Watch The Film With Us

Send us Fan Mail M. Night Shyamalan’s success from The Sixth Sense has since helped him gain a cult following - but has that loyal audience stuck around? In this episode, Cheryl and Lara chat about other directors with cult followings, such as Wes Anderson, Stanley Kubrick and Christopher Nolan. We chat about how cult followings start, how they grow in size and what causes cult followings to drama...

Send us Fan Mail After watching Marvel and DC movies, we watch an alternative take on the superhero genre: M. Night Shyamalan’s “Unbreakable”. We start the month by chatting about M. Night Shyamalan and how we think his brilliant movie concepts never seem to deliver a fully satisfying ending. The episode ends with a short discussion about delivering satisfying movie endings, especially for the sci...

Send us Fan Mail How do DC movies compare with Marvel movies? In this episode, Cheryl and Lara start by chatting about Nolan’s interpretation of the superhero genre and the dark colour palette. We then move onto talking about how the DC movies differ drastically in style and quality due to its licensing to various studios. Meanwhile, Marvel’s top down, in-house production creates a much more cohes...

Send us Fan Mail Does Batman’s role in society actually help rid Gotham’s streets of evil? In this episode, Cheryl and Lara talk about the role of superheroes in society and whether they may actually be causing more problems than solving them. We chat about how crime is deeply rooted in socio-economic issues found in society and why Batman’s short-sightedness makes him a deeply flawed character. R...

Send us Fan Mail What makes Joker an iconic villain and why is he such a credible villain? In this episode, Cheryl and Lara chat about the Joker in The Dark Knight, what makes him so scary and what we think his goals and motivations are in the film. Since we also watched Cruella, we return to our chat about villain origin stories, why some villain origin stories work and why others fail. Reference...

Send us Fan Mail What are the main types of superheroes? In this episode, Cheryl and Lara chat about how the typical story arcs of the superhero genre satisfies its core audience. Despite the stories becoming more diverse, we talk about how the films still seem to be most successful for a male audience. We end the conversation about the importance of inclusive communities to widen the reach of the...

Send us Fan Mail Why was Killmonger a great villain? In this episode, Cheryl and Lara chat about the relationship between superheroes and their villain counterparts, and how Killmonger differs from other Marvel villains. We also chat through the main difference between villains and “super-villains” - more specifically, what makes super-villains stand out amongst all the evil characters in the supe...

Send us Fan Mail When Black Panther was first released in theatres, critics and audiences applauded it for being a big step forward in diversity in the superhero genre. How has the superhero genre evolved since then? In this episode, Cheryl and Lara chat about how the media shapes our conversations about diversity in the superhero genre. We also chat about why diversifying film criticism is import...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Cheryl and Lara chat about how advanced or futuristic technology is a prominent theme in the superhero genre. Even the superheroes who have supernatural powers (i.e. Spiderman) rely on technology (their suits) to assist in their performance. We also chat about how technology is often depicted as larger than life and why romanticising technology might be problemati...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Marvel Month! This month, we deep dive into Black Panther and all things Marvel. To start, we chat about our feelings towards Marvel movies and how these films both support and limit the growth of the film industry. We then talk about Marvel in society and its potentially important role in shaping mindsets and providing alternative narratives. Let us know what you think...

Send us Fan Mail Why do we enjoy watching movies about animals? In this episode, Cheryl and Lara chat about the prevalence of animal movies, and specifically dog movies. We talk about our fascination with animals because of how similar yet different they are to us humans. This fascination has led to an emergence in animal documentaries and fictional stories that prescribe human-like thoughts and e...

Send us Fan Mail The fabulous costumes in Cruella inspire us to talk about our favourite costumes in movies and how fashion in film influences culture and everyday wear. We also chat about how costumes further flesh out a character’s identity and the collaborative nature of costume design with hair and makeup. Lastly, we chat about why costume design is an important part of animated films and how...

Send us Fan Mail As a follow up to our last episode on villains, we’re chatting about the popularity of the true crime genre and the surrounding fascination with psychopaths. We also chat about the culture surrounding true crime and the downsides of true crime as entertainment. Our conversation also includes evil in fiction vs nonfiction and whether pure evil truly exists.  References: Sarah Hawki...

