School of Movies

[School of Everything Else 2026]

This is one of the most significant shows we have ever recorded and took an immense amount of research, preparation and editing. It has been a very long time coming, as the landscape of how we watch, play, read and listen to things changed.

In the wake of Sony's announcement that they are ending production on physical discs for the PlayStation, coupled with the culling of hundreds of movies, TV shows and documentaries that customers purchased legally and now no longer have access to, a huge amount of people are waking up to the alarming, impermanent realities of the streaming-only future we have all been pushed into.

In the immortal words of The Doors, 'The time to hesitate is through.' This discussion is about gaining perspective on how we got here and then restarting or indeed jumpstarting your collections of physical media.

If I leave one single episode of this podcast behind it is this one.

Movies & TV (0h 5m)

Video Games (1h 4m)

Music (2h 0m)

Books & Comics (2h 28m)

Guests:

James Batchelor of Bond and Beyond  @James_Batchelor

Nama Chibitty @namathenerd

Paul Shotton @PlexShaw

This week's After School Club: Cutting Class after-show chat

Next week: Mortal Kombat I & II

[School of Movies 2026]

After an extruciatingly long five years away from this version of Peter Parker we rejoin his sad, thrilling saga. This is in fact his seventh appearance in the MCU, and it is one of the best of that entire series, rocketing to a billion dollars in less than a week, and signifying just how many people love this particular Spider-Man.

What we have here are the devastating long-term consequences of trying to undo the cruel outing of his secret identity by the spiteful dickweed Mysterio. This young superhero has let his Peter Parker identity die and is now full-time Spider-Man, making Brand New Day a powerful meditation on loneliness, something a hell of a lot of us are feeling right now.

Alex's Audiodrama podcast: The New Century Multiverse

James' Book: Wandless on Amazon

Guests:

James Batchelor of Bond and Beyond  @James_Batchelor

A.J. Wilden @wcwit.bsky.social of Wits-Writing 

Jerome McIntosh of GameBurst

This week's After School Club: Blue Beetle

Next week: Own Your Stuff: The vital importance of collecting physical media

[School of Movies 2026]

Dan Trachtenberg, director of 10 Cloverfield Lane has quietly, modestly, and with surety of purpose revolutionised the Predator franchise. Back when Disney bought Fox there were many folks cheering about the X-Men being in the MCU from now on (and Marvel have taken their sweet time with that) whilst still others rightly pointed out that the monopoly and dominion over such an immense market share of IPs that were never theirs and don't fit with the Mickey Mouse mentality was going to be ruinous. At least in the case of Predator, the reverse is true.

For three decades, Fox presided over poorly-received Predator sequels, spinoffs, and aborted revivals. Meanwhile the Disney buyout has (through the appointment of Trachtenberg as project leader) resulted in the three freshest takes, cunningly bringing forward some of the most potent elements and letting go of aping of the 80s classic. Prey, and Killer of Killers sought a new demographic of younger people aware of the name and keen to see something relevant to them. But this one actually has something to say about being raised in harsh, cruel, dehumanising cultures, and it does so with passion and humour that won over Willow. This thing is special, and reaches out with exhilarating empathy to guys who have been told they can't ever be sensitive or feel anything other than anger and the desire to dominate the competition.

It is, in effect, Redditor: Badlands.

This week's After School Club: Predator: Killer of Killers

Next week: Spider-Man: Brand New Day

[School of Movies 2026]

I did not expect to be proudest of this third show on the Pirates Trilogy. While the first was spent delving into the rich details of the many factors that made it a classic as well as an instant success (the two are not always the same thing) and the second was spent finding where the good movie was, hidden between the hindrances of pacing and focus issues.

But this third one was revalatory. At World's End always frustrated me deeply, by amplifying all of the problems of the previous two, delivering convolution and dropped threads at the point when things need to be at their most emotionally clear, and drowning the climax in a maelstrom of crowd-pleasing VFX.

But through this episode and talking with Sharon, Maya and Brendan I was able to actually find the meaning in this ending that the filmmakers either through lack of preparation or lack of courage to deliver a tragedy with the most expensive film ever (hey, it worked out for Titanic) told a story about the passing of an age without an ending. There is no end to a world where there's always more booty to be had.

Alex's Audiodrama: Panther Soul on Bandcamp

Maya's Book: Realm of Kings on Amazon

Guests:

Hollywoo Actress  Maya Souris @Mayasantandrea

Brenden Agnew @BLCAgnew of Make Me Watch It

This week's After School Club: The Lone Ranger

Next week: Predator Badlands

[School of Movies 2026]

The original trio of Gore Verbinski Pirates films have become sacred cows to millennial movie commentators on YouTube, spoken of in hushed tones alongside the likes of The Prequel Trilogy and Shrek. Back when I was in my twenties, I absolutely loved that first one and had a great time at the second, it was only the third (one of the first films we reviewed in the early days of Digital Cowboys) that threw me for a loop.

What we've done here, following our effusive 2025 show on Curse of the Black Pearl is reconvene with Maya and Brendan, and in some cases go back for only a second viewing of that second movie, to watch with contemporary eyes that have seen a thousand VFX extravaganzas in the two decades since.

This was a mammoth undertaking for the filmmakers, and in this week's show and next week's we zero in on where the film's strengths are still seaworthy, and where they sink like a stone.

Alex's Audiodrama: Panther Soul on Bandcamp

Maya's Book: Realm of Kings on Amazon

Guests:

Hollywoo Actress  Maya Souris @Mayasantandrea

Brenden Agnew @BLCAgnew of Make Me Watch It

This week's After School Club: Cutthroat Island

Next week: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End