Redshirt Cinema Club

Hello and welcome to Redshirt Cinema Club, a podcast about fandom and watching movies with friends. Today, it’s Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s multi-award-winning 2023 biopic of the man who made the bomb. Best Picture. Best actor for Cillian Murphy, Best Director for Nolan himself. But can it win the less-prestigious but harder-to-obtain award for entertaining all three of the Redshirt Cinema Club hosts? Let’s find out!

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The end of our Nolan series approaches, as you can tell by the fact we've reached a film that doesn't care about beginnings, or endings, or - more than one of us might argue - what happens in the middle, either.

This week we're watching/have watched/will have been about to be watching Tenet, which is like a time-based counterpart to the globe-spanning, dream-plumbing action of Inception. Not content with simply folding Paris back upon itself, Tenet goes one further and folds all of reality, with a war of annihilation moving back along the timeline...

We’re nearing the end of our Nolan run now, and we’re heading for the stars - or at least a handful of uninhabitable planets and a wormhole or two - with 2014’s Interstellar. A movie less about space and rockets than it is about love, regret, parenthood and just how much of a dick Matt Damon can be if the script is right. Does it get the Redshirt seal of approval? Time to find out!

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Check out our Nolan-esque use of non-linear plotting as we interrupt our chronological journey through the films of Christopher N to take in the director's newly released epic, The Odyssey.

Praise Zeus, we did it! We got Rob to the cinema, and he stayed there until the film was over. But what did he - and Nath, and Dave - make of this take on Homer's epic tale?

Even more crucially, how did Dave - a man who runs a social media agency specialising in the entertainment industry - manage to watch this...

Inception is the next film under the Redshirt Cinema Club spotlight, the cerebral 2010 sci-fi action movie Christopher Nolan somehow made in-between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. It’s generated memes and hot takes galore since then, with audiences loving to hate it as much as they love to… love it. On which side of the fence do we fall? It’s time to find out!

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Most people would probably have a break between making two blockbusting superhero movies, especially when they're as brilliant and ambitious as Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008).

Not Christopher Nolan. Instead he teamed up with Christian Bale and knocked out The Prestige (2006), a cerebral character drama following two feuding magicians and their shared obsession with outdoing the other. Stylistically it's an outlier when looked at in the context of his wider catalogue, but there's a reason Nolan connoisseurs often cite this as their favourite.

What will we make of it however? Let's find...

Hello and welcome to Redshirt Cinema Club, a podcast about - finally - BATMAN movies. Well it is for today anyway, as we tackle Christopher Nolan’s 2005 comic book blockbuster Batman Begins, the film that arguably made both him and lead-actor Christian Bale household names and kickstarted a superhero trilogy still regarded by many as the greatest ever. How does it hold up 21 years later? It’s time to find out. Podcast Begin.

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Today we continue our journey through the movies of Christopher Nolan with 2002's Insomnia, the comparatively little-known film he made between Memento (cult favourite, liking it makes you sound clever) and Batman Begins (the first chapter of everyone's favourite superhero trilogy).

The cast is stacked with A-list talent - Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank will get your movie noticed - and yet Insomnia rarely gets talked about with the same fervour as Nolan's other work. We'll explore why in this episode, alongside chat about how smoking and telephones are cool and Matt Damon isn't...

It's finally happened. We're giving the world not the podcast it deserves but the one it needs right now. And what the world needs is a movie podcast where three early-middle-aged straight, white guys talk about Christopher Nolan films.

First up is Memento, Nolan's critically-acclaimed mainstream debut from 2000 that - despite its raw, indie feel - carries itself with the artistic swagger of a surefire summer hit. Within it you can already see a few Nolan trademarks: a non-traditional narrative structure and a preoccupation with time (and how we always seem to be running out of...

Welcome back to Redshirt Cinema Club!

We’re done with videogame adaptations for now, but before we move onto the next big thing it’s time to read your excellent and hilarious emails in an episode we’re calling Super Mailbag Bros. We didn’t come up with that, Shani Fox did on our Patreon chat. Well done, Shani. You’re better than us.

Let us know what you think of this episode by emailing us at redshirtcinemaclub@gmail.com and support us on Patreon at patreon.com/redshirtcinemaclub for access to two bonus epis...

This week on Redshirt Cinema Club it’s the turn of 2002’s Resident Evil, an adaptation of the survival horror videogame that spawned a series of actually quite successful films despite never really being that good. Kind of like Fast and the Furious but with zombies instead of cars. Did the first movie convince US, however? Is the Licker scary? And just who is Milla Jovovich supposed to be? We’ll answer at least two of those questions in this episode.

