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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

01:15:17

King Kong

School of Movies ·

2019/06/07

[School of Movies 2019] With Godzilla II: King of the Monsters releasing this week, since we've already done a Godzilla show, we decided to cover his opponent in next year's long-awaited rumble of the Titans; Godzilla vs. King Kong. That meant going back and examining essentially four versions of the same story. A boat-full of humans journeys to Skull Island for spurious reasons, encounter monstrous creatures and are both threatened and occasionally saved by a giant gorilla worshipped by the

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01:53:50

John Wick

School of Movies ·

2019/05/17

[School of Movies 2019] Since the third one is released this week and the series is not only continuing but branching out into TV and spin-offs we figured we'd journey back to the beginning and look at the 2014 original, examining what made it so powerful, relentless yet elegant. The YouTube channel which we reference several times is Film Joy, the musical act we showcase is Kaleida, the YouTube video to watch is Nerf John Wick. And this episode owes a great deal to the masterful scoring of Tyler

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01:45:59

Pet Sematary

School of Movies ·

2019/04/26

[School of Movies 2019] This is a rigorous dissection of the 1989 movie, the 2019 movie and the 1983 book. In many ways this is a sister show to our IT episodes. Stephen King done wrong three times, even by King himself. This doesn't just come down to me not liking the nasty tone of all three, there is a fundamental breach in the overarching philosophy of the author which renders this an aberration in his creative oeuvre. It's also dumb as hell and doesn't even follow its own internal logic,

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01:34:12

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

School of Movies ·

2019/04/05

[School of Movies 2019] On paper this is a film we should absolutely love, based on a book we should also absolutely love. Average boy discovers a secret, secluded old mansion populated by strange children with special powers, looked after by an eccentric and magical woman, played by a fine actress and directed by a man known for his quirky outsider tales and memorable imagery. From a multi-part children's book series literally inspired by odd Victorian photographs! And yet it was a strangely cold,

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02:09:34

We Need to Talk About Fandom

School of Movies ·

2019/03/15

[School of Movies 2019] A long-planned show, following up on "Fan Response" in 2013 which can be found on the School of Everything Else Archive. Things were becoming problematic back then and now, six years later, matters are worse. This is a show all about examining where we each stand in our fandoms and dispelling the binary, black and white "You are either with us or against us" mentality which has cultivated a climate of extreme feeling that we are bombarded with every day. It's not about

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01:54:03

The Good Place

School of Movies ·

2019/03/01

[School of Everything Else 2019] One of the most compulsive and mind-expanding TV shows in recent years, The Good Place is an unfolding exploration of philosophy and morality which takes the brightly coloured appealing form of comedy frozen yogurt. If you've not seen it, the best summation is that a woman named Eleanor Shelstrop dies and is welcomed into heaven by a kindly angel-type named Michael, only to realise she shouldn't be there because she's a rotten, selfish wretch and Michael thinks

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01:40:17

Highlander

School of Movies ·

2019/02/01

[School of Movies 2019] "Transcending history and the world, a tale of souls and swords, eternally retold"... No wait, "There can only be one!" A good question would of course then be "Why was there more than one?" Because the answer certainly isn't "Money!" The original Highlander is a sci-fi fantasy that awkwardly mashes together slightly-too-serious delivery with crazy camp ostentatiousness and a kickass Queen soundtrack. Nowhere near enough people have seen it, and we want to help remedy that

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02:07:09

Into the Spider-Verse

School of Movies ·

2018/12/28

[School of Movies 2018] One of the best films of the year, and one of the best ways to end it. This one has already garnered itself something of a cult following with everyone who has seen it passionately declaring its qualities, but still not nearly enough people seeing it during a December absolutely packed to the gills with high quality blockbusters. As a major event in comic book movie history this film, produced by Lord and Miller of The Lego Movie has one of the most arresting visual styles in

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02:43:02

Spider-Man (PS4)

School of Movies ·

2018/11/30

[School of Everything Else 2018] This turned out to be one of my favourite games of all time, and as you'll hear it pushed so many of my positive buttons that exceptionally good games released immediately after I finished just don't measure up, for a variety of reasons. This was a commissioned show by Chris Finik. I wasn't going to do an episode about it because I was very aware it might become work and suck all the joy out of the experience, but I was able to hit the right balance and crucially I

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01:52:55

Creed

School of Movies ·

2018/11/16

[School of Movies 2018] Since the original Rocky in 1976 (which is still fantastic more than 40 years on) this saga has been Sylvester Stallone's baby. He directed four of the previous six movies, and wrote and starred in all of them. Then the director of a little-known indie picture called Fruitvale Station which screened at Sundance, comes along with his idea for a story that breathes new life into the series whilst paying respectful homage to the history and characters. That man was Ryan

