The Cinematic Schematic

With Hollywood movies like Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, Stephen Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, and even Clint Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima, documenting the horrors of World World II in pop culture over the years, we must never forget the dire impacts the war had on families around the globe. Families like the Black family. Patty was an American teenager living in the Philippines when she...

To paraphrase Lin Manuel's Hamilton, have you ever wondered what it's like to be in the building where it happened? Oklahomans can finally experience the rich history of the state capitol in The People's House: The Story of Oklahoma's Capitol. In this special interview with returning guest Bryan Beasley, we discuss how his team put together the technically impressive four-minute Oklahoma state cap...

Since the turn of the millennium, few filmmakers have shaped the state of cinema more than Christopher Nolan. For better or worse, the success of his Batman movies shaped the landscape in ways he did not intend. In this episode of The Cinematic Schematic, we're reviewing his newest film with distinct parallels to his career as a creator with the historical biopic Oppenheimer. Mostly Harmless Media...

The world is changing. The use of AI is on the rise, a malevolent entity that can't be bargained with is looming in the shadows waiting for its chance to rewrite the future to its own means, and Tom Cruise appears to be the only maverick bold enough to do the unthinkable to protect his team. No, we aren't discussing last week's breaking news about the SAG-AFTRA strike. In today's episode of The Ci...

The Cinematropolis's Caleb Masters, Daniel Bokemper, and Jo Light are joined by Dalton Stuart and Alex Sanchez from GoodTrash Media for our deadCenter 2023 Recap as we sign off on Oklahoma's biggest film festival for the year. The post The Cinematropolis deadCenter 2023 Recap appeared first on The Cinematropolis .

Cinema has the power to tell the most important stories across topics. Politics, heroics, religion, and yes, sex. If it seems like American studio films have become somewhat sanitized related to the latter over the last decade, you aren't alone. Superhero films have become the dominant genre for big-budget films. As a result, even though the stars have become as chiseled as action figures, few stu...

Despite being celebrated by members of the black community in Texas for generations dating back to 1865 (two and a half years after The Emancipation Proclamation), Juneteenth was only just recognized as a federal holiday starting in 2021. Being just north of Texas, Oklahoma is no stranger to the Juneteenth holiday. In addition to putting on the Juneteenth in East celebration last week and many mor...

Movies about popular toys have been all the rage, and 2023 is no exception. Earlier this year, we got The Super Mario Bros. Movie, just last week Transformers: Rise of the Beasts hit theaters, and later this summer Warner Bros. Discovery will release Barbie. It turns out this was the future millennials wanted. Behind each toy is a story, especially Barbie, the most popular doll in the world. You a...

Talk about body dysmorphia has recently picked up steam in the media. In reality, an overwhelming number of people in America are experiencing various conditions related to body weight, gender, and shape. Furthermore, The Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience reports at least 1 in 5 people experience body dysmorphia in the United States. Many experts go as far as to call that estimate conservative. T...

In the history of film, there are only a handful of iconic movies about a good rodeo. Fewer still are stories about black cowboys. Outside of 2021's The Harder They Fall, you're hard-pressed to name many others from the last decade. Riding Legacy, a new documentary that debuted at least weekend's deadCenter Film Festival is a film determined to change that trend. In today’s deadCenter 2023 intervi...

The deadCenter Film Festival has a history of shining a light on films made in Oklahoma about Oklahoma, and this year is no exception. Last night’s closing film was the Sundance Film Festival darling, Fancy Dance, from Oklahoma-born director Erica Tremblay. The film tells the soulful story of Jax, a Native American woman living on the Seneca–Cayuga Nation Reservation, who serves as a stand-in moth...

Have you ever seen a movie that seemed like such a blunder that there's no way any sane studio executive would greenlight it? There are many examples: 1995's Waterworld, 2004's Catwoman, and most recently 2019's Cats, to name a few. These are all notable failures in the history of studio filmmaking, but none of them are as infamous or culturally significant as the Star Wars Holiday Special TV movi...

On June 24th, 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in a controversial decision that would leave women in large parts of the country without certain rights to abortion healthcare. The historic ruling is considered a major setback by many people. However, it was just the beginning of a larger fight for the people committed to preserving the right to the abortion pill. According to their web...

