School Of Movies

[School of Movies 2022] This is a movie we covered already, back in the winter of 2011. But back then I was really just getting warmed up, and it was a comparative show with the Robert Zemekis version from 2009. But huge thanks to my guests back then who always bring the insight; Taylor Nova and Matt Ramsey.  This time we delve deep into both the Dickens book and why the Henson version hits all the notes exactly right, as well as the recent and long-awaited restoration of the 1992 film (with the missing song performed by Meredith Braun now back in place) on its thirtieth anniversary. And accompanying us this time are a pair of veritable Muppet experts who run their own dedicated podcast on these ageless furry anarchist entertainers!  Settle in for a genuinely epic journey through one of the greatest Yuletides stories ever told, being retold in perhaps the greatest way possible. Guests: Mackenzie Eastram  @KenziePhoenix of Rainbow Connection @MuppetsPod Nathan Eastram @bertnerdtram These two also of Video Game

[School of Movies 2022] Perhaps the oldest film we have covered as a Main Event show to date, as well as one of the most significant from that era. Frank Capra's seminal Holiday classic is often dismissed as syrupy fluff by those who haven't yet seen it, or misremembered as light comedy by those who caught it in fragments over the years without sitting down to really take in what it's saying. It's neither of those things, and the greatest tragedy is how searingly relevant this 1946 post-war exercise in picking up the pieces of a nation still is. Sharon and I have been earmarking it for the SOM treatment for many years, but always putting it off as too heavy or too daunting, and also too beloved to cover in any way that wasn't 200% satisfying for all.  Luckily Chris Finik came along with a shred choice of Commissioned show, and now you all get to listen to what it sounds like when we pull out all the stops.

[School of Movies 2022] We've been planning Narnia shows for many years. This was a very special book series to me as a child, informing on my worldview and writing. It was also the first long-form live action fantasy series I watched on television, as the BBC production which ran from November 1988 to December 1991 adapted four books over three 6-episode seasons. I always wondered why they stopped at The Silver Chair. Later I began to understand the kind of scope and budgets and potentially thorny territory that the remaining three stories would entail. The quaint, very British project was already more ambitious than anyone would have expected.  After that were many long years of waiting for a cinematic incarnation (not counting the insanely cheap and rushed 1979 animated version). The achievement and success of New Line's Lord of the Rings films at the same time as Warner's Harry Potter imbued Disney with a desire to seek out its own epic fantasy series to bring in all the dollars.  While compared unfavoura

[School of Everything Else 2022] Following the tremendous critical and commercial success of the first ever dedicated  animated Batman show, the same creative team turned their eyes to his sunny counterpart, the original, archetypal superhero, the last son of Krypton. It's always more challenging creating a successful, beloved Clark Kent than it is a Bruce Wayne. People like the brooding and the darkness. By contrast it is natural to be mistrusting of someone who purports to be so utterly GOOD all the time. Surely there's an angle. Look how naïve he is. What if he turned bad? Unfortunately this last prospect is the Superman story we keep returning to in pop culture. Because we can understand why someone would wield supreme power as a conquering weapon. This, however is THE definitive Superman. Christopher Reeve is no doubt the most wonderful, memorable, impeccably performed live-action Kal-El, but this show which ran for three seasons from 1996-2000 is most definitely the place to go to find the *context* for

[School of Movies 2022] Nine years after his Chronicles, Richard B. Riddick is sat upon his iron throne, the crown hanging heavy, too many pie suppers since he was at his physical peak and too many wenches left in wordless ecstasy, sloughing around his greasy bedsheets.  This is the story of how he gets easily tricked, shot in the back, left for dead on a barren planet filled with beasties designed exclusively to kill you, and soon after making a four-legged friend, he becomes beset by not one, but two separate groups of rotten mercenaries.  Possibly the yellowest film you will ever witness, Riddick (2013) is what happens when one attempts to return to one's roots after an age of hubris. Does it succeed?   Next Week: Superman - The Animated Series.

