Pop Screen

Pop Screen is going a bit off the beaten track this week, but rewardingly so. Peter Watkins is a maverick British director whose previous film The War Game was banned on the instruction of then-Prime Minister Harold Wilson, so when he was hired by Universal to make a teen-focused rock and roll film they probably expected something insurrectionary. What they might not have expected is for Watkins to train his satirical weapons on the pop world they were hoping to tap into, in this documentary-style tale of a singer whose popularity is exploited by a totalitarian government.

The singer is played by Manfred Mann's Paul Jones, and the tunes are good enough for one of them to be covered by Patti Smith. That's just one of the many discoveries Graham and Mark make on this week's show, and they still have time for generous digressions about the voiceover in The Hateful Eight, the career of screenwriter Johnny Speight and what Volodymyr Zelenskyy might have learned from network censors.

If you'd like some more of that - whatever the hell "that" means - we have a Patreon, which offers a monthly bonus episode of this very show as well as Graham's Doctor Who reviews, advance access to our other film podcast Directors Uncut, and more. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for more.

#moviereviews #popscreen #privilege #peterwatkins #pauljones #manfredmann #1960s #pattismith #johnnyspeight #jeanshrimpton

Can you believe this is Pop Screen's first animated film? Better late than never, as Gav Smith of My Favourite Film rejoins us to talk about Interstella 5555 - The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem. A story as epic as its frankly overlong title, it was created by Daft Punk as both a homage to the anime they loved growing up and a visual accompaniment to their classic 2001 album Discovery.

On this week's episode, Gav and Graham discuss Daft Punk's career from their house beginnings to their increasing flirtations with disco and soft rock, the strange saga of the sample on their single 'One More Time', and the fairly obvious problem with the spray-painting machine that disguises the film's blue-skinned aliens. It sounds like a lot, but it doesn't feel like Homework.

If you can forgive that pun, you'll definitely be able to cope with our Patreon, where donors get an exclusive episode of Pop Screen every month, full access to our other movie podcast Directors Uncut, Graham's twice-weekly Doctor Who reviews, and plenty of things that don't fit in anywhere else. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for more info.

#popscreen #moviereviews #interstella5555 #daftpunk #musical #visualalbum #anime #leijimatsumoto #kazuhisatakenouchi #housemusic #disco #sciencefiction

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a-Moonstruck, a film which is not exactly subtle in its depiction of Italian-American culture but is at least witty, well-written and full of heart, thanks to its script by John Patrick Shanley. This week, Pop Screen closes out its Oscars month by inviting playwright Sarah Hayton back on to discuss Norman Jewison's 1987 film, which won Cher a Best Actress award. Frankly, she's so good in this you overlook the fact that her and Nicolas Cage are, on paper, the weirdest screen couple in the history of cinema.

Digressions include the infamous video for 'If I Could Turn Back Time', both of our guest hosts being surprised by Jewison's classy back catalogue, the twist ending in Shanley's last film Wild Mountain Thyme, the world-class Simpsons joke this film inspired, and disses on at least two Ridley Scott films, one of which hasn't even been shot yet.

It's certainly value for money, not least since this is a free episode. If you fancy getting even more content for even more money, you can donate to our Patreon where you get bonus episodes of this show, unrestricted access to our other movie podcast Directors Uncut, Graham's reviews of classic series Doctor Who, and more. For more on what that "more" might entail, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

#popscreen #moviereviews #oscars #cher #moonstruck #romcom #nicolascage #normanjewison #olympiadukakis #johnmahoney #johnpatrickshanley

Pop Screen's Oscar month continues with one of the 21st century's biggest collectors of little bald gold men - Rob Marshall's Chicago. Among its twelve nominations and six wins was a Best Supporting Actress nomination for 1990s hip-hop stalwart Queen Latifah, who gets a solo number crammed with innuendo, but she was beaten to the win by her own cast-mate Catherine Zeta-Jones.

This week, Cliff from the Devil Times Five horror podcast joins us again to talk about his uncharacteristic love for this 1920s true-crime-inspired musical extravaganza. Topics covered include: which classic Doctor Who story does the Cell Block Tango remind Graham of? Which line in Cell Block Tango does Cliff think is a bit unfortunate? And other topics that don't relate to the Cell Block Tango, including a mini-sequel to this very episode we plan to release soon for Patreon backers...

