School of Movies

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

[School of Movies 2020]

The year of Spielberg continues (though I have a feeling 2020 isn't going to be remembered for this, no matter how good we make the shows) with the second Indiana Jones movie, which is in fact a prequel. There's... reasons for that.

Ditching the writer of The Empire Strikes Back, producer George Lucas brought in the duo who would pen Howard the Duck, and decided to really lean on the colonial atmosphere of movies that were racist as hell fifty years before this film emerged into cinemas. 

I think the best way I put it is you can easily *watch* Raiders of the Lost Ark followed by Temple of Doom, and have a good time with both, but it's quite another thing to start an explorative and enthusiastic film analysis with the first and then graduate to the second. It feels like a booby trap and the floor falls away. And you tumble into a pit of spikes, lava and dodgy representation for Asian people, women, frankly even white dudes!

Guest

Chris Chipman of The Chipman Bros Tangent @The Chippa

This is Spinal Tap

[School of Movies 2020]

Hot on the heels of The Princess Bride our unexpected Rob Reiner mini-season continues with one of the loudest mockumentaries of all time.  Fictional band Spinal Tap gear up for their big American comeback tour carrying them from New York to Japan. Along the way they experience inconsistent catering presentation, an album cover with zero visual information and a bust-up between their two passionate creative forces that may spell the end of their musical career. 

And all of it is captured on film in improvised, painfully human fashion. Join us as we void our musical guts with the band that has had more drummers than albums. 

This episode was commissioned by  Kevin Veighy, Dan Mayer and Nick Ord.

• Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You
• Gimme Some Money
• Hell Hole
• Sex farm
• Nigel Tufnel Solo
• America
• Rock and Roll Creation
• Stonehenge
• Break Like the Wind
• Jazz Odyssey
• Big Bottom
• Cups and Cakes
• Listen to the Flower People
• Heavy-Duty Rock & Roll
• The Majesty of Rock

Guests

Brenden Agnew of Cinapse  @BLCAgnew 

Nick Ord of the Midnight Movies blog  https://midnightmoviesonline.wordpress.com/ 

 

The Good Dinosaur

[School of Movies 2020]

How does one discuss the worst Pixar film? When a studio accomplishes so much and changes the industry, should we not simply forgive them their mishaps and move on? We decided, not necessarily. Because delving into where things went wrong can in fact better illuminate when they get their pieces of art so very right. 

 

So what we have here is an exploration of a downright bungled production with one of the most erratic tones of any animated film we've seen, veering between cutie-patootie and gut-churning nightmare, seemingly scene to scene.  It's what would happen if you asked Werner Herzog to reboot The Care Bears. A series of genuinely baffling choices and a disbelief suspended on gossamer-thin threads, this one makes Cars look like a documentary of entirely grounded concepts. 

 

We were worried this would come off as too negative, when we recorded it a long while ago, but listening back I'm proud of how incisive and merciless our approach was. And it makes the shows where we shower the best movies with adulation all the more genuine. 

Mystery Men

[School of Movies 2020]

As we languish in the ellipses between Phases 3 and 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as Batman goes on hold, Superman hangs in the balance, Wonder Woman waits for her delayed sequel release, and the X-Men are quietly reshaped by Disney's Fungineers, and the only big bit of news for this breakdown in the age of superheroes is the Snyder Cut finally getting a chance to be put together. 

So tonight, we here at School of Movies remember the other guys (not the movie with Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell) the losers (not the movie with Zoe Saldana and Chris Evans) the outsiders (not the movie with Matt Dillon and the Karate Kid), the wannabe vigilantes who just end up making things worse (not Watchmen).

Adapted from the Flaming Carrot comics, but not actually featuring the Flaming Carrot, this movie is almost entirely inept, shambolic, misjudged and ridiculous. Wholly appropriate, considering who it's about; a cadre of buffoons who want to help people in a city of the delusional, where the appointed good guys are actually kind of self-aggrandizing idiots too. Mystery Men has all the makings of a cult favourite, beloved by its fans (including us), and here you'll find out why.

This episode was commissioned by Jamas Enright. 

Guests

Em from Verbal Diorama  @VerbalDiorama 

Victoria Grieve  @VixenVVitch