School of Movies

Hercules

[School of Movies 2018]

Now we reach the point where Disney seemed off their game, at least in comparison with the lightning strikes of Mermaid, Beauty, Aladdin and Lion King. The fact that I really like Hercules is neither here nor their, this was a snarky yet earnest take on Greek mythology framed around an action sports movie for boys. 

It had one of the most real-feeling and grown up of Disney heroine's so far, James Woods before he revealed himself to be a complete dick, Danny DeVito on top form as a washed up boxing coach and a quick-witted, slightly-too-energetic pace which a lot of people might consider off-putting.

It was also an ideal, basic model for the superhero movies that were around the corner, and in fact it's a better Superman story than any of Kal-El's movies that have followed so far, though Thor and then Wonder Woman far exceed its reach. 

Since Alan Menken's lovely, lively score only spans a few minutes I have used other, tonally appropriate music for this one. Next week, Mulan. 

Guests

Daniel Floyd of Extra Histories 

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

[School of Movies 2018]

The year was 1996, just a few months ago Pixar had changed the face of cinema by introducing a whole new medium of 3D animated film, with Toy Story.

Disney followed up their lukewarm reception of Pocahontas with another middling-in-appreciation Broadway musical. The art is beautiful, the scale epic, the songs memorable.

The subject matter is a serious social commentary written by a man who fiercely disapproved of injustice, framed as a tragic, gothic romance, but in the all-singing, all-dancing Disney style, the jokes are witty banter mixed with fart noises made by a pig-like gargoyle (who may not have even been real) played by Jason Alexander from Seinfeld. The main villain is a judge, because executives weren't happy with him being a Catholic Priest, yet rogue animators deliberately confounded their demands and depicted him upon his knees, praying for forgiveness from Mary for the darkness inside him which he knew would imminently lead to murder, in one of the most spectacular song sequences in ANY movie. In short, it had a tone problem. 

And with the help of Dan Floyd and Nama Chibitty, we dig into how this was pulled together and what the end result was. It's one hell of a ride.  

We have covered all the Disney animated classics canon so far from Snow White up to The Lion King and they can be found of the "School of Movies Archive" which is a separate feed on iTunes or wherever else you find podcasts. Here's all the Disney ones.

Guests

Daniel Floyd of Extra Histories 

Nama Chibitty

Pocahontas

[School of Movies 2018]

The Disney shows return, Daniel Floyd of Extra Credits joins us once again to continue our trek through the past of the animation giant.

And we are in the middle of the 90s renaissance, their third period of creatively blossoming (Pre-War/Post-War/90s) and the first after the box office high point of The Lion King presented a bar almost impossible to reach. Even if it hadn't been culturally troubling, deliberately historically naive and melodramatic when the audiences wanted fun, Pocahontas was going to stumble.

It became the benchmark of what happens when Disney decide they have a hit on their hands before release (everybody thought this was going to be their Cinderella and Lion King was just going to be a muck-about with animals). And yet for its faults, which we will go into, it remains a beautiful, sweeping, bittersweet Hollywood romance of the kind it's very tough to pull off successfully, even today, *especially* today. 

The music by Alan Menken is once again amazing, the voice acting is top notch, the animation might make you gasp, and it's probably the most Broadway musical-feeling of all the Disney canon, for better or worse. 

We have covered all the Disney animated classics canon so far from Snow White up to The Lion King and they can be found of the "School of Movies Archive" which is a separate feed on iTunes or wherever else you find podcasts. Here's all the Disney ones.

Guests

Daniel Floyd of Extra Histories 

Nama Chibitty

The Last Jedi

[School of Movies 2017]

The eighth Star wars episode comes roaring onto the big screen. It's upset quite a few fans and delighted many others already. It's the kind of movie that blindsides you the first time so it might be an idea to watch it again. 

One thing is for sure, Star Wars will never be the same as it was before.

Full spoilers from the beginning, along with a serious think-piece about what this is saying to us. 

[NOTE: The first 20 minutes of this show are my YouTube episode on The Last Jedi so if you'd like to see one of the best videos I've ever put together go there and skip to 21.00 on the podcast]

[A Positive Analysis] What Star Wars: the Last Jedi Means

Guests:

Brenden Agnew of Cinapse

Kaoru Negisa and

Debbie Morse, both of Sequentially Yours

Neil Taylor of TheKidDogg 

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

Logan

[School of Movies 2017]

This one took a lot out of us. 

The tenth X-Men-related movie, and just like the other two really great instalments in this series (First Class and Deadpool) most of its strengths are augmented by only having tenuous ties to what came before. 

Both a sobering goodbye to two of our established heroes and the actors inhabiting the roles, and an introduction to a little acting tornado who pulled off the performance of a lifetime right out of the gate, this film stands as testament to what a steady hand and a focus on character can achieve in a marketplace stuffed with citywide destruction and CGI final bosses without any personality… in fact it used the latter to make a statement on its central protagonist. 

Logan is impressive, sparing, powerful and heartbreaking, and more than worthy in all kinds of nominations among the best of 2017.

Next Week: Rogue One.

Thor: Ragnarok

[School of Movies 2017]

We return to the Marvel Universe with a bang, and discuss in detail the themes of the third and (hopefully not) final Thor movie. We begin with a piece I wrote about why humour plays a key role in MCU films. 

Guests:

Joshua Garrity of Cane and Rinse

Brenden Agnew of Cinapse

Kaoru Negisa and

Debbie Morse, both of Sequentially Yours

Neil Taylor of TheKidDogg

Jerome McIntosh of GameBurst

Our $5 Patreon supporters can look forward to a bonus 75 minute Cutting Class podcast collecting the reams of deleted material from this episode, as well as a chat about the potential for Marvel-owned X-Men movies. 

Justice League (2017)

[School of Movies 2017]

Comics featuring DC's Trinity gathering with various other brightly costumed heroes have been around since The Brave and Bold issue #28 in 1960 so this movie has been adrift for 57 years, waiting to be brought home, like Ellen Ripley.

With us are a gathering of keen, comic-hungry minds, ready to take a long hard look at what DC Warner have produced for the first ever big screen Justice League. The studio insisted we bring this show in at under two hours, so that's what we've done. They also recoloured us to make us more audience-friendly and digitally removed our various beards, swapping them out for cartoon mouths. But of course you won't see any of that. 

Guests:

Brenden Agnew of Cinapse

Kaoru Negisa and

Debbie Morse, both of Sequentially Yours

Extra thanks to Laureta Sela who makes a cameo as Harley Quinn here.

Spider-Man: Homecoming

[School of Movies 2017]

After fifteen years on the big screen and five major movies the wall-crawler finally returns to the house of Marvel (whilst still being a Sony distributed venture this is clearly a Kevin Feige project).

And it's our favourite of the six. 

Delivering a boatload of elements we haven't seen Peter interact with before whilst wisely swinging clear of things we've seen him do too much, this is a refinement of the Spidey formula that manages to feel fresh, smart and above all things, child-friendly.

Guests

Neil Taylor of TheKidDogg

Jerome McIntosh of GameBurst

A Series of Unfortunate Events

[School of Movies 2017]

This is a discussion about the books, movie and Netflix series. We kept clear of any spoilers beyond Book 4: The Miserable Mill.

Sharon and I are big fans of all three versions, though the movie has suffered a barrage of disapproval from both readers and general audiences over the years and singularly failed to achieve continuation. 

The show, however, has garnered pretty much universal praise. We talk about the differences in approach across all mediums. 

Guests

Kaoru Negisa and Debbie Morse of Sequentially Yours

Tyler Pollock

Devin York