Throw Down: An Action Cinema Podcast

Where must we go, we who wander this wasteland in search of our buffer selves? In a bleak, post-apocalyptic shell of a world, cities crumbling and the wastes ruled by violent warlords, everything is left to sheer strength. Muscle is all that matters, and to ascend to godhood your only option is to become so powerful that you become an immense giant, towering over the meek and willing to crush them with a casual blow. Toyoo Ashida's filmic adaptation of Buronson and Tetsuo Hara's bloodbath martial arts manga transforms the manga's first major arcs into nonstop action chaos, a one of a kind thrill ride that fully tests the expressive capabilities of action in animation. Join Jack and Vaughn on this week's episode as they discuss all of Fist of the North Star's moments of action bliss and so much more.

Throw Down will be going on a temporary hiatus for now, but rest assured that we love making this show and we'll be back to regularly talking about the best, the worst, and everything in between as soon as we're able. Until then, for more words, thoughts, and action adoration, find us all around the internet.

Vaughn on Step Printed, Letterboxd and Twitter.

Jack on The STACKS, Letterboxd, and Twitter.

Looking for more shows? Check out Jack on The STACKS and Vaughn on I’m Thinking of Spoiling Things.

Starting out by directing low budget horror and Category III exploitation films, Wilson Yip made a name for himself in '90s Hong Kong with breakout hits like Bio-Zombie, a Dawn of the Dead influenced zombie film taking place in a claustrophobic Hong Kong mall, and Bullets Over Summer, a buddy cop hangout film that earned him enough credibility to start directing for studios like Golden Harvest. In 2005, he teamed up with legendary martial artists Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung to produce Sha Po Lang - released overseas as SPL: Kill Zone. A thematic contemporary alongside the rest of 00s Hong Kong cinema, SPL is bleak and brutal, an uncompromising landscape of violence where everyone is ready to scrap and fight at a moment's notice and every character is laser focused on a revenge mission that leaves everyone around them bloodied, dead, or forgotten. Join Jack and Vaughn this week as they talk about Wilson Yip's career, Sammo Hung as a ruthless villain, Donnie Yen's blindingly fast martial arts, and whether or not this film stretches itself too thin on a flimsy narrative.

Next week we’ll be back with Toyoo Ashida's legendary muscle fantasy anime Fist of the North Star. Until then, for more words, thoughts, and action adoration, find us all around the internet.

Vaughn on Step Printed, Letterboxd and Twitter.

Jack on The STACKS, Letterboxd, and Twitter.

Looking for more shows? Check out Jack on The STACKS and Vaughn on I’m Thinking of Spoiling Things.

This week on Throw Down, Jack and Vaughn open Pandora's box - the world of 90s SOV B-movie action, this time featuring Patrick G. Donahue's maniacal Parole Violators. The host of a vigilante public access television series is desperate to keep his program on air, putting himself in absurd danger for absolutely no reason to document himself apprehending recently released criminals violating their parole. It all goes south when two men he once put in prison are released, seeking vengeance by kidnapping his girlfriend's daughter. The ensuing rampage of roundhouse kicks and dialogue delivered entirely as if every character were trying to speak over the music at a club makes for a wild ride of schlock perfection, the greatest kind of microbudget action you could ask for.

For the curious: https://newgoldstudios.com/

Next week we’ll be back with Wilson Yip's triad face melter SPL: Kill Zone. Until then, for more words, thoughts, and action adoration, find us all around the internet.

Vaughn on Step Printed, Letterboxd and Twitter.

Jack on The STACKS, Letterboxd, and Twitter.

Looking for more shows? Check out Jack on The STACKS and Vaughn on I’m Thinking of Spoiling Things.

