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Unclear and Present Danger

67 episodes - English - Latest episode: 26 days ago - ★★★★★ - 453 ratings

New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie and freelance writer John Ganz delve into the world of 90s post-Cold War thrillers with Unclear and Present Danger, a podcast that explores America in an age of transition to lone superpower, at once triumphant and unsure of its role in the world.

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Episodes

Mission: Impossible

March 02, 2024 21:56 - 1 hour - 94 MB

For this week’s episode of the podcast, we watched director Brian De Palma’s 1996 adaptation of Mission: Impossible, starring Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Henry Czerny (Kittridge!), Emmanuelle Béart, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames, Kristin Scott Thomas and Vanessa Redgrave. It was shot by frequent De Palma collaborator Stephen H. Burum and edited by Paul Hirsch. Screenplay by David Koepp and Robert Towne. Mission: Impossible, based on the television series, was the inaugural project of Tom Cruise’s pro...

The Substitute

February 16, 2024 17:36 - 86.7 MB

For this week’s episode of the podcast, we watched the 1996 action thriller slash high school drama The Substitute, directed by Robert Mandel — a prolific television director — and starring Tom Berenger, Ernie Hudson, Diane Venora, Marc Anthony, Luis Guzmàn and William Forsythe. In The Substitute, Berenger plays Jonathan Shale, a Vietnam veteran and mercenary who takes a break from the business of wet work after a botched operation in Cuba where several of his men were killed. He returns ho...

Marathon Man (PATREON PREVIEW)

January 28, 2024 19:14 - 9 minutes - 13.1 MB

For this week's Patreon episode, we watched the 1976 thriller "Marathon Man," directed by John Schlesinger, written by William Goldman, and starring Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, Roy Scheider, William Devane and Marthe Keller. In "Marathon Man," Hoffman plays a graduate student who becomes entangled in a plot by a Nazi war criminal — and his U.S. government allies — to recover stolen diamonds. The film reflects an of-the-time fascination with the afterlife of the Nazi regime, and espe...

Executive Decision (feat. Nick Wiger)

January 28, 2024 18:53 - 1 hour - 102 MB

Welcome back to Unclear and Present Danger! It’s our first episode of the new year and we’re here with a pretty fun movie — “Executive Decision,” directed by Stuart Baird, produced by Joel Silver and starring Kurt Russell, Halle Berry, John Leguizamo, Oliver Platt, Joe Morton, Steven Seagal and many others. Music by, as you might expect, Jerry Goldsmith. In “Executive Decision,” an intelligence analyst played by Russell and a group of commandos, led by Seagal, must infiltrate a passenger j...

Crimson Tide (feat. Tony Gilroy)

December 31, 2023 15:35 - 58 minutes - 80.1 MB

On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger — the last episode of the year! — we watched Tony Scott’s 1995 submarine action thriller, “Crimson Tide,” starring Denzel Washington, Gene Hackman, Viggo Mortenson and James Gandolfini, among many others. And to discuss “Crimson Tide,” we have an esteemed guest! Tony Gilroy, who you may know from his work on the Bourne films, political thrillers like “State of Play,” “Beirut,” legal thrillers like “Michael Clayton” or the recent Star Wars...

City Hall

December 14, 2023 19:45 - 1 hour - 94.8 MB

On this week’s episode of the podcast, Jamelle and John watched “City Hall,” a 1996 political drama directed by Harold Becker and starring Al Pacino, John Cusack, Danny Aiello, Bridget Fonda, David Paymer and Martin Landau. You’ll also notice a beardless Richard Schiff, Lauren Velez, and Senator Fritz Hollings of South Carolina. In “City Hall,” Cusack plays Kevin Calhoun, the loyal deputy to Mayor John Pappas, played by Al Pacino. After a young boy and a police detective are killed in a st...

Broken Arrow

December 02, 2023 13:11 - 1 hour - 92.3 MB

On this week’s podcast, Jamelle and John watched the legendary Hong Kong director John Woo’s 1996 action thriller “Broken Arrow,” starring John Travolta, Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis, Delroy Lindo and Howie Long. In “Broken Arrow,” a rogue pilot, Air Force Major Vic Deakins, played by Travolta, steals two nuclear weapons with the intent to sell them back to the United States government for a profit. His co-pilot, Captain Riley Hale, played by Christian Slater, is left for dead during t...

