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The Inflection Cut: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Halstead & Eric
Join us as we navigate the cinematic multiverse, pondering the great what-ifs in entertainment history. We look at what actually happened, what could have gone differently, and what effect it might have had on the media landscape.
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- Sep 1, 20261h 29m
The Reflection Cut: Coyote vs. Acme Redux
Halstead and Eric return to the scene of their first murder only to discover that the victim is alive and loving it! In their first Reflection Cut, the team revisits its first season finale on Coyote vs, Acme. Hear them eat crow and learn about the crazy combination of financing, guile, and studio indifference that let the film escape the Phantom Zone and land in theaters in our own timeline! You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll question your financial decisions in this month's very special The Inflection Cut! Show notes and sources
- Aug 4, 20261h 5m
Kevin Smith's Fletch Won
As a part of their work release agreement, the team returns to podcasting with an episode about the Kevin Smith-helmed prequel to Fletch that never was. Halstead and Eric continue their year of comedy, looking at the rise of festival cinema in the 90s, forces that allowed Kevin to become the luckiest shmuck from New Jersey, and the Harvey of it all. That and more in the latest episode of The Infection Cut.
- Mar 27, 20261h 14m
Jaws 3, People 0
We're back with a new season and maybe the craziest film of the series. In the wake of Jaws 2, the producers decided to mix it up by jumping on the 80s 3D bandwagon. But going with Dennis Quaid and throwing things at the audience wasn't the original way they wanted to shake up the status quo. Halstead and Eric dig up the crazy story and answer the real questions, like: What if instead of 3D horror shlock, we got National Lampoon comedy shlock? What happens when a 70s horror comedy maestro meets the father of 80s teen comedies? How is one unmade film at ground zero for the birth of the Hollywood Blockbuster Era? The answer to these questions and so many more can be found in this episode of The Inflection Cut! Show notes
- Jan 16, 20261h 11m
The Infection Game 2: Casting Boogaloo
The team closes out season two of The Infection Cut with another Infection Game - a lightning round, this time focused on casting what-ifs. From a very different Raiders of the Lost Ark to a couple of wild James Bond takes, Halstead and Eric look at some fascinating films that almost were. As always, it's about the burning questions that affect the everyman: Is the Bond franchise without Sean Connery at launch a positive? What caused an entire film crew to call out Brad Pitt in a full-page letter in Variety? Is Harrison Ford without Indiana Jones still a star?
- Dec 17, 202519 min
Peter Berg's Dune - BONUS FEATURE - The Other Dunes
While you wait for our (post?) holiday special, here's a little bonus special feature for you - a discussion we had while making the Peter Berg's Dune episode about the other versions of Dune that almost got made or did (kinda) get made. If you haven't listened to that episode, we recommend that you do so before listening to this. But hey, do what you want - we're not the boss of you. Enjoy, and we'll be back soon!
- Dec 5, 20251h 7m
Peter Berg's Dune
Join the team as they glue on goatees and head for the darkest timeline, set in motion by a seemingly innocuous event: Peter Berg making his dream project Dune in 2009. It's either a VERY late Halloween episode or an early holiday gift, depending on how you feel about the careers of Denis Villeneuve, Tyler Sheridan, and many others caught up in this inflection. Among the burning questions answered: Why did a $250 movie version of the board game Battleship happen? How did the 2008 writers' strike affect the future of the presidential race? What if the Yellowstoneverse was as important to 21st-century media as the MCU? The answer to these questions and so many more can be found in this episode of The Inflection Cut! Show notes: https://tinyurl.com/mv4vctuv
- Sep 26, 20251h 5m
Star Trek: Planet of the Titans
This month, the team heads to the final frontier to look at the decade-long struggle to revive Star Trek in the 1970s. Even though there were no new episodes in the 1970s, CBS almost immediately had regrets about Star Trek's cancellation and spent the disco era trying to find a way back to the quickly growing legions of fans. As always, Halstead and Eric are ready with the tough questions, like: What stopped the creation of a new Paramount TV network mere months before it was to go on the air with a new Star Trek show that was deep into pre-production? How did Lucille Ball (yes, as in I Love Lucy) save Star Trek not once, but twice? What the heck is a Medical Parapsychologist? The answer to these questions and so many more can be found in this episode of The Inflection Cut! Show notes
- Aug 6, 20251h 2m
Orson Welles' Heart of Darkness
Halstead and Eric take a slightly different approach in the latest episode of the Inflection cut. They focus on Orson Welles' originally planned first film, an adaptation of Joseph Conrad's 1899 novel Heart of Darkness. However, along the way, they can't avoid the '70s elephant in the room - Apocalypse Now. While it was finally brought to the screen by Francis Ford Coppola in 1979, it was initially planned to be directed by George Lucas in guerrilla fashion while the Vietnam War was still going strong! The team pulls on every thread on the crazy sweater, like: What do a hard-left socialist director and a right-wing, self-proclaimed 'Zen Facist' screenwriter have in common? Could Heart of Darkness have wound up even more groundbreaking and influential than Citizen Kane? Why might Citizen Kane subject William Randolph Hurst end up helping Welles get Heart of Darkness made? These questions and many more are answered in this month's The Inflection Cut! Show notes
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