Podcast
Die Hard On A Blank
Hosted by Philip Gawthorne and Liam Billingham · EN
Welcome to the party, pals! This is DIE HARD ON A BLANK, the podcast that explores the influence of DIE HARD on action cinema -- one action movie at a time. In each episode of DIE HARD ON A BLANK, hosts Philip Gawthorne and Liam Billingham discuss one major mainstream action movie that was released after DIE HARD. Phil and Liam break down the story, heroes, villains, action, humor and the 'DIE HARD DNA' that infuse each film, including common cast and crew members. They rate each film and hand out DIE HARD-themed awards. For casual fans and action movie die hards, DIE HARD ON A BLANK is a fun movie discussion podcast that treats the action genre with real respect and love. DIE HARD ON A BLANK is produced by Liam Billingham and Philip Gawthorne. Mike Mayer and Michael Sugar are the executive producers. Tyson Hubley makes our artwork and videos. You can follow Die Hard On A Blank on Twitter and Instagram here. Follow @liamgbillingham and @philipgawthorne on twitter. You can e-mail us with questions at diehardoab@gmail.com
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25episodes
Episodes
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16 BLOCKS with Mitchell Beaupre!
Dec 1701:29:50Tap to summarizeIt’s Die Hard on the streets! This week on DIE HARD ON A BLANK we’re discussing Richard Donner’s 2006 action-thriller/character study 16 BLOCKS, a film that some fans consider an alt-universe DIE HARD sequel! To get to the bottom of this we enlisted special guest Mitchell Beaupre, head of editorial at Letterboxd and an avowed 16 BLOCKS (and FREEJACK) fan! Aging, alcoholic New York City detective (Jack Mosley) is a depressed deadbeat waiting for death when he’s given an unwanted but seemingly routine assignment: to transfer petty criminal Eddie Bunker (Mos Def) from a jail cell to court, where he is planning to testify to a grand jury. However, after he saves Eddie from an assassination attempt, Jack comes to discover that everyone – including his own NYPD colleagues - seem to want Eddie dead. In dire need of redemption, Jack becomes determined to get Eddie to court on time, no matter what the cost or the consequences… The guys discuss the abundant DIE HARD DNA (and 48 HRS connections) and place this performance in the wider context of Bruce Willis’ career. They discuss the historic importance of LETHAL WEAPON-helmer Dick Donner making a DIE HARD-adjacent movie, and examine the film’s thematic interests, tonal inspirations, and ultimate ambitions. They discuss the film’s supporting cast, including Mos Def/Yasiin Bey as the interestingly named ‘Eddie Bunker’, podcast favorite David Morse as corrupt cop Frank Nugent, and David Zayas as the trigger-happy Bobby Torres. Awards are dispensed in the ‘Die Hard Oscars’ and as always events culminate with the ‘Double Jeopardy Trivia Quiz’, where the scores can really change!TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqffzRFzdcoAt the time of release, 16 BLOCKS is streaming on Hoopla in the US and is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV/iTunes, YouTube, Fandango and all the usual platforms! It is also available on physical media!Click here to subscribe to our Patreon feed 48 HOURS OF BUDDY MOVIES!www.patreon.com/48hoursofbuddymoviesPre-order NO ESCAPE on 4K (featuring our commentary track) here:https://shop.umbrellaent.com.au/products/no-escape-1994-4k-blu-ray?srsltid=AfmBOoqnRCaCPMg02WCWvNPTkK_8_fwYeelYFr90HpRlEuQQZ0025adT Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE!
