School of Movies

1000xRESIST

[School of Everything Else 2025]

Chances are you have neither played nor even heard of this 2024 sci-fi indie game. We hadn't, and as we proceeded through a tale of a dystopia where everyone is cloned from the same person, yet has their own distinct name, outfit and personality, we couldn't see exactly why Hollywoo actress Maya Souris commissioned it...

And then we got to Act 3.

The prospect of watching this as a Let's Play went out the window. I have never seen a video game justify its medium so hard and confidently, and I recommend listening to this whole show, regardless of your intention to play.

Delicious in Dungeon

[School of Everything Else 2025]

This is a commissioned show for Chris Finik, The Jonin Monkey, Banzai Tree and Sixblazer. We recruited Willow as a guest, since they were immediately smitten with this 24-episode first season.

We heartily recommend you cast aside your worries and just delve into this podcast episode, regardless of having seen the show or not. While you will find out things that are going to happen, we can't spoil the show for you, only make it richer with more texture to get your teeth into.

The on-paper synopsis is a bunch of misfits searching an underground labyrinth for one of their number, lost to a dragon. The experience itself is a gourmet tour of eating the monsters that attack them. The longer term quest is a better balance of the delicate and deadly ecosystem that abounds in tabletop RPGs. So, grab your cooking knife and your shield reforged into a pot, light the magic circle and let's get to the nosh.

Secret of Mana

[School of Everything Else 2025]

One of the most beloved 90s RPGs, and one of the few on Super Nintendo that was released in the UK. So, while I envied Americans for getting Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy IV and VI, Earthbound and Breath of Fire, THIS ONE was my first actual big console RPG.

And it has problems; real playability issues that make it hard to recommend for everyone in the 20s. You'll find Mana fans who say that these don't matter, but they absolutely do. A fine comparison I came upon while mulling this one over was Breath of the Wild. Absolutely gorgeous, engrossing you in a luscious world dominated by fertile nature, but Link's swords breaking after half a dozen battles are not going to make the game more fun and engaging for everyone.

And yet, there IS that immersion, there is the overwhelming emotional response that Mana fans have to the music and art style, and there's the undeniably satisfying THWACK of the combat. So, come on a journey with us and the three intrepid adventuring kids, Primm, Popoi and Randi, and decide whether playing Secret of Mana is right for you.

The People's Joker

[School of Movies 2025]

After the harsh, oppressive atmosphere of I Saw the TV Glow we turn to an altogether funnier tale of trans discovery with Vera Drew's semiautobiographical, anarchic reshaping of DC's Clown Princess of Crime.

From the painfully normalising cornfields of Smallville, Kansas comes a child who asks their alarmed mother "Was in born in the wrong body?". The only possible response to this is of course sessions at Arkham Asylum with Doctor Crane and a prescription of Smilex to chase that depression and anxiety away.

We follow this confused young person to Gotham, where they find their calling in a thinly-veiled Saturday Night Live setup, doing stand-up comedy alongside The Penguin, Ra's al Ghul and a trans-masc chap named Mr J, riffing hard on both fallen Robin Jason Todd and Jared Leto's Joker. Our hero gives themselves the mantle of Joker the Harlequin... and comedy in Gotham will never be the same!

This movie was pulled together during lockdown, and thrives on a garage-punk, scrapbook style that energetically propels you through the troubled life of someone just trying to be themselves in a loud, chaotic world.

Guests

• Laura Kate Dale

• Alejandra Vargas

• Victoria Luna B. Grieve

I Saw the TV Glow

[School of Movies 2025]

As soon as we saw this thickly atmospheric, Lynchian lucid nightmare from 2024, Sharon and I knew we had to do a very particular show on it. Since the entire context is trans-anxiety which the majority of cisgender people may find impenetrably mystifying we needed an all-trans/enby/non-cis cast of guests to walk us through the significance.

On the surface it is a story about a chap named Owen who is lonely and isolated child of the mid-1990s, meeting lonely, isolated Maddy and bonding over a mutual obsession with a cheesy sci-fi TV show for teenagers called "The Pink Opaque". Beneath that surface there is a whole world of uncertainty, denial, distraction and pain. Strap in, because this one is hard, long and has no relief at the end, culminating in a cautionary tale about running from yourself.

Huge thanks to everyone involved with this quite astonishing endeavour. We buttoned our lips and let these good people talk for the majority of the three hour runtime of this thing.

Guests

• Laura Kate Dale

• Alejandra Vargas

• Aquila Edwards

• Victoria Luna B. Grieve

Plus we have a suite of audio submissions from...