Let us know what you think of this episode by emailing us at redshirtcinemaclub@gmail.com an...

Today we continue our videogame adaptation season by tackling 2001’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, an early-noughties action flick starring megastar Angelina Jolie in the lead role, alongside pre-Bond Daniel Craig, a very young and very handsome Iain Glen and also Chris Barrie from Red Dwarf. Can it be the first videogame movie we’ve watched that isn’t terrible?

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This week it's time for Pokémon: The First Movie.

Rob is a lifelong is a lifelong Pokéfan while Nath and Dave are bemused onlookers ready to receive a heartwarming introduction to the world of collecting, training, and trying your best. Which is a shame because what they actually get is an existential nightmare dressed as a children's adventure. What does it mean to be alive? What is the purpose of existing? And what would you do if you have to fight yourself to the death?

Join us as we find out!

For you, the day our episode on Street Fighter graced your village was the most important day in your life. But for us? It was Monday.

Welcome back to our continuing series on video game movies, where this week we have reached the garish, often nonsensical, somehow still wonderfully entertaining Street Fighter from 1994. Several pillars of the game have been turned upside down - Guile is the main character, Ken and Ryu are low-level conmen, and Blanka wasn't even raised by eels - but thankfully Raoul Julia's M Bison is staggeringly good fun, and we have...

Kicking off our season on videogame adaptation we've got the notoriously awful Super Mario Bros. movie from 1993. Yes, the one that doesn't look anything like the Mario games and instead feels like if Blade Runner had dinosaurs and was directed by an idiot (or two idiots as it turns out).

It does star Bob Hoskins and Dennis Hopper though, and despite the critical and commercial failure is still a film remembered fondly by many. How will it fare in the Redshirt opinion cauldron? Listen on to find out!

Here's how our schedule is...

This week we’re delving into our mailbag to mark the end of our series on 80s fantasy movies (you can tell because people only “delve” in fantasy settings) and to share your nostalgia, nit-picks, and at least one bit of trivia - about David Bowie in Labyrinth - that blew our tiny goblin minds.

If you've been listening along to our journey through this decade's unique haul of fantasy films - Time Bandits, Highlander, Labyrinth, The Neverending Story, The Princess Bride, Willow - then listen in as we sort through your comments and criticisms.

...

This week - we’re falling through holes in the universe and landing in Time Bandits, Terry Gilliam’s visually cacophonous 1981 adventure about a small boy careening through time with a band of thieves pursued by God and evil itself. There’s… a lot going on.

It's possible that Time Bandits features the best backstory to a heist ever conceived (a band of God's minor manufacturers are sent to the repairs department for creating a very unusual tree, and use the map of all the holes in the universe ("it was a rush job, seven days...") to steal...

A curious phenomenon emerges this week as we watch 1984's The Neverending Story.

It's a favourite from Dave's childhood which Nath and Rob were convinced they'd never seen. The evidence in fact points to them both having watched the film previously and entirely forgotten what happens, which is unfortunately also true of this latest rewatch (something to do with a sad horse and a flying dog, the details are lost to us).

Which is all to say that The Neverending Story has a strange energy - a tinge of Euro-weirdness, the half-logic of...

This week we’re losing ourselves again in the delightful maze of 80s fantasy, with Jim Henson’s extraordinary Labyrinth (which, like our very own Rob, turns 40 this year...)

Think of it less like a museum of childhood traumas, and more like a fun adventure with cool puppets and a brilliant - nay, magical - dance number. Now if we only figure out how to get inside…

Let us know what you think of this episode by emailing us at redshirtcinemaclub@gmail.com and support us on Patreon at patreon.com/redshirtcinemaclub for access...

We're back! Sort of.

After a week's hiatus we're crawling out from the darkness of our plague cave with this impromptu mailbag episode - which we've decided is a good thing as there were LOTS of wonderful emails to get through. Thanks for your continuing correspondence - please keep the messages coming.

Thanks for bearing with us while we've been ill - normal service will be resumed next week once we're back to full strength. Updated schedule for our 80s fantasy series below if you fancy watching along!

- Labyrinth (1986...

A new season begins, and we transition from our favourite genre (sci-fi) into our other favourite genre (fantasy) quicker than turning the corner in Waterstones' basement.

Moving from Star Wars into 1988's Willow felt like the most natural step - it's directed by Ron Howard (of Solo fame), stars Warwick Davies (Wicket the ewok) and has a story dreamed up by George Lucas himself.

