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PODCAST

School of Movies

Alex & Sharon Shaw

Super in-depth analysis of movies (and occasionally TV, and video games). Hosted by veteran podcasters Alex & Sharon Shaw with different guests for round-table chats every week.

tv & film

All Episodes

02:08:52

Black Adam / Shazam: Fury of the Gods

School of Movies ·

2023/05/26

[School of Movies 2023] This is the second and third instalments of the Shazam Trilogy, we covered the first back in 2021. Now The Rock will assure you that Black Adam is nothing to do with Shazam, but we have comics that say otherwise. We start with my 2022 first impressions of Black Adam having just returned from the cinema, originally put out as a Patreon Exclusive. Then we follow up with a brand new section where I tell Sharon about Shazam's last movie, at least with this cast and format. What

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01:44:19

Heckboy

School of Movies ·

2023/05/19

[School of Movies 2023] Most of you will probably already know how much I care about both the comic book character of Hellboy and the magnificent Guillermo del Toro movie adaptations from 2004 and 2008. However, considering its dismal box office of $55m (on a budget of $50m) and its dismal critical reception (17% RT) statistically speaking most of you did not see the 2019 reboot, and even fewer of you enjoyed it. Directed by Neil Marshal (The Descent, Centurion, Dog Soldiers) and starring everyone's

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01:40:30

O Brother, Where Art Thou? / Inside Llewyn Davis

School of Movies ·

2023/05/12

[School of Movies 2023] The Coen Brothers season continues with Part IV here, and we picked two of the most musically focused for a double-bill of hapless singers wandering America. The first is arguably the most high-profile and broadly celebrated film, which comes at the end of their golden age. Their eighth movie, O Brother is an ambitious retelling of Homer's Odyssey, set in the 1930s dust bowl and concerning three escaped prisoners on a treasure hunt. It's a screwball comedy, closer in tone to

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02:42:12

Legends of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

School of Movies ·

2023/05/05

[School of Everything Else 2023] This is actually the fourth of an ongoing series of Zelda episodes begun all the way back in 2010 when we had a guest-filled clip show covering every title from the NES original to the then-latest instalment, Spirit Tracks on DS. After that came Skyward Sword in very early 2012 after its release on the Wii, then in 2017 when Breath of the Wild emerged, we did a third show covering the remakes and remasters up to Majora's Mask on 3DS. And now here, just as Tears of

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02:09:00

The Final Fantasy Series / Final Fantasy IV

School of Movies ·

2023/04/28

[School of Everything Else 2023] This episode coincides with the Switch and PS4 release of the Pixel Remasters of the first six games in this legendary, long-running RPG dynasty. Part 1: Where do you start with a series that has a game called Final Fantasy X and a game called Final Fantasy XII and a game called Final Fantasy X-2 and only one of those is an actual sequel to the other? Not only do we lay out which games to try first, but we divide them all into design eras and let you know what to

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02:39:39

A Goofy Movie

School of Movies ·

2023/04/21

[School of Movies 2023] A long-planned return to a far-too-often overlooked Disney animated classic released quietly in 1995. A passion project of Jeffrey Katzenberg that wound up being helmed by Kevin Lima, director of Tarzan and later Enchanted. From the outside it seems like a fun finale to the 78-episode syndicated wacky animated show 'Goof Troop', but as it turns out, this one hit way closer to home than most of Disney's more fantastical fare for a lot of kids who grew up watching it on VHS and

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01:49:30

The Big Lebowski

School of Movies ·

2023/04/14

[School of Movies 2023] Part III of the Coen Brothers series. In 1998 they pulled together what might in fact be their most beloved film for fans of their oeuvre. Definitely the most eminently quotable, by virtue of a script that is almost a musical in terms of how often phrases and lines are repeated and reprised, layering absurdity upon each scenario and impeccably delivered by an astonishing cast. It follows a California layabout named Jeffrey Lebowski who is mistaken for a local philanthropist

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01:14:59

The Studio Ghibli Series Part 2: My Neighbor Totoro

School of Movies ·

2023/04/07

[School of Movies 2023] We've reached the point of 1985, where Studio Ghibli was officially founded. This episode covers the first three films released under this official new banner. 1986: Laputa - Castle in the Sky (5m 20s) 1988: Grave of the Fireflies (18m 20s) 1988: My Neighbor Totoro (37m 05s) The first of these, Castle in the Sky bears a striking, clearly-inspirational tonal and aesthetic similarity with my favourite game of all time, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. We have a main

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01:20:17

Fargo

School of Movies ·

2023/03/31

[School of Movies 2023] Part II of the Coen Brothers series. This 1996 film was the point where they hit the big leagues. Showered with awards and nominations, Joel and Ethan were placed alongside great and classic directors by the establishment. The story itself is one of a bungled kidnap, a bag filled with cursed money and the needless murders that take place as a result of seeking it. It's a frosty noir, set on the snowbound roads between Fargo, North Dakota and the twin cities of

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01:37:51

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

School of Movies ·

2023/03/24

[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

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01:31:50

Dungeons & Dragons: The Cartoon

School of Movies ·

2023/03/17

[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

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01:49:37

Jackass

School of Movies ·

2023/03/10

[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

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01:56:54

Duelling Pinocchios (Part 2)

School of Movies ·

2023/03/03

[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

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02:01:25

Duelling Pinocchios (Part 1)

School of Movies ·

2023/02/24

[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

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01:06:11

M3GAN

School of Movies ·

2023/02/17

[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

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02:05:24

Carnage & Morbius

School of Movies ·

2023/02/10

[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

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01:56:39

Contact

School of Movies ·

2023/02/03

[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

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02:44:52

Grosse Pointe Blank

School of Movies ·

2023/01/27

[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

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01:53:24

There Will Be Blood

School of Movies ·

2023/01/20

[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

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01:34:48

The Sea Beast

School of Movies ·

2023/01/13

[School of Movies 2023] A Netflix-distributed animated film about bounty-hunting pirate whalers hunting giant ocean kaiju. A plucky girl trying desperately to live up to the great death of her parents whose ship was borne down to the briny depths. A hardworking himbo on the cusp of questioning exactly why all this loss of life seems to be so necessary to keep civilisation afloat. A desperate sea captain on the verge of retirement watching his work of years come undone and blaming it all on one

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