The Cinematic Schematic

The Cinematic Schematic is back to pit vampires against some of the most gnarly demons in cinema as we re-open the Book of the Dead, the Necronomicon, in our double feature review of Renfield and Evil Dead Rise. Rejoining us to discuss each uniquely hellish experience is the deadCenter Film Festival Features Programmer, Sunrise Tippeconnie, and Static Media’s Jo Light. We start the show with a quick reaction to Ari Aster’s Beau Is Afraid before our icebreaker question. Nicolas Cage and Bruce Campbell are both icons of their own demographics of cinephiles. What makes each actor exceptionally memorable and which filmography do you prefer?  We then jump into our spoiler-free reviews and verdicts on Renfield and Evil Dead Rise. Deadites or vampires? Which flavor of horror blood bath should you choose for your next trip to the movie theater? Tune into our full review discussion. Podcast Discussion Timestamps 0:15 – Introductions 3:19 – Beau Is Afraid Thumbs-up / Thumbs-down reactions 6:35 – Ice-breaker question: N

In today’s episode of The Cinematic Schematic, we’re breaking out the D20 dice and classic controllers for another double-feature review of Dungeons & Dragons vs The Super Mario Bros. Movie. It’s time to power up because this conversation is for the gamers. Firstly, we kick things off with a mini-review of Air, Ben Affleck’s latest film about a different kind of game–basketball. Or rather, the story about Air Jordans, the most popular basketball shoes ever made. Hosts Caleb Masters and Laron Chapman then chime in wit their short reviews and verdicts on the film. We’re next joined by Caleb Haldane, the host and producer of the Red Six Podcast, for two spoiler-free reviews starting with Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, before subsequently taking a look at Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie starring Chris Pratt’s Mario. You could also call this discussion a Dungeons & Dragons vs The Super Mario Bros. Movie smash bros. face-off. Overall, which nostalgia trip has more legs to stand on as a movie? F

In today’s episode of The Cinematic Schematic, we’re entering the world of assassins living underneath the high table with Keanu Reeves in our review of John Wick Chapter 4. From our John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum review, Alexandra Bohannon, a former co-host of Sound Trek, rejoins Caleb Masters and Laron Chapman to weigh in on John Wick’s latest vengeful globetrotting rampage. This week, we break the ice by taking a look at the late John Wick: Chapter 4 co-star, Lance Reddick. The beloved character actor was not only a pillar of the Destiny video game community but also had prominent roles in many of the TV best series of the last two decades including The Wire, Fringe, and a variety of other genre series. We then jump into our spoiler-free review where we provide our overall verdict on this entry. We conclude the show in a spoiler section by begging the question, “how much longer can this action franchise keep going?” Special Guest Alexandra Bohannon Writer and former host of Sound Trek About John Wick: C

Remember listeners, when you’re lost in the darkness without a good video game film or TV adaptation…Look for the light! Believe in the Fireflies and join us for this special one-off podcast discussion reviewing HBO’s The Last of Us season 1. In today’s bonus crossover episode with The Cast Beyond the Wall we are joined by a panel of guests including our own The Cinematic Schematic podcast hosts Caleb Masters and Laron Chapman, along with Static Media’s Jo Light, the Tunes/Toons podcast’s Harold Storey, and The Cast Beyond the Wall‘s Daniel Stull to provide our reviews and analysis of season 1 of the hit TV show that recently concluded on Sunday, March 12th.  The conversation kicks off with the panel sharing our experiences with zombie fiction and the video game series. We then provide our spoiler-filled reviews of season 1, and finally, we conclude this special conversation with a deeper dive into some of the series’ themes and what might happen next. DISCLAIMER: We will be spoiling everything that happens i

Don’t pick up the phone, our dear listener. In this episode of The Cinematic Schematic, we’re reviewing Scream VI, the sequel to last year’s Scream franchise revival, Scream(2022), made and released just fourteen months later. Can the directing duo of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett AKA “Radio Silence” create lightning in a bottle twice? Before diving into Ghostface’s latest stab at the franchise with guests Chris Oz McIntosh and Brock Lay, react to this year’s Oscars ceremony and award winners. We then debate “who is the best Ghostface killer so far” before doing a short spoiler-free review of the film followed by a new series ranking. We close out the conversation with a lengthy and in-depth spoiler discussion about whether this film lives up to the Scream franchise’s *so far* successful track record. Is this entry the killer hit the series needs to immortalize its legacy? Tune in to hear our full verdict and analysis. Podcast Discussion Timestamps 0:15 – Introductions 4:19 – 95th Academy Awards Rea

