During the 2026 Milwaukee Film Festival, our Reel Impact Silent Auction included four opportunities to be a programmer for a day. Our September winner programmed Chinatown and The Decline of Western Civilization. Our October winner programmed The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and As Above, So Below. Read the interview below to get to know Brett, what he selected, and why!

What’s your name?
Brett Bellmore

Something fun about yourself?
I was voted “most likely to take over the world” in high school. I settled for taking over the Oriental Theatre’s programming for two movies, because I’m reasonable.

What’s your relationship with Milwaukee Film?
Film fan, local, and Milwaukee Film Member, for most of the approximately a decade I’ve been living in the area. Also a consistent film festival attendee and a film junkie who sees probably a three digit number of movies at the Oriental Theatre and Downer Theatre annually.

What’s your favorite thing about being a Milwaukee Film Member?
Everything, but to be more specific, bringing arthouse, repertory, foreign, and indie films to the area in droves, sometimes on film or with Q&As or introductions or accompaniments or scratch and sniff cards, in the most gorgeous movie palace I’ve personally ever had the pleasure of attending (not to mention a second, 100+-year old local institution), is an invaluable, irreplaceable contribution to Milwaukee’s cultural scene and integral to my personal quality of life in the area. Being a member is worth it to support all of that, alone, and that’s before getting into any of the benefits or the community it fosters.

What movies did you pick?
The underrated teen comedy spoof Not Another Teen Movie (2001) and the underseen gritty NYC crime thriller Night of the Juggler (1980).

When did you first see said movies?
Night of the Juggler was relatively recent–actually in preparation for submitting a list for Programmer for a Day. I came into this only having one set movie in mind that I absolutely wanted to show, and that was Not Another Teen Movie, but I had a needle I wanted to thread for the other: it had to be great and preferably a good crowd movie, but I wanted it to be something that I hadn’t previously seen in a theater and that I didn’t think was incredibly likely to be programmed independently in the near future. So, in addition to considering things I already loved that met that criteria, I both solicited recommendations from friends and started going through some of the gigantic backlog of movies I have purchased but not tried out. Night of the Juggler came from that process and meets all of that criteria (and has the coveted Carrie Coon/Tracy Letts endorsement on Letterboxd).

Not Another Teen Movie, on the other hand, feels like I was born having seen it, but that can’t be the case not only because I am older than it but because I have memories of my mom refusing to rent it for me, back when physical movie rentals were still a thing everywhere. So, it was sometime after 2001, and my best guess, unless she eventually relented as I got older, is that Comedy Central might have shown a censored-for-cable version of it as my first exposure. I’ve been a devoted evangelist ever since.

Who are your favorite actors in your selected movies and why?
Not Another Teen Movie is truly an ensemble affair, with a staggering number of game performances and cameos that should have new viewers pointing at the screen and whispering. But to highlight a few actors, I’ve always loved Mia Kirshner’s turn as, primarily, Sarah Michelle Gellar’s character from Cruel Intentions, with the incest dial turned to 11. (I wonder how many of these questionnaires have historically dropped the “i” word). The lead performances by Chris Evans and Chyler Leigh showcase their respective comic timing and make clear how each has gone onto bigger (and, some would wrongly say, better) things, and I cannot fail to mention a line cook with a single, memorable line in the Grease/Summer Nights (or maybe West Side Story/Tonight Quintet)-inspired musical number that kicks off the third act.

By contrast, although it has some fun and unhinged supporting turns of its own and one or two actors people may recognize from elsewhere in bit roles (hint for one: take a close look at the cabbie), Night of the Juggler is the James Brolin show from start to finish. He’s all hair and sweat and crazy eyes and flannel running himself ragged across NYC. Honorable mention to Cliff Gorman hamming it up as the antagonist.

In ten words or less, tell us why we HAVE to see these movies!
NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE – A hilarious Airplane/Naked Gun-style satire deserving of reappraisal

NIGHT OF THE JUGGLER – High and Low + The French Connection = grimy, bonkers NYC chases

Okay – expand on that – why did you make these your Programmer for a Day picks?
Not Another Teen Movie and its reputation got lost in the wave of post-Scary Movie ’00s spoof films, most of which were awful trend-chasers. It not only deserves better than that, but also to be recognized among our great laugh-a-second comedies like Airplane and Naked Gun. Pitch perfect performances; countless excellent lines, bits, and deliveries; and a loving, mocking knowledge and understanding of the predominantly ’80s and ’90s teen movies and rom coms it sends up.

In the way that Austin Powers made it difficult to do campy James Bond, Not Another Teen Movie makes it difficult to do the style of teen movies that came before it, and I don’t think it’s any coincidence that some of the beloved teen comedies that followed, like Mean Girls, Superbad, and Juno, had to do something completely different from earlier examples of the genre in its wake. Moreover, it is replete with notable cameos (including from some of the best known actors from the movies it parodies), the sort of quick throw-away gags that are common in something like Airplane and easy to miss but get some of the biggest laughs if you catch them (pay attention to everything shouted by voices off-screen), and meta-commentary of the genre and its characters. If that doesn’t do it for you, a mostly nude Captain America is also on offer here.

Night of the Juggler is an especially unhinged and propulsive thriller that similarly deserves better than to be forgotten. The last of the ’70s-style “NYC as a scum-ridden hellhole” crime thrillers–in part because it came out in 1980–marries an improbable, mistaken identity kidnapping scheme straight out of High and Low with all of the neuroses, paranoia, and distrust (real or imagined) associated with living in a sleazier, less polished fever dream of New York City. The antagonist, cops, and many of the supporting characters alike, will make decisions with wanton disregard for the safety of everyone around them. There will be chases by car and on foot. You will see wide swathes of ’70s-era NYC, memorable bit players chewing the scenery to leave their mark on the film, and some NUTS action choreography. Characters will routinely choose violence in every situation. It’s great. Bring the whole family.

Any words of wisdom you’d like to impart?
I admit this may seem like an odd pairing for a programmed double-header, but this is CINEMA in its breadth, not a wine pairing. Variety is the spice of life. Come for the shot, stay for the chaser. Hire a sitter, get someone to check on the pets, take off the day after, and watch even more movies. 

Join Programmer for a Day Brett and friends at the Oriental Theatre on Friday, November 6 at 7 PM to see Not Another Teen Movie. Then, stick around to see Night of the Juggler at 9:30 PM. Tickets to both films are on sale now!