Filmjitsu! The Podcast that wields films as deadly weapons

In this special interview episode, Mike took a journey to one of his favorite places on Earth: Lehighton, Pennsylvania, home to the much-loved Mahoning Drive-in Theatre. This last-of-its-kind, old-school site is one of the only places in the United States where you can sit under the stars, munch on a bucket of popcorn and watch 35mm prints of classic films from decade's past on a huge screen. Virg...

In this special episode of Filmjitsu, Jay and Mike record from the parking lot of the cinema after watching Lee Isaac Chung's "Twisters," a sequel of sorts to the much-loved popcorn flick, 1996's "Twister." Is pluralizing the original, charming, stand-alone disaster film and turning it into a franchise anything but a cash grab? The guys answer this from the confines of a 100° car and are joined by...

Jay tosses Mike an unloaded pistol in a cinematic firefight with 2021's "Gunpowder Milkshake," a CGI-stuffed, Netflix-distributed, fox-force-five-riff that gathers an astonishingly great cast and wastes them on bad fight choreography and a foolish plot. As part of their discussion, they tackle the pros and cons of both the film and the genre it represents; ultra-stylized, violent, neo-noir flicks...

If Filmjitsu is the podcast that wields movies like deadly weapons, Mike pulls out a cinematic neutron bomb when he forces Jay to watch and review, "Jaws The Revenge," the final sequel of the "Jaws" franchise that somehow manages to be simultaneously forgotten and a notorious flop. "Jaws 4" lives as a perfect example of this episode's Bottom 5 Fourth Installments list where the guys tally their le...

Put on your life jacket because Mike and Jay continue with their summer-themed cinematic torture showcase with the 1997 debacle that is "Speed 2 - Cruise Control!" Mike weaves and bobs through his review of this sequel no one asked for with all the dexterity of an ocean liner controlled by Willem Dafoe while Jay laughs madly like the studio executive who greenlit this mess, his dreams of mad bank...

It's hot FIlmjitsu summer, and the guys are kicking it off with Mike making Jay watch 1980's "Blood Beach," a horror film that goes the bold route of blending the genre with... a dry police procedural? If a beach that eats people isn't your idea of a day in the sun, don't worry, the guys brought sunscreen and an umbrella as they count off their bottom five beach scenes! Finally, they chase that bi...

Jay pummels Mike with the most painful cinematic weapon he's deployed yet: the 2019, Fred Durst written-and-directed disaster, "The Fanatic." A slog of a thriller that finds John Travolta playing an autistic man named Moose who is obsessed with a mid-tier celebrity, the guys try to understand why this thing even got made and discover... a Red Box connection? After reacting to Durst's direction and...

Well, it's happened. The listeners have spoken and for Filmjitsu's first "Sophie's Choice" poll of its modern era, the winner - which Jay had to watch and review - was Tommy Wiseau's 2003 so-bad-it's-good cult-classic, "The Room." The victor "tore apart" John Travolta's "Battlefield Earth" in its head-to-head match-up, but the bigger question is, will the guys be able to say anything that hasn't a...

In celebration of Mother's Day, Mike and Jay launch into a full-on, earnest review of the 2008 jukebox musical "Mamma Mia!" With a star-studded cast that includes Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Christine Baranski and Dame Julie Walters - as well as a few dudes with the last names Firth, Skarsgard and Brosnan - the movie concerns a bride-to-be on the eve of her wedding in a stunning Greek archipela...

In this bonus interview episode, Mike and Jay jumped at the chance to speak with cult movie writer-director Richard Elfman ("Forbidden Zone") and his wife, actress and producer Anastasia Elfman, about their wacky, hilarious, gory and musical new film "Bloody Bridget." The film follows a murdered dancer who in the afterlife discovers she's a vengeful Celtic goddess with an insatiable hunger for hum...

Tonight... on a very special episode of Filmjitsu, the guys grapple with their roles in the patriarchy after being exposed to the dangers of Alex Garland's largely-acclaimed 2022 gross-out think-piece, "Men." Will Jay ever be the same? Will Mike? Fortunately, these two clowns somehow are avowed feminists so... yeah, they might get down with the messaging of the film, even while suppressing urges t...

While the MonsterVerse has brought Kong back to movie screens, never was the big ape been quite as... horny... as he was in 1976's "King Kong!" And who could blame him because, well, Jessica Lange in her film debut is, as Mike puts it, "a smokeshow." But was Mike able to find anything else to like in this Dino De Laurentiis-produced big-budget epic rife with bad, yet-somehow-Oscar-winning, special...

