Welcome back to Not A Bomb, the podcast where we resurrect cinema’s most infamous box office disasters and ask the burning question: is it a bomb? This week, Troy and Brad strap themselves into the Animus, sharpen their hidden blades, and attempt a leap of faith into one of Hollywood’s most ambitious attempts to turn a massive video game franchise into a movie. It’s time to talk about 2016’s Assassin’s Creed.

And if you have absolutely no idea what an Animus, Apple of Eden, Assassin, Templar, or Abstergo is, don't worry. The movie will explain all of it to you.

Repeatedly.

Troy and Brad dive into a movie that had almost everything going for it. Michael Fassbender leads an absurdly talented cast that includes Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons, Brendan Gleeson, Michael K. Williams, and Charlotte Rampling. The film has a huge budget, impressive production design, some genuinely exciting action sequences, and a director in Justin Kurzel who clearly isn't treating the material like disposable video game nonsense.

Unfortunately, Assassin's Creed suffers from one enormous problem. It is absolutely drowning in Assassin's Creed lore.

Want to help support the show? Head over to the Not A Bomb Tee Public store and check our merchandise. Special thanks to Ted Blair for the amazing designs!

Check out the trailer for The 80s: A Motion Picture Special

Cinova - The future of Movie and TV

We're committed to hearing your feedback and suggestions. If there's a cinematic flop you'd like us to delve into, please reach out to us at [email protected] or through our contact page. Your reviews and feedback are what drive us. If you enjoy our content, consider leaving a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify.

Cast: Brad, Troy

Welcome back to Not A Bomb, the podcast where we resurrect cinema’s most infamous box office disasters and ask the burning question: is it a bomb? This week, Troy and Brad leave the real world behind and venture into a prehistoric fantasy landscape where warriors have muscles the size of tree trunks, women have significantly less clothing than is probably practical for the Ice Age, and absolutely everything looks like a metal album cover. This week, the guys are diving into the 1983 animated fantasy adventure Fire and Ice.

Directed by Ralph Bakshi and heavily inspired by the artwork of legendary fantasy illustrator Frank Frazetta, Fire and Ice is a movie that feels less like a traditional animated feature and more like somebody plugged a heavy metal album directly into a television. Every mountain, warrior, monster, sword, and scantily clad barbarian looks like it could have been ripped straight off the cover of an album you would find in the back of a record store.

The guys explore how Fire and Ice combines sword-and-sorcery fantasy with Bakshi's distinctive animation style, creating something that feels completely different from the animated movies audiences were used to seeing in the early 1980s. This isn't Disney. There are no singing animals, no adorable sidekicks, and absolutely nobody is learning an important lesson about friendship.

Instead, we get warriors beating the hell out of each other.

It's glorious.

Want to help support the show? Head over to the Not A Bomb Tee Public store and check our merchandise. Special thanks to Ted Blair for the amazing designs!

Check out the trailer for The 80s: A Motion Picture Special

Cinova - The future of Movie and TV

We're committed to hearing your feedback and suggestions. If there's a cinematic flop you'd like us to delve into, please reach out to us at [email protected] or through our contact page. Your reviews and feedback are what drive us. If you enjoy our content, consider leaving a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify.

Cast: Brad, Troy

Welcome back to Not A Bomb, the podcast where we resurrect cinema’s most infamous box office disasters and ask the burning question: is it a bomb? This week, Troy and Brad put on their finest sleeveless denim, grease up their elbows, and enter the wonderful world of competitive arm wrestling with Sylvester Stallone's 1987 classic, Over the Top. And for this very special episode, the guys are joined by first-time guest, Katie from the Retromade Podcast!

Over the Top is the story of Lincoln Hawk, a down-on-his-luck truck driver and professional arm wrestler who is trying to reconnect with his estranged son while traveling across the country toward the World Armwrestling Championship. It's a movie about fathers and sons, second chances, truck driving, arm wrestling, and the important lesson that apparently all you need to turn your life around is a strategically placed hat and approximately eight ounces of baby oil.

Troy, Brad, and Katie dig into the gloriously ridiculous premise, the surprisingly heartfelt father-son story, and Stallone's unique ability to make absolutely everything look like a life-or-death struggle. In Over the Top, a truck isn't just a truck. It's freedom. An arm wrestle isn't just an arm wrestle. It's destiny. And flipping your baseball cap backward isn't just a fashion choice. It's apparently a legally binding declaration that you are about to become the greatest arm wrestler who has ever lived.