J. Edgar (feat. Beverly Gage)

November 19, 2023 18:00 - 1 hour - 86.7 MB

This week on the Patreon, Jamelle and John were joined by Beverly Gage — a professor of history at Yale University and author of "G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century" — to discuss Clint Eastwood's 2011 J. Edgar Hoover biopic, simply titled "J. Edgar." We had such a good time discussing the movie with Professor Gage that we thought we should share this episode on the main feed as a bonus! We hope you enjoy it and we hope you consider signing up for the Patreon if you...

Nixon (feat. Nicole Hemmer)

November 13, 2023 02:26 - 1 hour - 117 MB

For this week’s episode, Jamelle and John watched Oliver Stone’s 1995 dramatization of the life and career of President Richard M. Nixon, appropriately titled “Nixon.” Like Stone’s other mid-century political film, “JFK,” it stars a murderer’s row of A-listers and character actors: Anthony Hopkins, Joan Allen, Ed Harris, Bob Hoskins, Paul Sorvino, Mary Steenburgen, James Woods, Powers Boothe, Tony Goldwyn, J.T. Walsh and many, many others. To talk “Nixon” we were joined by the great Nicole...

The Enemy Within

October 28, 2023 00:04 - 1 hour - 99.6 MB

For this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched “The Enemy Within,” a 1994 remake of John Frankenheimer’s “Seven Days in May,” starring Forest Whitaker and Jason Robards. Like the original film, “The Enemy Within” concerns a military plot to depose the president and take control of the U.S. government. Like the original film, our hero is an Army advisor who would rather defend the Constitution than his superiors. And like the original film, the story is a ra...

Hidden Assassin

October 14, 2023 13:18 - 1 hour - 90.8 MB

For this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched “Hidden Assassin” — also released under the name “The Shooter” — a 1995 action drama directed by Ted Kotcheff and starring Dolph Lundgren and Maruschka Detmers. In “Hidden Assassin,” Lundgren plays a U.S. Marshall, Michael Dane, tasked with arresting a woman, played by Detmers, suspected of assassinating the Cuban ambassador to the United States. Time is of the essence; the Secretary of State will meet with his...

12 Monkeys

October 03, 2023 00:47 - 1 hour - 106 MB

For this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched “12 Monkeys,” the 1995 science fiction film from Terry Gilliam starring Bruce Willis, Madeline Stowe, Brad Pitt and Christopher Plummer. “12 Monkeys” is an adaptation of sorts of a 1962 French short film “La Jetée,” in which scientists in a post-nuclear apocalypse future send a man back and forward through time in an effort to save their present. The man eventually succeeds in his mission, only to be killed — h...

The American President (feat. Linda Holmes)

September 17, 2023 18:05 - 1 hour - 108 MB

For this week’s episode, Jamelle and John were joined by Linda Holmes of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Our to discuss the 1995 political romantic comedy “The American President,” directed by Rob Reiner, written by — you guessed it — Aaron Sorkin, and starring Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen, David Paymer, Samantha Mathis and Michael J. Fox, among others. “The American President” stars Michael Douglas as President Andrew Shepherd, a widow, who falls in love with an environmental lobb...

Goldeneye (feat. Isaac Chotiner)

September 09, 2023 16:47 - 1 hour - 83.7 MB

For this week’s episode, Jamelle and John were joined by Isaac Chotiner of the New Yorker magazine to watch and discuss 1995’s GoldenEye, the first James Bond film of the 1990s and the first James Bond film of the post-Cold War era. GoldenEye is the seventeenth film in the James Bond series and the first to star Pierce Brosnan, who would go on to star in three subsequent pictures, all of which we will eventually cover on the podcast: Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is Not Enough and Die Anoth...

Dead Presidents

August 18, 2023 11:41 - 1 hour - 111 MB

For this week’s episode, we watched the 1995 coming-of-age tale slash Vietnam War movie slash crime thriller “Dead Presidents,” produced and directed by Albert and Allen Hughes. It stars Larenz Tate, Keith David, Chris Tucker, N’Bushe Wright, Freddy Rodriguez and Bokeem Woodbine. “Dead Presidents” is the story of Anthony Curtis, a soon-to-be high school graduate from the Bronx who chooses to join the Marines in search of his own destiny. The year is 1969 and he is sent to Vietnam, leaving h...

