The Screen Companion

Spotlighting Nicolas Cage! Con Air, Snake Eyes, Gone in 60 Seconds—he was on fire in the '90s, bringing his potent essence to a variety of roles in a variety of genres. Action, thrillers, or stunt spectaculars, it's all more interesting once Cage Rage gets involved. Guests: Andrew & Jon.

Sequels are a tricky thing. Should it be like the last one but bigger, or take a left turn that'll send the story into new territory? Or is it more nuanced than that? Will the audience care more about specific plot or character choices than the overall tone? Let's do a few dark horse sequels—Alien 3 and Quantum of Solace—that don't get nearly enough love in their franchises. Guest: Jon.

We conclude our look at remakes via the Invasion of the Body Snatchers franchise with Body Snatchers (1993). After the sleepy town in the original 1956 film, and the memorable '70s Donald Sutherland iteration set in San Francisco, how could the '90s version possibly compete? Why, by setting it at a military base, of course! (Part 2 of 2) Guest: Andrew.

Remakes and reboots have become a tired way of extending the life of a film franchise. Before every year seemed to be nothing but rehashes of the same, uninspired concepts, let's examine older remakes that were closer to a fresher, reinvigorating proposition; Invasion of the Body Snatchers from 1956 and its first remake from 1978. (Part 1 of 2.) Guest: Andrew.