Fighting In The War Room: A Movies And Pop Culture Podcast · Katey, Matt, Da7e and David

Subs, Doms, and Daniel Radcliffe

February 25, 2026·1 hr 14 min·2 clips

CGI dead actors are where fan love goes to die.

The show starts by asking what movie last ended someone's interest in a franchise, and the question quickly turns into a lively group argument instead of a tidy prompt. Katie Rich gives a joking answer tied to Now You See Me, Now You Don't, then clarifies that she has not seen it yet and is not actually done with the franchise. Matt Patches counters with Fast X, calling it a clear stumble after years of franchise fatigue. The discussion wanders through Fast Seven and F9, with the panel contrasting earlier installments they still like or can live with against the point where the series began to feel like an obligation. That back-and-forth drives the opening: quick corrections, half-remembered details, and the sense that the hosts are talking over one another because the question actually matters to them. They do not treat franchise fatigue as a throwaway joke. They treat it like a real moviegoing condition. From there, the episode shifts into a longer review of another recent film. The movie is described as having a split personality the panel cannot ignore. The first half is framed as earthy and sensual, while the later stretch moves into a bonkers mansion setting, a more stagey melodramatic mode, and an almost psychological-horror pressure around the house itself. The clothing, the period feel, and the emotional temperature all get folded into the same critique. The panel also uses comparisons like Repulsion and a late-1980s Madonna video to pin down the movie's strange texture. What comes through is not a clean thumbs-up or thumbs-down. It is a more exact complaint about tonal mismatch and a more exact admiration for the fact that the movie is at least trying something. The panel settles on the idea that the film is interesting, if not entirely successful. The episode then rolls toward its outro rhythm with plugs, callbacks, and listener engagement hanging off the edges of the conversation. It sounds like a long-running group chat that has wandered through sequels, bad endings, and awkward sincerity and come back with more opinions than it started with.

As heard by us

Franchise fatigue, sequel burnout, and a lively turn toward a film that never quite settles into its own mood.

The episode opens with a fast-moving look at the last movie that made a franchise feel finished, with Scream 7, Now You See Me, and Fast X all coming up.

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Why you'd press play

When franchise fatigue needs a candid company.

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