Licence to Spiel

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.

Our immediate thoughts on MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART 1.

WARNING: This show contains spoilers!

Before you go to see the latest Mission: Impossible film, catch up on the previous entry, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT, just like we had planned from the start…

We discuss Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015), a movie that is chock full of movie tropes and still manages to be quite excellent. We also get side-tracked by Thad’s dislike of opera and the fact that there are too many actors named Laura out there in the world.