Shoot The Hostage

Come in and make yourself at home. Feel free to lie down on the couch and tell us about your mother. If not, why not check in for one last session in our season of films exploring identity. Before we move on to Liminal Spaces in season fifteen, it’s time to revisit some of our favourite chats from the last eight episodes. We dived into the cinematic identity of everyone from Gotham’s elite to ball...

We’ve reached the end of our season on identity in cinema, and frankly, we’re more confused than when we started. But none the less, it’s time for our end of season wrap show preview.  In this “Total Recap”, a name we’re definitely not trying to brand, we swear, we dive into everything from Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins to the horrors of The Substance. We’re dissecting the psychological themes...

Open your mind and join us for one last ride in our Identity season as we discover Paul Verhoeven’s Total Recall (1990). We dive into the cinema of Arnold Schwarzenegger, debating if he makes a good secret agent of if he’s too conspicuous for anything other than a bodybuilding competition. Along the way, we pay tribute to the legendary Sharon Stone, the terrifying Michael Ironside, and our ultimat...

Welcome to the seventh stop on our tour of Identity movies, where we’re discussing the bone-white brilliance of Mary Harron’s American Psycho (2000). In this episode, we get into why this is one of the most misunderstood movies in cinema history. While certain corners of the manosphere, incels and the red pill community treat Patrick Bateman like a looksmaxxing icon, we’re here to remind the dweeb...

It’s time to swan-dive into the sixth episode of our Identity season. This week, Dan has chosen to subject us to the dark, grainy and deeply uncomfortable world of Darren Aronofsky’s 2010 psychodrama, Black Swan. After surviving Requiem for a Dream during our season of films about drugs, we’re back for a second helping of Aronofsky-flavoured self-destruction. We’re talking Natalie Portman in possi...

We’ve hit the midpoint of our Identity season, which Dan has effectively turned into a curated gallery of “disenfranchised men,” and our latest target is the A24 cringe comedy masterclass, Friendship (2024.) We explore the desperate lengths someone will go to for a bit of validation and the uncomfortable gap between who we are and the character identities we perform for others. Introducing Craig W...

Inject this into your ears and pray that a better version of yourself doesn’t pop out of your spine. We’ve reached the fourth episode in Dan’s Identity season where we’re discussing Coralie Fargeat’s the Substance (2024). This isn’t one of those slow French movies where characters meditate on a fireplace for three hours, it’s an $18 million bloodbath that treats Hollywood beauty standards like a p...

Welcome back to Shoot the Hostage! We are three episodes deep into Dan’s Identity season, and things are getting… well, icky. This week, we’re tackling Brian De Palma’s 1980 classic/controversy magnet, Dressed to Kill. Retroactively functioning as a best of De Palma, this film features many of the hallmarks you would expect from the director – voyeurism, shower scenes, and enough split diopter sho...

Welcome back to our Identity season, where Dan continues to force his personal favourites onto the show. This week, we’re here to discuss Andrew Niccol’s 1997 directorial debut, Gattaca (1997). We dive in to see if this 90s sci-fi classic still holds up or if it’s just a sterile nightmare of brutalist architecture and electric cars. We’re examining the character identities in a world where your ca...

Holy identity crisis Batman! It’s time to tumble into a brand-new season of Shoot the Hostage. This time, the theme is Identity and we’re kicking off with Christopher Nolan’s “grounded” take on the superhero genre, Batman Begins (2005). While Nolan was busy trying to convince the world that a billionaire in a rubber suit is grounded, we’re here to ask the tough questions like why Christian Bale so...

Before embarking on a new season next week, this is the third and final instalment of our 2025 clip shows, featuring the best of our recent conversations over the last 12 months. From debating the anatomical accuracy of kangaroo prosthetics to Danny “Boyling” down the legendary career of the British filmmaker, we’re covering all cinematic bases. Join us for the usual film discussion and tangents a...

We didn’t want to leave you all searching for a missing pig before the new season begins on March 2nd. Which is why we’re releasing part two of our three-part best-of 2025 clips shows. For cinephiles who love a good disaster, we’re diving back into our “Flops” season – a true comedy of errors where we learned that even Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro aren’t immune to box-office bombing. Whether...

Welcome to a very Nic Cage focused bonus episode of Shoot the Hostage. Now, look, we know you guys were expecting the grand premier of Dan’s “Identity” season today, but life has a funny way of throwing a Pig at your plans. Due to some family bereavement and health complications behind the scenes, we’ve had to push the new season back to March 2nd. We’re deeply sorry for the delay but we promise t...

Yes, it’s February! Yes, it’s a bit late for an end of year show! But we refuse to let the calendar dictate when our cinematic celebrations conclude. This week we’re unleashing our top 5 films of 2025 where we use a bargain bin blu ray toss to decide their ranking. Beyond the top five, we get into the nitty-gritty of 2025 movies, asking the tough questions like: does Aaron Taylor-Johnson have a mo...

Welcome to a special clip show of Shoot the Hostage, where Dan and Sarah revisit the highs, the lows, and the incredibly bleak mid-points of our true crime films season. Whether you’re a regular listener of a newbie looking for the best true crime movie podcast to binge while hiding from the “water wars,” this episode is the perfect entry point. We’ve spent the last few months analysing flicks dep...

We are committing to our final sentence as we deliver a verdict on our true crime films season. Before we shred the documents, please enjoy this sneak peek regarding our malfeasance-themed recap. We traversed the globe – from desert landscapes to separate nations to investigate these dark stories, making the last eight weeks feel like a life sentence. Sarah explains how her academic path in behavi...

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...