Strange Days

July 24, 2023 15:05 - 1 hour - 122 MB

For this week’s episode, Jamelle and John watched Kathryn Bigelow’s 1995 cult favorite Strange Days, a collaboration with James Cameron inspired by the political and social turmoil of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Although not quite “cyberpunk” — it isn’t a William Gibson pastiche like its contemporary Johnny Mnemonic — Strange Days borrows heavily from the genre and its various conceits. Strange Days stars Ralph Fiennes as protagonist Lenny Nero, Angela Bassett as “Mace,” Juliette Lewis a...

Fatherland (feat. Sam Goldman)

July 08, 2023 02:39 - 1 hour - 98.3 MB

This week, Jamelle and John were joined by scholar and author Sam Goldman to watch and discuss the1994 alt-history thriller “Fatherland,” a made-for-HBO adaptation of Robert Harris’ 1992 novel of the same name. Both the novel and the film take place in a 1964 where Nazi Germany won the war in Europe. In the week leading up to the 75th birthday of Adolf Hitler, and the opening up of diplomatic relations with the United States, an investigator in the SS looks into the suspicious death of a h...

The Net (feat. Josie Duffy Rice)

June 28, 2023 14:19 - 1 hour - 111 MB

In this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John are joined by the Josie Duffy Rice of the Unreformed podcast to discuss “The Net,” a 1995 techno-thriller, directed by Irwin Winkler and starring Sandra Bullock, Jeremy Northam and Dennis Miller. The Net was one of several films in a mini-genre that you can describe as, “What if computer technology was used for evil?” Contemporaries include Hackers and Enemy of the State, both films we will eventually cover on this podcas...

Demolition man

June 10, 2023 14:33 - 1 hour - 104 MB

In this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watch the satirical sci-fi action thriller “Demolition Man,” starring Sylvester Stallone as “John Spartan,” a Los Angeles city police officer who is cryogenically frozen as punishment for a failed rescue attempt; Wesley Snipes as “Simon Phoenix,” his primary antagonist; Sandra Bullock as a cop in the sterile, Brave New World-esque future society in which the film takes place; and Nigel Hawthorne as the leader of that futu...

Judge Dredd

May 27, 2023 00:14 - 1 hour - 104 MB

In this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John are joined by David Sims of The Atlantic magazine and the Blank Check podcast to discuss the 1995 comic book adaptation “Judge Dredd.” Made in the era when Hollywood had no idea what to do with comics and science fiction properties, “Judge Dredd” is, in most respects, a failure. But within that failure is interesting glimpse into one of the major political preoccupations of the 1990s — crime. As such, the conversation tou...

True Lies

May 14, 2023 13:00 - 1 hour - 104 MB

In this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watch “True Lies,” James Cameron’s tonally-incoherent (but hugely successful) spy thriller starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis. They discuss the film as a straightforward take on the American crisis of masculinity in the 1990s, as a depiction of American beliefs and ideologies around sex and power, and as the beginning of a significant turn in the cultural depiction of America’s enemies. They also talk abo...

Canadian Bacon

April 28, 2023 03:12 - 1 hour - 95.2 MB

This week on Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched “Canadian Bacon,” a 1995 political comedy written, produced and directed by Michael Moore, which takes aim at American politics in the wake of the Cold War. It stars an ensemble cast of John Candy (in his last film role), Alan Alda as the president of the United States, Bill Nunn, Kevin J. O’Connor, Rhea Perlman, Kevin Pollak and Rip Torn. In their conversation, Jamelle and John discuss Michael Moore’s work and impact (especi...

Die Hard with a Vengeance

April 15, 2023 12:15 - 1 hour - 105 MB

On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, we watched “Die Hard with a Vengeance,” the 1995 threequel to the original 1988 “Die Hard.” Directed by John McTiernan, who helmed the first film, it was written by prolific Holllywood screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh based on an original screenplay and stars Bruce Willis as recurring hero John McClane, Samuel L. Jackson as “Zeus,” and Jeremy Irons as Simon Gruber, brother of Hans. In the episode, Jamelle and John discuss Rudy Giuliani’s ...

Outbreak

April 02, 2023 02:28 - 1 hour - 94.8 MB

On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John discuss Wolfgang Petersen’s medical thriller slash action movie “Outbreak.” We spend the bulk of the episode discussing the experience of watching this movie having lived through a pandemic, as well as the pandemic fears of the 1990s that might have inspired this film. Unfortunately, a few technical difficulties meant the audio quality isn’t as high as it should be, but we did our best to compensate and we appreciate your...

