Pop Screen

It's time for Pop Screen's Halloween month, and as luck would have it one of the biggest new horror films of the year has plenty of pop connections. The final instalment in a trilogy which started with X, MaXXXine takes the story of Maxine Minx through to the '80s, and finds Halsey and Moses Sumney waiting for her there.

Join Graham and Andrew from Behold! podcast as they dive into the film's period detail, which of its supporting actors get away with their outrageous accents, and the magic of Mia Goth. We also discuss Halsey's collaboration with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Moses Sumney's enviable satellite connection, and that world-class Buster Keaton scene. It's a film with balls, alright.

Over on our Patreon, we're getting ready to drop a Patreon exclusive episode on Satan's Bed, an absolutely bizarre obscurity starring Yoko Ono with lots of strange stories attached to it. Subscribers also get monthly written reviews of classic Asian genre cinema, weekly reviews of The X-Files and Red Dwarf, and our end-of-month round-up podcast Last Night... Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to find out more.

On 13th September 1996, Tupac Shakur died in a still-unexplained killing (well, unless Eminem just blew the case wide open). It left a lot of things in limbo, including Vondie Curtis-Hall's spiky, charming directorial debut. Nobody wanted to see a crime comedy starring someone who'd just been the victim of a horrific crime, even if - as Graham and Mark unpack on this week's episode - the crime in Gridlock'd is rather more small-time than the web of corruption that got Tupac killed.

Twenty-seven years later, and Gridlock'd has a deserved cult following for its tricky but successful blend of caper comedy and angry commentary on American healthcare. Join our hosts as they explore this, plus the wonders of Thandiwe Newton's accent, the movies Tim Roth nearly starred in, the iconic '90s hits that made this risky film possible, and the timelessness of G-funk production. Plus, Graham explains Tupac's odd, involuntary role in the Kendrick-Drake feud to Mark. All eyez on this!

If you can spare us some Patreon money from your healthcare-and-smack budget this month, you'll get a wealth of riches, including our monthly what-have-you-been-watching? podcast Last Night..., weekly written reviews of The X-Files and Red Dwarf, retrospectives on classic Asian cinema and extremely niche genres, and a monthly bonus episode of this very show - we've just released our review of the new Irish rap biopic Kneecap, and it's only available on Patreon. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for more.

Outside of documentaries and one unforgettable appearance on The Simpsons, The Ramones only made one film appearance - but what an appearance! Allan Arkush's chaotic, Joe Dante-scripted Rock 'n' Roll High School wasn't even meant to star da brudders, with Todd Rundgren and Cheap Trick considered for the film's musical guests. Then, one of the film's stars told producer Roger Corman there was a much hipper band whose asking price was much lower - and Corman, as ever, was sold on the second part.

In the first of September's triple-headed shows, Graham is joined by Rob and Aidan to talk about that first wave of NY punk, as well as this film and The Ramones's unexpected connections with The Beatles, John Carpenter and Frank Sinatra. We also discuss why Joe Dante's films connect so well with da yoof, the experience of feeling old when you listen to Radio 1, bands who sell a lot of t-shirts and Rob's hatred of Blink-182. Hey! Ho! Let's go!

For less than one pound ninety-nine you can subscribe to the lowest tier of our Patreon, where you'll get weekly reviews of The X-Files and our end-of-month round-up podcast Last Night... Up the amount and you can also get Red Dwarf reviews, revisits of classic Asian genre cinema and a bonus subscribers-only episode of this podcast - we're covering the Irish hip-hop biopic Kneecap this month! Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to find out more.

When David and Graham are on the show together, you should be on high alert for a camp catastrophe, and lord do we get it in the form of Ken Hughes's Sextette. An innuendo-stuffed sex farce starring Mae West, it could have been a smash hit if it was made in the 1930s, when she was in her forties. Instead, it was made in the 1970s, when she was 84, and the result is the vanity project to end all vanity projects.

Join us as we discuss the star-studded cast, including a relentlessly hammy Keith Moon, an unrecognisable Alice Cooper, and Ringo Starr; discuss ways in which an OAP sex comedy could actually have worked; catalogue the film's strange relationship to both Britain and the laws of physics; and talk about Sextette's unbelievable musical numbers. Plus, discover the secret of Mae West's shoes and find out how true love brought David to this highly special film. Aww.

If you want to hear our scandalous secret memoirs, well, tough. But if you sign up to our Patreon you can get a bonus episode of this show every month, plus exclusive written articles on The X-Files, cinema's most niche genres, Red Dwarf and classic Asian genre cinema. At the end of every month we've also got a fun, chaotic podcast called Last Night..., about our month's most memorable viewing, which like all this content isn't available anywhere else. Follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to find out more.

What was the British pop movie like before The Beatles? They were quite a lot like What a Whopper, as Graham and Mark discover this week. A featherweight farce in which a struggling writer and his bohemian friends try to fake a Loch Ness Monster sighting - just go with it, OK - it features a plethora of British comedy legends, a script by Dalek creator Terry Nation, and, as its lead, one Adam Faith.

It's easy to forget what a massive name Faith was in his heyday, and our hosts examine every aspect of his wild career, from his other acting roles in Budgie and Beat Girl through his career in financial advice to his delightful last words. We also discuss the real-life Loch Ness Monster hoaxes that may have inspired Nation's script, the tragic life of female lead Carol Leslie, the film's not-wholly-unstereotypical vision of Scotland and the state of Michael Winner's finances. It's a monster of an episode!

If you don't want to see us reduced to hoaxing cryptids to make ends meet, you can donate to our Patreon, where you'll get a bonus episode of this podcast every month. There's a new one, about the classic blaxploitation movie Truck Turner, out in just one day's time! You also get written reviews of The X-Files, Red Dwarf and classic Asian genre cinema, and our monthly miscellany podcast Last Night... Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to find out more.

