The Franchisees

James Cameron, hot off the success of THE TERMINATOR, makes one of the greatest sequels of all time: ALIEN$... and a franchise was born! What can you say... it's a classic. But do Alex and Ben like it? I know you're all waiting to hear what Alex and Ben have to say about ALIEN$. Here's a preview: we like it fine! It just is not the type of movie that does much for us. But it's...

ALIEN. It's a classic, what can you say? Well that's a good question and we try to answer it with today's episode. Jordan Seccareccia joins us again to talk about just how good ALIEN is and how amazing it is that a group of talented artists came together at the exact right time to create an enduring sci-fi/horror masterpiece. But first we babble on about less amazing stuff: the rece...

All great things must come to an end and here we are with the final film in Gus Van Sant's "Death Trilogy" LAST DAYS. Michael Pitt stars as not Kurt Cobain in a film not about Kurt Cobain's final days before his suicide. Katherine returns to talk all things Cobain, Nirvana, Van Sant, and depression/alienation. Sound fun? Well it actually is very fun! Does LAST DAYS paint an acc...

We're back discussing the 2nd film in Gus Van Sant's "Death Trilogy" ELEPHANT. Yes, this is his Columbine movie... yes, heavy subject matter is perhaps not our forte... but don't worry, we can still have fun right? Of course we can! Joining us for said fun is returning guest Katherine Vienneau and first time guest, longtime listener and even longertime friend of Ben, Matth...

We're back with a slow  jam for you, the first in Gus Van Sant's acclaimed Death Trilogy, GERRY. We love Gerry, we all love Gerry, and soon you too will love Gerry, it's only a matter of time. Two friends go for a walk in the desert, what's the worst that could happen... sure would be terrible if they became lost and unmoored in a constantly changing landscape suicide hellspace...

SUPER SIZE ME 2: HOLY CHICKEN! what a terrible title good god heinous title yucky very bad! And the movie's no good either, trust us. I can't imagine many of you Fanchisees out there have seen this obscure doc, seeing as how it sucks and was overshadowed by the director's self-cancellation. We always encourage playing along here but if you do, please please steal this movie. Do not...

RIP Immorgan Spurlock The Franchisees are paying our respects to one of the giants of documentary filmmaking, the 6' 2" Morgan Spurlock. Today we're revisiting the hot doc that put him on the map: SUPER SIZE ME. There was a time when eating McDonalds for 30 days and filming it could be a hit documentary... nowadays its a frickin' Mr. Beast video! This is a bad movie! Sorry the...

The Mad Max Saga comes to a close (for now) with FURIOSA, the highly anticipated action epic that serves as a prequel and world-building expansion to 2015's FURY ROAD. Does it live up to its predecessor or fall short of expectations? Does it add much to the Mad Max universe or is it merely Fury Road DLC? How does it stack up to the sickest of all Dr. Miller's works, LORENZO'S OIL? A...

WITNESS ME! (listen to the pod) PLEASE WITNESS ME! The Mad Max Saga continues with what may be the greatest long-gap/legacy sequel of all time: MAD MAX: FURY ROAD. Max is back to begrudgingly help save the day with some new friends... Imperator Furiosa, Toast the Knowing, Cheedo the Fragile, Nux... we have all these characters. Furiosa must free the enslaved wives of the vicious warlord Immortan J...

Surprise! A very special... or should I say Jerry special bonus episode because we're talking Jerry Seinfeld's feature directorial debut UNFROSTED. Should I say that? Should I say "or should I say Jerry special bonus episode? Email us at thefranchiseespod@gmail.com (and follow us @thefranchisees on Instagram and Twitter) We are joined by two very special guests and expert Seinfeldol...

Thunderdome: Two men enter, one man leaves.  But today it's more like two men enter, one man already inside, three men talk into microphones, two men exit, one man stays where he is because special guest Zack Kotzer joins us to talk about MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOMEhe third and, for a time, final Mad Max movie. Aunty Entity, Master Blaster, Pig Killer, the feral desert children, we've got...

My life fades. The vision dims. All that remains are memories. I remember a time of chaos, ruined dreams, this wasted land. But most of all, I remember The Franchisees, the men we called Alex and Ben and special guest Jordan 'Mad Max Rockatansky' Seccareccia. Mad Max 2. The Road Warrior. One of the greatest and most influential movies of all time. No hot takes here! RIP Steve Albini and...