Send us Fan Mail This month, Cheryl and Lara are watching “Cruella” and “101 Dalmatians”. To start off, we chat about villain origin stories and the emerging fascination with the bad guys on screen. Our discussion leads us to chatting about our favourite villains and why sometimes the bad guy is the most entertaining character in the film. Let us know what you think and chat with us on Twitter: ht...

Send us Fan Mail The Disney amusement parks are important marketing and immersive channels to enjoy the world of Disney. This week, we chat with resident Disney expert - and Cast Member! - Celia Bulger about the Disney parks and what it’s like working behind the scenes at Disney World. We talk about the most popular characters and the amount of detail that goes into the Disney parks. Lastly, Celia...

Send us Fan Mail The Disney Renaissance was in the 90’s and now we seem to be firmly into a new generation of Disney princess stories - in fact, some (Cheryl) might even say we’re firmly in the Disney Renaissance “Renaissance”. We start the episode chatting about what makes this era of Disney princess films distinctively different from the original Disney Renaissance. The conversation ends with a...

Send us Fan Mail What does it mean to be a Disney princess? How have Disney princesses evolved over time? This episode, we chat about the qualities of a Disney princess and how we perceive the princess stereotype in society. We explore how the evolution of the Disney princess stereotype relates to our understanding of feminism and femininity. Reference: The Take, “The Disney Princess Trope, Explai...

Send us Fan Mail What is “true love” in the fairy tale genre? In this episode, we chat about the ending of Frozen and how Frozen both acknowledges and disrupts our understanding of “true love”. We also chat about how this new understanding of “true love” has been applied across other genres and how that alters the modern day “happily ever after”. Let us know what you think and chat with us on Twit...

Send us Fan Mail What is Disney without fairy tales? This month, we’re chatting about all things Frozen and what better way to start than with a discussion about fairy tales. From Prince Charming to Good vs. Evil, listen in on our conversation about the components of the fairy tale trope. We also chat about fairy tale origins and how they compare with Disney original stories (such as Moanna or Bra...

Send us Fan Mail What was the meaning behind “Soul”? In this discussion, we chat about how Soul provides a different perspective on The American Dream and the poetic themes of rebirth in the film. We also talk about the primary difference in messaging between Pixar and Disney films, and what we thought about the ending of Soul. Let us know what you think and chat with us on Twitter: https://twitte...

Send us Fan Mail After watching Soul, Cheryl and Lara dig into the behind the scenes and making of the movie, where we learned about Disney’s Cultural Trust. In this episode, we chat about diverse perspectives in animated films, representation behind the scenes and potentially why diversity is often overlooked in the animation genre.  References: The Present (Short Film) https://www.youtube.com/wa...

Send us Fan Mail A conversation about special features in Disney+ leads Cheryl and Lara to talk about the latest changes in film distribution. We also chat about how film marketing has shifted from marketing specific to individual films to advertisements about a catalogue of films for Disney+ or Netflix. Our conversation ends with how “Soul” was completed during the COVID-19 pandemic and how the f...

Send us Fan Mail What do you expect from a Pixar film? How does ‘Soul’ match or differ from our expectations? In this episode, Cheryl and Lara chat about our initial thoughts on the 2020 Pixar film, “Soul”. We talk about how Pixar storytelling compares with Disney storytelling and how they may be targeting different audience groups. Lastly, we chat about our experience watching “Soul” on Disney Pl...

Send us Fan Mail Did you know that Pirates of the Caribbean was inspired by an amusement park ride? In this episode, Cheryl and Lara talk about the development of Pirates and how the success of the franchise has influenced the ride that it originated from. We also chat about other films with interesting origins and how inspiration can truly come from all places, including the fans themselves. Let...

Send us Fan Mail The most important night in cinema is coming up this week! What did we think of the 2020 movie season and the Oscar nominations list? In this episode, Cheryl and Lara are joined by friend Laura, our resident Oscars expert. This year, she successfully found and watched all of the nominated movies. Listen in on our thoughts about what films we are rooting for and which ones we think...