Popped Culture

Popped Culture reviews the epic enhancement of the Godzilla franchise Godzilla Minus One released by Toho Studios and Robot Communications. Directed by Takashi Yamazaki.

Has the new Japanese version put the U.S. attempts back in their place? How many times has Scott seen it already? Join us for our review of a stunning entry, or should we dare say reset, of the original Japanese version of Godzilla.

If you like to see the people behind the podcast...sorry...we have animated movie snacks here on YouTube.

Scott, Monica and Jason gather for what could be a eulogy for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With Marvel struggling to get the attention of audiences like it used to, we go to the wake and discuss how this could have occurred. From the giddy heights of Iron Man and Avengers: End Game to the crushing lows that are The Marvels and The Secret War, we dissect the comic king's corpse and try to read the entrails.

Popped Culture have started a new segment "Who Did It Better?".

We start off with a comparison of Interview With the Vampire the film with the new television series, based on the famous vampire book by Anne Rice. Who makes the better Louis? Who makes the better Lestat? How has Claudia changed? Do the changes in the series help or hinder the story? Find out by listening to our first "Who Did It Better?"

The gang unite to slowly talk about how sad and mundane it is to be a hitman in the latest film from David Fincher! The interminably slow "The Killer". 

The Killer is a 2023 American action thriller film[3] directed by David Fincher from a screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker. It is based on the French graphic novel series The Killer written by Alexis "Matz" Nolent and illustrated by Luc Jacamon.[5] The film stars Michael Fassbender in the title role, alongside Arliss Howard, Charles Parnell, Kerry O'Malley, Sala Baker, Sophie Charlotte, and Tilda Swinton in supporting roles. It follows the titular assassin as he embarks on an international vendetta after a hit goes wrong.

Surprise! The gang return! Out of podcast retirement to review... -checks notes- Five Nights At Freddy's! Who's idea was this? Jason's I bet! 

Five Nights at Freddy's is a 2023 American supernatural horror film based on the video game series and franchise of the same name created by Scott Cawthon. Directed by Emma Tammi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Cawthon and Seth Cuddeback, from a story by Cawthon, Chris Lee Hill, and Tyler MacIntyre, the film stars Josh Hutcherson as a troubled security guard who accepts a night-time job at an abandoned family entertainment center, where he discovers its four animatronic mascots come alive and are inclined to commit murder. Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Matthew Lillard appear in supporting roles.

On this episode Scott and Jason talk about Stranger Things 4. Monica... Well Monica has never seen Stranger Things... I know right!

The fourth season of the American science fiction horror drama television series Stranger Things was released on the streaming service Netflix in two volumes. The first set of seven episodes was released on May 27, 2022, while the second set of two episodes was released on July 1, 2022. The season was produced by the show's creators the Duffer Brothers, along with Shawn Levy, Dan Cohen, Iain Paterson and Curtis Gwinn.

Returning as series regulars are Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke, Priah Ferguson, Matthew Modine and Paul Reiser, while Brett Gelman was promoted to series regular after recurring in the previous two seasons. Jamie Campbell Bower, Joseph Quinn, Eduardo Franco and Cara Buono also star. Tom Wlaschiha, Nikola Đuričko, and Mason Dyeappear in recurring roles.

This episode we come together to talk about the newest Star Wars TV series. Obi-Wan Kenobi. 

Obi-Wan Kenobi is an American television miniseries created for the streaming service Disney+. It is part of the Star Wars franchise and stars Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, reprising his role from the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Set ten years after the events of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005), the series follows Kenobi as he sets out to rescue the kidnapped Princess Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) from the Galactic Empire, leading to a confrontation with his former apprentice, Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen).

The project originated as a spin-off film written by Hossein Amini and directed by Stephen Daldry, but it was reworked as a limited series following the commercial failure of Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018). McGregor was confirmed to be starring in August 2019, and Deborah Chow was hired to direct a month later. Production was scheduled to begin in July 2020, but the series was put on hold in January 2020 because Lucasfilm was unsatisfied with the scripts. Joby Harold was hired to rewrite the series and serve as showrunner in April 2020, executive producing with Chow, McGregor, Kathleen Kennedy, and Michelle Rejwan. Additional casting took place in March 2021, with co-stars such as Joel Edgerton, Bonnie Piesse, Jimmy Smits, James Earl Jones, and Christensen reprising their prequel trilogy roles. Filming began by May 2021 in Los Angeles, using StageCraft video wall technology, and wrapped by September. Natalie Holt composed the score, while Star Wars film composer John Williams wrote the main theme.

To infinity and beyond. 

Lightyear is a 2022 American computer-animated science fiction action-adventure film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios, and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film is a spin-off of the Toy Story film series, and the fifth overall installment in the franchise. It features the character Buzz Lightyear, but it does not take place within the same fictional universe as the main Toy Story films, where Buzz Lightyear is a plastic toy; instead, it is billed as a film that characters within the main Toy Story universe have watched, in which Lightyear is a human "space ranger". It was directed by Angus MacLane in his directorial debut and produced by Galyn Susman, and stars Chris Evans as the voice of the titular character, with Keke Palmer, Peter Sohn, Taika Waititi, Dale Soules, James Brolin, and Uzo Aduba in supporting roles.

This episode we look at the sure to be cult phenomenon Everything Everywhere All at once. 

Everything Everywhere All at Once is a 2022 American absurdist comedy-drama film written and directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (collectively known as "Daniels"), who co-produced it with the Russo brothers. It stars Michelle Yeoh as a Chinese-American woman being audited by the Internal Revenue Service who discovers that she must connect with parallel universe versions of herself to prevent a powerful being from causing the destruction of the multiverse. Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Jenny Slate, Harry Shum Jr., James Hong, and Jamie Lee Curtis appear in supporting roles. The film has been described as a "swirl of genre anarchy"[5] and features elements of black comedy, science fiction, fantasy, martial arts film and animation.

You also get Jurassic world this week! Sorry... 

Jurassic World Dominion is a 2022 American science fiction action film directed by Colin Trevorrow, written by Trevorrow and Emily Carmichael and based on a story by Trevorrow and Derek Connolly. It is a sequel to Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), and the sixth installment in the Jurassic Parkfranchise, and the third and final film in the Jurassic World trilogy, and the conclusion to the storyline started in the original Jurassic Park trilogy. As with its predecessors, Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley produced the film with Trevorrow and Jurassic Park (1993) director Steven Spielberg acting as executive producers.

The film stars an ensemble cast including Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, DeWanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, BD Wong, and Omar Sy. Dern, Goldblum, and Neill reprise their roles from the Jurassic Park trilogy, appearing together for the first time since the 1993 film. The film is set four years after the events of Fallen Kingdom, with dinosaurs now living alongside humans around the world.