Dec 301:12:27Tap to summarizeIt’s Die Hard in a diner! This week on DIE HARD ON A BLANK we’re discussing David Cronenberg’s masterful 2005 film A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, a story that begins (and ends) with a DIE HARD-type scenario…and goes deep and hard on the consequences of surviving such an event. Mild mannered family man Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) owns and runs a diner in the small, Norman Rockwellian town of Millbrook, Indiana, where he lives a quiet, happy life with his wife Edie (Maria Bello) and their two children, teenage son Jack (Ashton Holmes) and a young daughter Sarah (Heidi Hayes). However, Tom’s seemingly idyllic existence is shattered when he thwarts an attempted robbery at the diner, killing two murderous criminals in the process. The local media laud Tom as a hero, and the subsequent press attention results in the appearance of sinister Philadelphia mobster Carl Fogarty (Ed Harris), who believes that “Tom Stall” is in fact “Joey Cusack” a fellow mobster from his past. As Fogerty and his henchmen begin threatening Tom and his family, much of the subsequent tension stems from the uncertainty as to who Tom really is…and what he intends to do about this escalating threat to those he loves. The guys discuss their favorite Cronenberg films and where this particular picture fits within the auteur’s oeuvre. They talk about the myriad DIE HARD connections in the ‘DIE HARD DNA’ section, discuss its various themes, its provocative presentation of violence and sex, and the remarkable performances. Awards are handed out in the ‘DIE HARD Oscars’ and events culminate with the ‘Double Jeopardy’ quiz! TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_GSE_ZsUNwAt the time of release, A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV/iTunes, YouTube, Fandango and all the usual platforms! It is also available on physical media and is part of the Criterion Collection! Click here to subscribe to our Patreon feed 48 HOURS OF BUDDY MOVIES!www.patreon.com/48hoursofbuddymoviesPre-order NO ESCAPE on 4K (featuring our commentary track) here:https://shop.umbrellaent.com.au/products/no-escape-1994-4k-blu-ray?srsltid=AfmBOoqnRCaCPMg02WCWvNPTkK_8_fwYeelYFr90HpRlEuQQZ0025adT Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →HOSTAGE with Jim Penola!
Nov 1901:16:57Tap to summarizeIt’s Die Hard in a mansion!This week on DIE HARD ON A BLANK we’re discussing the 2005 Bruce Willis action-thriller HOSTAGE! And to break it all down we brought in special guest Jim Penola!After a fatal miscalculation in a previous siege, hostage negotiator Jeff Talley (Bruce Willis) quits the LAPD and becomes the police chief of a small, quiet, remote California town. However, Talley is thrust back into the limelight when a trio of young criminals rob the mansion of the wealthy local figure Walter Page (Kevin Pollak) and take his children hostage. When the siege goes public, the situation becomes further complicated when it is revealed that Page is a mob accountant. The mysterious criminal syndicate then pressurize Talley to retrieve a valuable item from the house, putting Talley and his own family between a rock and a hard place. Given its presence and its leading actor, it's a film positively overflowing with DIE HARD DNA…yet unlike the 1988 Christmas classic, HOSTAGE has a particularly mean-spirited and abrasive tone. To make sense of this picture, we enlisted the help of Jim Penola, a connoisseur of the “home invasion” movie, and together the guys discuss this film in the wider context of the “action-horror” subgenre, the French extremist movement, and Bruce Willis’ career. They hand out awards in the DIE HARD OSCARS and pit their wits against the quizmaster in the Double Jeopardy section! You won’t feel like a hostage listening to this episode!!! (etc. etc.)TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCt4L7RPweEAt the time of release, HOSTAGE is streaming on Hoopla in the US, and is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV/iTunes, YouTube, Fandango and all the usual platforms! It is also available on physical media! Click here to subscribe to our Patreon feed 48 HOURS OF BUDDY MOVIES!www.patreon.com/48hoursofbuddymovies Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (2005)!
Nov 501:10:21Tap to summarizeIt’s Die Hard in a police station!This week on DIE HARD ON A BLANK we’re battening down the hatches with Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishburne as we discuss the 2005 remake of ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13!After a botched undercover drug bust results in the deaths of two of his fellow team members, traumatized Detroit cop Jake Roenick (Ethan Hawke) now works an unambitious desk job, where he oversees a quiet, remote precinct that’s about to be decommissioned. However, when a busload of prisoners – including notorious gangster Marion Bishop (Laurence Fishburne) - are forced to take refuge at said precinct because of a brutal New Year’s Eve snowstorm, Jake suddenly finds himself called back into action when mysterious masked gunmen assault the police station… After comparing and contrasting this film with John Carpenter’s original 1976 classic (itself a loose remake of RIO BRAVO), the guys discuss the myriad DIE HARD (and DIE HARD 2) DNA on display in this pressure-cooker siege scenario, while musing on the possibility that the echoes of previous wars (Vietnam, the Iraq invasion) may be reverberating inside both versions of the story. They also discuss the idea of the “action-horror” subgenre in this surprisingly gory picture, as well as Ethan Hawke’s post-TRAINING DAY action-hero run. Awards are handed out to the stellar ensemble cast in the DIE HARD OSCARS section, and as always the episode culminates with a cheeky edition of the DOUBLE JEOPARDY trivia quiz!TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isoX0zcyG-4At the time of release, ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 is streaming on Starz and Philo in the US, and is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV/iTunes, YouTube, Fandango and all the usual platforms! It is also available on physical media!The original 1976 version is also currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Fubo, Roki, Pluto TV, Kanopy, Shout TV, Plex and The Criterion Channel!Click here to subscribe to our Patreon feed 48 HOURS OF BUDDY MOVIES, where we’ve discussed other John Carpenter classics such as BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA and THEY LIVE!www.patreon.com/48hoursofbuddymovies Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →48 Hours Of Buddy Movies' Season 3 Announcement!
