Pop Screen

Pop Screen's Bowie month ends in the only way it was ever going to: with a lot of talk about Muppets and 'packages'. Made during a critical and commercial low point in Bowie's musical career, this elaborate Jim Henson-directed fantasy nevertheless gave him one of his most celebrated screen roles - and, in its maddeningly catchy musical numbers, gave us easily the most enjoyable songs of his mid-80s lull.

This week, Archaeon rejoins the podcast to talk about traumatic childhood memories, the surprisingly lasting influence of Bowie's enormous barnet, and the screen career of his young co-star Jennifer Connelly. There are also digressions covering the limited options this movie offers for clickbait writers, the general scariness of 1980s children's films, and the real reason why we've never done a K-pop episode. Come for the crotch jokes, stay to learn which leading modern sculptor voiced one of the puppets!

If you want us to keep making podcasts where we refer to a rock legend's genitals as "non-Euclidian", you can donate to our Patreon, where you'll get a monthly exclusive bonus episode of this show, extra video games coverage from Archaeon, Graham's classic Doctor Who reviews and more. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for more news.

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The centrepiece of Pop Screen's Bowie month could only be one thing: David's first, extraordinary lead role, as the alien Thomas Jerome Newton in Nicolas Roeg's trippy science fiction masterpiece. For those unfamiliar with the film, Bowie plays an extraterrestrial sent to Earth to bring water back to his home planet, funding his return trip by patenting alien technology. But the world of high finance drags him off course, as do Earthly temptations like alcohol and weird sex. Lots of weird sex.

In this week's episode of Pop Screen, Graham is joined once again by Rob from Directors Uncut to look at the many facets of this enigmatic film, and marvel at just how banjoed on cocaine Bowie was during this period of his life. There's also some talk about the recent TV series based on Walter Tevis's source novel, the unexpected actors - and one novelist - who might have taken Bowie's role, and Rip Torn's infamous appearance in Norman Mailer's Maidstone.

If you don't want us to have to patent our alien technology in order to stay on the air, you can donate to our Patreon, where backers will receive exclusive episodes of Pop Screen, early access to Directors Uncut, Graham's twice-weekly Doctor Who reviews and much more. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up to date with what we've got planned next.

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Yeah, when we announced a month of David Bowie movies, you weren't expecting this one, were you? An adaptation of an obscure early Berthold Brecht play that Bowie recorded for the BBC in between Scary Monsters and Let's Dance, Baal is quite probably the most challenging artefact in his screen career - and we're including the Twin Peaks movie in that tally. But it's also thematically linked to his music in a number of interesting ways, and it paired him with a great British director - the late Alan Clarke.

On this week's episode, Graham is joined by We Are Cult's Mark Cunliffe once again to discuss the holy trinity of Brecht, Bowie and Clarke, as well as the way that Bowie's screen career took off just as his musical career was hitting a troubled patch, the secret to success on Letterboxd and the vexed question of what Alan Clarke did in the Television Centre lifts. There may also be singing. We're sorry.

If you don't want us to be reliant on handouts from Weimar-era aristocrats, you can donate to our Patreon where you'll get a monthly bonus episode, unrestricted access to our other movie podcast Directors Uncut, Graham's Doctor Who reviews and more. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for more news.

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Pop Screen kicks off a special month dedicated to the films of David Bowie with perhaps his last great role, as the enigmatic inventor Nikola Tesla in Christopher Nolan's equally enigmatic thriller. A story of magic, revenge and dead wives (look, we said it was a Christopher Nolan film), it sees Bowie join a remarkable cast including Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, Andy Serkis and Gil from Frasier.

On this week's show, Ewan from Cult Following joins us once more to get this Bowie celebration started, discussing the film's superhero-heavy cast as well as his favourite Bowie albums, Bowie's absence from (and return to) public life during the 21st century, Nolan's love of serious men in suits, the genius of Andy Serkis and a story about Ewan accidentally injuring himself in the shower for some reason. It's Pop Screen alright!

