Unclear and Present Danger

Jamelle and John are back for the new year with an episode on the 1997 thriller Murder at 1600, directed by Dwight Little and starring Wesley Snipes, Diane Lane, Alan Alda and Dennis Miller. It is yet another entry into the mini-boomlet of films whose premise, essentially, is what if the president were horny…and murderous.In their conversation, Jamelle and John discuss the relationship between the media and Americans’ conception of power, and how this even influences decision makers at the very top. They also discuss the difference between conspiracies in the public mind and conspiracies in reality.A reminder that they also have a Patreon where they cover the films as of the Cold War as well as produce a weekly politics show. You can find that at patreon.com/unclearpod.

On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John marked the unfortunate death of Rob Reiner by watching his 1992 military legal thriller A Few Good Men. In their conversation, they discuss Reiner’s career, the underlying liberalism of a film like A Few Good Men, and the continued relevance of Jack Nicholson’s performance as Colonel Nathan Jessup.After this, we’ll be off for a few weeks, but then we’ll see you again in the new year with an episode on Murder at 1600. We’ll then finish out 1997 with an episode on G.I. Jane. It’s been a busy and chaotic 2025 for both Jamelle and John, but they both hope the schedule will return to some regularity for 2026.And do not forget the Patreon, where in addition to a twice-monthly show on the political and military thrillers of the Cold War, we do a weekly politics show. Our next Patreon movie episode will be on the 1984 adaptation of John Le Carre’s The Little Drummer Girl, starring the late, great Diane Keaton.

Wag the Dog tells the story of a scandal-ridden president whose chief spin doctor, Conrad Brean (De Niro), decides to distract the public with a fictional war with Albania. To pull this off, he hires Stanley Motss (Hoffman), a prominent Hollywood producer who throws himself into orchestrating an imaginary war, complete with fake footage, fake war heroes and a popular theme song. The hoax is successful, but it soon comes with a host of complications which require Brean and Motss to take quick action to further deceive the public. In their conversation, Jamelle and John discuss the cynicism, shallowness and laziness of Levinson and Mamet’s depiction of Washington politics, as well as a few real-life examples of manufactured wars, and why most Hollywood political satire just doesn’t work.The tagline for Wag the Dog was “A comedy about truth, justice and other special effects.”You can find Wag the Dog to rent or buy on Apple TV and Amazon Prime.Episodes come out every two weeks so stay-tuned for our upcoming episode on Murder at 1600.And don’t forget our Patreon, where we cover the political thrillers of the Cold War and we offer weekly political commentary. You can subscribe for just $5 at patreon.com/unclearpod. Our producer is Connor Lynch and our artwork is by Rachel Eck.

Every week, we do a political discussion show over at the Patreon. We wanted to offer you a preview of that show in the form of a full episode, which happens to be our most recent episode, on the Graham Platner affair in Maine. If you like our discussion, sign up for the Patreon to get an episode very week at patreon.com/unclearpod.

On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched Tomorrow Never Dies, the 1997 action thriller, the eighteenth film in the James Bond series and the second to star Pierce Brosnan as fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Directed by Roger Spottiswoode, it follows Bond in his effort to stop the media mogul Elliot Carver, played by Jonathan Pryce, from starting World War III in order to expand his reach over the world’s information environment.Is Tomorrow Never Dies the superior film to Goldeneye? Is the power-mad media mogul a more relevant villain in 2025 than it was in 1997? How different is our media landscape, really, from that of an earlier age of American life? How much fun do you think Jonathan Pryce was having on set?Tomorrow Never Dies stars Pierce Brosnan, Jonathan Pryce, Michelle Yeoh, Teri Hatcher, Götz Otto, Ricky Jay, Joe Don Baker, Vincent Schiavelli, Judi Dench and Desmond Llewelyn.The tagline for the film is “The Man. The Number. The License...are all back.”You can find Tomorrow Never Dies to rent or stream on Amazon Prime and Apple TV.Episodes come out roughly every two weeks (we’re working on it) and our next episode will be on Barry Levinson’s Wag the Dog. And over on the Patreon, we’re celebrating spooky season with The Thing From Another World. Come and join the fun at patreon.com/unclearpod.Our producer is Connor Lynch and our artwork is by Rachel Eck.