The Inflection Cut

On this episode of The Inflection Cut, Halstead and Eric look at Guillermo del Toro's many attempts to get his passion project, an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's novel At the Mountains of Madness, to the big screen. At one point, we were mere inches from a $150 million blockbuster written and directed by Del Toro, produced by James Cameron, and co-starring Tom Cruise! As always, the team tackles the questions that really matter, like:

• What if instead of Kaijus vs. Mecha in 2012, we got Tel Toro, Cameron, and Cruise vs. Cthulhu?
• Was the world ready for a big-budget Hollywood take on Cosmic Horror?
• What film drove the stake through Mountains fo Madness' heart? Was it Prometheus or The Hobbit?

These questions and many more are answered in this month's The Inflection Cut!

Show notes

On the Season 2 premiere of The Inflection Cut, the team returns to the early aughts WB and DC to look at the big-budget Justice League by the director of Mad Max that was inches from production start when it was cancelled. They also offer a shocking follow-up to the Coyote vs. Acme-focused season finale.

• Were we robbed of supreme Aussie superhero goodness?
• What if the Snyderverse had been the Millerverse?
• Did Christopher Nolan kill this fresh take on DC's mightiest heroes?

These questions and many more are answered in this month's The Inflection Cut!

Show notes

In a special mystery season finale, the team looks at a film that was actually completed but never released - Coyote vs. Acme. After a smooth production process and very successful test screenings, the film was nevertheless hidden away by Warner Brothers in 2024, never to be seen again.

• Why did WB Discovery refuse to release or sell Coyote vs. Acme?
• Was it wrong place wrong time, or was it MURDER?
• Can the team finally defeat The Inflection Cut's own Thanos?

These questions and many more are answered in this month's The Inflection Cut!

Show notes:
https://tinyurl.com/57hy7tbn

 

Eric and Halstead celebrate the holiday season with a special speed round we're dubbing The Infection Game. We get to the bottom of what really matters, like:

• Why has there never been a movie of the popular 80s Top Gun-meets-Gundam series Robotech?
• Was Superman a coded look at the post-WW2 Jewish diaspora?
• Is Scott Rudin a villain in the Inflection Cut multiverse, our universe, or both?
• Brooklyn - great borough or the greatest borough?

All this and much more in this month's The Infection Cut!

On an election's eve episode of The Inflection Cut, the team turns its multiversal projector on the MCU. They dig into the crazy story of when the director of Shaun of the Dead and Baby Driver left a major Marvel film he had been working on for almost a decade, less than a month before filming was to start.

• Why did Edgar Wright quit Ant-Man so close to production?
• Could his "Ocean's Eleven as a superhero film" have been salvaged?
• Is the Marvel Cinematic Universe chamber music or jazz?

These questions and many more are answered in this month's The Inflection Cut!

Show notes

In the latest episode of The Infection Cut, the team unspools the crazy story of Crusade, Paul Verhoeven and Arnold Schwarzenegger's wild, big-budget epic about the 13th century Catholic Crusades. This film had a cast, sets built, and yet was killed just days before filming started. As always, we focus on what really matters:

• What could make a Hollywood studio cancel a film with $10 million dollars already spent on cast, crew, and sets?
• What's a reverse donkey show?
• What is the 'Full Verhoven', and how does it differ from the 'Full Dutch'?

These questions and many more are answered in this month's The Infection Cut!

Show notes

After the blockbuster success of the Alien sequel Aliens, producing a 3rd movie was a top priority for 20th Century Fox. The tortuous development process that followed eventually led to 1992's divisive Alien3. Eric and Halstead look at the many false starts to see if there was a better way. Could the second Alien sequel have been salvaged? How might that have led to a golden age of auteur-driven science fiction? Join Halsted and Eric in their latest adventure in the cinematic multiverse!

Bibliography: https://tinyurl.com/38uaem7v

We had too much fun stunt casting Batman Year One and discussing a new vision for DC films in the 21st century, so we spun that discussion off into our first-ever bonus episode! Hopefully, that was a good idea.