Redshirt Cinema Club

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 out!

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.

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. Enjoy!

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 it). Is the film as good as we remember? Let's jump in and find out...We're not just doing this for the sake of it, however. The Odyssey hits cinemas on 17th July, the kind of summer blockbuster that's become increasingly rare and upon which so many of our most cherished movie memories have been made. So we're watching Nolan's films in the run up to release, followed by the Greek epic itself. Please watch along with us and email your thoughts, questions and opinions to redshirtcinemaclub@gmail.comThe schedule for RSCC's Nolan summer looks like this:Memento - 8th JuneThe Mandalorian and Grogu (Patreon-exclusive) 10th JuneInsomnia - 15th JuneBatman Begins - 22nd JuneThe Dark Knight (Patreon-exclusive) - 24th JuneThe Prestige - 29th JuneInception - 6th JulyTBC Captain's Choice/The Dark Knight Rises (Patreon-exclusive) 8th JulyInterstellar - 13th JulyThe Odyssey - 20th JulyDunkirk (Patreon-exclusive) - 22nd JulyTenet - 27th JulyOppenheimer - 3rd AugustCaptain's Choice - 5th August (Patreon-exclusive)

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 episodes per month as well as our newsletter, The Civilian Observer.

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 and support us on Patreon at patreon.com/redshirtcinemaclub for access to two bonus episodes per month as well as our newsletter, The Civilian Observer.