Sound Speed Action

Episode 58 - Special Episode: Jurassic World Rebirth (2025)

Jurassic Park is one of those franchises that I absolutely love, where Spielberg helped define the summer blockbuster movie season. The first two especially are amazing. Jurassic Park III was a flop. Jurassic World and Fallen Kingdom were chapters that brought new life and characters into the franchise. Dominion was overstuffed but had fun visuals and brought back all the c...

Episode 57 - SPOILER Review: Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

Just when it was starting to look pretty bleak for comic movies (over saturation, becoming extremely dark, forgettable stories, visual effects suffering from unsustainable output stretching visual FX artists too thin), it looks like studios are getting the message. First "Superman" from DC/Warner Brothers and now for today's episode we see how Marvel/D...

Episode 56 – Review: The Accountant 2 (2025)

Back in 2016, Ben Affleck surprised a lot of people with "The Accountant", a sleek, mysterious action thriller where he played Christian Wolff, a math savant with deadly skills. That film, written by Ozark series creator Bill Dubuque, had an incredible cast (John Lithgow, J.K. Simmons, Jon Bernthal, Anna Kendrick, Jean Smart) and a vibe that stuck with people. For years, a s...

SPOILER WARNING for the latest podcast episode of "Sound Speed Action": Dead Reckoning came out two years ago, but The Final Reckoning just hit theaters a week ago. If you haven’t seen it yet, pause this episode and come back, because we’re diving deep into both films.

The final chapter of our Mission: Impossible recap covers Dead Reckoning (2023) and The Final Reckoning (2025).

It’s wild to think this series has been running nearly ...

2018’s “Mission Impossible: Fallout” is the focus of today’s episode of Sound Speed Action, and the question is not just whether it’s the best in the series—but is it one of the greatest action epics ever made?

It took six movies for the franchise (and two for director Christopher McQuarrie and Cruise) to find their groove, and this is the moment it all clicks. The action! The cast! The music! Even the dramatic and comedic beats lan...

“Sound Speed Action” is back with the newest episode in our countdown to Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning. Now we’re entering Christopher McQuarrie mode with the next film: Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015).

Writer and veteran Hollywood script doctor Christopher McQuarrie directs his first Mission Impossible and assembles a great team behind the camera to inject more energy into this thrill ride. Joe Kraemer delivers a ...

We’re back with a new episode of Sound Speed Action as we continue our countdown to Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning. Up next is what feels like an amazing reset for the series — Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011).

This is where the franchise really starts to take off. The quality of action and entertainment jumps several levels in this installment. You get the brilliant work of director Brad Bird (The Iron Giant) as w...

For this episode of Sound Speed Action, we're continuing our countdown to Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning. We’re joined by returning guest and friend of the pod, Chris Cheng, to break down the franchise’s third installment — Mission Impossible III (2006).

It’s a movie of firsts: JJ Abrams (of Lost and Alias fame) makes his feature film directorial debut, Simon Pegg arrives as tech whiz Benji, and it’s the only Mission film e...

A new episode (the 50th episode! 🥳) of Sound Speed Action is out, and we continue our Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning countdown series — and today we’re covering the standout (for better and worse) of this franchise: Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)!

Wow, yeah — the sequel to the first Mission: Impossible is very much its own unique thing. Let’s take the first Mission: Impossible movie — a cerebral, slow-burn, spy action myst...

A new podcast episode of "Sound Speed Action" is out now — and with it we start at the beginning with the 1996 thriller “Mission Impossible” to kick off this series.

Brian DePalma (Scarface, Carlito’s Way) adapts the beloved thriller series for the big screen in a way that no one else can. He has a style all to himself. A really fun thing with this movie is that there is always so much detail and information to be taken from any sce...

May 23 is just around the corner! That means the eighth installment ("The Final Reckoning") to the Mission Impossible franchise is almost here. Here we preview a special series of episodes of the podcast coming soon where we are going to revisit the Mission Impossible franchise and recap each of these entertaining movies that are so WILDLY different from each other and yet are endless entertaining. This franchise has something ever...

Episode 47 - Classic Recommendation: Swingers (1996)

Can we tell you something? “You are so money and you don’t even know it!”

Let us take you back to 1996, when Jon Favreau (Chef, The Mandalorian, Iron Man), Vince Vaughn (Wedding Crashers, The Lost World), and Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, The Bourne Identity) arrived on the film scene with this gem of a movie.

This one has something for everyone to love — from Vinc...

Episode 46 - SPOILER Review: Companion (2025)

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a spoiler review of Companion (2025), a thriller (or is it? Still not sure on the genre…) that is as twisted as it is unique. If you haven’t seen this movie yet, bookmark this episode and come back later. This is one of those films best experienced knowing absolutely nothing. No trailers. No previews. Just trust me. Listener and viewer discretion is advised.

I’m re...

Episode 45 - Review: Wolfman (2025)

Remember back in 2017 when Universal tried launching their Monsters Universe of movies with “The Mummy” starring Tom Cruise? Even with the attempt to sneak in Russell Crowe as Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, that movie became an epic mess. “Wolf Man” is a second bite at the apple for Universal, with Leigh Whannell (“Saw” writer and “Upgrade”, “The Invisible Man” director) directing and horror king Jason Blum...

Episode 44 - Review: Conclave (2024)

The adaptation of Robert Harris’s 2016 novel comes vibrantly to life in the 2024 mystery thriller film, Conclave. This movie is one of a kind and easily among 2024's best releases so far. Joining me on this episode is my cousin, Bahareh Amidi Shargi, who kindly recommended this movie to me.

The film boasts a stellar cast led by the commanding Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Lawrence. As if that weren’t ...

Episode 43 - Halloween SPOILER Review episode: Strange Darling (2024)

IMPORTANT NOTE: This spoiler review episode focuses on a psychological thriller film and includes language, topics, and descriptions that are dark, graphic, violent, and disturbing. Listener and viewer discretion is advised.

Happy Halloween, everyone! We’re talking about the surprise movie of the year, Strange Darling. Shocking. Disturbing. Terrifying...and yet I c...

Episode 42 - Fly Me to the Moon (2024) Review

Hollywood heavy hitter Greg Berlanti directs, while Scarlett Johansson produces and stars in “Fly Me to the Moon”. Although the movie is set during NASA's Apollo 11 mission, this is far from a historically accurate depiction of how the moon landing was planned. Instead, the film uses the Apollo mission as a creative backdrop to explore broader themes like truth, trust, and conspiracy the...

Episode 41 - SPOILER Review: Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

The merc with a mouth is back! Putting Deadpool and Wolverine in the same movie has delivered the global summer box office hit we were hoping for (only topped this year by Inside Out 2, another Disney blockbuster). After Marvel’s post-Endgame slump with a few lackluster movies, Director Shawn Levy, Ryan Reynolds, and Hugh Jackman have flipped the genre on its head with this ve...

Episode 40 - Hype Episode: Pig (2021)

In today's brief episode, it’s all about Michael Sarnoski's 2021 overlooked indie feature, Pig. This heartfelt story will surprise you and remind you why Nicolas Cage is a one-of-a-kind actor. Discover why Pig is a standout, featuring one of Cage’s best performances in years. The movie slowly reveals more to us about Cage's enigmatic character and how he has had a profound impact on the people a...