First Look, Final Word

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to listen to Pete and Trevor travel to see Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, the eighth and potentially last instalment in the MI franchise. Christopher McQuarrie is back with Tom Cruise to single-handedly save stunt work and the movies and the world.

Listen to the episode for our immediate spoiler-free reactions to the movie before heading into spoiler-talk.

This is also the fourth week for our ongoing Project Superman, wherein we watch every single live-action theatrical Superman movie. This week we discuss Superman III, directed by Richard Lester, starring Christoper Reeve (Clark Kent), Margot Kidder (Lois Lane), Richard Pryor (Gus Gorman) and Annette O’Toole (Lana Lang).

Don’t forget to enter our ongoing contest to win a subscription to Letterboxd Patron: https://boxd.it/Gbt3O

Intro, history with Mission: Impossible and recap of Dead Reckoning (0:00)

Review of Superman III (24:00)

Spoiler free review of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (42:12)

Spoiler-talk (51:40)

About the Movie:

Ethan Hunt and the IMF team race against time to stop a rogue artificial intelligence known as “The Entity” from falling into the wrong hands and reshaping global power. As loyalties are tested and old enemies return, Ethan faces his most personal and perilous mission yet.

Main Cast

Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt

Hayley Atwell as Grace

Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell

Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn

Esai Morales as Gabriel

Pom Klementieff as Paris

Henry Czerny as Eugene Kittridge

Angela Bassett as Erika Sloane

Crew

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

Producers: Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, Jake Myers

Writers: Christopher McQuarrie, Erik Jendresen

Cinematographer: Fraser Taggart

Editor: Eddie Hamilton

Composer: Lorne Balfe

Production Designer: Gary Freeman

Costume Designer: Jill Taylor

Visual Effects Supervisor: Alex Wuttke

Stunt Coordinator: Wade Eastwood

Casting Director: Lucy Bevan

The window creaks, the fire extinguishers rattles, maybe the hedge clippers turn on or something…you get the idea. Pete and Trevor saw Final Destination Bloodlines, the sixth installment in the "death is everywhere and everything can kill you" franchise. Which means a lot of fun, creative deaths to talk about.

Listen to the episode for our immediate spoiler-free reactions to the movie before heading into spoiler-talk.

This is also the third week for our ongoing Project Superman, wherein we watch every single live-action theatrical Superman movie. This week we discuss Superman II, directed by Richard Lester (and also Richard Donner depending on the version), starring Christoper Reeve (Clark Kent), Margot Kidder (Lois Lane), Terence Stamp (General Zod), and Gene Hackman (Lex Luthor).

Don’t forget to enter our ongoing contest to win a subscription to Letterboxd Patron: https://boxd.it/Gbt3O

Intro (0:00)

Discussion of Superman II (11:20)

Spoiler-free Review of Final Destination Bloodlines (43:58)

Spoiler-talk (52:35)

About the Movie:

Plagued by a violent and recurring nightmare, a college student heads home to track down the one person who might be able to break the cycle of death and save her family from the grisly demise that inevitably awaits them all.

Cast:

Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Teo Briones, Richard Harmon, Owen Patrick Joyner, Anna Lore, Brec Bassinger, and Tony Todd

Crew:

Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein and written by Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor, based on a story developed by them and Jon Watts

Pete and Trevor saw Fight or Flight, the new action comedy starring Josh Hartnett and directed by James Madigan is his directorial debut. Listen for our immediate reactions after leaving the theatre.

We also discussed Richard Donner’s Superman (Christopher Reeves, Margot Kidder, Gene Hackman) as part of our ongoing Project Superman to cover ever single live-action theatrical Superman.

Don’t forget to enter our ongoing contest to win a subscription to Letterboxd Patron: https://boxd.it/Gbt3O

About the Movie:

Fight or Flight follows exiled American agent Lucas Reyes (Josh Hartnett), who is given one last chance to redeem himself by tracking down a high-value target known as “The Ghost” on a flight from Bangkok to San Francisco. Complicating matters, the plane is filled with assassins from around the world assigned to kill them both.

Cast:

Josh Hartnett as Lucas Reyes.

Charithra Chandran as Isha.

Katee Sackhoff appears as Katherine Brunt.

Julian Kostov as Aaron Hunter.

Marko Zaror as Cayenne.

JuJu Chan Szeto as Master Lian.

Crew:

Directed by

Intro (0:00)

Review of Superman 1978 (9:05)

Spoiler-free review of Fight or Flight (34:43)

Spoiler-talk (44:58)

Castaways and perpetual B-team members Pete and Trevor take a trip to see Thunderbolts* (or is it The New Avengers maybe?). Thunderbolts is the 36th entry in the MCU and the 4th covered on this podcast, but how does it stack up? (Really, really well!)

This week also marks the beginning of Project Superman, our ongoing project to watch every single live-action Superman film. We are starting right at the beginning with Kirk Allyn in the 1948 serial and its 1950 sequel Atom Man vs. Superman. We also cover the Superman and the Mole Men, the 1951 debut of George Reeves as Superman and the first feature length Superman film. Tune in next week for Richard Donner’s Superman (1978).