If you want to help us out financially in our bitter grudge match with Thomas Edison's podcast, you can donate to our Patreon. Among many other goodies you'll get a monthly bonus episode of this show - and we discuss the next one on this episode... Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more information.

#popscreen #moviereviews #davidbowie #theprestige #christophernolan #christianbale #hughjackman #scarlettjohansson #rebeccahall #andyserkis #michaelcaine #christopherpriest #steampunk #nikolatesla

We normally use a still from the film for our episode image, but who could resist this photo from the premiere of Neill Blomkamp's Chappie? It perfectly encapsulates the bizarre appeal of the film, which assembles an enviable cast of blue-chip movie stars and reliable character actors, then has them play support to a Johnny 5/Robocop hybrid and a South African rap group, not necessarily in that order.

This week, Andrew from Behold! returns to Pop Screen to authorise the launch of the Moose, by which we mean talk about Chappie's insane tonal shifts, its wincingly misjudged ending and the chequered career of Blomkamp following his smash-hit debut District 9. There are fewer mad tangents than usual, largely because the whole film is a series of mad tangents. Get ready to go Zef! Whatever that means!

If you want to help us earn enough money to build a cute robot that can podcast for us, you can donate to our Patreon, where you'll get a monthly bonus episode of this show, unrestricted access to our other movie podcast Directors Uncut, Graham's classic Doctor Who reviews, and more! We're planning something very big for next month's run of episodes, so be sure to follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to hear about it as soon as it's announced.

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It's no surprise that Pop Screen keeps going back to the 1960s - in many ways, that decade saw the birth of the pop movie as a recognisable genre. That doesn't mean that every film became a classic, although the film we're looking at today became a cult classic of the most disreputable type. Famously described by Mark Kermode as "the Plan 9 from Outer Space of musicals", Robert Hartford-Davis's Gonks Go Beat mixes cheapo science fiction, musical comedy and Romeo and Juliet into a bewildering stew.

Following the attempts of an intergalactic mediator to reconcile the warring nations of Beatland and Balladisle, it has a roster of musical stars including Lulu, a pre-Cream Ginger Baker, the Nashville Teens, several other artists who are even more obscure than the Nashville Teens, and Charlie off Casualty. It almost defies description - except for the fact that Mick from our sister podcast Behold! is here, valiantly attempting to summarise the truly inexplicable.

If you appreciate our attempts to make a truly gear and with-it podcast, you can donate to our Patreon, where you'll get early access to our other movie podcast Directors Uncut, a bonus episode of Pop Screen every month, Graham's twice-weekly Doctor Who reviews, and more. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for more information.

#popscreen #moviereviews #gonksgobeat #roberthartforddavis #musicals #lulu #gingerbaker #1960s #grahambond #kennethconnor #terryscott #romeoandjuliet #sciencefiction

When Graham and Sarah decided to do an episode on Never Rarely Sometimes Always, it was not a topical film. Its storyline, about a young girl crossing state lines in order to get an abortion, now puts it at the forefront of a major American news story, but there's much more to Eliza Hittman's film than being merely newsworthy. It's a haunting, measured, beautifully acted and shot film that never lets its unmistakable anger overwhelm its humanity, complete with a small but meaningful appearance from the acclaimed singer-songwriter Sharon van Etten.

Van Etten's appearance is one of two things that qualifies NRSA (as all the cool kids are calling it) for this podcast - the other is the soundtrack by Julia Holter, whose career is also discussed. Other topics of conversation include this film's superiority over a certain other, more garlanded, stab at feminist cinema from 2020, the unexpected way Hittman found her lead actress, the career of the film's cinematographer Hélène Louvart, the minor scandal involving this film's lock-out at the Academy Awards and - for some reason - confusing Werner Herzog with Wim Wenders. It might be a more serious Pop Screen than usual, but it is still Pop Screen.

