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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

02:25:19

Zack Snyder's Justice League

School of Movies ·

2021/04/02

[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

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02:28:10

Return to OZ

School of Movies ·

2021/03/26

[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,

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02:20:14

WandaVision

School of Movies ·

2021/03/19

[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

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02:19:29

Hades

School of Movies ·

2021/03/12

[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

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02:09:38

Kung Fu Hustle

School of Movies ·

2021/03/05

[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

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02:11:54

Grease

School of Movies ·

2021/02/26

[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

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01:26:11

-Ali-

School of Movies ·

2021/02/19

[School of Movies 2021] This is our 700th Podcast. I began in April of 2007, and through four generations of my show, myself and then Sharon have covered a hell of a lot of media. Fittingly, this episode is one of the very greatest. On the twentieth anniversary of the 2001 Michael-Mann-directed biopic of maybe the greatest sportsman who ever lived, we finally go up against Ali in the ring. It's not just a fantastic film, this account of the real life events that took place between his fight with

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02:21:28

The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert

School of Movies ·

2021/02/12

[School of Movies 2021] This is a commissioned show by Kevin Veighy, who specifically wanted to make a kind gesture towards his friends and all of our listeners in the LGBTQ community. And what began as a desire to extend a sympathetic hand turned into something rather special, and a landmark episode. I haven't been entirely sure about this movie for several years. I know I loved it when I saw it in the 90s (make sure you listen to the end for my story on that), but I also know that there are

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02:06:28

Bill & Ted Face the Music

School of Movies ·

2021/02/05

[School of Movies 2021] The trilogy of Time, Space and The Afterlife culminates in the best one yet. And while we've had loads of folks express delight with the first two episodes as they grew in complexity, this one is really special. There's a sizzling energy to our discussions as things get very meta and concerned with generational responsibility, and the music that flows throughout is some of my favourite editing in a long career of talking about movies, games, books and TV. I would say you must

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02:01:36

Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey

School of Movies ·

2021/01/29

[School of Movies 2021] We got some real love for our Excellent Adventure show. It seems like you folks were responding to the pure joy threaded throughout, so let's see what we can do for the black sheep of the B&T Trilogy. This sequel turned up just two years after the first, having been hastily greenlit when executives got dollar signs in their eyes and saw franchise potential. The writers began with a re-tread of the original, where the duo went through great works of literature and dragged out

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01:47:09

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

School of Movies ·

2021/01/22

[School of Movies 2021] We begin a trilogy of shows taking us through time, space and the afterlife that begins here with this abidingly enjoyable romp through history, pilfering various key figures to make the deadline on a school report. We talk about how the time travel seems utterly nonsensical at first, but actually remains consistent and makes an internally logical sense within the adventure itself. And also how Bill & Ted, with their affable approach to life often touch on a profound wisdom

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02:12:29

Wonder Woman 1984

School of Movies ·

2021/01/15

[School of Movies 2021] This follow-up to a fantastic debut in 2017 was long-awaited, much-anticipated and spent several years in production. At the end of a blockbuster-drought of a year, we were all looking forward to sinking back into the comfortable environs of an inspiring superhero story. Perhaps with some tactfully handled real-world symbolism in there, and a call to arms for women in particular. Unfortunately, this thing is a HUGE mess. It makes so many baffling decisions that it was

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01:43:06

Super 8

School of Movies ·

2021/01/08

[School of Movies 2021] We round off the year of Spielberg by going back to his roots as a filmmaker. And while this is a 2011 movie, directed by J.J. Abrams which Steve produced, I mean far more than it simply evoking Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial. There's more cinematic alchemy at play here than even we realised, when we took on this project, and we are very happy to share our findings with you all. Suffice to say this is Abrams' most personal movie, and it

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02:06:15

Super Mario Bros.

School of Movies ·

2021/01/01

[School of Movies 2021] I've never known such a bad movie to be so loved, either secretly and shamefully, or boldly and unapologetically. If you're in either camp, lean into the second one. Firstly because why should you have guilty pleasures? Especially now. Unless you're eating mushrooms, growing to twice your size and jumping on the heads of those who call it garbage, you're not hurting anyone. Own that love. And secondly, knowing that some people who grew up with the disastrous first big budget

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02:35:05

Cannon's Ninja Trilogy

School of Movies ·

2020/12/25

[School of Movies 2020] This show covers three movies: Enter the Ninja (1980) Revenge of the Ninja (1983) and Ninja III: The Domination (1984). They are hard to get hold of and almost entirely unconnected with each other, and they are violent, shoddy and absolutely hilarious. The connection is Cannon films and wildly talented actor and martial artist Sho Kosugi, who is the villain in the first, the hero in the second and support in the third. And of course none of these characters are the same

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02:03:15

Ready Player One

School of Movies ·

2020/12/04

[School of Movies 2020] Way back at the end of 2019 (Remember when we could get right up in each other's faces?) we recorded this show with Victoria Grieve, expecting it to be a riotous session of taking the book and film to task. Things got more complicated than that, as it turns out Victoria really liked certain elements of Spielberg's adaptation (as did many viewers). And then one of the worst migraines I've ever had hit me about twenty minutes into recording. We decided around that time to do a

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02:11:46

The Adventures of Tintin & The BFG

School of Movies ·

2020/11/27

[School of Movies 2020] Two Spielberg films that failed to capture the hearts and minds of the cinemagoing public. The Adventures of Tintin (2011) was his only animated foray, and the only one so far shot on digital rather than film. Made around the time Disney closed down Image Movers Digital because attempting wholly performance-captured films plunges the viewer into the uncanny valley. This one has more in common with Indiana Jones than even the obvious comparisons. And The BFG, one of the most

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01:49:31

Brotherhood of the Wolf

School of Movies ·

2020/11/20

[School of Movies 2020] An obscure 2001 French period drama slash monster hunt, martial-arts mystery blockbuster, that only some of you will have seen. This is a show we've been looking forward to bringing you for many, many years. Also known as Le Pacte Des Loups in its homeland. You can listen to half of this episode without having seen the movie. We keep the secrets to a spoiler section at the end, but we do thoroughly recommend tracking down and watching this strange, sexy, frequently crazy

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02:12:48

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

School of Movies ·

2020/11/13

[School of Movies 2020] I recall when Crystal Skull came out it was around the time angry dudes on the internet were starting to really pick apart the prequels and why they had been betrayed on the promises made to them by George Lucas (to my shame that's how my movie podcast got started, but at least we'd moved on by week four). So the reception to this massively successful film was conversely very ugly in the fan community. And while we don't usually strive for a balanced argument this one felt

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01:38:13

Catch Me if You Can

School of Movies ·

2020/11/06

[School of Movies 2020] It's safe to say that right now we all need something relaxing and engaging. Luckily Spielberg is right here for us with this 1960s period piece about a charming teenage confidence trickster, and the straight-laced government agent trying to bring him in. One of the greatest pleasures of this year-long exploration of Steve's work has been rediscovering just how fantastic this particular movie is, especially in HD. It's stylish and exciting, touching and bittersweet. And since

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