Thirsty For More - Movie Review

30th anniversary celebration of Home Alone (1990)! The holiday season is nearing. The days are getting shorter and the air is getting colder. The brothers have decided to revisit this classic film on the heels of its 30th anniversary! Hear them delight at the creatively sadistic nihilism, the exuberant "feel good" capitalism, and the character growth of an 8 year old left to their own devices (dev...

Imagine the first Universal Soldier film without any of the interesting character development and social commentary. Imagine instead all of the camp of the first film turned up to 11, That's what The Return delivers! An exciting lean action romp. This film is not without its merits though. It has some Michael Jai White, some Bill Goldberg, and most exciting of all lots of really silly nümetal. The...

The brothers had no idea that Legionnaire (1998) would be the war time epic melodrama that both of them needed. This subtle slow burn masterpiece was directed Peter MacDonald one of the first directors to really trust Van Damme's acting abilities. It is a thoughtful exploration of various intersections of masculinity and addresses the nuances of the toxicity within all on the back drop of the deva...

Knock Off is a total diamond in the rough. Our second Van Damme pairing with Hong Kong director Tsui Hark. Also our second comically odd Van Damme coupling this time with Happy Madison alum Rob Schneider. This film fires on all cylinders! With wild action, kooky comedy and one of the best theme songs ever written for a movie. The outlandish performance given by Van Damme is enough to make this mov...

Double Team is one of those weird late 90s anomalies. Is it a comedy? Is it sci-fi? Is it action? Is it basketball? Also North Korea's most famous ambassador: Dennis Rodman gives a solid debut performance despite what critics and razzie awards say. Ultimately this movie doesn't know what it wants to be and flounders around a bit, but how can you argue with a Mickey Rourke villain performance? You...

Two brothers? Secret twins? A mystery? A cross continental adventure? Russian mobsters? Maximum Risk has it all and more in this 1996 action packed fight fest. The American debut of Hong Kong director Ringo Lam. Does this film have strange parallels to Total Recall? Does it elicit interesting intersectional discussion from the brothers? You'll have to listen to find out! Tell a fellow movie fan. F...

The Quest (1996) is Van Damme's directorial debut! It has all the classic JCVD staples: A journey of self discovery, a blonde woman who is given no character development at all and a Kumite style tournament. This one had some cool stuff going for it though...like James Bond and Abdell Qissi also the idea came from disgraced liar Frank Dux. Also its a period piece. Surprisingly great conversation w...

Sudden Death sees the second pairing of JCVD with director Peter Hyams! An action packed romp seeing nice guy down on his luck fireman dad JCVD trying to redeem himself in the eyes of his kids. He takes them to the final game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs but is caught in the middle of some political intrigue he hadn't anticipated. With an unbelievable villainous performance the enigmatic Powers Boo...

This week the brothers are joined by Toronto royalty. From the House of Filth legendary drag queen: Allysin Chaynes guests on the pod to talk about drag and the wonderful camp that is Street Fighter (1994). This conversation ranges from condemnation of Van Dammes' behaviour on set to blind worship of both Raul Julia and Kylie Minogue. Also lots of hilarious tangents including a truly horrifying dr...

Timecop (1994) is a really strange "what if" story. It centres around a reality in which time travel existed in 1994 and how policy and wealth distribution might look in dystopian 2004 future where these ripples in time are most strongly felt. This film adopts a "No Fate" or "future hasn't been written yet" reality where one can only go into the past and change the present. The future cannot be re...

Hard Target, legendary filmmaker John Woo's first American film starring JCVD's sweaty mullet. This is the kind of film that has both has elegant dove symbolism and motorcycle standing. High octane, but also nuanced class commentary. Set in a pre-Katrina New Orleans. Is Lance Henriksen JVCD's Cohagen? Join the bros and deep friend of the show Kays on this landmark 60th episode to find out! Tell a...

The 90s were a bit of confused era where a movie could exist in a weird space between zany child's film, drama social commentary and mindless action. 1993's Nowhere To Run scratches all those itches. From queer childhood awakening, to American style "cucking" this movie has everything and the brothers talk about all of this and more all while getting so self referential it will make your head spin...

Is Universal Soldier the equivalent of JCVD's Terminator? Probably. This movie reaches for Terminator levels of glory ultimately failing to transcend... But despite budgetary constraints and some pretty shaky writing this movie perseveres and achieves legendary status in a different way; much like how the brothers have noticed JCVD seems to be keen on doing. Listen as the brothers revel in this su...

