School of Movies

Raya and the Last Dragon

[School of Movies 2021]

Disney tries its hand at a South-Asian fantasy, and what do you know, we really like it.

Daniel Floyd returns as we talk about the first of the animated classics series which was not launched exclusively to theatres, but also Disney+ for a preview for of $30 / £20

Quite apart from everything else that makes this a difficult sell for people living on their own, or in households where only one person likes Disney. However, so much of this being created at home by various Disney artists while on lockdown breaks all kinds of new precedents and makes this one rather special. 

Stonespring Maidens can be had in paperback form

The New Century Multiverse Podcast 

Guest

Daniel Floyd of New Frame Plus  @DanFloydPlus

Ralph Breaks The Internet + Frozen II

[School of Movies 2021]

The Disney series continues with two sequels. 

In the first of these Ralph and Venelope travel to a version of the internet as reimagined by Disney. The little race driver then finds a newfound calling in the apocalyptic street combat of Slaughter Race, which sends Ralph into a spiral of separation anxiety. 

And in the second, six years in the making, the follow-up to maybe their most beloved film of the modern era, the treasured characters are taken on a new adventure up North to discover things about themselves. 

Next week we're back on track with their excellent latest instalment, Raya and the Last Dragon. Dan sat this episode out but will be back for Raya. 

Stonespring Maidens can be had in paperback form, and the first episode of the audiodrama will air May 6th.  

Guests:

Hollywoo Actress  Maya Santandrea @Mayasantandrea

Godzilla vs. Kong

[School of Movies 2021]

The fourth, and potentially final outing in the Warner Bros. Monsterverse series. Following Godzilla II: King of the Monsters (2019) which is magnificent and to many the pinnacle of this quartet, Kong: Skull Island (2017) which is most definitely worth seeing to acquaint yourself with *this* version of the giant gorilla, and finally Godzilla (2014) which was the most popular at the box office yet seems to be the least enthusiastically recalled. 

In this show I come up with yet another food metaphor for each of these four, and we discuss what might have been left on the cutting room floor in the attempts to streamline this thing into a lean, fun, colourful, fast-paced series of spectacular wrestling matches. 

Guests:

Dan Hoeppner  @MightyMegatron0  of Leftover Army Monsters

Brendan Agnew of Cinapse  @BLCAgnew

The Others

[School of Movies 2021]

An elegant, haunting Spanish-style ghost story of obsession and loss. This Gothic chiller materialised in 2001, from director Alejandro Amenabar (who also composed the score, which flits from comforting flute and harp to clangourous and menacing cacophony).

This was a commissioned show from Nicole-Kidman-appreciator Colin L. Dysart, and he picked one of our favourite performances of hers. This was the one that made us think she would be an ideal Marisa Coulter in His Dark Materials. She plays the whole thing with a brittle, fierce tenacity, clinging to what she believes is true, as her world unravels in this shadowy Jersey stately home.

It's also got some terrific child-actor performances, as the two endangered kids start to cotton onto the possibility that there may be more going on with the intruders to their home. It is a ghost story where light is so much more threatening than darkness.

Zack Snyder's Justice League

[School of Movies 2021]

After the moderate box office takings and middling-to-negative critical responses to Man of Steel and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Warner Bros. became increasingly worried that they had placed the DC Expanded Universe in the hands of a director who appealed to an increasingly niche crowd who would not make them the billions of dollars they wanted.

Seeking to just get the third film finished quickly and cheaply in a way that would appeal to the middle, so that they could course-correct for later financial investments WB relieved Snyder of directorial duties (which coincided with family tragedy) and hired Joss Whedon to magic the footage they had into an Avengers-level success. The result delighted few (we covered it at the end of 2017).

Then after years of online demands, and a pandemic which made traditional filmmaking extremely difficult, Warner invested a sizable additional chunk of change into the prospect of Snyder restoring his version. The resultant four-hour opus was utilised to upsell an online subscription service. The niche audience were delighted. 

Return to OZ

[School of Movies 2021]

The Commissions Season continues with a show sponsored by Maya Santandrea. Much like last year's Labyrinth show, this is also a story about a girl who travels inward on her fantasy adventures and winds up uncovering certain key things about herself.