It’s time to lace up your gloves and bust out the bear-repellant! In this week’s episode of The Cinematic Schematic podcast we’re pitting two recent box office hits against each other in a Cocaine Bear vs Creed III showdown. Standing in the left corner, we have a movie featuring the most memable movie title since Snakes on a Plane. And in the other corner, we have the third entry in an unexpectedly solid sequel trilogy nobody not named Sylvester Stallone was asking for, Creed III. It’s Michael B. Jordan‘s anime-inspired directorial debut vs Elizabeth Banks‘s biggest box office winner since 2019’s Pitch Perfect 3. Joining hosts Caleb Masters and Laron Chapman to discuss this epic Cocaine Bear vs Creed III match is returning guest from Oklahoma’s Curbside Chronicle, Nathan Poppe. Not only is Nathan’s analysis a perfect fit for the cocaine bear’s shenanigans, but he also brings years of experience as a concert photographer to the table. In a Cocaine Bear vs Creed III showdown, which movie comes out on top? Tune

And the award for greatest 2023 Oscar predictions podcast featuring an Oklahoma filmmaker and an Oklahoma film critic podcaster goes to… …you guessed it, listeners! It’s time to roll out the red carpet and polish the little golden men because, on today’s special episode of The Cinematic Schematic, we’ll continue our annual award season tradition by placing bets on our 2023 Oscar predictions. Hosts Caleb Masters and Laron Chapman are back in our fifth-year pre-gaming the big night with our guesses for who will win, who should win, and other important filmmakers who should have been nominated in most of the categories. To celebrate the continuing tradition, we’re joined by two first-time special guests from the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle. Brandy McDonnell, an award-winning arts and entertainment journalist from The Oklahoman and also a member of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, makes her debut on The Cinematic Schematic to share her hopes, expected winners, and 2023 Oscar frustrations including the con

The Cinematic Schematic is back from a short hiatus to do a winter 2023 film review round-up covering this season’s biggest movies. The conversation starts with a discussion over M. Night Shyamalan’s latest film, Knock at the Cabin before we take a look at the unexpected conclusion to the Magic Mike “Trilogy,” Magic Mike’s Last Dance. We then conclude the show with our thoughts on Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and the state of the MCU at the beginning of “phase 5.” Hosts Caleb Masters and Laron Chapman are rejoined by Daniel Bokemper to dissect every bug, including the little guy. Does M. Night have his mojo back? Is Jonathan Majors the best thing to happen to the MCU since Loki? What else is in store in this winter 2023 film review round-up? Tune in to get our verdicts on all of these films and more! Special Guests Laron Chapman Award-winning Oklahoma filmmaker Follow Laron on Instagram @blackmoviemagicokc Daniel Bokemper Contributor at The Cinematropolis Follow Daniel on Twitter @Daniel_Bokemper Podcast

The Cinematic Schematic returns for our first episode of 2023 to dive into the most haunting TikTok dance we’ve seen yet with our review of M3GAN. We kick things off by responding to listener feedback and responses to our top 5 films of 2022. We then speculate what the highest-grossing movie at the box office in 2023 will be before jumping into our spoiler-free review of M3GAN. AI has been a fear of audiences for decades going back at least as far back as rogue robots like HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968. Over the decades, there have been hundreds of movies exploring what potential horrors these learning machines could bring if not kept in check by the impulses of their creators. Lest we forget, we dedicated several essays to the role of AI in cinema back in October 2017. Furthermore, with AI evolving so rapidly through recent innovations like ChatGPT and design bots, the fears feel more timely than ever. Enter producer James Wan, writer Akela Cooper, and director Gerard Johnstone. After cracking a winni

In this episode of The Cinematic Schematic, hosts Caleb Masters, Laron Chapman, Cinematropolis contributor Daniel Bokemper, and the GoodTrash Genrecast‘s Dalton Stuart, sit down to name their top 5 movies of 2022. The special episode starts with the group catching up on a few of the films watched during the “awards season sprint” of November and December before kicking off the year-end award round-up and countdown. What films were the cream of the crop in the especially uncertain year in Hollywood? Tune into the feature-length discussion to close out the year with our selections! Note: The full breakdown of awards and our top 5 movies of 2022 can be found in the timestamps below. Timestamps 0:18 – Introductions 3:30 – The Whale mini-reviews 9:31 – Babylon mini-reviews 18:01 – White Noise mini-reviews 22:43 – Reflecting on the film industry in 2022 29:54 – Special Award #1 – The “This Could Have Only Been Made in 2022” Award 37:02 – Special Award #2 – The “They Deserved so Much Better” Award 44:23 – Number 5 M

