CinemaTherapy

That's a Wrap: February 2024

Here's a recap of what we did last month!

The word of the month is prep! Prep and more prep.

We're in the middle of prepping for next month's shoot. A fresh batch of videos is cooking! Here's a sneak preview of one of the episodes: 🐀🍝

After announcing Cinema Therapy Studios (check out all the details 2024-03-01 16:00:14 +0000 UTC View Post

Alan & Jono's Watching/Reading List: February 2024

Alan:

Hello Heroes!

February! It should be cold and snowy outside! But it’s been… April weather for us in Utah? I need to do yardwork!

What I’m reading!

• Iron Gold by Pierce Brown. The first of the 2nd trilogy of Roman Empire But In Space books from Pierce Brown. These books are fun. The technology doesn’t make a lick of sense, but they’re super-fun. Kinda like Star Wars, but without Space Magic. And it gets me my daily thought about the Roman E...
  2024-02-28 15:57:19 +0000 UTC View Post

DIRECTOR'S CUT: Therapist Reacts to WONKA

How do you hold onto your dreams through success and hardship?

Licensed therapist Jonathan Decker and filmmaker Alan Seawright are reacting to the magic of Wonka. They’re taking a look at Wonka’s optimism, hope, and deep desire to make dreams come true. Jonathan talks about how Willy’s origin story informs his drive to pursue his dream of becoming a chocolatier. And Johnathan opens up about how he can relate to Willy’s story. Alan shares why he knew Wonka was going to be good, b...

DIRECTOR'S CUT: Therapist Reacts to LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE with Directors Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris

What happens when you don’t achieve you dreams? What happens when perfectionism goes too far?

Licensed therapist Jonathan Decker and filmmaker Alan Seawright are taking a look at Little Miss Sunshine with the directors, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. They’re talking about Richard’s harmful perfectionism and what happens when chasing your dream doesn’t work out. The directors share what it was like to work with such an exceptional cast and how they encouraged a realistic fami...

Drops: March 2024

Hi, Superheroes! Are you excited to watch a new director's cut LIVE with Jono and Alan? Pick which episode you want to watch with them in March. Then, we'll watch it together using Drops right here on Patreon. See you there!

In case you missed the news, Drops is replacing Discord live chats. Drops is only available in the Patreon app, so make sure your app is updated to the latest version. Drops should be coming to desktop soon, we hope!

March is packed with new videos! Are you ex...

EXCLUSIVE EPISODE: Villain Therapy — Miss Trunchbull from Matilda

Why does Miss Trunchbull delight in asserting dominance over others?

In this Patreon-exclusive episode, licensed therapist Jonathan Decker and filmmaker Alan Seawright explore the villainy of Miss Trunchbull from Matilda. For someone who is so horrible, is Miss Trunchbull redeemable? Jonathan deigns to answer this question as they talk about her violence and need for control. They talk about how Pam Ferris plays a cartoon villain so convincingly and how fun the child actors must’ve ha...

DIRECTOR'S CUT: Psychology of a Hero: MATILDA

How do you turn a negative emotion or experience into a superpower?

Licensed therapist Jonathan Decker and filmmaker Alan Seawright react to Matilda and her journey through childhood trauma. Jonathan shares what Matilda does that leads her to a happier and healthier life and how she stands up for others who face similar hardship. They talk about the difference between standing up for yourself and retaliating… and why retaliation is much more fun in movies. And Alan explains why the na...

Therapy Deep Dive: Self Acceptance

Licensed therapist Jonathan Decker dives into the topic of self acceptance (and self compassion, self respect, and self love… all the selves). Jonathan shares his struggles with self acceptance growing up in the ‘80s as a nerd, being bullied, and feeling like he didn’t belong. He talks about how he learned to accept himself and how he found the right group of people to be around. But it’s a long journey to self acceptance, and it’s something we always work on.

TW: bullying

DIRECTOR'S CUT: Ranking '90s Romcoms

How do romances in romantic comedies compare to real life? What’s your favorite ‘90s romcom?

Licensed therapist Jonathan Decker and filmmaker Alan Seawright are doing a blast from the past by watching and ranking ‘90s romcoms. They’re ranking the romances from Clueless, Never Been Kissed, Pretty Woman, Sleepless in Seattle, and While You Were Sleeping. Jonathan ranks them from worst to best in terms of relationship quality, and Alan makes snide remarks about the quality of the f...

