Hit Factory

Los Angeles-based literary manager and producer Jarrod Murray joins the crew of the USS Hit Factory to discuss 'Under Siege', the 1992 action thriller starring Steven Seagal. We discuss the exemplary direction of journeyman Andrew Davis who would go on a year later to make his opus, 'The Fugitive', praise the transcendent performance of Tommy Lee Jones as the madcap leader of a group of nuclear terrorists, and return to one of our favorite preoccupations: the meteoric rise (and astonishing fall) of Steven Seagal, movie star. Finally, we mourn the loss of a bygone staple of Hollywood: Cool Boat Cinema™, and contemplate who might be able to take up the mantle and revive the genre in 2023. Follow Jarrod Murray on Twitter. Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.....Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

Critic, writer, and film historian Nora MacIntyre joins Aaron to discuss John Waters's 1994 satire 'Serial Mom' starring Kathleen Turner as the titular murderous matriarch. Topics include Waters's exploitation origins and the film's ties to splatter maven Herschell Gordon Lewis, the movie's brilliant send-up of the capitalist patriarchal structures of modernity, and the immediate prescience of the story's exploration of true crime obsession in the wake of the O.J. Simpson trial. Follow Nora MacIntyre on Twitter.Read Nora's work at her website, Notoriously Nora.....Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

Director/Programmer of Drunken Film Fest Oakland and co-host of Wiseman Podcast Arlin Golden joins Aaron to discuss Chris Smith's 1999 documentary 'American Movie', a story of artistic determination, male friendship, and one man's struggle to achieve The American Dream amidst the industrial decay of the Rust Belt Midwest. We discuss the fascinating once-in-a-lifetime dynamicism of Smith's subject Mark Borchardt, praise the film's brilliant examination the sociopolitical conditions of working class America, and investigate the ethical and artistic criticisms of the movie's construction.Follow Arlin Golden on Twitter.Read "American Movie at 20: why this portrait of a working-class Wisconsin auteur endures" by filmmaker Robert Greene.Listen and Subscribe to Wiseman Podcast. Check out Mike Ott's film 'Kid Icarus' on Tubi.Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.....Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

Film writer, YouTuber, and quality poster Comrade Yui joins Aaron to discuss 'The Bridges of Madison County', Clint Eastwood's astonishing romantic drama that showcases the actor/director at his most sensuous, contemplative, and graceful.We discuss the film's delicate moral ambiguity, our single issue with Meryl Streep as an actress, and Clint's place in the pantheon of Hollywood's great filmmakers.Follow Comrade Yui on Twitter and Subscribe to their YouTube channel.Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.....Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

Writer, actor, and fellow vampire hunter Jamell Moses joins us to discuss 1998's 'Blade', a Marvel adaptation that succeeds where others have failed due to its vision, ingenuity, and an immaculate lead performance by Wesley Snipes. We discuss the film's legacy as the first (and arguably best) of Marvel's ventures on the silver screen, the subversive political backbone that drives the film's interior world of elite vampires manipulating the levers of society, and why the sexlessness of modern superhero films spells trouble for any attempts to bring the raw carnality of a Blade story to life.Follow Jamell Moses on Twitter. Read Jamell's piece "What Made Tom Cruise Such a Great Vampire" at his blog Departures. Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.....Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

Vulture critic Roxana Hadadi returns to Hit Factory for her hat trick to discuss Robert Rodriguez's 'From Dusk Till Dawn', a rambunctious genre hybrid that blends elements of crime pictures, westerns, and gory exploitation horror to uproarious effect.We discuss the ascendancy of Rodriguez and screenwriter Quentin Tarantino during the mid-90s, the undeniable magnetism of a tribal-tattooed George Clooney (in his big screen debut), and ponder the significance of that eye-popping final shot. Follow Roxana Hadadi on Twitter.Read Up "All Night with George Clooney: From Dusk Till Dawn at 25" by Roxana at Crooked Marquee. Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.....Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

We're back after a brief hiatus with a very special Spooky Season™ pick: Guillermo del Toro's debut feature 'Cronos', a magnificent modern vampire fable as indebted to Universal monster stories as it is to Cronenbergian body horror. We discuss the film's various interpretations of vampirism (both literal and figurative), the unapologetic earnestness of del Toro's work, and what the director's monsters can teach us about the complexities of postmodern existence.Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.....Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

Film Twitter personality and fellow Mel Gibson stalwart Hard Mike joins Aaron to discuss Mel's 1995 Best Picture winner 'Braveheart' a sweeping epic about the legendary Scottish freedom fighter William Wallace.The fellas discuss the film's extremely loose adherence to historical accuracy, its celebration of 90s neoliberal orthodoxy & the myth of meritocratic ascendancy, and the rewards of exploring the complicated artisitic statements of "bad" people. Follow Hard Mike on Twitter. Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.....Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish.