All Pop, No Culture

We're back with another configuration of APNC members! This week starts off with Pete, Jen and Kevin and then Andy shows up about 30 minutes in. We are nothing if not diverse! So, Pete's back and you know what that means! It is entirely possible that Pete watched everything and, lucky for you, he remembered all of it, too!! I don't even know how to list it all, but there's a good amount to digest here. And, just to make things as clear as mud, his background has nothing to do with the episode this week. Like, at all... When we finally get Pete wound down (with the help of the mute button...) Jen gets to speak on her week. Her big watch is Antlers, but she also talks M3gan and You. She doesn't gobble up as much screen time as the always gorgeous Peter, but she gives a solid run down of some stuff she enjoyed. We pass the ball over to Andy quickly who talks National Treasure on Disney + before handing the reigns over to the big topic. The show finishes off with The Last of Us, Episode 3. This was a monumental episode, not just for the show but for TV in general. The episode takes a bit of a turn from the first 2 and does it in a beautiful way. There's a lot of talk here about what the place of a love story like this means in The Last of Us universe and it's a great discussion. As always, thank you for watching. We have noticed a lot of people sharing this episode on Twitter and Facebook and we LOVE this! Please take this episode and share it with everyone you know across all your socials. We love getting new viewers and more comments. Let's build a community! Also, don't forget to like and subscribe if you haven't and we'll catch you on another episode next week!

Well, another week without Andy and Pete. It's like they just don't love us... BUT, without them here, we dont have to worry about those pesky restraining orders and we can invite Andrew's friend Jen on! They are old high school classmates so she fits right in! It's her first time on the show so we start gently. And by we, I mean Kevin. And by gently, I mean completely hogs the limelight. He starts off by discussing the Canadian film, The Swearing Jar. It's a romantic dramedy that isn't necessarily in his wheelhouse, but he won't shut up about it, so I guess he liked it? Next up, to continue to ease in the newbie (or to again monopolize the conversation like selfish windbag he is...) Kevin talks about The Bear on FX/Hulu. As it turns out, Jen has watched even more than he has, so she has a lot to bring to the conversation. Andrew then talks Velma which, as IMDB should suggest, no one else has really watched or enjoyed. He leaned into justifying the show, though, so there is a definite conversation there. Next up, Andrew and Jen talk about You People on Netflix and what they took away from it. It seems like it's a pretty solid film that they enjoyed overall. Sounds like Eddie and Jonah worked pretty well together and the rest of the cast seems to have done a solid job, too. Next up, much to Kevin's enjoyment, the gang again talks The Last of Us. This time it's the second episode of the song season and most people seem to be liking it. Spoiler alert: Kevin loved it! After that talk, the group gets tangential, as they are wont to do. You'll get some Avatar talk and some James Cameron ego stroking... As always, we hope you enjoyed this weeks episode. It was a lot fun to have a new person on again and we hope Jen had a great time. We asked her and she said she did, but Stockholm Syndrome is a thing, y'all. Don't forget to like and subscribe if you haven't already. Share the episode on Facebook or Twitter or wherever else you socialize your media. Have a great week and we'll see you soon!

Welcome back!! This episode kicks off like so many do, with just Andrew and Kevin. Andrew jumps right in and tells us about his current rewatch of Neon Genesis Evangelion, which he is currently enjoying on Netflix. Next up, Kevin goes over what he watched, which is basically what he watched last week, but he knows you didn't watch that episode because you only love Andrew, so here it is again... He quickly goes over Hacks season 2 and The Callisto Protocol. One new thing from him (unless you also ignored him on his birthday and are new to this thread) is a 90's SUPER B movie called Tammy and the T-Rex. Look, this movie is so bad that even in the opening credits, they list her name TWICE as Tanny. Yeah, with N's instead of M's. And they don't care!! As Kevin and Andrew begin to talk The Conjuring 2, Andy decides to show up And this leads to pure chaos! The Conjuring 2 talk is solid, but it quickly devolves into madness as the guys discuss their own paranormal experiences, then aliens and then... DRAGONS?!?! Yup, that's what happens. The last half of the show is finally Kevin's time to shine. For anyone who has followed this show since its inception, you may know that Kevin LOVES The Last of Us. He and old co-host Alex have sung the praises of the game many times. The TV adaptation has finally arrived and all of the fanfare appears to be valid. The guys gush over the show and Kevin revels in the fact that they have never played the game and are experiencing it for the first time. NOTE: Because of when we record and drop episodes we'll always be one episode behind the weekly releases. Deal with it!! As always, thanks for watching! This episode was a lot of fun and we hope you enjoy it. As always, if you haven't already, don't forget to like and subscribe and set up notifications. Tell your friends to give us a watch. We love getting passed around. Think of it like a YouTube key party! Have a great week and we'll be back with more good stuff next week!

