The Franchise Forum Podcast

We’re back with John McClane… and this time, it’s snowing. In Episode 8, the Franchise Forum crew heads to Dulles Airport to break down Die Hard 2 (1990), the sequel that tries to go bigger, louder, and somehow colder. Spoiler alert: none of us were exactly thrilled with the layover. We dive into what doesn’t work, what almost works, and whether repeating the formula makes for comfort food or creative crash-and-burn. Plus, we play a round of Six Degrees of Separation, throw down some trivia, and debate whether this is just Die Hard on a runway… or the moment the franchise started losing altitude. Buckle up... turbulence ahead.

What if The Big Lebowski wasn’t just a cult comedy but the first chapter in a crooked, smoke-filled noir franchise that never was? In the debut episode of Frantasy, we pour ourselves a caucasian, lower the lights, and follow The Dude as a hard-luck private eye stumbling through a mystery he never asked to solve. We break down how The Big Lebowski borrows from classic detective fiction, where it zigzags away from genre expectations, and what a full-blown noir franchise might’ve looked liked. Along the way, we talk tone, structure, missed opportunities, and the strange alchemy that turns a failed mystery into a perfect cult classic. The case collapses, the clues scatter, but the rug still ties the franchise together.

This week the crew heads to Nakatomi Plaza for a holiday party gone very, very wrong. We unpack John McTiernan’s Die Hard (1988) — the film that redefined the modern action hero, made Bruce Willis a movie star, and somehow became the most debated Christmas movie of all time. From “shoot the glass” to “Yippee-ki-yay,” we dig into the film’s perfect pacing and connective tissue, Alan Rickman’s suave villainy, the Christmas-in-L.A. irony, and why every action movie since has tried to be “Die Hard on a ___.” Grab your bare feet and a bag of glass... it’s Franchise Forum at its most explosive.

The guys actually liked this one... though Erik was a little timid to admit it. In this episode, the crew returns to Isla Sorna for a wild ride through Jurassic Park III (2001), Joe Johnston’s leaner, meaner follow-up to Spielberg’s dino duology. From talking raptors to Spinosaurus supremacy, we dig into what works, what doesn’t, and why this stripped-down sequel somehow delivers more fun than expected. Stick around until the end to find out which franchise we’re sinking our teeth into next. The dinosaurs are gone, but danger has a new address... and it’s 35 stories high.

We take The Lost World: Jurassic Park on a three-hour safari and, well… no one makes it out unscathed. What starts as a sequel about dinosaurs turns into a deep dive on awkward champagne pours, gymnastic raptor kicks, and one very confused T. Rex on a boat. We pick apart every questionable choice and cinematic oddity until the island and our sanity, are both in ruins. 

On this episode we dig into Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, the blockbuster that redefined summer movies. From groundbreaking CGI and unforgettable sound design to the perfect blend of awe and terror, we break down why the T. rex attack, the raptors in the kitchen, and John Williams’ iconic score still hold up as some of the greatest moments in cinema.

Jetpacks, PG-13, and the Death of Officer Lewis | Franchise Forum Ep. 3 The trilogy limps to the finish line with RoboCop 3. We break down the PG-13 tone shift, the bizarre child-hacker subplot, and RoboCop’s sudden upgrade to jetpack mode. From corporate villains to the mishandled death of Officer Lewis, we dive into how the franchise traded its biting satire for kid-friendly chaos — and why it all feels so anticlimactic.

RoboCop 2 (1990) – Nuke, Corruption, and a Sequel on Overdrive | Franchise Forum Ep. 2  

RoboCop (1987) – Corporate Greed, Satire, and the Ultimate Cyborg Cop | Franchise Forum Ep. 1