It’s a Buddy Movie with a family man and a burnout / It’s Die Hard a year before Die Hard!

For this crossover Christmas special, we forced the mismatched podcasts of 48 HOURS OF BUDDY MOVIES and DIE HARD ON A BLANK to team up! (They hated it at first, but eventually reached a place of mutual understanding and respect. This week, Phil and Liam dive deep into Richard Donner’s iconic 1987 mega-hit Lethal Weapon, starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. They discuss how this film solidified the formula for the 'buddy cop' genre and turned its two heroes into the ultimate crime-fighting duo. They explore the film’s themes, especially it’s Vietnam-echoes, as well as the unique chemistry that made Riggs and Murtaugh such an unforgettable double act. They also debut a fresh round of 48 HRS-themed awards, including ‘Best Fit’, ‘Most Valuable Weasel’ and ‘Best Gratuitous Nude Scene!'

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKeW-MGu-qQ

At the time of release, Lethal Weapon is available is available to rent or buy on Apple TV/iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, Fandango YouTube, and Vudu.

"Miami Nights - Extended Theme" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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It's a buddy movie with a cop and a con!

For this inaugural flagship episode of their new show, Phil and Liam discuss Walter Hill’s 1982 masterpiece 48 HRS starring Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy! They talk about the history of the ‘buddy movie’ genre both before and after this film, and explain how this movie changed the game and ushered in a new era. They analyze the picture’s ’48 CHROMOSOMES’, outlining the key elements that would be replicated in subsequent buddy movies, and break down the film in more detail in the ‘Anatomy of an Action Movie’ section, studying the premise, heroes, villains, action, and humor. Finally they test drive a new series of 48 HRS-themed awards, including Best Fit, Best Gratuitous Nude Scene and Most Valuable Weasel!

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7foFz6M0wo

48 HRS is currently streaming on Paramount Plus in the US and is available to rent or buy on Apple TV/iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube and Fandango.

This is the first episode of 48 Hours of Buddy Movies! This episode and our holiday special on Lethal Weapon will be free here and on our Patreon feed. All episodes in January will be for paying listeners only! You can sign up for the paid feed at patreon.com/48hoursofbuddymovies whenever you want to throw us some of your hard-earned cash!

"Miami Nights - Extended Theme" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s Die Hard in a hitman movie!

This week it’s the DIE HARD ON A BLANK 50th episode bonanza, and Phil and Liam are tracking down THE JACKAL, the 1997 action-thriller starring Bruce Willis, Richard Gere, Sidney Poitier, Diane Venora and J.K. Simmons!

After an FBI raid results in the death of a vicious Russian gangster, the mobster’s aggrieved brother hires an elusive international assassin known as ‘the Jackal’ (Bruce Willis) for a retaliatory killing against a high-profile American target. But because so few people have ever seen this wily hitman in the flesh, FBI Deputy Director Carter Preston (Sidney Poitier) decides to bring one of the Jackal’s former cohorts - imprisoned IRA sniper Declan Mulqueen (Richard Gere) - onto the task force assigned to stop him. Can Carter, Declan and the team track down and take out the Jackal before he completes his deadly mission?

With its high-stakes terrorism plot and escalating action, THE JACKAL shares strong DNA with the DIE HARD series, providing ample material for comparison. Phil also uncovers some fascinating information about alternative casting choices for both films, that spark some captivating thought experiments. Did you know that Richard Gere was formally offered the role of John McClane, and that producer Joel Silver aggressively pursued him for the part?

Phil loves this film, whereas Liam is not so hot on it, so they each present the case for the defense and the prosecution. They discuss the performances of the lead actors, particularly Bruce Willis's portrayal of the cold-blooded assassin, and Richard Gere's complex, reluctant hero, as well as the excellent supporting turns from Sidney Poitier and Diane Venora (Venora-Cast anyone???). The episode also explores the film's reception, examining its critical reviews and box office performance, (and controversies), and the guys discuss how it fits within the broader action-thriller genre of the late 1990s. The late appearance of the Marine heavy helicopter in the film’s finale ticks the ‘Philly Special’ box and sends Phil into delirious rapture!

