Filmjitsu! The Podcast that wields films as deadly weapons

Jay sends Mike hurtling through an interdimensional portal and into the loincloth-garbed wasteland of Gor, an ’80s Cannon Films sword-and-sorcery “epic” about a nebbish professor transported to another world where he discovers he’s aces with a sword. With Oliver Reed chewing scenery, and enough sand, leather and exposed flesh to make Conan blush, Mike tries to determine whether Gor is the gloriously entertai...

Ice Cube once rapped “F*** tha Police,” but in 2025’s War of the Worlds, he has apparently decided the real problem is that the government isn’t watching people closely enough. Jay logs into this extremely online adaptation of H.G. Wells’ classic and tries to determine whether its screenlife presentation, anti-surveillance message and handful of genuinely clever science-fiction ideas can survive a scre...

It's time once again for Filmjitsu's most inexplicable annual tradition: The Streepening. For reasons that have long since been lost to history (and likely were never sensible to begin with), Jay again hands Mike a Meryl Streep movie proving that no matter how acclaimed the actress may be, there always seems to be another questionable stop on her journey to becoming a generational talent. This year's selection? Wes Craven's Music o...

As it's the middle of summer, Mike, in his infinite wisdom, assigned Jay yet another winter-themed movie! Following his Hot Frosty antics, he uncorked Hot Dog... The Movie, a 1984 skis-and-skin "comedy" about a ragtag group of elite U.S. freestyle skiers going up against uptight Germans in some kind of world-class competition that apparently attracts the horniest people alive. Why Mike is obsessed with "hot" movies set in cold clim...

The fireworks may be over and the grill has gone cold, but Filmjitsu is still celebrating! This week, Jay and Mike recount their trip to the theater for the long-awaited return of Masters of the Universe. After a first trailer that inspired more dread than excitement, could a reported $200 million blockbuster based on an '80s toy line really succeed where the 1987 Dolph Lundgren adaptation stumbled and sent the franchise into cinem...

Since this episode lands on Father's Day, Jay decides to do something thematic for a change and assigns Mike one of the most acclaimed and divisive films of the 21st century: Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life. Is the film a profound meditation on fathers and sons, memory, grief, faith, and the very nature of existence? Or is it an overlong exercise in whispered narration, floating cameras, and cosmic self-importance? The guys tack...

On this episode of Filmjitsu, Mike decides he'd like to "extend winter" a little longer by assigning Jay the Netflix holiday rom-com Hot Frosty. A calculated attempt to exploit Jay's well-documented affection for romantic comedies, this weird take on Frosty the Snowman stars Hallmark Channel royalty Lacey Chabert and a magically animated snowman blessed with abs that could cut glass. Is it a surprisingly heartfelt holiday romance, ...

This week on Filmjitsu, Mike is subjected to Bolero, the infamous 1984 erotic drama directed by John Derek and starring his wife, Bo Derek, in what may be the most lavishly photographed vanity project ever unleashed upon unsuspecting audiences.Was this a genuinely misguided attempt at prestige filmmaking, or simply expensive late-night cable fodder pretending to be profound? Mike and Jay attempt to separate the silk scarves from th...

On this episode of the podcast that wields films like deadly weapons, the guys return from a brief hiatus to tackle one of the strangest high-concept movies of the last decade: The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot. Starring the eternally weathered and deeply mustachioed Sam Elliott, the film answers its wacky title with meditations on aging, government conspiracies, and wartime trauma. Fun! Can a man with a voice aged in ...

On this special “From the Vault” episode of the podcast that wields films like deadly weapons, Jay and Mike hit pause on their usual cycle of cinematic punishment to dig into the archives and revisit a piece of Filmjitsu history. With many of the most infamous “bad movie” staples already covered during the show’s original run, some titles have been left in limbo... until now. This week, the vault opens...

On this episode of the podcast that wields films like deadly weapons, Mike is sent straight into the molten chaos of Volcano (1997), the disaster of a disaster movie starring Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Heche, and what appears to be a Hell of a lot of molten Velveeta flowing through the streets of Los Angeles. Directed by Mick Jackson, this late-’90s spectacle swaps out an actual volcano for an endless surge of lava, asking audienc...

On this episode of the podcast that wields films like deadly weapons, Jay is forced to endure Roar (1981), the infamous “no animals were harmed” production where, somehow, nearly every human involved absolutely was. Starring Tippi Hedren and directed by Noel Marshall, this real-life experiment in living alongside big cats quickly becomes a chaotic showcase of exactly why that should never be attempted on film or otherwi...

Justice arrives on this episode of the podcast that wields films like deadly weapons. Mike and Jay finally tallied the listener poll results for 2025's Dueling Double Bills series, and because the guys tied during last year’s competition, they were saddled with an appropriately cursed outcome. Jay must face the chaotic animatronic pairing of Tammy and the T-Rex and Howard the Duck, while Mike somehow ends up with Tammy and th...

With Oscar season upon us, Mike and Jay revisit one of the most debated Best Picture winners of the modern era: Crash (2004), Paul Haggis’s ensemble drama about race, prejudice, and the tangled moral collisions of Los Angeles. Hailed in 2005 as urgent and important, and dismissed just as quickly in the years since as heavy-handed and self-congratulatory, Crash now lands in a cultural moment where its subject matter isn’...

In one of the stranger twists of fate, Mike slaps Jay with the exact movie Jay had been planning to assign next: the sun-bleached slab of questionable ‘80s excess known as Blame It on Rio. The infamous 1984 comedy stars Michael Caine and was directed by Stanley Donen, yes, the very same Stanley Donen who gave us Singin’ in the Rain. This time, however, decorum is tossed aside in favor of ribald “laughs” and ...

This week on Filmjitsu, Mike takes on As the Gods Will (2014), Takashi Miike’s candy-colored death-game nightmare where innocent children’s games turn lethally absurd in record time. Equal parts brutal, bizarre, and uncomfortably playful, it’s a film that dares you to keep up as the rules change and the bodies pile up because... reasons? After the main review, the guys unleash their Bottom Five Dolls, spotlighting...

On this episode of the podcast that wields films like deadly weapons, Mike bludgeons Jay with a three-hour, brown-toned cudgel of 1997 prestige cinema called The Postman. Another Kevin Costner-as-savior slog, this one delivers its punishment via sheer runtime, self-importance, and, somehow, Tom Petty as the mayor of a post-apocalyptic city. After the main review, pack a lunch and be sure to leave ahead of traffic as the guys discus...

Welcome to the 2025 ’Jitsu Awards! Every January, the fools behind Filmjitsu gather for a very special episode, where Mike and Jay look back at the 25+ terrible movies they endured in 2025 and attempt to extract whatever scraps of value remain. Will Nicolas Cage take home Best Actor simply for showing up in Left Behind? Can Roseanne Barr topple her co-star Meryl Streep from She-Devil for Best Actress? And what, exactly, will ...

Just four days before Christmas, the holiday that somehow balances goodwill and rampant consumerism with alarming confidence, Filmjitsu unwraps its latest seasonal offering: a full review of Love Actually. Richard Curtis’s 2003 all-star rom-com is a film that lives in two completely different cultural realities at once: perpetually lodged near the top of “Best Christmas Movies Ever” lists, while also earning a per...