Shoot The Hostage

Welcome back for another episode in Dan’s “Coming of Cage” season. This week we’re taking a gamble with Brian De Palma’s 1998 neo-noir thriller Snake Eyes, starring, of course, everybody’s favourite national treasure, Nicolas Cage. Strap in for a ride through Atlantic City as we witness Cage’s charismatic but corrupt detective, Rick Santoro, unravel a sinister conspiracy that goes all the way to t...

This week Dan and Sarah take a deep dive into John Woo's 1997 masterpiece of mayhem, Face/Off. Strap yourselves in as they dissect the film's ludicrous plot, gravity-defying action sequences, and the career-defining performances of Nicolas Cage and John Travolta. Dan makes a valiant attempt to untangle the film's convoluted science while Sarah ponders the logistical nightmare of swapping all body...

Welcome to The Rock! This week Dan is making Sarah watch one of his childhood favourite movies, The Rock (1996) for the second instalment in his “Coming of Cage” season. Tune in to see if Sarah agrees with Dan on this being peak Michael Bay and whether Alcatraz does indeed have a subway underneath. We also talk about the huge cast of actors including Sean Connery, Ed Harris, William Forsythe, Tony...

Coming of Cage! This week on Shoot The Hostage, Dan and Sarah sink their teeth into the batshit world of Vampire's Kiss (1988) starring Nicolas Cage. Is he a vampire? Is he insane? Does he like bats, plastic fangs, and cockroaches? (Yes, he eats a real one). Is Jennifer Beals a figment of his imagination? And did this movie directly inspire Bret Easton Ellis and Christian Bale for American Psycho?...

We started a tradition last year and today we continue that tradition. Yes we're back to talk about the best films of 2024.  Make yourself a drink and strap in for our 2024 end of year show. In a similar format to last year, we talk about the year in film, offer our separate top 5 lists, attempt to come up with a combined top 5 and talk about some of the worst films of 2024. We also take a look at...

As we have reached the end of another year, we thought it would be fun to release a whole episode with some of our favourite moments from recording in 2024.  We covered 5 themes over the year and a total 42 movies. If you avoided any of the episodes for fear of spoilers, fear not, there are no spoilers here. Just a bunch of clips from moments that made us laugh.  We'll be back with our new season...

We will be back with a brand new season very shortly. Join us on January 6th where we begin our journey through 8 Nicolas Cage movies. This here is a little teaser to get you in the mood. The first movie we're covering is Vampires Kiss and in a slight change of format, this time we're going chronological.  Would you like to see the full lineup for season 9? The only place we announce our schedule...

We did it. We made another themed season of movie choices. This time Sarah came up with a list of 8 coming of age movies which we covered over 8 weeks. In the wrap show we discuss the movies we covered, some that almost made the cut, others we watched and the season as a whole. Dan has also prepared some coming of age questions based on the films we watched.  This episode as a preview of our seaso...

For the final episode of our coming-of-age season we dive into the world of rock ‘n’ roll excess, teen angst and 1970’s fashion. Join us as we talk about Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous (2000). We chat about the semi-autobiographical nature and explore it’s coming of age themes, the character complexities and particularly the portrayal of women. We also look at some of Cameron Crowe’s other films in...

It’s the penultimate episode in Sarah’s Coming of Age season of movies and as we inch closer to the finish line, Sarah thought it was high time for a British drama. This week we’re talking Shane Meadows This is England (2006.) We get into the context of the film, the cultural happenings of the 70’s and 80’s in the UK which caused the divides depicted in the film. We talk about the cast including S...

In the latest episode in our Coming of Age season, we’re diving into the wildly chaotic world of teenagers with Thirteen (2003). Directed by Catherine Hardwicke and co-written with then 14-year-old Nikki Reed, who also stars alongside Evan Rachel Wood. We chat about the themes of identity, family dynamics, addiction and why Jeremy Sisto has a chicken. Would you like to see the full lineup for seas...

We’re sticking with Coming of Age movies for a few more weeks yet and this time, we turn to Elem Klimov’s disturbing war film, Come and See (1985). Exploring the atrocities that occurred in WW2 Belarus through the eyes of a young boy, this could be the most important coming of age movie ever made. We talk about some of the things that could lead to the kind of brutality depicted in this film and h...

