School of Movies

[School of Movies 2026]

The Robert Rodriguez series continues. After Desperado and then From Dusk till Dawn, Robert stayed in the Horror milieu and was shunted onto the Scream bandwagon by his regrettable Dimension Films keepers, the Weinsteins.

Written by Kevin Williamson (who wrote Scream and recently directed the seventh in that undying franchise) this one brought a predatory serial killer vibe back to the high school, but with an alien infiltration plot from an earlier script.

It's amazing that this one shaped up to be as likable and memorable as it did, and we put that down to Rodriguez and his enthusiastic direction, and the truly stellar cast of talented young people, including newcomer Josh Hartnett (who had only just finished Scream-aping Halloween H20, also from Dimension Films, also with a very familiar Marco Beltrami Score) Clea DuVall (who co-starred in lesbian cult favourite 'But I'm a Cheerleader' the next year), a pre-X-Men Famke Jansen, a pre-Furious Jordana Brewster, the always-fantastic Chris McDonald and Bebe Neuwirth, a T-1000-evoking Robert Patrick, a pre-Daily Show Jon Stewart and a pre-Fellowship Elija Wood.

It's The Breakfast Club meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and it had all the cool kids shouting "F*ck you, t*tbags!" along with various other colourful turns of phrase in its dialogue.

[School of Movies 2026]

Here we begin a Director Season on the films of Robert Rodriguez. This first show is kind of a roller coaster as we get to know his style, what makes Robert tick, and we chart his progress from absolute indie obscurity, making a film for almost nothing and garnering recognition on the festival circuit, charting that up through his awkward TV movie pitstop, until he hit actual popularity with genuine audiences with a sequel that is also a remake, and just happens to star Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek at the peak of their sizzling onscreen sexiness.

After this came his collaboration with Quentin Tarantino, Four Rooms, From Dusk till Dawn and then the neo teen-Horror wave of the late 90s with The Faculty (coming next week). After this he began his slew of Spy Kids films, which appealed to a completely different audience.

But we conclude with the third and final part of what became his "Mexico Trilogy", when Robert charged in on the wave of new film tech, both shooting and editing digitally. His career would change irrevocably at this point.

1. El Mariachi (1992) + Road Racers (1994)

2. Desperado (1995)

3. Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)

[School of Movies 2026]

A surprisingly personal and tender show, dealing with some difficult subject matter comes out of this criminally forgotten 1989 Ron Howard family comedy drama.

It was a staple of my childhood and looking back, it seems like I took on board a great deal of the life lessons experienced by the amazing ensemble cast of the Buckman Megafamily, which include Steve Martin, Mary Steenburgen, Diane Wiest, Rick Moranis, Harleyy Kozak, Tom Hulce, Martha Plimpton, Jason Robards and stellar performances from both a young Keanu Reeves and Joaquin Phoenix.

Whether you're a parent yourself or not, you had someone appointed with the task of looking after you when you were a child, and whether they did a good, bad or mixed bag of a job, chances are you're going to find something in here to relate to. Definitely one to listen to when you can give it time to absorb, and my god, watch this movie!

[School of Everything Else 2026]

This is the best thing Marvel have ever made out of X-Men. That is not hyperbole. Stack up every comic, every animated series, every video game and every movie, and only a handful even come close to this level of both crafted quality and ferocious realisation of evolved central themes.

The original X-Men '92 show ran all the way up to September 1997 with the 76th episode "Graduation Day". The show had suddenly plummeted in quality after a really solid first four seasons when the budget was slashed and the animation switched to the lowest bidder studio possible. Marvel were broke and this was a sorry end to their flagship animated series which in the 90s was really only rivalled by Batman and Radioactive Spider-Man in terms of cultural footprint. That theme song lives in our head rent-free and the MCU have been teasing us with the jingle for years now.

However, this follow-up series that requires no prior knowledge to appreciate, hit the ground sprinting with a voice cast that were a mix of the familiar and powerful new performers, stunning hand-drawn animation and an uncompromising, fearless confrontation of the world that hates and fears mutants, holding up a black mirror to our own.

Guest:

Chris Finik @finmonster09

[School of Everything Else 2026]

This is a commissioned episode for Chris Finik, and Alejandra Vargas (both of whom guest on this show) as well as Sarah Montgomery and Self.

The remnants of the shattered team at Telltale, seminal adventure game developers of the 2000s and 2010s return as AdHoc Studio with one of the very best of its type. The premise is simple enough, almost rote by today's standards; In a world of superpowered criminals private security firm SDN send out problem-solving metahumans. The A-Team are all Avengers-Level heroes that America can be proud of, but we don't get to interact with them.

Instead, we as the weary Robert Robertson III, last in his family to wear the Mecha Man suit, have been tasked with coordinating the Z-Team, a bunch of grumpy, rude losers circling the drain and all on the cusp of being fired.

What we do and say as Robert, the people we grow closer with, and the jobs we send them out to do will be the difference between a complete disaster and perhaps a group of friends who do something right for once in their wretched lives.

It's fantastic!

Guests:

Alejandra Vargas

Chris Finik