The Xenopod

Simon and Jim discuss the second in Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's trilogy, OCEAN'S TWELVE, Soderbergh's favourite of this franchise. They discuss our expectations of sequels, the fascinating visual style of this film, the narrative shortcomings and baggy script, the clash between old-world European and modern US American sensibilities, and how *that plot beat* with Julia Roberts spea...

Simon and Jim return to discuss Steven Soderbergh's OCEAN'S ELEVEN, the first in his trilogy of Ocean's films. They discuss the film's huge jump in quality from the 1960 original, the stylishness and confidence of Soberbergh's filmmaking and the importance of the music in setting that tone, the extremely tight script, and the surprising lack of common ground between the origina...

TAKE ONE Presents... returns for another job, this time sticking up the Ocean's franchise and taking all the critical insight we can get from this franchise. In this first episode, Simon and Jim set out the plan for the series and then go back further than they've ever been to discuss 1960's OCEAN'S 11. They discuss the personal and political lives of the Rat Pack aka. the Clan, ho...

In this epilogue to their Terminator series, Simon and Jim wrap up their thoughts on the franchise as a whole, explore what the directors of these films went on to do, give their final rankings of the films in the franchise, and expand on their thoughts on the impact of capital on this franchise through how the rights were passed around in a way that makes the franchise more of a commodity than a...

Simon and Jim finish their journey through the Terminator franchise with Tim Miller's TERMINATOR: DARK FATE. They get into whether the film is actually good or if they've just been down in the Terminator mines too long, the film's positioning in dialogue with TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY, Linda Hamilton as a rare example of a female 'geriaction' star and the film's depiction...

Simon and Jim enter the modern era of Terminator films with TERMINATOR GENISYS directed by Alan Taylor, a film with a promising start that goes on to absolutely fall off a cliff. They discuss the producers' ambition for a new Terminator Cinematic Universe off the back of this film and the perils of planning for a trilogy without making a successful film first, the interesting way that this fil...

Simon and Jim discuss TERMINATOR SALVATION directed by McG. They discuss the film's disappointing turn from the franchise's anti-war themes towards working directly with the US military and parroting establishment narratives, the dour over-saturated (by design!) late-2000s colour palette of the film, what specific voice Christian Bale is doing as John Connor, how the film represents (or do...

Simon and Jim discuss Jonathan Mostow's TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES, a pivot from interesting and distinctive Terminator films towards generic early 2000s action films. They discuss this film's wild tonal whiplash and the great disservice it does to the film's more ambitious plot points, the casual laddish misogyny and voyeurism expressed through the T-X and the Kate Brewster ch...

We continue our Terminator series with one of the most successful films ever made, TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY. Simon and Jim discuss what this film does to develop as a sequel, the film's production through some very James Cameron stories, the many various readings of this film in the research literature including some dubious political and racialised readings, modernism and postmodernism as e...

TAKE ONE Presents... is back for a new series covering the Terminator franchise. In this first episode, Simon and Jim discuss James Cameron's THE TERMINATOR. We talk about how the film came about through Cameron's dogged and occasionally dickish persistence, "tech-noir" as a genre, the film's situatedness in the 1980s and how that lends the film an interesting sense of tempor...

Simon and Jim wrap up The Impossipod series with a discussion about the overall trajectory of the Mission: Impossible franchise, what the directors of these films went on to do, the politics of these films, their rankings of every film in the franchise, and some thoughts about how this ties into their wider thoughts on blockbuster franchise filmmaking. Our Letterboxd rankings for Mission: Impossib...

Simon and Jim reach the end of the Mission: Impossible franchise with 2025's MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING. They discuss the film's shockingly shoddy first half, the disconnect between the dialogue's apocalyptic exposition and what we're actually shown on screen of the world, how the film continues DEAD RECKONING's attempt to grapple with themes around AI and post-truth but never manag...

Simon and Jim discuss Christopher McQuarrie's third Mission: Impossible film, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING PART ONE, the first of a two-parter that will cap off this franchise (for now). They discuss the film's troublesome title (again), the reconfiguration of the IMF from an intelligence agency to a weird cult with echoes of Tom Cruise's own religion, how the film is in dialog...

