Episodes

  • Who Framed Roger Rabbit

    Who Framed Roger Rabbit
    Apr 29 2022
    [School of Movies 2022] Daft bunny with amazing wife *may* have dropped a safe on a cartoon-arms dealer... An absolutely one-time deal, just like Lord of the Rings and Titanic, this perfect melding of live action and beautiful hand-drawn animation convincingly interacting in 3D space, coupled with a whip-quick hilarious script as well as the kind of combination of studio properties that just never happens any more. Disney don't take part in those Ready Player Ones or Space Jams, and it was crucial that the masters of western animation in the 20th Century hand over the keys to their kingdom, circa 1947.  But even the above description sells short how skilled the actors were, whether painted or not, how they sell the world via dry delivery, and how Bob Hoskins unexpected mastery of physicality in the role stems from Chaplin and Keaton. This thing is a masterpiece containing masterpieces. And we are here with our buddy Dan to talk about the many levels of special you discover revisiting as a sharp-eyed adult. Guest Daniel Floyd of New Frame Plus  @DanFloydPlus
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    2 hrs and 27 mins
  • Mario Kart

    Mario Kart
    Mar 25 2022
    [School of Everything Else 2022] Lunatic eats strange fungus, throws reptile carcases and banana peel out of his car. Everyone cheers!  One of the most beloved of game series, the racing title that prides itself on accessibility (most of the time) and appeal to all ages, with a consistently high bar of quality (imagine if every Sonic game had that) and a lasting appeal that both piques nostalgia and makes us excited for the future. What began as a multiplayer sequel to vintage SNES launch title F-Zero became a flagship Nintendo showcase of their core Mario-related characters. We look at the development history and how the series has evolved over thirty years, the gambles that didn't pay off, the elements we now take for granted and the key aspects that make it work so well.  What's abundantly clear is that everyone has a different favourite and everyone has at least one example in the series that they just bounce off. We eschew discussion on the obscure arcade games, the remote control car for your mansion, and the Switch DLC rollout, as that won't be finished for years, but we DO talk about the phone-based Tour (2019) and its microtransaction-plagued experience. For this epic show we played through every cup, and tried every multiplayer and battle mode in Super Mario Kart on the SNES (1992), Mario Kart 64 (1997) Super Circuit for GBA (2001) Double Dash for GameCube (2003) DS (2005) Wii (2008) 7 for 3DS (2011) and 8 for Wii U and Switch (2014). And yes, we do talk about Tour for phones (2019).   The other unexpected and fascinating side of the show to pay particular attention to, which didn't become apparent until the edit is how Nintendo advertised each game over three decades. Their approach and audience changes over time and you can really hear that in the commercials. PLUS the whole thing is peppered with music that will evoke good times.  Guest: Nama Chibitty @namathenerd 
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    2 hrs and 21 mins
  • The Matrix Resurrections

    The Matrix Resurrections
    Feb 11 2022
    [School of Movies 2022] We come to it at last, maybe the final Matrix film directed by a Wachowski. Though this vein of property is worth too much money to the IP-owner to leave unmined. Representing a refinement and evolution of the philosophies laid down two decades ago. This film was launched a week after Spider-Man: No Way Home and just before Christmas Day, due to a prior arrangement with HBO. This dismal decision, coupled with Lana Wachowski's revised approach to both storytelling and action led to this film being both critically panned and rejected by audiences everywhere. Par for the course on Matrix sequels. However, some folks absolutely adored the tale that was being wound back on itself and then forward into the future. At the time of recording the only other show that we had in the can was the 2019 one on the original, so this represents a close-out of the series through the lens of diving back in to reassess, as we then proceeded to Reloaded, the Animatrix and Revolutions.  Next week: Hawkeye Guests: Brenden Agnew @BLCAgnew of Cinapse Victoria Luna B. Grieve:  @VixenVVitch  Alexa Vargas @Plutoburns whose YouTube channel is here
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    2 hrs and 34 mins
  • The Matrix Revolutions

    The Matrix Revolutions
    Feb 4 2022
    [School of Movies 2022] The least-loved, most-hated, and in consequence least-explored of the Matrix saga finally gets the School of Movies treatment. The 1999 original is turned on its head here, resulting in a film that almost seems the inverse of everything that got us fired up in the first place. But it was a necessary refocusing in order to expand outwards from Morpheus' dogmatic vision of "Us vs. Them".  Philosophically this lands in a healthier place, even if so much of what we see feels mismanaged, awkward, stalling for time and sometimes downright annoying. We go all-out here to clear away the debris of the original conclusion and lay bare the depth of thought beneath.  Next week we close out with what might well be the last Matrix movie. Certainly the last steered by a Wachowski.  Guests: Brenden Agnew @BLCAgnew of Cinapse Victoria Luna B. Grieve:  @VixenVVitch  Alexa Vargas @Plutoburns whose YouTube channel is here Mackenzie Eastram  @KenziePhoenix of Rainbow Connection @MuppetsPod and Video Game: The Movie: The Podcast  @VGTMPodcast
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    2 hrs and 23 mins
  • The Matrix Reloaded