After thirteen years it’s time to dust off the 3D glasses and reignite our hunt for unobtainium because in this episode of The Cinematic Schematic we’re reviewing the long-awaited sequel to the highest-grossing movie of all time, Avatar: The Way of Water. The world of filmgoing has changed considerably since James Cameron followed up his smash hit Titanic (1997) with another box office monster, Avatar, in 2009. The Marvel Cinematic Universe and the superhero genre have become the dominant blockbusters, tech companies and streamers like Netflix have acquired Hollywood studios and disrupted the way audiences access movies, and the visual effects technology pioneered for the first film has influenced the entire industry both positively and negatively. One could argue the “implosion” of Hollywood predicted by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas in 2013 has come to pass with fewer films filling theater schedules and audiences requiring bigger and bigger spectacles to demand their attention. Franchise IPs (intellectu

Thirteen years ago, James Cameron, the acclaimed director of Titanic, Terminator 1 & 2, The Abyss, and Aliens, released his most ambitious passion project yet – Avatar(2009), a film featuring the fictional alien race named “Na’vi,” set on their home planet of Pandora. Starring relative no-name turned “it” guy, Sam Worthington alongside Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Stephen Lang, and Giovanni Ribisi; the film was praised for its groundbreaking 3D visual effects before becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time($2.9 billion as of this recording). Despite its initial runaway success including the announcement of four sequels(you can track the entire history of those announcements here), the series has since undergone backlash from audiences with some even arguing it lacks meaningful cultural relevance. In preparation for the long-awaited sequel releasing later this week, The Cinematic Schematic is taking a trip back to the planet’s tree of souls (AKA Eywa) to determine whether or not th

From Rian Johnson’s upcoming Benoit Blanc sequel, Glass Onion, to David Fincher’s adaptation of his late father’s script, Mank; Netflix is known for giving top directors near unprecedented budgets and creative freedom for the awards season films. Oscar-winning genre king Guillermo del Toro is the latest auteur to team with the streamer for his biggest passion project, a stop motion animated feature film adaptation of the puppet turned real boy, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio. The Shape of Water and Blade II director has reportedly been trying to make this movie since at least 2008, previously saying “no art form has influenced my life and my work more than animation and no single character in history has had as deep of a personal connection to me as Pinocchio”, and “I’ve wanted to make this movie for as long as I can remember.” While his love for the story is admirable, what left is there to be said about a story that’s already been adapted dozens of times, including once earlier this year at Disney? In today

It’s time to pick up your pipe and magnifying glass because, in this episode of The Cinematic Schematic, we’re going beyond the donut’s donut hole and into the fragile china set to solve another Rian Johnson whodunnit in his new film, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. To peel back the layers of Johnson’s meticulously plotted story, we’re joined by No Film School‘s managing editor, Jo Light, GoodTrash Media co-founder, Arthur Gordon, and our very own Daniel Bokemper and Caleb Masters to review the film in a spoiler-free discussion before cracking open a few of the themes in a spoiler-filled breakdown. Following the huge critical and box office success of Knives Out in 2019, Glass Onion and a yet-to-be-made sequel were won by Netflix in a bidding war between Apple, Amazon, and the original distributor Lionsgate. The price tag for the rights to make the two sequels are said to have cost Netflix $469 million. According to Hollywood Reporter, “The pact gave Johnson immense creative control, sources tell The Holly

In August 2020, we mourned the unexpected passing of the wildly talented and now iconic Chadwick Boseman. His quiet struggle with colon cancer had taken not just one of the most promising performers of our time, but also the most famous black superhero in the world. Co-stars, collaborators, and fans from countries across the globe commemorated his life and celebrated his movies. T’Challa, king of Wakanda and a key ally to the Avengers, was gone. How could the Black Panther story continue without its lead character who had just redefined what was possible in big-screen comic movies through the success of 2018’s Black Panther? This tragedy created a seemingly impossible challenge for writer/director Ryan Coogler to overcome. How could he pay tribute to the king, continue telling the next chapter of Wakanda, and deliver a satisfying conclusion to this phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe(MCU) on a timeline the Disney/Marvel execs would accept? In this episode of The Cinematic Schematic, we’re joined by first-t

