This week, we discuss Monkey Man, the 2024 revenge action thriller directed, produced, co-written and starring Dev Patel.

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IG: @popcornmoms

Music and logo by Sean Andrews: stillavenue.com

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Topics include:

00:00 Introduction to Monkey Man

04:28 Dev Patel's Directorial Debut

08:37 Axes, Biting off Noses, Camerawork Choices: Steph Gushes Over the Action

14:48 Music to Fight To

17:07 Mish Mashing the Best To Make Something Fresh

18:03 Exploring the Revenge Narrative

19:52 Reveal Motivation Slowly: Trauma, Love, and Drugs

24:25 Watching Mother-Son Relationships in Revenge Tales, as a Mom

26:54 Shifts in Motivation and Purpose: Turning Childhood Trauma to Fight Present-Day Injustices

29:34 The Climax and Its Emotional Weight

31:07 The Significance of the Ending: Personal, Political, and Spiritual Levels

43:35 Movie Marketing Done Right

44:43 Tight Movie: Told through Movement, Scenery

45:25 Not as stylized

48:24 How it was marketed

48:24 John Wick reference with dog

49:22 Fight Scene Humor

51:16 Steph Finds the Flaw

55:37 So much happening in this movie, rewatching, disclaimer again

56:48 What's next?

57:08 Outro

Atomic Blonde is a 2017 spy action thriller film directed by David Leitch based on a graphic novel called The Coldest City by Antony Johnston and Sam Hart. The film stars Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman, Til Schweiger, Eddie Marsan, Sofia Boutella, and Toby Jones.

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popcornmoms.com

IG: @popcornmoms

Music and logo by Sean Andrews: stillavenue.com

Topics include:

04:03 Visual Style and Aesthetic Appeal

05:30 Loose Plots Leave Room for Twists, But Is It Worth It?

11:06 Pacing, Interview Format and Its Impact

15:25 Exploring the Stakes of Interrogation

16:57 Cultural Differences in Intelligence Agencies

18:41 Popup Book Visual Aesthetics of Graphic Novel Adaptations

23:02 The Fighting: Oners, John WIck, and Cool Kills

27:09 Music and Soundtrack

30:36 Dynamic Chemistry: Charlize Theron and Delphine

34:58 Moral Clarity and Loyalty in Espionage

36:04 Plot Holes and Character Holes

43:09 Forgiving Plot Holes

46:38 The Reveal

47:52 What's next week?

This week, Popcorn Moms talks about the  black comedy action-thriller One Battle After Another (2025), directed by  Paul Thomas Anderson. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, and Chase Infiniti.

This is the second (and last) of two episodes covering movies nominated at the 2026 Academy Awards. It is nominated for 13 Oscars.

Like all our episodes, this one includes big spoilers.

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popcornmoms.com

IG: @popcornmoms

Music and logo by Sean Andrews: stillavenue.com

This week, Popcorn Moms talks about the sports comedy-drama film Marty Supreme (2025), directed by Josh Safdie, It stars Timothée Chalamet as table tennis player Marty Mauser, as well as Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A'zion, Kevin O'Leary, Tyler Okonma, Abel Ferrara, and Fran Drescher. 

This is the first of two episodes covering movies nominated at the 2026 Academy Awards. It is nominated for nine Oscars.

Like all our episodes, this one includes big spoilers. Unlike all our episodes, this one also includes some discussion about the Holocaust near the end.

Topics include:

00:00 Introduction to Marty Supreme

05:21 80s Music in a 50s Period Piece

09:08 Steph Loves Sports Movies

10:54 Expectation vs reality vs second viewing

13:39 Do we like Marty?

15:02 The Movie's Big Flaw: It Needed Anti-Semitism

27:33 A Chip Off the Old Egypt Pyramid

29:08 Missed Opportunities in Storytelling

32:48 What does his triumph at the end mean?

36:55 Two Movies in One

41:36 It matters that he wins, but it matters more that he doesn't lose

44:01 The Honey Scene

52:25 More Missed Opportunities 

53:08 Character Names

54:38 What's next?

56:02 Outro

We'd love your support! Subscribe, rate and review us, and share the episode with someone you know.

popcornmoms.com

IG: @popcornmoms

Music and logo by Sean Andrews: stillavenue.com

This week, Popcorn Moms talks about the spy thriller Black Bag (2025), directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Marisa Abela, Tom Burke, Naomie Harris, Regé-Jean Page, and Pierce Brosnan.

Topics include:

00:00 Intro

04:09 The music didn't work

06:13 Spy thriller meets stage play

07:38 Marriage metaphors

07:59 Caring about characters, or not

11:21 The big reveal

13:09 Is it a good marriage?

14:59 Privacy vs secrecy

18:19 Spy thrriller vs relationship drama

21:48 Adoration makes a good marriage

26:22 Style and design

30:10 Should've set it in the 70s or 80s

33:32 Great villain scene

37:18 Opening sequence and title cards

39:33 Misalignment

41:49 How to do a spy thriller relationship drama, according to us

46:10 No kids, good choice

47:59 Critic vs audience score

48:58 Movie ending

51:31 Therapist character

52:48 What next

57:34 Outro

We'd love your support! Subscribe, rate and review us, and share the episode with someone you know.

popcornmoms.com

IG: @popcornmoms

Music and logo by Sean Andrews: stillavenue.com

This week, Popcorn Moms talks about the historical drama Marie Antoinette (2006), directed by Sofia Coppola and starring Kirsten Dunst and Jason Schwartzman.

Topics include:

00:00 Intro

02:57 Music and Soundtrack

08:16 All About Louis XVI

10:24 Marie and Louis Make A Good Team, But Bad Rulers

15:42 Are They Brave, Stupid, or Clueless?

23:11 Influence and Limitations of Women in Power

25:22 This is Another Teen Movie

31:50 Marie Antoinette as the Every Girl

32:58 Insulated World of Versaille

36:10 Accent and Authenticity in Historical Contexts

43:11 Foreignness and Identity in Marie Antoinette

50:19 Complexity of Sympathy for Marie Antoinette

59:59 Outro

We'd love your support! Subscribe, rate and review us, and share the episode with someone you know.

popcornmoms.com (coming soon)

IG: @popcornmoms

Music and logo by Sean Andrews: stillavenue.com

This week, Popcorn Moms talks about the military legal drama A Few Good Men (1992), directed by Rob Reiner and starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, and Demi Moore.

We didn't plan for our first episode to be a Rob Reiner film, since we recorded this before his passing, but we hope our genuine praise for this movie honors him. RIP, you legend.

Topics include:

00:00 Introduction and Movie Selection

03:17 Humor, Charisma, and Aging Well

07:17 Scripting Military Culture

11:56 Characters who stand for different moral codes

19:59 Maybe the villain has a point

24:19 Ego, Humanity, Justice, Leadership, and Responsibility

28:54 Political Influence in Leadership Roles

29:54 Why Steph loves military movies

32:35 The Complexity of War and Individual Stories

33:43 Movie Stakes

37:11 Demi Moore slash Joe

43:51 Steph explains that one scene that doesn't make sense

46:42 90s Movies and why we love them

47:34 The Evolution of CGI and AI in Film

50:23 What's next?

We'd love your support! Subscribe, rate and review us, and share the episode with someone you know.

popcornmoms.com (coming soon)

IG: @popcornmoms

Music and logo by Sean Andrews: stillavenue.com