The Desert of the Reel: A Movie Podcast

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002).

Jason continues to explore Middle Earth in the second Rings film. We discuss the pros and cons of this film and then branch out into deeper thoughts regarding the importance of nature, the will of power by Nietzsche, using a Feminist read of the film, and why we follow leaders blindly.

We had a lot of fun talking about all the great moments in this movie.

Has Jason had too much Tolkien? Maybe. But he can't help but admit that this film might be the best of both trilogies.

Join us next week for Return of the King (2003) and let us know your thoughts about this film, or anything else at [email protected]

The first Lord of the Rings film proves to be a huge step up from the Battle of the Five Armies. While there are still some problems (largely stemming from the fact that every scene is significantly longer than it needs to be), (Jason wrote that part) both Jason and Ryan agree that this is a pretty great film.

We discuss formalism, structuralism, whether we have the obligation to do something to benefit others if we can, and how best to address difficult obstacles in our lives.

Thanks again for listening in!

If you want to let us know your thoughts at [email protected]

Jason loves this movie.

Jason always chooses movies for his choice episodes that he thinks are worth your time, but Birdemic: Shock and Terror (2010) is infamous for being one of the "worst movies ever made!"

Can Jason accurately convince you that this is a good movie? Ryan talks about all sorts of nonsense found in this movie from bad acting, bad editing, bad cinematography, and bad... everything. But how can Jason find so much joy in this movie? Could the director have planted deep messages in his film? Should we all live by the messages this movie teaches us?

What are your thoughts? [email protected]

What franchise should we cover AFTER Lord of the Rings? What movies do you recommend for Jason to watch?

The third Hobbit Movie! The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) is a film in existence! Ridiculous, impossible, moronic things happen in the film. In the film, there are also characters, which we discuss and don't really care about. The EAGLES show up and save the dasy! Again! We discuss that.

Also, we have learned (and discuss) that you can pound on thinly frozen ice with a 2-ton metal hammer and not break it! And you can jump through ice into the air by standing on the water beneath the it! We discuss that, too! Absurd plot devices and conveniently randomly-appearing animals abound, which we also discuss.

How did this movie make a $1 billion?!?! Not surprisingly, we discuss that as well, along with the ethics of honor and valuing stuff over people.

This episode also contains a brief apologist's defense of the movie (thanks, Mark!).

If you want to let us know your thoughts at [email protected]

The second Hobbit Movie! The Desolation of Smaug (2013) might have broken Jason. He already isn't a fan of the works of Tolkien, and this movie might not change his mind!

We talk about our pros and our cons (Jason has no pros), but then we get into using the Marxist Lens, the idea of letting evil live for our philosophical lens, and why we want what we don't already have.

One more Hobbit movie left! Thank you to all the people who left a comment on our post. If you want to let us know your thoughts at [email protected]

Welcome to season 3 of The Desert of the Reel! During this round, we tackle the interminable Tolkien movies. Jason is already heavily biased against these films, so this should be an interesting ride. In this episode, we understand his beef(s) with Tolkien and explore the flaws in this film (surprisingly enough, Ryan "Apologist" isn't actively defending this film). Jason introduces a new DOTR segment: Logical Inconsistencies of the Reel, and we also cover what film studies, philosophy, and ethics there are available in this 3-hour-long journey from the Hobbit's hovel to about 150 feet away from the Hobbit's hovel! Join us next week for the exciting tale of the next 150 feet of their journey!

Feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] with your thoughts on the upcoming Tolkien films!

This is one of Jason's favorite movies! This week, for Jason's Choice, he wanted to highlight a movie that seems to be a little lost in time. But it has a lot of big philosophical ideas and lessons.

We talk about this being an "either-or Mystery," and talk a lot about being the good and the light in the world. We, obviously, talk about the nature of reality, because of course, we do. And much more!

Stay tuned for next week, Lord of the Rings!

Let us know your thoughts! [email protected]

First and foremost, an apology regarding this episode. If you are listening to this episode, it probably means you first had to watch The Rise of Skywalker. Sorry about that.

(Un)surprisingly, even though everyone on the podcast disliked this movie, there are still disagreements galore. We cover plot holes, logical absurdities, and characterization failures. Then, we move on to the negatives.

The Film Studies, Ethics, and Philosophy of the Reel are here, proving that you can think critically about movies no matter how asinine the film is.

Additionally, we'd like to apologize for the audio of this episode. We welcomed Martin Harris back, but between the last time we had Martin on and this time, our district tech department decided to block the website we used to record last time. We lost most of what we recorded last week, so we recorded this week. Consequently, this episode is a hodgepodge of audio we were able to capture from our various attempts to use Zoom and Apple screen capture, as well as our usual software, resulting in dramatic swings in audio quality.

We did the best we could.

Feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] with your thoughts on The Rise of Skywalker!

We are so sorry for not having an episode this week due to extreme technical difficulties.

Jason finally watches The Last Jedi (2017). He had no idea what people have been arguing about for the past 8 years. And, luckily, we have plenty to argue about ourselves!

Are you a fan of this movie? Or is it a reason to hate the sequels? In this episode, we spend a LOT of time talking about the cultural history of this film, gaps of logic in the battles, failures of our heroes, the power of love, and even more arguing about who is right and who is wrong.

Join us on this, our longest episode ever, and feel free to email us at [email protected] your thoughts on The Last Jedi!