Ladies and gentlemen, rev your engines! All the way from post-apocalyptic London, England it's 'Mad' Maxim Gertler-Jaffe, joining Benno and Lexo for a poddo about the original MAD MAX film by director George Miller. Throw a shrimp on the barbie, Australia dingo koala Malcolm Turnbull. It's a classic of independent action cinema and the beginning of a beloved and ever-evolving f...

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[loud beating and flogging noises] ahhh! ohhh ouch ohhh nooo! ow! owww! We’re back ahhh stop oh god ow! With a new episode on a film from the twisted mind of Mel Gibson ouch! Joined ahh ohhh ow owwww by returning guests AHHH Jordan and Katherine.  [flogging continues] We talk about ow ouch oh god why have you forsaken me owww the life and career of Mad Mel before diving into a rapid fire round ahh...

He has risen again! He being Jesus Christ of course, our lord and saviour and friend of the pod. Alex and Ben are back with Part II of the epic Christ Quadrilogy where they explore weighty themes like religion, resurrection, sin, and salvation.  This week we're covering Martin Scorsese's (and Paul Schrader's) THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST. Joining us are returning guest Jordan Secca...

I loooove you Jeeeesus Chriiiiist. Jesus Christ I loooove you, yesss I dooooo. Happy April everybody! We here at The Franchisees are good, honest, god-fearing folk and have decided to celebrate the death and resurrection of friend of the pod and future guest, Jesus of Nazareth. We've picked a quartet, a tetralogy, or (much more stupidly) a quadrilogy of Christ films to push together into one...

Ted has risen! Ted 2 unto others as you would have Ted 2 to uh yourself. We're back with the sequel to Seth MacFarlane's lovable children's film TED, the appropriately titled TED 2. Ben was lukewarm on the first Ted film and Alex remembers disliking Ted 2 when he watched it on a plane many years ago... how will the lads feel about Ted 2 now?  Well, it is an improvement! Funnier, sil...

We're back this week with a new franchise, TED. Everyone's favourite Seth MacFarlane project behind Family Guy but ahead of everything else he's done. Since there's a new Ted TV series we thought we'd revisit the lovable foul-mouthed bear and see if he's still funny (or if he ever was in the first place...) We start the episode by discussing the life and work of funny...

The spice continues to flow on our latest episode: DUNE: PART TWO, the epic conclusion to Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of one book. We have a very special guest joining us this week, fellow sandman and spicelover Alex Baigent! This brings us 3/4 of the way to having the entirety of the band Westelaken on the show. Soon we shall collect them all! Before we get into Dune we talk about some oth...

It's DUNE time again, the spice must flow, the podcast must uhhh ummmm be recorded and released. What a wonderful, special episode we have for you. Joining us is major spice-head Aren Bergstrom, a huge Dune fan, cinephile and fellow movie podcaster. We do talk about Dune, don't worry, but first we have an extended riff on hot button film criticism and culture topics: Lights Camera Jackso...

Beer is the mind killer, the sleeper has awakened from a drunken nap. And many more Dune-related jokes I’m sure! We’re back with an exciting and relevant franchise: the DUNE films. This week we start by discussing (eventually) David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation. Is it a failure or a secret success… or something in between?  We also touch on Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Dune attempt, MADAME WEB, MY DINNER WIT...

Listen up you rat fucks, Ben has now seen all 26 of cinema god Martin Scorsese's fiction feature films. He and Alex have cooked you up a nice-a bonus episode, just like our mother's used to make. It's long, epic even... just like one of Marty's pictures. We talk about every Martin Scorsese film here, from MEAN STREETS to TAXI DRIVER to GOODFELLAS to HUGO to THE IRISH MAN, every...

Martin Scorsese baby. The god! We're back with his 1986 cool guy classic, THE COLOR OF MONEY. Paul Newman is back as Fast Eddie Felcher, older and wiser (?), not playing pool but anymore but still hustling. He meets a young, hot shot hot shit pool prodigy Tom Cruise and takes him and his streetwise girlfriend under his wing. Can Fast Eddie show the kid the ropes? Can the kid tame his impulse...

We're back and squeezing in a short "franchise" before DUNE unto others as we'd have DUNE unto ourselves. We chose something good for a bit of a change of pace: THE HUSTLER.  Directed by Robert Rossen (who joins the Elia Kazan club of Communist name namers who also made some great films), THE HUSTLER is a film about having that grindset, the money mindset, of #winning 24/7 365....