School of Movies

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. To get into our hundreds of previous episodes look for the School of Movies Archive and the School of Everything Else Archive. If you can’t find a show it will be on one of those.

School of Movies is a tv podcast hosted by Alex & Sharon Shaw, with 500 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Alex & Sharon Shaw hosts School of Movies, a tv show with 500 episodes published.

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  Episode #606

  Spider-Man: Brand New Day

  Aug 14, 20262h 14m

  [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

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  Episode #605

  Predator: Badlands

  Aug 7, 20261h 31m

  [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

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  Episode #604

  Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

  Jul 31, 20262h 13m

  [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

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  Episode #603

  Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

  Jul 24, 20262h 9m

  [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

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  Episode #518

  Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

  Jul 22, 20262h 24m

  [School of Movies 2025] NOTE: This episode was originally released in 2025, a year before we covered the sequels in 2026. An extremely long-awaited show on a game-changer of a blockbuster movie. The first Pirates film, released in 2003 before Lord of the Rings had completed brought the world many things: A fantabulous extravaganza of practical effects, combined with a surprisingly light smattering of digital VFX that would be leaned into a lot harder later down the line, The notion that the swashbuckler could still do big business (the hidden caveat was that Johnny Depp being strange absolutely must be present) Keira Knightley as a leading lady, Gore Verbinski as a major director, the supposition that audiences would flock to cinematic adaptations of Disney park rides (they won't, just this one. See above regarding Johnny Depp) and Geoffrey Rush as an all-time iconic big-screen presence embodying the most consistently enjoyable pirate of all time. But there's more going on, beneath the frothing surface, a fantastically witty, urbane and efficient script by Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott, one of the greatest scores ever composed (in a shockingly short amount of time) and Orlando Bloom's character actually being quite good, especially when held against Jack Davenport's Lawful Neutral Commodore James Norrington. This was a commission for Lincoln Alpern and features clips from the best audiodrama I've ever composed; Panther Soul , and the first chapter of the brand new Dracula adaptation Castle of the Moon . Guests: Hollywoo Actress Maya Souris @Mayasantandrea Brenden Agnew @BLCAgnew of Make Me Watch It

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