Hot off the international success of Ong-Bak (2003), stunt choreographer and Thai action veteran Panna Rittikrai set out to make another no holds barred stunt showcase, featuring a cast of his Muay Thai Stunt team and a group of Thai national athletes. A loose remake of his debut film, Born to Fight commits itself entirely to its mind boggling action and death defying stunts wrapped around a simple narrative that keeps the stakes big without getting bogged down in the details. The final 40 minutes are an endless action setpiece that starts at an unprecedented level of intensity and never stops ramping up the madness. Join Jack and Vaughn as they return from the Maytrix to exploring the vast world of action cinema this week on the show.

Next week we’ll be back with Patrick G. Donahue's action schlocksterpiece Parole Violators. Until then, for more words, thoughts, and action adoration, find us all around the internet.

Vaughn on Step Printed, Letterboxd and Twitter.

Jack on The STACKS, Letterboxd, and Twitter.

Looking for more shows? Check out Jack on The STACKS and Vaughn on I’m Thinking of Spoiling Things.

Nearly two decades after the conclusion of the original Matrix trilogy, after initially expressing an explicit intent to leave the story where it ended, Lana Wachowski returned to her world of cyberpunk and philosophy as a way to process grief and to protect her IP from corporate bastardization. The result is a massive swing as beautifully earnest and idiosyncratic as anything either of the Wachowskis have ever done, an unsurprisingly romantic epic that updates outdated ideas about stiff and bleak corporate oppression; trading them for a slick, post-irony world where everything is about itself and nihilism reigns. A world where we are gaslit into questioning our sanity at every turn, where we are talked out of radicalism through fear of uprooting the functional status quo. Received with as much divisive contention as every other Matrix sequel, Jack and Vaughn are here to dive in and break down The Matrix Resurrections. At last.

Next week we’ll be back with Panna Rittikrai's stunt showcase masterpiece Born To Fight. Until then, for more words, thoughts, and action adoration, find us all around the internet.

Vaughn on Step Printed, Letterboxd and Twitter.

Jack on The STACKS, Letterboxd, and Twitter.

Looking for more shows? Check out Jack on The STACKS and Vaughn on I’m Thinking of Spoiling Things.

Picking up mere moments from where The Matrix Reloaded left off, the sweeping conclusion to the Matrix trilogy weaves a now expansive mythology into its towering climax. Unexpected and dizzying in its complex narrative developments and operatic action sequences that fulfill the destiny of Neo, the triumph of love over the oppressive threat of a seething corporate-coded maniac who cannot accept or believe in the agency of others. Join Jack and Vaughn as they cover what was once the final film in one of the most bold, brilliant, and fascinating franchises of all time.

Next week we’ll be back with The Matrix Resurrections to conclude Enter The Maytrix, a whole month (plus a week) dedicated to the cyberpunk cinema of Lilly and Lana Wachowski. Until then, for more words, thoughts, and action adoration, find us all around the internet.

Vaughn on The Twin Geeks, Letterboxd, Twitter, and Bluesky.

Jack on The Twin Geeks, Letterboxd, Twitter, and Bluesky.

Looking for more shows? Check out Jack on The STACKS and Vaughn on I’m Thinking of Spoiling Things.

While in Japan promoting The Matrix, the Wachowskis met many of the legendary animators whose work had influenced their cyberpunk masterpiece, and began a journey to collaborate with them on a series of animated shorts that would expand the universe of The Matrix. The Animatrix, released in 2003 between The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, is a nine part anthology that weaves a new mythology into the fabric of the series, stories that enrich and deepen the ideas, design, and history of the world. Anime titans like Shinichiro Watanabe, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Koji Morimoto, and Takeshi Koike create wildly unique and inventive films that take the ambitious ideas of the franchise to new heights. Join Jack and Vaughn as they continue their month of Matrix by tackling each short one by one; the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Next week we’ll be back with The Matrix Revolutions to continue Enter The Maytrix, a whole month dedicated to the cyberpunk cinema of Lilly and Lana Wachowski. Until then, for more words, thoughts, and action adoration, find us all around the internet.

Vaughn on The Twin Geeks, Letterboxd, Twitter, and Bluesky.

Jack on The Twin Geeks, Letterboxd, Twitter, and Bluesky.