Drop Zone (feat. Soraya Roberts)

March 19, 2023 16:49 - 1 hour - 92.5 MB

This week, Jamelle and John are joined by Soraya Roberts of Defector and Pipe Wrench magazine to talk “Drop Zone,” a quintessentially 1990s action film starring Wesley Snipes and Gary Busey. They talk Snipes' career and his fall into “sovereign citizenship,” the 90s obsession with “extreme” sports, and race and Hollywood. In our next episode, we’ll discuss the (ridiculous) disaster thriller “Outbreak,” directed by Wolfgang Petersen and starring Dustin Hoffman and Rene Russo. It’s available ...

Toys

March 06, 2023 02:50 - 1 hour - 93.3 MB

In this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watch “Toys,” a largely-forgotten fantasy-comedy film from director Barry Levinson. Despite its myriad flaws, the boys have a productive conversation about the film’s obvious themes — the military-industrial complex and the rise of remote and drone warfare — and its less obvious themes, specifically the bourgeois vision of family capitalism and industrial harmony at the heart of the film. “Toys” is virtually impossible t...

The Human Factor (PATREON PREVIEW)

February 18, 2023 18:40 - 11 minutes - 15.2 MB

We are concluding our Graham Greene series with an obscure spy drama from director Otto Preminger, the 1979 film "The Human Factor." It is of a piece with "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" and to that point, Jamelle and John spend this episode discussing the connections between the two works and the similarities (and differences) between how Le Carre and Greene view betrayal and deception. "The Human Factor" is pretty good — Preminger was a master — so we both recommend that you check it out. It'...

The Rocketeer

February 18, 2023 16:03 - 1 hour - 99.4 MB

In this week’s episode, Jamelle and John watch Disney’s “The Rocketeer,” a throwback action-adventure film starring Billy Campbell, Alan Arkin, Jennifer Connelly, Paul Sorvino and Timothy Dalton. They discuss the 1930s revival of the late 80s and early 90s, the real-life conspiracies that might have inspired the plot of “The Rocketeer,” and the political power of nostalgia for Americans on the left and the right. Episodes come out every other Friday, so we’ll see you two weeks from now with...

Without Warning

February 03, 2023 05:00 - 59 minutes - 81.9 MB

In this week’s episode, Jamelle and John discuss “Without Warning,” a made-for-television science fiction film from 1994, produced as if it were an actual breaking news event, with “reports” from on-the-ground correspondents from around the world. They discuss the inspiration for this “docudrama” genre as well as the general wave of “asteroid attack” films in the 1990s. They also talk the psychology behind the idea that a global disaster would bring humanity together (under American leadersh...

Surviving the Game (feat. Gillet Rosenblith)

January 21, 2023 12:19 - 1 hour - 87.3 MB

New Episode This week, Jamelle and John are joined by historian Gillet Rosenblith to discuss the 1994 action thriller “Surviving the Game,” a loose adaptation of “The Most Dangerous Game” and a glimpse into anxieties and fears regarding poverty, homelessness and urban decay in the 1990s. They also discuss other, similar films of the era, like John Woo’s “Hard Target,” and they discuss further what distinguishes the action movies of the 1990s from their predecessors in the 70s and 80s. Conn...

The Puppet Masters

January 09, 2023 01:48 - 1 hour - 90.7 MB

Happy New Year! In this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, we watch “The Puppet Masters,” an adaptation of a 1951 Robert Heinlein novel that feels aimless in the absence of the original Cold War context. Jamelle and John discuss, among other things, the “Body Snatcher” genre, science fiction as a vehicle for allegory, and the war on drugs. Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck. Contact us! Follow us on Twitter! John Ganz Jamelle Bouie UnclearPod And join...

Blown Away (feat. Clare Malone)

December 24, 2022 16:01 - 1 hour - 98.4 MB

What do you get when you mix Boston, bad accents and a lot of explosions? The 1994 thriller “Blown Away” starring Jeff Bridges and Tommy Lee Jones! Jamelle and John are joined by Clare Malone of The New Yorker to talk Irish-American identity, Irish nationalism, the racial politics of Boston and much, much more. Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck. Contact us! Follow us on Twitter! John Ganz Jamelle Bouie UnclearPod And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For ju...

