The School of Movies Archive

The Sixth Sense

[School of Movies 2016]

This is the first of two episodes covering the brief period of time when M. Night Shyamalan was suddenly an amazing new director. 

Sharon and I go deep into this wonderful, delicate, tense, terrifying, heartbreaking ghost story including some really arresting colour theory. 

Suicide Squad

[School of Movies 2016]

DC continue their epic campaign of not being able to pull together a cinematic universe that many people enjoy being in.
There has been much said of Suicide Squad already and backlash across the board. If critics are critical they get it in the neck from one crowd, if they praise it they get it in the neck from the other crowd, if they vocalise their view that it's a mixed bag they get a heady cocktail of flak from BOTH crowds.

So here's a mixed bag for you. 

This film is empirically botched in the edit. It most definitely has problems of tone, structure and characterisation and has clearly and manifestly been mismanaged by too many executives unsure of exactly what film they wanted.

I'm going to say the people who enjoyed it are capable of overlooking those problems or consider them to be more than made up for by the good stuff.

Bob "Moviebob" Chipman joins myself, Sharon, Brenden Agnew and James Perkins to look at what the hell happened here.

Guests:

Bob Chipman of Geek.com

Brendan Agnew of Cinapse

James Perkins of The Digital Fix

Star Trek Beyond

[School of Movies 2016]

We are back to talk about the latest Trek movie, one which is being hailed as the best for many years by some and "Still not good enough" by others.

We start off with the question "Why do people hate J.J. Abrams?" because I think it's worth discussing before we get into the first of the alternate universe movies not directed by him.

After that we look at many aspects of this confidently delivered classic spacefaring adventure, rounding off by ranking the thirteen Trek movies.

Rejoining Sharon and I are Brenden Agnew and Kaoru Negisa, and they are joined by newcomer to the show Eric Jones.

Guests:

Kaoru Negisa of Sequentially Yours

Brendan Agnew of Cinapse

Eric Jones of Waxing Cinematic

 

Star Trek Into Darkness

[School of Movies 2016]

This second foray into New Star Trek is hard to get a balanced view on. Those who liked the 2009 reboot found a movie of similar energy and vibrancy but with more flaws, those who hated the new continuity had more of the same to rage about, especially as it turned out to be a not-so-secret remake of Wrath of Khan. Into Darkness reviewed well with an 86% freshness rating but when people talk about it, usually it's in a negative context. 

Alex starts off with a monologue that compares the strengths of both new and old films. This is followed by some lengthy discussion on where they went wrong from everybody else. 

Guests:

Kaoru Negisa of Sequentially Yours

Brendan Agnew of Cinapse

Joe Simpson of Anfield Index Movie Night

Aaron LaCluyze of Card Advantage

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

[School of Movies 2016]

 

This show covers the 1982 classic and probably most widely loved of the original six Star Trek movies (maybe the first ten... maybe the first thirteen!)  With Leonard Nimoy no longer with us, composer James Horner no longer with us, not to mention DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Ricardo Montablan and who knows who else will follow as 2016 continues its scything away of our heroes, this is a bittersweet experience to watch now.

Guests:

Kaoru Negisa of Sequentially Yours

Brendan Agnew of Cinapse

Joe Simpson of Anfield Index Movie Night

Aaron LaCluyze of Card Advantage

Ghostbusters: Answer the Call

[School of Movies 2016]

To get a really good meta conversation going wherein we still managed to focus on the movie for what it was rather than what we wanted it to be we recruited Bob "Moviebob" Chipman.

Maybe the most anticipated follow-up since Star Wars and maybe the least wanted reboot, New Ghostbusters had some enormous boots to fill and an immense amount of people to prove itself to.

Considering one of the possibilities mooted since 1989 and the deflating balloon that was Ghostbusters 2 was Adam Sandler and his wretched cronies squeezing into the overalls to bust ghosts with all the enthusiasm and respect for the source material that they brought to Pixels this movie could have been far, FAR worse!