But the truth is, evil doesn’t die. It changes shape. Laurie Strode Lock your doors, check the candy, and prepare to feel the fear of studio executive boogymen willing to butcher good storytelling to make a buck in the conclusion of the Bloomhouse-produced and David Gordon Green-directed Halloween Ends. In this episode of The Cinematic Schematic, hosts Caleb Masters and Laron Chapman are joined by guests Christopher Shultz and film studies educator and OKC councilperson James Cooper return to Haydenfield, IL to finish the latest final face-off between Laurie Strode and Michael Myers. We start by answering this week’s icebreaker question, “What mask or Halloween costume always gives you chills?” before providing our spoiler-free reviews. We close out the conversation with an in-depth spoiler-filled analysis discussion. In 2018, we were very positive about Halloween (2018), but after a few years’ distance from the hype and a widely maligned sequel, Halloween Kills, do we think there are still ideas left in Davi

The Cinematic Schematic celebrates this year’s spooky movie season by looking back at the 2022 horror films you should consider watching before all hallows’ eve. Host Caleb Masters is joined by The Cinematropolis’s Daniel Bokemper and guest host Dalton Stuart from GoodTrash Media to discuss a few of this year’s 2022 horror movie highlights including Ti West‘s X/Pearl double feature and the chilling indie horror Watcher. We conclude this episode with an in-depth spoiler-filled discussion of the recent sleeper hit from sketch comedy writer, Zach Cregger, Barbarian. Does Barbarian actually reach the heights of an instant classic? Tune in to hear our thoughts on all things 2022 horror and let us know your thoughts by commenting below or by sending us an email to thecinematropolis@gmail.com. Dalton Stuart Co-host of the GoodTrash Genrecast and GoodTrash Media co-founder Follow GoodTrash Media on Twitter @Good_Trash Daniel Bokemper Contributor at The Cinematropolis Follow Daniel on Twitter @Daniel_Bokemper PODCAST

The Lord of the Rings fans celebrate! Today we’re sharing a special bonus episode of our host Caleb Masters’s House of the Dragon podcast, The Cast Beyond the Wall, reviewing the first two episodes of Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power TV series with The Cinematropolis‘s own Daniel Bokemper. If you enjoy this conversation, please consider rating The Cast Beyond the Wall on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and if you’re a fan of Game of Thrones or The Rings of Power, make sure to subscribe to the Westerosi discussions on your preferred podcast app. In this bonus episode of The Cast Beyond the Wall, hosts Caleb Masters and Daniel Stull are rejoined by guest Daniel Bokemper from The Cinematropolis to review the first two episodes of Amazon’s Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The conversation starts with a discussion about each host’s relationship to the works of Tolkien before they provide a review of the series premiere episodes, “A Shadow of the Past,” and “Adrift.” We close the show by discuss

The Cinematic Schematic podcast is back to put a pin in this summer’s movie season with an August 2022 movie review round-up that includes a look at Prey, Bullet Train, and Bodies Bodies Bodies. Special guests Dalton Stuart and Charles Elmore join Laron Chapman and host Caleb Masters in providing their thoughts on each film before doing a rapid-fire round covering several other movies from this summer. They then conclude the conversation by selecting their most anticipated movies remaining in 2022. Did the August 2022 movie slate send the summer off with a bang, or did popcorn cinema’s biggest time of the year end with a thud? Tune in to hear the full conversation! Special Guests Laron Chapman Award-winning Oklahoma filmmaker Follow Laron on Instagram @blackmoviemagicokc Dalton Stuart Co-host of the GoodTrash Genrecast and GoodTrash Media co-founder Follow GoodTrash Media on Twitter @Good_Trash Charles Elmore Oklahoma Filmmaker, OFCC member Follow Charles on Instagram @chazelmore_dop Movie #1 – Prey According

It’s been thirty-five years since Arnold lathered himself in mud and shouted the now iconic internet meme, “Get to the chopper,” in Predator, and against all odds, the franchise has found new life in the latest entry streaming on Hulu, Prey. In today’s special The Cinematic Schematic podcast interview, we are spotlighting some of the incredible behind-the-scenes talents that helped bring Prey to life! Coming right off the heels of the critically and financially underwhelming The Predator(2018), director Dan Trachtenberg(10 Cloverfield Lane, The Boys) and Patrick Aison’s new take on the iconic hunter was greenlit and this time, things looked a little bit different. Audiences would be sent back in time 300 years, and instead of following a bodybuilder or wisecracking action movie hero with guns, this story would star a Comanche nation woman named Naru who uses her wit and determination to face down the 20th Century Studios alien icon. Before we go any further, we know what you’re thinking…are these really the b