Pretty Woman (1990) was a smash hit, helping to launch not just the career of Julia Roberts, but a full-fledged a rom com renaissance in the 1990s.

But at the heart of this love story lies a real preoccupation with money - how it changes us, how it defines us… Money makes the world go round.

And while there is power in the motto, "We say who, we say when, we say how much” - at the end of the month, you've still got to pay the rent.

Pretty Woman is a 1990 American romantic comedy film directed by Garry Marshall. he film's story centers on down-on-her-luck Hollywood sex worker Vivian Ward, who is hired by Edward Lewis, a wealthy businessman, to be his escort for several business and social functions, and their developing relationship over the course of her week-long stay with him. (via Wikipedia)

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If you are what you eat, are you not also what you watch? Weird Al’s 1989 cult classic UHF presents a vision of your brain on Hollywood.

Why is it that you can remember a jingle from a random ad that hasn’t played on TV in 30 years, but you can’t remember where the spatula is? (Hint: It’s at Spatula City!)

Phil and Tom plumb the pop culture repository that is the human psyche - this week on the Progressive Pop Podcast!

UHF (released internationally as The Vidiot from UHF) is a 1989 American comedy film starring "Weird Al" Yankovic, David Bowe, Fran Drescher, Victoria Jackson, Kevin McCarthy, and Michael Richards. Yankovic stars as George Newman, a shiftless dreamer who stumbles into managing a low-budget television station and, surprisingly, finds success with his eclectic programming choices, spearheaded by the antics of a janitor-turned-children's television host, Stanley Spadowski (Richards). He provokes the ire of a major network station that dislikes the competitive upstart. (via Wikipedia)

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What does it take to cultivate a sense of working class solidarity in a workplace hostile anything that might endanger the bottom line?

Phil and Tom want to know - and Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton have some thoughts on the matter!

9 to 5 (listed in the opening credits as Nine to Five) is a 1980 American comedy film directed by Colin Higgins, who wrote the screenplay with Patricia Resnick. It stars Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton as three working women who live out their fantasies of getting even with and overthrowing the company's autocratic, "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot" boss, played by Dabney Coleman. (via Wikipedia)

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Party time! Excellent!

On this episode of the podcast, we talk Wayne’s World (1992) - a surreal, fourth wall-breaking meditation on art, commerce, gender, and rock and roll that also happens to be one of the funniest, most heartwarming films of its era.

Or, in the words of Wayne himself, “I thought we'd go for a little Bohemian Rhapsody, gentlemen!”

Phil and Tom are always happy to sing back up on that particular tune…

Wayne's World is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Penelope Spheeris, produced by Lorne Michaels and written by Mike Myers alongside Bonnie and Terry Turner. Based on the Saturday Night Live sketch of the same name, it stars Myers in his feature film debut as Wayne Campbell and Dana Carvey as Garth Algar, a pair of rock music fans who broadcast a public-access television show. (via Wikipedia)

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The 1994 indie hit Clerks launched Kevin Smith’s filmmaking career. Clerks contains all of the trademark elements for which Smith would become best known - his idiosyncratic dialogue, his truly profane sense of humor, the sense that his films take place in a connected universe, and his love of nerd culture,

In this episode, hosts Phil and Tom examine the economic and social critiques embedded in this working class/service industry classic - what does Kevin Smith have to say about living a purposeful, meaningful life in a capitalist society built on the notion that no one is ever really satisfied?

Clerks is a 1994 American independent black and white buddy comedy film written, directed, and co-produced by Kevin Smith. Starring Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson, it presents a day in the lives of titular store clerks Dante Hicks (O'Halloran) and Randal Graves (Anderson), along with their acquaintances. Clerks is the first of Smith's View Askewniverse films, and introduces several recurring characters, notably Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Smith). Clerks was shot for $27,575 in the convenience and video stores where director Smith worked in real life. Upon its theatrical release, the film received generally positive reviews and grossed over $3 million in theaters. (wia Wikipedia)

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This week, Phil and Tom tackle the not-so-subtle politics of 1984’s Red Dawn, which poses the question - What’s better than a good guy with a gun?

A teen boy with a overwhelming grief, the inability to process it, and a gun!

Red Dawn is a 1984 American film directed by John Milius, depicting a United States that has been invaded by the Soviet Union and its Cuban and Nicaraguan allies. However, the onset of World War III is in the background and not fully elaborated. The story follows a group of American high school students who resist the occupation with guerrilla warfare, naming themselves the "Wolverines", after their high school mascot. (via Wikipedia)

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Josie and the Pussycats (2001) bombed critically and commercially at the time of its release. But it’s one of those movies that means a lot to the relatively small group of young people who saw it - a withering critique of consumer culture as identity, this movie lampooned the very pop culture landscape that spawned it.

But if you know, you know - for many who saw this film expecting just another cookie cutter teen flick, Josie shined a spotlight on some of the worst excesses of our post-capitalist society, where the actual product isn’t as important as making the sale.

And make no mistake - everything in Josie and the Pussycats is for sale.

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Mike Judge’s 1999 comedy Office Space is an endlessly quotable cult classic. Almost anyone who watches it can relate on some level to its wry critique of corporate culture.

In this episode, Phil and Tom deconstruct the underlying politics of Office Space, a cautionary tale about not letting your job define you.

Office Space is a 1999 American black comedy film written and directed by Mike Judge. It satirizes the work life of a typical mid-to-late-1990s software company, focusing on a handful of individuals weary of their jobs. It stars Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston, Gary Cole, Stephen Root, David Herman, Ajay Naidu, and Diedrich Bader. (via Wikipedia.)

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When the pandemic hit in 2020, the Internet was suddenly alight with memes making the unlikely claim that the sci-fi shoot'-‘em-up Demolition Man (1993) had somehow managed to predict the future: We had entered a time of no touching, where police were called upon to be less violent, where it was rebellious act to party.

In this episode, we take a look at these notions and others - and attempt to figure out the curious politics of Demolition Man.

Demolition Man is a 1993 American science fiction action film directed by Marco Brambilla in his directorial debut. It stars Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, Sandra Bullock, and Nigel Hawthorne. Stallone is John Spartan, a risk-taking police officer, who has a reputation for causing destruction while carrying out his work. After a failed attempt to rescue hostages from evil crime lord Simon Phoenix (Snipes), they are both sentenced to be cryogenically frozen in 1996. Phoenix is thawed for a parole hearing in 2032, but escapes. Society has changed and all crime has seemingly been eliminated. Unable to deal with a criminal as dangerous as Phoenix, the authorities awaken Spartan to help capture him again. (via Wikipedia.)

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Space

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is an iconic feel good teen movie from impresario John Hughes.

But between the rapid fire jokes and anarchic four wall breaks, there are deep veins of social critique running through this film - join Phil and Tom as they discuss Jeanie’s burgeoning feminism, Ferris’s tentative critique of excessive materialism, and the cynicism of “the system” as embodied by Principal Rooney.

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

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