Guests:

Bob Chipman of Geek.com

The Thing

[School of Movies 2016]

John Carpenter's remake of The Thing from Another World, based on the novel Who Goes There was woefully unappreciated on initial release, for reasons we will go into on this show. It has, over the next three decades become a sci-fi pop-culture classic, unblemished by greedy meddling studios desperate to wring every penny from nostalgia. Even the remake/prequel, while slavishly loyal to the aesthetic and tone of this one and not endeavouring to actually be *about* anything isn't all that bad. 

Joshua Garrity of Cane and Rinse and Neil Taylor of GameBurst consider it one of their all-time favourites and in this show you'll find out why it's still so effective. 

This episode exists thanks to Nick Grugin, one of our patreon sponsors buying us a new mic when ours broke. For that show of generosity and faith in our work we are doing one of our first request shows and if you would like something similar done for something you love then this episode has all the details on how you can sponsor us to do an episode. Our weekly movie podcast will continue to be free for everyone and you can back us on patreon like the other awesome people who support this show, but we're also freelance podcast reviewers now.

Guests:

Neil Taylor of TheKidDogg

Joshua Garrity of Cane and Rinse

Independence Day + Resurgence

[School of Movies 2016]

In this episode we talk about the first film from 1996, the sequel from 2016 and the state of Britain post-Brexit. 

It's thematically resonant with current events since the angle of the first movie is "We can succeed together" and the angle of the second seems to be "Look at these pretty, young people as they save the day for America." 

Be sure to check out Bob Chipman's YouTube episode of Really That Good on the first Independence Day, it is superb. 

Masters of the Universe

[School of Movies 2016]

This time around Sharon and I take a look at a movie nobody asked for a review of and that most people are either unaware of or just plain dislike. The 1987 attempt to bring He-Man to the big screen.

Eschewing a land of swords and sorcery blended with crazy technology in favour of running around American suburbs at night dressed like utter plonkers this film was presented with the task of making space barbarian He-Man real and relevant to teenagers in the 80s. It fails, but it fails spectacularly and earnestly which, for us is enjoyable to watch. 

So out with the old Masters of the Universe and in with Gwildor, (the exuberant wizard-dwarf), Blade (the guy with the blades), Saurod (the guy who gets killed) and Karg (the over-designed glam metal housecat with a hook for a hand), in with Courtney Cox and in with Kevin! And VERY much in with bored-looking, pleasant-berserker; Dolph Lundgren's He-Man and ranting, gloating, aggressive Frank Langella's Skeletor. 

Whether you have fun watching the movie or not you'll probably have fun with us here.

Warcraft

[School of Movies 2016]

This is a troubling film for us. My overriding feeling on leaving the theater was not just being pissed off and disappointed, but angry at many of the decisions taken that will leave general audiences cold to this, and unless it does gangbusters overseas will greatly reduce the chances of a sequel that could correct these oversights.
But then again, the Transformers movies are increasingly more vile and poorly received, yet clean up worldwide and continuously break a billion, so you never know for sure. 

This is a game series and a concept that is important to a great deal of people. It was more important to show everyone else why they should care as well rather than placate fans of the lore. 

Join Sharon and I with Glen Watts as we discuss what went wrong that resulted in a critical mauling. There are still definitely elements we like, but they are bogged down in a lot of stuff we don't, and that people don't respond well to in general.

Guest:

Glen Watts

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles + Out of the Shadows

[School of Movies 2016]

This show covers both the 2014 reboot of the Turtles (recorded a year ago and stored in our vault for this very week) AND the 2016 sequel, Out of the Shadows. 

It's Sharon and I going back to a series that has had patches of good, flashes of great but never produced a truly brilliant film. It's also been plagued by some horrible decisions on the parts of the creators, hair-brained, patronizing, head-slappingly dismal attempts to cash in again on the four green brothers once ubiquitous Turtlemania. 

