[School of Movies 2016] In 1993 Steven Spielberg directed the movie Jurassic Park, adapted from the book by Michael Crichton. It was a wildly successful family blockbuster. Immediately all studios began a mad dash to replicate that formula. Paramount believed they had cracked it with this film in 1995, written by Crichton in 1980, featuring a cast of genuinely talented actors and seemingly going for an Indiana Jones-discovers-King-Solomon's-Mines-with-rabid apes vibe. However, the results, as yo...
Feb 03, 2016•2 hr 12 min
[School of Movies 2016] On this sad, grim, dark week... here's a stupid movie about cartoon dinosaurs that get smart eating magic cereal! Obviously we'll get political and angry later on, but right now I think what everyone needs most of all is to laugh together, so here you go. This animated movie was released on Thanksgiving 1993, produced by Steven Spielberg, surfing the dinosaur craze of his own Jurassic Park, but actually put into production several years before and mismanaged the whole way...
Feb 02, 2016•2 hr 20 min
[School of Movies 2016] This is our show about the initial three Purge movies (I can assure you of more to come). The premise is pretty simple. In an alternate timeline America has ruled that on one night of the year every crime (including murder) is legal. Over time this has done wonders for their economy and is celebrated by the overtly patriotic, the rich and the insanely bloodthirsty, but proves an annually terrifying span of hours for the poor, the homeless and the vulnerable. This premise ...
Feb 01, 2016•2 hr 24 min•Ep. 28
[School of Movies 2016] This is a deep dive into the 1978 classic, that became the model for the slasher sub-genre. It's also a scorching critique of the kind of BAD slasher that came about afterwards when lesser directors than John Carpenter misinterpreted what made this film so effective, such as 1981s Halloween II. It's also a damning of the repulsive 2007 remake by Rob Zombie, a tonally confused mess of the most horrible things imaginable stirred into an inhuman slop. And we finish talking a...
Jan 31, 2016•2 hr 18 min•Ep. 27
[School of Movies 2016] The Spooktacular continues as we look at three different ways of telling effectively the same story. 1999. The Blair Witch Project: An incredibly low budget found footage movie that took the world by storm. 2000. Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2: A cash-grab meta-movie slapped together by a confused studio hoping to capitalise on unexpected success. 2016. Blair Witch: An in-world sequel to the original released to immense derision to an audience sick of remakes and reboots....
Jan 30, 2016•2 hr 44 min•Ep. 26
[School of Movies 2016] This is the 1975 adaptation of the stage musical written by and co-starring Richard O'Brien. In it, a straight-laced, white-bread American couple end up stuck in a Gothic castle full of strange people, presided over by the outrageous Doctor Frank N. Furter. It's a hilarious, toe-tapping musical which has developed a cult following over the years and means a great deal to a lot of people. It's also a bit of a mess and reviewed terribly when it first came out and bombed. In...
Jan 29, 2016•2 hr 25 min
[School of Movies 2016] This is one of the films of the year. A Japanese fable delivered in stunning stop-motion by American studio LAIKA, the team behind Coraline, ParaNorman and Boxtrolls. Every single one of you needs to see it. Joining us are animation experts Joshua Garrity of Cane and Rinse and Jerome McIntosh of GameBurst. Among other things we discuss the climate for animated films and what it takes to make a hit, which this, tragically, despite its beautiful direction, tight, well-deliv...
Jan 28, 2016•2 hr 22 min
[School of Movies 2016] The second of our commissioned shows, this time we delve into John Carpenter's underappreciated (and downright ignored on release) mythical, gangland, kung-fu adventure Big Trouble in Little China. Kurt Russel (clearly having the time of his life) stars as the obnoxiously macho Jack Burton, self-styled cowboy hero who gets caught up in a kidnapping involving an ancient sorcerer, warring gangs and elemental magic he couldn't possibly understand. We explore the cultural imp...
Jan 27, 2016•2 hr 53 min
[School of Movies 2016] This is an unexpected episode covering an absolutely batshit mental experimental film from 1974 directed by John Boorman. It's set in a dystopian future with the standard class divides and extreme violence, but with so many ridiculous decisions in design and direction delivered in an extremely po-faced, allegedly satirical fashion. Sean Connery is a mean enforcer who was supposed to spend his life running down unruly farmers and molesting the womenfolk, but he goes on a j...
Jan 26, 2016•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 22
[School of Movies 2016] We continue our Shyamalan season with his follow-up to The Sixth Sense, a story about a security guard who realises he's been Super his whole life. Since this came about in 2000 it was ahead of the age of the superhero and arguably made some in-roads to legitimising the new wave of comic book to screen adaptations. Samuel L. Jackson joins Bruce Willis to deliver an everyday hero and a delicate man looking for their places in the world. This was the first commissioned work...
Jan 25, 2016•2 hr 31 min
[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.
Jan 24, 2016•2 hr•Ep. 1
[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 ...
Jan 23, 2016•2 hr 58 min
[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 mov...
Jan 22, 2016•2 hr 53 min
[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 tha...
Jan 21, 2016•2 hr 58 min
[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 Bren...
Jan 20, 2016•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 1
[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 w...
Jan 19, 2016•2 hr 56 min•Ep. 1
[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...
Jan 18, 2016•2 hr 57 min•Ep. 1
[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....
Jan 17, 2016•2 hr 42 min•Ep. 1
[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, b...
Jan 16, 2016•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 1
[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 bill...
Jan 15, 2016•2 hr 55 min•Ep. 1
[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 onc...
Jan 14, 2016•2 hr 45 min•Ep. 1
[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 ...
Jan 12, 2016•2 hr 53 min•Ep. 1
[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 c...
Jan 11, 2016•3 hr 41 min
[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 Mo...
Jan 07, 2016•3 hr 47 min•Ep. 1
[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 th...
Jan 06, 2016•3 hr 52 min
[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 fur...
Jan 05, 2016•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 1
[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 ...
Jan 04, 2016•3 hr 45 min•Ep. 20
[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 Geor...
Jan 03, 2016•3 hr 42 min
[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...
Jan 02, 2016•2 hr 36 min•Ep. 1
[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 ...
Jan 01, 2016•3 hr 30 min
