Season 7 Schedule

Hey, everyone! Hope you are having a good spring and Lent season. It's starting to get nice out again. I just wanted to give everyone a quick update as to our status with Cannon Cruisers, since we are just about to start a new season after a rocky 2020.

We're currently in our fourth year(!) doing this, and you might have noticed that every season focuses in a certain era in Cannon Films history. If you've taken a look at what the episode list says, it states that the upcoming season will cover everything in the '90s up to the end of Cannon. The reason we're doing this is that because beyond 1990, Cannon's output had slowed considerably. This naturally means that we have to widen the scope of material to get a full season worth of episodes.

So, there is a very obvious question to pose here, and you might have already asked it. Does this mean season 7 is the final season of Cannon Cruisers?

The answer is No.

While season 7 intends to go up to the end of Cannon chronologically, we have also missed many movies on the way to getting there. I'm sure if you're a Cannon aficionado, you've noticed it. From availability issues to just plain ignorance, there are a lot of films we wanted to cover that we just didn't get to on our first pass. On the other hand, the same goes for Non-Cannon entries we just haven't had the opportunity to cover. Then there are movies we are considering covering again due to not being totally satisfied with the first go.

What this means is that season 8, not season 7, will be the last season of Cannon Cruisers, but it won't be a short one. It probably won't even be a consistent one. Our plans for the final season will be to cover and go over everything we can get out hands on when we can get it, and that means we might miss a week or two trying to do so. It'll definitely be longer than other other season considering how much searching will have to be done. There will also be more Non-Cannon episodes than any other season so far, both to fill holes and to cover many films we just can't get around to during a normal season.. That's just the nature of this sort of series, though with the unwieldy nature of the last season, it's going to be unavoidable.

When we started, streaming wasn't quite as big as it is now, and availability of these movies was the worst it had been . . . possibly ever. But that has changed since 2017. We have found a lot of the flicks we had first missed out on, and others we didn't even know existed at the time. The material we can cover today is far wider than what we could when we just started out. Availability has always been the toughest part of this series, and that is thankfully getting easier.

To sum up: there is still a lot we still want to cover. We won't be wrapping up anytime soon.

As for season 7, we've already started recording and we're ready with our premiere episode for next week. Keep your calendars marked for April!

There are still a few surprises and curveballs we want to throw you, but we obviously can't reveal them quite yet. Nevertheless, Cannon Cruisers is still going to continue on, so don't worry if that thought has been at the back of your mind. We still have plenty of the Cannon catalogue to cruise through. If anything, we're still just getting warmed up.

That's it for today! Remember that next Sunday will be the premiere episode of season 8! You're going to really like this one, I promise. It's a good one!

Last note, I wanted to share something.

In pseudo-related news, home video company MVD Rewind has just announced a Blu-Ray version of the Cannon films documentary, The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story Of Cannon Films. I'll include the press release and the old trailer below.

The MVD Rewind Collection has announced that it will bring to Blu-ray Hilla Medalia's documentary The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story Of Cannon Films (2014). The release will be available for purchase on July 20.

Synopsis: The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story Of Cannon Films is a documentary about two Israeli-born cousins, Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, who in pursuit of the American Dream, turned the Hollywood power structure upside down, producing over 300 films and becoming the most powerful independent film company in the world. Directed by Sundance Grand Jury Prize nominee Hilla Medalia (After the Storm), The Go-Go Boys is an up close and personal documentary that examines the complex relationship between two contradictory personalities whose combined force fueled their success and eventual collapse. Featuring interviews with Jean-Claude Van Damme, Michael Dudikoff, Eli Roth, Boaz Davidson along with Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus themselves, as well as archive footage of Sylvester Stallone, Charles Bronson and Chuck Norris in the definitive documentary about Cannon Films.

Special Features:

• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible Artwork
• Collectible Mini-Poster
• Limited Edition Slipcover (First Pressing Only)
• AND MORE...

