The Desert of the Reel: A Movie Podcast

This week, we endured Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025). There's not much great happening in the film, so we didn't spend a ton of time talking about what was great. We spent a little more time talking about what wasn't great, but most of this episode is about the ethics of medicine and scientific discoveries generally, as well as the film studies reason why this movie doesn't connect...

Jurassic World Dominion (2022) might actually be the worst movie we have watched for this podcast. We actually get a little depressed talking about the future of blockbuster movies. After six movies, the dinosaurs aren't the only things that escaped containment. In our discussion of Jurassic World Dominion , we spend surprisingly little time talking about any pros (because we struggle to think...

Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom (2018) made over $1 BILLION! !! In this episode, Ryan and Jason try to figure out how a film so ludicrous and disjointed became one of the 63 films in the history of the world to make over $1 BILLION!!! While there's not a ton in this episode about the film itself, we deep dive into Jean Baudrillard's concept of the hyperreal replacing reality, as well as...

In this episode of Desert of the Reel, Ryan and Jason return to Isla Nublar to visit Jurassic World. Why would anyone open another dinosaur park after the disaster of Jurassic Park? Jason can't understand that, but Ryan would definitely visit! Is Jurassic World simply a bigger-budget remake of the original movie, and if so, why doesn't it receive the same criticism as other legacy sequels...

On its surface, Hundreds of Beavers (2022) is very much an outlier choice for a Jason's Choice film, but as we dig a little deeper, we uncover a film that is deeply about creativity, the creative process, and who we are as a species and individuals. We explore AI, both the dangers it presents to a critical creative humanity and the ways we could use AI to enable critical creative thinking far beyo...

Jurassic Park III (2001) has Alan Grant going back to the dinos. This week on The Desert of the Reel, Ryan and Jason revisit the often-overlooked third installment in the Jurassic Park franchise and ask a simple question: Is it actually better than The Lost World? This may be remembered as the "Spinosaurus movie," but beneath the dinosaur chases and early-2000s blockbuster spectacle lies...

In this episode of The Desert of the Reel: A Movie Podcast , hosts Ryan Hudson and Jason Dietz critically analyze Steven Spielberg’s 1997 film, The Lost World: Jurassic Park . The duo utilizes their academic training to explore the film's shift in themes from the original, noting how the sequel moves away from warnings about scientific arrogance to focus on 1990s anxieties regarding corporate...

Welcome to Jurassic Park! 1993's Jurassic Park is a pivotal movie in regard to blockbusters, special effects, and dinosaurs. There is so much to love (unless you are like Jason, who has issues with the tree scene). Almost everyone has seen this film, and that is because there is still so much to talk about. We get into the ethics of whether Jurassic Park is a good idea, that it is secretly a h...

This week, Jason chose Locke (2013) for our viewing pleasure, and what an excellent choice it was. If only Jason got to choose all the movies, then we wouldn't have to watch things like Spectre or Ironman . I digress. Our intrepid podcasters both agree that Locke is a five-star movie, a masterpiece of character. They discuss whether one choice defines a life, when is it okay to lie, the ways in wh...

In our last episdo of Batman movies, we are showing Jason The Batman (2022). He probably would not have watched it without the podcast. He claims it is a good movie that would have been a lot better if it wasn't a Batman movie. Is it more than just a superhero film? Or would it have worked even better as a stripped-down noir detective story? We explore how the film reimagines Batman as a man d...

We both agree that The Dark Knight Rises (2012) isn't as good as The Dark Knight (2008), but then again, there aren't many movies that are. But, that doesn't mean that this movie is terrible, by any means. The duo discuss the effectiveness of the casting; Bane's plot against Gotham and; the connected roles of fear, hope, and continual improvement. They bring in the ideas of past and present philos...

The Dark Knight (2008) is the follow-up that still fights for the title of "best sequel of all time." We break a lot of our usual setup to just make room for going over all the things that make this movie so amazing. In this episode of The Desert of the Reel , we ask one unsettling question: are we responsible for evil if we allow it to happen? From the Joker’s calculated chaos to Batman...

