Failure to Franchise

It's the third installment of "Misfired Cannons," and time to look at what happens when Cannon Films decides to work with one of Hollywood's biggest megastars. Sylvester Stallone was riding high off the success of both the Rocky and Rambo franchises in the mid-80s, so deciding to launch a new action franchise with the notoriously frugal and not always successful Cannon might have seemed a strange, unexpected move. So what sort of deal did Cannon offer Stallone to make it hard to resist? What other surprising 80s hit was Stallone originally attached to and oddly led to the creation of this film? Why is there controversy regarding who really directed the movie? How effective is the movie's blend of action and horror? We discuss all this and more, as we look at 1986's Cobra, pig! Our Twitter Our Facebook Our Instagram Our YouTube Trev's Letterboxd Chris' Letterboxd

So you've developed a sequel to one of your recent "successes," but the legendary action star of the previous film has decided he doesn't want to do a follow-up. Are you supposed to scrap the whole thing? Not if you're Cannon Films, who knew better than to throw out all the work they had already done on a potential Invasion USA sequel, and instead decided to rework it into a new potential franchise starter of its own. "Misfired Cannons" continues as we look at 1986's Avenging Force, which saw Chuck Norris replaced with Cannon's own pet-project up-and-coming star, Michael Dudikoff. Here, Dudikoff takes over the role of Matt Hunter (or is maybe a totally different Matt Hunter?), this time taking on an an underground society of crazed right-wing extremists that likes to hunt men for sport. We discuss Dudikoff's place in the Cannon legacy, the movie's surprising-for-the-time-and-genre politics, the perpetual underutilization of co-star Steve James, and much more. Our Twitter Our Facebook Our Instagram Our YouTube Trev's Letterboxd Chris' Letterboxd

For film fans of the '80s, one studio was synonymous with over-the-top action, wild premises, and low to mid-budget insanity. Cannon Films delivered a massive output of video store staples and cable classics, and today are looked back on nostalgically as an entertaining alternative to the "big" studio fare of the era. But Cannon certainly had at least one thing in common with the major studios - their fare share of failed franchise starters. So we're devoting two months to the studio's "Misfired Cannons." First up, a look at the 1985 Chuck Norris vehicle Invasion USA, which sees the denim-clad action icon single-handily take on an army of foreign terrorists invading the United States. It might not be the "best '80s action movie," but it is arguably the "most '80s action movie." But we couldn't discuss such a crazy cult-classic alone, so for this discussion we're joined by Bryan Kristopowitz, author of the "Gratuitous B-Movie Column" on the 411mania website, and the recently published book, Not Coming to a Theater Near You!: 50 Great Direct-to-Video Action Flicks of the Early 2000s. So slip on your Chuck Norris Action Jeans, and join us for an in-depth discussion of one of the wildest action movies, and movie studios, of all time! Our Twitter Our Facebook Our Instagram Our YouTube Trev's Letterboxd Chris' Letterboxd Buy Bryan's book HERE, titled: Not Coming to a Theater Near You!: 50 Great Direct-to-Video Action Flicks of the Early 2000s

"The Girl with the Failed February Franchises" concludes with our look at 2018's The Girl in the Spider's Web. Even though the previous film hadn't made as much as Sony had hoped for, it still earned Rooney Mara an Oscar nomination, received critical acclaim, and the entire creative team was down to return for more. So, of course the thing to do is...ignore all that and instead hire a new director and cast to jump ahead to the fourth book (the first not written by series creator Stieg Larsson) and try to reboot the franchise with a much smaller budget. How did that work out for them? Well, we're covering it here, so, you know. Still, we're here to give it a fair shot, discussing whether horror director Fede Alvarez was the right choice to replace Fincher, if Claire Foy is a worthy Lisbeth Salander, and if the movie's global-stakes espionage thriller vibes truly feels appropriate for the overall franchise and character. Our Twitter Our Facebook Our Instagram Our YouTube Trev's Letterboxd Chris' Letterboxd

In 2005 (and 2008 for the American translation), the posthumous release of Swedish author Stieg Larsson's "Millennium Trilogy" took the world by storm. A series of Swedish cinematic adaptations soon followed, making even bigger pop culture icons of the characters of Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist, and Lisbeth Salander, the punk computer hacker with a mysterious past. And then, Hollywood decided to take their crack at it...not once, but twice. And we're investigating both, with our "The Girl with the Failed February Franchises" theme month! First, a look at 2011's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Directed by David Fincher and starring Daniel Craig as Blomkvist and Rooney Mara as Salander, the American adaptation was seen by some as a more prestigious adaptation of the first book in Larsson's series; a surefire awards contender and franchise starter. But was it released too soon after the Swedish films? Was its subject matter actually too dark for American audiences, especially given its Christmas release? We explore these questions and more, including how the film rates as part of Fincher's overall filmography, and what it meant for his career moving forward. Our Twitter Our Facebook Our Instagram Our YouTube Trev's Letterboxd Chris' Letterboxd

"Thomas JANEuary" concludes with 2018's The Predator, an attempt to resurrect, revitalize, and "event-ize" the classic sci-fi action franchise. To do so, 20th Century Fox recruited famed Hollywood action screenwriter and the acclaimed director of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys, and Iron Man 3 (and co-star of the original Predator movie), Shane Black, as well as his former Monster Squad collaborator Fred Dekker, to helm a new entry with an interesting ensemble cast. But The Predator would face a particularly rocky road to the big screen, and we're here to discuss the film's various production headaches and controversies...and explore the important question of the month = what's the deal with Thomas Jane in this one?? Our Twitter Our Facebook Our Instagram Our YouTube Trev's Letterboxd Chris' Letterboxd

We recently realized, though it was never our specific intention, that we covered Thomas Jane movies the last two January's of this podcast. So, what the heck...let's lean in! Welcome to "Thomas JANEuary," a two-episode tribute to the rugged, prickly, shoe-hating star of The Punisher, The Mist, Mutant Chronicles, HBO's Hung, and so much more. First up, we're looking at 2010's Give 'Em Hell, Malone. A relic from the dying days of the DTV era, this indie neo-noir thriller seeks to pay tribute to the hardboiled PI stories and classic film noirs of old...whether or not it truly has the budget to do so. Can Thomas Jane effectively channel the spirit of Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, Mike Hammer, and other classic hardboiled heroes? Can Highlander director Russell Mulcahy still conjure the same sort of visual dynamism with a much lower budget? And where does the line between loving genre pastiche and cynical genre parody truly begin, or end? We discuss all this and more, as we give 'em hell, Malone. Our Twitter Our Facebook Our Instagram Our YouTube Trev's Letterboxd Chris' Letterboxd