There are other parallels, most notably the roguishly handsome Han Solo-esque swordsman Madmartigan (Val Kilmer) and wonderfully crafted stop-motion monsters, but really who needs an excuse to sit through...

...of course it did.

We've completed Star Wars (shut up, Ewok movies) and that can only mean one thing - an episode dedicated to listener thoughts about the series, the discussions we've had about it, and tangents that have their own root system of subtangents.

Also ALSO the three of us give our personal rankings of all 11 Star Wars movies watched on the pod. Are there some surprises in there? Rob has made sure that there are.

Join us!

Become a member of Redshirt Cinema Club! Support...

We conclude our Star Wars season with 2019's The Rise of Skywalker, J.J. Abrams' second stab at the franchise having kicked off the sequel trilogy with The Force Awakens 4 years prior.

Where the latter was an exercise in replaying familiar hits, Episode IX was all about course correction after the split fan reaction to The Last Jedi. Kylo Ren has his mask back, force ghost Luke likes his light sabre again and Palpatine is back. Somehow.

But is the magic back? Contrary to Luke's declaration in The Last Jedi, I'm afraid this...

The Last Jedi is almost certainly the most divisive Star Wars movie ever made. A brave attempt by writer/director Rian Johnson to subvert audience expectations and take the franchise in a new direction, it's a film that impressed critics with its brave narrative choices but alienated huge sections of the fan base at the same time.

The three of us watched this together at the cinema - Rob enjoyed it, Dave and Nath not so much. Will the subsequent 9 years have softened or sharpened those initial opinions? How do we all feel about that Princess...

"This will begin to make things right."

As first lines go, this is powerful stuff. An acknowledgement that what came before wasn't up to scratch. A promise that what you're about to see will bring back the old magic. But does The Force Awakens deliver where it counts?

J. J. Abrams is the man with the seemingly impossible task, fresh from reviving (and then killing?) the Star Trek movie franchise, his first film in the new trilogy introduces new characters, revisits old ones, and has an evil base the size of 10 Death Stars...

The second episode of our mid-season Star Wars break sees Dave finally get his wish of making Rob watch The Green Knight - a dark fantasy retelling of a 14th-century chivalric romance directed by David Lowery and starring Dev Patel.

This is unlike any Arthurian legend you've seen before - a twisted, unsettling exploration of honour and the slow, inevitable, irresistible power of nature. It features a bunch of brilliant performances from some of our favourite British actors, from Sean Harris and Ralph Ineson to Kate Dickie and the aforementioned Dev Patel.

A...

In a change to our scheduled programming, this week Rob has forced Dave to watch Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, the straight-to-DVD movie sequel to one of the greatest videogames of all time.

When it released in 2005 this was an explosion of cutting-edge CG, an all-action burst of fan service fed to an audience ravenous for more Final Fantasy VII. More Cloud, more Sephiroth, more cool fights set to even cooler music.

Watching it in 2026 those visuals are starting to creak, which means unfortunately we're actually going to have to judge this film...

We've reached the end of the prequel trilogy with 2005's Revenge of the Sith, a relentless 2.5-hour explosion of lightsabre duels, Palatine one-liners and, well, actual explosions.

A film many consider the best of a bad bunch, has the 21 years since its release quietened our misgivings or does the hate still flow through us?

We also discuss the very important issues of whether or not The Force works in space and if Anakin's power level would drop once all his arms and legs have come off.

So take a seat...

So this week we're watching Attack of the Clones.

Can we be honest? It feels like we're beset on all sides by inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. And - as Mace Windows might have said in a previous life - we're trying, listeners, we're trying real hard to be the shepherd. Or at least not to go full dark side toxic fandom and spend two hours howling at the moon (wait... that's... whatever).

Anyway here are the shoulder-stroking adventures of Anakincel Skywanker and two armies of synthetic soldiers...

It's 2026 already? TRY SPINNING OUT ABOUT THE PASSING OF TIME, THAT'S A GOOD TRICK

Join us as we mark this new phase in our enduring existential terror with a rewatch of a film only babies and idiots like - Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

Actually that's not the tone of the podcast at all. Here at Redshirt Cinema Club we have always tried to be a positive place for fans of all persuasions to enjoy and discuss films. Semi-serious point - not enjoying films in a positive way is something of a lost...

It's the concluding chapter of the original Star Wars trilogy this week, as we tackle Return of the Jedi. If you're over 35 this was probably your favourite Star Wars movie as a kid - an action-filled romp across a forest moon, Tatooine and a brand new Death Star. It's got speeder bike chases, Leia in that outfit, and Luke facing off against Darth Vader and the Emperor.

