The Cinematic Schematic

Today marks the beginning of a new special interview series for The Cinematic Schematic – Three Films That Got You Through the 2020 Pandemic. In this limited ten-episode interview series, we will speak with a wide variety of colleagues, professionals, and artists working in the film industry, largely in our backyard of Oklahoma. We’ll talk with each guest about how the pandemic has impacted their line of work before talking about the three movies that helped them get through it all.  In our inaugural episode, we sit down for a talk with the deadCenter Film Festival‘s executive director, Alyx Picard Davis. Special Guest Alyx Picard Davis The executive director of the deadCenter Film Festival Follow Alyx on Twitter @alyxpicarddavis Follow deadCenter on Twitter @deadcenter Purchase passes for the virtual deadCenter 2021 Film Festival today! The deadCenter Film Festival is Oklahoma’s largest film festival and it’s dedicated to “inspire, promote, and celebrate creativity and community through film,” according to their website. The festival brings filmmakers, cinephiles, and artists from around the world together to celebrate film and the tremendous work being done in our communities. The annual film festival event is only one major component of the work done by deadCenter. […]

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Welcome back to The Cinematic Schematic, the official podcast of The Cinematropolis.com. Today I’m reviewing Emerald Fennell’s directorial debut, Promising Young Woman.  DISCLAIMER: Potentially triggering topics including rape and sexual assault are a central part of the plot and themes of Promising Young Woman. If you are sensitive to these subjects, this review and the film may not be for you. Reader and listener discretion is advised.  According to IMDB Promising Young Woman is described as “A young woman, traumatized by a tragic event in her past, seeks out vengeance against those who cross her path.” The film is written/directed by Emerald Fennell and stars Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, and Allison Brie. Fennell’s directorial debut is a bold, sharp and oftentimes excruciating examination of the double standard between men and women, accusers and the accused and victims and their predators in our society. It’s a rape-revenge thriller that not only disregards your comfort, but actually relishes in your discontent.  In the midst of an ongoing culture war between a justice system that stands by the principle of innocent until proven guilty and a cancel culture that has taken to social media to demand retribution against sexual predators who have thus far […]

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The Cinematic Schematic podcast returns for our final episode of 2020. This week we’ll review the long-delayed sequel to 2017’s smash hit, Wonder Woman, and the latest continuation of the DCEU, Wonder Woman 1984. We’re rejoined by recurring guest co-host, Freaky AF and You People writer/director, Laron Chapman, and Geek Girl Features writer Chelsea Ratterman, to provide a spoiler-free review of the film before having an in-depth spoiler discussion. In 2017, writer/director Patty Jenkins made her name in superhero filmmaking with the box office and critical success story, Wonder Woman. After bringing in a staggering $822 million worldwide and garnering the coveted “Fresh” Rotten Tomatoes score of 93%, the hopes and expectations for the follow-up couldn’t be higher. Enter the 2020 pandemic. After several short-term delays in late 2019, the film finally landed on a June 2020 date that would eventually be pushed several more times due to the pandemic before finally having a historical simultaneous HBO Max and theatrical opening on Christmas Day of this year. With Marvel pushing their entire theatrical release slate back until 2021, the appetite for a triumphant superhero film could not be greater. Does Wonder Woman 1984 meet the moment by rising above its already […]

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Merry Christmas and happy holidays, dear listeners! The Cinematic Schematic podcast is here with a special bonus episode reviewing Disney Pixar’s new movie releasing directly on Disney+ on Christmas Day, Soul. To meet the special occasion, we are joined by my 2020 COVID-pandemic partner in crime, the Video Peach, Lauren Weingart. Tune in to hear our reactions and analysis of one of this year’s biggest holiday releases, being released exclusively via Disney’s streaming platform. Longtime fans of Pixar may remember the Soul co-writer/director Pete Docter‘s past films with the studio including Monsters Inc., Up, and Inside Out–their cream of the crop. If 2015’s Inside Out was Docter’s exploration of human emotion, Soul is his examination of human spirituality. Where does inspiration originate? What’s the special energy that gets individuals motivated and excited to take on each and every day? How do purpose and fulfillment work together in the human psyche to create happiness and a sense of belonging? These are just a few of the questions this film considers through its highly creative and hugely ambitious story. Don’t let the deep and larger than life ideas and themes concern you, Soul is a highly entertaining film for the whole family. In […]

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The Cinematic Schematic podcast is back this week to review one of 2020’s most highly anticipated films, Tenet, AKA “the film that will save cinema.” We’re rejoined by guest co-hosts Jacob and Zachary Burns, co-founders of Planet Thunder Productions and The Cinematropolis, to give our initial spoiler-free reviews before diving into the film’s details to determine whether or not it was worth the wait. Tune in! The new film from The Dark Knight and Inception writer/director Christopher Nolan has had quite the journey to release. Like most films in 2020, Tenet saw several delays. It was originally scheduled for July 17, 2020, before initially being pushed to July 31, 2020, before finally being released on August 26 internationally and then September 3, 2020, in the US. At one point, they were releasing trailers without actual release dates, just saying “coming soon to theaters,” while drawing criticism in the headlines for its unconventional marketing strategy and intention to release during the global pandemic. The film went on to be a modest success internationally given the circumstances(the film was never released in several major US cities), with a total gross of $362.2 million as of December 19, 2020. After all of the fuss […]

