School of Movies

Rogue One

[School of Movies 2017]

The most requested show of the year finally arrives. I'm going to bet the many different people asking for this had different reasons. Some might be hoping that we love it (we don't) a few might suspect that we hate it (we also don't) and some of you might not be able to put a finger on what felt a bit off about the movie (we might be able to shed some light on that).

What's clear though is that this one was liked and popular. Standing at 85% on Rotten Tomatoes, this received some solid, critical praise, which means our issues with it put us in the minority, which we're fine with. Allow us to present you with a critiquing sandwich, whereby we start and finish focusing on all the things it does right, with a meaty helping of where it falls short in the middle. 

There's also a scene we talk about where the whole movie collapses into grotesque absurdity (you might know the one already) and you won't be able to watch it with a straight face after hearing this. One thing's for sure, it will make you laugh more than Rogue One did (aside from everything K-2SO said, that robot was a treasure).

Guests

Neil Taylor of TheKidDogg

Alex Eding, voice actor

The Force Awakens

[School of Movies 2015]

Part 1: A film so important and so passionately adored by us that we needed two shows and two groups of guests to fully cover, welcome to part 1 of our Force Awakens show. With us for this first outing in which we discuss Rey, Finn, Ren, Han, Huxx, Snoke and the hugely positive side of this effectively being a retelling of the events of A New Hope.

Part 2: The second installment in our epic Force Awakens show brings in three new voices and a Star Destroyer-full of speculation.  We move onto the characters we have not yet covered, as well as talking details and theorizing wildly about later movies in this series as well as talking about how the landscape of Star Wars in cinema has now changed forever. 

If you love these shows support their production on patreon.

 

Guests:

 

Jerome McIntosh of GameBurst

James Carter of Cane and Rinse

Parris Lilly of Film Tangent

James Batchelor of the Bond and Beyond

Alex Eding of Plaid Hat Games

Return of the Jedi [Ultimate Edition]

[School of Movies 2017]

We round off our Orij Trij redux episodes with the most divisive of Star Wars movies until Revenge of the Sith came along, then The Force Awakens, then The Last Jedi, look Star Wars makes a lot of people happy and a lot of people very mad! 

This one had more cut out then the other two, partly because so much had already been said about the massive influence upon cinema, the craft of making them and the overall story and character arcs, and ultimately this movie is a two hour framing device for Luke and his Father to have a long chat with lightsabers. 

I pulled out all the stops to boil this down to only everything important and entertaining about ROTJ, and it ended up, a show to be proud of.

Guests:

Neil Taylor of TheKidDogg 

James Batchelor of the Bond and Beyond Podcast

Voice Actor Alex Eding

Chris Brown of The Married Gamers 

The Empire Strikes Back [Ultimate Edition]

[School of Movies 2017]

The special re-edited and polished up special edition of our original 2010 podcast on what a hell of a lot of people consider to be the greatest Star Wars movie ever filmed. 

As with the Episode IV show the original footage was mixed with the best sections best bits of our 2015 blu ray commentary, blended with the music of John Williams. 

We look at how and why this 1980 science-fantasy classic is still as dark, bright and fresh today as it was nearly four decades ago, how many new aspects were introduced (because that's how expanding mythology works!) and how Star Wars would not still be the phenomenon it was, without it. 

Guests:

Neil Taylor of TheKidDogg 

James Batchelor of the Bond and Beyond Podcast

Voice Actor Alex Eding

Mike Phillips of The Fanboys Lunchcast. 

Star Wars [Ultimate Edition]

[School of Movies 2017]

This is a special re-edited and polished up special edition of our original 2010 podcast on the 1977 movie that started it all. 

Mixed with the best sections of that show are the best bits of our 2015 blu ray commentary, all bound together with the glorious score from John Williams. 

You can still listen to the earliest version, it's available for all on the School of Movies Archive podcast feed, but this one is way better and has 55% less jibber jabber. 

Guests:

Neil Taylor of TheKidDogg 

James Batchelor of the Bond and Beyond 

Voice Actor Alex Eding