Pop Vultures

For a year in the late 90s James Cameron’s Titanic conquered the box-office, the Oscars, the hearts of countless teenage girls, and Debra from accounting saw it twenty times. While many of us remember that horrible song, or it being our first experience with PG-13 boobs, what about the actual filmmaking? In this episode the Vultures take a look at Titanic.

Happy New Year everyone! In this episode the Pop Vultures take a look back at some of the major trends in pop culture in 2017 – despite our best efforts, Star Wars comes up again. We also take a peek at what the Vultures have in store for 2018.

For those who celebrate Christmas the holiday comes with a bevy of traditions, not the least of which are the movies we watch to get in the holiday spirit. Everyone has their favorite from the ultra classics, to something a little more Die Hard. Listen as the Vultures share a selection of their favorite Christmas movies, drink enough spiked egg nog to kill a small horse, and argue over the merits of A Christmas Story. From the Pop Vultures to you, Happy Holidays, and yippee-ki-yay motherf**kers.

After two years of anticipation and waiting cliffside to see what Luke Skywalker does with the return of his lightsaber, the latest installment of the Star Wars saga has arrived. With Episode VIII, Rian Johnson (writer, director) has delivered a critically acclaimed but fiercely divisive entry in the saga.

In this episode the Vultures discuss Star Wars: The Last Jedi and attempt to answer the tough questions — did it meet expectations, where does it fit in the larger saga, and did anyone else get turned on by the thing Luke milked?

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.... the iconic words that precede the epic adventures many of us started as children. Those adventures continue this week with the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. With the growing anticipation for the new film, the Pop Vultures use this episode to reflect on Star Wars as a series films, a modern mythology, and its cultural importance as a shared history.

Captain America has a beard! That’s what we learned from the hot new trailer for Avengers: Infinity War – now the most mentioned movie trailer in the history of Twitter... so that’s something. With all the trailer excitement these days, the Vultures decided to sit down and look at a random cross-section of current movie trailers, discuss the coming attractions, and ponder what makes a good trailer in the first ever Pop Vultures Movie Trailer Roundup™!

Everyone loves The Ministry of Silly Walks, the Parrot sketch, and the Black Knight getting delimbed — but Monty Python’s Life of Brian is not only their most thoughtful, intelligent, and complete film, but also their most divisive work.

The Pop Vultures discuss Monty Python, Life of Brian, the high art of silliness, seeing John Cleese in person, and why nothing should be taboo in film. Then again don’t listen to us, you don’t need to follow anybody! You’ve got to think for yourselves! You’re all individuals!

Ewoks and diabetes abound in this episode as the Vultures hangout to loosely discuss a formerly canon Star Wars universe movie that has long since been buried, forgotten, and lost… and for good reason. Ewoks: The Battle for Endor is a TV movie, from 1985, which stars Wilford Brimley (of diabetes commercial fame) and Ewoks. You need know nothing else.

Modern film criticism has largely been distilled down to thumbs, stars, and percentages of freshness. So what’s the point of modern film criticism? Is it to direct the viewer toward the box office with as little information as possible, reinforce and push good filmmaking, or to make money? The Pop Vultures discuss the current state of film criticism – the good, the bad, and the certified douchey.

Real talk – Thor: Ragnarok was neon garbage. In this minisode we sit down with an old friend and the officially unofficial fourth Pop Vulture, Jeremy Goldenberg, to discuss his work on big Broadway shows (before they open on Broadway), and why Thor: Ragnarok sucks.