The School of Movies Archive

Daredevil

[Digital Drift 2015]

Returning to the welcoming bosom of Marvel, Sharon and I take a good hard look at the 2003 attempt at bringing The Man Without Fear to our screens.

Fox rather unwisely competed with Spider-Man at the time, leading to a rather troubled production, hence the hastily cobbled-together millennial rubber bouncy jumping action and the vast disparity between the somewhat nonsensical theatrical edition and the little-seen but more naratively-sound director’s cut.

And then of course there’s Ben Affleck as Matt Murdoch, slaloming between gravely-grim and smirking sex-pest. The costumes which range from the outlandish to party-wear, Michael Clarke Duncan’s show-stealing turn as the Kingpin and yes, that playground fight. We always rather liked this movie.

It was made with comic book geeks in mind and filled with references, winks and nods. The soundtrack is very much of its time and punctuates this podcast and the film has become very dated when held up against modern superhero fare. BUT we don’t think it deserves the scorn heaped upon it. Certainly not enough of a reason to dismiss Affleck as Batman, when this is actually pretty accurate to Frank Miller’s Daredevil.

 

Breaking Dawn

[Digital Drift 2015]

Here’s the second part of our analysis of the Twilight saga. There’s some really silly and occasionally genuinely troubling material in here, but also some surprisingly heartfelt moments that caught us offguard.

If you love these shows support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/alexandershaw

Twilight + New Moon + Eclipse

[Digital Drift 2015]

To coincide with the release of Fifty Shades of Grey, Sharon and I went back to the source material with a pair of shows we’ve been sitting on for a year! We had to put Pinocchio on hod for this one but he’ll be back in two weeks. 

In this initial volume we review the first three installments of the Twilight Saga. 

It’s my theory that these books and films are the Nickelback of the literary and cinematic worlds, hated on general principle. Partly because in the eyes of many they pervert the mythos of the vampire, daring to make the suckers sparkle in the sun rather than exploding. Partly because of their immense popularity, which always creates a counter-culture. 

So Sharon and I dived in attempting to review the films themselves in a vacuum. Those who hate the films may hate this podcast because we’re rather kind and enthusiastic. Those that love them will hate this podcast because we call them on the rubbish, the weaker elements and the more troubling aspects (especially in the two-part finale of Breaking Dawn). So welcome to a show nobody is going to love.

If you love these shows support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/alexandershaw

 

Troll + Troll 2

[Digital Drift 2014]

To kick off a discussion about “nanar”; that is movies that are so spectacularly bad that they wrap right the way round into great we bring you the podcast reviews of Troll and Troll 2. This also constitutes our Halloween Spooktacular and gives you all something fun to listen to while taking shelter from the GamerGate debate.

Troll was a daft fantasy horror movie made in 1986. It’s hard to say who it’s aimed at because it’s too scary for small children and too silly for anyone over the age of nine. It has inflections of Gremlins and Poltergeist but none of the style or craftsmanship. There are plenty of surprising and appealing nuggets of fun to be had amongst the weird “troll-menaces-apartment-block” plot and some disarmingly canny performances to boot, but ultimately this was one of those films made to be forgotten.

Until Troll 2 came along in 1990 that is. This isn’t a sequel of any sort. It was originally going to be called “Goblins” and the name was changed so as to purposefully be confused with the mildly successful Troll. Now that’s the sort of creative pedigree that makes us sit up and take notice. Dig even further into this green gloop and you’ll find it is one of the most incompetently constructed movies ever, with every single scene botched in some way and some world class overacting and delivery by the hysterical cast. The short of it is; Family goes on a house exchange to a town in Utah named “Nilbog” turns out it’s full of goblins. They like to eat people after turning them partly into vegetable matter. Also the boy has the Shining or something. Clickety clack.  

It has in recent times been rediscovered and cherished by a select group of fans celebrating its sheer badness. A documentary by its now grown up child star; “Best Worst Movie” was made in 2010 and is available on Netflix UK. In it we re-acquaint ourselves with the oddball cast reflecting back on when they took part in this extraordinary project. The brilliant review podcast “We Hate Movies” won’t cover Troll 2, because in their words, what are they going to say that’s funnier than anything within this film? We had to at least try since in the UK this is not infamous and is barely even known. That’s an injustice we’d like to redress.

Don’t worry about seeing these first. Listen to the show to get a feel and then track down the R1 double DVD set if it sounds like your thing. 