As always events culminate with the DIE HARD Oscars and the Double Jeopardy trivia quiz, but stay tuned for a very exciting announcement at the end of the show!

THE JACKAL trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nszMBbCZKo4

At the time of release, THE JACKAL is available to watch on Tubi and Starz, and is available to rent or buy on Prime Video, YouTube, Apple/iTunes, Fandango, and all the usual platforms!

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Hey folks. We had a small export issue with the episode that resulted in some strange sounds. Please re-download before you listen!

It’s Die Hard on the President’s plane!

This week, your co-pilots Phil Gawthorne and Liam Billingham take you on a thrilling ride on AIR FORCE ONE, with special guest Adam Volerich from the Eye of the Duck podcast!

Shortly after delivering a controversial speech where he vows to never to negotiate with terrorists, US President James Marshall (Harrison Ford) finds himself on the horns of a dilemma when the Presidential plane known as Air Force One is taken over by a group of ruthless Russian terrorists led by Egor Korshunov (Gary Oldman). With his staff and his family now among the hostages, Marshall must work to resolve the situation and save the day, while his squabbling political colleagues attempt to manage the crisis from the ground. Can Marshall and co defeat the terrorists before his own family are executed, and/or the plane crashes?

The guys dissect this film’s bountiful ‘Die Hard DNA’ and dive deep into Hollywood's complex relationship with the Presidency over the years, exploring how the portrayal of the Commander-in-Chief has evolved over time, and what this reveals about American culture and values throughout different eras. In the process, they grapple with a number of thought-provoking questions, such as what's the difference between good jingoism and bad jingoism? Is patriotism really a virtue of the vicious? And are we overthinking all this?

The lads also closely examine Harrison Ford's iconic performance – and the pros and cons of what his persona brings aboard - in a detailed section about the film’s hero, President James Marshall. The final discussion is as riveting as the film itself, covering themes of leadership, crisis management, and the politics of fear. Events culminate with the Die Hard Oscars and the ‘Double Jeopardy’ Trivia Quiz where the scores can really change…if that score isn’t spoiled by an annoying blabbermouth aide!

AIR FORCE ONE trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FItgZOuaPVY

At the time of release, AIR FORCE ONE is available to rent or buy on YouTube, Apple/iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, Fandango, and all the usual platforms! 

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It’s Die Hard in a face swap movie!l

(you can watch this week's episode on YouTube!)

This week, bros Phil Gawthorne and Liam Billingham dive out of an airplane sporting two gold-plated pistols with returning guest Isaac Butler, author of The Method, one of the formative texts of the podcast.

International terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) accidentally kills the young son of FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) sparking a long-running feud between the two adversaries. Years later, Troy plants a bomb in LA, but is intercepted by Archer and his team during his getaway. After a chaotic gunfight, Troy ends up in a coma with the exact location of the bomb a mystery. Archer agrees to have Troy's face transplanted onto his own so that he can impersonate him and get the vital information from his imprisoned brother Pollux (Alessandro Nivola) before the bomb detonates. But when Troy awakes from his coma, he steals Archer's face and assumes his identity. With both men now having swapped identities, the stage is set for a final battle between good and evil (But you're still not having any fun!).

FACE/OFF is a pinnacle of action cinema and features two of the most iconic performances of the 90s from Cage and Travolta. So it's fitting that the guys begin the episode by discussing the visceral excitement of this film when it came out before segueing way into a conversation about why this is a movie about acting. Isaac, our acting correspondent, weighs in on why Cage is one of the few innovators left in acting, and how Travola really comes alive as Castor (wooo wee you good lookin'!). They go deep on the idea of doubling in cinema and theater, the psychosexual drama at the core of this action masterpiece, and Isaac tells stories from the set straight from the mouth of Alessandro Nivola!

Events culminate with a runway chase of a ‘Die Hard Oscars’, and red and white boat chase edition of the ‘Double Jeopardy’ trivia quiz! This is one peach you could eat for hours!