Nov 300:12:20Tap to summarizeWe got 12 more movies coming to our patreon 48 Hours of Buddy Movies! Subscribe here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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LETHAL WEAPON 2 (A 48HBM/DHOAB crossover event!)
Aug 1301:27:12Tap to summarizeDHOAB is on summer hiatus! However, to continue to hear our beautiful voices, sign up for 48 HOURS OF BUDDY MOVIES at patreon.com/48hoursofbuddymovies. Use code DHOABBREAK40 to get your first month for $3! To wet your whistle, we're giving you our episode on LETHAL WEAPON 2 today, for free.This week on 48 HOURS OF BUDDY MOVIES, we tackle one of the defining entries in the genre — LETHAL WEAPON 2! For Liam, this one’s personal: a formative film that helped shape his love of buddy movies and action cinema. We unpack the evolution of Riggs and Murtaugh’s partnership, from antagonistic sparks in the first film to full-blown brotherhood here, and how that emotional core elevates the surrounding mayhem. We dig into Richard Donner’s slick direction, Joel Silver’s architectural in-jokes, the reverberating echoes of Shane Black’s voice in the heavily re-written script, and the film’s perfect cocktail of gunfights, jokes, and toilet-based suspense. Plus: the politics of apartheid-era villains, the joys of Joe Pesci’s scene-stealing turn, and how this sequel helped codify the rhythms and tropes of the modern buddy action movie. A foundational text — and a very special episode! You won’t be “immune” to the vibes of this one!Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbFE2P3tASIAt the time of release, LETHAL WEAPON 2 is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV/iTunes, YouTube and Fandango and on physical media through selected outlets.Click here to subscribe to our Patreon feed: 48 HOURS OF BUDDY MOVIES!www.patreon.com/48hoursofbuddymoviesCREDITS"Miami Nights - Extended Theme" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/police2.wav by guitarguy1985 – https://freesound.org/s/70938/ – License: Creative Commons 0 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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PANIC ROOM with Shahir Daud!
Jul 30, 202501:37:04Tap to summarizeIt’s Die Hard in a brownstone!This week on DIE HARD ON A BLANK we’re breaking into PANIC ROOM with the help of a specialist: Shahir Daud - filmmaker, Fincher fanatic and host of the long-running show THE ONLY PODCAST ABOUT MOVIES!On their first night after moving in to a luxurious New York ‘townstone’, recently divorced single mother Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) and her 11 year-old daughter Sarah (Kristen Stewart) are terrorized by a trio of mysterious burglars. When Meg and Sarah become aware of the intruders, they seek refuge in the house’s high-tech ‘panic room’, only to discover that the thing the thieves want most is inside that very room. Despite being more of a Hitchcockian thriller than a traditional action movie, PANIC ROOM is nonetheless filled with DIE HARD DNA – right down to the bearer bonds (the economics of which we’re still trying to understand). The guys place this film in context among the wider careers of both director David Fincher and writer David Koepp, and analyze if it explores any of the thematic obsession of both of these storied creators. They discuss the performances of the movie’s eclectic cast and go deep on Fincher’s groundbreaking filmmaking techniques. As always events culminate with the DIE HARD OSCARS and the delightfully devilish DOUBLE JEOPARDY TRIVIA QUIZ. Fincher-philes rise up! TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp2kKzrCm44At the time of release, PANIC ROOM is streaming on Fubo, and is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV/iTunes, YouTube, Fandango and all the usual platforms!Click here to subscribe to our Patreon feed 48 HOURS OF BUDDY MOVIES!www.patreon.com/48hoursofbuddymovies Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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BLACK HAWK DOWN!
