Okay, action freaks. We're kicking off our John McTiernan miniseries - POD HARD WITH A VENGECAST - with a film that is not at all indicative of the greatness to come.
We love da submarinesh. Host of "Unclear and Present Danger" Jamelle Bouie joins us this week to talk about middle aged white guys, airport novels, and naval recruitment propaganda.
Oh baby, this one's a STINKER. Sean Connery finds the cure for cancer but then he loses it (??). Lorraine Bracco delivers all of her dialogue like someone making a comment and not asking a question at a Q&A.
John McTiernan back with the Die Hard franchise after the spectacular flop of Last Action Hero. Bruce Willis and Samuel L Jackson back together after Pulp Fiction.
A Fiji water bottle. "Sinnerman" by Nina Simone. That Magritte painting with the bowler hat. A SCINTILLATING, AGE-APPROPRIATE ROMANCE WITH TWO OF THE GREATEST HEIST SEQUENCES IN MOVIE HISTORY.
What if there was a 13th Warrior? What if there was a version of Beowulf so grounded in reality that the climactic battle with Grendel just kind of felt like a shrug?
Finally, we arrive at the film that helped put John McTiernan in both "director jail" and "jail jail" - the incoherent nu-metal fart that is 2002's ROLLERBALL.
Our McTiernan series concludes with 2003's BASIC - a film that Griffin thinks should instead be titled "COMPLICATED" - get it? Because there are so many plot twists??