The Franchisees

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 franchise!Before we talk about the wasteland we discuss the latest edition of the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival. Maxim (and Ben) talk about some warm documentaries from the fest, share some classic favourite docs, and talk about the difference between essay films and video essays. Next week we talk about THE ROAD WARRIOR. Keep your eyes peeled for Maxim's upcoming documentary HOW TO ROB A BANK on Netflix June 5th!Follow us @thefranchisees on Instagram and Twitter and email us at thefranchiseespod@gmail.com

Chaos reigns†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††♱††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††♱††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††♱††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††♱††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††♱†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††♱♱♱♱♱♱♱♱♱♱♱♱♱♱♱♱♱♱♱♱♱♱†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††♱††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††♱††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††♱††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††♱††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††♱††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††♱††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††♱††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††♱††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††††♱††††††††††††††††††††††††This episode is dedicated to Andrei Tarkovsky (1932-1986)

[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 ouch ohhhh of movies we’ve seen recently. Then we get to the film of the week ahhh stop oh god stop, The Passion of the Christ. Enjoy! We’ll be back next week to talk about an equally painful film ouch you’re killing me please stop, Lars von Trier’s Antichrist.Follow us on Instagram and Twitter @thefranchisees and email us at thefranchiseespod@gmail.com

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 Seccareccia and, finally completing the Westelaken Exodia, Lucas. We talk about our experiences with religion and debate the merits of Scorsese's controversial adaptation of the gospels. We also talk about live events we went to IRL such as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and the Jonathan Rosenbaum talk at U of T. Ben also reminisces about K-holing and disassociating with Ellen DeGeneres.This is a long episode where we actually spend most of the time talking about the film so if you've never seen it before, don't resist the temptation!Join us next week for "Mad" Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, it'll be a doozy.Listen to Westelaken: https://westelaken.bandcamp.com/album/i-am-steaming-mushroomsFollow us on Instagram and Twitter @thefranchisees and email us at thefranchiseespod@gmail.com

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 big holy franchise. First up is the late Norman Jewison's crunchy hippie Christ classic, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR.Returning guest Devin Shears joins us to share his love of the film. We begin by discussing our relationships and experiences with religion and then dive right into talking about the film and musical theatre in general. We've pushed our usual discussion of what we've been watching to the end, so you can find it there.Join us next week for Part II of this pious series in which we will be praising THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST from the beloved team of Paul Schrader and Martin Scorsese.

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, sillier, more gags. The main plot is kind of weird and gross but what were you expecting? Anyway, this is a short and fun episode. Getting all the goofiness out now before we delve into a more serious topic next week.And that serious topic is...? Jesus! For the holy month of April we are discussing a quadrilogy of films about Christ, our lord (?) and saviour (??). Next week we are doing JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR so please join us then!You can follow The Franchisees on Twitter and Instagram @thefranchisees or email us at thefranchiseespod@gmail.com 

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 funnyman Seth MacFarlane. We reminisce about the good old days of Family Guy and how we grew out of it, which jokes worked for us and which ones didn't. We also talk about The Oscars and some other films we've been watching recently like SHOWGIRLS, THE FAN, RICKY STANICKY, and so on.Join us next week as we examine the powerful sequel to Ted, the appropriately named TED 2.

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 other movies: Akira Kurosawa's DREAMS, TROUBLE EVERY DAY, THE LONG DAY CLOSES, THE CROWD, and STARSHIP TROOPERS.The main event of course is DUNE 2. How does it compare to Part One? Have our feelings changed now that we've seen the full vision properly realized? Who is the MVP of Part Two? (it's Austin Butler mamma) How does it stack up against similar sci-fi blockbuster spectacles?This is a fun one, hope you enjoy! Join us next week for our new series, Seth MacFarlane's TED. Why Ted? You'll have to listen to find out!Follow us on Instagram and Twitter @thefranchisees and email us at thefranchiseespod@gmail.com

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 Jackson, They Shoot Pictures Don't They, Film Twitter, Letterboxd, LexG, and so much more. We also talk about some other films we watched recently, SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS, PERFECT DAYS, and EXODUS. Of course we discuss the career and films of French-Canadian auteur(?) Denis Villeneuve as well. You can listen to Aren and his brothers talk about film on the 3 Brothers Filmcast and check out their website 3brothersfilm.com Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @thefranchisees and email us at thefranchiseespod@gmail.comJoin us next week for the hottest film of Q1, Dune: Part Two!