Be sure to enter our draw to win a subscription to Letterboxd Patron: https://boxd.it/Gbt3O

Intro (0:00)

Review of Superman (1948), Atom Man vs. Superman (1950), and Superman and the Mole Men (16:32)

Spoiler-free Review of Thunderbolts* (40:09)

Spoiler-talk (54:20)

ABOUT THE MOVIE

Thunderbolts—recently rebranded as The New Avengers—is directed by Jake Schreier, known for his work on Robot & Frank and the series Beef. The screenplay was co-written by Eric Pearson (Black Widow) and Joanna Calo (The Bear).

The film features an ensemble of returning and new Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) characters:

The film features an ensemble of returning and new Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) characters:

Florence Pugh plays Yelena Belova (Black Widow), Sebastian Stan plays Bucky Barnes (Winter Soldier), David Harbour plays Alexei Shostakov (Red Guardian), Wyatt Russell plays John Walker (U.S. Agent), Hannah John-Kamen plays Ava Starr (Ghost), Olga Kurylenko plays Antonia Dreykov (Taskmaster), Lewis Pullman plays Bob Reynolds (Sentry/Void), Geraldine Viswanathan plays Mel Gold, Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Chris Bauer plays O.X.E. Agent Holt, and Wendell Pierce plays Congressman Gary.

May the 4th be with you! Time for another bonus Star Wars episode in honour of Life Day!

Returning to the pod is Ben and Delaney, our Star Wars experts on retainer. Today we watch Revenge of the Sith on full-screen DVD and provide our immediate reactions.

In celebration of this day, we also performed a short play recapping the events of Revenge of the Sith.

Be sure to enter our draw to win a subscription to Letterboxd Patron: https://boxd.it/Gbt3O

Intro (0:00)

Star Wars Recap Play (13:30)

Review of Revenge of the Sith (23:19)

Directed by George Lucas

Starring Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee, Jimmy Smits, Frank Oz, Anthony Daniels

Music composed by John Williams

Pete and Trevor saw Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii in IMAX for the 4K restoration. Along the way we also discussed other classic concert films like The Band’s The Last Waltz and Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense.

Be sure to enter the draw to win a year’s subscription to Letterboxd: https://boxd.it/Gbt3O

Intro (0:00)

Preview of Project Superman (5:05)

The Last Waltz (14:13)

Stop Making Sense (21:01)

Review of Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii (31:42)

Pete and Trevor (and special guests Justin and Anthony) went to see the Ryan Coogler original vampire period piece Sinners in glorious 70mm IMAX.

Written and director by Coogler (his best effort to date), Sinners stars Michael B. Jordan in a dual role as the “Smokestack Twins”, with supporting performances by Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Jack O’Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, and Delroy Lindo. The movie was scored by Ludwig Göransson, and filmed by Autumn Durald Arkapaw, in what is one of the best sounding and looking movies of the decade.

Listen for our immediate reactions after leaving the theatre, including our summary of some technical problems with the film reel at the Vaughan Cineplex in Toronto.

We are also giving away a free subscription to Letterboxd Patron: https://boxd.it/Gbt3O

You can check out Anthony on Reddit at u/anthonylavado

Justin is on Letterboxd at TheLonelyGoat

Than

Intro and history with Ryan Coogler (0:00)

Favourite Actor in 2 roles movies

(18:30)

Upcoming schedule (Project Superman)

(28:25)

Spoiler-free (With Anthony)

(37:50)

Spoiler-free

(53:50)

Spoiler talk

(1:03:40)

Ending review from the future

(1:46:20)

Take a swig of applejack, strap on your snowshoes and spit in your spittoons, because Pete and Trevor saw Hundreds of Beavers. The independent comedy was made for just $150,000 but may be one of the most original comedies ever made. Listen for our immediate reactions to the film (and please watch this movie!).

This episode also marks the end of Project Aardman as we discuss Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget. As we say goodbye to the stop-motion animation studio, we provide our rankings of their feature films.

Intro (0:00)

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget review (6:56)

Aardman rankings (17:25)

Hundreds of Beavers spoiler-free (30:00)

Spoilers for Hundreds of Beavers (44:40)

Have you seen John Wick? What about The Equalizer? Or even The Beekeeper? Well, you are ready to take on David Ayer’s A Working Man, starring Jason Statham (and not really David Harbour and Michael Peña). That’s right, Pete and Trevor rolled up their sleeves and saw A Working Man. Listen for our immediate spoiler-free reactions after leaving the theatre.

This week continues our ongoing Project Aardman with A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon, plus all Aardman shorts from 2009 - 2024. Join us next week for our discussion on Chicken Run 2 and the conclusion of Project Aardman.

Don’t forget to enter into our Letterboxd Giveaway contest which will close at 11:59pm EST on April 4. https://boxd.it/DIrFg

Intro (0:00)

Project Aardman (09:43)

Spoiler-free review of A Working Man (39:33)

Spoiler-talk (54:35)

Pete and Trevor, AKA Talley and Watchy, join Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, and Dopey to see the new live-action Disney remake Snow White. Starring Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, this is a remake and reimagining of the 1939 animated classic. In a world full of bad remakes, this might be the worst. Listen to hear our immediate reactions after leaving the theatre.

This week we continue with our ongoing project to watch every Aardman movie with Shaun the Sheep and Early Man.

We are also entering the closing days of our draw the giveaway a year’s subscription to Letterboxd Patron: https://boxd.it/DIrFg

Intro and history with Disney live-action remakes (0:00)

Shaun the Sheep review (20:20)

Early Man review (25:59)

Spoiler-free review of Marc Webb’s Snow White (36:46)

Spoiler-talk (1:02:20)