School of Movies

Supergirl

[School of Movies 2026]

Following on from the sunny and heartfelt success of James Gunn's 2025 Superman we have the scrappy follow-up by Craig Gillespie, detailing the lifestyle of Kal-El's cousin. Gillespie most likely got the job after two filmic accomplishments in spotlighting grubby, depressed punk girls who nobody likes except the audience; I, Tonya and Cruella.

Sharon and I went all out on this, reading the source book, 'Woman of Tomorrow' by Tom King & Bilquis Evely, which itself draws structural and thematic inspiration from specifically the Coen Brothers adaptation of True Grit by Charles Portis. What we are able to do is outline clearly where the film differs from the book and where the book differs from both film and original book to create this turducken of revenge.

This episode is totally worth listening to, even if you haven't seen this box office bomb that everyone we talk to seems to like and everyone we don't know personally seems to despise.

This week's After School Club: Aquaman 2: The Lost City

Next week: EPIC: The Musical

Toy Story 5

[School of Movies 2026]

After the 2022 failure ($226m on a $200m budget) of Lightyear to succesfully spin-off from the main Toy Story franchise (and we did a show about that at the time), they went back to the billion-dollar well that is the direct link to so many warm feelings across multiple generations.

And here they finally tackle the issue of tech, tablets (and the strangely absent phones and even video games) and their role in drawing modern children's attention away from their traditional toys. This felt like it was a long time coming and (especially after covering WALL-E for MA.I.) I had built up in my head a hard-hitting critique of not only losing our kids to glowing screens, but losing ourselves.

And from the glowing critical acclaim this has received across the board (92% freshness and 95% audience score) I appear to be wildly out of step with contemporary critics and cinemagoers. I have... some things to say.

This week's After School Club: Toy Story Shorts

Next week: Supergirl (2026)

Toy Story 4

[School of Movies 2026]

Back in 2011, early in my podcasting career I recorded three shows with Daniel Floyd on what seemed at the time to be a now-completed very rare example of a Perfect Trilogy. Even legendary grump Mark Kermode remarked on how neither Star Wars nor The Godfather could pull that off. And to a degree that Trilogy became enshrined in the eyes of many millennials who grew up alongside Andy.

Many years have gone by, and what was always a temptation was breaking that world back open and making more movies at the potential cost of outraging Disney fans (something that seems easier each year, despite making billions from mediocre remakes and sequels). The artists and creators at Pixar maintained that this would only go ahead if there was a phenomenally good hook for the story, and in 2019 they presented us with this.

This is the first time Sharon gets to talk about Toy Story, as she wasn't the host back then. This one wound up being her favourite of the first four!

This week's After School Club: Blacksad

Next Week: Toy Story 5

Toy Story 3

[Digital Gonzo 2011]

The third and final of this short series of archival re-releases, this time dealing with what we thought at the time was the last ever Toy Story film. An ending that moved the world to tears and became not only the highest earning Pixar film at the time, but the first animated film to break a billion.

It also repositioned who the toys were and who Andy was. Now, suddenly grown-up, this young man was going off to start the rest of his life. The day Woody has always dreaded. Now all these questions about what to do start slamming home, and his responsibility to the others become so much more important. It's gripping and funny as hell and occasionally disturbing (Buzz takes to being a jackbooted thug way too easily when reset).

And in the end it is intensely meloncholy as we are presented with the vibrant spring green of Bonnie and her fresh imagination, making for one of the most memorable, powerful and bittersweet closing scenes in cinema history. Once again, thank you so much to Dan for gamely joining me for all these and never once getting irked when I interrupted him. He's always got a friend in me. 

Guests

Daniel Floyd of New Frame Plus

Toy Story 2

[Digital Gonzo 2011]

Another archival show from my early days, but one that is good enough to be re-released without re-editing.

Toy Story 2 was originally begun as a straight-to-VHS sequel, and then-CEO of Disney Michael Eisner was fine with it being done in cheap, 2D animation, similar to Aladdin II: The Return of Jafar, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II and of course the unforgettable (and tasteful) Pocahontas II: Journey to the New World. Pixar undertook the challenge of making this themselves and at a certain point mid-way through production proposed that it be a full theatrical release with a higher budget. The result is still many people's favourite of the series, bringing in complexity and serious decisions for toys that fear for their own existance. 

Once again Daniel and I, (here accompanied by Nikki Taylor) delved into the making and execution of this evolving elaboration, which in so many ways represents what Pixar at its best could reach for. 

Guests

Daniel Floyd of New Frame Plus

Nikki Taylor of GameBurst

Toy Story

[Digital Gonzo 2011]

This is an archival re-release from my early days of solo podcasting with weekly guests. It is a rare example from that era that doesn't need a revisit or re-edit. I'm proud of how much Dan and I brought to the table, though I am even more disappointed in retrospect of how much adulation I heap upon John Lasseter. His mantra of 'Quality is the best business plan" has always been hugely influential on me, and he has been a key figure in creating and spotlighting some of the greatest animated films of all time... he's also a testament to why having real life heroes is a minefield.

