School of Movies

Con Air

[School of Movies 2022]

The Rage Cage Season continues, as Nicholas transforms himself into a statuesque Army Ranger from Alabama with a mullet (as We Hate Movies would say) to beat the band! It's had to imagine from every movie he was in before and since but here he's a combination of the peace-making soft  tones of Jesus and the spin-kicks of Chuck Norris. 

Handed a severe sentence after defending himself and his pregnant wife from literally the worst man in the world, Cameron Poe is sent home after eight years in jail. Unfortunately he is put on a plane with superstar celebrity convicts renowned for their violent crimes. And when they inevitably take control of the plane, leaving Cameron in a sticky position he is faced with a choice; get off when prompted and get back to his family or stay and try to do something good. The resultant film is riot of explosions, glossy action cinematography and highly memorable, equally quotable dialogue.

For this episode we brought in the Franchise Killer podcast (from our shows on Super Mario Bros and Shazam!) Check out their show.

https://franchisekillerpod.podbean.com/

Guests:

From the Franchise Killer Podcast: @FK_Podcast

David Schmitzer

Irena Schmitzer

Rhys Paine

The Rock

[School of Movies 2022]

This is the start of our Rage Cage Season, celebrating the span of twelve months between Summer 1996 and Summer 1997 when Nicholas Cage was somehow the hottest action star of the age. He's quite appealingly low-key in this one, relative to the next two; Con Air and FACE/OFF.

This is Michael Bay's best film. That's not hyperbole, it really is, in terms of how well-executed each set-piece is, how the momentum holds you without wearing you down, memorable performances, sympathetic characters and how the drama and human interaction functions surprisingly well. 

I also consider it Sean Connery's swansong. Not his last film, but his last great film, as well as a backdoor Old Man Bond farewell. In fact, while you're listening to this episode you'll hear how the text of this film actively supports this being quite literally the same guy we saw in Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, all the way up to Diamonds are Forever. 

Guests:

Brenden Agnew @BLCAgnew of Cinapse

From Sequentially Yours  Kaoru Negisa  @Moonpanther22

and Debbie Morse  @bastet8300

The Mandalorian (Season 1)

[School of Everything Else 2022]

A long-awaited visit to the first of Disney's new Star Wars TV shows. Weirdly we haven't had that many requests to talk Mando, but with Obi Wan launching this week and in the wake of the turbulent response to The Book of Boba we decided to journey back to the first and delve into what it did extremely well. 

We divided the eight episodes into three movies, loosely paralleling Sergei Leone's Dollars Trilogy with A Fistful of Beskar, For a Few Credits More and my personal favourite... The Good, The Bad and The Ugnaught. With us are two people who had literally never seen an episode of Mando before signing up for guest duty, so we get their fresh perspective without spoiling what comes later. 

Next week we begin the 'Rage Cage Season' as we explore the very brief period in the late 90s when Nicholas Cage was the hottest new high octane action star around! Three shows over three weeks as he gets madder and madder, The Rock, Con Air and FACE/OFF. 

I have spoken.

Guests

Brenden Agnew @BLCAgnew of Cinapse

From Sequentially Yours  Kaoru Negisa  @Moonpanther22

and Debbie Morse  @bastet8300

Taylor Nova of GameBurst @TaylorNova6

Moon Knight

[School of Everything Else 2022]

A risky venture on Marvel's part. More than one might imagine. This is a character who is mostly known in the comics as a street-level supernatural vigilante (somewhere between Batman and Blade) and from a meme where that nerd Dracula owes him money.

But more than that, in this TV miniseries, he's a Jewish superantihero played by a Guatemalan, directed by an Egyptian, and penned by the writer of the cursed 2015 Fantastic Four reboot that everyone forgot. And it deals chiefly over everything else, even the mythology... with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).

And when you get to the end, after all the theatrics and horror, after all the mummies and costumes and screaming and creepy cults, the abiding memory is a pair of distinct and sympathetic performances from Oscar Isaac. The Moon Knight is almost incidental! 

Join us now as we talk the ups and downs of this strange journey.

Indiegogo for "The Bludgeoning": https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-bludgeoning-working-title#/

Guests

Chris Finik @finmonster09 who assembles New Century's TV Tropes Pages and who writes fanfic (including a Dark Tower / Tiger's Eye crossover)

Nick Jaragosky: SOM Discord regular and occasional guest on the Commanderin' MTG podcast  

Batman: Breakdown [Audio Drama]

[Digital Gonzo 2012]

This was my first full-length audio drama. It was designed to be enjoyed by folks who saw the Nolan films the Arkham video games or the Animated Series. I wanted to write something significant, honest and authentic about the Batman legend and with a lot of help from long-time serious Bat-fan, David Hartrick, I was able to shape a bunch of ideas into a hopefully coherent story. It was originally released a week before The Dark Knight Rises.

None of the cast, including myself were professional actors, but we all worked very hard to capture the essence of the characters we portrayed. The writing, organisation and editing all of this together took dozens of hours, and it was equal parts exhausting and rewarding. For comic fans this is an Elseworlds (What If?) tale that takes place after Hush (2002) and Under the Hood (2005). This also fits with the motion-comic/audio drama adaptation of The Killing Joke that I put together the following year in 2013.