It is based on two of the L. Frank Baum OZ novels, from which The Wonderful Wizard of OZ was also adapted in 1939. There have been other adaptations before and since, including Wicked and OZ: The Great and Powerful.

This one, however, released by Disney in 1985 to critical derision and scared, offput audiences who seemed to want a bouncy musical rather than a dark fairytale, eventually became an obscure cult classic. Those who love it do so with a passion, and we are here to talk about why that may be. It should be available to view on Disney+.

Guests:

Hollywoo Actress  Maya Santandrea @Mayasantandrea

Jason "Chewie" Slate @TheManaPool 

From Sequentially Yours  Kaoru Negisa  @Moonpanther22

and Debbie Morse  @bastet8300

WandaVision

[School of Everything Else 2021]

This one gets HEAVY. But what did you expect from a podcast which has examined every one of the MCU movies and found the hurt and pain at the core of the characters, being presented with a show that is absolutely about that principle?

Now all the rampant speculation has passed, we can sweep aside our assumptions regarding what this *might* have been about and focus on the melancholy story of its lonely antagonist.

One of the core themes explored is that everyone's line for forgiveness falls in a different place. We hope that two hours of delving into how it handles grief, bringing along some deeply personal accounts of loss, might lend some perspective on the MTVU's first big show.

Guests:

Victoria Luna B. Grieve: @VixenVVitch 

From Sequentially Yours  Kaoru Negisa  @Moonpanther22

and Debbie Morse  @bastet8300

Taylor Nova of GameBurst @TaylorNova6 

Mike Hearn @MikePHearn 

Hades

[School of Everything Else 2021]

An absolutely phenomenal game which took 2020 by storm. We talk about, among other things, why being trapped inside for month after month just made a game where you're trying to escape the Underworld weirdly more resonant.

There's an astonishing amount of story in there, astonishing art design and aesthetic, some of the most engrossing, multi-layered and sexy characters to ever grace a video game and action that's smoother than the downy fur on Cerberus' belly. 

This was also a special session because we recorded with everyone on-camera and since Sharon has played ten times the amount I have, she hosts. 

This was a commissioned episode from Nicholas Jaragosky, Jesse Ferguson, Chris Finik, Toby Jungius, Mackenzie Eastram, Maya Santandrea and Laureta Sela.

And our guests are Victoria Luna B. Grieve, Laureta Sela, Maya Santandrea, Matt Wardle, Greg Downing and Toby Jungius.

 

Next week... WandaVision

Kung Fu Hustle

[School of Movies 2021]

This is a commissioned show by Alex Vargas and Joe G. Stephen Chow's cartoonishly absurd, occasionally brutal, breathtakingly elegant and frequently side-splitting opera of kung fu. 

Back in the 1940s Shanghai The Axe Gang rule the streets, massacring those who stand in their way (with axes). One day a pair of inept conmen come calling at Pigsty Alley and try to grift slim pickings from the locals, only to find, (along with the Axe Gang) that they are guarded by martial arts masters.

What follows is a war between plucky heroes and rotten villains, and some of the most stunning and hilarious fights you will ever see.

Guest:

Victoria Luna B. Grieve: @VixenVVitch 

Grease

[School of Movies 2021]

The Commissions Season continues with this classic, sponsored by Matthew A Seibert. It's a film made in 1978, set in 1958 meant for adults who were teens in that time period, now being watched more than 40 years later in 2021 by the children of those adults who grew up watching it and are now themselves adults. So this is going to be a kaleidoscope of shifting perspectives. 

The premise is simple, a sweet-natured Australian girl meets a sweet guy at the beach in Chicago. Then when she later turns up in his high school he acts like a different person in front of his male buddies. The girl throws her lot in with an indimidating gaggle of punky ladies, and the two groups sniff around one another, preparing for the horrors of real life after they graduate. 

It's a world where adults barely feature and teenagers clash, excitably, make fun of one another, and are sexually interested. This was made at a time when that sort of alchemy was new and thrilling, rather than a dead cert. Amid the peer pressure and societal expectations heaped upon these panicking hormonal kids (all played convincingly by adults) there's also a bunch of incredibly memorable and abiding songs.

Guests:

From Sequentially Yours  Kaoru Negisa  @Moonpanther22

and Debbie Morse  @bastet8300