Pop Screen

Listeners, are you aware that Shuhada Sadaqat - or Sinead O'Connor, as she was - once played the Virgin Mary? If that sounds like a provocative idea, you ain't seen nothing yet. Neil Jordan's The Butcher Boy is one of the darkest and most mordantly funny entries in a directorial career that's also included Interview With the Vampire and The Company of Wolves, and we've got We Are Cult's Mark Cunliffe back in to talk about every deliriously sick moment.

The story of a school bully spiralling into psychopathy against a backdrop of early '60s nuclear paranoia, it features an astonishing lead performance from Eamonn Owens and a stacked supporting cast of superb Irish thesps. (You'll never look at Milo O'Shea in the same way again) We discuss how the film defies '90s media cliches about Ireland, as well as the unusual circumstances of its funding from David Geffen. Plus a lot of chat about O'Connor's career, and an appreciation of Kris Kristofferson for offering support at the height of her post-SNL backlash.

Unlike this film, this podcast is not an uncommercial project funded by an inexplicably generous record industry mogul. It's an uncommercial project funded by you, and in return Patreon backers can get an exclusive episode every month, twice-weekly Doctor Who reviews from Graham, Rob's reviews of Asian films that have been denied UK distribution, and more. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

#popscreen #moviereviews #thebutcherboy #sineadoconnor #shuhadasadaqat #neiljordan #ireland #1960s #blackcomedy #brendangleeson #stephenrea #kriskristofferson #nothingcompares

It's spooky season again on Pop Screen, and this month we're kicking off with a look at Ti West's saucy seventies slasher X, starring Kid Cudi along with Mia Goth, Brittany Snow, Martin Henderson and Mia Goth again. And since it's not a Halloween show without Directors Uncut host Rob, we've got Rob back in to talk about the film's generational politics, praise its light-touch evocation of the 1970s, and wonder if it's more of an insult to call this elevated horror or un-elevated horror.

Along the way, there's discussion of Kid Cudi's odd, ambitious acting career, the sense of imminent dread that seizes audiences every time Mia Goth appears in a film and West's projected trilogy based on this film's characters. We also pitch a new horror movie to A24 which is just an old person eating a sandwich, but shot really well. They might go for it?

If you want to keep us broadcasting from the home of a creepy old couple who don't know what we're doing yet, you can donate to our Patreon where you'll also find Rob championing Asian films that don't have a UK release, Graham reviewing classic Doctor Who serials selected at random, as well as video games chatter, early access to our YouTube content, and an exclusive monthly bonus episode of this show. The next one's out tomorrow, and it's about the Alice Cooper B-movie Monster Dog. It's from the director of Troll 2! How can you resist? Find out more on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

#popscreen #moviereview #x #tiwest #pearl #maxxxine #miagoth #horror #slasher #kidcudi #hiphop #brittanysnow #jennaortega #martinhenderson

It was sixty years ago... well, not today, exactly, but soon, when the Beatles released their first single, so to celebrate Pop Screen is returning to their screen canon for the first time since our very first episode. An experimental, influential animated freak-out, Yellow Submarine was made to fill out the band's movie contract but became so, so much more (although being more than that isn't difficult. Whatever. It's good).

To celebrate, we've helpfully reminded Mick from Behold! podcast that yes, he did put his name down for this one, and brought him back on. Listen as he reveals which previous Pop Screen-endorsed movie this reminds him of - it may not be the one you think. We also uncover the strange stories that the movie's almost-Beatles-sounding voice cast have to tell, and take a look at the eye-searingly horrible concept art for Robert Zemeckis's abandoned CGI remake.

If you want to help us bring the gift of music to Pepperland, you can donate to our Patreon, where you'll find a raft of new features including reviews of Asian films that lack a UK distributor, early access to our offbeat video series List-o-mania, twice-weekly reviews of classic Doctor Who and more. Follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for more information.

#popscreen #moviereviews #thebeatles #yellowsubmarine #johnlennon #paulmccartney #ringostarr #georgeharrison #animation #georgedunning

Ah-hah, hush that fuss, Pop Screen is back with Graham and Dreaming Machine's Joe to take a look at OutKast's 2006 movie vehicle Idlewild. It's not uncommon for rappers to make their big-screen debuts by playing gangsters, but as ever Andre 3000 and Big Boi found their own unique way of doing things, by setting it all in an anachronistically-scored Black bohemia in the 1930s. It's a gangster movie, it's a backstage musical, it's a Prohibition drama, it's a hip-hop film... it's so many things, in fact, that the audience were confused and stayed at home.

