Disenfranchised

“It’s clobberin’ time… for REAL!” With Fantastic Four: First Steps on the horizon, we're kicking off a double feature with this unreleased 1994 failed franchise starter featuring a surprisingly expressive rubber mask, a better-than-it-ought-to-be score, and one of the stars of the made-for-TV Not Quite Human film franchise! Join us for a tangent-heavy discussion of this bootleg classic! Having a t...

“On my world, it means hope.” There's a new Superman movie in theaters, so we're answering the important questions! Things like: Does this film even fit our format? Does Zack Snyder understand Superman as a character? What comics does Stephen recommend for the person seeking to understand how Superman fits in a modern context? And wait… this movie was marketed to churches?? Look! Up in the sky! It...

“You ever get tired of being wrong?” Nobody wrote any show notes this week, so hi, it's Tucker. This movie is really lame and we barely talk about it. I worked really hard on the last 6 minutes of this episode, so hopefully that bit works for everyone. According to Stephen’s bullet points, we talked about Burger King and Jurassic Park, but I don't remember talking about any of that, so who knows....

“You can’t escape it. It’s everywhere… but it’s merciful if you do what it says.” With a sequel to M3gan coming to theaters, we’re discussing this “movie that does not exist” and, along the way, we also chat about our thoughts on AI, puppeteering in Little Shop of Horrors , the Denzel Washington ‘90s weird cop movie trilogy, television shows that dropped off HARD after their initial season, celebr...

“It’s just a little theistic hysteria, which is nothing.” This week, we’re feeling the love as we talk about one of Tucker and Stephen’s favorite films by one of their favorite filmmakers! We go deep on the careers of Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, and Meg Ryan - this movie’s three main stars, the dichotomy of passion vis a vis retirement at a point in an artist’s life, and an extended riff on the wo...

“Only one thing worse than a dragon: Americans!” With a live-action How to Train Your Dragon movie in theaters this weekend, we’re talking about another Gerard Butler vs. dragons movie that ends with something incendiary shot down the mouth of the Alpha Dragon! Along the way, we also stop to discuss Billy Bob Thornton’s directorial efforts, why Barry Pepper should have been in this movie, and our...

“Oh, I was just admiring your boots. Did you purchase them locally?” We didn’t get to do a Straight Up last week, so we’re doing it this week instead and we’re doing it in honor of the late, great Val Kilmer! We’re using this early-aughts indie drama to discuss Kilmer’s filmography and legacy, the highs and lows of director D.J. Caruso’s journeyman filmmaking career, and the pros and cons of the w...

“...are you sure you aren’t still trying to save a girl who died twenty years ago?” Life continues to, uh, find a way, so we’re moving this month’s Straight Up to next week. As a placeholder, we offer you a peek behind the Patreon curtain to an episode of our Patreon-exclusive show Unenfranchised recorded in January 2024, which explores films that killed off franchises as we discuss another Tucker...

“I drove a car off a freeway while I was on fire. Not the car. I was on fire!” This week, with a new Mission: Impossible film on its way and our good buddy DeVaughn Taylor halfway through his quest to watch every Jason Statham movie in existence, we couldn't think of a better reason to watch this mid-aughts comedy! We chat about the stacked cast, our favorite gags and DeVaughn gives his favorite S...

“This is where your land of fiction gets it right: we win! End of story!” With a new Final Destination movie dropping in theaters this week, we're looking back at a late-’90s teen horror film that ultimately failed to get on the franchise train! Plus, deep dives on the cast, director Robert Rodriguez, and our amazing pitch for a Faculty lega-sequel! School may be out, but our social media is IN! C...

“Shibby!” This week, we're FINALLY getting to the bottom of this film's titular age-old question and, along the way, we discuss what drugs were the production crew of this movie on when they were crafting the story of this film, homophobic and transphobic elements and their commonality during the turn of the century; the DisenFIVEchised theme song, all the movies we think this film borrows from or...

“We’re not your classic heroes. We’re the other guys.” With Marvel’s team of ‘other guys’ entering the MCU in theaters across the country, we’re taking a look back at our August 2023 episode on this 1999 classic we recorded in memory of the late, great Paul Reubens. We’re talking about one of the best casts in any superhero movie ever and our endless and enduring love for this cult classic! (And,...

“A thief isn't something you should become reluctantly.” As our third consecutive theme month comes to a close, we’re saying farewell to Japan by taking a look at what might be our favorite movie of this entire theme month so far! We talk about the copyright issue that could’ve stopped this franchise before it even started, how well it all translates into computer animation, and go DEEP on inside...