It also leads to a discussion about nanar film and whether or not it is possible to make one on purpose, with a wonderful little inspirational piece on that subject from The Idea Channel, which you should be watching every week. 

 

The Iron Giant

[Digital Drift 2014]

This is it. Alex’s 400th podcast. And what better way to celebrate a broadcasting career like this than with something lovingly crafted, and beloved by its small but enthusiastic fanbase?

This summer everyone fell in love with Groot, voiced by Vin Diesel. Journey back fifteen years to a very similar performance in a lost film to be found and absolutely treasured. The Iron Giant was one of the final hurrah’s for 2D cell animation at the end of a decade that marked a major renaissance for Disney, on the cusp of a new age of 3D animation.

The mid 1950s and the sleepy town of Rockwell, Maine is visited by an alien behemoth. A titan of iron, innocent and inquisitive, found and befriended by a young boy and the cause of alarm and violent aggression from an America living under the shadow of the mushroom cloud. It’s funny, clever, sweet, beautiful, tragic and ultimately as life-affirming as it gets, so naturally hardly anyone saw it. Warner Bros were in the process of dismantling their animation division and pratfall comedy Inspector Gadget was playing next door with the marketing clout of Disney behind it so there was no contest really. Ironically Warner not being too invested in the sale of this thing to America granted the creative team all manner of freedom to make the film they really wanted to. 

Our team of intrepid explorers fight the red menace of apathy and delve into the Giant’s metal frame to root out every riveting detail, Dan Floyd of Extra Credits, Joshua Garrity of Cane and Rinse and The Animation Archives, Jerome McIntosh of GameBurst and Nama Chibitty of the Digital Drift Community.

 

RoboCop

[Digital Drift 2014]

To coincide with the release of the 2014 remake, we bring you this journey into the flesh & metal heart of the 1987 original. 

We were planning to cover the trilogy but the sequel bored us more than expected and the third movie (aside from a lunatic robot ninja chap) didn’t even have the decency to be amusingly terrible. Also if there’s no through-story or the sequels don’t even really observe the developments in the original is it not actually a trilogy at all, but a successful story and its licensed and incompetent copycats? A discussion for another time perhaps.

Guest:

Neil Taylor of TheKidDogg 

Kill Bill

[Digital Drift 2014]

Welcome to the introductory episode of Digital Drift. With the first two volumes of my podcast, Digital Cowboys and Digital Gonzo now complete that makes this the 370th podcast episode I’ve put out. For the third volume I have recruited a new co-host to share the creative load; my wife, Sharon Shaw. She’ll be offering the show a second voice and a ton of perspective.

And we’ve decided to go right back to the beginning on this one with a prototype for the Gonzo movie reviews, released on the Digital Cowboys feed in May 2010 many months before I began the Star Wars Gonzo reviews. This was originally two hour-long episodes covering both volumes of Kill Bill. We’ve taken them, trimmed away the bits that didn’t work, added more clips and music and some additional segments with our views on the films four years on. You can hear how we were back then, what’s changed and what’s stayed the same.

We’ll be releasing regular episodes throughout 2014, interspersed with Digital Cowboys to give me room to write the book. Focus will be on more conceptual topics (much like the Fan Response show of Digital Gonzo) and while movie reviews will still remain, we’ll be doing a lot more interviews and shorter, discussion podcasts, bringing on the experts so that we don’t have to devote all our time studying absolutely everything.

Kill Bill is in both of our top three movies lists and by the time you get to the end of this one you’ll know why.

 

Pacific Rim

[Digital Gonzo 2013]

Passed off as simply enjoyable dumb fun, and about nothing more besides enormous robots hitting big monsters, this movie proved to be absolutely perfect for the Gonzo style of analysis, being in fact deeply textured, nuanced and detailed.

I am joined for this joyful exploration of the lovingly crafted world of Guillermo Del Toro. We hope we can redress the balance on this and get my favourite film of 2013 recognized by a few more people as a modern masterpiece in visual storytelling. 

This was the final episode of Digital Gonzo. We went away for several weeks and had a think about re-formatting, then came back as Digital Drift. 