While not perfect, it deserved a better fate. Join Graham and Joe as they discuss the film's dynamite cast, its odd but intriguing parent album - which is, as of 2022, the last OutKast record - and the shadow that one immortal Key and Peele sketch has cast over OutKast discourse. We also consider how the band's legacy only appears to have grown since their split, and reference that weird news story from a few years back about someone spotting Andre Benjamin just wandering around an airport playing jazz flute. That was a good one.

If you'd like to help us keep crocodiles on our feet and foxfur on our back, you can donate to our Patreon, where Rob is busy starting up his regular feature spotlighting great Asian films that lack a distributor in the UK. There's also a bonus episode of this show out on Friday 9th September, where Graham and Mark Harrison review - get this! - every James Bond theme. Ever. And then some. For more updates, check out our Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

#moviereviews #popscreen #outkast #idlewild #andrebenjamin #antwanpatton #paulapatton #vingrhames #terrancehoward #macygray #pattilabelle #gangstermovies #musicals

This week's film is one that Graham struggles to accept really exists - which is why it's a good job Mark Harrison from Film Stories has rejoined the podcast to reassure him that this wasn't a hallucination. Did we really watch a movie where Status Quo try and foil SNL veteran Jon Lovitz's underground organ trafficking ring in an extended homage to The Deer Hunter? It appears that we did, and now you can enjoy our confusion in podcast form.

Among the many topics of discussion, we talk about Status Quo's very different reputations on both sides of the Atlantic, about their ill-fated 1990s lawsuit against Radio 1, about Lovitz's three claims to eternal fame, and about the film's mysterious attitude towards the news-gathering profession. There is also a bit about lollipops and a certain Steven Spielberg movie which made Graham laugh out loud when he was editing this, and that's never happened before. It's a good one, folks!

If you want to keep us making podcasts that make us - and hopefully other people - laugh, you can donate to our Patreon, where you get a monthly bonus episode of this very podcast. The next one also features Mark - it's a retrospective of every single Bond theme and it's coming atcha in early September. Follow us on Instagram, Youtube, Facebook and Twitter for more news about what we're doing next.

#moviereviews #popscreen #bulaquo #statusquo #jonlovitz #lauraaikman #craigfairbrass #radio1 #francisrossi #rickparfitt

This week's Pop Screen is for people who like their cars fast, their movies mellow and their Californian singer-songwriters practically horizontal, as Aidan returns to the podcast to look at Monte Hellman's cult road movie Two-Lane Blacktop. A none-more-70s tale of dead-end lives on the open road, it owes something of its laid-back cool to its two lead actors: Laurel Canyon mainstay James Taylor and Beach Boys alumnus Dennis Wilson.

It would be fair to say Aidan and Graham have differing opinions on this film, but you'll have to listen to the podcast to find out who's making the case for the defence. Along the way, there's space to delve into the short, sad life of their brilliant co-star Laurie Bird and praise the timeless class of Warren Oates and Harry Dean Stanton. Also, needless to say, Beach Boys superfan Graham explains what very specific thing Dennis brought to the legendary band, and which unlikely figure offered family therapy to the Wilson brothers...

If you'd like to rescue us from our desperate existence travelling from stock-car race to stock-car race, you can donate to our Patreon, where you'll get a monthly bonus episode of this show - the next one, about Nick Broomfield's Kurt & Courtney, is out tomorrow! - as well as gaming deep dives, classic Doctor Who reviews, appraisals of hard-to-find Asian cinema and more. Check out our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for more info.

#popscreen #moviereviews #twolaneblacktop #montehellman #denniswilson #lauriebird #jamestaylor #warrenoates #harrydeanstanton #roadmovie #thebeachboys

Dust off your tinfoil hats, Pop Screen is going conspiracy barmy with this week's episode on 1983's Wavelength. A Roger Corman-produced science fiction thriller starring The Runaways' Cherie Currie as a psychic who guides her singer-songwriter friend towards a military base full of captured extraterrestrials, it's notable for a great Tangerine Dream score, striking location shooting at LA's ominous Lookout Mountain facility, and having nearly been released before Spielberg's ET before it was delayed for additional special effects work.

This week, Rob from Directors Uncut rejoins the podcast to look at this unjustly forgotten film, talk about the legacy of The Runaways and look at the many famous films that Currie was nearly in. We also end with some praise for Peter Bogdanovich and some pleasingly gratuitous slams towards an old podcast enemy...