Want to help support the show? Head over to the Not A Bomb Tee Public store and check our merchandise. Special thanks to Ted Blair for the amazing designs!

Cinova - The future of Movie and TV

We're committed to hearing your feedback and suggestions. If there's a cinematic flop you'd like us to delve into, please reach out to us at [email protected] or through our contact page. Your reviews and feedback are what drive us. If you enjoy our content, consider leaving a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify.

Cast: Brad, Troy

Guest: Kaite

This week’s experiment: a double feature of shark movies that proves the ocean isn’t the only place where danger lurks. First up is Sharks N Da Hood, a movie that asks, “What if sharks invaded the streets?” and then seemingly forgot to ask literally any other question during the filmmaking process. What follows may be one of the most spectacularly awful movies ever made: baffling choices, painful dialogue, questionable acting, and a level of chaos that makes you wonder if anyone involved ever stopped to watch what they were creating.

Then comes Bad CGI Sharks, which, despite a title that sounds like a warning label, is actually a surprisingly fun little low-budget shark movie. The CGI is exactly as advertised, the premise is ridiculous, and yet the movie understands something that Sharks N Da Hood apparently missed: if you're making a movie about absurd killer sharks, you should probably try to have some fun with it.

The guys dive into both ends of the bargain-bin shark movie spectrum. One film is a cinematic shipwreck of nearly historic proportions. The other is goofy, self-aware entertainment that manages to rise above its limitations through sheer enthusiasm and a willingness to embrace the ridiculous.

Expect terrible sharks, bad decisions, questionable effects, and one of the strangest double features to ever wash up on Breaking Brad.

Be sure to subscribe to the Gentlemen’s Guide to Midnite Cinema to hear more of Sammy. Also, check out Jose’s podcast - Watch/Skip+ • A podcast on Anchor. Both are highly recommended.

If you want to leave feedback or suggest a movie bomb, please drop us a line at [email protected] or Contact Us - here. Also, if you like what you hear, leave a review on Apple Podcast.

Cast: Brad, Troy, Jose, Sammy

Welcome back to Not A Bomb, the podcast where we resurrect cinema’s most infamous box office disasters and ask the burning question: is it a bomb? This week, Troy and Brad grab their Power Gloves, hop in a stolen truck, and hit the road with 1989's Nintendo-powered adventure, The Wizard.

On the surface, The Wizard is a movie about a troubled young boy with an incredible talent for video games who runs away from home with his brother and heads across the country toward the biggest video game competition in America. But underneath the cartridges, Game Boys, Nintendo Power magazines, and what might be the most famous Power Glove in cinematic history, there is actually a pretty solid road movie trying desperately to escape.

Troy and Brad dig into the strange mix of family drama, cross-country adventure, and shameless corporate advertising that makes The Wizard such a fascinating artifact of late 1980s cinema. Somewhere in this movie is a genuinely interesting Beau Bridges and Christian Slater road movie about a father and son trying to reconnect while chasing their runaway family across the country. Unfortunately, that movie keeps getting interrupted by Nintendo reminding everyone that Super Mario Bros. 3 exists.

Of course, no discussion of The Wizardwould be complete without talking about its legendary product placement. This is a movie that does not gently incorporate Nintendo into its story. Nintendo basically grabs the steering wheel, drives the movie into the nearest electronics store, and tells everyone to look at the Power Glove. But somehow, despite being one of the most obvious feature-length advertisements ever made, The Wizard has developed a nostalgic charm that is hard to deny.

Want to help support the show? Head over to the Not A Bomb Tee Public store and check our merchandise. Special thanks to Ted Blair for the amazing designs!

Check out the trailer for The 80s: A Motion Picture Special

Cinova - The future of Movie and TV

We're committed to hearing your feedback and suggestions. If there's a cinematic flop you'd like us to delve into, please reach out to us at [email protected] or through our contact page. Your reviews and feedback are what drive us. If you enjoy our content, consider leaving a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify.

Cast: Brad, Troy

Welcome back to Not A Bomb, the podcast where we resurrect cinema’s most infamous box office disasters and ask the burning question: is it a bomb? This week, Troy and Brad shrink down, suit up, and dive headfirst into the wild, high‑concept sci‑fi comedy Innerspace from 1987. It’s one of those movies that sounds absolutely unhinged when you describe it out loud, yet somehow becomes charming, energetic, and weirdly heartfelt once you hit play.

