Shoot The Hostage

For the epic wrap-up of our journey through true crime films, Sarah finally threw Dan a bone, or rather, “an entire skeleton” by programming The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). We’re diving into the depraved depths of films about stockbrokers to see if director Martin Scorsese created a satirical masterpiece, or just a three-hour recruitment video for “absolute wankers” Featuring Leonardo DiCaprio’s i...

It’s time to cut to the chase as we dive into episode seven of Sarah’s true crime movies season! This week on Shoot the Hostage, we are venturing back into the world of Korean cinema with the 2008 breakout hit, The Chaser. Sarah is continuing her trend of making Dan watch the best serial killer movies he’s never heard of, though Dan is still recovering from his time in Morocco and feeling like a b...

Welcome back to the sixth instalment of our true crime movies season, this week Sarah forces Dan to endure Ridley Scott's divisive 2021 biopic, House of Gucci, a film that Sarah has deemed “both true and a crime in many senses of the word”. At two hours and 37 minutes, this is a girthy film that needed to be dramatically shorter, but somehow still rushes through key character developments. We unpa...

It’s time to settle in for the fifth episode of our true crime season! While Sarah is dangerously underslept and Dan is recording through a case of Moroccan flu in a noisy Casablanca hotel room, we’ve found a way to joke about the monstrously dark 2003 film, Monster. This isn’t the Gareth Edwards sci-fi flick Dan was hoping for, but a gritty look at one of the most famous American serial killers,...

Welcome back to Shoot the Hostage, where Sarah and Dan continue their season dedicated to true crime films with Episode 4 of 8. This week, we take on our first Spike Lee joint in his 1999 New York based film, Summer of Sam. This episode acts as the second movie in our "Big Apple double bill" since it’s our second film featuring the incomparable John Leguizamo (or Johnny Legs) playing an Italian ma...

We’re back for our 3rd episode in True Crime season and this week we’re diving into the tragic reality of 1999’s Boys Don’t Cry. Discretion advised as we discuss major spoilers and triggering topics inherent in this true story of Brandon Teena, played by Hilary Swank. Before the dread sets in, the film, directed by Kimberly Peirce, initially looks like a ‘90s hangout movie, complete with discussio...

We’re skating on thin ice for the second instalment in Sarah’s season dedicated to true crime movies. This time, we pivot from the bleak darkness of Snowtown to the darkly comic story of figure skater Tonya Harding in Craig Gillespie’s I, Tonya. Dan and Sarah dive into this fascinating sports movie that explores domestic abuse, poverty and media sensationalism, while somehow remaining incredibly f...

Welcome back to Shoot the Hostage! Dan and Sarah return for season 13 (unlucky for some) and dive headfirst into the world of true crime with Justin Kurzel’s brutal 2011 feature debut, Snowtown. This isn’t just one of the heaviest films in the lineup, Dan thinks it might be as bleak as he can handle. We swear, chat major spoilers and discuss highly triggering topics. We’re tackling the film portra...

Before we turn our thoughts to the next season, it's time for a bonus show plucked from the depths of the Patreon feed.  To coincide with the release of Bugonia, we thought we would share our episode on Kinds of Kindness from 2024. Yorgos Lanthimos is pumping them out at the moment and we're very comfortable with that. One a year, every year we say. That is until he directs a Marvel movie. We are...

We're back for the final level of video-game movies with our best of show where we've pieced together our favourite clips from the season.  To recap, the season looked like this: Resident Evil (2002) Warcraft Until Dawn Borderlands Tron: Legacy Lara Croft: Tomb Raider Need for Speed Mortal Kombat (1995) Join us as we revisit some of our favourite conversations including: Questioning why Milla Jovo...

After an entire season of Video Game Movies, it’s safe to assume that Sarah is ready to move on to her choice for season 13. But before we allow her to do that, we’ve got the season 12 wrap show to consider. In the usual wrap show tradition, we speak about the low points, the high points (yes, there are some) and what it is about video game adaptations that make it so hard to make a good one. It’s...

Welcome to the final battle of Dan’s season of video game movies, where we tackle the quintessential 90s movie adaptation of Midway’s hyper-violent fighting game, Mortal Kombat (1995). We’re closing out the season in style – or perhaps lack thereof – with the second appearance of director Paul W.S. Anderson ( see our episode covering Resident Evil at the beginning of the season). Dan admits this c...