Will we cover it? That's always a possibility. For now, we have other things to get to, like getting back to recording episodes for season 7.

Thanks for tuning in, guys. It's great hearing your feedback and the energy these old movies can still supply audiences even decades later. It's been fun being a part of it, and we hope to be with you much longer! 

Keep cruising that Cannon catalogue, and we'll see you next time!

The Four Blocks of Good Pacing

Hey, guys. Since there's no new episode until April I thought I would share with you this part of a recent post on my other blog Wasteland & Sky. It is about what I learned in regards to pacing an action movie from doing Cannon Cruisers for so long.

You can find the full post here, but I've included the relevant information for this post below.

Once again, thanks for coming by and I'll see you soon for more episodes!

Rarely does an action movie ever justify being shorter than 80 minutes or longer than 100, so ones that break this rule tend not to be very good on a fundamental level. Rushing through the story shows a lack of craft, and stalling shows a disrespect for the audience's time and overestimation of your own talents. An action and adventure story is meant to introduce quickly, then get to the rising action ASAP. The audience needs to be wowed as soon as you can do it, but do it too often or take too long to do it and they will rightfully drift off. Remember, they are here for the action. they aren't here for you to waste their time.

This means knowing when to end the story. Action stories should be as short as possible because the audience will get burned out or even desensitized to what you do. The faster and stronger your punches, the quicker the fight is won. Are you in a fight with your audience? In a sense. You are fighting to keep them engaged, and they are engaged in action and adventure because they want to see action and adventure. The less they get of it, the less they will want to stick around. You need to offer it to them while also making sure they stick around for the whole ride. This requires respecting their time and knowing the right way to cater to their needs.

Think of it in movie terms, such as the above. Imagine the shortest limit I put up there, an 80 minute action movie. How would that work? How do you make a movie so short and yet mange to hit all the right points? Naturally, few movies are as short as 80 minutes, but it appears to be the bare minimum you can go before you start losing things you need to make the story work. In essence, an 80 minute action movie would be the bare minimum required.

I will describe it in four blocks.

First 20 minutes: Introduction

In the first 20 minutes, you need to introduce your protagonist, their goals and why we should root for them. you must do the same for the antagonist. At the same time, the conflict between the two, why they are opposed, is to be set up. where most action movies go wrong as bloating this up with big, elaborate back stories or convoluted motivations in an attempt to be clever. You don't need to be clever, you need to be clear. Tell the audience straight out what they want to know. The longer you take to set it up, the more you risk the audience tuning out.

At the same time as the above, you need to have some action early in the story to give an indication as to what the audience will be expecting for the rest of the movie. This chunk of time is essentially the entirety of the first act, and it's very necessary. It's important set up, but dragging it out too long risks boring the audience and blowing through it too quickly risks confusing them. I can say, audiences will be looking at the time if you blow past half an hour on setup, and that is the last thing any moviemaker should ever want.

Second 20 minutes: Rising Action

Next, you ratchet up the action, leading up to the second act turn. Whether the heroes or villains suffer a win or loss doesn't matter so much as that  the actual situation changes by the end of this conflict stage. The status quo must be rocked, and it must be reflected in the action. The carnage here must trump everything that came before, otherwise the audience will not feel the tension as best they need to stick with the story. Remember, this is action!

When this part ends, it shouldn't contain finality, but just enough of a shakeup that means the protagonist and antagonist have unfinished business and, to use an old cliché, that said business is now personal. If it isn't personal by this point then the characters are not as invested as they should be, and neither will the audience be.

Third 20 minutes: Tension Release

Yes, action stories shouldn't have constant explosions and knife fights. The audience needs to take in what just happened and learned how it affected what the characters have just gone through. Just as the introduction builds to the chaos the audience just experienced, so to must it be built again. This is the one period of the movie where there should be a lull in the action, the audience needs a breather and requires catching up with what just happened.

