School of Movies

Studio Ghibli Part 1: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

[School of Movies 2023]

This has been a long time coming. You've all been so good and respectful when it comes to not bombarding us with requests for anime shows that we decided to treat you collectively, and finally push the button on the one studio whose body of work is the first thing most people think of when it comes to prestigious films in this medium.

Studio Ghibli was founded in 1985 and have produced two dozen movies to date. This is the first of a series of shows releasing over this year that will cover all of these. And to do that we have to go back to the source. Hayao Miyazaki was one of the founders, alongside Toshio Suzuki and Isao Takahata, and his is the most singular creative vision, informing upon the direction and philosophy of their art for forty years. 

Most of this first episode is spent discussing what repeating motifs show up across this body of work, and how much of that ties in with Hayao's worldview. We lightly cover Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro which he directed for Tokyo Movie Shinsha in 1979, and then move on to Nausicaa (1984) which was based on a manga book of his. These led up to the actual official formation of Ghibli in 1985. You will definitely pick up on themes that will be coming back around again and again, and we are honoured to be able to talk about these in lengthy depth, even if we do frequently strike an irreverent tone. 

Dungeons & Dragons: The Cartoon

[School of Everything Else 2023]

As the new movie approaches, Sharon and I journey back to one of our favourite childhood animated shows. Beginning in 1983, this was a joint collaboration between Toei Animation in Japan, Marvel Productions in America and DND Entertainment. 

It was an attempt to string a loose narrative together of a bunch of teenagers transported to a mythical realm full of D&D scenarios, and being given roles in an adventuring party. It was made at a time when everything was episodic and self-contained, performances were insanely earnest and we all learned valuable morals about not judging by appearances. 

But ultimately, what kept us coming back was a strange sick sort of desperation to see the kids get back home at last... That they never did lends this show a melancholy yet hopeful tone which captured our young hearts. Many thanks to our enthusiastic guest, who is younger than us, but caught the show in reruns in the early 2000s.

Guest:

Nama Chibitty @namathenerd

Jackass

[School of Movies 2023]

The first 72 minutes of this one, focusing on the trilogy of feature films from 2002, 2006 and 2010 was originally published on our Patreon bonus feed in early 2020 (the ten year anniversary of seeing them together on the big screen for the last time). Then, unexpectedly filming during the pandemic, the fourth film Jackass Forever emerged, and we were able to follow up with a new section. 

If you've never gotten into this motley crew of cackling, skateboarding imbeciles throwing themselves into dangerous situations, pranking one another and falling about in hysterics you also won't yet have experienced the unexpected pleasure of gut-laughing through their always enthusiastic, inventive, frequently absolutely disgusting, juvenile and sometimes kind of sweet shenanigans. 

If you've enjoyed them in the past then this show is going to be a veritable treat. 

Duelling Pinocchios (Part 2)

[School of Movies 2023]

The concluding second part of this detailed puppet exploration. We finally reach Guillermo del Toro's exceptional antifascist version of the story wherein things might not be so cut and dried as "Do everything you're told by adults".

We also get to bring in discussions of all the other movies we watched along the way, in order to get a better handle on the screen life of this Italian legend. Some of them are lost, hidden gems just waiting to be rediscovered, some of which you should avoid like bubonic plague.

You'll also hear about a version from Victoria that even WE didn't know about, in the most surprising of mediums.

Guest:

Victoria Luna B. Grieve:  @VixenVVitch 

The complete Pinocchiae

1. 1940 (Disney Classic, directed by Ben Sharpsteen & Hamilton Luske)

2. 1996 (Adventures, directed by Steve Barron)

3. 2002 (Creepy Manchild, directed by Roberto Begnigni)

4. 2012 (Italian Animated, directed by Enzo D'Alo)

5. 2019 (Italian Live Action, directed by Matteo Garrone)

6. 2021 (Russian "True Story", directed by Vasiliy Rovenskiy)

7. 2022 (Disney Remake, directed by Robert Zemekis)

8. 2022 (Netflix Stop-Motion, directed by Guillermo del Toro)

 

Duelling Pinocchios (Part 1)

[School of Movies 2023]

It seems like 2022 was the year of the little wooden boy, with THREE new Pinocchio movies released. There was the Robert Zemekis-helmed live action remake of the Disney classic, Guillermo del Toro's darker, fascist-challenging Netflix stop motion film, and there was the Pauly Shore dub of the Russian one that gained memetic notoriety.

So Sharon and I went back and didn't only just watch those three... we pretty much watched every significant Pinocchio movie ever made. And then we brought in Victoria Luna B. Grieve to talk about their different approaches. 

In this first of two shows we revisit the 2014 recording of Daniel Floyd talking with us about the 1940 original for our Disney Animated Series. Then with Victoria we look at why so many people angrily *loathed* the new Disney incarnation. 

Next week, Del Toro, Shore, Benigni, Martin Landau, Udo Kier, Napoleon Dynamite, weird noises, strange perverts and the best animated version you've never heard of. 