Well, we're back-ish... Only two weeks into the year and people are already taking time for themselves. Selfish bastards... But that's OK, Kevin threw down another quick solo episode just to give you something to chew on for the week. The big takeaways this week are his quick coverage of The Recruit on Netflix, which he generally enjoys. He also talks a bit about the second season of The Flight Attendant, which he is enjoying much more than the first season. In what can only be called a rushed breakdown, he runs through the Golden Globe winners and offers a few opinions, though generally speaking, they may gave gotten it right this year... In a rare event, he also discusses the recently released video game, The Callisto Protocol. He has some definite opinions on this one, the first and foremost being that it is a Dead Space clone, but not a great one. There are a few other nuggets thrown in, but this one is pretty quick, since there is no one to bounce ideas off of. That said, have a listen and share YOUR opinions, whether in agreement or opposition. We'd love to hear them! As always thanks for watching. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share! Tune in next week when we will be diving deeper and deeper into the world of The Last of Us on HBO!!

It's almost a full house to kick off the new year! Pete is back with Kevin and Andrew, though he does show up a bit late. That's ok because Kevin and Andrew dive right into the beautiful waters of the Sicilian coast and discuss White Lotus. Kevin didn't love the first season and Andrew bunged both seasons back to back, so see how their opinions compare! Next up they talk about the menu. In a rare event, Kevin actually believes he sees the deeper meaning in the film rather than taking it at face value. Our little man is growing up! Because this show is slowly and accidentally becoming a horror film podcast, Andrew brings up Paranormal Activity which he has never watched. This jumps into a comparison to films like The Conjuring and how the on screen visuals affect different people. This then rolls into Andrews review of M3gan, the new AI horror flick. The discussion of the takeover of AI gets a little deeper than our fellas are used to, so buckle up. Kevin then gets in his wayback machine and talks about watching the original G1 Transformers cartoon with his son. As it turns out, the show might actually be really bad… That's ok, though. It's all about bonding! This does lead Kevin to talk about his trip to Comics and Collectibles ETC. in East Hartford, CT (that's right, an unsolicited plug!!!) Kevin and Pete get back on track and give a quick rundown of Glass Onion. They work hard to not spoil anything for Andrew, but they did enjoy it. The cast was great and there were some really fun moments in this one! Andrew also takes a minute to talk about Avatar 2 without spoiling anything for Kevin and Pete. Oh how the tables have turned!! Pete then breaks down his recent watches which include Inventing Anna and Shameless. He doesn't spend a long time on either one, but there's a general feeling that he enjoyed Shameless more. He does recommend Inventing Anna as a binge, though. As always, thank you for watching this week! It was great to be back at the mic. We hope you enjoyed the show this week and, if you did, leave us a comment and let us know. If you miss Andy, you probably need help, but you can tell us that, too. Don't forget to like and subscribe if you haven't already and share us with a friend. We definitely swing that way, whatever way it is. Have a great week!

It's a Christmas miracle! Pete's back!! Of course that means that he wants to talk about Black Adam. But since that's been beaten to death, we move it to the end of the show for you. That said, the show does kick off with a rare moment of reality. The guys take a moment to discuss the loss of Stephen tWitch Boss this week. It's a heavy topic for the show, but they guys handle it with the care it deserves, for once. After the heavy bits, the guys unload on the DCEU as it stood with the Snyderverse. Then it's all about what is coming next under Gunn. After that, they switch gears to Christmas with the new holiday film, Spirited with Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell. Kevin then discusses the Christmas Zombie horror flick, Anna and the Apocalypse. It's a musical, much like Spirited, but also very different... Sticking with the horror vibe, Kevin and Andrew discuss The Conjuring and whether or not it was scary to non-Catholics! For those that cant get enough of Black Adam, though, the convo with Pete is moved to the end. If you're here for that, skip to the last 45 minutes and hear the guys unload! As always, thanks for watching. We may not have an episode next week, but we wish you all the happiest of holidays. As always, don't forget to like and subscribe. If you're feeling gracious, give the gift of a link to the show to your friends and family!!

