#episodes

What’s So Great About That: Episode 23
Next Stop, Analysis: The Contradictory Trains of Cinema

Ever since the Lumière brothers’ ‘Arrival of A Train At La Ciotat Station’, the train has been embedded in both English and cinematic language, with too many iconic scenes and potential puns to ever fit in one video. The train transcends genre, the setting of adventure, romance, horror and mystery. So how can it be so many things at once?

What’s So Great About That: Episode 22
From Zombies to Cannibals: Finding Humanity in ‘Raw’

Zombies have always interrogated our humanity, but flesh-eating is no longer about the dead but the living, and Julia Ducournau’s Raw suggests that it speaks to something more human than monster. As a mortician tells a detective in the Mexican film ‘We Are What We Are’: “It’s shocking how many people eat other in this city.”

What’s So Great About That: Episode 21
Adventure Time and the Nature of Endings

From it’s ageing protagonist to visions of apocalypse, Adventure Time has always been driven towards it’s own end. But if every ending is also a beginning, what does it even mean to end?

What’s So Great About That: Episode 20
Feathered Foes: Birds in Horror

There’s no shortage of birds in horror. Perched on grave stones, flying into windows or just turning up dead. So, what is it about birds specifically that endears them to the makers of horror films? Why are they always rapping, rapping at our chamber door?

What’s So Great About That: Episode 19
The Last Unicorn: Why Must You Always Speak In Riddles

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle is a book of riddles. Nothing is as it seems, and no one will give you a straight answer. But what can be gained from this evasiveness, in being cryptic and deceptive? Why must you always speak in riddles?

What’s So Great About That?: Episode 18
Evil Dead: Loving The Unnatural

The special effects in ‘The Evil Dead’ don’t have the same impact now as they did in 1981, but there’s something uniquely appealing about this sort of low budget production. So what draws us to these crude effects? And in what way do they recontextualise how we look at imperfection and failure?

What’s So Great About That?: Episode 17
Getting Over It: Humanising Game Design

Getting Over It (With Bennett Foddy) is about more than just failure or frustration. From its collaged design to its use of narration, the game seems just as engaged in exploring the relationship between developer, player and gaming culture.

What’s So Great About That?: Episode 16
David Lynch: The Treachery Of Language

David Lynch is famous for his reluctance to verbally explain or clarify his work, so why is the work itself so frequently accompanied by words?

What’s So Great About That?: Episode 15
12 Cabins 12 Vacancies: The Haunted Hotel in Cinema

We’re all familiar with the conventions of the haunted house, but less has been said about the haunting of public space or, even, the space that bridges public and private.

Happy Birthday, Robin Williams! We miss you. The late actor and comedian was born on this day in 1951. Join us as we count down the top 10 Robin Williams Performances here.