Looking for more shows? Check out Jack on The STACKS and Vaughn on I’m Thinking of Spoiling Things.

Following up The Matrix seems like an impossible task. A flawless film blending decades of influence with spellbinding cinematic energy and stunningly inventive filmmaking technique, what more is there to do? For the Wachowskis, the only thing to do is craft a startlingly idiosyncratic two part cinematic epic that completely inverts the binary philosophy of the first film and replaces it with a dense and oblique web of intersecting ideologies, questioning their own film by contextualizing its universe. Divisive by nature but remaining steadfastly novel and complex, The Matrix Reloaded crafts a tactile world worth fighting for - and sports an mesmerizing series of impeccably design grand action. Join Jack and Vaughn as they continue to share their love of the series with a renewed appreciation for the sequels.

Next week we’ll be back with The Animatrix to continue Enter The Maytrix, a whole month dedicated to the cyberpunk cinema of Lilly and Lana Wachowski. Until then, for more words, thoughts, and action adoration, find us all around the internet.

Vaughn on The Twin Geeks, Letterboxd, Twitter, and Bluesky.

Jack on The Twin Geeks, Letterboxd, Twitter, and Bluesky.

Looking for more shows? Check out Jack on The STACKS and Vaughn on I’m Thinking of Spoiling Things.

Opening with studio logos turned into malleable green code, The Matrix immediately signaled its ethos of rebellion against corporate systems. A verdant haze blankets the film, a visual coding of a false reality, a world that must be shattered, an oppressive existence without freedom or agency. A hapless software developer lives one life as a cog in the machine, feeding into structures of systemic control in a bleak office space of rigid walls and separation. The same man lives another life in rejection of those same systems, undermining power with blackhat efforts from a dilapidated, organic room of electronics and screens, a cyberharmony between digital and physical. Lilly and Lana Wachowski's cyberpunk masterpiece is a million things - a rich philosophical text of existentialism and agency, a masterful cyberpunk odyssey of grungy apocalyptic landscapes and digital realities, and a beautiful trans allegory about becoming who you were meant to be. For this show, however, it is first and foremost the coolest action movie ever made. This week, Jack and Vaughn dive deep into their love for The Matrix on the first episode of Enter The Maytrix, our month long series on the punk tetralogy.

Next week we’ll be back with The Matrix Reloaded to continue Enter The Maytrix, a whole month dedicated to the cyberpunk cinema of Lilly and Lana Wachowski. Until then, for more words, thoughts, and action adoration, find us all around the internet.

Vaughn on The Twin Geeks, Letterboxd, Twitter, and Bluesky.

Jack on The Twin Geeks, Letterboxd, Twitter, and Bluesky.

Looking for more shows? Check out Jack on The STACKS and Vaughn on I’m Thinking of Spoiling Things.

Mechanical Harryhausen monstrosities, heroic feats of strength, ancient neon cities, and bears flung into space: the atmosphere of Luigi Cozzi's Hercules is unlike any other interpretation of the mythological journey. Even within the confines of its swords and sandals genre trappings it manages to find ways to be a consistently inventive and fascinating kind of filmmaking - the kind that only a man so well versed in producing Italian genre cinema knockoffs of successful international IPs could commit himself to. It's a different kind of action this week on the show, and Jack and Vaughn dive into the weird, wild world of Lou Ferrigno's Hercules, a velvety phantasmagoria of neon lights and brute strength, an acid-drenched hero's journey that escapes every expectation.

Next week we’ll be back to Enter The Maytrix, a whole month dedicated to the cyberpunk cinema of Lilly and Lana Wachowski. Until then, for more words, thoughts, and action adoration, find us all around the internet.

Vaughn on The Twin Geeks, Letterboxd, Twitter, and Bluesky.

Jack on The Twin Geeks, Letterboxd, Twitter, and Bluesky.

Looking for more shows? Check out Jack on The STACKS and Vaughn on I’m Thinking of Spoiling Things.