It's the last episode of Skillset’s Season Two, our masterclass on high school movies. But I can’t throw my graduation cap before I get to talk about three of my all-time favorite flicks. First up, Bring it On introduced us to the crazy world of high school competitive cheerleading. But it turns out some of those insane moves -- okay, a lot of them -- aren’t technically legal. So how real is Bring it On? We ask Susie Knoblauch of the National Federation of State High School Associations who...

This week, Skillset skips across time from Ye Olde England to modern day stoners to ancient beasts. First up, William Shakespeare stopped going to school when he was 13, but his plays make great high school movies -- especially if they star Julia Stiles. Dr Gitanjali Shahani, a professor of English at San Francisco State University, explains the lasting power of 400-year-old blockbusters. Here's another Shakespeare fun fact: Last year, a research team found traces of weed and cocaine on...

Pay attention, class. This week Skillset salutes to John Hughes, the prom king of the high school movie. First up, step into the office of high school principal Sean Gaillard to ask if that class-skipping punk Ferris is really the hero of Ferris Bueller. Then, we hand the microphone to guitarist Sam Cannariato of the cover band Molly and the Ringwalds to talk about how John Hughes' soundtracks became eternal hits. And finally: legend has it that John Hughes' original version of The Breakfast...

Welcome to another episode of Skillset – the podcast where every guest is an expert, and every week they teach you and me a new way to look at the movies. Today is dedicated to the rebels, the s**t-stirrers, the trouble-makers whose aggro energy we’re going to need for the next four years. This isn’t a time for obedience. Let’s start with the first ever revolutionary teen: James Dean, who exploded into pop culture with 1955’s Rebel Without a Cause, released one month after he died in a car...

Open your heart to Skillset, the podcast where every guest is an expert, and every week they teach you and me a new way to look at the movies. This week's episode is dedicated to two movies about all-consuming high school love. First up, let’s analyze the most wicked game in Winona Ryder and Christian Slater’s Heathers. It’s a cruel little sport called croquet, and like the Heathers, actress and comedian Lindsay Lucas Bartlett played it competitively in high school, no holds barred. It turns...

Vote 'Yes' on Skillset's special episode dedicated to the president/ruler/queen of ‘90s high school movies: Reese Witherspoon. As we put together our season-long salute to high school movies, Reese reigned supreme. The sunny blonde captured the innocence and the danger of an age when almost-adults learn -- the hard way -- that their decisions have grown-up consequences.First up, in honor of Reese’s retro fantasy Pleasantville, where she plays a modern teenager shipped back to a perfect -- or...

The power of Manon compels you to listen to this wicked new episode of “Skillset.” As you heard last week, this season is dedicated to high school movies: the crushes, the classmates, and the clothes. But because it’s the week before Halloween, today we’re going to talk about the sinister side of high school: witches, murder, and kids who get stalked by death. First up, real-life witch Meagan Fredette tells us why The Craft cast a spell on so many magical young women. Then American Honey star...

Welcome to Season 2 of Skillset — the podcast where every guest is an expert, and every week they teach you and me a new way to look at the movies. This season is about one thing: high school movies. Which means, well, it’s actually going to be about dozens of things, but especially: What a real-life witch thinks about The Craft, what a real-life principal thinks about Ferris Bueller, and lost Breakfast Club footage you’ve never seen. We’re talking about everything from Tom Cruise’s...

Did you know that Skillset made one of the best podcasts episodes of year-to-date-2016? It's true! IndieWire said so! Hurrah! The Amy Nicholson™ is closing out this first season of Skillset™ with a banger episode wherein she doth speaketh to: • An actual fish scientist from Australia! • Magician David Copperfield! • Actor Michael Shannon! Also! Batman facts! BUT NOT THE BATMAN YOU'RE THINKING OF. Skillset!

In this episode of Skillset: Amy talks to actor Dermot Mulroney about moonlighting as a cellist. Also ahead: she interviews the tornado consultant for 'Twister.' 

In this episode of Skillset: Amy asks actor Ethan Hawke about how marathon running is tied to his work. Also ahead: she talks to the voice actors for "Ratchet & Clank" and a real barber tells us what Ice Cube got wrong in "Barbershop: The Next Cut." 

In this episode of Skillset: Amy asks actor Tye Sheridan about his love of hunting, and she talks to a therapist about romantic heartbreak in "The Huntsman: Winter's War."

In this episode of Skillset: Amy talks to the kitten trainer on "Keanu." She also chats with actress Sienna Miller about her love of Bette Davis' classic films, and she makes a real punk band, The Muffs, watch "Green Room." 

In this episode of Skillset, Amy watches "Elvis and Nixon" and asks Elvis' best friend what it was really like meeting the president. She also talks to actor J.K. Simmons about playing poker, and she makes a real mom watch "Mother's Day." 

On “Skillset,” every guest is an expert. And in every episode, these experts are going to teach us a new way to look at motion pictures. We're going to meet the behind-the-scenes specialists who make movie magic: cat trainers and shark-attack consultants and authorities on ’80s underwear. We're going to send real-life punk singers and barbers to movies about punk singers and barbers to learn the facts behind the fiction. And each week we're going ask our favorite actors about the...