Pass, Pirate, Pay with Ken Franco

Send us Fan Mail Ever get the feeling someone is watching you? This week on Pass, Pirate, Pay , Ken and Andy dive into three unsettling tales of obsession and paranoia. First up is Greta , where a simple act of kindness turns into a nightmare. Then it's Watcher , the slow-burn thriller that asks whether your instincts are protecting you... or betraying you. Finally, they take on the new horro...

Send us Fan Mail Mother knows best... or at least that's what we're finding out this week. In this belated Mother's Day special, we handed the programming duties over to the women who brought us into the world and let them pick the movies. The results? Two classic films that couldn't be more different. Andy's mom selected the legendary ballet drama The Red Shoes, a visuall...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Pass, Pirate, Pay , Ken and Andy dive into one of cinema’s most twisted ideas: the murder swap . First up is the classic that started it all, Strangers on a Train, where a chance meeting leads to a chilling proposal. Then it's on to the dark comedy Horrible Bosses, where three friends discover that plotting murder is a lot easier than actually pulling it off.  Th...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Pass, Pirate, Pay , we dive deep into the intense, magnetic world of Mads Mikkelsen with a triple feature that spans brutality, survival, and raw human emotion. First up, we trek through the haunting, dialogue-light Viking odyssey Valhalla Rising, where myth and madness blur in the mist. Then we head to the rugged frontier of The Promised Land, a story of grit, ambiti...

Send us Fan Mail  This week on Pass, Pirate, Pay , Ken and Andy crank the volume for Music Movies Part II , diving into three very different tunes on film. First up, Better Man takes a bold swing at the life of Robbie Williams—but does its wild storytelling style hit the high notes or miss the chorus entirely? Then it’s The History of Sound , a quieter, more introspective journey through music, me...

Send us Fan Mail It’s Hollywood’s biggest night, and Ken and Andy are here with their own ballots. In this special Oscar episode of Pass, Pirate, Pay , the guys break down the year’s biggest nominees and debate who should win , who will win , and which films and performances were completely snubbed by the Academy. Then the awards talk continues as Ken and Andy each reveal their Top 10 movies of th...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Pass, Pirate, Pay , Ken and Andy take a look at I Swear (2025) , the biographical drama about John Davidson , a man living with Tourette’s syndrome whose life story mixes humor, hardship, and resilience. The film follows Davidson’s journey navigating relationships, work, and the everyday challenges of a condition that people often misunderstand. Does I Swear succeed a...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Pass, Pirate, Pay , Ken Franco and the gang are stranded far from civilization with nothing but sand, suspicion, and a growing urge to strangle their fellow castaways. We’re diving into desert island survival movies where the real danger isn’t the island — it’s the other guy . First up is the WWII odd-couple standoff Hell in the Pacific , where an American pilot and a...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Pass, Pirate, Pay , Ken and the gang put on their finest oversized sunglasses and step into the marble-floored, gold-trimmed world of the new documentary about Melania Trump . From international model to First Lady to one of the most famously private public figures of the 21st century, the film tries to pull back the curtain on a woman the world has seen everywhere —...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Pass, Pirate, Pay , Ken and Andy grab Yorick’s skull, stare into the void, and ask the only question that matters: to stream, to skip, or to spend? We’re diving into three very different riffs on the Bard’s most broody prince: 🎭 Renaissance Man – Danny DeVito plays an ad-man-turned-Army-English-teacher who uses Hamlet to whip a group of underachieving recruits into i...

Send us Fan Mail We’re heading back down the Yellow Brick Road — but this time, Oz gets bigger, stranger, and a whole lot more magical. On this episode of Pass, Pirate, Pay , we revisit the timeless classic The Wizard of Oz , now re-imagined inside the mind-bending MSG Sphere in Las Vegas. Then we dig into the often-forgotten 90’s television film The Dreamer of Oz , exploring the life — and strugg...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Pass, Pirate, Pay we’re jingling all the way into a holiday edition of Better Than Gigli — and the target on the tree is Netflix’s new Christmas movie, Hot Frosty . Is this steamy snow-man romance a cozy cup of cocoa… or a melted pile of slush? We break down the plot, the performances, the Christmas-movie cheese factor — and, most importantly — decide whether Hot Fros...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Pass, Pirate, Pay , Ken and Andy spin the big wheel of fate and dive into game show movies —where the stakes are high, the rules are shady, and the hosts are sometimes the real villains. They break down The New Running Man , a modern update on the deadly televised competition that asks what happens when entertainment really costs lives. Then it’s on to The Luckiest Ma...