Jul 16, 202501:20:05Tap to summarizeIt’s Die Hard in a war zone!This week on DIE HARD ON A BLANK…it’s war! Not just on screen, but also between Phil and Liam, have very different opinions about this divisive film!During a disastrous mission in Somalia, a group of U.S. soldiers find themselves besieged by scores of enemy militia in the city of Mogadishu, a situation that is compounded when not one but two Black Hawk helicopters crash in the middle of the war zone. With the situation worsening by the minute, inexperienced Staff Sgt Matt Eversman (Josh Hartnett) must use all his skills and determination to bring his men home, save the pilots, and honor the Army Ranger credo: ‘No Man Left Behind’. As our hosts debate the relative merits and demerits of this undeniably powerful picture, the conversation also widens into a larger discussion of whether any film can legitimately be an anti-war movie or whether all war films are inherently propagandistic on some level. The boys also discuss some of their own brushes with military personnel and how that informed their views about this film…and Phil even recounts his own experience of flying in a Black Hawk! As always, events culminate with the Die Hard Oscars and the Double Jeopardy trivia quiz. Helo heads rise up! TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GfBkC3qs78At the time of release, BLACK HAWK DOWN is available to stream on Netflix, Hoopla and Kanopy and is available rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV/iTunes, YouTube, Fandango and all the usual platforms, as well as on physical media!Click here to subscribe to our Patreon feed 48 HOURS OF BUDDY MOVIES!www.patreon.com/48hoursofbuddymovies Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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THE LAST CASTLE with Jason Bailey!
Jul 2, 202501:34:45Tap to summarizeIt’s Die Hard in a military prison!This week on DIE HARD ON A BLANK, we are storming THE LAST CASTLE with returning special guest Jason Bailey, author of GANDOLFINI: Jim, Tony and the Life of a Legend.When decorated three-star U.S. Army General Eugene Irwin (Robert Redford) is sentenced to a term in a military prison overseen by Colonel Winter (James Gandolfini), both men gradually slide into a destructive power struggle…and when Irwin witnesses Winter’s brutal tactics firsthand, he eventually leads the prisoners in a full on uprising against his opposite number. As we examine Rod Lurie’s highly underrated 2001 siege drama, we dig into the film’s resonant themes of anti-authoritarianism, courage under fire, and personal honor, and debate whether this might be that rare bird: a pro-military movie with liberal politics.But mostly, we dive deep on James Gandolfini’s extraordinary performance as one of the most human and sympathetic “villains” in modern action movie history — a turn that may just be his best ever big-screen role. Plus: the Die Hard Oscars, Double Jeopardy trivia, and some inside baseball on the off-screen relationship between Gandolfini and Robert Redford during the film’s difficult shoot. Lurie Lads rise up!!ORIGINAL TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsxA8Euaiw0At the time of release, THE LAST CASTLE is available to stream on Paramount Plus and is available rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV/iTunes, YouTube, Fandango and all the usual platforms, as well as on physical media!Click here to subscribe to our Patreon feed 48 HOURS OF BUDDY MOVIES!www.patreon.com/48hoursofbuddymovies Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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SWORDFISH!
Jun 18, 202501:29:38Tap to summarizeIt’s Die Hard in a bank!This week on DIE HARD ON A BLANK, we plug into SWORDFISH — the slick, post-Matrix cyber-thriller produced by Joel Silver and directed by Dominic Sena. With Hugh Jackman hacking mainframes under extreme duress, John Travolta dropping pseudo-Brechtian monologues, Halle Berry delivering the most famous topless scene of the early 2000s, and Don Cheadle constantly violating people’s civil rights, it’s a film that dares to ask: does it matter if a movie makes no sense, as long as it’s entertaining? We also dig into Swordfish's dense meta-layering and debate the broader question: when is too much meta actually bad for the form? As always we break the film down in detail in our ‘Anatomy of an Action Movie section’, hand out some ‘Die Hard Oscars’ and wrestle with some ‘Double Jeopardy’ brain teasers…heck, there’s even a Vinnie Jones impression thrown into the mix for good measure! What more could you possibly want?! SWORDFISH trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFwtY1bxlNcAt the time of release, SWORDFISH is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV/iTunes, YouTube, Fandango and all the usual platforms, as well as on physical media!Click here to subscribe to our Patreon feed 48 HOURS OF BUDDY MOVIES! Sign up on the website (instead of the app) to save $$$!www.patreon.com/48hoursofbuddymovies Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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