Redshirt Cinema Club

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.

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?

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 our FIRST EVER podcast guest in the shape of frequent anecdote-featurer and childhood Street Fighter enthusiast, Matt Elliott. 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.

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 shaping up for the next month:- Super Mario Bros. (1993) - Monday 27th April- Tron (1982) PATREON EXCLUSIVE - Wedesday 29th April - Street Fighter (1994) - Monday 4th May- Pokémon: The First Movie (1998) - Monday 11th May- Captain's Choice (Patreon vote) - Wednesday 13th May- Tomb Raider (2001) - Monday 18th May- Resident Evil (2002) - Monday 25th May

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. There's also some talk about what we'll be watching next, as we begin to formulate our Grand Videogame Adaptation Plan. 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.