Episodes
2 days ago
Groundhog Day
2 days ago
2 days ago
[School of Movies 2025]
We’ve been holding this episode back for a special occasion and it seems like 2025 'The year of Joy' is the time to finally crack into one of the richest and most universally gratifying films in history. A hundred years from now, people will still be watching this film, It’s a Wonderful Life and The Shawshank Redemption.
Accompanying us in this time loop journey from mundane resentment to confusion, to panic, to exploitation, to emptiness, to the nadir of self-destruction, to the revelation of reflection, to the zenith of living to enrich the lives of others, and thus experience repletion is Jesse Ferguson. Jesse is one of the few guests we know who can comprehend the knottiest of time-travel conundrums whilst fully understanding that the story at the heart of what's being told is far more important than any speculative, temporal shenanigans.
Plus Bill Murray is a hoot, this is his best film, as well as being the finest offering from his friend and director Harold Ramis. It is endlessly memorable, profound, and touches upon a universality of shared experience. We are all alone, and we are all together.
Friday Jan 24, 2025
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Friday Jan 24, 2025
Friday Jan 24, 2025
[School of Movies 2025]
The first Dungeons & Dragons movie emerged in the year 2000, wildly underachieving in every department; characters, story, screenplay, costumes, technical proficiency, directorial flair, casting, scope, music, awareness of what it was adapting, sense of humour and dragons! All of these things were straight-to-video grade. It was, in effect the anti-Lord of the Rings, a year before that masterpiece-containing-masterpieces raised the bar impossibly high.
23 years later, on the 49th anniversary, Honour Among Thieves emerged to empty theatres for various reasons I will be going into in my opening monologue. Among other notions broached, there is an imperative upon us to redefine success.
And our packed adventuring party are all here to do just that, and gush about this hidden gem, this buried treasure that knocks it out of the park in all the departments named above. This is a special episode where we get to talk about exactly why Honour Among Thieves is precious, and the unseen, Lego Movie-style subtext of these events.
Guests:
Hollywoo Actress Maya Souris @Mayasantandrea
Victoria Luna B. Grieve: @VixenVVitch
Brenden Agnew @BLCAgnew of Make Me Watch It
Chris Finik @finmonster09
Friday Jan 17, 2025
The Muppet Movie
Friday Jan 17, 2025
Friday Jan 17, 2025
[School of Movies 2025]
In the name of joy, this year we are looking back across every Muppet movie we haven't yet covered, starting right here with the original 1979 film. For perspective, Jim Henson had made two successful TV shows up to this point, the well-known Muppet Show, which began in 1976 and was in the middle of its third season when this was being made, but before that, a weird series of little black and white skits called "Sam and Friends" which aired beginning in 1955.
We recruited Muppet experts Mackenzie and Nathan Eastram to delve into the story of how Henson and company got to this place, as well as extolling the copious virtues of this instantly melancholy little tale about fame and dreamers, and money-men, crammed with celebrity cameos, none of which your five year old will recognise. Some of which are legendary comedy figureheads of the 20th century that I had to look up, and I'm in my mid-40s!
Guests:
Mackenzie Eastram @KenziePhoenix of Rainbow Connection @MuppetsPod
Nathan Eastram @bertnerdtram These two are also part of DiceWeave @DiceWeavePod
Friday Jan 10, 2025
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
Friday Jan 10, 2025
Friday Jan 10, 2025
[School of Movies 2025]
An extremely long-awaited show on a game-changer of a blockbuster movie.
The first Pirates film, released in 2003 before Lord of the Rings had completed brought the world many things: A fantabulous extravaganza of practical effects, combined with a surprisingly light smattering of digital VFX that would be leaned into a lot harder later down the line, The notion that the swashbuckler could still do big business (the hidden caveat was that Johnny Depp being strange absolutely must be present) Keira Knightley as a leading lady, Gore Verbinski as a major director, the supposition that audiences would flock to cinematic adaptations of Disney park rides (they won't, just this one. See above regarding Johnny Depp) and Geoffrey Rush as an all-time iconic big-screen presence embodying the most consistently enjoyable pirate of all time.
But there's more going on, beneath the frothing surface, a fantastically witty, urbane and efficient script by Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott, one of the greatest scores ever composed (in a shockingly short amount of time) and Orlando Bloom's character actually being quite good, especially when held against Jack Davenport's Lawful Neutral Commodore James Norrington.
This was a commission for Lincoln Alpern and features clips from the best audiodrama I've ever composed; Panther Soul, and the first chapter of the brand new Dracula adaptation Castle of the Moon.
Guests:
Hollywoo Actress Maya Souris @Mayasantandrea
Brenden Agnew @BLCAgnew of Make Me Watch It
Friday Jan 03, 2025
The Mask
Friday Jan 03, 2025
Friday Jan 03, 2025
[School of Movies 2025]
We begin the new year as we mean to go on; joyfully. This is a commissioned episode for Alejandra Vargas. Back in 1994 Jim Carrey was having the most amazing year in cinema that he would EVER have, pretty much redefining what people wanted with madcap comedy for that era. Rubber-faced and bellowing catchphrases. This thing should have aged terribly after more than thirty years.