So how do Michael Bay's Turtles stack up against both the previous movies and the Transformers series, which this is now intrinsically linked with?

X-Men: Apocalypse

[School of Movies 2016]

Honestly,  the pains I went through to get this to you. It turned into a really fun but shouty show with a lot of editorializing. 

I strongly advise against going to see this film. Listen to the show at least before you decide. It DOES go into every detail of the plot, but frankly I don't think we could spoil it any more than Fox, Singer and Kinberg have already. 

Jerome McIntosh of GameBurst who also saw the movie joined me with Sharon who hadn't.

Guest:

 

Jerome McIntosh of GameBurst

Captain America: Civil War

[School of Movies 2016]

It's quickly jumped to the top of many a Marvel fans' favourites list. Combining the tone of Winter Soldier with the character lineup of Age of Ultron, this has been what people consider a worthy follow-up to the original 2012 Avengers Assemble. 

 

It was an almost impossible task: To more than adequately adapt a Marvel comics crossover of dozens of books, built on forty years of continuity, featuring dozens of characters into two and a half hours, featuring just one dozen characters and built on only eight years.

 

Not only have they succeeded, they managed to focus and update the sprawling text version, striking all the major points, kept the tone balanced between serious social commentary, nail-biting tension and riotous fun, delivered arguably the best superhero battle of all time, two AMAZING new heroes that left us slavering for their solo films, and somehow neither Iron Man nor Captain America were left overshadowed, but in fact came to new peaks of their long arcs in entirely natural fashion. 

Frankly, it's a masterpiece. 

Guests:

Joshua Garrity of Cane and Rinse

Jerome McIntosh of GameBurst

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice

[School of Movies 2016]

We start off with my initial thoughts on coming back from the cinema. Then there’s a considerably more positive ten minute piece from Eric Jones. Then we get to the rotten meat of the whole bloody affair. Bob Chipman joins myself, Sharon Shaw and Jerome McIntosh to discuss the film in a more meta context, including what DC Warner’s options are, moving forward. 

00.00.30: First Impressions
00.40.00: A More Positive Response
00.56.00: The Main Event

Guests: 

Bob Chipman of Moviebob

Jerome McIntosh of GameBurst

Eric Jones of Waxing Cinematic

Sucker Punch

[School of Movies 2016]

In the run-up to Batman V Superman, let's take a dive into the mind of director Zack Snyder. Let's look at how he sees the world, how he sees the human psyche and how he sees women.

Prepare for a furious battle of wills as Alex goes in guns blazing to take apart a film he never wants to talk about again, and Lorin Grieve defends the movie he loves. Sharon lies somewhere in the middle, but there's a hell of a lot about this that bothers her too.

Get some interpretations that the filmmakers definitely didn't consider, and learn how very vague their feelings are on what this story is actually about. 

Is this a determined feminist text or something far more clumsy and unintentional? The evidence gets presented in and epic disassembling that hopefully will leave your minds clearer. 

This happens to be our 150th dedicated movie show.

Guest:

Doctor Lorin Grieve from Year of Steam

Ghost rider + Punisher + Elektra

[School of Movies 2016]

We finally come to the dregs of the Marvel cinematic outings. After this it's things like the Hasselhoff Nick Fury, the early Captain Americas and Swamp Thing which barely qualify as movies. 

* Ghost Rider (2007): Nick Cage as eccentric fusion of Spawn and The Mask on a motorbike. 
* Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011): Cage sleepwalks in pursuit of Antichrist. Filmed in a quarry. 
* The Punisher (2004): Thomas Jane plays urban Machiavelli. Travolta never stops being furious. 
* Punisher: War Zone (2008): Ray Stevenson is miserable. Many men are punished. 
* Elektra: (2005) Jennifer Garner stares at lake Tahoe for 90 minutes. Also occasional ninjas. 