Send us Fan Mail This week, Ken and Andy ante up for a trio of gambling flicks that run the table on chaos, charm, and questionable decision-making. First, they revisit the laid-back frontier wisdom of Kenny Rogers in The Gambler , then sprint to the racetrack for Richard Dreyfuss’ wild lucky streak in Let It Ride , and finally descend into the smoky neon underworld of PTA’s debut neo-crime drama...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Pass, Pirate, Pay, Ken and Andy let the dogs out — straight into the movies. From wilderness survival to foul-mouthed strays to a brand-new horror pup, we’re diving snout-first into three wildly different canine flicks. First up: Call of the Wild, where Harrison Ford befriends a CGI dog with more emotional intelligence than most humans. Then we unleash Strays, the fil...

Send us Fan Mail This week, Ken and Andy tumble deep into the bizarre end of cinema’s bathtub with three gloriously deranged picks: The Greasy Strangler , Krazy House , and One Battle After Another . It’s an ooze-soaked, brain-melting journey through awkward nudity, screaming absurdity, and art so strange it might actually be genius. Expect confusion, laughter, and philosophical debates about whet...

Send us Fan Mail Ken and Andy return to Castle Rock for another round of Stephen King adaptations, and this time the ride gets weird. The boys tackle the early-’90s CGI trip The Lawnmower Man in a full Better Than Gigli segment, asking the hard question: is this cyber-thriller a misunderstood gem or just lawn clippings? Then it’s on to two very different King stories — the claustrophobic, nerve-wr...

Send us Fan Mail This week, Ken and Andy dive headfirst into the wild world of animation! We’re rolling through three very different animated adventures: the trippy cult-classic Heavy Metal (1981), Pixar’s latest family-friendly cosmic quest Elio (2025), and the neon-fueled, music-powered chaos of K-Pop: Demon Hunters . From hard rock space operas to heartfelt alien misunderstandings to magical id...

Send us Fan Mail This week Ken and Andy open the nursery door into the world of evil offspring and spine-tingling child terror. Our theme: Creepy Kids . 👶 First up, we take on The First Omen (2024), a stylish prequel that tries to recapture the devilish dread of the classic franchise. 🧸 Then we move into chilling psychological territory with Bring Her Back , where parental fears and supernatural...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Pass, Pirate, Pay , Ken and Andy dive headfirst into the spooky, swoony world of Horroromance —where scares meet love stories. We’re breaking down three very different entries in the genre: the Norwegian supernatural coming-of-age thriller Thelma (2017), the heartfelt Your Monster , and the quirky indie romance Together . Joining us for the ride is film producer Thoma...

Send us Fan Mail In this one-off Better Than Gigli deep dive, we grab our space helmets and bandanas to explore the inexplicable, unproduced fever dream that is Ice Cube’s War of the Worlds . We talk alien invasions with West Coast swagger, debate whether tripod walkers would be improved with hydraulics and spinning rims, and imagine what happens when “Today Was a Good Day” meets “The End of the W...

Send us Fan Mail  🎙️ New Episode: Red, White & Reel — Right-Wing Cinema Explored This week on Pass, Pirate, Pay , Ken and the gang dive headfirst into the world of right-wing cinema with a triple feature that’s as ideologically loaded as it is conversation-worthy. First up, the vigilante fantasy Sound of Freedom — a box office juggernaut that sparked a culture war. Then it's on to Soverei...

Send us Fan Mail This week, Ken dives deep into the world of lighthearted documentaries —but things get weird fast. From a secret apartment hidden in a mall to the uniquely charming life of “My Mom Jayne,” and finally, the truly unforgettable saga of the Trainwreck: Poop Cruise , we’re peeling back the curtain on some of the quirkiest true stories out there. Expect laughter, disbelief, and maybe a...

Send us Fan Mail 🧟‍♂️ This week on Pass, Pirate, Pay , Ken and Andy are crawling out of the grave to sink their teeth into three undead entries in the zombie genre: the quiet heartbreak of Maggie (2015), the meditative Scandinavian dread of Handling the Undead (2024), and the surprise resurrection sequel 28 Years Later… (2025). Do these flicks breathe new life into the genre, or are they just mor...

Send us Fan Mail  🎙️ This Week on a very special  Pass, Pirate, Pay We’re heading for high altitudes and low morals with Mountainhead , Jesse Armstrong’s HBO satire about four tech bros trapped in a luxury chalet while the world burns (because of them). Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman, and Ramy Youssef lead this dark, weirdly funny spiral into AI, ego, and snowbound insanity. Is it biting social c...