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The Cinephile Hissy Fit Celebrates the Lethal Weapon Franchise

(L-R) Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in LETHAL WEAPON. Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.

In rewatching the entire Lethal Weapon franchise over the Christmas holiday, the hosts of the Cinephile Hissy Fit podcast realized two things. First, this buddy-cop blockbuster series counts as a time capsule to an era that cannot be duplicated. It may even be categorized as a cinematic dinosaur. Secondly, as two guys in their forties who miss this level of devil-may-care cop movie in a time with the police are not society’s first (or even second, third or fourth) heroes right now, they might be dinosaurs now too. Make no misktake. There’s no remaking the Lethal Weapon series in today’s sociopolitical climate. Watching these is now like watching old westerns.

The cover photo of the Cinephile Hissy Fit podcast episode for Sinners

For their 223nd episode, two gun-totting critics, two bath-soaked dads, and two too-old-for-this teachers, Will Johnson and Don Shanahan, come out of the Christmas season with a special gift shared from them to all of you. They are in the camp that considers Lethal Weapon a Christmas movie. Well, this year, the podcast bestows to you a special episode that covers all four films of the Lethal Weapon series. They cover their heroes, villains, explosions, gags, and moments from what has become an action movie time capsule that will never be made the same way again. Come learn more and stay for the mutual love and respect that fun movies encapsulate. Enjoy our podcast!
Cinephile Hissy Fit is an Astra Award-losing Film Obsessive media podcast, brought to you by the Ruminations Radio Network, and a member of the Critics Choice Podcast Network. Please visit, rate, review and subscribe. If you enjoyed this show, we have more where that came from, with interesting hosts, and wonderful guests. All are available on iTunesSpotify, and anywhere you find your favorite shows. Follow the show on Twitter at @CinephileFit and on Facebook. Also, find both Will Johnson and Don Shanahan on Letterboxd as they accumulate their viewings and build their ranks and lists. Lastly, check out their TeePublic store for merchandise options from stickers to t-shirts!

Thank you so much for your captive audience and social media participation! Enjoy our new podcast episode!

Written by Don Shanahan

DON SHANAHAN is a Chicago-based Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic writing here on Film Obsessive as the Editor-in-Chief and Content Supervisor for the film department. He also writes for his own website, Every Movie Has a Lesson. Don is one of the hosts of the Cinephile Hissy Fit Podcast on the Ruminations Radio Network and sponsored by Film Obsessive. As a school teacher by day, Don writes his movie reviews with life lessons in mind, from the serious to the farcical. He is a proud director and one of the founders of the Chicago Indie Critics and a voting member of the nationally-recognized Critics Choice Association, Hollywood Creative Alliance, Online Film Critics Society, North American Film Critics Association, International Film Society Critics Association, Internet Film Critics Society, Online Film and TV Association, and the Celebrity Movie Awards.

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