If you disagree with any of these assessments and think we are being unfair and need to loudly set us straight our Twitter name is @NotSchoolofMovies

Either way it's a rip-roaring show as we shred these turkeys and prepare for the newest Punisher incarnation in the dark, urban, gritty, realistic, depressing Netflix shows.

Deadpool

[School of Movies 2016]

An unexpected, unprepared impromptu podcast about the Deadpool movie, which defied all expectations. 

The adventures of a heavy-for-hire who gets cancer, leaves his girlfriend in secret to get it cured and ends up as a target for weird medical experiments by a company that wants to make super mercenaries out of the homeless and the terminally ill. He is tortured until his body becomes naturally super and left with a face that looks like a bald, pickled hedgehog. 

Unable to reconcile with his girlfriend, because of said face he spends a year tracking down the man who did this to him, dresses in an exotic red outfit and kills lots and lots of people along the way. Eventually they kidnap the girlfriend and he goes to a junk yard to get her back with some new friends he met on the road, one of whom is made of metal, the other of whom can make herself explode. Kills lots more people. I won't spoil the ending. 

It's way better than it sounds.

Love the shows, kick us a few dollars: https://www.patreon.com/alexandershaw?ty=h

Guests:

Jason "Chewie" Slate of The Mana Pool

Ciaran Dachtler of The Overlords

Brendan Agnew of the D1 Podcast

Jesse Ferguson

 

Flight of Dragons

[School of Movies 2016]

This is a TV special movie from 1982 made by Rankin Bass (Thundercats/The Hobbit/Rudolph). It is essentially a Dungeons & Dragons adventure and very twee and earnest so you're going to have to leave your cynicism at the door. 

It's based on a book of speculative fiction by Peter Dickinson whereby he presents the theories on how dragons might actually have operated and flown. This is woven very loosely into some of the narrative of another book named The Dragon and the George, by Gordon R. Dickson.

This is a movie I grew up with and has been pretty much forgotten by history. It has received minimal home releases, virtually everyone involved in its undocumented production has passed away and now only its scant few fans keep its memory alive.

So in accordance, we brought in newcomers to the film Lorin Grieve (A Year of Steam) and Jerome McIntosh (GameBurst) and went ridiculously deep on it, covering every moment to bring you all along on the adventure. 

We swear quite a bit though, as we have to assess this with adult eyes, so kids are going to have to wait for this one. 

The good news if you're American is that you can rent this on Amazon instant video for $3 (or buy it for $10), the DVD is harder to come by, especially in the UK where you may even have to resort to VHS. 

Guests:

Lorin Grieve of Year of Steam

Jerome McIntosh of GameBurst

Kung Fu Panda

[School of Movies 2016]

This is one of the most special and important animated movies to me. It’s a classic example of being perfectly underestimated. Both the movie and it’s rotund protagonist are anticipated by most to be a goofy, shambolic collection of pratfalls, but both turn out to be so much more.

We discuss what may be the pinnacle of Dreamworks’ animated achievements to date, and to me, certainly rivals the best of Disney, pixar and Studio Ghibli. 

Guest:

Jerome McIntosh of GameBurst

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

[School of Movies 2016]

This was recorded at the end of last year because we knew we had the Disney Robin hood show coming up and felt his mythos needed diving into some more. He is, after all, one of Britain's most abiding legends. 

So we chose our favourite Robin Hood movie and ended up talking about how very silly it is instead. Contrived plot, hammy acting and historical inaccuracies out the wazoo, but damn it we love it even more now that it's gotten the School of Movies treatment.

And then Alan Rickman died. 

One of the greatest actors of all time just up and died on us, leaving a bewildered world to pick over his many achievements, one of which was the pantomime villain of a Sheriff in this movie. 

Guests:

Iain Hopwood of Year of Steam

Megan Hopwood of Tiger's Eye 

The Force Awakens

[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. 

If you love these shows support their production on patreon.