At the same time, the plot needs to continue towards the setup for the final confrontation. Linger too long on downtime and you risk the audience losing interest again. You need to remember that this is an action story, so things still have to move. All the pieces on the board must come to the place they need to be for the final checkmate. The hero says goodbye, he might not make it back, etc. Get ready for the climax, because this is all going to explode.

Fourth 20 minutes: Climax

This is where everything goes off the rails, in a good way. Everything has led to this moment, and the action needs to reflect all the buildup you have had so far. But it isn't just a final release. Even during the climax does the action rise, leading to the iconic standoff between protagonist and antagonist, where it is released in a battle of wills that can go however your story is meant to go . . . but it must top everything seen so far. It leads to the final moment when both hero and villain exchange their final (possibly metaphoric) blows with each other, and the correct party walks away. Do this right and the audience will be pumping their fist as the cheesy rock song plays and the credits roll over the remaining debris of what was just unleashed.

You'll notice I didn't put "denouement" in its own category. This is because action movies shouldn't have them. The story should end as close to the villain's defeat as possible, letting the audience leave on the high they came in for. The longer you risk going on and on after the final confrontation, the more you risk losing the effect you worked so hard for. You want the audience feeling like something got accomplished, and it meant something. That final image is going to stick with them long after they've put that movie back in the case again. This is what any creator wants the audience to feel.

This is the key to making a good action movie. It requires an order to the chaos, just as most storytelling does. It prioritizes giving the audience what they want through tight pacing and parsing out gold nuggets of action in all the right places. Every classic action movie does this.

Yes, the above formula does look a lot like the Lester Dent formula, but since it we are working with visuals and not words there is a lot more to keep track of. Director-style, actors, execution of action, and even cinematography, can change the amount of time it takes for any of these things to happen. However, if you risk going over 30 minutes in any of these categories, you risk losing the audience entirely. Hence why there are few good action movies that break the 2 hour mark, and none that reach 3 hours without severe pacing problems. These movies simply don't warrant being that long because they go against the point of action, which is to be quick and brutal.

And sure enough, as long as I've been doing Cannon Cruisers and have covered well over 100 movies by now, this unwritten rule appears to have been put to good use. Just like most stories, there is a clear winning formula at play here.

Next time you watch an action movie, try to keep it that above formula in your head. You'll notice each part falls somewhere within the 20-30 minute limit I've described. For good reason. Most classic action directors knew how to put audience needs first.

Everything has a formula, you just need to be sure you're following the right one.

You can find more of my posts on Wasteland & Sky.

Non-Cannon ~ Episode 61 - Prince of Darkness (1987)

It was a short round of special episodes this time, mostly due to us gearing up for the next season and changing weather. Nonetheless, we left you with quite an interesting episode where we end up much more confused than when we went in.

This time we watched John Carpenter's 1978 hit horror movie, Prince of Darkness, a film with a very mixed legacy. Some people hate it, other love it. As for the two of us, we have watched so much John Carpenter by this point that we can't help but notice how bad the final product actually is. This episode is a bit longer than usual due to us trying to assess just why this picture simply doesn't cut the mustard. It's just not good.

As always, check out the episode to learn just why we think the way we do. Thank you for tuning in. Once again there will be a two week break as we attempt to create more of a backlog of episodes for you to enjoy. For now, I simply send my thanks to all regular viewers. It is very much appreciated by both of us. See you in April!

Randy's Score: 2/5

JD's Score: 2/5

Up Next: Season 7!

Non-Cannon ~ Episode 60 - Starman (1984)

Today we continue with out mini-special of John Carpenter movies with the frequently forgotten Starman. This one is not one of the most well known films he's made, being very different from his usual sort of story. He didn't even have anything to do with the writing or scoring on this one, despite the latter feeling very much like him. The whole thing is an anomaly.

That said, it isn't without merit, and it has been ripped off pretty heavily in the years to follow. Check out the episode to learn just how and why.

Randy's Score: 3/5

JD's Score: 3/5

Up Next: Prince of Darkness!