That’s the Joe Dante magic. In the hands of a less capable director, Innerspace could’ve been a complete mess. The premise alone, a hotshot pilot miniaturized and accidentally injected into a hypochondriac grocery store clerk, is the kind of thing that could collapse under its own absurdity. But Dante threads the needle, blending cartoon logic, sci‑fi spectacle, slapstick comedy, and genuine sweetness into a film that shouldn’t work but absolutely does. It’s insane in the best way, and charming in a way only Dante seems able to pull off.

Troy and Brad dig into the film’s chaotic energy, its inventive effects, and the pitch‑perfect performances from Dennis Quaid and Martin Short, who somehow make the whole thing feel grounded even as it spirals into sci‑fi lunacy. And of course, they take a moment to appreciate Meg Ryan, because 1987 Meg Ryan was peak Meg Ryan. She lights up every scene she’s in, adding warmth and charisma that elevate the movie even further.

The guys also explore how Innerspace has evolved from a modest box office performer into a beloved cult favorite, why its blend of genres feels so unique today, and how Dante’s playful filmmaking style keeps the movie from ever tipping into chaos.

Grab your lab coat, avoid the rogue scientists, and prepare to get very, very small.

Want to help support the show? Head over to the Not A Bomb Tee Public store and check our merchandise. Special thanks to Ted Blair for the amazing designs!

We're committed to hearing your feedback and suggestions. If there's a cinematic flop you'd like us to delve into, please reach out to us at [email protected] or through our contact page. Your reviews and feedback are what drive us. If y

Welcome back to Not A Bomb, the podcast where we resurrect cinema’s most infamous box office disasters and ask the burning question: is it a bomb? This week, Troy and Brad descend into the gritty, morally tangled world of Sidney Lumet’s 1981 neo‑noir crime epic Prince of the City. It’s one of those underseen gems that cinephiles whisper about, critics champion, and everyone else somehow missed entirely.

Prince of the City follows a narcotics detective pulled into a sprawling corruption investigation, and the deeper he goes, the more the film tightens its grip. At the center of it all is Treat Williams, delivering a performance so raw, so committed, and so quietly devastating that it’s honestly a “treat” to watch him work. This is the kind of role actors dream about, and Williams attacks it with a mix of vulnerability and intensity that feels almost dangerous. If you ever needed proof he was one of the most underrated actors of his era, this is the movie.

Troy and Brad dig into Lumet’s meticulous direction, the film’s sprawling cast of morally compromised characters, and the real‑life case that inspired the story. They also explore how Prince of the City became overshadowed by Lumet’s more famous crime dramas, why it deserves to be mentioned alongside Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon, and how its reputation has quietly grown among fans of hard‑boiled, character‑driven noir.

And because the guys can’t resist calling out cinematic injustices, they make it very clear that Criterion needs to get on making a 4K edition of this film. Prince of the City deserves the restoration, the essays, the spine number, the whole treatment. It’s long overdue.

Grab your badge, question your morals, and settle in. This is one crime saga worth revisiting.

Want to help support the show? Head over to the Not A Bomb Tee Public store and check our merchandise. Special thanks to Ted Blair for the amazing designs!

We're committed to hearing your feedback and suggestions. If there's a cinematic flop you'd like us to delve into, please reach out to us at [email protected] or through our contact page. Your reviews and feedback are what drive us. If you enjoy our content, consider leaving a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify.

Cast: Brad, Troy

Welcome back to Not A Bomb, the podcast where we resurrect cinema’s most infamous box office disasters and ask the burning question: is it a bomb? This week, Troy and Brad strap into the chaotic, nitro‑fueled world of the 2001 racing epic Driven. And before we go any further, yes, Troy is back from surgery and only slightly a little high on pain medication, which honestly might be the perfect state of mind for revisiting a movie this unintentionally wild.

Driven arrived during the era when Hollywood believed the cure for every script problem was “more CGI, more speed, more Stallone.” The film promised high‑octane racing, intense rivalries, and behind‑the‑scenes drama in the world of CART. What audiences got instead was a dizzying mix of digital car mayhem, melodramatic speeches, and physics‑defying crashes.