Leave it to the guys at FIlmjitsu to celebrate Easter and the renewal of Spring by reviewing a movie about organ harvesting! Having nothing to do with bunnies, eggs, baskets, or certainly anything that Jesus Christ would have died for, 2008's "Repo! The Genetic Opera" is a cinematic weapon that delivers more pain than crucifixion! As Mike cackles at the horror wrought, Jay attempts to limit the nu...

Despite an 86-minute run-time, the Rotten Tomatoes 0% fresh-rated "The Disappointments Room" took so long for Mike to watch that we're pretty sure he's still locked in his own hidden loft where the only way out is to find one redeeming thing to say about the Kate Beckinsale-starring mystery-thriller. Meanwhile, Jay provides color-commentary on the career of director D.J. Caruso before the guys get...

Ever wonder what it's like to be the protagonist in a relentless, balls-to-the-wall action flick? Jay never did either! But Mike decided to make him watch "Hardcore Henry" anyhow. How did this 2015 low-budget first-person POV feature from director Ilya Naishuller ("Nobody") fare on review? Jay recounts plenty of blood, gore and exhaustion before the guys move on to their lists of Bottom Five Birth...

Jay drops a tornado-and-hurricane-fueled nuclear weapon of a flick onto Mike with 1998's "The Avengers," a startlingly slap-dash big-budget flop starring Ralph Fiennes, Uma Thurman and THE Sean Connery in a role that likely had a lot to do with his decision to retire from acting. The guys delve into the history of this bad-weather cinematic oddity-cum-remake-of-a-1960's British tv-show and try to...

Mike brings out the cinematic equivalent of a katana to this week's episode with "Bratz," the 2007 young-adult(?) comedy/drama/toy tie-in that cuts deep with a sugary but very conservative mix of idealized teenage life and "acceptable" "cultural" and "feminine" "individualism." Can Jay survive this wholesome, hyper-cut mess? The blood-loss is real, but the guys manage to struggle through their lis...

Mike and Jay return to the usual Filmjitsu format with Jay hurling the grenade that is 1953's "Glen or Glena," the notorious Edward D, Wood, Jr. picture that revels in the pleasures of angora and monotonous narration. Is this a prescient look into gender identity, a lurid sensationalist cash-grab or simply inept filmmaking at its worst? The guys try to answer all this while also dealing with the p...

Looking back at their first year of watching horrible movies in this special year-end episode, Mike and Jay speak kindly(ish) about some of the 21 featured flicks wielded as deadly weapons in 2023, rewarding actors, filmmakers and artists with the inaugural "'Jitsu Awards." Who will get a case of "The 'Jits?" Well, not Mike or Jay themselves as they spend the Bottom Five segment tearing themselves...

Mike and Jay get into the spirit of the holiday season with Filmjitsu first: a movie both had to watch and review. That movie? "The Mean One," a 2022 horror parody of The Grin-... um... you know, who absconded with that one holiday there with the trees, gifts and, yeah, you know. After retelling their tale of yuletide suffering, the guys then list their bottom five gifts (or presents, because gift...

What happens when Mike reaches deep down into the bag of the most controversial films in cinema history and withdraws a weapon so oddly jagged and dangerous that it might kill both Jay AND Mike himself? You get a full review of Larry Clark's 1995 slice of New York City life, cinema verite, "Kids" with some very surprising conclusions drawn. And because the guys are nothing if not predictable, they...

Mike, after performing horribly in the annual bracket competition he helped create over at the Filmspotting podcast, is forced to watch "Home Team," a Happy Madison production that even Adam Sandler himself had the good sense to avoid. Jay's around to laugh at Mike's suffering, and then both share their bottom five movie teams which may or may not include flicks actually involving sports. Finally,...

The guys get back to business-as-usual following their three-episode trek into Halloween-season-horror, this time with Mike tasking Jay with viewing the fourth movie in the "Police Academy" saga: "Police Academy 4 - Citizens on Patrol." Plot-twist, Jay was a huge fan as a kid! Did his love of juvenile law-enforcement shenanigans carry on into adulthood? Listen for the answer, and for the guys' lis...

The guys wrap-up the 2023 Halloween season with a third and final horror special! This time, Mike forces Jay to watch the ninth installment of the Jason Vorhees saga (which we're legally not supposed to call "Friday the 13th..." oops) and after weighing whether or not this is the worst of the Crystal Lake teen-slash-a-thons, our hapless heroes list off their bottom five horror franchises!

The guys continue celebrating the 2023 Halloween season with the second of three special horror episodes! This week, Mike attempts to review Lucio Fulci's 1981 gore-fest, "The Beyond," which - more than any other film wielded as a deadly weapon by Jay - left a mark due to some scenes of eight-legged violence. Will Mike be able to speak intelligibly about this cinematic trauma and then go on to lis...