FACE/OFF trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-nDX0BeFoQ

At the time of recording, FACE/OFF is available to stream on Paramount Plus and Pluto, and for purchase at all the usual places.

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It’s Die Hard on a cruise ship!

Leeches! Copper poisoning! Vehicles moving very slowly! Or sometimes not at all! That’s right folks, it’s the sequel nobody asked for! This week, Phil and Liam are cruising for a bruising as they attempt to make sense of the hideously misguided cinematic atrocity that is SPEED 2: CRUISE CONTROL! Joining them on this voyage into watery oblivion is none other than Kris Tapley, host of the SPEED oral history podcast 50MPH! 

While on a vacation cruise in the Caribbean with her new boyfriend Alex Shaw (Jason Patric), Annie (Sandra Bullock) and Alex find themselves caught up in a nefarious terror plot orchestrated by John Geiger (Willem Dafoe), a disgruntled computer programmer seeking revenge on the shipping company who screwed him over. Geiger seizes control of the cruise ship’s computer systems and threatens to destroy the vessel and everyone on it…so can Alex and Annie foil fiendish Geiger’s plan, before the cruise ship crashes? If you’re still awake, maybe you’ll find out! 

The guys start by discussing the memories of the movie’s release, and their feelings about the prospect of a sequel to Jan De Bont’s peerless original classic, 1994’s SPEED (aka “DIE HARD on a bus”). They also ponder what might have happened to the DIE HARD franchise, had the same choice been made to replace the leading man action hero with another actor. 

After talking through the various connections between DIE HARD and SPEED 2 in the ‘DIE HARD DNA’ section (including an abandoned DIE HARD sequel with an almost identical premise), the boys break down the film piece by piece, from its ill-conceived premise, to the total betrayal of Annie’s character, to the doomed attempt to replace Jack Traven with another gung-ho LAPD SWAT cop and hope nobody minded, to the pitiful villain with a very confused agenda (and a predilection for leeches, lest we forget). This is arguably the worst film that’s been covered on the podcast so far…but it might also be the funniest episode yet! 

SPEED 2: CRUISE CONTROL trailer: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f7HlX6iW-M

At the time of release, SPEED 2: CRUISE CONTROL is streaming on Starz and is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Apple/iTunes, Fandango, AMC On Demand and all the usual platforms! 

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It’s Die Hard on a prison plane!

(you can watch this week's episode on YouTube!)

This week, Phil ‘Philly Bedlam’ Gawthorne and Liam ‘The Coliseum’ Billingham take a high-security flight on CON AIR with special guest Scout Tafoya, aka ‘The Massachusetts Mangler’!

After serving a long and harsh sentence for a self-defense killing, parolee and ex-Army Ranger Cameron Poe (Nicolas Cage) travels on a prisoner transport plane nicknamed ‘Con Air’, to meet with his wife and daughter. But when said plane is taken over by vicious criminal mastermind Cyrus ‘The Virus’ Grissom (John Malkovich) and his bloodthirsty cohorts, Poe finds himself unable to abandon his friend Baby-O (Mykelti Williamson) and vulnerable female Prison Guard Sally Bishop (Rachel Ticotin), and decides to fight back against the vicious convicts, with the help of unconventional US Marshal Vince Larkin (John Cusack), who assists his efforts from the ground.

As CON AIR is one of the best and most iconic ‘DIE HARD ON A [BLANK]’ films ever made, this is one of our biggest, and most substantive, episodes yet. The guys start out by discussing the origins of these kind of cinematic stories, going all the way back to movies such as STAGECOACH, before digging in on the film’s plentiful ‘Die Hard DNA’. They go deep on the film’s themes, meanings, and aspirations, and discuss how its politics and portrayals have aged, for better or worse, in the intervening decades since its summer 1997 release. They talk in detail about the three principle stars – Nicolas Cage, John Cusack and John Malkovich – as well as the rest of the stellar supporting cast, along with producer Jerry Bruckheimer, director Simon West, and writer Scott Rosenberg. Events culminate with a highly contested edition of the ‘Die Hard Oscars’, and a criminally tough ‘Double Jeopardy’ trivia quiz! Trust us, this is one flight you don’t want to miss! 