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02:24:02

Wreck-It Ralph + Winnie the Pooh

School of Movies ·

2018/10/19

[School of Movies 2018] We begin with a movie so underappreciated and barely known that it's not even in the British canon of Disney movies, they just skip over it and mis-number the next one. Winnie the Pooh 2011 is a charming, harmless, fun and short little adventure, and it was their actual final 2D cel-animated animated classic. There's more to say about its obscurity and design than there is to say about its events. And after that we launch into arguably the best movie ever made about video

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02:55:28

Tangled

School of Movies ·

2018/10/12

[School of Movies 2018] I say this with no hyperbole, I think you may be listening to our best Disney show. It is epic in length and rich in scope, we go deep and the evolution of the Disney film takes a big leap, aesthetically, technically and emotionally. Rather than simply deliver Rapunzel in the style of the 90s renaissance the creative team here very deliberately updated the approach to a fairy-tale world in a way that would pay off big time in Frozen but makes itself known here with

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02:09:49

The Princess and the Frog

School of Movies ·

2018/10/05

[School of Movies 2018] Now we're talking. While the last two movies were an upswing from the doldrums of Chicken Little this one was the first to confidently step out in a direction that was both established and classical and representative of Disney at its best AND also new and twisty, fondly critical of their past successes, progressive and modern. If you've somehow not seen it but have enjoyed the 90s Renaissance you will find much of value here, including the directors of Aladdin and The

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02:50:23

Wrestlemania XXX

School of Movies ·

2018/08/10

[School of Everything Else 2018] Do not adjust your phones, you are reading this one correctly. Despite barely ever mentioning wrestling in over eleven years of podcasting we are now doing an epic-length show on what for newcomers might be the most instantly satisfying event in WWE history. This isn't a show for wrestling fans (though you lot will get a kick out of it anyway) it's for people who aren't familiar with wrestling and have never really seen the appeal. We started watching these

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02:31:22

Hellboy

School of Movies ·

2018/06/29

[School of Movies 2018] Del Toro's fifth film was a passion project for him which he still managed to position as a studio picture supernatural superhero sci-fi that ended up with middling success. The Hellboy comic by Mike Mignola blends Lovecraftian horror, mythology and folklore with a no-nonsense, gruff mechanic's approach to the paranormal. It's a deeply appealing combination hearkening to Ghostbusters. Of the two GDT HBs this one sticks closer to the comic roots whilst being somewhat mired in

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01:12:27

Avengers: Infinity War

School of Movies ·

2018/05/04

[School of Movies 2018] "We come to it at last, the great battle of our time." This show recording ran surprisingly long as we went off on wild tangents discussing where Marvel might go from here. Those are contained in a separate 80 minute podcast called Beyond Infinity which will be on the Patreon. What you have here is a super-focused 70 minute discussion about the film, with heavy reflections on what it means and elements that stood out. You see, I divided it into two and oh my god, I'm

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02:09:15

Saga

School of Movies ·

2018/04/27

[School of Everything Else 2018] A currently ongoing comic series written by Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man) and Fiona Staples (North 40/Mystery Society). The remit of this commission was not to just talk about the first book and hold off of spoilers for the later instalments (since that's what a lot of people do) so we have to delve into the first eight volumes. This makes it kind of tricky to know how much to listen to for newcomers to the series. My suggestion would be to stick with us for a

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01:48:58

Godzilla

School of Movies ·

2018/04/20

[School of Movies 2018] This is a trilogy of tellings of the same enormous tale. First the 1954 black and white Japanese original, Gojira, which was a deliberate allegory for something deadly serious. Then (skipping over about 21 very silly Toho films which pitted the big lizard against an array of iconic kaiju) we have the 1998 Roland Emmerich attempt to bring Godzilla to America. And finally on the 60th anniversary of that first film, Gareth Edwards (Rogue One, Monsters) delivered the beginnings

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02:00:38

Birdemic: Shock and Terror

School of Movies ·

2018/04/06

[School of Movies 2018] This one achieved notoriety as a so-bad-it's-great cult classic. However, while it's certainly applicable as nanar, this confused mess of a survival horror actually stands more as a reverse yardstick of how NOT to make a film. Join us as we hurtle through bird-infested motels, beaches, woodlands and gas stations on one of the worst journeys a person could be forced to take. Coat-hangers at the ready, along with a small, and inexhaustible arsenal. Say goodbye to coherence,

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02:44:02

We Need to Talk About Anakin

School of Movies ·

2018/02/16

[School of Everything Else 2018] A very special show where we go back to the Star Wars Prequels and ask ourselves one question; If these were in fact not poorly written films, if they were instead historical documents, then who is responsible, for the eventually tragic actions of Anakin Skywalker? The easy answer is to say Anakin himself, and that we should all be ultimately held accountable for our behaviour, and that's absolutely valid, but there were others who misled him, ignored the danger

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