If you want to help us make contact with another species using Moog synthesisers, you can donate to our Patreon where you'll find a monthly bonus episode of this very show, gaming deep dives from our regular co-host Archaeon, Graham's twice-weekly classic Doctor Who reviews and more. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to keep up with the latest.

#popscreen #moviereviews #wavelength #sciencefiction #cheriecurrie #robertcarradine #therunaways #joanjett #tangerinedream #rogercorman #conspiracytheories #lookoutmountain #aliens

This is (for) hardcore (fans): in celebrating the work of singer, radio host, memoirist and Greatest Living Englishman Jarvis Cocker, we could have picked anything from a Wes Anderson film to a Harry Potter one. Instead, Graham and Ewan have reunited for a look at a true collectors item, his 1999 Channel 4 documentary series about outsider art. See Jarvis tour the world visiting houses, gardens, castles and churches made by people with no architectural training, all of which look better than that description implies.

Along the way, we'll be diving into the rest of Jarvis's screen career, including the 2014 documentary Pulp: A Film About Life, Death and Supermarkets, which Ewan has just covered elsewhere. We'll also be talking about the legacy of Britpop - which, yes, means Graham gets to tell the "cagoules" story again - speculating on Johnny Marr's pub habits and deciding, once and for all, what the best Pulp album is. The answer may surprise you!

If you want to help us rent a flat above a shop - something which is more aspirational than it was back in 1995 - you can donate to our Patreon, where you'll find exclusive games chatter, Asian cinema reviews, Doctor Who deep dives and episodes of this very podcast that aren't available anywhere else. Follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for more news.

#popscreen #moviereviews #jarviscocker #journeysintotheoutside #documentaries #channel4 #miniseries #outsiderart #pulp #martinwallace

This week, Pop Screen is warming up its fingers to peruse the lexicon of love with Mantrap, a short film starring ABC - but mostly their lead singer Martin Fry - and directed by Pop Screen's patron saint Julien Temple. Once again, we're joined by Gav Smith from the very fine My Favourite Film podcast, as he takes on his most challenging assignment to date - persuading Graham that early '80s synth pop is good, actually.

Along the way, we discuss the film's romantic lead Lisa Vanderpump and her later career on reality TV, the wayward career of the prolific Temple and whether The Fast Show has rendered jazz inherently 'nice'. If this strikes you as a fairly obscure choice of film even for our podcast, you're not wrong - this is the first, and no doubt last, film we'll cover that was originally released on Laserdisc...

If you don't want us to have to run away with a touring New Romantic band in order to make ends meet, you can support us on Patreon where you'll also get a plethora of articles about forgotten Asian cinema, classic Doctor Who, bonus episodes of this show and deep dives on the videogame industry. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for more information.

#popscreen #moviereviews #abc #mantrap #martinfry #julientemple #lisavanderpump

It's in the trees! It's coming! Yes, this week Pop Screen is gleefully hopping on board the Kate Bush bandwagon - what else were we going to do, wait for a new album or tour? - with a look at the Blessed Kate's two main acting credits. The Line, The Cross and the Curve is her now-disowned directorial debut, released to tie in with her album The Red Shoes and loosely inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale of that name. Join Graham and Mark Cunliffe of We Are Cult as they dig into its origins and its surprising guest cast, not to mention the surprisingly high number of Doctor Who and David Lynch connections. Well, it is Pop Screen.

But that's not all! In our first-ever double-bill, we also look at Les Dogs, an instalment in the British comedy anthology series The Comic Strip Presents... where Kate plays a newlywed who Peter Richardson becomes infatuated with. (Well, he's only human) A notoriously cryptic entry into a series normally defined by anarchic satire, we're pretty confident that, by the end of this episode, you will know what the hell is going on in this surreal tale of unrequited love set during what seems to be a second English Civil War. Nothing is normal when Kate Bush is involved, and that goes for Pop Screen too. Plus: find out how not to locate the Bayeux tapestry!

If you want to help us buy a new washing machine, washing machine, washing machine, you can donate to our Patreon, where you'll find a raft of new features including Prob's video game chat, Rob's article series on overlooked Asian cinema, and a monthly bonus episode of this show - the next one, about the Daft Punk road movie Electroma, is out tomorrow! For now, stay tuned to our Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for more news.

#popscreen #moviereviews #katebush #thelinethecrossandthecurve #theredshoes #mirandarichardson #peterrichardson #alexeisayle #keithallen #thecomicstrippresents #lindsaykemp #doctorwho #twinpeaks #fairytales #hanschristianandersen