    The Matrix Reloaded
    Jan 21 2022
    [School of Movies 2022] For this one we went all-out. It was an incredibly rich and dense discussion for the initial recording and I have added a ton of extra content, all to the sounds of the eclectic soundtrack and the rarely-heard extended score of Don Davis.  This is the first part of an evolution of the binary Us vs. Them dichotomy of The Matrix (1999) and was far less successful in ensnaring audiences with expanded perspective. What Film 2 sets up, Film 3 knocks down, and then decades later, Film 4 then ruminates on. So if you always thought the sequels were trash this may at least convey what they were trying to say. If you've always had a soft spot for them this will be a dream come true.  Next week we will be focusing on The Animatrix (2003) Guests: Brenden Agnew @BLCAgnew of Cinapse Victoria Luna B. Grieve:  @VixenVVitch  Alexa Vargas @Plutoburns whose YouTube channel is here Mackenzie Eastram  @KenziePhoenix of Rainbow Connection @MuppetsPod and Video Game: The Movie: The Podcast  @VGTMPodcast
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    2 hrs and 55 mins
  • The Matrix

    The Matrix
    Jan 14 2022
    [School of Movies 2019] NOTE: This is a re-release of the 2019 episode. It is one of our best shows and constitutes vital groundwork before we cover the three sequels over the next few weeks.  This one has been a phenomenally long time coming. Not only is it a dense and complex movie that's impossible to fully summarise even in our lengthier shows, not only does it mean a huge amount to millions of people, not only is it intrinsically linked with disappointing sequels (whom some claim don't even exist) but it's probably the one movie that got my brain moving the most at the tender age of 19. And as we'll discuss in upcoming weeks, there's complexities in those follow-ups that are key to better understanding the overall symbolism at play here. That and Fight Club. And like the antics of Tyler Durdan, there are aspects of this film that have not so much 'dated' as they have taken on a horrible new significance over the past twenty years, via misinterpretation. So this is a show that would have been very different in 1999, in 2004, in 2009 or even in 2014. And I'm willing to bet that in five year's time we'll feel differently again, such is the way the 'Real World' moves. So buckle your seat belt Dorothy, 'cos Kansas is going bye-bye.
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    2 hrs and 30 mins
  • Spider-Man: No Way Home

    Spider-Man: No Way Home
    Dec 31 2021
    [School of Movies 2021] A lively and enthusiastic end of one trilogy and setup for a different flavour of future web-slinging, this thing drew gasps, cheers and applause, even from my British audience, and we don't cheer for anything except football. This is a really special and important Spider-Man movie. Beyond all hyperbole and landmark moments in comic-book style crossovers it is a story about the serious toll that being Spidey extracts from everyone under that signature mask. Guests: Brenden Agnew @BLCAgnew of Cinapse Mackenzie Eastram  @KenziePhoenix of Rainbow Connection @MuppetsPod Nathan Eastram @bertnerdtram These two also of Video Game: The Movie: The Podcast  @VGTMPodcast Austin Wilden @WC_WIT of Wits-Writing  Nama Chibitty of our Discord @NamaTheNerd 
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    2 hrs and 27 mins
  • Titanic

    Titanic
    Dec 24 2021
    [School of Movies 2021] This is the big one, folks. This is the movie I didn't realise how passionate I was about until we started engaging our analytical style to it. I've had Titanic in the back of my head as a film I really wanted to talk about for many many years, and I suspect i was waiting for The Abyss and True Lies to hit blu ray so we could do a James Cameron Season, or at least for Avatar 2 to finally emerge. In the end we just had to go ahead and hoist the anchor without them. As it turns out this massive, cinematic phenomenon is rather special. Despised by some, upon its release in 1997, it found the largest audience ever, and bewitched them. And it achieved this success not by being flashy and showy alone, but by giving us a story that many would want to return to again and again. That's one of the more powerful ways to get that top spot.  And I say this without hyperbole, in terms of shows I've put together with just Sharon and I at the mics, this might be the appropriately grandest. We pulled out all the stops and the edit took five days. So turn the lights low, grab a mug of hot stuff and settle in for a tale of haunted ice.
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    3 hrs and 10 mins