CON AIR trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Olvpk5BXWCI

At the time of release, CON AIR is streaming on Hulu, TNT, TBS and TruTV in the US and is available to rent or buy on YouTube, Apple/iTunes, Fandango, and all the usual platforms! 

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It’s Die Hard in the middle of nowhere!

This week, Phil and Liam take a road trip…and have a serious BREAKDOWN! They are joined on their journey by Justin and Laura Khoo, the joint hosts of the excellent film/philosophy podcast COWS IN THE FIELD!

While taking a cross-country road-trip to relocate, married couple Jeff and Amy Taylor (Kurt Russell and Kathleen Quinlan) experience car trouble, and end up stranded in the middle of the desert. In an effort to reach a payphone, Amy accepts a ride from a seemingly friendly trucker named Red (JT Walsh)...but when Jeff runs into the same trucker again later, he claims to have never have seen her. Jeff then begins to suspect that Amy has been kidnapped, and that he may be in the middle of a sinister criminal plot…

Our quartet ‘break down’ this bad boy, including its deceptive and surprising ‘Die Hard DNA’, and the reasons why it’s simple, ingenious premise is such a grabber. They discuss how this film intersects with the ‘yuppie in peril’ genre, what it may be exploring about the socio-economics (and class tensions) of the era, and how it taps into our collective primal fears. Phil then requests that the road be cleared for a passionate diatribe on the life and work of the late, great JT Walsh, an iconic character actor with whom he feels a “cosmic connection”. The group’s serpentine trip takes a number of stimulating scenic detours before they arrive at the Die Hard Oscars, and cap things off with the Double Jeopardy trivia quiz!

BREAKDOWN trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm4YfqVbABk

At the time of release, BREAKDOWN is streaming on Paramount Plus, Fubu, Amazon Prime Video and MGM+ in the US and is available to rent or buy on YouTube, Apple/iTunes, Fandango, and all the usual platforms! 

Watch Die Hard On A Blank on YouTube!

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It’s Die Hard in a museum…with a monster!

Hyams Hive rise up! This week, Phil and Liam take a field trip to visit THE RELIC, Peter Hyams’ expertly directed 1997 horror flick. They are accompanied on their scientific expedition by special guest Brandon Streussnig, one of the most influential and entertaining film writers around!

After experimenting with psychotropic drugs while on a trip to South America, anthropologist John Whitney makes an alarming discovery, and attempts to prevent the return of several crates of research material to the US. Weeks later, the crates arrive and are sent to their intended destination at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago - an area that is suddenly beset with a series of grisly murders. As detective Vincent D’Agosta (Tom Sizemore) investigates, he and evolutionary biologist Dr. Margot Green (Penelope Ann Miller) come to the horrifying realization that a literal monster is now on the loose…and that they, and dozens of other citizens, are now trapped inside the museum along with the marauding beast!

The guys start by discussing the career and filmography of director/shooter Peter Hyams, before moving into a detailed conversation about the origins and evolution of the action-horror subgenre. They delve deep into the film’s myriad connections to the original 1988 classic in the ‘Die Hard DNA’ section – but there’s a big surprise in store for Phil later in the episode! The lads then get more specific about the film’s two stars and the quality of the Stan Winston-designed monster, before wrapping things up with the Die Hard Oscars and the Double Jeopardy Trivia Quiz!

THE RELIC trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vps9rpCHJFM 

At the time of release, THE RELIC is streaming on PlutoTV in the US and is available to rent or buy on Prime Video, YouTube, Apple/iTunes, Fandango, and all the usual platforms! 

Brandon’s article on Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning can be found here. Happy reading!

https://filmcombatsyndicate.com/universal-soldier-a-revisit-of-the-luc-devereaux-saga-and-learning-to-move-forward/

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