Frotcast 124: Smashing Machine/Universal Soldier director John Hyams

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Holy crap, a real filmmaker on the Frotcast! In which we talk about movies and everything! This week, we talk to John Hyams, director of the new Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, which is actually getting pretty good reviews and is currently available on VOD (it hits theaters next month). Of course, John also directed The Smashing Machine, an MMA documentary about Mark Kerr shot back in the heyday of Pride (you can also find that online), which was basically an open invitation for me to dork out super hard and ask all about Bas Rutten, Renzo Gracie, steroids, the Yakuza, and the days of legal headbutts. But he’s also got some good stories about shooting movies in Bulgaria, stories about Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren, etc. In addition to John, we talk a little about Cloud Atlas and Flight (reviews to come shortly) and about Brendan’s trip to Kauai, where he saw where they filmed Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones, got evacuated for a tsunami, and took the zipline tour which was the basis for the South Park episode. Show me those shakas, brah.

THE LIVE FROTCAST AT UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO (SPONSORED BY TALL TALE PRODUCTIONS) IS THIS WEEKEND! SATURDAY AND SUNDAY! IT REASON TO SHOUT! PREPARE YOUR ANUSES!

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Oh, and here’s Laremy on a morning show. This looks like a good episode! (Thanks for this, Richard)