Episodes
Monday Feb 09, 2015
The Force Awakens
Monday Feb 09, 2015
Monday Feb 09, 2015
[School of Movies 2015]
Part 1: A film so important and so passionately adored by us that we needed two shows and two groups of guests to fully cover, welcome to part 1 of our Force Awakens show. With us for this first outing in which we discuss Rey, Finn, Ren, Han, Huxx, Snoke and the hugely positive side of this effectively being a retelling of the events of A New Hope.
Part 2: The second installment in our epic Force Awakens show brings in three new voices and a Star Destroyer-full of speculation. We move onto the characters we have not yet covered, as well as talking details and theorizing wildly about later movies in this series as well as talking about how the landscape of Star Wars in cinema has now changed forever.
Sunday Feb 08, 2015
Spectre
Sunday Feb 08, 2015
Sunday Feb 08, 2015
[School of Movies 2015]
Bond is back! And this has been one divisive movie. On the one hand some folks hail it as a fantastic installment of the long-running series, proof that 007 is still flying high. On the other, it has been decried as proof of the exact opposite, seemingly underlining and exemplifying everything that was broken about the series back in the past when we had little else in the way of action movies to choose from.
We pick over what might be Daniel Craig's swansong as the most famous secret agent in history.
Guest:
Gary Blower of GamerBurst
Saturday Feb 07, 2015
Skyfall
Saturday Feb 07, 2015
Saturday Feb 07, 2015
[School of Movies 2015]
The Craig era, previously discussed back in 2011 gets the royal treatment and we talk Sam Mendez, Roger Deakins, Thomas Newman, Javier Bardem, Ben Wishaw, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris and Her Majesty, Queen Dench.
Guests:
Gary Blower of GamerBurst
James Batchelor of Bond and Beyond
Alex Boucher of Bond and Beyond
Friday Feb 06, 2015
Supergirl
Friday Feb 06, 2015
Friday Feb 06, 2015
[School of Movies 2015]
Supergirl, released in 1984, after Superman III but before Superman IV may have been one of the key reasons that Wonder Woman never got a movie, that is of course up until Catwoman in 2004. Produced by Peter Burrell on a budget of $35 million that you'll wonder about the apparent absence of onscreen and bringing in an embarrassing $14 million.
We're probably being a bit harsh on it in this one but we're just so stoked for the new TV show that we're in full-on "Here's what they did wrong in the olden days" mode. However, it's a pretty hilarious listen, even if you've not seen the film, in fact it might be even funnier trying to imagine what we're describing.
Thursday Feb 05, 2015
Scream 1-4
Thursday Feb 05, 2015
Thursday Feb 05, 2015
[School of Movies 2015]
For the third and fourth week of our SPOOKtacular we cover the Scream movies. In this one we kick off talking about the hugely influential 1996 original, arguably Wes Craven's best film.
It's a compelling whodunnit, it features a young, fresh cast you're actually supposed to like and features not only some good teen dialogue but a metatexual dissection of the slasher genre threaded through its core.
That said, it has a mean streak and some occasional steps over the line of sadism, its impact as a movie in 2015 is entirely different to its initial release, and its influence was arguably more of a negative flooding of the market with cheap teen horror subverting nothing at all, or else entirely missing the point in their attempts to seem clever.
Following that it's the remaining three; Scream 2 (1997) Scream 3 (2000) and the tediously titled Scre4m (2011).
Each is an example of stretching a premise further until by the fourth it is beyond breaking point. Make sure you listen to the excellent School of Movies live episode on Scream 3 which we riff on repeatedly in this episode. Neil Taylor of GameBurst joins us once again.
Oh and just FYI; after recording this show we watched the first episode of the Netflix series and hated it.
Sharon and I just guested on the Mana Pool. This is a podcast all about Magic: The Gathering which is obviously going to appeal greatly to some of you but not much to the rest. However they brought us on to talk about the potential Magic movie currently in development. They wanted to know our thoughts on how to make it good. We did our best. It was a great fun show and you guys should check it out, even if it’s just to hear us yammering about movies as usual. Big thanks to Chewie, and Bill, for having us on and Aaron and Mike for co-guesting so enthusiastically with us.
