Best Film Ever

Happy New Year (eventually)!  Another bonus episode for your listening enjoyment as we bring you another Reel Roundtable discussion.  Ian, Liam, Kev, and Megan look back on the films they've reviewed in 2025.  Comments, banter, and flat out arguments can be found as we debate the best that we saw in 2025 (A full list of award categories and eligible films are located at the bottom of these notes)

This year we're thrilled to have ballots from seven of our patrons and Ariannah, Synthia, & Paul join us to settle any and all tie-breakers (and there were a few).

The Awards:

Best Screenplay

Best Special Effects

Best Costume Design

Best Art Direction

Best Cinematography

Best Context Corner Highlight

Best Duo

Best Villain

Best Animated Film

Best Voice Actor

Best Musical

The John Williams Award for Best Score

Best Song or Theme

Best Soundtrack

Best Tearjerker

Funniest Film

Best BFE Moment/Rant/Quote

Best BFE Argument

The Abigail Breslin Award for Best Child Actor

The Steel Magnolias Award for Best Representation of Women

The Natalie Portman Award for Most Attractive Female on Film

The Ryan Gosling Award for Most Attractive Male on Film

Best Plot Twist (no spoilers)

Episode of the Year

Best Patreon Film

Best First Watch

Most Improved Viewing Experience

Best Supporting Actor

Best Supporting Actress

Best Actor

The Frances McDormand Award for Best Actress

Best Film

 

Eligible Films:

300

American Psycho

Babylon

Black Swan

Cinderella Man

Crash

Dirty Harry

Erin Brockovich

Field of Dreams

Ghost

Heneral Luna

Idiocracy

Inception

It

Jackie Brown

Jaws

Karate Kid

Mask

Million Dollar Baby

Mission: Impossible 2

Moneyball

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

Ordinary People

Out of the Furnace

Outbreak

Poltergeist

Predator

Rocky Horror

Ruby Sparks

Rush

Shallow Grave

Shutter Island

Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

Superman (1978)

Sweeney Todd

The 40 Year Old Virgin

The Fighter

The Goonies

The Holiday

The Naked Gun

The Shining

The Social Network

To Die For

Toy Story 3

Tremors

V for Vendetta

What We Do In The Shadows

Witness

X-Men

“We’re all in this together.”

Join Ian, Megs & Kev for our 318th episode as we lace up the Wildcats, grab the basketball (and the sheet music), and head back to East High for Disney Channel’s cultural phenomenon High School Musical (2006). It’s jazz hands, jump shots, and mid-2000s sincerity this week — and yes, we’re absolutely committing to the choreography.

This week we discuss:

The lightning-in-a-bottle appeal — how a made-for-TV movie became a generational event - especially for one member of the panel.

Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens — chemistry, charisma, and the myth-making of teen stardom.  Does Hudgens get enough credit for the success of the franchise?

Ashley Tisdale’s Sharpay Evans — villain, icon, or misunderstood theatre kid with ambition? Is she too good to dislike?

Megs breaks down the musical structure — why the songs are catchier than they have any right to be, and which ones still slap.

The team talks about the difficulty about the audition process - on both sides of the equation 

We talk about the differences in social cliques in the North American school system versus the British school system

Ian talks about how the whole plot is a conceit that he can't fully buy into - but why?

Thematically — identity, peer pressure, and the fear of stepping outside the box. Why this simple message resonated so hard.

The “show, don’t tell” debate — does the film trust visual storytelling, or does it lean on dialogue and lyrics to do the heavy lifting?

The Disney machine — how the film’s success reshaped the network’s future output.

The ending performance — triumphant, predictable, or perfectly engineered for maximum serotonin?

And finally, whether High School Musical is the Best Film Ever — or simply the most aggressively rewatchable Disney Channel Original Movie ever made.

Become a Patron of this podcast and support the BFE at
https://www.patreon.com/BFE

We are extremely thankful to our following Patrons for their most generous support:

Juleen from It Goes Down In The PM

Hermes Auslander

James DeGuzman

Synthia

Shai Bergerfroind

Ariannah Who Loves BFE The Most

Paul Komoroski

Andy Dickson

Chris Pedersen

Duane Smith (Duane Smith!)

Randal Silva

Nate The Great

Rev Bruce

Cheezy (with a fish on a bike)

Richard

Ryan Kuketz

Dirk Diggler

Stew from the Stew World Order podcast

NorfolkDomus

John Humphrey's Right Foot

Timmy Tim Tim

Aashrey

Youth Hosteling with Chris Eubank

Buy some BFE merch at https://my-store-b4e4d4.creator-spring.com/.

Massive thanks to Lex Van Den Berghe for the use of Mistake by Luckydog. Catch more from Lex's new band, The Maids of Honor, at https://soundcloud.com/themaidsofhonor

Also, massive thanks to Moonlight Social for our age game theme song. You can catch more from them at https://www.moonlightsocialmusic.com/

“Has anything you’ve done made your life better?”

Join Ian, Liam, Megs & Kev for our 317th episode as we confront anger, ideology, consequence, and redemption in Tony Kaye’s incendiary and unforgettable American History X (1998). This week, we’re also joined by BFF of the BFE: Hermes Auslander, and — in a huge moment for the podcast — we sit down for a special interview with director Tony Kaye himself.

This one is heavy. Necessary. Complicated.

