The School of Movies Archive

Prometheus

[Digital Gonzo 2012]

33 years after the original film, the director that started off the series returns to the same universe to start a new one. Ridley Scott’s PROMETHEUS is arguably the most anticipated prequel to be released since The Phantom Menace, but is that word even an apt description of this film, considering what happens and what doesn’t? You could make a case that it serves as a remake as well. What’s certain is that after only a few days of release and before it’s even out in the USA, this film has caused a storm of negative and lukewarm responses, and a backlash of equally vociferous defense. 

This time there is opposition and a clash of opinion as we set out to get a balanced yet impassioned view on the movie. Spoilers abound from the start so be sure to watch it before listening.

Special Extended Edition: This version of the podcast now includes my final analysis at the end (around the 1.44 mark), answering many of the questions raised by the film by examining the original script by John Spaihts. This is available to view on YouTube with a ton of visual aid by searching for “Digital Gonzo: Prometheus Final Analysis”.

Guests:

Sharon Shaw of School of Movies

Joshua Garrity of Cane and Rinse

Matt Ramsey of GamerDork

James Perkins of The Digital Fix

Alien Resurrection

[Digital Gonzo 2012]

Quadrilogy (nonsense noun) Definition; “The greed-motivated act of adding a superfluous and worthless sequel to a trilogy that has been finished. Origin; Alien Resurrection.” - Oxford English Dictionary.

After Fincher’s effort ended Ellen Ripley’s story, the geniuses at Hollywood started plans for how a person could “get better” from being dead. Somebody mentioned cloning and within seconds a treatment was drafted.

Thereafter the future director of the fabulous film Amelie, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, along with scripting duties from the man behind Firefly brought us the disgusting fruits of the lowest points in their careers.

Ripley’s back. It’s 200 years in the future, Weyland-Yutani is no more and absolutely everything that doesn’t make a lick of sense in this cinematic turd is explainable by “Alien DNA”. This is the podcast review where some of us actually went berserk.

It’s hilarious. You’re welcome.

Guests:

Sharon Shaw of School of Movies

Leah Haydu of Some Other Castle

Joshua Garrity of Cane and Rinse

Matt Ramsey of GamerDork

James Perkins of The Digital Fix

Alien 3

[Digital Gonzo 2012]

David Fincher’s directorial debut has been maligned by most and loved by few. It’s a flawed, filthy, foreboding and occasionally really effective story. The end result of thirty script rewrites and years of troubled development. We get our teeth into how studio meddling by Fox left this project multibuggered to the point where it almost ended up an Alan Smithee picture. Fincher certainly disowned it and everybody involved was frustrated and disappointed, as were audiences everywhere. We examine this twenty-year old curio with great enthusiasm, starting with the utterly soul-destroying deaths at the opening.

Oh and huge props to Harry Partridge whose idea for rather brilliant videos I shamelessly copied for a neat bit of audio in this show.

Guests:

Sharon Shaw of School of Movies

Leah Haydu of Some Other Castle

Joshua Garrity of Cane and Rinse

Matt Ramsey of GamerDork

James Perkins of The Digital Fix

Aliens (Original 2012 Edit)

[Digital Gonzo 2012]

(Note: This episode has been significantly improved with a 2021 Re-Edit that can be found on the main School of Movies feed)

James Cameron took the helm and made this sequel into something that complimented and expanded upon the masterful original. With more of a Sci-Fi action feel, the director of Avatar, the only great Terminator films and Piranha II: The Spawning chose to focus on humorous machismo, strong female characters, and a socio-political, anti-military, anti-corporate agenda… it would not be the last time.

Once again we tried to be as serious as possible, once again we failed, hence the multitude of outtakes at the end which include at least one of us in the grip of hysterics.

Guests:

Sharon Shaw of School of Movies

Leah Haydu of Some Other Castle

Joshua Garrity of Cane and Rinse

Matt Ramsey of GamerDork

James Perkins of The Digital Fix

Alien

[Digital Gonzo 2012]

In this first and arguably best outing, directed by Ridley Scott, we take a look at a haunted house story set in space. A B-Movie creature feature lent integrity from its serious tone, sparing and masterful handling of tension and significant influence on several genres.

This was the film that made British-born Scott a key player in Hollywood, introduced the world to Sigourney Weaver, created one of the most iconic females in cinema history and one of the most terrifying monsters.

My crew and I try our level best to maintain a serious and bolted down tone throughout but inadvertently drummed up some of the funniest moments on Digital Gonzo yet. Maybe even a few Gonzo meme’s already exist within the darkened corridors of this episode. Stay tuned to the very end for that reason.

Guests:

Sharon Shaw of School of Movies

Leah Haydu of Some Other Castle

Joshua Garrity of Cane and Rinse

Matt Ramsey of GamerDork

James Perkins of The Digital Fix

 

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

[Digital Gonzo 2012]

This was the last ALIEN film produced leaving the once acclaimed series in the gutter of creature features filled with and made by talentless nobodies. The lack of gore in the Paul WS Anderson original caused the pendulum to swing back violently, the result being that this film is ONLY about the blood and guts. Its dingy, nasty, grotty, witless, artless garbage, unfit for the term “film” and the seven assembled reviewers get their critical teeth in with savage acuity.

The PREDATOR series fared better after this as the 2010 film PREDATORS was deliberately set apart from these crossovers and pitched itself as a follow-up to the 1987 original. As the spiritual equivalent of Cameron’s ALIENS it gave hope for continuation of that series. With Scott’s plans for the PROMETHEUS story skewing further away from the Alien franchise it could be a while before we see them emerge, dripping from the shadows once again.

Guests:

Sharon Shaw of School of Movies

Leah Haydu of Some Other Castle

Joshua Garrity of Cane and Rinse

Matt Ramsey of GamerDork

James Perkins of The Digital Fix

Neil Taylor of TheKiddDogg

 

Alien vs. Predator

[Digital Gonzo 2012]

Director of two of the Resident Evil movies and producer of the rest, Paul WS Anderson helmed the first PG-13 foray for these licenses, combining them into one family-friendly Jurassic Park-style romp. If you’ve not seen it the plot could be adequately described on the back of a matchbox or indeed with crude, crayon diagrams. Humans go somewhere they shouldn’t, looking for stuff. They find ALIENS and then PREDATORs show up. The humans go squish and the creatures fight. It’s a right palava.

Josh Garrity of Cane and Rinse, Leah Haydu of GamerDork, Sharon Shaw of Gonzo Planet, James Perkins of Geek Wad and Matt Ramsey of DorkTunes are now joined by Neil Taylor of GameBurst as I bring this intrepid group of explorers closer to the ignoble end of one franchise that only ever needed to be two movies and another that maybe didn’t even need that many.

Find out what happened thousands of years ago, hear the deep-sea sequel idea conceived and marvel at the inappropriate attempted vocal characterization of the PREDATORS.

Guests:

Sharon Shaw of School of Movies

Leah Haydu of Some Other Castle

Joshua Garrity of Cane and Rinse

Matt Ramsey of GamerDork

James Perkins of The Digital Fix

Neil Taylor of TheKiddDogg