The Third Man (PATREON PREVIEW)

December 16, 2022 05:06 - 9 minutes - 12.7 MB

Hello listeners! This on the Patreon week we continued our journey into the work of Graham Greene and Carol Reed with the 1949 British noir “The Third Man.” It suffices to say that this is one of the most famous and acclaimed movies of all time, so Jamelle and John had a lot to say about its production, its writing and its themes. They also spoke a great deal about Orson Welles, the politics of postwar Europe, existentialism, and the career of star Joseph Cotten. Connor Lynch produced this ...

On Deadly Ground

December 10, 2022 01:16 - 1 hour - 90 MB

In this week’s episode, Jamelle and John scrape the bottom of the cinematic barrel with the 1994 environmentalist action flick, “On Deadly Ground,” directed by and starring Steven Seagall. It’s not a good movie, but they had a good conversation covering Seagall’s political trajectory, right-wing misogyny, and the psychological origins of authoritarian politics. Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck. Contact us! Follow us on Twitter! John Ganz Jamelle Bouie UnclearPo...

Our Man in Havana (PATREON PREVIEW)

December 02, 2022 03:24 - 9 hours - 12.7 MB

For this week’s Patreon episode, Jamelle and John cover the 1959 film “Our Man in Havana,” an adaptation of a 1958 Graham Greene novel by the same name. We talk Graham Greene, director Carol Reed, and Alec Guinness, the star, as well as esoteric topics like motivated reasoning, the nature of intelligence work, and the power and peril of propaganda. We also, as always, looked at the news for the day the film was released, December 30, 1959. Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rach...

The Pelican Brief (feat. Jay Willis)

November 25, 2022 04:05 - 1 hour - 107 MB

In this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle, John and special guest Jay Willis of Balls and Strikes discuss the 1993 adaptation of John Grisham’s “The Pelican Brief,” and ask whether anything about the movie’s plot actually makes any sense. They also discuss the early days of the conservative legal movement, the political hegemony of capital, and Stanley Tucci. Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck. Contact us! Follow us on Twitter! John Ganz Jamell...

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (PATREON PREVIEW)

November 18, 2022 23:15 - 11 minutes - 15.8 MB

We have another Patreon episode for you and this week, it’s a John favorite: the 1979 BBC adaptation of “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.” We go deep into the character of George Smiley, John le Carre’s critique of the British ruling class, and the idea of national “decadence.” Jamelle also spends a little time talking about the American constitutional system, so it’s basically an episode where everyone is on brand. Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck. To hear the full epis...

The Fugitive (feat. Michael Liroff)

November 11, 2022 04:40 - 1 hour - 97.4 MB

Jamelle and John are joined by Michael Liroff of the Five Four podcast to discuss “The Fugitive,” a masterpiece of Dad cinema. They talk the liberal politics of the 1990s, the surprisingly nuanced racial politics of the film, and complain, as always, that they just don’t make them like this anymore. Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck. Contact us! Follow us on Twitter! John Ganz Jamelle Bouie UnclearPod And join the Unclear and Present Patreon! For just $5 a mont...

The Hunt for Red October (Take Two)

October 30, 2022 17:38 - 1 hour - 90.2 MB

Episode 26 — The Hunt for Red October (Take Two) In this one year anniversary episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John return to the film that started it all, “The Hunt for Red October.” They discuss the film as an elegy for the Cold War era, and further explore the dilemma of American power and identity in the post-Soviet world. Next week’s episode…”The Fugitive.” Contact us! Sign up for our Patreon show on the films of the Cold War! Connor Lynch produced this episode. A...

The Firm

October 16, 2022 15:52 - 1 hour - 95.1 MB

Episode 25 — The Firm In this episode of Unclear and Present Danger, John and Jamelle discuss the 1993 John Grisham film adaptation “The Firm.” They use the genre of the legal thriller to discuss the legalization of American life in the 1990s and the turn from politics in crucible of history to management at its putative end. They also talk about Wilford Brimley, so there’s that too. Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck. Contact us! Follow us on Twitter! John Ganz ...

Passenger 57 (feat. Amanda Smith)

October 03, 2022 23:43 - 1 hour - 102 MB

In this episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John are joined by Amanda Smith of the Disaster Girls podcast to discuss the Wesley Snipes vehicle “Passenger 57,” which features an extremely charismatic Snipes facing off against an off-band Hannibal Lecter and also, casual racism. Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck. Contact us! Follow us on Twitter! • UnclearPod • John Ganz • Jamelle Bouie • Amanda Smith Links from the episode! • New York Times f...

