School of Movies

[School of Movies 2018] In recent weeks CinemaSins turned their brand of completely misunderstanding the very nature of the medium upon this wonderful, dark little psychological horror from Australia. Here, for everyone in the world, by way of antidote, is a deep dive into what's really going on in this story of ghosts and violence. It gets super heavy, but will hopefully open it up for everyone w...

[School of Movies 2018] This one achieved notoriety as a so-bad-it's-great cult classic. However, while it's certainly applicable as nanar, this confused mess of a survival horror actually stands more as a reverse yardstick of how NOT to make a film. Join us as we hurtle through bird-infested motels, beaches, woodlands and gas stations on one of the worst journeys a person could be forced to take....

[School of Everything Else 2018] We're back on video games with a very intriguing commission. This one takes the form of a third-person action adventure with some protracted puzzling elements, but underneath the format there is a dark and upsetting, remarkably sensitive story about the nightmarish challenges that sometimes have to be faced when a person is suffering from psychosis.  Made by Ninja...

[School of Movies 2018] We are firmly back in nanar country with this film that is so spectacularly, incompetently made, so tonally baffling, so confusingly arranged, yet so sweet-natured and weird that it flips right the way around to being a fantastic experience to watch. We begin with a tale of ninjas busting drug deals in Miami (or mostly Orlando as it turns out), an intriguing plot that gets...

[School of Everything Else 2018] We're back for the second part of this series (we may do another in the future, it really depends which parents want to contribute their experiences).  We have an even broader range of guests and questions, with geeky children ranging from toddlers to tweens.    Guests Jesse Ferguson father of Connor aged 10 & Erin aged 15  James Batchelor father of Freddy aged 20...

[School of Everything Else 2018] The first of our two recorded shows on this subject so far. This was commissioned back in 2017 and Sharon and I began preparing copious notes on how we'd raised Lyra. Those notes became the beginnings of a sprawling self-help book which we planned to turn into audio. Then eventually we accepted that the subject was too big and far too important to just rely on our...

[School of Movies 2018] Arguably Marvel’s most globally significant movies to date comes roaring into the School of Movies, and have we got a show for you tonight.  We’re talking the stunningly beautiful and invigorating land of Wakanda, its fusion of African cultures, tradition and futurism, the royal family of heroes, the fascinating support cast, the transportive music, the detail and meaning p...

[School of Everything Else 2018] One of the greatest character lineups in a multiplayer video game ever assembled, Overwatch presents us with a rich and colourful feast of carefully, lovingly prepared treats.  We spent two and a half hours talking over the 26 current heroes, their backgrounds and design. That's our focus for the show, not playing the game itself or the mechanics. This is a brand t...

[School of Everything Else 2018] A very special show where we go back to the Star Wars Prequels and ask ourselves one question; If these were in fact not poorly written films, if they were instead historical documents, then who is responsible, for the eventually tragic actions of Anakin Skywalker? The easy answer is to say Anakin himself, and that we should all be ultimately held accountable for o...

[School of Movies 2018] Dan Floyd joins us once again as the Disney Project continues. The house of Mouse picked themselves up from the financial low for the 90s that was Hercules, and came back punching with this Chinese legend of a girl who steals her father's armour to take his place in the army. Still to this day one of the most beautiful and moving of their animated classics, Mulan had its de...

[School of Movies 2018] Now we reach the point where Disney seemed off their game, at least in comparison with the lightning strikes of Mermaid, Beauty, Aladdin and Lion King. The fact that I really like Hercules is neither here nor their, this was a snarky yet earnest take on Greek mythology framed around an action sports movie for boys.  It had one of the most real-feeling and grown up of Disney...

[School of Movies 2018] The year was 1996, just a few months ago Pixar had changed the face of cinema by introducing a whole new medium of 3D animated film, with Toy Story. Disney followed up their lukewarm reception of Pocahontas with another middling-in-appreciation Broadway musical. The art is beautiful, the scale epic, the songs memorable. The subject matter is a serious social commentary writ...

[School of Movies 2018] The Disney shows return, Daniel Floyd of Extra Credits joins us once again to continue our trek through the past of the animation giant. And we are in the middle of the 90s renaissance, their third period of creatively blossoming (Pre-War/Post-War/90s) and the first after the box office high point of The Lion King presented a bar almost impossible to reach. Even if it hadn'...