Get your motor running, head out on the highway... wait, it's not that Peter Fonda-starring 1960s biker movie. No, The Wild Angels came a few years before Easy Rider, and it centres around a noticeably less idealistic group of bikers. Director Roger Corman hired several real Hell's Angels to serve as extras in his film, and if you're thinking there's probably stories from that set, you're right.

Let Ben and Graham tell you them: from Corman's sociological reasons for having Bruce Dern's character work at an oil refinery to the unexpected trouble he had involving a coffin and the letter "Z". And, because this is Pop Screen, we also talk about the film's musical legacy - Primal Scream are certainly fans - and its female lead Nancy Sinatra. whose career teaches us many valuable lessons. Here's one: if you're accused of being a nepo baby, why not get together with an incredibly rum country singer and release a series of duets that are so unwholesome as to sound actively diseased? All this and Frank Sinatra's prog album, discussed herein!

If you wanna get loaded, and have a good time, there are few better venues than our Patreon, where you'll find a bonus episode of this show every month, plus two exclusive podcasts concerning cult genre franchises (From the Video Aisle) and whatever we feel like (Last Night...). There's also written articles on cult Asian genre cinema, Red Dwarf and The X-Files, plus plenty more - follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to find out more.

What do you get if you combine the most divisive woman in 1970s America, the least divisive woman in modern America, and a comedy legend? You get an absolute treat, at least if it goes as well as Nine to Five did. Colin Higgins's film brings together Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin in a class-conscious romp about three women who kidnap their sexist pig of a boss and find the office runs a lot better without him. It's basically The Communist Manifesto with a thumping C&W theme song.

This week, Graham treats himself after self-harming with The Idol by getting back together with Jeff to talk about this lasting classic of early '80s Hollywood. Prepare for an in-depth comparison of the many beards of Sterling Hayden, an appreciation of Jane Fonda's shrewdly against-type performance, and our pitch for a Dolly Parton horror movie.

Patreon - what a way to make a living! Subscribe today and you can hear Graham and Aidan talking about Fred Durst's The Fanatic in an exclusive Pop Screen episode, plus our end-of-month round-up podcast Last Night..., written reviews of The X-Files and Red Dwarf, classic far eastern genre cinema reconsidered in Fantastic Asia, and more. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for more.

Ladies and gentlemen, The Weeknd. To celebrate - 'celebrate' - the first anniversary of one of the defining pop star ego trips of our age, Graham and Robyn have reconvened to look at all six - no, wait, all five - episodes of Sam Levinson's disasterpiece. If you're wondering why we won't get a third season of Euphoria until the cast are in a retirement home, forget the writer's strike - this is why.

From the twisted minds of Robyn and Graham, please enjoy discussion of: the Weeknd's remarkable anti-charisma and his future acting plans that will definitely, definitely happen, the troubled production of this show and the Amy Seimetz cut we'll never see, The Idol's strained relationship with queerness, its downright nonexistent relationship with modern pop, and much much more. Worth listening this week just for the Jojo Siwa joke, frankly.

Our exclusives are about something even more interesting than LA club owners nobody's ever heard of - classic Asian genre cinema, Red Dwarf, cult film franchises, Doctor Who, The X-Files, and whatever the hell our critics have been watching in the last month. In case your thirst for watching us suffer hasn't been sated by this episode, we've also got a Patreon exclusive episode of this show about Fred Durst's The Fanatic coming up. Follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for more.

Back with a vengeance! Yes, ahead of the release of Furiosa, we're looking at the Mad Max movie that features the most legendary pop star in the whole series (well, apart from the Doof Warrior): Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Initially reviled for its lighter tone and child sidekicks, the film now feels like a stepping stone to the operatic excesses George Miller has taken the franchise to in the 21st century - and Tina Turner as Aunty Entity is a piece of stunt-casting that truly works.

This week, Producer Rob rejoins the show to talk about all things Mad Max, including the series's fascinatingly improvisatory attitude towards continuity, the extent to which Max Rockatansky obeys Joseph Campbell's laws of heroism, and the absolute goldmine of memorable quotes this movie contains. It's two podcasters enter, and, er, two podcasters leave - but not before revealing this film's unexpected place in hip-hop history...

Come to our Barter Town over at Patreon, where you can exchange your money for a monthly bonus episode of the show - we've just covered every single pop star appearance on Doctor Who, from the Beatles to Billie Piper - plus written articles on classic Asian cinema, The X-Files and red Dwarf. Backers also get two bonus podcasts: the unclassifiable miscellany of Last Night... and the methodical run-through of cult franchises that is From the Video Aisle. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram to find out more

We've covered plenty of biopics of musical legends on this podcast, and one word has hovered unspoken in the background: Cox. Dewey Cox, that is, the legendary rocker played by John C Reilly in Jake Kasdan's Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. A musical innovator, a tortured genius, a tireless advocate for small people's rights... he didn't exist, of course, but this spoof is so beautifully observed it doesn't really matter.

Let's duet! This week, Mark Harrison of Film Stories rejoins Graham to look at the film that makes it impossible to watch any other biopic without giggling inappropriately at all the sad parts. We discuss the cameos that were cut, the gruelling promotional tour Reilly embarked on in support of the film, and which of 2024's biopics include scenes from this film played dead straight. It's a beautiful ride, alright.

If you want to buy us a sink to replace the ones we broke during our dark period, you can donate to our Patreon, where you'll get a monthly bonus episode of this very show, plus two other podcasts not available anywhere else - From the Video Aisle, looking at cult favourite franchises, and the unclassifiable Last Night... We also do written articles on classic television science fiction and Asian genre films, and much more besides. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for more.