White Sands

September 21, 2022 02:52 - 1 hour - 88.7 MB

Somehow, a crime thriller starring Willem Dafoe, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Mickey Rourke set in the New Mexico desert isn’t especially good. Still, the 1992 film “White Sands” gave Jamelle and John a little bit to discuss for this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger. Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck. Contact us! Follow us on Twitter! John Ganz Jamelle Bouie Links from the episode! New York Times front-page for April 24, 1992

Deep Cover (feat. Adam Serwer)

September 02, 2022 23:16 - 1 hour - 95.8 MB

Jamelle, John and special guest Adam Serwer of The Atlantic watch one of the great crime movies of the 1990s — Bill Duke’s “Deep Cover” — and talk about post-Cold War anxiety over the drug trade, Black “tough on crime” politics, and the war on drugs. Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck. Contact us! Follow us on Twitter! John Ganz Jamelle Bouie Links from the episode! New York Times front-page for April 15, 1992 James Forman’s book on the Black politics of the ea...

Die Hard 2: Die Harder

August 21, 2022 00:29 - 57 minutes - 78.5 MB

Welcome to episode 22 of Unclear and Present Danger. This week, we watched “Die Hard 2: Die Harder,” the sequel — of course — to “Die Hard.” In this conversation, Jamelle and John talk the 1990s panic over violence in pop culture, the working-class qualities of John McClane, and the lost days of American suspicion of, even hostility to, the military. Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck. Contact us! Follow us on Twitter! John Ganz Jamelle Bouie Links from the episo...

Rising Sun

August 06, 2022 22:31 - 1 hour - 96.3 MB

On episode 21 of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John discuss the horrifically problematic 1993 thriller “Rising Sun” starring Wesley Snipes and Sean Connery. It’s lurid, salacious and incredibly racist, which makes it fertile ground for a discussion of the anti-Japanese panic of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Additional topics include Wesley Snipes' career, Michael Crighton’s whole deal, and the question of whether it is even possible to forge a unifying national narrative. Connor...

In the Line of Fire

July 24, 2022 04:32 - 54 minutes - 74.6 MB

In this, our twentieth episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched the hit 1993 thriller “In the Line of Fire,” directed by Wolfgang Petersen and starring Clint Eastwood, Rene Russo and John Malkovich. They discuss Eastwood’s career and star persona, the anti-political apathy of the 1990s, and the “end of history” vibes of Eastwood and Malkovich’s characters. Contact us! Follow us on Twitter! John Ganz Jamelle Bouie Links from the episode! New York Times front-page ...

In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco

July 09, 2022 03:36 - 56 minutes - 78.2 MB

For episode 19 of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watch “In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco,” a ripped-from-the-headlines-style movie about the siege at Waco. They use the movie as an occasion to discuss right-wing extremism, abuse and overreach among federal law enforcement, and how both played themselves out in American culture. Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck. Contact us! Follow us on Twitter! John Ganz Jamelle Bouie Links from the episode! N...

Falling Down

June 25, 2022 14:20 - 1 hour - 96.1 MB

Jamelle, for one, has been very excited about this episode, an analysis of Joel Schumacher’s 1993 film “Falling Down.” In the conversation, Jamelle and John discuss the populist moment of the early 1990s, the discourse around the “angry white man,” the class politics (or lack thereof) of the film, and the erosion of the post-war anti-fascist consensus. Connor Lynch produced this episode. Artwork by Rachel Eck. Contact us! Follow us on Twitter! John Ganz Jamelle Bouie Links from the epi...

Sniper

June 11, 2022 03:59 - 1 hour - 88.6 MB

In this episode of Unclear and President Danger, Jamelle and John discuss “Sniper,” a delightful piece of genre trash that also happens to speak to some of the paranoias and prejudices of the era. To that point, their conversation veers from the anti-Bill Clinton conspiracy theories of the early 1990s to the militia aesthetic that emerged later in the decade. Contact us! Follow us on Twitter! John Ganz Jamelle Bouie Links from the episode! New York Times front page for January 29, 1993...

Under Siege

May 28, 2022 02:53 - 1 hour - 93.5 MB

For episode 16 of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John discuss “Under Siege,” 1992 action thriller directed by Andrew Davis and starring Steven Seagal in what is clearly his best role. We talk about Seagal’s career, Hollywood’s view of the American military in this era of filmmaking, and the strange, almost left-wing politics of this movie in particular. Jamelle also attempts a bad impression of Seagal. It’s a good time. “Under Siege” is available for rent on Amazon and iTunes. Our...

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