This year's deadCenter Film Festival showcases a variety of homegrown talent. There are directors who tell stories about teen adventures, explore dark comedy, and document the roots of the state's history. One of the more intriguing entries on this year's schedule is the surrealist coming-of-age drama, The Awkward Stage, a movie about a pre-teen student in a decaying Harrah, Oklahoma school who fa...

The Cinematropolis's exclusive deadCenter 2023 coverage continues with a podcast interview featuring Planet Thunder Productions' new film, Hell Hath No Fury. First-time feature film director Zachary Burns, Jacob Leighton Burns, and stars Leah N.H. Philpott and Jacob Ryan Snovel join the show before the film's Oklahoma premiere. The post ‘Hell Hath No Fury’ Brings Dark Comedy to deadCenter – dCFF23...

The Cinematic Schematic kicks off The Cinematropolis's exclusive deadCenter 2023 Film Festival coverage with a look at Kyle Roberts's return to feature filmmaking, What Rhymes with Reason. Since The Posthuman Project was released in 2014, Reckless Abandonment Pictures has focused on stop-motion projects, collaborations with Nickelodeon, and short films like The Grave. After nine years, Roberts is...

The Cinematic Schematic is joined by comic book scholar, Joshua Unruh, and Geek Girl Features' Chelsea Ratterman to review Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Does it have the previous film's lightning in a bottle magic? The post Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Review – The Cinematic Schematic appeared first on The Cinematropolis .

Buckle up, listeners. Today we are once again jump-starting our engines to see if The Fast and Furious franchise can possibly continue to live its life a quarter a mile at a time for the tenth time in Fast X. Hosts Caleb Masters and Laron Chapman's favorite guilty pleasure franchise featuring Vin Diesel and the Fast family is back, this time with 100% more Jason Mamoa than the previous entry. Afte...

Have you seen my keys, listener? In this episode of The Cinematic Schematic, we gather around the podcast table to unpack our experiences watching every worst-case scenario imaginable play out for nearly 3 hours straight in our review discussion of the feel-bad movie of the summer, Beau Is Afraid. Ari Aster made a frighteningly memorable splash in horror with 2018's Hereditary followed immediately...

In this special edition of The Cinematic Schematic, The Cinematropolis co-founders Jacob and Zachary Burns join host and co-founder Caleb Masters to spotlight the most exciting work happening in horror with the executive producer of Skinamarink, Jonathan Barkan. Meet Jonathan Barkan: Horror Cinema Enthusiast, Writer, Film Acquirer and Distributor, and (most recently)Filmmaker Currently serving as...

he Cinematic Schematic is back to pit vampires against some of the most gnarly demons in cinema as we re-open the Book of the Dead, the Necronomicon, in our double feature review of Renfield and Evil Dead Rise. Rejoining us to discuss each uniquely hellish experience is the deadCenter Film Festival Features Programmer, Sunrise Tippeconnie, and Static Media's Jo Light. We start the show with a quic...

In today's episode of The Cinematic Schematic, we’re breaking out the D20 dice and classic controllers for another double-feature review of Dungeons & Dragons vs The Super Mario Bros. Movie. It's time to power up because this conversation is for the gamers. Firstly, we kick things off with a mini-review of Air, Ben Affleck's latest film about a different kind of game--basketball. Or rather, the st...

In today's episode of The Cinematic Schematic, we're entering the world of assassins living underneath the high table with Keanu Reeves in our review of John Wick Chapter 4. From our John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum review, Alexandra Bohannon, a former co-host of Sound Trek, rejoins Caleb Masters and Laron Chapman to weigh in on John Wick's latest vengeful globetrotting rampage. This week, we bre...

Remember listeners, when you're lost in the darkness without a good video game film or TV adaptation...Look for the light! Believe in the Fireflies and join us for this special one-off podcast discussion reviewing HBO's The Last of Us season 1. In today’s bonus crossover episode with The Cast Beyond the Wall we are joined by a panel of guests including our own The Cinematic Schematic podcast hosts...

Don’t pick up the phone, our dear listener. In this episode of The Cinematic Schematic, we’re reviewing Scream VI, the sequel to last year’s Scream franchise revival, Scream(2022), made and released just fourteen months later. Can the directing duo of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett AKA “Radio Silence” create lightning in a bottle twice? Before diving into Ghostface’s latest stab at the fr...