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Welcome to The Cinematic Schematic, the official podcast of The Cinematropolis.com. Today, we’re introducing a new, shorter-form film review format. As detailed in our recent podcast announcement, this post is one of many changes being made to the podcast in order to give you, the listener, episodes more frequently. According to IMDB “1930’s Hollywood is reevaluated through the eyes of scathing social critic and alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz as he races to finish the screenplay of Citizen Kane (1941).” Mank is directed by David Fincher and stars Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins Tom Burke and Charles Dance. Fincher’s latest is a welcome departure in his oeuvre that I quite enjoyed. The set and sound designs are stunning, the performances are outstanding and the screenplay(penned by Fincher’s late father, Jack) carries the type of Hollywood nostalgia the Academy will go bananas over come awards season in spring 2021. There are three things in particular I want to note about Mank:  #1. I should clarify when I say “departure…”  Yes, like most of Fincher’s films, the main character (Mankiewicz in this case) is trapped in a machine, arguably of his own making, and he can’t seem to escape…a theme made pretty explicit within the text. Whether […]

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After being away on a several month-long hiatus in 2020, I have a special announcement to make. The Cinematic Schematic podcast is back! If you’ve been a longtime listener or The Cinematropolis reader, you’ve probably noticed things have been quiet here the last several months. There are a few reasons for this silence: The challenges presented to the film industry in 2020 due to the pandemic. A shift in the priorities in my personal/professional life with various projects. Content creation burnout. To remedy this, here’s what you can expect closing out this year and moving into 2021: Short weekly solo movie reviews, featuring my quick take on a new release. Approximately one group roundtable film conversation a month. Other special podcast series. This will start immediately—podcast subscribers will notice my review of David Fincher’s Mank was released at the same time as this episode.  Next week, you can expect a review of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet and Pixar’s new movie, Soul. And the following week, we’ll be covering Wonder Woman 1984. 2020 has undeniably been an unusual and challenging year for everyone, including professionals working in the film and service industries. No matter what 2021 means for movie theaters, the show […]

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To celebrate today’s release of Planet Thunder Productions’ new film, Shifter, writer/director Jacob Leighton Burns and Zachary Burns rejoin The Cinematic Schematic to discuss a few of their favorite time travel films before we each make the case for the greatest time travel movie ever made. Before picking our favorites, we lay down the rules and criteria of what qualifies as a time travel film in this discussion. The movie must feature a person, consciousness, or object that travels through time. It cannot be a Groundhog Day-style time loop movie(think The Edge of Tomorrow, Palm Springs, or Happy Death Day). To round out the conversation, Jacob and Zachary give us the latest update on the release of Shifter! Shifter is now available on-demand for rent or purchase on iTunes, Amazon Video, Google Play Video, Xbox, and other popular video platforms. The film stars Nicole Fancher, Ashley Mandanas, Paul T. Taylor, and Jamie Brewster. The official synopsis reads: A socially awkward but ambitious young woman experiences painful and gruesome side effects after an experiment with time travel goes wrong, causing her to lose control and shift through time at random. Doing her best to keep her ailment a secret, she quickly realizes that not […]

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Imagine a world where the mind is the scene of the crime inspired by the works of Stanley Kubrick, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, The Matrix, and James Bond films that captures the best elements of an Oceans Eleven heist. On July 16, 2010, moviegoers were introduced to Inception, writer/director Christopher’s Nolan’s massive critical and box office hit that propelled him from a talented auteur to one of the most powerful voices working in the film industry today.  With the hype and media buzz of the release now a full decade behind us, how does Inception hold up in 2020? Where does it best fit into the pantheon of Nolan’s oeuvre and, perhaps the most hotly debated question related to the film upon release, does the top keep spinning or does it fall?  In today’s special episode of The Cinematic Schematic, we’re joined by Freaky AF writer/director Laron Chapman, The Cinematropolis‘s Alexandra Bohannon and No Film School‘s Jo Light to take a look back at the critically acclaimed box office hit with an indie spirit, Inception, to determine whether or not the film deserves the status of a blockbuster classic. We go deeper into the film’s themes and subtext to determine whether […]

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After 10 days of films streamed at the 2020 deadCenter Film Festival for the event’s 20th anniversary, The Cinematropolis concludes our special coverage with a festival recap discussion between our entire festival team, Jo Light, Daniel Bokemper, Christopher Shultz, and myself. Tune in to the full discussion on today’s episode of The Cinematic Schematic! Each of us discusses our favorite feature films, short films, documentaries, and virtual experience at this year’s festival. To close out the festival, we’d like to send thanks out to the deadCenter staff including Lance McDaniel, Sara Thompson, Alyx Picard, and Kevin Ely along with Sunrise Tippeconnie, Krystal Yosef, Stephen Tyler, and the other volunteers who continue to make this festival happen. We can’t wait to see what the team comes up with for deadCenter 2021! Take a look back at The Cinematropolis deadCenter 2020 Coverage Filmmaker Podcast Interviews with Caleb Masters deadCenter Executive Director Lance McDaniel Champions Local Film and Arts Community Engineering a Virtual Film Festival with Stephen Tyler, deadCenter’s Director of Technology Charles Elmore Shares the Secrets Behind Directing the Darkly Humorous ‘The Chest’  Director Sev DeMy Dreams Big with ‘Black Title Here’ Cheryl McDonough Brings the Spirit of Activism to Oklahoma with ‘Parkland Rising’ Documentary Shifter Audio Diary […]

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