Afterthought FM is a podcast where we sit with movies and shows after watching them and try to make sense of what they're actually saying. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Absolutely. The Running Man has explosions, dystopian game-show violence, big action set pieces, and plenty of spectacle—so on paper, this should absolutely work for me. Unfortunately, there was one problem: I did not care about the Running Man.
In this episode of Afterthought FM, I’m talking about why Ben never clicked for me, the supporting characters I found infinitely more interesting, and why even good action can only carry a movie so far when I’m not invested in the person at the center of it.
Because eventually, I need to care who’s running.
Spoilers for The Running Man ahead.
2 Sept 2026
E24 - Predator: Badlands (2025)
Predator: Badlands finally puts a Yautja at the center of the story—and apparently the secret ingredient was emotional intelligence.
Dek leaves home for his first hunt, determined to prove he’s worthy of the clan that rejected him. Instead, he lands on a planet where everything wants to eat him, gets saddled with an extremely chatty Weyland-Yutani synth, accidentally adopts a collection of alien creatures, and starts discovering that strength might mean more than simply being the biggest predator in the room.
In this episode of Afterthought FM, I’m talking about Yautja culture, Kwei and Dek’s relationship, Thia and the value of sensitivity, the world’s cutest little murder-creature, why the movie’s outdated alpha-wolf metaphor drives me nuts, and how Badlands turns a hunt for a trophy into a story about building your own clan.
Spoilers for Predator: Badlands ahead.
26 Aug 2026
E23 - Predator: Killer of Killers (2025)
Predator: Killer of Killers (2025) is one of the most unusual entries in the Predator franchise, trading a single protagonist for an anthology of legendary warriors drawn from different eras of human history. As the stories slowly converge, the film reveals that the real focus isn't the humans at all—it's the Yautja. By expanding Predator civilization, rituals, tournaments, and ideas of honor, Killer of Killers asks a fascinating question: what does a Predator actually consider a worthy hunt? Even though the anthology format didn't completely click for me, I couldn't help but respect how creatively it reexamines the franchise through the eyes of the hunters instead of the hunted.
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