Toy Story 1 absolutely holds up, more than three decades later. The elegance and joyful momentum carry it to the stars, and it is an absolutely key Rosetta Stone from which modern animated movies draw their inspiration. 

Guests

Daniel Floyd of New Frame Plus

Masters of the Universe (2026)

[School of Movies 2026]

This is a fun one. Statistically speaking if you're under the age of 45 you didn't go and see this summer blockbuster funded by Amazon. When you think about it, this probably should have been made in the late 2000s, just after Michael Bay's immensely successful Transformers, and notably around the time they started planning the movie anyway. Instead it has taken another twenty years to hit the big screen and now faces relevance to only late Gen Xers like Sharon and I.

The film, directed by Bumblebee and Kubo second-stringer Travis Knight is an enjoyable MESS! It does have heart, and an adorable softboy lead who seems to have understood the assignment. It's a higgledy-piggledy remix of all four Thor movies, with traces of sixteen unfinished scripts floating around, and yet somehow Jared Leto manages to be entertaining for once in his life.

Sharon is our audience surrogate as I take you all by the hand and lead you through Eternia. This is one to listen to, even (especially) if you haven't seen it.

This week's After School Club: Masters of the Universe: Revolution (2024)

Next Week: Toy Story 4 & 5

The Mandalorian & Grogu

[School of Movies 2026]

The first Star Wars movie released in cinemas after seven long years since The Rise of Skywalker. It's a crowd-pleaser, a simple, space western from the director of Cowboys & Aliens, Zathura and Iron Man 1 & 2.

And not a lot of people showed up for it, which feels like a damn shame, since just the experience of being sat there with the Ludwig Göransson score blasting through a sound system that costs a hundred times what most of us have in our living room was quite extraordinary.

There's also something to be said for the miraculous creations we get to see blown up to proportions suited to IMAX, from the gestalt entity of Mando himself, to the pugilist son of Jabba the Hutt, and most especially the special little green gremlin who we get to spend some unexpectedly intense close time with. This film has been easy to dismiss, but there's more to it than the homogenisation of Disney Plus affords us.

This week's After School Club: Happy Birthday to Me (1981)

Next Week: Masters of the Universe (2026)

The Mandalorian & Boba Fett

[School of Everything Else 2026]

Kicking off our Summer Blockbuster Season, before we get to the first theatrically released Star Wars movie in seven years we need to bring you folks up to speed on where The Mandalorian & Grogu have been since Season One. This is two back-to-back episodes previously on After School Club talking about The Mandalorian Season Two and The Book of Boba Fett (which I contend should have been The Mandalorian Season Three).

What I managed to edit together here and talk about extensively is three movie edits, which revolutionised how much I appreciate these two shows. And you folks can somewhat recreate the experience I'm describing here if you watch the following episodes...

Once Upon a Time in a Galaxy Far, Far Away... PART 1 (Mando S2 - E1: The marshal / E5: The Jedi / E6: The Tragedy / E7: The Believer and E8: The Rescue)

Son of the Sand (Book of Boba Fett - E1: Stranger in a Strange Land / E2: The Tribes of Tatooine / E3: The Streets of Mos Espa / E4: The Gathering Storm)

Once Upon a Time in a Galaxy Far, Far Away... PART 2 (Book of Boba Fett - E5: The Return of the Mandalorian / E6: From the Desert Comes a Stranger / E7: In the Name of Honor)

Playlist of my YouTube Star Wars videos, including multiple editing and music flourishes detailed in this show.

This week's After School Club: Star Wars: Skeleton Crew

Next Week: The Mandalorian & Grogu

Companion

[School of Movies 2026]

As we perform a shutdown on MA.I. with a rousing singalong of 'Daisy Bell', we get to one of the least-seen-yet-best of the whole bunch. 2025s Companion seems to have had a hard time really hooking audiences in. "What, it's about a killer robot or something, but she looks like a cute girl." No, that's M.3.G.A.N. and that little brat poisoned the well for this absolute beauty, TWICE with her TikTok dancing and nothing below the surface!

Companion is following in the eerily perfect footsteps of The Stepford Wives (the savagely satirical 1975 original, not the embarrassing Nicole Kidman remake). It's about autonomy and escape from exploitation. It's hilarious and inventive and touchingly sad, and frightening and exhilarating, visually striking, and Sophie Thatcher -especially following her turn in Heretic (2024)- is absolutely one to watch in modern-day thrillers.

We take you through the film scene by scene, knowing full well that very few of you will have seen it. So we suggest you listen along until you're desperate to watch it for yourself and find out how it ends.