Troy and Brad dig into the film’s over‑the‑top action sequences, the baffling script choices, and one of the worst displays of “acting” this podcast has ever seen…. cough, cough - KIP! They also explore how the film’s reputation has evolved, why some viewers have embraced its unintentional charm, and whether Driven deserves a second look or remains a cautionary tale about letting Stallone write his own sports movies.

Buckle up, avoid the flying manhole covers, and prepare for a ride that makes absolutely no sense. This is one cinematic spinout worth revisiting.

Want to help support the show? Head over to the Not A Bomb Tee Public store and check our merchandise. Special thanks to Ted Blair for the amazing designs!

We're committed to hearing your feedback and suggestions. If there's a cinematic flop you'd like us to delve into, please reach out to us at [email protected] or through our contact page. Your reviews and feedback are what drive us. If you enjoy our content, consider leaving a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify.

Cast: Brad, Troy

Welcome back to Not A Bomb, the podcast where we resurrect cinema’s most infamous box office disasters and ask the burning question: is it a bomb? This week, Troy and Brad jump down the strangest cinematic warp pipe ever constructed and land in the dystopian, fungus‑covered madness of Super Mario Bros. from 1993. The guys spend the entire episode trying to figure out what the heck is going on in this movie, because even after thirty years, the answer remains unclear.

Super Mario Bros. arrived with one of the most recognizable brands in pop culture. Mario wasn’t just a video game character; he was the video game character. So naturally, Hollywood took this beloved, colorful, family‑friendly world and said, “What if we turned it into a grimy Blade Runner knockoff with lizard people, cyberpunk plumbing, and Dennis Hopper threatening everyone with de‑evolution lasers?” It’s the kind of creative decision that makes you wonder if someone accidentally adapted the wrong property.

Troy and Brad dig into the film’s chaotic production history, the wild rewrites, the directors who seemed determined to reinvent Mario into something no one asked for, and the baffling creative choices that turned a simple platformer into a dystopian sci‑fi fever dream.

Grab your overalls, avoid the fungus, and hold onto your Koopa coins. This is one cinematic misadventure worth revisiting.

Want to help support the show? Head over to the Not A Bomb Tee Public store and check our merchandise. Special thanks to Ted Blair for the amazing designs!

We're committed to hearing your feedback and suggestions. If there's a cinematic flop you'd like us to delve into, please reach out to us at [email protected] or through our contact page. Your reviews and feedback are what drive us. If you enjoy our content, consider leaving a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify.

Cast: Brad, Troy

Welcome back to Not A Bomb, the podcast where we resurrect cinema’s most infamous box office disasters and ask the burning question: is it a bomb? This week, Troy and Brad set sail into the explosive, alien‑filled chaos of the 2012 blockbuster Battleship. And yes, the guys know this one wasn’t just an underperformer. It was one of the biggest cinematic wipeouts of the year. In fact, Battleship is part of a rare double‑feature of disaster courtesy of Taylor Kitsch, who somehow managed to star in two of 2012’s biggest bombs with this film and John Carter. A true achievement in box office misfortune.

Battleship arrived with all the makings of a summer tentpole: massive effects, a stacked cast, and a marketing campaign that practically shouted from the rooftops. It also came with one of the strangest Hollywood pitches of the decade, since the entire movie is based on a board game. Yes, the same board game you played as a kid, the one where you yelled “You sunk my battleship!” while trying not to knock over the plastic grid. Hollywood looked at that and said, “What if aliens?”

Troy and Brad dig into the film’s wild production, its attempt to blend military spectacle with sci‑fi mayhem, and the curious creative decisions that turned a simple naval strategy game into a full‑blown alien invasion epic. They also explore how the film’s reputation has shifted over time, why some viewers have embraced its over‑the‑top charm, and whether Battleship deserves a second look or remains a cautionary tale about adapting literally anything into a blockbuster.

Grab your grid, call out a coordinate, and brace for impact. This is one cinematic bomb worth revisiting.

Want to help support the show? Head over to the Not A Bomb Tee Public store and check our merchandise. Special thanks to Ted Blair for the amazing designs!

We're committed to hearing your feedback and suggestions. If there's a cinematic flop you'd like us to delve into, please reach out to us at [email protected] or through our contact page. Your reviews and feedback are what drive us. If you enjoy our content, consider leaving a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify.

Cast: Brad, Troy