Shot/Reverse Shot

Following the news that John Williams will not be composing the score for Steven Spielberg's forthcoming Cold War thriller Bridge of Spies, Matt and Ed decided to talk about long-running and significant creative partnerships in film. As well as director/composer combinations like Spielberg/Williams, Hitchcock/Hermann and Kitano/Hisaishi, they discuss what working with the same editor from film to film gives a director, how working with the same actors can allow filmmakers to plumb new depths, and the ways in which these kind of relationships can fall apart, and what effect that can have on future projects. It all ends with a proposal for a new "Michael Sheen plays a famous British person" film that is inspired/ridiculous.

Partly inspired by news of a new, 300-fied version of Romeo & Juliet, but largely because they're both fans, this week finds Matt and Ed talking about cinematic adaptations of the works of William Shakespeare. In addition to discussing good adaptations and bad adaptation, traditional adaptations and adventurous adaptations, they discuss their own personal relationships with Shakespeare's work, including a brief digression on theclassic '90s Disney series Gargoyles, the reinterment of Richard III, and Ed's René Goscinny-inspired childhood.

In a break from the usual format, this episode of Shot/Reverse Shot isn't based around any particular theme. With no central topic to discuss this week, Matt and Ed instead discuss some of the big stories of the week including the death of Terry Pratchett, the rapidly expanding Ghostbusters universe, HBO's The Jinx, and some film about wars among the stars. They also try to figure out a way of proving once and for all just how tall Vince Vaughn is.

Inspired by the spectacular lack of success of Andy and Lana Wachowski's Jupiter Ascending, this week's episode is given over to films that failed and failed big at the box office. After discussing the aforementioned space opera and the Wachowskis' other flops, Matt and Ed talk about some of the biggest money losers ever, how hard it is to determine how much money a film actually lost, and what factors can make a film fail.

We're saying goodbye to the residents of Pawnee, Indiana this week as Parks and Recreation ascends to sitcom heaven. Matt and Ed talk about what made the show so special, how jumping forward three years helped make the final season so strong, and offer up their favourite episodes, jokes and characters from one of the deepest benches in sitcom history.