May 31, 2019
[School of Movies 2019]
With the release of Men in Black: International we went back to the original trilogy starring Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and Mr Jones' younger model Josh Brolin.
And what a wildly mixed bag we have here. The first is excellent, though almost too brief, the second is an atrocious unfunny mess and the third (which most people didn't see because they were so put off by the second) is actually quite a dedicated time travel sci-fi tale with a sudden, disarming emotional punch at the end.
We recommend seeing 1 and 3 if you haven't yet. Just hearing about 2 will be quite enough.
0h 01m Men in Black
0h 57m Men in Black II
1h 40m Men in Black 3
May 24, 2019
[School of Movies 2019]
The first ever live action Pokemon movie turned out to be one of our favourite films of 2019. A modest-yet-fleetingly-epic tale of a lonely young man searching for his father, uncomfortably partnered up with a coffee-addled, yet determined talking Pikachu.
We go into why this choice of focus was ideal to introduce the wider audience to this world, the myriad tiny details that were there if you looked, the surprisingly powerful performances and the absolutely bonkers master plan of the eventual villain.
PLUS your casting choices for Jessie, James & Meowth, sent to us via #SOMhandsup
Guests
Mackenzie Easton @KenziePhoenix of Rainbow Connection @MuppetsPod
Nathan Bertram @bertnerdtram of Video Game: The Movie: The Podcast @VGTMPodcast
May 17, 2019
[School of Movies 2019]
Since the third one is released this week and the series is not only continuing but branching out into TV and spin-offs we figured we'd journey back to the beginning and look at the 2014 original, examining what made it so powerful, relentless yet elegant.
The YouTube channel which we reference several times is Film Joy, the musical act we showcase is Kaleida, the YouTube video to watch is Nerf John Wick.
And this episode owes a great deal to the masterful scoring of Tyler Bates, whose music bears you up like a river and propels you through the experience of this movie, from reflective eddies to savage falls.
Guest:
Lorin Grieve
![Avengers: Endgame]()
May 10, 2019
[School of Movies 2019]
How could we possibly sum up this immensely important, densely packed three-hour odyssey that closes out eleven years and 22 movies worth of continuity?
The solution we came up with was a feat of organisation, collaboration and editing elegance that focuses on character arcs resolving and continuing with viewpoints from the biggest assembly of guests we have ever had in a single sitting. Appropriate, wouldn't you say?
Plus a wildly speculative Patreon bonus show all about the plot mechanics and the future of the MCU. This is one of our very best.
Guests
Brenden Agnew of Cinapse @BLCAgnew
Maya Santandrea of Hollywoo @mayasantandrea
Jesse Ferguson of Recorded Tomorrow @TheDapperDM
Neil Taylor of TheKidDogg @KidDogg
Jerome McIntosh of GameBurst @JeromeMci
Mackenzie Easton @KenziePhoenix of Rainbow Connection @MuppetsPod
From Sequentially Yours Kaoru Negisa @Moonpanther22
and Debbie Morse @bastet8300
"The Men by the Lake" written and read by Alasdair Stuart of Escapeartists.net @AlasdairStuart
And we are @SchoolOfMovies
Find our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/alexandershaw where you can support our weekly shows and get access to all sorts of bonus goodies including an hour-long bonus episode on Endgame wherein we talk about time travel and where Marvel go from here.
The New Century Multiverse podcast can be found here: https://newcenturyshow.podbean.com/
May 3, 2019
[School of Movies 2019]
Back when the movie launched in late 2018 I put together a 50-minute Quick Review for Patreon. It was so entertaining and full of detail that I've been meaning for a while to expand on it and bring that show to the main feed. So this is that, with 45 minutes of new material added, including Sharon's take on Venom, recorded in early 2019 and my reassessment of what worked about the film.
A space mission crashes back to Earth, bringing with it various gooey aliens of questionable morality. One crazed, underwritten billionaire seeks to create the perfect being by combining these aliens with hobos via symbiosis. And one jittery, journalistic loser represents a spanner in the works. Venom was poorly reviewed upon release, but audiences flocked to it nonetheless, generating an unlikely $855 million global box office. Part of this show is about examining why that might have been the case.
Next Week: Avengers Endgame
