Filmjitsu! The Podcast that wields films as deadly weapons

This week, Jay subjects Mike to 1995’s To the Limit, a direct-to-video action spectacular starring Anna Nicole Smith as a former CIA operative caught up in an increasingly incomprehensible web of mobsters, assassins, government conspiracies and Joey Travolta. Did Mike find this Skinemax classic an overlooked gem of direct-to-video insanity—or simply one of the dumbest action movies ever made? And just how dangerous can a compact disc really be? After the review, the guys count down their Bottom Five Endings, covering everything from finales that completely botch otherwise good movies to endings that work perfectly and still make theguys feel absolutely miserable. Then it’s time for another round of Dueling Double Bills, where randomly generated titles are matched on-the-spot with ones from Mike and Jay's brains to create competing double features, before Mike reveals what cinematic horroshow (literally) awaits Jay on the next episode. On the podcast that wields films like deadly weapons, To the Limit finally answers an important question: sometimes the deadliest weapon can be a piece of antiquated home media.

This week, Jay takes on M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap (2024), starring Josh Hartnett as a devoted dad, a serial killer and a man who picked a truly terrible night to take his daughter to a concert. Mike assigned this one after suffering through it in theaters, but did Jay hate it too? Or was this the rare act of cinematic revenge that somehow turned into a gift? Given Jay's love for the work of M. Night Shyamalan, the chances for the latter are high! After the review, the guys count down their Bottom Five Traps: schemes and setups that fail spectacularly, succeed in spite of themselves or are just plain stupid. Then they say goodbye to a true legend of stage and screen with a round of Kick Two, Pick Two celebrating four iconic Tim Curry performances. Finally, Jay springs one last trap on Mike: his next cinematic torture assignment for the following episode.

Jay sends Mike hurtling through an interdimensional portal and into the loincloth-garbed wasteland of Gor, an ’80s Cannon Films sword-and-sorcery “epic” about a nebbish professor transported to another world where he discovers he’s aces with a sword. With Oliver Reed chewing scenery, and enough sand, leather and exposed flesh to make Conan blush, Mike tries to determine whether Gor is the gloriously entertaining disaster its reputation suggests or simply a very long walk through the desert. After the review, the guys go big with their Bottom Five Epics before taking a moment to say goodbye to Phantasm icon and cinema’s most rogue ice cream man, Reggie Bannister. Then it’s back to battle for another round of Dueling Double Bills before Mike reveals the next cinematic punishment awaiting Jay. On the podcast that wields films like deadly weapons, sometimes the real fantasy is believing the movie might eventually get better.

Ice Cube once rapped “F*** tha Police,” but in 2025’s War of the Worlds, he has apparently decided the real problem is that the government isn’t watching people closely enough. Jay logs into this extremely online adaptation of H.G. Wells’ classic and tries to determine whether its screenlife presentation, anti-surveillance message and handful of genuinely clever science-fiction ideas can survive a screenplay that asks one family, an Amazon delivery drone and a remotely operated Tesla to save the entire planet.After the review, the guys turn their attention to the Bottom Five Product Placements, celebrating the moments when movies stop pretending to tell stories and begin openly begging us to buy cigarettes, soda, toys, electronics and whatever else happened to help pay the production bills. Then Jay and Mike enter the cinematic battleground for another round of Dueling Double Bills before Jay reveals the punishment awaiting Mike for making him spend 90 minutes watching Ice Cube yell at a computer screen. On the podcast that wields films like deadly weapons, revenge, like an Amazon Prime order carrying a flash drive capable of saving humanity, is already on its way.

It's time once again for Filmjitsu's most inexplicable annual tradition: The Streepening. For reasons that have long since been lost to history (and likely were never sensible to begin with), Jay again hands Mike a Meryl Streep movie proving that no matter how acclaimed the actress may be, there always seems to be another questionable stop on her journey to becoming a generational talent. This year's selection? Wes Craven's Music of the Heart.Yes, that Wes Craven. The mastermind behind A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream traded slashers for string sections in this fact-based drama about a determined violin teacher trying to save a music program in East Harlem. Was this an unexpected hidden gem from one of horror's greatest directors, or merely a detour better left unexplored? Mike tunes his instrument and finds out. After the review, the guys count down their Bottom Five Musicians, celebrating those cinematic performances that hit every wrong note for reasons ranging from questionable casting to spectacularly misguided vanity projects. Then it's onto another round of Dueling Double Bills, where cinematic connections fly faster than violin bows, before Jay closes out the show by revealing Mike's next assignment.Will The Streepening ever end? History suggests that on the podcast that wields films like deadly weapons... probably not.