[School of Movies 2022] After knocking it out of the park on the first try with Pitch Black, David Twohy and Vin Diesel limbered back up four years later with a complete change of pace, scale and even sci-fi sub-genre. If you look at Pitch Black as The Hobbit, then where they took the series next was their Lord of the Rings. However, there is a world of difference between what went into the expansion and historical goings-on of Professor Tolkein and the Conan-the-Barbarian-in-space that Riddick metamorphosed into. Suddenly, rather than a dangerous prisoner he became the chosen one of a massacred world, destined to avenge his people against a rampaging horde of death-worshipping necromongers!  The results of these changes were frequently frustrating and marginally absurd!

[School of Movies 2022] This one is really rather special and arguably the longest time coming of any of our shows. Pitch Black, released in February 2000 in the USA didn't make it to the UK until November of that year. There's even some confusion in this episode because I wasn't sure if Sharon and I were actually together as a couple when we saw it (turns out we were, just). But significantly, this was our first movie where we left the cinema together on fire with analysis that we were twanging back and forth like verbal badminton. It's a tight, focused, visceral, planet-survival thriller, drawing from many inspirations but managing to combine them in a way that keeps it continuously gripping, even after all these years. This is the first of a dedicated three-week series of episodes revolving around the transmedia franchise that sprang from this standalone movie; a handful of very savvy decisions mixed with a bucket of bad ones.  The chronological order goes... 1. Escape from Butcher Bay (Patreon Exclusive E

[School of Everything Else 2022] This one has been many years in the making.  Around about the time the pandemic hit, followed by the global chip shortage there was a series of jumps in both quality and quantity of retro gaming machines being manufactured in China and shipped out to folks stuck in lockdown with a serious hankering to revisit a simpler less-apocalypsy past. At the same time the secondary collector's market for vintage hardware, cartridges and discs also ballooned, and those with the engineering abilities started restoring and upgrading classic handhelds and consoles.  This show is not a buyer's guide, nor an overly technical breakdown of the processes. It's a focused, historical slice of perspective on gaming; past, present and future. It is an exploration of the fragile nature of what we play and the lengths we will often go to, in order to recapture those memories. It's about the sheer joy of curation, archiving and preservation, and the strangely benign communities that have developed aroun

In case you didn't catch this at the end of the Company of Wolves show yet, Sharon, myself and even Willow have helped put together an anthology of Gothic tales written by members of the School of Movies community. It's available to buy right now on Amazon and if as many of you as possible buy it at once, talk about it on social media, (and if you want to be extra specially helpful leave us an honest, positive review when you've finished and recommend it to friends) that should help it get some visibility. It's called "The Lights from Distant Bonfires" and we've been preparing it for many months now. These stories are stirring and spine-tingling and should conjure up haunting images to dwell on this Fall. We are keeping the price low and selling the paperback at cost to get it into as many trembling hands as possible.  USA Edition UK Edition  The 14 Authors: Lincoln Alpern, James Batchelor, Nama Chibitty, Greg Downing, Jesse Ferguson, Chris Finik, Nick Jaragosky, Hanna Peregrine, Alexander Shaw, Sharon Shaw,

[School of Movies 2022] This is an obscure coming-of age fable from the director of Interview With the Vampire and The Crying Game. It was made on a very low budget in 1984 in Shepperton Studios, England, but it has some of the best werewolf fiction within its toothy confines.  The framing device is a young girl who has gone to bed with tummy cramps. In her restless dreams she ties together various cautionary tails about Red Riding Hood, the boy who cried wolf, visitations from the Devil himself, wedding-day curses and strange men with one eyebrow and shocking yellow irises. The teller of many of these stories is the great Angela Lansbury, who at the time of release for this show, only just closed the last page of her own book.  And the whole thing is an allegorical anthology about the girl's growing, changing body, her sense of identity and burning curiosity. Stay tuned to the end for news about a brand new Gothic Anthology book we've helped to create.