What's not to like? The ewoks. The ewoks are not to like, right? We're all agreed? Right?

Join us again on the 5th...

Welcome to an end of year mailbag special looking back over Redshirt Cinema Club's 2025.

What a year it's been! David Lynch, The Matrix, Jurassic Park, 1991, Indiana Jones, [Alien Earth I guess], John CarpeNNter - we have been on a cinematic tour and you have kept us company on the way. Now we go through the best of your emails and take a moment to reflect before breaking up for the Christmas period.

Yes this would normally be a bonus episode, and yes we've made it available to everyone on purpose. And yes we...

This week we're all enjoying The Empire Strikes Back - Dave's favourite Star Wars film. Rob's favourite Star Wars film. Not Nath's though, but he does still like it. You could describe Empire as the beginning of Star Wars as a 'franchise' - it's a film brimming with confidence, with characters hitting their stride (Darth Vader is definitely evil now and C3PO is a bit nicer) and with ships and set-pieces that would make excellent toys. Then there's that bit - one of the most famous twists in cinema history, a moment that ignited spoiler culture as we...

A long time ago in an office in Bath... we said we'd do a series on Star Wars. Finally, here it is. We start where it all began, with 1977's A New Hope (or simply 'Star Wars' as it was known back then). An un-assuming sci-fi adventure with a cast full of unknowns that director George Lucas thought was going to bomb - so much so that he went on holiday to avoid the noise around its release.

What follows is movie history - the biggest film franchise of all time was born. But how does...

It's happening - we're about to watch Star Wars on Redshirt Cinema Club, and there will be no-one to stop us this time.

Before we rewatch and discuss the first movie, we take a moment to discuss our personal histories with Star Wars, and read about some of yours. Are the three of us Star Wars fans? Which parts of the Star Wars world have we seen, and do we like the best? And exactly how fucking cool did it feel to boost engine power and tear off after an escaping smuggler in TIE Fighter on...

We conclude our 1985 season with Nath's pick, Terry Gilliam's absurdist dark comedy Brazil, a disturbing vision of what the world might be like if capitalism squeezed every last shred of humanity out of society. Brazil tells us that world would have lots of ducts, and heroic vigilante plumbers played by Robert DeNiro.

A wonderfully unique, hilarious and harrowing film with a stacked cast, Brazil is a step away from anything we've watched before on the podcast.

Let us know what you think of this episode by emailing us at redshirtcinemaclub@gmail.com and...

We're continuing our 1985 season this week with Walt Disney oddity, The Black Cauldron.

Caught between the classic early decades of Disney animation and the studio's 1990s resurgence, The Black Cauldron is an unusually dark (and unusually British) adventure, with moments of dread and horror mixed in with the odd and unfathomable (magic pigs, hairy little thieves, gruesome self-sacrifice).

Clearly, it struck a chord with young Rob, who grew up loving fantasy stories, and who picked this for our 1985 season. Enjoy, let us know what you think of the film, and join us next...

Back To The Future! Our 1985 season begins in earnest this week with Dave's pick of the year, Robert Zemeckis' layered, heartfelt time-travelling adventure (although do go and listen to our Goonies bonus episode if you can...)

BTTF is a perfect fit with several films the pod has already absorbed, a "Spielberg-ing" of early 1980s life that like ET (and The Goonies) presents a world beset by adult problems to which only children have the answers. Dense with physical gags and cultural references, and tightly plotted around its time travel premise, we are in the presence of...

We're taking a long overdue look inside the Redshirt Cinema Club mailbag this week (please keep emailing us, we do read them, promise) before kicking off our new mini season by each selecting our favourite movie of 1985, in celebration of the year Dave was born. This has caused alarm for a couple of reasons: firstly it's made us realise a number of our favourite movies are now, like Dave, 40 years old and secondly it turns out Rob has only seen two movies released in this year. Time to fix that stat.

Let us know what you...

Man is the warmest place to hide this week, as our John Carpenter mini-season comes to a spectacular, gushing climax with 1982’s The Thing. Is Jed the dog the best dog actor ever? Could speaking Norwegian have solved this whole business in 5 minutes? And who - if anyone - is human by the end? Let’s find out

Let us know what you think of this episode by emailing us at redshirtcinemaclub@gmail.com and support us on Patreon at patreon.com/redshirtcinemaclub for access to two bonus episodes per month as well as our newsletter, The...