School of Movies

The Lost Boys

[School of Movies 2020]

I am continuously baffled with the dearth of teenage vampire films. It sounds like a trope, but can you really name that many where the focus was on teenagers becoming vampires as a metaphor for being a teenage outcast, and disconnected with both the world of adults and that of the childhood just left behind?

Twilight, a bit. Near Dark, kinda? On TV we had The Vampire Diaries. Seriously there's a goldmine here if somebody can get the alchemy right in a way that hits whatever the current teen generation is. 

Anyway The Lost Boys (1987) wasn't originally intended to be that at all. It was supposed to be about vampire kids, Director Joel Schumacher simply engineered the ages upwards so it could be sexier, and mission accomplished. Our commission season continues with the bloodsucking Brady Bunch. 

Guests

Brenden Agnew of Cinapse  @BLCAgnew 

From Sequentially Yours  Kaoru Negisa  @Moonpanther22 

and Debbie Morse  @bastet8300 

And many thanks to the commissioners: Andy Rodriguez, Maya Santandrea and Bradford Yurkiw.

Willow

[School of Movies 2020]

Our Winter commissions season begins with this cult classic fantasy from 1988. Largely dismissed at the box office, Willow found a home market of kids who grew up wearing out their VHS copies, and will still talk of it today with misty-eyed affection. This was one of those movies that kept me going between the hibernation of Star Wars and the emergence of Lord of the Rings.

While this is easily passed off as a Hobbit lite or an attempt to siphon Star Wars’ space fantasy into conventional fantasy, what we talk about here are some arresting hidden depths, and how charmingly it manages to pull off its magic trick. Enough to capture the hearts of some fans for life. If you’ve not yet had the pleasure, we recommend the Blu Ray for a Sunday afternoon of feeling like you’re nine again. 

Guests

Brenden Agnew of Cinapse  @BLCAgnew 

Hollywoo Actress  Maya Santandrea @Mayasantandrea 

From Sequentially Yours  Kaoru Negisa  @Moonpanther22 

and Debbie Morse  @bastet8300 

And many thanks to the commissioner, Joel Robinson

Jaws

[School of Movies 2020]

Throughout this year we will be covering the films of Steven Spielberg in Main Event shows as well as Quick Reviews. And we figured we would start with a bang with a transformative work from 1975 that may not have been the first summer blockbuster, but definitely started the trend of the event movie that everyone goes to see and talks about, one that that grew with Star Wars into what big budget cinema is today.

However, this creature feature is really, REALLY strong in so many other ways beyond spectacle, and it was an absolute nightmare to film. We brought in a special guest for his first time on our show, and the enthusiasm just bounced off the walls within our recording session. He will definitely be back.

Guest

Chris Chipman of The Chipman Bros Tangent @The Chippa

The Rise of Skywalker

[School of Movies 2020]

The Star Wars Saga draws to a close for the third and (not) final time. We got to see how J.J. Abrams was at finishing rather than beginning, and my guests and I were presented with the task of somehow making a show that would be satisfying to a lot of different people going through wildly different responses.

What we came up with may surprise you. And it culminates in a new way of seeing the Star Wars series in general, which might just be the key to us moving forward. 

Guests

Jason "Chewie" Slate of The Mana Pool @TheManaPool

Voice Actor Alex Eding @AlexEding

Brenden Agnew of Cinapse @BLCAgnew

Neil Taylor of TheKidDogg @KidDogg