Popcorn Culture

Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans team up for Red One, an action-packed Christmas-themed film from Jumanji director, Jake Kasdan. Johnson stars as the North Pole’s Head of Security, who teams up with a rebellious “naughty list” tracker played by Evans to save Santa Claus (J.K. Simmons) from a mysterious kidnapping. We review the film and then on Take Two discuss our favourite action-comedies and finally on The B-Side, we talk about a Christmas classic, You're A Mean One, Mr Grinch.

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With the 4th season of OMITB newly wrapped up, we share our thoughts on the latest instalment of the cosiest murder crime podcast show around. From its jam-packed cast of Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, Meryl Streep, Paul Rudd, Jane Lynch (and even more guest stars), to its clever writing, there’s a lot to love. Then on Take Two, we discuss what are some of the movies and shows that have proven to be a truly pleasant surprise, especially with so much out there to watch at the moment. And then we close off with that signature Only Murders in the Building theme for The B-Side.

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It’s the week of Deepavali! In light of that, we’re reviewing a Tamil film, specifically director Ram’s 2019 family drama, Peranbu. It stars Mammootty and follows the journey of a single father raising his daughter with cerebral palsy. After that on Take Two, we discuss what we like to watch during festival seasons and close off with the B-Side, where we look at one of composer Yuvan Shankar Raja’s most celebrated songs, Rowdy Baby.

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After the success of 2022’s Smile, writer-director Parker Finn is back with a sequel in which Naomi Scott plays Skye Riley, a pop star working through trauma and a difficult past, who finds herself ensnared and haunted by a series of increasingly horrifying and disturbing events. We start off by reviewing the movie, and discuss whether - in essence - we found it scary. Then, we move on to asking which central performances have been so integral to a movie that they were make or break, before closing off with a song that’s gone viral from the movie.

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This week, we’re reviewing a double bill of Stuff We Missed: movies that premiered earlier in the year, that we didn’t get to at the time. First up, the Thai tearjerker How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, Pat Boonitipat’s film about a university dropout who cares for his dying grandma with ulterior motives. And then we move on to Inside Out 2, which sees Riley at the age of 13, dealing with new situations and new emotions. After that on Take Two, we discuss movies and shows that make us cry, before we close off on The B-Side with a listen to Michael Giacchino’s music for Inside Out.

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Joaquin Phoenix is back reprising his role as the iconic DC Comics villain in Joker: Folie A Deux, the highly anticipated sequel to 2019’s Joker, which received critical acclaim, smashed the box office and was celebrated by fans too. The sequel which also stars Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, promises to be just as quirky, thrilling and deeply disturbing as the first. We discuss if we agree with the 12-min standing ovation the sequel received at the Venice film festival, before exploring how everyone feels about movies and shows that take a walk on the dark side, and finally on The B-Side, doing a deep dive into the music Hildur Guðnadóttir composed for these films.

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Based on the book series of the same name, The Wild Robot explores the themes of survival, discovery and connection, through the story of Roz, a robot that’s shipwrecked on a deserted island, who then has to adapt to these new surroundings. We discuss this critically acclaimed movie, that’s also likely to be the last Dreamworks movie done in-house, before expanding the conversation to look at other animation classics that exist outside the Disney/Pixar studio system. Finally, we close off as always with The B-Side, a deep dive into the music of the big and small screen.

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Blumhouse is back with another horror outing, this time it’s Speak No Evil, a remake of the 2018 acclaimed Danish film. The 2024 film is directed by James Watkins and stars James McAvoy and Mackenzie Davis. We discuss if the film lives up to the original, and then in Take Two talk about remakes that worked (or didn’t) and finally on The B-Side explore the music of horror trailers.

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After a very long and circuitous road to being made, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is out! The sequel to the original 1988 film sees the return of Tim Burton (of course), but also most of the main players: Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara, along with new additions Jenna Ortega and Willem Dafoe, among others. We discuss this much-anticipated sequel and whether it’s a return to form for Burton, before turning our attention to cult classics in Take Two. Finally, we close off with a deep dive into Danny Elfman’s original score for the movies, and a shout-out to Harry Belafonte.

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It’s a slow week in cinema releases, but there’ve been a slew of movies that either never made it to the big screen here in Malaysia (or that we didn’t get to review), including The Holdovers, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, so we’re discussing them all and dissecting which one is worth watching and re-watching. Then on Take Two, we’re looking at the movies we wish would return to the big screen, since there’ve been a number of re-releases recently, including Sepet. And of course, we’re concluding with The B-Side, which is about the music of Mad Max.

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