The Desert of the Reel: A Movie Podcast

The penultimate Marvel episode! Guardians of the Galaxy 3 gives us so many incredible moments. We discuss what we liked and didn't like, look at the philosophy, and analyze the story. Jason may or may not like the emotional ending.

Is Drax the best Marvel character? Is this the best trilogy in the MCU?

This movie offers many great ideas to analyze and discuss. Can we have a utopia in this life? What would we need to do to create one? What can we learn from the villain? Does the villain make any good points?

Email us your thoughts, reviews, and suggestions at [email protected]

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania finds our hosts with very little to talk about, but they still manage to talk about it for 45 minutes. They discuss the (many) short-comings of the film and the (few) impressive elements. Most interestingly, Ryan brings in and discusses the genre of fantastical realism, with its Latin American roots, authors, and artists. We hope you enjoy!

What are your thoughts on Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania? Share with us your thoughts on anything and everything at [email protected]

Wakanda Forever finds our hosts with a lot to talk about. It might not live up to the first movie, but there are many big ideas to discuss and analyze.

Jason brings a list of different dichotomies we can see in this film: faith vs science, desire vs duty, and tradition vs progress to name a few.

We discuss the concept of othering, graphics, and especially dealing with death. When someone dies, how we can not let us break us, but allow us to improve our lives?

What are your thoughts on Wakanda Forever? Share with us your thoughts on anything and everything at [email protected]

In this episode, we discuss Marvel's Werewolf by Night (2022) as an homage to horror from days gone by. But our conversation doesn't stop there! We use this short movie as a springboard to exploring the horror genre as a whole, from the role of classic horror monsters in our collective memory to Ryan's Q&A for horror-lover Jason, through the crucial social role horror has always played and landing us in a discussion of how the overarching message of horror is: love conquers all. Of course, there are also elements of film studies and ethics to finish off this exploration of .

What are your thoughts on Werewolf by Night or horror movies generally? Send us your reviews, questions, and feedback at [email protected]

Thor Love and Thunder sees a split between the two hosts. Are you a fan or is this a misstep? Which do you agree with more?

We talk about what we like and attempt to explain what flaws we see. Does this movie suffer from unsatisfying payoffs?

We talk about Loyalist ethics and how to change the world by helping people within our own spheres. What can you do within your limits to become happy? Jason breaks down the four types of love and addresses the movie's theme of love, and how Hollywood gets the concept of romantic love wrong. We look at how Gorr and Jane serve as foils for one another.

What are your thoughts on Thor Love and Thunder? Send us your reviews, questions, and feedback at [email protected]

A divided reaction to Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. Ryan feels this entry into the MCU canon is better than the first, while Jason gets hung up on the logical flaws. More than that, though, this movie enables your two hosts to get deep into their real-life experiences with disappointment, regret, and learning to be present.

There are great insights in this episode from both your hosts! We hope you enjoy!

Email us your reviews and thoughts at [email protected]

Has Spiderman No Way Home given Jason his favorite MCU movie? Has it been worth it to suffer all the Marvel movies to get to this point?

We hear a brief recap of the film and then get into the philosophy of Spiderman! We talk about what makes him so great and ask if he is now considered the "poster child" of all superheroes. Is he the best superhero of them all? There are also a lot of characters with different codes of ethics.

This is a great episode, and Jason has a lot to say!

Email us your reviews and thoughts at [email protected]

This week, we invited special guest Martin Harris to endure Eternals (2021) with us!

Basically, there's almost nothing redeeming about this movie, other than the concept (which was great!) and the director pushing boundaries with the visual style. None of us really cared about the characters, the planet, or the universe by the time we were done watching this movie.

It did provide us an excellent opportunity to discuss the often undiscussed side of utilitarianism: the idea that the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many. We also got some very interesting connections to quantum entanglement and intention theory. It's definitely worth a listen!

Email us your thoughts, reviews, and questions at [email protected]

Every Jason's choice is a movie that he thinks is worth your time, and in this episode, Thank You For Smoking (2005) is all about his favorite topic, rhetoric!

We can't stress that we do not condone smoking (we are high school teachers after all) but this movie isn't about how everyone should smoke... or is it? This movie is all about critical thinking, arguing, and how things are allowed in society.

We talk about our thoughts on the movie, how rhetoric is your secret weapon, parodies vs satire, and how people in society use negative rhetoric to persuade and influence us without us realizing it!

We then transition from smoking to whether sex scenes are unnecessary and if women being portrayed in film/treated in Hollywood has created a negative outcome for all women in film.

Email us your thoughts, reviews, reccomendations at [email protected]

First, we'd like to apologize for missing a week for the first time in podcast history. Our editing/recording software randomly became unavailable to us, and then school started. It took us a while to find a suitable replacement, but now we're back on line!

This week, we analyze and discuss Shang Chi (2021)!

There is a lot to talk about with this MCU origin story. Both Jason and Ryan agree that this is a solid addition to the MCU, and wonder why there isn't a sequel already scheduled. We talk about Karl Jung and his theory of masks and the masks we wear in life. Shang Chi presents as a good example of someone who has successfully navigated the minefield of masks to arrive at a whole self.

What makes us who we are? In what ways are our true selves hidden behind the expectations of other people and society?

Email us your thoughts, reviews, and questions at [email protected]