Guests:

Sharon Shaw of School of Movies

Joshua Garrity of Cane and Rinse

Neil Taylor of TheKidDogg

Alasdair Stuart of Escape Artists

Green Lantern

[Digital Gonzo 2013]

We chose Green lantern to kick this off because he’s the first proper DC hero to get a big screen movie since superheroes became a serious business who wasn’t the Kryptonian or the Bat. Also because we just finished watching the now-canceled Green Lantern: The Animated Series and defying all expectation it turned out to be my second-favourite animated show after Avatar. I do not mince words here, this is a must-see series, criminally cut off in its prime.

It is available in Region 1 as two DVD sets and should set you back around £22

As well as this and the movie we talk about the history of the character, his other animated outings and his development through the comics. 

1. History of Green Lantern

2. DC Animated Universe Appearances

3. First Flight

4. Emerald Knights

5. 2011 Live Action Movie

6. The Animated Series

7. Comics by Geoff Johns

This is a Dynamic Analysis and you will hear from various other contributors.

1. How to repel newcomers from Green Lantern by Andy Rodriguez

2. Who You Callin’ Yellow? by Jamas Enright

3. Going Green by Movie Bob, from the Big Picture show on The Escapist

4. Weakness and Strength by Nama Chibitty

5. Alex Eding a True Lantern Fan’s Rant on the Green Lantern Movie

(1 & 2 read by Matt Ramsey.)

Guests:

Sharon Shaw of School of Movies

Matt Ramsey of GamerDork

Jerome McIntosh of GameBurst

Alex Eding of Plaid Hat Games

Watchmen

[Digital Gonzo 2013]

Continuing our in-depth investigations into the most important big screen depictions of The Superman, this time we’re looking at the 2009 adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ seminal graphic novel, Watchmen. It contains a being of supreme power and a frightened world on the verge of self-destruction. It is also a satirical sideways glance at the otherwise ordinary people who put on masks and take to the streets to fight crime.  I finally have a name for this new style. I’ve never been happy with the word “Review” to describe what we do here at Gonzo. A good critic can get a film reviewed in ten minutes. What these shows are, what they have been for years and now with the more delineated sections for focused audio articles by myself and other contributors I will, from now on be describing as…

“Dynamic Analyses” 

I had to think up something punchy that was shorthand for ridiculously detailed and nerdy examination of every facet of a piece of media, from the viewpoint of multiple sources, and I think it fits rather well. Anyway, what better work to flex the new format to than the single most sacred cow in comic history. 

Who’s for steak? 

I kid, I kid… but seriously, we go into this one fearlessly and hold both book and film to account, whilst celebrating their strong points. 

Table of contents.

1. Intro
2. The Long and Winding Road to Watching Watchmen 
3. Tales of the Black Freighter (Lorin Grieve)
4. A Digital Cowboy on Watchmen (Tony Atkins) 
5. Round-table 1:  Alternate History / Adaptation / Music
6. Four Points on Watchmen (David Hartrick) 
7. Round-table 2: Cold war
8. Not Quite Watchmen (Joshua Garrity)
9. Never Read It (Matt Ramsey)
10. Time Observation
11. Round-table 3: Comedian / Rorschach
12. Silk Specter II: An Exercise in Ambivalence (Sharon Shaw)
13. Round-table 4: Dan Dreiberg / Doctor Manhattan / Ozymandias / The End
14. Walking With Giants 
15. Epilogue

———

3. Read by Sharon Shaw
6. Read by Matt Ramsey

Guests:

Joshua Garrity of Cane and Rinse

Sharon Shaw of School of Movies

Hancock

[Digital Gonzo 2013]

This is going to be a challenge for me. We’re looking at a film that is not loved, not even regularly liked. It’s been derided, dismissed and largely forgotten. It holds a meager 41% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and I’m in the unique position of thinking it’s great. REALLY great. Not only that, but it’s my favourite Superman film to date and that includes Man of Steel. 

So if you’re not a fan of the 2008 movie, Hancock, allow me to paint you a picture of what I’m seeing. I know it’s going to be hard for a lot of you. All you will remember is a mess and the feeling of two mismatched halves shoved together. We’re going to uncover why they match perfectly, why it’s not messy at all and why it’s one of the greatest superhero films ever made. 

I am Jason Bateman, you are the good people of Los Angeles. Let me tell you why Hancock is important to all of us.

* Intro 
* Kermode on Hancock 
* Tonight He Comes 
* The Rejected Hero 
* The Details 
* Conflict 
* Round-table 
* The Reluctant Hero 

Guests:

Sharon Shaw of School of Movies

Jerome McIntosh of GameBurst

Serenity

[Digital Gonzo 2012]

Time to cover the 2005 movie that closed out the TV series. Take a journey with us on the final flight of Serenity, a superb, funny, clever, emotional and mostly ignored Sci-Fi cult classic, destined to travel on and find new audiences, decades and even centuries into our future.

