Action Juice

When it was announced that Mark Boal, the award-winning writer of films like The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, was creating a show for Apple TV+, we were incredibly excited and knew we had to cover it here on the pod. Titled Echo 3, this series follows "Bambi" (Luke Evans) and "Prince" (Michiel Huisman), two US Special Forces operators who set out to Colombia in order to rescue Amber...

At one point or another, we've all watched a movie that's regarded as a tremendous piece of filmmaking - by critics and/or filmgoers - that just didn't impress us. Perhaps it didn't age well, or perhaps it was never that good to begin with. Or maybe, possibly even probably, we're all just wrong in our assessments. Either way, we all have our opinions, and we've decided to share some of o...

When action filmmaking legend John Woo finally decided to head to Hollywood, he chose Hard Target (1993) as his first English-language project. Then he was paired with another icon of action, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and the two set out to make shoot-em-up perfection. Buoyed by two fantastic supporting performances from Lance Henriksen and Arnold Vosloo, Hard Target was nearly a master str...

After an extended holiday break, Isaac and Will are back to chat about Avatar: The Way of the Water, James Cameron's beautiful follow-up to 2009's smash hit. As lifelong Cameron fans, we're conflicted about the Avatar series, as we long for the good ole days. At the same time, The Way of the Water is truly a spectacle to behold and a compelling theatrical experience. But then again, it's...

In our final podcast episode of 2022, Isaac and Will take on the simple yet daunting task of comparing Point Break (1991), an all-time action classic, to its unsuccessful 2015 remake. If you haven't seen the 2015 Point Break, just know that it's basically a perfect example of how NOT to do a remake. Huh, who would've thought we'd miss Gary Busey this much?

Also in this episode, we play o...

As the first season of Tulsa King rolls on, we thought we'd take a look at some other Sylvester Stallone content that involved him being in and/or leaving prison. After some consideration, we decided to pit Lock Up against Tango & Cash, two 1989 movies that don't rank highly in Stallone's filmography. In the end, this comparison got a little fiery, to an extent these movies really do...

For some reason, Hollywood produced a ton of airplane-set, big-budget action movies in the 90s. Today, we're comparing the two that are arguably the best, Executive Decision (1996) and Air Force One (1997). Released in back-to-back years, both films shared many similarities: setting, guns, music, terrorist baddies, illustrious leading men (Harrison Ford and Kurt Russell), and more. That ...

A few weeks ago, Isaac and Will did a deep dive into The Mummy Trilogy (1999-2008), aiming to illuminate how and why the sequels failed to live up to the original. It's rare to find a movie series that gets gradually worse every second it continues beyond its first installment, but that's what we have here. Imhotep and the O'Connells deserved better. And I think we can all agree, so did ...

Is there a better day to discuss Halloween Ends than October 31? How about to discuss Halloween: Resurrection? Yeah, you're right; it's never a good day to discuss Resurrection. But hey, we did it anyway, comparing the disastrous 2002 slasher to Ends, the latest addition to the Halloween franchise. Both movies were intended to act as the conclusion to Laurie Strode's lifelong struggle ag...

Few films mean as much to Isaac and Will, and Action Juice, as Heat does. This was why we were understandably giddy when Michael Mann announced that he was writing a sequel novel called Heat 2. Now that we've both finished reading it, it's time for us to release our extra-large Heat + Heat 2 episode. Over the next 2 hours, we briefly discuss the 1995 film before moving on to review the n...

Just a few days ago, there was another update about Lethal Weapon 5, a seemingly unlikely but increasingly impending addition to the Lethal Weapon series. This got Isaac and Will thinking: what would we like to see in a new Lethal Weapon movie? How would we write it? Well, in order to figure that out, we dove back into the original four films and discussed their pros and cons. Then, we g...

Isaac and Will both adore Die Hard, but it's fair to say that not all Die Hards are created equal. Taking that into consideration, they decided to pit them against each other in a Fave/Off: Die Hard (1988) vs Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), followed by Die Hard 2 (1990) vs Live Free or Die Hard (2007). And please don't bring up the fifth one; it's triggering.

Warning: We spoil these mo...

Movie lovers have been abuzz about Prey, 2022's prequel to John McTiernan's 1987 action/sci-fi classic, Predator. But how do Will and Isaac feel about it? As lifelong fans of the franchise, they might be difficult to please. Also discussed: the Road House and Highlander remakes, Thirteen Lives, and Black Bird.

Warning: things get spoiler-y toward the end (but we'll warn you beforehand). 

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After introducing themselves via a discussion of 3 scenes that laid the foundation for their action movie fandom, Will and Isaac break down the good and bad of The Gray Man. For $200 million, you'd think Netflix would've gotten more for their money. Also, they share their thoughts on the recent Warner Bros. Discovery news and how that's been affecting HBO and HBO Max.

Warning: things get...