Licence to Spiel

We close out the Robert Langdon Cinematic Universe with a discussion of 2016’s INFERNO—a perfectly adequate action thriller…unless you’ve read the book. Hear Thad and Carl lament what Hollywood’s Dumb-it-down-extraordinaire David Koepp does with Dan Brown’s most daring novel. Meanwhile, friend of the show and actual historian Chrissie De Clerck-Szilagyi explains all the things the film gets wrong about the plague. We also go on all the side tangents you’ve come to expect from this show and even equate this film to the mess on an adaptation that is 1997’s THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK (also written by David Koepp).

Thad and Carl are joined once again by Chrissie De Clerck-Szilagyi for a discussion of ANGELS & DEMONS (2009), the second film in the Robert Langdon Cinematic Universe. While there are still some things that Dan Brown gets blatantly wrong (e.g., the Illuminati), we all felt that this was a much better effort by all involved. That doesn’t mean we don’t critique things like stupid airtight rooms and spend way too much time debating whether priests are allowed to “beat the bishop.”*

Editor’s Warning: For whatever reason, Thad decided to let loose that most terrifying of creatures, the Moopsy, during recording. While it makes a couple of appearances during the show, we want to put our listeners at ease by stressing that all three hosts are ok. That said, remain ever vigilant and look out for the Moopsy, because it drinks your bones.

* we promise this is 100% plot-relevant. So much so that the alternate title of this episode is “I’ve closed my masturbation tabs.”

Dan Brown’s penchant for historical inaccuracies inspired us to invite an actual historian to join us for a discussion of THE DA VINCI CODE (2006). Both the Priory of Scion and Opus Dei are real organizations. Neither is how they are described by Dan Brown, nor are the Crusades, the Knights Templar, and a whole lot of other things.

Delayed almost as long as the film we are talking about, Licence to Spiel finally returns with a full discussion of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE—DEAD RECKONING PART 1. While we both agree that this is an overlong setup for the upcoming sequel, it’s still a fun movie that we enjoyed talking about again. Of course, we still managed to find time to rant about the lack of 3D home releases and some other ratholes (while still coming in at under half of the movie’s runtime).

Note: if you are interested to hear our “fresh from the theater” takes on this film, check out our previous episode from July 2023: “Accidentally Topical.“

We come full circle this episode by discussing the television miniseries version of The Bourne Identity (1988) starring Richard Chamberlain, Jaclyn Smith, and a whole slew of “that guys.”

Despite the low expectations that typically come with a made-for-tv movie from the 80s, we both enjoyed this one a lot. We do still find time to do our usual things like quibble over things like the complete lack of any police response in Europe and reminisce about microfiche.

We also read a bit of feedback!

The Jason Bourne franchise concludes, at least for now, with the appropriately named JASON BOURNE (2016), a movie that we both enjoyed a lot more than we remembered. Of course, we still find time to poke fun at laptop choices, a hacktivist with the worst internet security we have ever seen, and the most amazing jacket ever committed to (19th century) film.

We’re back! After a long and unexpected hiatus, Licence to Spiel returns with a discussion of 2012’s THE BOURNE LEGACY (a.k.a. the Bourne film that doesn’t have Bourne in it). We would have returned sooner, but we got too distracted by the ins and outs of Rachel Weisz’s telephone.

The Jason Bourne story concludes with 2007’s THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM, but that didn’t stop Universal Pictures from making two more films after this one. For now though, we discuss Motorola RAZR screen resolutions, the fat content of goat’s cheese, and whether John McAfee murdered anyone. Thad makes a prediction about Kevin McCarthy that turned out to be correct, and we also talk about the movie a little.

Thad and Carl talk about The Bourne Supremacy (2004), a film that added depth to the already-excellent story begun with the previous installment but also inflicted countless Paul Greengrass imitations on the movie world for years to come.

After a bit of a hiatus, Licence to Spiel returns to take a look at one of the best and most influential action film franchises of the 2000s—which continued to be one of the action franchises of the 2010s (but more on that in a few episodes).

Today, we tackle the film that started it all: The Bourne Identity (2002), featuring a surprising (for the time) turn for Matt Damon, the villain du jour of the time in Chris Cooper, and Walton Goggins as a guy with a lot of push pins.