our lives are following the pattern of movies, then we’re destined to follow one of two paths: Either we will have a huge falling out that could lead to a grisly murder, or we will continue to enjoy a fun friendship and satisfying collaboration.
Let’s hope for the latter!
Reel Heroes 