The Desert of the Reel: A Movie Podcast

Jason and Ryan revisit Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)! Both our hosts feel this is the best of the Indiana Jones films; certainly, the most quotable and funniest. This episode delves heavily into what this film teaches us about parenting. Ryan and Jason share insights from their different places in the parenting timeline. They then return to the exploration of the unseen world, which se...

Jason and Ryan revisit Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)! Was this Indy film part of your childhood? Jason and Ryan both grew up without it. But we have much to discuss from the potential dark place the creators found themselves in to Willie, the female protagonist who loves to yell. We have a list of cons to go over, but there also seems to be a lot of pros. Some fans love this film and...

Welcome to season 4 of The Desert of the Reel! This season, we'll be digging into the five Indiana Jones films, starting, of course, with Raiders of the Lost Ark . There's so much art and beauty in the filming that both Jason and Ryan agree (for once) for the most part. While Jason does dig into the logical flaws, even he has to admit that they're mostly due to the genre of the film. We look at Ra...

David Fincher's The Game (1997) is a twisty tale where Michael Douglas finds himself in "the game." What is and what isn't part of this game? What will happen to him by the end of the game? A movie Jason believes has a lot of ideas to think about. We go over many different ideas and topics, and sort of stray away from the plot, but delve into real-world problems. We ask if excess...

We've arrived at The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)! Even though Jason is clearly suffering from what he calls "Tolkein fatigue" at this point, we discuss the pros and cons of this film, including what Jason believes are some of the best scenes ever filmed. We then move into film studies (exploring post-structuralism), the philosophy of "putting aside the Ranger" and of "just get...

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002). Jason continues to explore Middle Earth in the second Rings film. We discuss the pros and cons of this film and then branch out into deeper thoughts regarding the importance of nature, the will of power by Nietzsche, using a Feminist read of the film, and why we follow leaders blindly. We had a lot of fun talking about all the great moments in this mov...

The first Lord of the Rings film proves to be a huge step up from the Battle of the Five Armies . While there are still some problems (largely stemming from the fact that every scene is significantly longer than it needs to be), (Jason wrote that part) both Jason and Ryan agree that this is a pretty great film. We discuss formalism, structuralism, whether we have the obligation to do something to...

Jason loves this movie. Jason always chooses movies for his choice episodes that he thinks are worth your time, but Birdemic: Shock and Terror (2010) is infamous for being one of the "worst movies ever made!" Can Jason accurately convince you that this is a good movie? Ryan talks about all sorts of nonsense found in this movie from bad acting, bad editing, bad cinematography, and bad......

The third Hobbit Movie! The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) is a film in existence! Ridiculous, impossible, moronic things happen in the film. In the film, there are also characters, which we discuss and don't really care about. The EAGLES show up and save the dasy! Again! We discuss that. Also, we have learned (and discuss) that you can pound on thinly frozen ice with a 2-ton metal hammer and no...

The second Hobbit Movie! The Desolation of Smaug (2013) might have broken Jason. He already isn't a fan of the works of Tolkien, and this movie might not change his mind! We talk about our pros and our cons (Jason has no pros), but then we get into using the Marxist Lens, the idea of letting evil live for our philosophical lens, and why we want what we don't already have. One more Hobbit movie lef...

Welcome to season 3 of The Desert of the Reel ! During this round, we tackle the interminable Tolkien movies. Jason is already heavily biased against these films, so this should be an interesting ride. In this episode, we understand his beef(s) with Tolkien and explore the flaws in this film (surprisingly enough, Ryan "Apologist" isn't actively defending this film). Jason introduces a new DOTR seg...

This is one of Jason's favorite movies! This week, for Jason's Choice, he wanted to highlight a movie that seems to be a little lost in time. But it has a lot of big philosophical ideas and lessons. We talk about this being an "either-or Mystery," and talk a lot about being the good and the light in the world. We, obviously, talk about the nature of reality, because of course, we...

First and foremost, an apology regarding this episode. If you are listening to this episode, it probably means you first had to watch The Rise of Skywalker . Sorry about that. (Un)surprisingly, even though everyone on the podcast disliked this movie, there are still disagreements galore. We cover plot holes, logical absurdities, and characterization failures. Then, we move on to the negatives. The...