If you have any money left over following the fundraiser Graham mentions on this show, why not donate to our Patreon, where you get a bonus episode of this show every month, along with lots of other goodies? This month's sees Graham and Aidan subject themselves to Sia's notorious 2021 film Music, and we'd hate that suffering to go to waste. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for more news.

#popscreen #moviereviews #neverrarelysometimesalways #elizahittman #sidneyflanagan #abortion #sharonvanetten #juliaholter #cinematography #oscars

Can you believe this is our first Jim Jarmusch episode? The white-haired director's habit of casting musicians means pretty much all of his films qualify for this show, with regular collaborators including Tom Waits, Iggy Pop and RZA. All of them turn up in this, his ensemble zombie comedy from 2019, along with the rather less expected name of Selena Gomez. (Gomez's presence does at least mean this is the second show in a row where we mention Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers, and no, we weren't expecting that either)

Joining us this week is Rob, from The Geek Show's other movie podcast Directors Uncut. Both he and Graham are paid-up fans of both Jarmusch and this movie, and they discuss the film's puzzlingly negative reception, its skilful use of the screen personae of stars as different as Tilda Swinton, Caleb Landry Jones and Iggy Pop, and the remarkable voice of Adam Driver. We also discuss how Rob's fondness for Iggy and Tom has survived problematic early encounters with their music, the changing fortunes of zombie movies and Caleb Landry Jones's great early screen credit.

If you'd like to help us stock up to survive the zombie apocalypse, you can donate to our Patreon, where you'll get a monthly bonus episode of Pop Screen - the next one comes out tomorrow, and it's a corker! - Graham's Doctor Who reviews and more. Follow our Twitter, Instagram and Facebook pages for more information.

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We're returning to the pop landscape of the early 2000s this week, a pop landscape that had your host Graham wondering whether there was any point being a pop cartographer any more. The dominant feature of said landscape was TV talent shows, usually run by either Simon Cowell or his Salieri, Simon Fuller, the latter of whom masterminded this week's film. A modern-day beach party movie starring first-season American Idol finalists Justin Guarini and Kelly Clarkson, From Justin to Kelly was legendarily unsuccessful, but that doesn't mean returning co-host Jeff hasn't got a bagful of fascinating trivia about it.

Said trivia includes Guarini's history in musical theatre, the film's epic director's cut, and a subplot removed from the third act that could have led to the film getting a very different reception. We also talk about the film's odd, PG-certificate vision of teen debauchery, the possible membership of the Pennsylvania Posse, the film's inability to remember if its musical numbers are diegetic or not, and the previous CV of writer Kim Fuller. Yes relation.

If you want to help us survive as a podcast without nepotism, you can donate to our Patreon, where you'll get a monthly bonus episode of this show, unrestricted access to our other movie podcast Directors Uncut, Graham's Doctor Who reviews and more. Check out our Facebook, Twitter and Patreon for more information.

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Pop Screen is going into hardcore auteur territory this week, with a film directed by and starring the one and only Barbara Streisand. A story of hidden family secrets, illicit affairs, licit affairs, quasi-licit affairs - look, there's a lot of affairs, alright? - it was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars while Streisand was snubbed for Best Director, suggesting her music career was preventing her being taken seriously as a film-maker.

On this week's Pop Screen, Aidan and Graham discuss how fair that is, balancing the film's sentimental, sometimes dated tone against its visual beauty, surprising eagerness to confront taboos and unexpected appearance from George Carlin. We also discuss the legacy of Streisand's directorial debut Yentl, Nick Nolte's brief, perplexing reign as People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive, and the two classic Simpsons jokes this film inspired.

Every time I hear the wind, it seems to whisper the phrase "Donate to our Patreon, where you can get a monthly bonus episode of this podcast as well as Graham's Doctor Who reviews, unrestricted access to our sister podcast Directors Uncut and more". Which is a bit wordy, but who's going to argue with the wind? Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for more news.

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