February Grab Bag of Mystery: Bloopers

Each month, you get a random piece of exclusive bonus content as a thank you for supporting us on Patreon. February's Grab Bag of Mystery perk is a blooper reel! Peel back the curtain and find out how weird, dark, and crazy your Internet Dads really are.

DIRECTOR'S CUT: Psychology of a Hero: ALADDIN

How do become comfortable with being yourself? How do you quit negative self-talk?

Licensed therapist Jonathan Decker and filmmaker Alan Seawright are taking a look at Aladdin’s journey from insecurity and low self-worth to self-acceptance and integrity. They talk about Aladdin’s negative self-talk and why he keeps hurting people. Jonathan explains why insecurity makes us unable to accept love from others. Aladdin does this a lot! And Alan relates to this a lot... send hi...

Cinema Therapy Studios Update!

Here's an update of where the Studio is at. Apologies, it's long-ish.

Participation

We’ve heard from many people that they’d like to be involved in ways we hadn’t even anticipated, so here’s what we’re planning to do:

1. Create a Form for people to submit story and character ideas.
2. Create a Form for people to submit any skills/interest they have in working on the project in any way.

Neither of those submissions is a guaran...

That's a Wrap: January 2024

Here's a recap of what we did last month!

Right after the winter break, we had our first shoot of the year. We're looking forward to sharing these episodes with you. They're a mix of old and new movies, with some special guests sprinkled in. Like really special. Did you see the Patreon post about Pixar guests!? Here's an emoji clue of one of the episodes from the January shoot: 😈 👠

We're shooting more frequently this year, so we jumped right into prep for ...

Alan & Jono's Watching/Reading List: January 2024

Alan:

Hello Heroes!

January! It’s cold and snowy outside! Perfect weather to read and watch and stay inside. So I went outside and went snowboarding.

What I’m reading!

• Jurassic Park: The Official Script Book by David Kiel (Script by David Koepp). This book is the script to Jurassic Park, with tons of annotations addressing various versions of the script, pre-production drawings, storyboards, and backstory. It was a re...
  2024-01-31 16:00:13 +0000 UTC View Post

DIRECTOR'S CUT: Therapist Reacts to DEAD POETS SOCIETY with guest Gale Hansen (Charlie Dalton!)

How do you question authority in a healthy way?

Licensed therapist Jonathan Decker and filmmaker Alan Seawright are reacting to Dead Poets Society with guest Gale Hansen, who plays Charlie Dalton in the film. They talk about Charlie’s character arc, including Nuwanda, and the theme of conformity vs. rebellion. Jonathan talks about the balance of respecting and questioning authority and what happens when you push boundaries. They talk about Keating’s inspirational teaching methods an...

You Pick an Episode!

Hello, Superheroes! Thank you for submitting your episode suggestions. The Cinema Therapy team has reviewed them and selected five great potential episodes. Whichever one gets the most votes, we will do an episode on it at our next shoot!

Please note: even if your top choice isn't picked, your suggestions will be saved for potential future episodes.

Drops: February 2024

Hi, Superheroes! Are you excited to watch a new director's cut LIVE with Jono and Alan? Pick which episode you want to watch with them in February. Then, we'll watch it together using Drops right here on Patreon. See you there!

In case you missed the news, Drops is replacing Discord live chats. Drops is only available in the Patreon app, so make sure your app is updated to the latest version. Drops should be coming to desktop soon, we hope!

DIRECTOR'S CUT: Therapist Reacts to PRINCESS MONONOKE

How do you untangle force, anger, and hate? And how do you control them all?

Licensed therapist Jonathan Decker and filmmaker Alan Seawright continue their Ghiblification by reacting to Princess Mononoke. They talk about Ashitaka refusing hatred in a world full of it and his quest for peace between the humans and the forest. Jonathan talks about the role of hatred in our own lives and how we can exercise control in our anger and forcefulness, especially in tone and word choice. Alan poi...

DIRECTOR'S CUT: Therapist Reacts to STAR TREK with guest Amanda Gorman

How do you work with someone with vast personality differences?

Licensed therapist Jonathan Decker and filmmaker Alan Seawright are honored to be joined by author and inaugural poet, Amanda Gorman, to react to Star Trek (2009). Amanda chose this movie because it speaks to what she writes about, coming together with shared common ground from different backgrounds and perspectives. They take a look at how Kirk and Spock work together despite their differences. Jonathan talks about shared ...