Script: Alex Shaw / Story: Alex Shaw & David Hartrick / Editing: Alex Shaw

Cast

Bruce Wayne/Joker/Jason: Alex Shaw
Barbara Gordon/Oracle: Leah Haydu
Dick Grayson/Nightwing: Taylor Nova
Tim Drake/Robin: Daniel Floyd
Clark Kent/Superman: James Batchelor
Diana Prince/Wonder Woman/Estelle: Tara Nelson
Selina Kyle/Catwoman/Bank Clerk: Cassandra Corgard
Alfred Pennyworth: Matthew Ramsey
Doctor Jennifer Whitman: Sharon Shaw
Cops: Matt Whetter/Sharon Shaw/Alex Shaw
Thieves: Taylor Nova/Matt Whetter/Alex Shaw

David Hartrick writes for In Bed With Maradona, the award-winning home of World Football: http://inbedwithmaradona.com/

The Batman

[School of Movies 2022]

One of the biggest films of the year, celebrated for its dark beauty and mature themes. If you loved Matt Reeves' The Batman chances are the vast majority of moviegoers and critics are in the same boat.

I'm not in that boat. I'm on a tiny little raft made of twigs and optimistic delusion, drifting off towards a whirlpool leading straight down to sea-Hell, surrounded by electric sharks and mecha-jellyfish. For many reasons this was a miserable experience for me, but the last thing I wanted to do was moan about it or tread on anyone's toes for liking it. 

So I crafted what I hope is a really entertaining episode that actually looks back over all of the Batman movies. It gets meta, because that's what this series is; a perpetually shifting cultural statement on how to make darkness, vengeance and crimefighting appealing. And next week, as a companion piece, I have something I made about Batman a long time ago that a lot of you won't have heard.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

[School of Movies 2022]

Daft bunny with amazing wife *may* have dropped a safe on a cartoon-arms dealer...

An absolutely one-time deal, just like Lord of the Rings and Titanic, this perfect melding of live action and beautiful hand-drawn animation convincingly interacting in 3D space, coupled with a whip-quick hilarious script as well as the kind of combination of studio properties that just never happens any more. Disney don't take part in those Ready Player Ones or Space Jams, and it was crucial that the masters of western animation in the 20th Century hand over the keys to their kingdom, circa 1947. 

But even the above description sells short how skilled the actors were, whether painted or not, how they sell the world via dry delivery, and how Bob Hoskins unexpected mastery of physicality in the role stems from Chaplin and Keaton. This thing is a masterpiece containing masterpieces. And we are here with our buddy Dan to talk about the many levels of special you discover revisiting as a sharp-eyed adult.

Guest

Daniel Floyd of New Frame Plus  @DanFloydPlus

The Secrets of Dumbledore

[School of Movies 2022]

I could just have told you folks not to see this one, but the whole world appears to have gotten the memo on that. I could also have just ignored it, but Harry Potter was important to a LOT of us in the past (and still many now) so a reappraisal of where the hell the Wizarding World sits today, and how we got to this place was in order.

It turned into a lengthy investigation as to just how many things can go wrong and how many problematic people have to be involved with your production before you pull the plug. This one delves into what plot is there, but frankly there's nothing to spoil that ain't already wrecked. 

The Road to El Dorado

[School of Movies 2022]

Back at the turn of the century Dreamworks were going after Disney hard. The first lasting challenge to the mouse monopoly of animated cinema in the west involved a similar hand-drawn traditional style to match their 90s Renaissance. Notably that was a period of amazing achievement following mediocrity, thanks in no small part due to Dreamworks very own Lord Farquaad, Jeffrey Katzenberg.  

The four films in this soon-abandoned endeavour were The Prince of Egypt, which did gangbusters, horse-botherer Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, the box office pirate shipwreck, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, and this one, released in 2000, about a pair of ne-er-do-well conmen finding the fabled lost Aztec city against the disturbing backdrop of the arrival in Mesoamerica of Francisco Cortes. But all of these were releasing at the dawn of the Shrek Age, and they themselves represent a now-fading culture conquered by merciless superior technology.  

Guests:

Mackenzie & Nathan Eastram  @KenziePhoenix @bertnerdtram of Rainbow Connection @MuppetsPod and Video Game: The Movie: The Podcast  @VGTMPodcast

Withnail & I

[School of Movies 2022]

A cult British classic made in 1987, set in 1969 and an utter failure at the box office. With the advent of affordable videos in the 1990s this one later became very popular with students who warmed to its story of two out of work actors living in ridiculous squalor. It's insanely quotable and darkly funny if you have the corresponding frequency of humour (I think I'm going to use this term in future. It's not a binary thing and that misconception is used all too often as a limp shield for crappy comedian behaviour).

Richard E. Grant plays Withnail, a persistently drunken, excessively verbose drama queen. Paul McGann play's "I" (whose uncredited name is Marlowe) a mousy, skittish neurotic afraid of being attacked by a hostile world of beefy, aggressive men. 

Together the pair of them borrow Withnail's Uncle Monty's cottage in Penrith and have an impromptu holiday to escape their troubles, only to find they have brought them along too. They are pitiful wretches and we should loathe them, but it's easy to feel sympathy and empathy all the same.

This one deals with some confused issues of unexplored homosexuality and predatory behaviour (fuelled by the writer/director's own unfortunate experiences as a young man), so you may have to bear with it until the full context is unfolded. But it would be entirely understandable if you want to put a pin in this for later.