The brothers are back! from a much needed break! Ready to give you more content about your favourite B movie A-lister JCVD. This time the brothers cover Double Impact (1991). A zany action romp with double trouble... not one, but two JCVDs. Van Dammm plays a sensi boi and a mean one both they're both kind of creeps. Lots of great cameos. Lots of great drops plus the insight and excitement you have...

The brothers have been enjoying some much needed time off but they got together to celebrate Arnold Schwarzenegger's 73 birthday today and to give the listeners an update on the state of the show! Much love! Please involve yourselves in BLM initiatives. Here are some links to resources to help you get started: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1loo_jm5t2jiMDVQOccuFMaP6G1UYyeGLkxwcCDIIwLY/edit?fbc...

Please involve yourselves in BLM initiatives. Here are some links to resources to help you get started: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1loo_jm5t2jiMDVQOccuFMaP6G1UYyeGLkxwcCDIIwLY/edit?fbclid=IwAR3IeY2btoDZSjdh8QKRg7mEMGV1uGztTcXWTM2aNN5TUdG-of11gO2NW0o https://medium.com/equality-includes-you/what-white-people-can-do-for-racial-justice-f2d18b0e0234 Movies and Docs about racial injustice: http...

The brothers continue to cover JCVD movies with strangely timely discussions of race in the context of corrupt systemic oppression. Death Warrant is a terrible B movie that has really strange tone deaf early 90's style racism implicit in the writing and directing (also a disturbing rape scene executed by the film's main protagonist and not commented on and presented like it was totally normal) . H...

Lionheart is a B movie. Through and through. It struggles from all of the pitfalls of your traditional B movie including exorbitant amounts of insidious racism. But like its main character Lionheart has heart and that makes it an enjoyable watch. When a legionnaire discovers that his brother has been critically injured he risks everything to seek out his sister-in-law and niece. He engages in dang...

Kickboxer is a tragically problematic fan fav in the JCVD cannon. The film fosters a perfect mix of late 80s tone deaf racism + sexism, preparation montages and badass boss beating! The brothers go deep with their analysis on this one at times even psychoanalyzing each other when things get heated. Classic JCVD. The nostalgia meter is turned up high on this one. Enjoy! Stay safe and indoors friend...

Cyborg is a low budget post-apocalyptic sci-fi, action, adventure film. The movie follows a pair of young heroes who attempt to safely escort a cyborg carrying valuable information about a cure for a plague that has ravaged the world. However our heroes must battle with a gang of nefarious street pirates led by the evil Fender a bad guy with an icy stare. The brothers find a lot of joy in revisiti...

Welcome to Season 2 of Thirsty For More - Jean Pod Van Damme. A season long deep dive into the illustrious career of the great JCVD. Fresh off the successful Back To The Future mini dive the brothers start season 2 off with a bang. Bloodsport was JCVD's first foray into the mainstream. The (fake) true story of Frank Dux a passionate young (Belgian?) American fighter trained by Shidoshi Tanaka. Fra...

Side B of the Back To The Future 3 episode! The brothers lets loose on the conclusion of their deep dive into this beloved trilogy. Side B is riddled with incredible immersive score editing, lots of great Mad Dog impressions and more hilarity than ever. Don't miss the conclusion to the most comprehensive Back To The Future trilogy deep dive ever! Stay safe and indoors friends of the show! Tell a f...

50th episode! This week the brothers are going back...waaaay back to 1885 to join Marty and Doc on their final adventure in time. This under appreciated sequel is often maligned for its more dramatic tone and switch to a western. But the bros make a strong case for it in this jam packed ep with more outrageous impressions, more immersive score editing and more hot takes than ever! Wait until the e...

Side B to our episode for Back To The Future 2. The brothers conclude their comprehensive discussion and dissection of this extremely fun and nostalgic sequel. In addition to touching once again on the representation of race and class in the film they also do an extensive deep dive into everyone's fav bully: Biff and the lore surrounding his character. Be sure to stay tuned to the end of the episo...

This week everything is ramped up to eleven with Back To The Future 2! The brothers discuss how this legendary sequel doubles down on all of the zaniest aspects of the first film while somehow delivering on the promise of an exciting and cohesive continuation! Once again the brothers couldn't pack everything they had to say in one episode so this week is another double episode! Don't forget about...