 

Guests:

 

Jerome McIntosh of GameBurst

James Carter of Cane and Rinse

Parris Lilly of Film Tangent

James Batchelor of the Bond and Beyond

Alex Eding of Plaid Hat Games

Spectre

[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

Skyfall

[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

 

Supergirl

[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. 

Scream 1-4

[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

A Nightmare on Elm Street 1-9

[School of Movies 2015]

 

The first half of this episode covers A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) and  A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989). 

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. 

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

 

Guests:

Neil Taylor of TheKidDogg

 

Peter Pan + Hook

[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

The Great Mouse Detective + Oliver & Company

[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

Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh + Rescuers + Fox and the Hound + Black Cauldron

[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

Robin Hood

[School of Movies 2016]

Robin Hood (1973) is 83 minutes of amusing shenanigans. It's twee, minimally dramatic, fun and light with lovable simple characters. It did not restore Disney to the heights of Snow White and Cinderella popularity it had previously reached. 

Originally we recorded a paltry ten minute chat about Disney's Robin Hood during our sessions with Daniel Floyd, because there really wasn't much to talk about aside from it being a pleasant experience. We decided to add to this with an in-depth discussion about the impact of this movie on a community that's been going far longer than any of us have been alive; the furries.

Since Sharon and I are not experts in this matter we brought in Lorin Grieve of A Year of Steam to explain how these folks tick in different ways, what media they love and some of the history, whilst dispelling a few prejudices along the way. 

Guest:

Daniel Floyd of Extra Credits

Doctor Lorin Grieve from Year of Steam

101 Dalmatians + Sword in the Stone + Jungle Book + Aristocats

[School of Movies 2016]

The Disney shows return. Daniel Floyd of Extra Credits is back to talk us through the difficult 1960s period for Walt Disney Studios.

101 Dalmatians
The Sword in the Stone
The Jungle Book
The Aristocats

Animation was changing, cinema was being influenced by television and for some reason people really liked British writers. In this show we'll talk about where Disney went after their expensive Sleeping Beauty project failed to hit Snow White status, and the aftermath of Walt's passing.

Guest:

Daniel Floyd of Extra Credits

Lady and the Tramp + Sleeping Beauty

[School of Movies 2015]

The Disney shows continue with Lady and the Tramp and Sleeping Beauty, guest starring Daniel Floyd once again.

These were the last gasps for ink and paint animation. If you look at the lustrous colours and brush strokes you will see a distinct difference from the more penciled xerox process that ran from 101 Dalmatians all the way up to The Little Mermaid. 

So it's a charming little story about a dog that gets ignored over a new baby and falls in with a vagrant, and a beautiful girl who sings to owls, says 18 lines and then falls asleep causing the social and economic upheaval of an entire kingdom. 

But delve deeper and the America portrayed in Lady is a very personal idealized one to Walt himself, and Sleeping Beauty was an immense risk tied up in the making of the parks that was one of the most successful movies of the year, yet still failed to meet its expectations. 

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

Guest:

Daniel Floyd of Extra Credits

Cinderella + Alice in Wonderland

[School of Movies 2015]

The Disney shows continue with parts 12 & 13. Daniel Floyd of Extra Credits joins us once again to discuss the much-needed success of Cinderella for cementing Disney as more than just a one-hit wonder. Following this we delve into the absurd ramblings of Lewis Carol to talk about Alice in Wonderland.

According to the Disney of the early 1950s royals will chase you down on black horses in the middle of the night, base the future of their family upon footwear, play croquet with live animals, hold complex legal disputes over jam tarts and cut your head off for the slightest offense. Either way don’t go anywhere near Buckingham palace.

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

Guest:

Daniel Floyd of Extra Credits

Disney’s Wartime Films

[School of Movies 2015]

The Disney specials continue with parts 6-11 covering the period between 1942 and 1949 when, due to World War II the studio held off on major animated features and instead focused on cheaply produced package films designed to foster relations with South America and keep their struggling animation house afloat. 

