Exploding Helicopter

“One ping only.”

On this episode of Exploding Submarine we take a look at one of the big sea beasts of the genre: The Hunt For Red October (1990).

Will is joined in the conning tower by Nick Rehak from French Toast Sunday.
We discuss the appeal of the submarine genre, Sean Connery’s hairpiece, and the optimum number of sonar pings in an underwater film.

We also talk about one of the classic exploding submarine scenes ever committed to celluloid.

Episode #26.

“Terror goes into overtime.”

After Die Hard rewrote the rules of the action movie, Hollywood started churning out thinly disguised knocks offs that replicated its plot in increasingly bizarre locations.

So on this show Will and Dara take a look Jean Claude Van Damme’s Sudden Death (1995), which took the Die Hard concept and moved the action into the unlikely environs of an ice rink.

Among the topics of discussion: the wondrous villainy of Powers Boothe, improvised weapon making, and the never before seen sight of the Muscles from Brussels fighting a 7ft female penguin.

They also look at one of the most operatic exploding helicopters ever committed to celluloid.

Episode #25.

“I married Rambo.”

Exploding Helicopter takes a look at the action classic True Lies (1994), which features one of the all-time great helicopter explosions (in case you’ve forgotten: a chopper is destroyed by a missile-propelled terrorist).

Along the way, Will and Dara go all chin-stroking intellectual to discuss the film’s strange gender politics and equally weird geopolitics. But they quickly revert to type to discuss Jamie Lee Curtis’ striptease and the bits where stuff blows up.

Episode #24.

“Something cool.”

Will and Dara, the maverick podcasters who play by their own rules, are back. This time they’ve only 24 hours to review the buddy cop movie comedy 22 Jump Street (2014) otherwise it’s their ass.

They also take a look at the chopper fireball action and debate whether this film includes the greatest exploding helicopter kiss-off line ever uttered on screen. And our heroes also take a look at a rare animated helicopter explosion.

Episode 23.

"Is that all you got? A trick and a cheesy one-liner."

Exploding Helicopter is joined by Ben Dadds from Top Film Tip to take a look at Iron Man 3 (2013), a film where we get to see a helicopter destroyed by a grand piano. Well, almost.

Among the other topics of discussion: is Tony Stark the most unlikeable superhero, movie red herrings, and why it is impossible to make a conspiracy thriller in Britain.

Episode 22.

“I’ll bring the wine. You bring the scarred psyche.”

Exploding Helicopter and Troy Allen from Action Ago Ago squeeze into luridly coloured lycra, strap on their utility belts, and adopt ridiculously husky voices to take a look at 1995’s Batman Forever.

Among the topics of discussion, the strange career of Joel Schumacher, whether helicopters can have steering locks, and why on Earth the Statue of Liberty is in Gotham.

Episode 21.

“Science is never wrong.”

On this episode we take at the low budget disaster movie Absolute Zero (2005), where the only people who can save the world from a new ice age are Jeff Fahey and Erika Eleniak. (Probably best not to make too many plans for next week).

On this show Exploding Helicopter is joined by Jason and Nolahn from Your Face and the Liar of the Unwanted. Among the topics of discussions, the demise of Jeff Fahey’s career, some highly questionable “science”, and how exactly you pronounce Erika Eleniak.

Episode 20.

“The things we do for frequent flyer mileage.”

After disappearing from cinema screens for 6 years, GoldenEye (1995) sought to relaunch the career of the world’s most famous spy. But how did they make James Bond – a sexist, misogynistic dinosaur and relic of the Cold War – relevant to the Nineties?

To look at this question, Exploding Helicopter is joined by Tim Postins from Bride Of Crapula to discuss the feasibility of helicopter ejector seats, terrible one-liners, and two memorable helicopter explosions.

Episode 19.

“What a relief. The symbologist is here.”

Exploding Helicopter takes a look at Angels & Demons (2009), a film which features one of the most ridiculous exploding helicopter sequences we’ve ever encountered.

Well, it’s not every day you get to see the Pope blow up a helicopter with an anti-matter bomb is it?

Episode 18.

“You want the last of the baklava?”

Steven Spielberg may be the greatest living director, he may have won every cinematic award known to man, but it wasn’t until his 24th feature film that the bearded boy wonder finally blew up a helicopter.

So on this show Will is joined by Lindsay Street from French Toast Sunday to discuss MUNICH (2005) and one of the most extraordinary exploding helicopters we’ve ever seen.

Episode 17.