Filmmaking Deep Dive: Building a Camera

Jonathan and Alan take a field trip to visit Philip at Enigma 3 to "play" with expensive camera equipment. Enjoy Jonathan's general ineptitude while learning how to build a camera that you would use to shoot movie films!

DIRECTOR'S CUT: Therapist Reacts to WALL-E

Why is curiosity so important? How do we stop being complacent?

Licensed therapist Jonathan Decker and filmmaker Alan Seawright are reacting to WALL-E and comparing and contrasting curiosity and complacency. Jonathan talks about how WALL-E’s contagious curiosity affects everyone he meets and shakes them out of complacency. He also explains why curiosity is so important for our mental health. Alan is in awe of Pixar’s filmmaking and storytelling expertise in conveying so much with so...

Filmmaking Deep Dive Poll

I'm starting work on my next filmmaking deep dive, and I'd like a little direction from everyone on what you'd like to see/learn about.

I have a couple different ideas that I'm interested in talking about, so these may all end up as deep dives (comment below if there's one you absolutely DON'T want to see!) So this is mainly a poll to see which you'd like me to tackle first.

Al...

Patreon Exclusive Live Q&A - January 2024

Thanks for submitting your questions! The live Q&A is scheduled for January 10th at 9:15am MST (at the link above), but it will also be available to watch afterward so no one misses out! We'll be answering your pre-submitted questions (and maybe live questions in the chat if we have time). See you then!

Cinema Therapy Studios

Hey Cinemizers and Therapizers,

Alan here to talk to you all about a project we've been working on, that we're really excited to share with you all in 2024 (with your help!)

We're going to go into a lot more detail in this post, but here's a quick overview:

1. We're going to make a short film every year (scaling up to more shorts and/or a feature, if we get enough patrons to fund it...

Inside Out and Pixar!

We’re doing an episode about Inside Out with some of the creators of the film. We’d love to gather questions from our Patrons to ask our guests! Please put your questions in the comments below.

Note: we cannot guarantee that every question will be answered.

January Grab Bag of Mystery: David Does Slam Poetry

Each month, you get a random piece of exclusive bonus content as a thank you for supporting us on Patreon. January's Grab Bag of Mystery perk is another installment of David Does! No one is prepared for David's one-of-a-kind slam poetry. What are your favorite (or least favorite) lines? If you want to see more David Does, check out the Grab Bag of Mystery Collection!

DIRECTOR'S CUT: Psychology of a Hero: INDIANA JONES

How do you let people in after being hurt? What's your favorite Indiana Jones film?

Licensed therapist Jonathan Decker and filmmaker Alan Seawright are dressed and ready to dive into the hero journey of Indiana Jones across five films (but mostly the original three). Indiana Jones is the hero of their youth, but they’re going deeper to look at the strong emotional arcs of Indiana and where he arrives at the end of the final film. They talk about Indy’s interpersonal struggles, parti...

That's a Wrap: December 2023

Here's a recap of what we did last month!

Wow, it's already the last month of 2023! Not many updates for December because we were furiously editing episodes from the previous shoot and preparing for the next shoot in January. In the November That's a Wrap, we mentioned that the CT team is taking a much needed break over the holidays, so the first half of December was bananas. 🍌 But it was worth it to relax for a couple weeks. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!
...

Alan & Jono's Watching/Reading List: December 2023

Alan:

Hello Heroes!

December. It’s not as cold as it should be, and there’s no snow outside. So I stayed in and read books, watched movies, and played video games all month!

What I’m reading!

• Opposable Thumbs by Matt Singer. This is the history of Siskel & Ebert, the most popular movie review show of all time (sorry, CinemaSins. You ain’t it.) I grew up watching them argue about movies, and I never realized until reading this book ho...
  2023-12-27 16:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post

DIRECTOR'S CUT: Psychology of a Hero: PETER PAN from Hook

How do you find moments of pure happiness in adulthood? What movies have been transformative for you?

Licensed therapist Jonathan Decker and filmmaker Alan Seawright are taking a look at Peter and his family from Hook. This one is special for Jonathan, who shares why this movie, particularly Peter's journey, was so transformative for him. They talk about Peter's fear of failing as a parent and being crippled by stress and anxiety. And they both talk about finding youthful enthusiasm in ...