[School of Movies 2017] The eighth Star wars episode comes roaring onto the big screen. It's upset quite a few fans and delighted many others already. It's the kind of movie that blindsides you the first time so it might be an idea to watch it again.  One thing is for sure, Star Wars will never be the same as it was before. Full spoilers from the beginning, along with a serious think-piece about w...

[School of Movies 2017] The most requested show of the year finally arrives. I'm going to bet the many different people asking for this had different reasons. Some might be hoping that we love it (we don't) a few might suspect that we hate it (we also don't) and some of you might not be able to put a finger on what felt a bit off about the movie (we might be able to shed some light on that). What'...

[School of Movies 2017] This one took a lot out of us.  The tenth X-Men-related movie, and just like the other two really great instalments in this series (First Class and Deadpool) most of its strengths are augmented by only having tenuous ties to what came before.  Both a sobering goodbye to two of our established heroes and the actors inhabiting the roles, and an introduction to a little acting...

[School of Movies 2017] We return to the Marvel Universe with a bang, and discuss in detail the themes of the third and (hopefully not) final Thor movie. We begin with a piece I wrote about why humour plays a key role in MCU films.  Guests: Joshua Garrity of Cane and Rinse Brenden Agnew of Cinapse Kaoru Negisa and Debbie Morse, both of Sequentially Yours Neil Taylor of TheKidDogg Jerome McIntosh o...

[School of Movies 2017] Comics featuring DC's Trinity gathering with various other brightly costumed heroes have been around since The Brave and Bold issue #28 in 1960 so this movie has been adrift for 57 years, waiting to be brought home, like Ellen Ripley. With us are a gathering of keen, comic-hungry minds, ready to take a long hard look at what DC Warner have produced for the first ever big sc...

[School of Movies 2017] After fifteen years on the big screen and five major movies the wall-crawler finally returns to the house of Marvel (whilst still being a Sony distributed venture this is clearly a Kevin Feige project). And it's our favourite of the six.  Delivering a boatload of elements we haven't seen Peter interact with before whilst wisely swinging clear of things we've seen him do too...

[School of Movies 2017] This is a discussion about the books, movie and Netflix series. We kept clear of any spoilers beyond Book 4: The Miserable Mill. Sharon and I are big fans of all three versions, though the movie has suffered a barrage of disapproval from both readers and general audiences over the years and singularly failed to achieve continuation.  The show, however, has garnered pretty m...

[School of Movies 2017] One of my favourite movies of 1997, this crazed sci-fi space opera is something of a cult favourite. Never popular enough to be considered a classic, and clearly disliked by many people it is nonetheless beloved by its ardent fans, as well as being a consistently reference-quality example for home cinema enthusiasts. This was a commissioned show from Marc Lucksch Guest Neil...

[School of Movies 2017] This show was recorded in the autumn of 2016 less than a year before George A. Romero passed away. A listener named Innes Clatworthy made a generous donation and I asked him if he'd like us to do a show as a thank you. He asked for one of the Romero zombie films. Never one to do things by halves we covered the first and best four. I've already fielded questions as to why Su...

[School of Movies 2017] This is part post-mortem on the 2007 movie, The Golden Compass and why it failed in such dismal fashion. It’s not terrible, just underachieving, bland, patronising and not really *about* anything. Our show is also an exploration of the rich and weighty book by Philip Pullman, which is called Northern Lights in England. It is one of the most special pieces of literature to S...

[School of Everything Else 2017] We delve deeper into the broken minds of this occasionally famous horse and his supporting cast of human beings and other animals. Each season is covered in turn and we keep spoilers on later seasons for their section. But we strongly recommend you watch all four seasons and then listen. It is a HARD show to watch sometimes, and a lot of the gags and scenarios feel...

[School of Movies 2017] The follow-up to our extensive discussion on the source novel and the 1990 miniseries, this is the show all about the 2017 movie.  The original show can be found on the School of Everything Else podcast feed One of the most immediately and wildly successful horror films of all time, this has been one of the standout experiences of 2017. In the show we discuss why some peopl...