It’s an odd bunch, comprising Saludos Amigos, The Three Cabelleros, Make Mine Music, Fun and Fancy Free, Melody Time and The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr Toad. Virtually none of these are remembered or cherished and on listening to this episode you’ll understand why. Daniel Floyd shoulders the majority of the appraisal this time. 

Next episode, Disney goes all-in as they put all of their money and resources into seeing if the world wants another story of a fairy-tale princess. 

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

Guest:

Daniel Floyd of Extra Credits

Dumbo + Bambi

[School of Movies 2015]

The Disney specials continue with parts 4 & 5 in a double bill. Dumbo and Bambi were two differing attempts from the studio to gain a success after the disappointing receptions to Pinocchio and Fantasia. Dumbo cost a lot less to make and Bambi was all about the artistry and portrayal of real animals. Find out in this episode if the elephant picture flew and how well the realism of the animals sat with jugs of syrupy cuteness. 

Of course there’s also the matter of the mother’s of these two creatures. One gets locked up and deemed insane, the other gets shot dead by the most terrifying monster of all. Both of these moments have a profound effect on what we take away from the viewing experience.

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

Guest:

Daniel Floyd of Extra Credits

Fantasia

[School of Movies 2015]

The first show under the new name is the third of the Disney animated classics. Over the next year we’re going to cover every single one of these. Some in fairly short order, others in extensive detail, and Daniel Floyd of Extra Credits is with us every step of the way.

This one was a big risk for Disney. Snow White did insanely well, Pinocchio cost $2.2 million but only made one million back in 1940, their third had to cement the studio as more than just a flash in the pan success. Walt saw it as a transcending of the cinematic experience, and a project that could be added to and built upon for years. Instead it bored, bemused and bewildered audiences and took decades to become the revered classic it now stands at.

We pull no punches in delivering our personal takes on the many sections of this movie.

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

Guest

Daniel Floyd of Extra Credits

Pinocchio

[Digital Drift 2015]

The Disney shows continue with Daniel Floyd of Extra Credits returning to talk about this little, wooden boy. 

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

Guest:

Daniel Floyd of Extra Credits

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

[Digital Drift 2015]

Digital Drift Does Disney.

This is the first of a series of podcasts covering the full history of Disney’s animated classics. Daniel Floyd of Extra Credits is with us every step of the way.

It is without question that animated cinematic features throughout the 20th Century were defined by this company. Learn more about the studio, the animators and how the animation techniques changed with the time, as well as what the world was doing when each film was released. Also find out which films we love, which ones we don’t and more importantly, why.

This first one, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves was their pilot of sorts. A proof of concept that also happens to be the perfect representation of a fairy-tale told absolutely straight with 1930s sensibilities and the tiniest, most naive children in mind. Alex isn’t a huge fan, but he does like one character rather a lot. Dan is filled with admiration for how they could achieve this excellence first time, simply as part of their learning process. 

Since this is an unabashed analysis that pulls no punches, bad language is used but it is bleeped for the benefit of children. 

Guest:

Daniel Floyd of Extra Credits

 

Fantastic Four + Rise of the Silver Surfer

[Digital Drift 2015]

With the new Fant4stic movie emerging onto the big screen we take a look back on the 2005 version and its 2007 sequel. Were they really all that bad? More to the point, taking the unreleased 1994 Roger Corman version into account, are ALL Fantastic Four movies simply an exercise in keeping the license going rather than in making a superhero family movie that people will love?

This was the last episode of Digital Drift. We rebranded with School of Movies to better explain what we do.

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

 

 

Ant-Man

[Digital Drift 2015]

Our Marvel shows continue with this tiny treasure of a movie. For the best experience combine this with our School of Movies YouTube episode on Ant-Man and the virtue of the small. 

Guests:

James Carter of Cane and Rinse

Lorin Grieve of Year of Steam

Mike Hearn of Walter the Wicked