[School of Movies 2022] It is a confusing time to be a lover of Ghostbusters. On the one hand you have the long-planned but never-realised Ghostbusters 3 reunion Dan Aykroyd always had plans for. On the other you have the 2016 oops-all-ladies remakeboot which plenty of people enjoyed yet made some guys so mad they burned down half the internet and scared Sony (as well as malignantly harassing several of the stars away from social media). And on the third hand you have the hot new take that the 1984 original movie is in fact capitalist trash and some compelling arguments about demonising the Environmental Protection Agency in Reagan-era America. And then there's this fourth movie that upon announcement met a storm of derision, perceived as placating those rotten fans mentioned above. And when it finally came out, late in 2021 it was so meek and inoffensive that it barely registered in a year when going back to the cinema was both special and risky. The prevailing view is that it was also trash. So we brought i

[School of Movies 2022] WARNING: This episode contains lengthy discussions on depression, trauma and suicide.  You do not need to see this movie before listening to the episode. In fact, in a rare instance we actually suggest you *don't* see it, for reasons we will be elaborating on at length. It has reviewed well, and as with many horror movies based on a simple hook that shakes people up, it has done gangbusters at the box office. That puts it in league with Saw and Paranormal Activity and Insidious. And as you'll hear, on a technical scale, in terms of moment to moment nerve-jangling scenes it ties itself together with a confidence that makes debut director Parker Finn likely to be successful moving forward. As I watched I became aware that the premise was uncannily similar to It Follows (2014) by David Robert Mitchell, and I've seen many people online echo that similarity. However, my idle brain found nine further films that this clearly draws from, which makes a spread of influences that is either shamel

[School of Movies 2022] It is hard to approach the Pixar of the 2020s with the same eye as the Pixar of the 2000s. For a long while this was a barely-interrupted chain of truly excellent and game-changing 3D animated films which signified to other studios that they didn't have to copy Disney in order to attain success, they could get their own Shrek. Their story structure was always reliably potent and they could blindside you with poignancy.  Then, as with disposable blockbusters, live action remakes of their hand-drawn heritage, unnecessary sequels, spin-offs, Star Wars and now Marvel, Pixar fell into the rhythm of the infernal Disney machine which appears to prize quantity over quality. But I feel uncomfortable even in the act of criticising a megacorporation who I want to see do better because there are so many bad-faith commentators out there getting performatively angry over every release.  Lightyear is based on a premise which instantly neither works nor makes sense. It is ostensibly a film from 1995,

[School of Movies 2022] Our favourite mafia movie, even over the venerated classics, for reasons that will become immediately apparent. This 1999 comedy directed by Harold Ramis was made at almost exactly the same time as The Sopranos first season was developed. Both explore the very real anxiety that comes with a lifestyle that is inherently dangerous, as well as one that involves such a close-knit family and all the loyalties, hopes, dreams, betrayals and disappointments that come with every other family, only this kind whack people for betrayal. And we knew exactly who to call on for this analysis, our Australian buddies from The Two Shrinks Pod. Together with these professionals we delve into Robert De Niro's disarmingly vulnerable take on a worried father and a still-grieving son, along with Billy Crystal's harangued shrink, positively terrified of winding up sleeping with the fishes, whilst nursing his own paternal resentment.   School of Movies and Two Shrinks are part of the podcast group Fireside All

[School of Movies 2022] WARNING: This episode contains foul language and repeated references to very crude sexual situations, bodily fluids and some nasty-as-hell behaviour. Thou art warned! This began as a simple re-watch of the original 1999 film "American Pie", but it quickly spiralled into a look back on the gross, frat-house movie craze of the early 2000s. We go through each film in turn and mine them for anything even remotely positive, before spanking the living hell out of them for their awful, creepy and sometimes disturbing attempts to wrestle laughs out of an audience that was growing up faster than they were. American Pie 2 (2001) reunited the gang for spring break, American Wedding (2003) saw two of the more wholesome characters get married, whilst also depicting what I dubbed then and now as the death of comedy, maybe even the death of narrative cinema! And then the one with the most potential for retrospection on our own filthy, mistake-filled youths American Reunion (2012) brought everyone bac

