Action Movie Hall of Fame

Vin Diesel has cars. Tom Cruise has impossible missions. Jason Statham has a 25-metre man-eating shark. This week on the Action Movie Hall of Fame, we go deep sea diving with Statham in 2018's The Meg. An absolute B-movie with an A-movie budget, this movie blew box-office expectations out of the water, reeling in over half-a-billion dollars. Not bad for a prehistoric shark. With The Meg 2: The Trench being released this weekend, Matt and Dereck do a double dip on the Meg. Is there any chance this movie actually navigates its way into the AMHOF? Or, will this b-movie simply sink to the bottom of the ocean?

This week, Matt and Dereck take a trip to Wakanda, to review Black Panther on its 5 year anniversary. How does this movie hold up? And in the light of recent Marvel offerings, do they drag all movies in the MCU down? Will Wakanda be able to reside in the Action Movie Hall of Fame, or will it be stuck on the outside, with no idea how to get in?

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to watch Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Pt 1, then reconvene at the rendezvous (the Action Movie Hall of Fame Podcast) for a debrief of what we all witnessed. This message will self destruct...well, whenever the AI wipes all the podcasts off the internet. This week, Matt and Dereck follow up last weeks Hall of Fame induction episode of Mission Impossible: Fallout with a trip to the theatre, and instant reaction to Dead Reckoning. They give general thoughts, then get into spoilers and some of their favorite scenes. Is this latest installment of the MI series a hall of fame contender, or are these movies, like Cruise, starting to show their age?

On the Action Movie Hall of Fame, films must wait a minimum of 5 years after being released to be considered for induction into the AMHOF. It's also the maximum amount of time Matt and Dereck could go without reviewing Mission Impossible: Fallout. It's also one week until Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 comes out (that review will be next week). But how does Fallout  hold up after 5 years?  Will this be an easy run into the AMHOF for the 6th installment in the MI franchise, or will it come up limp along the way?

This week, Matt and Dereck review what no one is calling the feel good movie of 1998, when they revisit Saving Private Ryan. A difficult, and very serious war movie. But where does it belong amongst the Action Hall of Fame? Will it be able to enter the hall in a mission that seems likely to fail? Or will Saving Private Ryan not make it back where it belongs?

Sure, there are lots of war movies. But not all war movies and indefinite. This week, Matt and Dereck review 2018's Avengers: Infinity War 5 years after its release. Will Infinity War still be riding the emotional high it reached when it came to theatres, or will the current state of the MCU drag it down? This week, the future of Infinity War will be decided: can it find a way into the action movie hall of fame, or will this movie simply turn to dust?

This week is Matt and Dereck take a trip to deep space, then to the sea (waist deep), then to the streets of Hong-Kong, then underwater, with a double feature of Gravity and Pacific Rim.  Sure, Gravity is out of this world, but will it be able to safely land in the Action Movie Hall of Fame? Or will it be tethered to the CanadArm, and flung into deep space, never to be heard from again? (54:02) And what does the future hold for Pacific Rim? Does this movie have it's head on straight enough to get into the hall? Or will it just end up getting Jaeger-bombed? 

This week, Matt and Dereck follow up a Hall of Fame review in last week's episode on Into the Spider-verse, by taking a trip to the local cinema for the sequel: Across the Spider-verse. Does this have any chance of living up to the original? Should people keep their expectations low? And in a world now full of multi-universe movies, can the they keep the story simple, or will it get lost in another dimension? So let's revisit the Spider-verse, one last time. 

It's been 5 years since Sony released a contractually obligated Spider-man movie that they had to make, or they would lose possession of the intellectual property. Now, that's not usually how great films start. But with Into the Spiderverse's success, maybe more big studios will release movies they think will stink. And with the sequel coming out next week, Matt and Dereck review the original 2018 movie to see if this has any chance of swinging into the Action Movie Hall of Fame, or will it left dangling? 

Fast X is the 11th movie in the Fast and Furious franchise. This week, Matt and Dereck take a trip to the local multiplex for a spoiler-free review to start, with spoliers later in the podcast. How does this hold up compared to previous versions of the movie? Does this franchise still have plenty of gas in the tank, or should someone slam on the brakes? And the biggest question of all: can Dom keep the family safe?