Simon and Jim return to The Xenopod for a special episode discussing the new Alien franchise TV series, ALIEN: EARTH created by Noah Hawley. They discuss how well the worldbuilding works, the production design, the creature design before ultimately descending into discussion of why the series as a whole doesn't work: pacing issues including the pacing issues with US prestige TV in general, the...

Simon and Jim discuss Christopher McQuarrie's second Mission: Impossible film, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT, a very highly-regarded entry in the franchise that frankly Simon and Jim are a bit meh about. They discuss how Henry Cavill (and his $3 million moustache) is a great addition to the film, the shift in Ethan's character towards mythologising messianic tropes, McQuarrie's obsessi...

Simon and Jim discuss Christopher McQuarrie's first Mission: Impossible film of many, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION. They discuss how this film both subverts the tropes of this franchise and simultaneously develops the 'house style' for the rest of the franchise, the continuing themes around government accountability and 'Deep State' conspiracy theories, how the character of Ilsa Faust repres...

Simon and Jim are back for a Dinopod bonus episode on the recently released JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH. They discuss how this film fits in with a recurring theme of 2025 blockbuster films going 'back to basics', the elements that distinguish this film from the other Jurassic World films and make it more of a Jurassic Park film, how the impeccable pacing, competent structure, and intelligent w...

Simon and Jim discuss Brad Bird's live-action feature directorial debut, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL, a zenith of the Mission: Impossible franchise. They get into how this film finally strikes the right tone for the franchise and how that tone will be carried forward from this point, the clear intent to replace Tom Cruise in the franchise that doesn't get carried forward, how this franchi...

Simon and Jim get into J. J. Abrams' feature directorial debut, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III, a nadir of the Mission: Impossible franchise. They discuss the ways in which this film is a time capsule of the mid-2000s complete with an ugly digital camera aesthetic and an unpleasantly jingoistic neoconservative worldview, the film's distribution issues related to Scientology, how J. J. Abrams-y and Alex K...

Simon and Jim discuss John Woo's hi-octane early-2000s take on the Mission: Impossible franchise, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2. They discuss the many issues with this film's script, the John Wooiness of it all, the strong current of misogyny running through the entire film and how Thandiwe Newton is literally the only woman that speaks in it, how we're starting to see the early seeds of Tom Cruise's cont...

Simon and Jim launch a new TAKE ONE Presents... limited series on the Mission: Impossible franchise starting with the 1990s spy thriller, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE directed by Brian De Palma. They discuss the cultural context of the 1990s when this film came out, how this film leans into spycraft and espionage compared to the blockbuster action of later films in the franchise, and Tom Cruise's non-tradi...

Simon and Jim meet to wrap up the Jurassic Park franchise (for now) with a discussion about what they learned overall, the various themes that emerged as they analysed every film, and some discussion of what's coming next for the franchise including some thoughts on JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH (2025). Content warnings: sexual abuse, climate change and environmental disaster. Our theme song is Juras...

Simon and Jim take on the last (for now) film in the Jurassic Park franchise, JURASSIC WORLD DOMINION. They get into the problems with the script, editing, and cinematography, the film's clear desire to be a film in any other franchise except Jurassic Park, and how the complete defusing of the paradigm shift at the end of the last film is indicative of the franchise's sense of capitalist r...

Simon and Jim return to Isla Nublar one last time before its destruction to discuss JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM and the lofty ambitions of a film that doesn't quite work. They discuss how the film approaches ecological management issues in the Anthropocene and humans' relationship with non-humans, the characters' inconsistent approach to conservationism, the film's Gothic horror...

Simon and Jim travel back to Isla Nublar to explore their complex and contradictory feelings about Colin Trevorrow's requel, JURASSIC WORLD. They discuss the unmade Jurassic Park IV, the film's simultaneous embrace of capitalism, consumer excess, and product placement while attempting to satirise those things, the film's abhorrent attitude towards women, how horrible Owen Grady is as a...