But it hasn't, in fact it feels like a key precursor to the superhero boom round the corner, whilst challenging the contemporary crop of Batman and his imitators. It's also genuinely funny and eminently quotable (with gusto, when you're doing it) and pulls off a neat double-reversal of feminine characters in a way that doesn't feel cynical at all. A 'Nice Guy' story that didn't make us grimace, a bit with a dog... and that flippin'. toe-tappin' swing soundtrack!
Friday Dec 27, 2024
Ultraman Rising
Friday Dec 27, 2024
Friday Dec 27, 2024
[School of Movies 2024]
You don't need to know a single thing about Ultraman to love this film.
We brought in Kaiju and Sentai expert Dan Hoeppner to educate us along with you, regarding the history and cultural background of this character, but the film itself, viewable on Netflix is an absolutely perfect starting point. It is a smashing standalone story about the son of Ultraman, who grew up to be not especially great in the role himself, and instead pursued his mother's passion, becoming a baseball player. He's selfish and arrogant, not a team player, and has estranged himself from his widowed father, Hayao, with neither of them finding fulfilment.
Then Kenji had an adorable, ginormous baby space dragon dropped into his lap, and he's about to find out that being a Dad is harder than it looks.
It also sits confidently alongside the most gorgeous, dynamic and thrilling animated films of recent years, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, The Sea Beast and even the hallowed Spider-Verse.
This one was commissioned by Thomas Meehan, and we're so glad he prompted us into tackling it now and not holding back because it felt too intimidatingly special. Sometimes we need that fire lit under us.
Guest:
Dan Hoeppner @MightyMegatron0 of Leftover Army Monsters
Friday Dec 20, 2024
A Christmas Story
Friday Dec 20, 2024
Friday Dec 20, 2024
[School of Movies 2024]
Mostly overlooked when released in cinemas in 1983, it took nearly a decade for Ted Turner to realise this thing was funny as hell, authentic, heart-warming, and a little dark and twisted, only to then screen it hundreds of times on his many networks until America was both in love with the movie and thoroughly sick of it!
Meanwhile the rest of the world is unaware of its existence, and Sharon and I as the only two Brits in on this Yankee secret would like to both illuminate its qualities for the listening world outside of North America and Canada, AND remind you folks who do live there and groan every time you hear that another 24-hour marathon of screening this thing back to back is due, quite how good it really is.
It's not often we cover straightforward comedies on this show. It's tricky to explain how or why something is funny without stepping on the gag itself, so think of this as a testbed for potential future episodes on comedies.
To folks on Patreon; I finished the Winnie the Pooh sequel novel; it's REALLY good, and I'll get it edited with Sharon and send out copies for you folks to read around Christmas Day! Thank you for waiting so patiently.
Friday Dec 13, 2024
The Rocketeer
Friday Dec 13, 2024
Friday Dec 13, 2024
[School of Movies 2024]
A story ripped straight from the pages of Golden Age comic books, as dastardly gangsters and Nazis on the rise seek out a secret rocket pack that has fallen into the hands of a well-meaning, square-jawed chap who accidentally becomes something of a superhero. Starring a moustache-twirling Timothy Dalton, a luminous Jennifer Connelly, along with Billy Campbell, Alan Arkin and Paul Sorvino, this is a favourite of many of our listeners and was commissioned by Sarah Montgomery.
We kick off a Christmas season of commissions, and considering how stressful November was for everyone, we have decided to set the tone for 2025 by seeking out pure joy. They will be movies we will love talking about enthusiastically, and focusing on to bring you folks a measure of weekly happiness in a dark time.
The ones we have chosen for this December all seem to have that joy in common, as well as an old fashioned sensibility. We have A Christmas Story coming up next week, then Ultraman Rising, then at New Year's we have The Mask, and to see in January it's Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl!
Friday Dec 06, 2024
Sunshine
Friday Dec 06, 2024
Friday Dec 06, 2024
[School of Movies 2024]
This is an exceptionally long-awaited episode for us. One of the very first films discussed on our very first episode, way back in April 2007, mentioned repeatedly in the intervening 17 years, and promised over and over.
Now we finally reach it, one of the most special and meaningful films to us.
It was directed by Danny Boyle after 28 Days later but before Slumdog Millionaire. It very overtly draws inspiration from Aliens and 2001, it stars Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Michelle Yeoh, Rose Byrne, Hiroyuki Sanada Cliff Curtis, Benedict Wong and Mark Strong. It was written by Alex Garland, scored by John Murphy and Underworld, it made one twentieth the box office of Christopher Nolan's Interstellar.
...and it is quite literally BRILLIANT.
Thursday Dec 05, 2024
The First Hour and Seven Minutes of Oppenheimer
Thursday Dec 05, 2024
Thursday Dec 05, 2024
[School of Movies 2023]
[This was originally released in the summer of 2023. We have subsequently seen every inch of Oppenheimer... we stand by what is said here.]
I think this will be the only piece I create about Oppenheimer (2023). You definitely do not have to have seen it and I won't be saying anything that could be considered a plot spoiler.
This is dark, upsetting, heavy and much shorter than our usual Main Event shows. It was intended to be an After School Club, but in the inception it grew and expanded in gravity, density and ferocity, and while there is an aspect that feels self-destructive, I consider it important enough to release to the whole world. Let history decide.