Greetings all! Despite Kevin begging and pleading for someone to be his friend this week, he was left all alone. To be fair, Andrew is traveling, Pete is a dad who somehow thinks family is more important than the show (selfish dick...) and Andy is out being Andy. Without any members of his man-harem, Kevin decided to go it alone, rather than give any of the listeners a reprieve. He kicks it off with his own review of Black Adam, since Andy and Andrew already gave their two cents. Spoilers, he would rather have not given 2 cents to this movie... That said, he shares his thoughts on the movie overall and doesn't hate EVERYTHING about it. Next up he reviews season 2 of The White Lotus. Full disclosure, he was not one of the people who loved first season, though he does recognize that it was a well made show. All that being said, he did enjoy the second season and is excited for the season finale. Sticking with his Aubrey Plaza run, he watched the new film, Emily the Criminal. It's about a girl who's having a bad run at life and makes some bad choices to try and get out of it. It's not a particularly uplifting film, but it's solid overall. Finally, he finishes off with his review of Bullet Train, the ensemble assassin film starring Brad Pitt and others. It's a very Kill Bell-esque film and Kevin gives it all of the love one can in a 10 minute review without spoiling anything. As always, thanks for watching and we hope you enjoyed this episode. It's a new experience for the show, but hopefully not a normal occurrence. Please leave a comment and let us know how Kevin did with no supervision. As always, don't forget to like and subscribe if you haven't and have a great week!

As what has become the norm, it's just Kevin and Andrew this week but they manage to cover a lot. Kevin starts off by saying he can fly through what he's watched, which is immediately proven to be a lie. Since Andrew has also watched Nope, that turns into a hearty discussion. Kevin then explains the plot of the very interesting Inside Man over on Netflix. Next up, Kevin catches us up on the Hindi film, Brahmastra, on Hulu. This leads to a solid discussion on what impacts culture can have on how you perceive a film. It's certainly a different kind of film than American audiences might be used to! Next up Andrew finally gets a word in edgewise again and discusses the Tales of the Jedi on Disney Plus. It's a series of shorts focused mainly on Ahsoka Tano, but also gives us some backstory on a few other characters and is overall an excellent show! After going on about seemingly everything else, the guys finally get to the meat of the show, Beast. starring Idris Elba, which is now streaming on Peacock. The guys don't beat around the bush and roast this one pretty hard, so you're likely to enjoy that more than the film itself... Finally the guys go to town on the flurry of big trailers that came out this week: Transformers Rise of the Beasts, Indiana Jones The Dial of Destiny, and Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3. This lets the guys wax nostalgic about the Transformers while still taking their shots at the current state of that universe. After that everything stays pretty positive with Indy and Guardians, with bot guys excited to see both films. As always, thanks for watching! We hope you enjoyed the content this week. Whether you did or not, leave us a comment and let us know why you are feeling the feels! Don't forget to like and subscribe and we'll catch you next time!

It's just Andrew and Kevin again, though rumors persist that Pete has not yet died and may return next week. Yeah, we'll believe it when we see it, too. Smells like something I stepped on the farm, to be honest... This week, though, the guys kick off with a discussion over the Andor finale. The guys have a bit to say about what is easily the best Star Wars show to date. Kevin is the sole dissenter among the whole APNC team, but more due to his own tastes than the actual quality of the show. Next up, the holidays come in spades as the guys start off talking about the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, then run into Scrooged, and then finish off with Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. This shameful gap in Kevin's watch history has finally been filled and he feels as dirty about it as it sounds. Kevin takes over for a few minutes and talks about 1899 now that he's finished it. After that he talks about the first episode of Wednesday on Netflix. If you have been watching any kind of news about this, you know it's getting great reviews. The guys finish their topics with a solid discussion of the film Midsommar, another gap that Kevin had. Curiously, the guys have opposing views on the film which makes for a very interesting dialogue. After that, they tangent off into the future of the Avatar films and the current conversation about what makes a movie star these days. As always, thanks for watching! We hope you enjoyed this episode. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and enable notifications. If you have something to add to the episode, leave a comment. We love comments!! Have a great week and we'll have new goodies for you next week!

Welcome back! It's just Kevin and Andrew this week. In a week where they seemingly had little content to cover, the guys managed to make a solid episode out of it. They start off with the recently released horror film X, now streaming on Paramount Plus. This will be spoiler laden, of course, but both guys enjoyed it. Maybe not as much as Barbarian, but still enjoyed it. This leads to a lot of horror talk, which has been a running theme lately! Andrew covers the A24 film, Lamb, which proceeds to lambaste. See what I did there? I kill me!! He breaks it down for you so you don't have to waste your time! Kevin goes over the near-snuff-film X and all of the weird perviness that makes it run. It's a modern take on the classic slasher-type film, a la Texas Chainsaw, and works pretty well. Last, the guys cover the latest episode of Andor and its spectacular space battle. They then devolve into discovering that Christmas movies maybe aren't made for Andrew and the Kevin has never seen the classic film, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Yes!! Chastise him greatly!! As always, thanks for watching. Don't forget to share, like, and subscribe! A little hint for next week, everyone watched Midsommar so that will be discussed for a bit for sure!