We hath returneth for the fourth episode in our coming of age season with Moonlight (2016). We talk Barry Jenkins, Tarell Alvin McCraney, coming of age (obviously) and the cast. This isn’t the first A24 movie we’ve covered on the show and it will certainly not be our last. Mahersherala Ali’s Taste The Revolution Would you like to see the full lineup for season 8? The only place we announce our sch...

Coming of Age season continues with Ginger Snaps (2000). It’s very important to note that we are discussing the film Ginger Snaps and not the snack Ginger Snaps. Mistakes were made. Our third Coming Of Age film finds us discussing director John Fawcett, writer Karen Walton and the development of the Ginger Snaps film. We touch briefly (but don’t spoil) the two sequels where Dan has an Earth-shatte...

Join us for our second week of Coming-of-Age films, as we discuss Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me (1986). The second episode also happens to be another Stephen King adaptation after covering Carrie last time. This week we talk about the horror writer/dreamweaver himself Stephen King and some of his adaptations (of which there are about 4 million). We also discuss Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman...

We are back with a brand new season. The theme this time is of Sarah's choosing and she's gone for Coming of Age. What's the first film we're covering you ask? Well, it's Brian De Palma's classic teen coming of age horror, Carrie (1976). We talk about other interpretations of Stephen King's original (and first) novel and some of the reasons behind the creative decisions. We also wonder if this was...

Last week we released our thoughts on Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis over on our Patreon feed. But as it's time for our traditional between season bonus show, we thought we'd post it on the main feed too.  We do spoil this one (if you can) and recommend (but not really) seeing it before listening to the episode.  Would you like to see the full lineup for season 8? The only place we announce ou...

On October 21st we begin our brand new season with the theme, this time, being Sarah's choice. The first film we're talking is Carrie (1976) in Sarah's season of Coming of Age films. As usual, we'll be covering 8 movies that Sarah thinks fit into that theme.  Would you like to see the full lineup for season 8? The only place we announce our schedule is over on Patreon and you don't even need to be...

We concluded Dan's season of films about dreams with A Nightmare on Elm St 3. What did we think of the season? Was Dan happy with his selection? Was Sarah happy with Dan's choices? Would we swap any? These are a few things we pondered on our season 7 wrap show, which is available in full over on our £3.00 a month Patreon tier.  We'll be back on October 21st with a brand new theme. Look out for the...

We’re back for one last episode in our season of movies about dreams and what better way to cap the season than with an Elm St movie. This week we’re talking A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987). We dig into the creatives behind the production and make connections with previous episodes (we’re looking at you Dreamscape ). We also discuss Wes Craven, the effects, killer lines and why...

Welcome back to another episode of Shoot The Hostage! This week, we dive into the labyrinthine world of Christopher Nolan’s Inception. Join us as we dissect the dreamscape and the dream within a dream within a dream. We also talk story development, production, and why you should always listen to Ken Watanabe. Dan might also have some wild fan theories about how Inception could share a universe wit...

This season we’re covering movies about dreams and has we had 2 movies on the bounce that had the word dream in the title, this week Dan’s choice is a little more tenuous. To divulge any other information on that would be to veer into spoiler territory, and we wouldn’t want that. These are our thoughts on The Thirteenth Floor. We talk a little about the source material and how that has influenced...

Welcome back to another episode in our season about films and dreams. Sometimes those two things have been loosely connected this season but there is no ambiguity this time. Today we’re discussing our 2nd David Patrick Kelly movie (check out our The Warriors show), Dreamscape from the glorious year of 1984. The year that bought us so many of our favourite films. Is Dreamscape one of them?! We disc...

We’re back with another episode in our season of films about dreams. This week we’re turning once again to Nicolas Cage in the Kristoffer Borgli film, Dream Scenario. The last time we spoke about Cage was for our Con Air episode and his turn as Paul Matthews in Dream Scenario couldn’t be more different than Cameron Poe. Not a furry bunny in sight in Dream Scenario. We talk about our first impressi...

For the third episode in our line-up of movies about dreaming, we take it back to the 1990's with the Alex Proyas written and directed Dark City (1998).  Did we mean to cover two William Hurt movies in a row? Is Lost in Space next? How did he get that Accordion? What did we think of the performances? Does the Neo-noir element of Dark City still hold up? Did Richard O'Brien let Alex Proyas have 30...