It's their Episode #393 Dated October 22nd 2015: School of Movies Epic Crossover
Guests:
Neil Taylor of TheKidDogg
Wednesday Feb 04, 2015
A Nightmare on Elm Street 1-9
Wednesday Feb 04, 2015
Wednesday Feb 04, 2015
Horrormeister Neil Taylor of GameBurst joins us to discuss the man of your dreams.
In the second half we cover the attempts to make Freddy into something else, having run him into the ground and becoming the law of diminishing returns when pitched against the kids of Elm Street itself.
First off in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare some folks from out of town uncover his secrets and kill the hell out of him, then Wes Craven imagines a demon taking the form of Freddy and attempting to emerge into the *real* world filled with Hollywood stars and terrible doctors, then he got pitted against lumbering, homicidal immortal Jason in a contest to see how many teenagers they could slaughter and finally he got rebooted by Michael Bay and re-imagined as the sinister, wisecracking rapist that the producers were previously hoping nobody would focus on.
Our heads hurt from hammering them on the desk.
Neil Taylor of TheKidDogg
Tuesday Feb 03, 2015
Peter Pan + Hook
Tuesday Feb 03, 2015
Tuesday Feb 03, 2015
[School of Movies 2015]
This is a look at three major cinematic outings for the boy who never grew up.
00.02.00: Peter Pan (1953)
00.39.00: Hook (1991)
01.08.00: Peter Pan (2003)
The first includes Mr Daniel Floyd of Extra Credits and focuses on the animated Disney movie. The second part we take a look at the Spielberg live action sequel and the third is the 2003 adaptation directed by P.J. Hogan.
Were’s honestly not all that keen on the first two, although both have their strengths (the Spielberg offering, more so; Hoffman, Smith, Hoskins, Basco, Williams, that poster), but we LOVE the third, so if you can stick around through what we find troubling you can come with us and get to the heart of Pan, interpreting all kinds of deeper elements in the telling of the story.
If you love these shows support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/alexandershaw
Guest:
Daniel Floyd of Extra Credits
Monday Feb 02, 2015
The Great Mouse Detective + Oliver & Company
Monday Feb 02, 2015
Monday Feb 02, 2015
[School of Movies 2016]
We're back on the Disney shows with Daniel Floyd, this time on the cusp of the 90s renaissance. This episode delves lightly into two of the last examples of their Dog/Cat/Mouse fetishism that defined the post-Walt wilderness years.
The Great Mouse Detective, originally named Basil of Baker Street (from the novel) is Sherlock Holmes with rodents. Oliver is the Twisty Dickens tale with a cat and a bunch of dogs in a painfully late 80s New York, presided over by prostitute-hating mayor Rudy Giuliani. We never see him in the film, but he's there all the same, along with his derision for people of colour and the impoverished, which fits rather well into the Victorian principles of the source novel.
This show was actually recorded several years ago and I apologise for my frequent interruptions of Dan and Sharon. I knew better than that back then and I have no excuse. I'll simply try my level best to let them speak without butting in as we record the final Disney shows. This episode is well-timed in its release as Moana has just launched in theatres and it is absolutely wonderful! Go see.
Guests:
Daniel Floyd of Extra Credits
Sunday Feb 01, 2015
Sunday Feb 01, 2015
[School of Movies 2016]
Continuing our Disney podcasts with Daniel Floyd of Extra Histories, this one covers the fifteen year period between 1970 and 1985.
It was a dark and odd time for the once great animation studio. Their mentor and namesake had fallen and they were carrying on without him, or the acclaim that went with the bold and beautiful films of their golden years.
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh theatrically released a package of three animated shorts. The Rescuers had a budget so low it barely had to sell any tickets to succeed commercially. The Fox and the Hound swung in the other direction, piling on the budget, only to receive middling critical and box-office response.
And as the company reformed in the early 1980s, having lost a dozen animators in a crippling walkout, the decision was made to throw untold amounts of money into a project that is now barely mentioned in the hallways of the House of Mouse, principally because the Black Cauldron only made half of that money back.
Guest:
Daniel Floyd of Extra Credits