[School of Movies 2026]

This is a fun one. Statistically speaking if you're under the age of 45 you didn't go and see this summer blockbuster funded by Amazon. When you think about it, this probably should have been made in the late 2000s, just after Michael Bay's immensely successful Transformers, and notably around the time they started planning the movie anyway. Instead it has taken another twenty years to hit the big screen and now faces relevance to only late Gen Xers like Sharon and I.

The film, directed by Bumblebee and Kubo second-stringer Travis Knight is an enjoyable MESS! It does have heart, and an adorable softboy lead who seems to have understood the assignment. It's a higgledy-piggledy remix of all four Thor movies, with traces of sixteen unfinished scripts floating around, and yet somehow Jared Leto manages to be entertaining for once in his life.

Sharon is our audience surrogate as I take you all by the hand and lead you through Eternia. This is one to listen to, even (especially) if you haven't seen it.

This week's After School Club: Masters of the Universe: Revolution (2024)

Next Week: Toy Story 4 & 5

[School of Movies 2026]

The first Star Wars movie released in cinemas after seven long years since The Rise of Skywalker. It's a crowd-pleaser, a simple, space western from the director of Cowboys & Aliens, Zathura and Iron Man 1 & 2.

And not a lot of people showed up for it, which feels like a damn shame, since just the experience of being sat there with the Ludwig Göransson score blasting through a sound system that costs a hundred times what most of us have in our living room was quite extraordinary.

There's also something to be said for the miraculous creations we get to see blown up to proportions suited to IMAX, from the gestalt entity of Mando himself, to the pugilist son of Jabba the Hutt, and most especially the special little green gremlin who we get to spend some unexpectedly intense close time with. This film has been easy to dismiss, but there's more to it than the homogenisation of Disney Plus affords us.

This week's After School Club: Happy Birthday to Me (1981)

Next Week: Masters of the Universe (2026)

[School of Everything Else 2026]

Kicking off our Summer Blockbuster Season, before we get to the first theatrically released Star Wars movie in seven years we need to bring you folks up to speed on where The Mandalorian & Grogu have been since Season One. This is two back-to-back episodes previously on After School Club talking about The Mandalorian Season Two and The Book of Boba Fett (which I contend should have been The Mandalorian Season Three).

What I managed to edit together here and talk about extensively is three movie edits, which revolutionised how much I appreciate these two shows. And you folks can somewhat recreate the experience I'm describing here if you watch the following episodes...

Once Upon a Time in a Galaxy Far, Far Away... PART 1 (Mando S2 - E1: The marshal / E5: The Jedi / E6: The Tragedy / E7: The Believer and E8: The Rescue)

Son of the Sand (Book of Boba Fett - E1: Stranger in a Strange Land / E2: The Tribes of Tatooine / E3: The Streets of Mos Espa / E4: The Gathering Storm)

Once Upon a Time in a Galaxy Far, Far Away... PART 2 (Book of Boba Fett - E5: The Return of the Mandalorian / E6: From the Desert Comes a Stranger / E7: In the Name of Honor)

Playlist of my YouTube Star Wars videos, including multiple editing and music flourishes detailed in this show.

This week's After School Club: Star Wars: Skeleton Crew

Next Week: The Mandalorian & Grogu