“For Toto!” Big in Japan 2: Even Bigger continues this week as we take on the reboot of that other kaiju film franchise out of Japan! Along the way, we discuss the key differences between Gamera and the Wu-Tang Clan, “Superbook,” “The Flying House,” and our Saturday morning cartoon viewing habits, a not-insignificant rundown of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, Bamboozled DVDs, and so much mo...

“Death is too good for you. Finish your life as a blind man.” It’s the second week of our Big in Japan 2: Even Bigger theme month and we’re welcoming back our good buddy Samuel Dumas from The Department of Menial Humor to talk about this modern remake of the classic Japanese blind swordsman character that’s influenced everything from Daredevil’s mentor to Richard “The Fugitive” Kimble! Along the w...

“Hey, this is getting complicated!” It’s our third consecutive theme month and this one is (in so many ways) even bigger! That’s right, it’s Big in Japan 2: Even Bigger! And as we discuss this early genre mismatch from Midnight Meat Train director Ryuhei Kitamura, we find the time to discuss the importance of film editing as an art form, They Cloned Tyrone , Tucker’s thoughts on Kyle Mooney’s late...

Oh, that’s a twist! That is VERY twisty…” We wanna be the very best like no one ever was… but in the meantime, we’ll settle for being ourselves! Tucker’s off solving a mystery, so it’s the OG Disenfranchised boys back in the saddle to discuss one of the best cinematic video game adaptations yet*! And, along the way, we discuss Marvel’s current and upcoming slate (NOTE: This episode was recorded BE...

“Leon S. Kennedy. What’s the ‘S’ stand for? Stupid?” Life got in the way this week, so we're rebroadcasting one of our favorite video game themed episodes! We discuss what happens when fan service goes too far, our collective love for Donal Logue, and Brett’s absolute obsessive adoration for all things Resident Evil. It’s up to us to take down Umbrella. Here’s where to help: @Disenfranchpod on Blu...

“Daddy loves you” Hey, Tucker here. Stephen is busy this week which means he isn’t part of this episode and could not write the show notes, so I’ll be taking a crack at it! Brett and I talk about video games in this episode. A lot of them. Sometimes we talk about Tomb Raider, but mostly Resident Evil. Enjoy! Social media is a thing that exists, and if it were a tomb, we would raid the shit out of...

“We've won. People no longer care about their civil liberties. They care about their standard of life. The modern world has outfitted notions like freedom. They're content to follow.” The gang's all here this week to kick off our second theme month of 2025 - Oops! All Video Games! - and as we do, we're talking the frustrating contradictions of the Assassin’s Creed fanbase, the equally-frustrating...

“They say your whole life flashes before your eyes when you die. And it's true, even for a blind man.” We’re closing out our first of three consecutive theme months this year by covering a long-promised movie! With “Daredevil: Born Again” dropping on Disney+ this weekend, we invited our buddy DeVaughn Taylor back to talk about this all-but-forgotten Ben Affleck vehicle from the early aughts. We’re...

“What happened to your face?” For Week 3 of our American Superhero theme month, we’re headed back to the wild, wild West for an unlikely comics hero! While we work on talking around the movie, Brett and Tucker geek out about “Supernatural,” Brett breaks down the deep lore of Jonah Hex, the boys gush about the SNL 50 weekend presentations, and Tucker and Brett try to make sense of the Silent Hill v...

“It's bad medicine... and nobody said the medicine was going to taste any good. But can we afford not to take it? I don't think so. If we don't take this medicine now, we'll all die. Slowly... but we'll die.” Another year, another Valentine’s Day and longtime listeners know that means some quality time with our eternal Valentine’s date, the great Mike Snoonian! And this year, to celebrate the rele...

“My city screams. She is my lover. She is my mother. And I… am her Spirit.” This week, we’re kicking off a month of films based on American comic book superheroes with the movie that brought Stephen closer to leaving a movie theater before the end of the film than any movie he’s seen before or since! In an effort to avoid discussing the movie any more than we have to, we discuss the comic book wor...

“That audience reaction. It’s like heroin.” It’s a fifth Thursday, so we’re Straight Up going off format to cover the third Joseph Kahn film we’ve ever covered! And who better to join us than Grand Voodoo Band’s own Evan Wilson (or ‘Jimmy’ as Tucker is inclined to call him)? Along the way, we talk about the dichotomy between progressive ideals and transgressive art, our rankings of Joseph Kahn fil...