After discussing Lara Croft to death last episode, this time we felt the Need for Speed as we start the engines on our episode covering this largely forgotten car movie. We shifted gears this week to Need for Speed (2014) which is a video game adaptation focused on illegal street racing and other related and non-related crimes. We spend a chunk of time analysing some of the strange casting choices...

Welcome back to Shoot the Hostage for the 6th level of our video game movies season! This week, Dan and Sarah step into Croft Manor, ready to spill the pixelated beans on 2001’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Beware of potential spoilers for the film and the first two Tomb Raider games. Directed by Simon West, we ask why this computer game adaptation failed to capture the mood of the 1996 game, having m...

We’re back for another episode in our season of video game movies and this week we’re Grid-locked in to talk about Tron: Legacy (2010). First-time feature director Joseph Kosinski was handed a massive budget and a cult classic to make sequel to. Did he succeed? Or was it user error? We talk about the uncanny valley of Jeff Bridges’ de-aged face and attempt to understand why Flynn went full cult le...

Welcome back to Shoot the Hostage, it’s the 4th episode in our season exploring the world of video game movies, and this week, Dan and Sarah are vaulting their way through the absolute mess that is Eli Roth’s 2024 Borderlands adaptation! No holding back on this one. As a fan of the Borderlands game franchise, Sarah hoped for great things from this computer game adaptation, but it left her bitterly...

We’re back for the 3rd instalment of the season, diving into the often cursed realm of video game movies. This week, we’re dissecting the very recent movie adaptation of the cult classic interactive horror game, Until Dawn (2025). Will this adaptation keep you awake Until Dawn, or will you be begging for bedtime? The film, directed by David F. Sandberg (Lights Out, Annabelle Creation, Shazam) take...

This week on Shoot the Hostage we’re returning to the pixelated trenches of video-game movies with Warcraft (2016). Expect our usual attempt into film analysis, swearing and enough spoilers to fill a dungeon raid – so make sure you’ve seen the film before you click that listen button. We’re plunging into the world of Azeroth, scrutinising director Duncan Jones’s vision and whether this computer ga...

Get ready to reside in pure evil as Dan and Sarah kick off Season 12 of Shoot the Hostage with a deep dive into the 2002 action horror film, Resident Evil! After our last season got us all hooked on movies about drugs, we're booting up a brand new theme: video game movies! And who better to start with than the master of computer game adaptations, director Paul W.S. Anderson? Join us as we explore...

We are one week away from the new season but before we charge up the controllers and order a six-pack of energy drinks in preparation for Video Game Movies season, it's time for our traditional bonus review of a new movie. We settled in to watch Ari Aster's latest weirdo beardo offering, Eddington. No spoilers!  We are back next Monday September 8th for season 12 which is all about Video Game movi...

After eight weeks of cinematic exploration into the world of "drugs movies" for Season 11, Dan and Sarah are back to share some of our favourite moments from the season! Sarah's season of drugs films has certainly been a 'journey', and not always the warm, fuzzy, hot chocolate kind. From the 'quintessential drugs movie' vibes of Trainspotting and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and the notoriously...

Welcome to the Shoot the Hostage Season Eleven Wrap Show! After diving deep into the hazy world of “drugs movies” for eight episodes, Dan and Sarah are here to unpack all the highs (and occasional lows) of the season. From the gritty depths of heroin addiction to Climax-ing with LSD-infused sangria, this season was quite the trip! Sarah, who bravely curated this journey into films featuring addict...

This week on Shoot the Hostage, Sarah and Dan are taking a hit out of the little brown bottle as they dive headfirst into the quintessential drug-induced fever dream that is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998). Join us as we navigate the most paranoid movie known to man, based on Hunter S. Thompson’s unreadably long-titled 1971 book. We’ll explore why Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Raoul Duke might...

For our seventh, and decidedly not warm and fuzzy episode in the season, Sarah’s crafty programming has us plunging into Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream (2000)! Expect praise for Ellen Burstyn’s Oscar-nominated performance as Sara Goldfarb which had crew weeping on set. We unpack the performances of Jared Leto, alongside Jennifer Connelly, as their grand aspirations turn into a spiral of de...

All aboard the Pineapple Express! This week on Shoot the Hostage, Sarah and Dan are blazing a trail through the sticky green jungle of films about drugs as they unpack the 2008 stoner comedy, Pineapple Express. Join us atop the podcast pineapple as we dive into the surprisingly long history of stoner comedies, from 1932’s Jewel Robbery to the anti-marijuana propaganda of Reefer Madness and how the...