• Austin Wilden

• Rosa Ysassi Serata Villarreal

• Holly Dotson

• and Hanna Peregrine

Do A Powerbomb

[School of Everything Else 2025]

This was an unexpected burst of sheer joy, and we urge you all to seek it out for yourselves. It's a graphic novel, comprising a 7-issue comic book miniseries about wrestling. We had never read a book written by Daniel Warren Johnson before, but now we're hooked and ready to guzzle down everything else this champ achieves.

Lona Steelrose was just a little girl when she witnessed her mother tragically perish in the ring. Now, because of this very tragedy that motivates her to fight, no other wrestler will touch her. This is until a literal demon necromancer offers her a chance in an intergalactic wrestling tournament. The twist; her tag team partner is Cobrasun, the masked luchador who was her mother's final opponent.

This thing is gloriously pulpy and plays out like the best Mortal Kombat you never knew you needed. It was a commissioned show for Tylor, and we are so glad to discover this treasure.

Empire Records

[School of Movies 2025]

A cult favourite hangout movie about working in a CD shop in the mid-90s. This one was directed by Allan Moyle, who previously helmed another music-centric, coming-of-age teen drama that should have been way more of a hit; Pump Up the Volume (1990).

Statistically almost none of you have seen this, as it's the kind of movie you need a good friend to sit you down with after hearing that you've never seen it, and immediately declared "We're watching this!" Well, we are that friend today, and we are going to detail why this one is worthy of love.

It's painfully white, extremely straight and concerns itself with the now-antiquated dichotomy of MTV marketability versus independent spirit, but considering Spotify Killed the Video Star, the themes are still relevant, and the ragtag cast of teens are quirky enough to make this a breezy, endlessly-quotable rewatch. Damn The Man, save The Empire.

A Space for the Unbound

[School of Everything Else 2025]

A charming 16-bit style indie adventure game, set in suburban Indonesia in the 1990s. This begins cosy, deliberately evoking the familiar, and swiftly becomes strange and mysterious with a story of loss and grief and loneliness at its core; an ache longing to be relieved.

The gameplay involves exploring the town and getting to know the locals, jumping inside their minds to find out what their abiding internal conflicts are and help them deal with these. There is an impressive, melodramatic sweep to this whole thing and we are gratified and edified to have played the whole story as a commission for Tylor.

Crow Country

[School of Everything Else 2025]

A marvellously authentic and creepy modern Survival Horror in the convincing style of a PlayStation One title from the mid-90s conversely featuring inflections of more contemporary scary games. This one is available on Steam and Switch and PS4 and Xbox Series X.

There is an abandoned theme park to explore and mysteries to uncover, as we structure this episode into three sections. GREEN FINE: Means you can hear about the basic setup and still go in completely fresh if you want to know none of the surprises. YELLOW CAUTION: Makes up the majority of the show as we discuss how it goes about itself and what the experience is like. RED DANGER: Is all the juicy endgame material, where we get to fully draw back the curtain.

This was a commissioned show from Maya Santandrea and Selfproclaimed, and we are so glad they chose to set it before us. You will be too.

Resident Evil 4

[School of Everything Else 2025]

One of the most beloved, instantly-transformative, replayed, re-released, and critically acclaimed games of all time... and would you believe until preparing for this show, that I wasn't massively fussed about it?

But this year I have been replaying all of the original games sequentially, and after the first era of fixed-camera tank controls transitioned into the action-spectacle of 4 I was blindsided by how many fresh aspects of the gameplay and world that I appreciated. The 2005 GameCube hit is, as it turns out deserving of the historical adulation that has been heaped upon it. Moreover, going back to the 2023 remake, it seems Capcom somehow accomplished the impossible, improving upon (almost) every aspect.

Here now is a hyper-focused discussion with three other lovers of this game. The discussion ran long and meandered, and I elected to divide this show into two, with the second part; 'Blue Medallions' being released on the Patreon bonus feed where you can also find an After School Club on Resident Evil Zero and Code Veronica.

Jason Slate is holding a three-day charity stream in support of Trans Lifeline, from March 21-23 2025 Noon to Midnight each day Eastern Time at Twitch.tv/themanapool There are over a thousand Steam games to give away from his backlog and every $10 donation to this worthy cause gets you a game. Go watch Chewie play and give generously.

Guests:

Jason "Chewie" Slate of The Mana Pool

James Perkins @Mijmeister

Derrick Ritchie @thenewdelboy