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 WITH ANDRE, INSOMNIA, and also a glimpse into the hell that is YOU, ME AND DUPREE.We of course must also share our thoughts about the great man himself, David Lynch. One day maybe we’ll do another Official Filmography Ranking, who knows?Join us next week for Denis Villeneuve’s DUNE: PART ONEFollow us on Twitter and Instagram @thefranchisees and email us at thefranchiseespod@gmail.com

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 to showoff? Will Eddie ever get back in the game? Is pool a legitimate sport?All these questions answered (and more) as we talk about Tim Horton's new felched coffee, DANGEROUS LIAISONS, the career of Scorseezy, the dangers of cuckaine and microplastics, and so much more.Keep your eyes peeled for a special bonus episode this week, the Official Martin Scorsese Filmography Ranking!And join us next week on Arrakis as we rail lines of spice and begin our discussion of the DUNE franchise in anticipation of the upcoming release of DUNE: PART TWO.Follow us @thefranchisees on Twitter and Instagram, email us at thefranchiseespod@gmail.com

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... or is it? ...is it in fact... the opposite??Alex and Ben talk about pool, Communism, On Cinema at the Cinema, pinku films, and many more hot topics. Join us next week for THE COLOR OF MONEY and a special bonus episode about the god of cinema Martin Scorsese.  Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @thefranchisees, email us at thefranchiseespod@gmail.com

Jurassic World Dominion NO COLONYou don't have to watch this movie! You could go outside! You don't have to have seen this movie to enjoy this podcast, we don't even talk about it until an hour in! Don't do this to yourself, you're better than that!I'm serious, don't bother! Do some chores, call your mom, get a start on your taxes for god's sake. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @thefranchisees and email us at thefranchiseespod@gmail.comJoin us next week for something good for a change: The Hustler, followed by The Color of Money

We're back to discuss the 2nd film in the JURASSIC WORLD series, JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM. It's a real doozy so thank god we're joined by our special guest Rob McLay, a musician and passionate dinosaur rights advocate. Rob raises an important question: we agree dinosaurs should be granted rights... but should they also receive the right to vote? Join us for an in-depth political discussion that brings new meaning to the phrase "vote blue no matter who"...Also discussed are a few other movies we've watched recently such as AFTERSUN, ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME MARGARET., SOUND OF METAL, THE MISFITS, and WRITTEN ON THE WIND.As always, you can follows us on Twitter (and now Instagram!) @thefranchisees and email us at thefranchiseespod@gmail.comWe'll be posting all sorts of clips and content on our new Instagram so be sure to check it out! Next week the franchise ends with the miserable JURASSIC WORLD DOMINION.

It's Jurassic's World, we're just living in it. That doesn't really make sense I guess. But maybe there was a time when rebooting the Jurassic franchise didn't make sense either... makes you think. I'm sure glad they decided to make more swell dino movies for us that don't suck!We discuss legacy sequels and Chris Pratt and Colin Trevorrow and all sorts of other stuff. Ben thinks this movie is "not so bad", especially when knowing where this rebooted trilogy ends up. Alex thinks it's "pretty bad but not awful" and he's also correct. We've got nothing but the franchise dregs left unfortunately... it is all downhill from here. Keep you eyes peeled for our Best Films of 2023 episode coming out soon!Email us at thefranchiseespod@gmail.com and follow us on the Xtinct Twitter @thefranchisees

Ben eats a bagel, the boys respond to legitimate fan mail, and discuss the stirring final chapter of the Jurassic Park  trilogy. 

Something Survived... that's right, The Franchisees are back with the dino-tastic sequel to Jurassic Park. There's little debate around whether this second entry is "dino-tastic"... but is it any good? Does Sammy Fabelman recapture some of the magic of the original We offer up some lukewarm takes! Before we eventually talk about The Lost World: Jurassic Park we also catch up on what we've been watching, including lengthy bits about new release films Saltburn and Ferrari. Join us next week as we revisit Joe Johnston's entry in the JP series, Jurassic Park III!Email us at thefranchiseespod@gmail.com or find us on Twitter @thefranchisees

We're back! New year, new us. Looking to the future, and the future's gonna be bright. That's why we chose to go back 65 million years to bring you some gargantuan dino content. Our first franchise of 2024: Jurassic Park/World. It brings me immeasurable displeasure to include /World... I really don't want to watch any of those three films again but this is the ebb and flow, the hills and valleys of being a bipolar podcast producer. This franchise starts off with the best, truly one of the great rollercoaster ride spectacles of modern cinema: Jurassic Park. Do we have much to say about this film that hasn't been said already? Of course not. Nor do we have, with a few exceptions, notable fun facts about the film. But if you want to hang out with two dudes who just watched Jurassic Park, this is indeed the pod for you.Next week we're back with The Lost World: Jurassic Park, the meaner, nastier sequel. Join us then!Follow us on Twitter @TheFranchisees and email us at thefranchiseespod@gmail.com

Last episode of the year! Happy New Year! Hypergremlinization! See you on the other side!

'Twas the night before Christmas if you listen to this immediately or maybe next year on December 24th it could become a tradition for you why not? We're coming to you from the North Pole with a special Christmas-themed double bill: the Gremlins franchise! We've recorded two short and sloppy episodes for you this holiday season, may you enjoy them in good cheer. Joe Dante. Sammy Fabelman. Howie Mandel as Gizmo. These three brilliant minds come together to deliver both an iconic 80s Christmas creature-feature and its insane Looney Tunes sequel, one of the greatest works of moving picture art ever made. We here at The Franchisees hope you have a fun, warm, and safe holiday with your loved ones. We have a special Christmas bonus episode for you released today as well, won't you have a listen? And we'll be back in one weeks time to ring in the New Year with Gremlins 2: The New Batch!Follow us on Twitter @thefranchisees and email us: thefranchiseespod@gmail.com and rate review and subscribe.