[School of Movies 2022] Back when this was announced there was all kinds of excitement. Thor, much like his buddy Hulk was a character it seemed like Marvel took a while to get a handle on, relative to the duo of immediate home runs with Iron man and Captain America. The first film was a relative success, he contributed greatly to the chemistry of The Avengers, but then underwhelmed in The Dark World and felt vestigial in Age of Ultron. But Taika Waititi and Chris Hemsworth's 2017 Ragnarok reinvention revealed a hilarious and savvy rogue still with his roots in the earnest early performances. This was followed by two wildly popular Avengers outings which harnessed a palpable rage and grief (though not without a problematic amount of fat-shaming). This evolving dimensionality made it seem like it was worth a victory lap, bringing Waititi back in. The spotlighting of Jane Foster and Natalie Portman's unexpected returned to the series adapting Jason Aaron's recent comic run.  It seemed very likely we would get a

[School of Movies 2022] A truly magnificent film about pondering the nature of existence and being trapped between nihilistic despair and existential motivation. But also a touching and painful drama about a little, broken Asian family who no longer know what to say to each other any more. But also a spectacular running battle of martial arts and clownery, nestled inside a high-concept sci-fi about jumping between dimensions and occupying the bodies of the alternate versions of yourself, and borrowing the abilities they honed leading different lives to you. This was a commissioned show, because there was SO MUCH to talk about that we would have delayed it forever otherwise. But now it's one of our very best shows. And that is due mostly to our guests who had so much to say. Nothing but editorial was cut. We've given you Everything! Guests: Brenden Agnew @BLCAgnewof Cinapse Maya Souris @TheStuntLady Greg Downing of Through the Wind Door @MightyGregDoge Alejandra Vargas @Plutoburns Chris Finik @finmonster09

[School of Movies 2022] Our unexpected year of the Wachowskis continues with a 2008 movie that fans feel passionately about, and a strong sense of it never really having a chance, being released the same summer as Iron man and The Dark Knight. A squeaky-clean blockbuster painted in a dizzying kaleidoscope of primary colours with intense greens, pinks and purples to deliver what was supposed to feel like an anime in live action, but due to its unique and striking editing style of talking heads describing past, present and future events as they transition in real-time it winds up being entirely singular in its cinematic field. There really genuinely is no other film quite like Speed Racer. Allow us to elucidate why you need to see this on the biggest, brightest screen available. Guests: Alexa Vargas @Plutoburns Nama Chibitty @namathenerd

[School of Movies 2022] We venture back to John Carpenter for maybe his least marketable, most angry movies. You are probably aware of all those memes where a guy looks at a sign with sunglasses on and sees something direct and insidious usually masked with advertising. This is the film that's from. In fact what surprised me after we finished recording was checking out those memes and finding that so goddamn many of them are from dudes who have decided that the liberal media, feminism, and the LGBTQIA+ community are the dominant overlords manipulating civilisation from a place of supreme power. It is tragicomic as a conclusion. Anyway, this 1988 Matrix prototype starring a charismatic WWF wrestler is all about how alien lizard people control us through brainwashing. It can be a tough pill to swallow, you may have to spend an hour punching your best friend in the junk until he will accept this reality.  Guest: Maya Souris @TheStuntLady

[School of Movies 2022] The Summer Commissions Season continues with an unexpected highlight. Here we have a brace of films focusing on the same real life event: Man on Wire (2008) and The Walk (2015). The former is a documentary about Philippe Petit the man who walked on a wire between the twin towers of the World Trade Center. The latter is the Robert Zemekis dramatization of that fairly astonishing heist. We recommend you see one or both of them, because they're fantastic in different ways. The year was 1974, the towers were in the process of being built in Manhattan, and thousands of miles away a French street performer was cultivating a deep longing to traverse the tallest wire in the world. One tiny mistake, one miscalculation and he would plummet to a very public death. But first he had to get up there, and for that he and his cronies were going to need to pull off one of the most extraordinary real life heists of all time.