...and if you want to know what that's all about, here's our Patreon, where you can also get a monthly bonus episode of this very show, as well as unrestricted access to our other movie podcast Directors Uncut, Graham's twice-weekly Doctor Who reviews, and more. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news.

#popscreen #moviereviews #chicago #bobfosse #reneezellwegger #catherinezetajones #richardgere #queenlatifah #kanderandebb #musicals #oscars

Pop Screen's Oscar month goes back to, er, 2021 with the film widely predicted to win Chadwick Boseman a posthumous Oscar - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. Less a biopic of the titular blues singer and more a drama about temptation and (often racial) exploitation adapted  from August Wilson's play, it nevertheless features a powerhouse, Oscar-nominated turn from Viola Davis as Ma Rainey.

This week, Ewan Gleadow from Cult Following returns to argue the merits and demerits of the film's obsessive fidelity to Wilson's source, the difficulties of pitching movies about jazz and blues to a modern audience and Denzel Washington's project to bring Wilson's 'Pittsburgh Cycle' to the screen. We also take a quick look at this year's Oscar nominees, discuss the unexpected film Ewan's local multiplex preferred to Licorice Pizza, and ask why people nowadays like pop stars who are quite dull.

If you enjoy hearing people get all of that out of one reasonably short movie, you can donate to our Patreon and get a monthly bonus episode of Pop Screen, as well as unrestricted access to our other film podcast Directors Uncut, Graham's Doctor Who reviews and more. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more details.

#popscreen #moviereviews #maraineysblackbottom #blues #oscars #jazz #chadwickboseman #violadavis #denzelwashington #augustwilson

March is Oscar month on Pop Screen, and as luck would have it one of this year's frontrunners is absolutely made for us. A goofy, shaggy 1970s coming-of-age comedy featuring a Tom Waits cameo, the entire band HAIM and their parents - seriously, their real-life parents - it's inspired rabid devotion and some dissent for its treatment of racial prejudice, age-gap relationships and its outspoken pro-water-bed stance.

This week, Graham is joined by Mark Harrison from Den of Geek to discuss Paul Thomas Anderson's love letter to his childhood. We identify which of Bradley Cooper's lines are taken directly from real life, how Anderson first met the Haim family, the difficulties of being a visual storyteller in a box-set TV era, and whether or not Sean Penn is in on the joke of his cameo at all. Also Graham openly invites the director onto Pop Screen, which... you never know?

If you want to keep us afloat during the current gas crisis - yeah, that doesn't look like a period detail any more, does it? - you can donate to our Patreon, where you can get exclusive episodes of Pop Screen, full access to our other movie podcast Directors Uncut, Graham's twice-weekly Doctor Who reviews, and more. We're planning even more exclusives for 2022 - follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to find out about those!

#popscreen #moviereviews #licoricepizza #haim #paulthomasanderson #cooperhoffman #1970s #oscars #alanahaim #seanpenn #bradleycooper #tomwaits #mayarudolph #bennysafdie

What kind of film do you think the above image is from, listeners? If you answered "Why, a biopic of a 1960s rock band, of course", congratulations - you are Oliver Stone, and this is an episode of Pop Screen about your 1991 film The Doors. Join Doors fan Aidan and Doors, uh, not-fan Graham for an exploration of this fabulously lavish, maddeningly shallow account of Jim Morrison's life and death, which occasionally remembers there were some other guys with instruments standing behind him.

Along the way we'll discuss Aidan's tendency to turn up on 27-club episodes, the strange decline in modern conspiracy theories about pop star deaths, the odd position that The Doors has right in the middle of Stone's run of political films, and the early '90s nostalgia bonanza that saw The Doors sharing chart space with The Stone Roses and The KLF. We also talk about the film's many inaccuracies, and Ray Manzarek's amusing appearance on The Adam and Joe Show.

Hello, I love you, won't you donate to our Patreon, where you can get a bonus episode of Pop Screen every month - the next one, where Aidan returns to discuss Tony Bennett's ill-fated screen debut The Oscar, is imminent - as well as complete episodes of our other movie podcast Directors Uncut, Graham's twice-weekly classic series Doctor Who reviews, and more.