This week we discuss:

Edward Norton’s blistering performance — charismatic, terrifying, magnetic. Is this one of the great transformations of the 1990s?

The black-and-white vs colour structure — memory, myth, and moral framing. How does the visual language shape our understanding of Derek’s journey?

The film’s central question — can hate be unlearned, and if so, what does it cost?

Hermes joins us to unpack the film’s cultural and political legacy — why it still resonates, and why it remains controversial.

The prison sequence — brutal, pivotal, and narratively dangerous. Does the film handle trauma responsibly?

We examine the fine line between depiction and endorsement — does the film risk glamorising the ideology it condemns?

The ending — inevitable, devastating, and still capable of knocking the wind out of an audience. What does it ultimately say about cycles of violence?

Our special interview with Tony Kaye — reflections on authorship, conflict over the final cut, working with Edward Norton, and how he views the film now, decades later.

The legacy question — has the film aged well? Has it been misunderstood? Has it been weaponised?

And finally, whether American History X is the Best Film Ever — or one of the most important and confronting films we’ve ever covered.

Become a Patron of this podcast and support the BFE at
https://www.patreon.com/BFE

We are extremely thankful to our following Patrons for their most generous support:

Juleen from It Goes Down In The PM

Hermes Auslander

James DeGuzman

Synthia

Shai Bergerfroind

Ariannah Who Loves BFE The Most

Paul Komoroski

Andy Dickson

Chris Pedersen

Duane Smith (Duane Smith!)

Randal Silva

Nate The Great

Rev Bruce

Cheezy (with a fish on a bike)

Richard

Ryan Kuketz

Dirk Diggler

Stew from the Stew World Order podcast

NorfolkDomus

John Humphrey's Right Foot

Timmy Tim Tim

Aashrey

Youth Hosteling with Chris Eubank

Buy some BFE merch at https://my-store-b4e4d4.creator-spring.com/.

Massive thanks to Lex Van Den Berghe for the use of Mistake by Luckydog. Catch more from Lex's new band, The Maids of Honor, at https://soundcloud.com/themaidsofhonor

Also, massive thanks to Moonlight Social for our age game theme song. You can catch more from them at https://www.moonlightsocialmusic.com/

Frozen or Tangled? Lion King or Snow White? Robin Hood or The Jungle Book?  Aladdin or The Emperor's New Groove?   People have been debating which is the best of the best since Snow White opined that some day her prince will come and even today the best of us can't Let It Go.  Joined by some of our Friends of the Podcast: Ariannah, JDG & his horseshoe, Hermes Auslander, Andy Dickson, and Sythia. We've determined to Be Prepared as we're setting up all 64 Disney Animated Classics in a single knockout tournament.  We've got massive upsets, Cinderella runs (literally?) and much debate as we crown the Best Disney Animated Classic of all time.

“You think this is just a story?”

Join Ian, Liam, Megs & Kev for our 316th episode as we descend into the basement, start pressing buttons we absolutely shouldn’t, and dismantle the horror genre piece by piece with Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon’s The Cabin in the Woods (2011). This week is less about jump scares and more about systems, sacrifice, and whether sometimes… you really should just play the hits.

This week we discuss:

The central divide — why some viewers desperately wish this film had played it straight, and whether subversion automatically improves a genre story.

The two-year delay — why The Cabin in the Woods sat finished but unreleased, and how that limbo shaped its eventual reception.

Ian’s major life milestone this week — and why it weirdly mirrors one of the film’s themes about control and agency.

Who really enjoys the metaphor — and whether reading the film as an allegory enhances the experience or drains the fun out of it entirely.

Liam’s unstoppable TV digression — the show he simply will not stop referencing, regardless of relevance.

We spend some well-earned time talking about Catherine O’Hara — authority, timing, and why she elevates everything she touches.

The mechanics of the horror machine — archetypes, rituals, and the illusion of choice.

Megs breaks down the film’s gender politics — subversion, exploitation, and how knowingly the film handles both.

Kev weighs in on the concept of gatekeeping and who gets to make all these rules anyway?

The elevator scene — catharsis, overload, or glorious anarchy?

The ending — nihilistic, freeing, or just pulling the plug on the whole genre.

And finally, whether The Cabin in the Woods is the Best Film Ever — or simply the most elaborate middle finger horror ever aimed at its own audience.

Become a Patron of this podcast and support the BFE at
https://www.patreon.com/BFE

We are extremely thankful to our following Patrons for their most generous support:

Juleen from It Goes Down In The PM

Hermes Auslander

James DeGuzman

Synthia

Shai Bergerfroind

Ariannah Who Loves BFE The Most

Paul Komoroski

Andy Dickson

Chris Pedersen

Duane Smith (Duane Smith!)

Randal Silva

Nate The Great

Rev Bruce

Cheezy (with a fish on a bike)

Richard

Ryan Kuketz

Dirk Diggler

Stew from the Stew World Order podcast

NorfolkDomus

John Humphrey's Right Foot

Timmy Tim Tim

Aashrey

Buy some BFE merch at https://my-store-b4e4d4.creator-spring.com/.

Massive thanks to Lex Van Den Berghe for the use of Mistake by Luckydog. Catch more from Lex's new band, The Maids of Honor, at https://soundcloud.com/themaidsofhonor

Also, massive thanks to Moonlight Social for our age game theme song. You can catch more from them at https://www.moonlightsocialmusic.com/