Guests:

Daniel Floyd of New Frame Plus

Victoria Luna B. Grieve:  @VixenVVitch  

M3GAN

[School of Movies 2023]

I would say you don't have to watch the film to listen to this show. I go deep into the themes and principles of the story, which means talking about the plot at length, but I don't spoil the details of the grisly, violent and scary scenes, thus hopefully preserving a lot of their impact.

A brilliant engineer, toy designer winds up the sole caregiver for her niece after a tragic accident. Finding it far too difficult to suddenly incorporate a young person into her life she comes up with the idea of developing the child-sized robot she has been working on, turning it into the ideal companion for a lonely little girl. 

Inevitably the irresponsibility of this decision leads to the robot sprog going small-scale Skynet. It's a very enjoyable and extremely popular Blumhouse horror with more going on under the rubbery skin. 

Carnage & Morbius

[School of Movies 2023]

This is a pair of Patreon After School Club episodes, covering the second and third instalments of the Venomverse. 

Back in 2018, after I recorded my initial After School Club on the original Venom movie (which was subsequently released like this on the main feed) I outlined its various strengths and weaknesses and what a messy, daft underachievement it was. But then Venom wound up insanely popular, making more than many MCU entries. $856m versus The Eternals sitting un-prettily at $402m. That doesn't necessarily mean Venom is a better film, just that general audiences warmed to it HARD.

So there was a big question mark over what might happen if they made the sequel into the film they WANTED to make, rather than what felt like a weirdly compromised first instalment which was clearly reshaped from its original R-rated incarnation. What do you suppose happened with Part 2?

And then, the film that nobody wanted with the star that nobody asked for. Quickly bottoming the charts as one of the worst Marvel-adjacent movies ever made, this is a fine example of why the term "Superhero" really shouldn't be applied collectively. They are set in a universe/multiverse of superpowered beings but this is most definitely a science experiment that goes wrong and changes a genius doctor who *used* to help people into a toothy CGI beastie who jumps off rooftops, flies about the city and feels sorry for himself while the investigating police ineptly try to catch him before ultimately giving up. 

This is the first time I've coined the term "The Venom-Verse", because that's what this is. Nothing of Spider-Man, everything of vestigial comic book villains who swear to be antiheroes at some unspecified point in the future if Sony can get their act together. So welcome to Bat-Scientist Begins (and if we're all very lucky, ends).

Contact

[School of Movies 2023]

This is our second attempt at a film that might mean *everything*. We had a go at recording on this 1997 Robert Zemekis sci-fi about attempting to decode alien messages all the way back in 2014. The discussion broke down soon after that opening section which crams a whole universe into our minds. Fortunately for us and you, this became a commissioned show (Many thanks to Executive Producer Matthew A. Seibert) which means we can't set it down or put it off any more.

Jodie Foster puts in an astonishing performance as a woman in the grip of lifelong obsession, searching for answers. When her SETI team at the Very Large Array of radio telescope dishes in New Mexico get a long-distance message the entirety of Planet Earth is thrown into a chaotic conflict to establish meaning. Religion and science are put in opposition of one another, with explosive results. 

Astrophysicist Carl Sagan began conceptualising what would happen to the human race if it came into contact with intelligent life back in the late 70s, which precipitated an eighteen-year production limbo that he would not live to see the end of. Fortunately, Zemekis' film maintained the spirit of what Carl was reaching for.

Grosse Pointe Blank

[School of Movies 2023]

One of our all-time favourites, so little-seen or talked about that it's debatable as to whether we are looking at a Cult Classic or not. And one of the reasons we've held off for so long on talking about this 1997 black comedy about a hitman attending his ten-year high school reunion is that we were waiting for it to be rediscovered.

And that hasn't happened, neither has it aged poorly, which is always a concern for comedies. But also we love it on such a level of personal resonance that it has always been a challenge to put into words exactly why. The script zigzags wittily through this green Detroit suburb, the offhand delivery with room for improvisation without ever becoming self-indulgent, the exceptional casting, in particular John and Joan Cusack and Minnie Driver at her zenith, the soundtrack that shows a genuine affinity with 80s music rather than simply playing the pop hits. Also very specifically this was released at a time when nostalgia for that decade was barely even a thing yet. 

And this is what Commissioned Shows can sometimes accomplish. they give us an imperative to account for ourselves, and a quest to convey to you all why this one is definitely worth your time. No more ducking and weaving, rather like a litter from your high school summoning you to a festival of pain! So, many thanks to 'Executive Producer' of this episode Greg Downing. 

There Will Be Blood

[School of Movies 2023]

A commissioned show by Parker. This is our first Paul Thomas Anderson main event show, and it is a grimy, sticky dive into the black heart of the vampiric nature rewarded by pursuing The American Dream to the exclusion of everyone else's success.

Daniel Plainview starts out as a grim, silent nobody scratching for silver in California's dirt. He discovers oil down there and rises in power and influence, buying up land cheaply with the full intention of tearing the resources out from under its inhabitants. Daniel appears wildly successful, only to find himself butting heads with other businessmen who provoke his paranoia, an opportunistic imposter and a zealous charlatan of a local pastor obsessed with keeping everyone else's attention on him.

Through it all his mostly silent adopted son, H.W. remains the tiny speck of purity in an infernal subterranean ocean of oil and blood.