#popscreen #moviereviews #thedoors #oliverstone #jimmorrison #biopic #megryan #valkilmer #kylemaclachlan #27club

Back in 2007, Wong Kar-Wai could have done anything for his first American film. What he chose to do was cast easy-jazz chanteuse Norah Jones in a road movie where she would play alongside David Straithairn, Rachel Weisz, Jude Law and Natalie Portman, and tell her not to take acting lessons because she's such a natural. Which, you must agree, is a choice! On this week's Pop Screen, Sarah and Graham discuss the resulting film, which the passing of time has not made any less befuddling. It has all of Kar-Wai's usual strengths (gorgeous cinematography, swooning romanticism, a lovingly-picked score) and a few new flaws (a script full of clonking metaphorical dialogue, an unintentionally creepy ending).

We also find the time to talk about the film-stealing cameo by Chan "Cat Power" Marshall, Portman's 2000s career, Jude Law's chequered legacy as both an actor and a spoonerism, and the Mike Flowers Pops for some reason. Kar-Wai's famously unconventional working methods are dissected at length, as is Amazon's hilariously off-base decision to try and get him to make a television series. Every year! On schedule! Hard to imagine where that went wrong, eh, listeners?

Unlike Wong Kar-Wai, we reliably produce an hour or so of improvised rambling every single week, and if you want even more there are bonus episodes of this very show available on our Patreon. Backers also get full access to our other movie podcast Directors Uncut, as well as Graham's twice-weekly reviews of classic Doctor Who, and some odds and ends we can't fit anywhere else. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for more news.

#popscreen #moviereviews #myblueberrynights #norahjones #wongkarwai #judelaw #catpower #jazz #rachelweisz #davidstraithairn #natalieportman

The 1960s were, depending on your viewpoint, either the best or the worst time to release a film about political assassinations, and there weren't many wilder examples than John Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate. A wildly paranoid tale of a returning military veteran convinced that one of his brothers-in-arms is now a brainwashed Communist assassin, it essentially created the conspiracy thriller as we know it, and had a knockout cast including Laurence Harvey, Angela Lansbury and - the reason we are gathered here today - Frank Sinatra.

Geek Show head honcho Rob Simpson joins the podcast again to talk to Graham about Sinatra's legacy, his Vegas residencies and his Rat Pack friends, including much praise for Sammy Davis Jr.'s wardrobe in Sweet Charity. There's also some discussion of the very unexpected actress who could have taken Lansbury's role, the Jonathan Demme remake and its political inspirations, and the vexed question of what, exactly, this film is saying about the Cold War.

Sadly, we can't rely on government funding to hypnotise you into backing our Patreon, but why would we need to when we offer backers exclusive episodes of both this podcast and our other movie podcast Directors Uncut? Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for more classified information.

#popscreen #moviereview #themanchuriancandidate #conspiracy #franksinatra #angelalansbury #laurenceharvey #johnfrankenheimer #henrysilva #jonathandemme #richardcondon #ratpack

Looky looky at our black booky: this week Pop Screen is looking at an artefact of the utmost early '90sness, Vanilla Ice's first and only starring vehicle Cool As Ice. Deeply influenced by the teen rebel films of the 1950s and shot by Spielberg's future DoP Janusz Kaminski, these classy influences sit uncomfortably with a story in which Kristin Minter falls in love with the Iceman after he nearly gets her killed in a horse fall.

This week, first-time host Jeff joins us to unpick the layers of this profound work of cinema, including its unexpectedly Malick-influenced romantic montage, its puzzling attitude towards the conflict of witness protection, and the clash of tones which leads to cartoon sound effects being dubbed over Ice's big action hero moment. We also discuss Vanilla Ice's brief time in the spotlight and long career tail, including his many reality TV appearances and the remarkable speed with which his record company overhauled his image into something more pop-friendly. Stop, collaborate and listen to this podcast!

If you appreciate the fact that we'll voluntarily watch movies like this for your entertainment, you can show your love at our Patreon, where you'll also get an exclusive monthly bonus episode of this very show, as well as Graham's twice-weekly reviews of classic Doctor Who and our other movie podcast Directors Uncut. This week we're looking at Fellini, and any podcast network that can bring you Eight and a Half and Cool As Ice in the same week has to be worth your money. Follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

#popscreen #moviereviews #coolasice #vanillaice #1990s #hiphop #davidkellogg #kristinminter #candyclark #michaelgross #naomicampbell #januszkaminski