Stick around to the end for some goram hilarious outtakes and a wonderful version of the Firefly Theme from Michelle Dockrey entitled “Mal’s Song”.

Guests:

Sharon Shaw of School of Movies

Leah Haydu of Some Other Castle

Joshua Garrity of Cane and Rinse

Matt Ramsey of GamerDork

Gary Blower of GameBurst

Monster House

[Digital Gonzo 2012]

To celebrate Halloween I’m reviewing Monster House, one of the few movies ever put out by ImageMovers Digital.

It uses an identical performance capture technique to the Uncharted series, Heavenly Sword, Enslaved and The Last of Us. This is a technique that usually freaks people out because of the Uncanny Valley, less so in games because we’re used to seeing CG modeling but in the cinema people wonder why they’re not just looking at real people.

This is the most stylised of IMD’s catalog. They wisely make the character models more cartoonish and slightly claymation-looking which is easier to accept in the brainpan.

Joining me for this review are Neil Taylor of GameBurst and Jerome McIntosh of the Gonzo Planet community.

The plot runs thus: DJ, a young lad in an American suburb, watches the house across the street, the only occupant being a creepy, angry old man. There’s something funny going on inside and DJ is determined to find out what. 

It’s Halloween and his parents are going away, leaving him with a babysitter, which is embarrassing because he is on the cusp of growing up. His tubby, exuberant and scaredy-cat friend Chowder wants to go trick or treating one last time which DJ considers them now a bit too old for. And a smug, preppy swot of a girl named Jenny comes calling, selling cookies like a pro. All of them end up fixated on this house and what could be inside.
That Halloween night they find out. 

If you like The Goonies, Stand By Me or other 80′s adventures that don’t patronise the kids and have them talking like real people (Super 8 is another one even though it’s made in 2011 and set in 1979), you will love this. It’s a little bit too scary for young kids if you have them so watch it first. There are some great moments of comedy and a fantastic atmosphere of exploration. Also it’s got a solid emotional core. Ultimately it’s a story about growing up and what you have to leave behind.

Guests:

Neil Taylor of TheKiddDogg

Jerome McIntosh of GameBurst

 

The Last Airbender

[Digital Gonzo 2012]

This one serves as an introduction to Avatar since my estimate is that 97% of you, my listeners have never had the pleasure of this, maybe the finest animated TV series in the world, and I do not use those words lightly.

The Legend of Aang is a story that starts out aimed at kids aged 6-11 but rapidly becomes something far more compelling to all age groups and walks of life. Taking inspiration from eastern mythology and martial arts, but with a fresh, original and very funny energy. Set over three series, which are paced like books, this has the scale of Lord of the Rings and the heart of Toy Story. You will find yourself devouring episodes, hungry for more as it draws towards a conclusion that will leave you breathless.

That series won ten major awards and ran from 2005 - 2008 but in an extremely rare instance Nickelodeon green-lit a follow-up series named The Legend of Korra which aired in 2012 and immediately met with massive success. It features gorgeous, animation that surpasses most theatrically released movies and a plot that embraces even more unexpectedly mature social themes than its predecessor. Nickelodeon was so impressed with the feedback, viewing figures and critical response that they recently ordered forty more episodes, a move that made my team here misty-eyed with joy.

To put the whole thing in perspective we review in this episode the disastrous, turgid and utterly hated cinematic outing from 2010, directed by M Night Shyamalan. Using it as a foil to explain what they did so wrong with the movie that was done so right on the show.

Joining me for this spoiler-free sizzle to convince you of what’s been missing from your life all these years I have Daniel Floyd, Pixar animator and the voice of Extra Credits and Joshua Garrity of the Cane and Rinse podcast and The Animation Archives, presented by Gonzo Planet. Also of Gonzo Planet, my ever-patient wife Mrs Sharon Shaw, anime and comic book fanatic Mr Jerome McIntosh and for one of his very first Gonzo shows, Mr Duane Griffiths.

Guests:

Daniel Floyd of Extra Credits

Joshua Garrity of Cane and Rinse

Sharon Shaw of School of Movies

Jerome McIntosh of GameBurst

Duane Griffiths of the Digital Gonzo community