The Desert of the Reel: A Movie Podcast

Both Ryan and Jason agree thatTron: Ares (2025) doesn't really work as a sequel. It's fine as a movie, but especially when watched closely after the previous two films in the series, it doesn't really hold up. Specifically, it might be because Jared Leto's "acting" is not up to par with our previous main characters.

In this episode, we discuss a lot about what it means to be human, and specifically, about what AI's role should be in the future of humanity. We also return to our discussion of the Other and of thinking critically (aka avoid being programmed).

Tron: Legacy (2010)

28 years after the original movie, we see Flynn and his adult son, Sam, return to the grid. There, they must play Clu's games and try to escape.

Is this basically the first Legacy sequel? We talk about the history of Disney from the 80s that led us to this movie. We also have a lot of things we liked about this movie! Especially the music.

We also uncover a lot of philosophical ideas. From Buddhism and Hinduism to the Bhagavad Gita, we examine the film's obsession with the self, perfection, creation, and responsibility. Is Clu simply Flynn's greatest mistake—or the inevitable result of every creator trying to build something perfect? What happens when individuality clashes with the collective? And to what extent are we responsible for the things we create?

Join us this week! Next week Ares!

What are your thoughts?

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This week, Ryan and Jason go all the way back to Jason's childhood with 1982's Tron! This is one of the rare episodes where Jason reminisces about his childhood experiences with movies.

While (a little) dated, they argue that there's actually a lot to love about this old Disney film. The duo discuss Tron's role in the advent of CGI in film, the philosophical ideas of a digital self, intelligence at many levels of existence, the dangers of allowing computers to think for us, what putting minimal effort into a project reveals about us, and whether or not we leave parts of ourselves behind in our creations.

What are your thoughts about this ancestor of CGI? We'd love to know!

E-mail us at [email protected]!

Surrogates (2009) is a forgotten-about science Fiction movie where people live their lives through better-looking robot versions of themselves. It is just as relevant today, if not more so. It predates many ideas of social media and smartphones, and before we saw them in real life. Feels frighteningly modern.

We discuss AI, digital identities, pornography, addiction, disability, authenticity, and whether humanity is slowly choosing simulation over reality.

Can we still truly know another person if everyone presents a perfected version of themselves?

Along the way, Jason drops a surprising hot take about WALL-E, we revisit Bruce Willis's strange late-career filmography, and ask one uncomfortable question:

If technology keeps making life easier, why do people seem less fulfilled?

Do you remember this movie? Is it underrated? Does it deserve to be brought back and reexamined? Do you remember the tv show Flashforward??

Email us your thoughts and anything else at [email protected]

Sure love ya!

This week, we endured Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025). There's not much great happening in the film, so we didn't spend a ton of time talking about what was great. We spent a little more time talking about what wasn't great, but most of this episode is about the ethics of medicine and scientific discoveries generally, as well as the film studies reason why this movie doesn't connect with us visually and interpersonally.

At least, this is the last episode of the Jurassic series. Jason believes, pound for pound, this is the biggest waste of his time of all the series we've watched for the podcast. What do you think? Let us know at [email protected]!

Jurassic World Dominion (2022) might actually be the worst movie we have watched for this podcast. We actually get a little depressed talking about the future of blockbuster movies.

After six movies, the dinosaurs aren't the only things that escaped containment.

In our discussion of Jurassic World Dominion, we spend surprisingly little time talking about any pros (because we struggle to think of any), but we DO talk a good deal about dinosaurs and cons.

We discover bigger questions. At what point does a living creature become a product? When does a human being become a product? Why do audiences continue rewarding films considered disappointments?

The conversation quickly spirals into billion-dollar box office numbers, franchise filmmaking, hyperreality, social media, and whether modern entertainment is replacing art with content designed simply to feed the algorithm. Along the way, Jason begins questioning the future of cinema—and maybe humanity itself.

Is this just a bad movie? Or is it a symptom of something much larger?

Email us your thoughts at [email protected]

Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom (2018) made over $1 BILLION! !! In this episode, Ryan and Jason try to figure out how a film so ludicrous and disjointed became one of the 63 films in the history of the world to make over $1 BILLION!!!

While there's not a ton in this episode about the film itself, we deep dive into Jean Baudrillard's concept of the hyperreal replacing reality, as well as Ryan's two wolves (the one that wants more of the thing that he loves and the one that doesn't want crappy movies to be made out of the thing that he loves). We also spend some time catching up (it's been two weeks since we've hung out!).

If you enjoy discussion that's tangentially related to a terrible film that somehow made $1 BILLION!!!, enjoy!

In this episode of Desert of the Reel, Ryan and Jason return to Isla Nublar to visit Jurassic World. Why would anyone open another dinosaur park after the disaster of Jurassic Park? Jason can't understand that, but Ryan would definitely visit!

Is Jurassic World simply a bigger-budget remake of the original movie, and if so, why doesn't it receive the same criticism as other legacy sequels like The Force Awakens?

We explore the film through a postmodern lens, nostalgia, and audience expectations. We debate whether the movie has anything meaningful to say about control or whether it is content to be exactly what it advertises: bigger, louder, and packed with more teeth.

We talk about empathy and how this film handles death.

We ask if horror films show more compassion for human life than modern action movies. And what can Jurassic World teach us about accepting uncertainty in a universe that refuses to follow our plans?

Join us as we discuss chaos, dinosaurs, nostalgia, and the difficult balance between recognizing our small place in the universe while still choosing empathy.

Email us at [email protected]

On its surface, Hundreds of Beavers (2022) is very much an outlier choice for a Jason's Choice film, but as we dig a little deeper, we uncover a film that is deeply about creativity, the creative process, and who we are as a species and individuals. We explore AI, both the dangers it presents to a critical creative humanity and the ways we could use AI to enable critical creative thinking far beyond our human capacities.

Plus, Hundreds of Beavers (2022) is just a lot of fun.

Please let us know how many minutes it took you to "get it" at [email protected]!

Jurassic Park III (2001) has Alan Grant going back to the dinos.

This week on The Desert of the Reel, Ryan and Jason revisit the often-overlooked third installment in the Jurassic Park franchise and ask a simple question: Is it actually better than The Lost World?

This may be remembered as the "Spinosaurus movie," but beneath the dinosaur chases and early-2000s blockbuster spectacle lies a surprisingly interesting exploration of motivation, identity, and human character.

We talk about our pros and cons, and then explore, among many topics:

Jurassic Park III shifts away from corporate greed and instead focuses on a rescue mission driven by family, desperation, and hidden motives. Life finds a way. Sometimes so does self-discovery.

We examine whether intentions matter less than the motivations behind them, why some of history's worst actions have been committed with seemingly good intentions, and what it means to critically examine the reasons behind our choices.

We also discuss the film's recurring theme of appearances and explore a little Reader-Response with the JP movies.

Plus: Spinosaurus memes and Mr. Noodles.

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