Jason finally watches The Last Jedi (2017). He had no idea what people have been arguing about for the past 8 years. And, luckily, we have plenty to argue about ourselves! Are you a fan of this movie? Or is it a reason to hate the sequels? In this episode, we spend a LOT of time talking about the cultural history of this film, gaps of logic in the battles, failures of our heroes, the power of love...

The completion of the epic saga discussing the adventures of Female Luke and Mini-Darth Vader! R2-D2-2 makes a brief appearance in this episode, as we discuss the Empire 2 blowing things up with Death Star 3, whose actual name is Starkiller Base (I'm not making this up!). In this episode, we discuss logical absurdities of such goodies as Female Luke being able to perform advanced evasive maneuvers...

The exciting Original Trilogy has been condensed and reshot! It's new name is The Force Awakens! In the first half of this two part episode, Jason and Ryan disagree about just about everything in this film. Ryan the Apologist loves this movie, insisting it is simply a mirroring or a remixing of the original trilogy. On the other hand, Jason the Bitterman expresses outrage over the complete lack of...

Before we show Jason the sequel trilogy for the first time, he wanted to watch 2003's Matchstick Men! We talk about our thoughts and disagreements on the surprising 3rd act, we talk about what makes someone a bad person, how our children are a reflection on environment and parents, criminals and "othering," and argue about Nic Cage's filmography from the last 10 years! (among other things). What a...

This episode delves deeply into the philosophical roots of Star Wars' Force. Largely a filibuster by Jason, with insightful questions and comments from Ryan, we cover the Force as a whole using Taoism; explore the specific underpinnings of its Yin and Yang, the Light Side and the Dark Side; Han Solo's skepticism; and the union of both sides into a perfect ethical system. Beware all ye that enter h...

The exciting Original Trilogy conclusion of Star Wars Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi! For some reason, we argue a lot about Ewoks. But maybe they are supposed to teach us about creative problem-solving. We dive into the importance of titles, Jason argues about "Death bed conversations," how to find universal truths, and how whatever you focus on about yourself, you'll be right. W...

Ryan's gushing continues regarding The Empire Strikes Back , but Jason digs into the logical flaws on Hoth, the pacing problems on Dagobah, and Han's unethical relationship skills. We conclude arguing about whether or not Empire is a sequel. We could call this episode Logic Strikes Back . Send us your thoughts and reviews of Star Wars to desertofthereelpod@gmail.com

We have finally made it to the original trilogy. It all started here with Star Wars: A New Hope . So much has been said about this movie, that it feels daunting to even attempt to add to the conversation. However, we spend a lot of time gushing over how incredible this movie is, from the special effects, music, and well it sticks in our minds. We also discuss the importance of the hero's journ...

Perhaps the most ethically rich film we've looked at on the podcast so far, 2018's Calibre is a carefully plotted, beautifully filmed look at the impact of uncritical choices. Besides talking about multiple philosophical, ethical, and film literacy aspects of this film, our discussion shows how this film helps us dig deeply into what our choices mean in terms of shaping who we become and how much...

Jason watches Rogue One for the first time. Will he like it better than Solo ? We talk about all the elements we enjoyed but are there too many callbacks to the original movies? Does it rely too much on "member-berries? Is the Vader hallway scene just there to trick us into liking the movie more than we would have? We also talk about the idea of how our own perspectives create our reality. Is...

Surprisingly enough, Jason really likes Solo (you never can tell)! Your hosts debate the merits of this prequel with a special focus on how well it works as an origin story, the ethics of gambling, and the excellence of the mise-en-scene. What do you think of Solo? Email us your thoughts at desertofthereelpod@gmail.com

Ryan is by himself in this short episode. Jason experienced some travel difficulties and got stuck in an airport, so Ryan decided that he could use this week to talk about Skeleton Crew . This show is really good! It seems to be a reflection on Star Wars itself and wanting to try something new. It looks great, has pirate action, and good kid acting. What are your thoughts on Skeleton Crew? Send us...