Batman Begins marks a return to superheroes for DOTR (or does it… is Batman actually a superhero?). We get into it and email us your thoughts at desertofthereelpod@gmail.com This episode features a trip down memory lane for our intrepid duo, discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the various Batman series. Ryan and Jason both like this movie a lot, although they had issues with some of the cas...

This week on Desert of the Reel , we explore Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) through a philosophical and film-theory lens, asking what it truly means to transcend oneself. Jason wanted an "in-between movie" from James Bond and The Dark Knight. So he chose one of his all-time favorite movies. He says it is the BEST action movie of all time. We examine how the film blends magical rea...

We're following up one of our shortest episodes in a long time with one of our longest. While we didn't agree on everything, there's certainly some fireworks about the most recent entry in the James Bond film series No Time to Die (2021).as logos and pathos battle to the death in the squared circle! Mixed in with those, there are some deep discussions about life, how to live it, and ho...

Desert of the Reel is a movie podcast where we attempt to look at big blockbuster franchises and attempt to analyze them with philosophy and ethics. However, James Bond's Spectre from 2015 really put us in a stupor. Out of all the movies we have watched, this movie has been one of the hardest to attempt to pull something deep out of. We spend a good while enjoying talking about all the reasons we...

Skyfall (2012) is the second in the Daniel Craig James Bond film series that Jason actually likes! Is this the perfect Bond movie? In this episode, we discuss what makes Skyfall a truly good film: the nostalgia, Javier Bardem, the lack of idiotic crap happening, Roger Deakins, the rat story, and many other things. We get deeper into real-life philosophy in this episode, as we discuss improving you...

In this episode we dive into Quantum of Solace , the direct sequel to Casino Royale , and one of the most emotionally raw films in the James Bond franchise. Jason has some hot takes, namely, he likes the theme song and... that's it. Bond is driven almost entirely by revenge and unresolved grief. We explore how the film only truly works when viewed as a continuation of Casino Royale—Bond is not...

Reel, Desert of the Reel. We are diving fist-first into the Daniel Craig James Bond movies. Jason famously hates action movies and especially hates James Bond movies! But maybe there is something deep and philosophical here in 2006's Casino Royale. We look at the history of 007, go over our pros and cons, and explore the ideas of ego, feminism, and genre studies. What do you think about James...

“Maybe the question isn’t who is insane. Maybe the question is who gets to decide.” This week we are looking at the 2014 film, Stonehearst Asylum. A film based on an Edgar Allen Poe story where a new doctor enters a 1899 insane asylum, where things might not be what they appear at first. So much symbolism! We ask many questions: What is more important, Freedom or Justice? What is worse, A corrupt...

As the final episode connected to Harry Potter, Jason and Ryan didn't find a whole lot to say about F antastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016), although there are some gems in here, such as Ryan's absurdist analysis of Jacob and Newt, the animal right philosopher Peter Singer making his first (and likely only) appearance on the pod, Ryan's feminist analysis of Newt's character, some additiona...

The final Harry Potter movie! (Before we make Jason watch Fantastic Beasts). Guess what? He actually liked this one! We talked about a number of our personal pros and cons (mainly the ending), but found a lot of deep ideas to discuss. Ryan uses Trauma Theory to analyze the film, but we also ask: What is worth sacrificing for? We look at karma Our minds are important and determine our reality. The...

We argue extensively about whether or not this is a good film. Ryan appreciates how different it is from the other films; Jason thinks it is a series of random events happening randomly and wandering around aimlessly without any clues. About halfway through the podcast, Jason has a revelation that reframes why he doesn't like the movie, changing the tenor of the rest of the episode. We explore...

The sixth Harry Potter movie confuses us. Here we are for Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts, but this time, Draco is up to no good. Well, to be honest, he spends most of his time crying. There is a lot of drama over all this angst and teen romance. And despite all this, there is somehow nothing really happening. The structure is very curious. We review the different pros and cons, and Ryan cannot...

After years of requests, demands, cajoling, and pleading from Jason's students, this week's film is Christopher Nolan's Interstellar (2014). While the duo disagree on whether or not the first hour could have been 15 minutes and whether or not the ending robs the film of its thematic power, both agree that this is a beautiful, powerful, deeply philosophical film. We discuss love, death, sacrifice,...