WVIA Pop Shop

This week on WVIA Pop Shop, Allan Austin and Patrick Hamilton explore Vision Quest, the new Marvel series on Disney+ starring Paul Bettany as Vision and featuring the return of James Spader as Ultron.

Picking up the story established in WandaVision and Agatha All Along, the series follows a resurrected Vision struggling to reconcile the memories of his former life with an identity he no longer fully understands.

But does Vision Quest bring something new to the MCU, or does its complicated backstory make it another Marvel series that requires too much homework?

Allan and Patrick review the first two episodes, discussing the show's performances, its surprising violence, James Spader's scene-stealing return as Ultron, and the challenges of telling a new story within Marvel's increasingly interconnected universe.

Then the conversation turns to the bigger questions beneath the superhero spectacle. If Vision possesses memories without the emotions attached to them, what does that say about identity and consciousness? Can artificial intelligence develop genuine empathy? And what happens when a powerful being capable of extraordinary violence doesn't fully understand who—or what—it is?

Plus, is Vision Quest worth watching if you're not already deeply invested in the MCU?

Spoilers for the first two episodes begin at 17:00.

This week on WVIA Pop Shop, Allan Austin and Patrick Hamilton take on The Social Reckoning, Aaron Sorkin's follow-up to The Social Network, starring Jeremy Allen White, Mikey Madison and Jeremy Strong.

The film revisits the world of Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg through the story of whistleblower Frances Haugen and Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz, whose reporting helped expose troubling practices inside the social media giant.

But does The Social Reckoning have anything new to tell us about Facebook, corporate accountability and the influence of social media?

Allan and Patrick examine Sorkin's distinctive storytelling style, the film's comparisons to classic investigative journalism movies like All the President's Men, and whether its optimistic portrayal of whistleblowing and journalism holds up when audiences already know what happened afterward.

Then the conversation turns to a much bigger question: What good is exposing wrongdoing if the public and the institutions responsible for accountability don't respond? And what does it say about us that we continue using social media platforms even when we know their potential harms?

Plus, the guys debate whether The Social Reckoning needed to be made at all, and why a movie about such important issues ultimately leaves them underwhelmed.

This week on WVIA Pop Shop, Allan Austin, Patrick Hamilton and Kara take on Digger, the ambitious new black comedy starring Tom Cruise as an oil tycoon whose disregard for warnings triggers an environmental—and potentially global—disaster.

With a cast that also includes Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Jesse Plemons and Sandra Hüller, Digger certainly looks like a prestige picture. But underneath its Oscar-friendly cast and highly stylized filmmaking is a sprawling satire about corporate power, political corruption, environmental catastrophe, consumerism and our complicated relationship with art itself.

In the spoiler-free first half, Allan and Patrick ask what actually makes a "prestige picture" and whether Tom Cruise might be making a serious run at an Oscar.

Then the movie takes a turn.

After the spoilers begin, the conversation shifts to what Digger may really be asking of its audience: Are corporations solely responsible for the world they've helped create, or are consumers complicit too? Can art inspire people to confront difficult problems—or can it become another distraction that helps us live with them? And what happens when facts have to compete with a better story?

Plus: is Digger an ambitious big swing or an example of cinematic hubris? Kara isn't convinced. Patrick is pleasantly surprised. And Allan may have found his new favorite Tom Cruise movie.

⚠️ Spoilers begin at 15:27.

This week on WVIA Pop Shop, Allan Austin, Patrick Hamilton and Kara take on Primetime, the new film starring Robert Pattinson in a highly fictionalized retelling of the story behind NBC's To Catch a Predator.

The movie portrays Chris Hansen as a man driven by a complicated mixture of justice, ambition, celebrity and ratings—and uses the rise of his controversial television series to ask uncomfortable questions about the relationship between journalism and entertainment.

When crime becomes content, can the pursuit of justice remain the priority? What happens when public accountability becomes spectacle? And who gets to decide what justice looks like when television cameras, audiences and ratings enter the equation?

Allan and Patrick also examine the film's depiction of vigilantism and moral certainty, while Kara weighs in on the movie's deliberately uncomfortable visual style and the ways sensationalized crime can make the unfolding story more important than justice itself.

Plus, the Pop Shop crew is divided over Primetime: is its deeply unpleasant viewing experience one of the movie's biggest flaws—or exactly what makes it work?

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This week on WVIA Pop Shop, Allan Austin and Patrick Hamilton enter Raccoon City for the newest Resident Evil movie—the eighth film in the franchise and its second reboot.

The story follows Brian, an ordinary medical courier whose last-minute delivery sends him straight into a viral outbreak filled with monsters, terrible decisions and increasingly deadly obstacles. But rather than only asking whether Resident Evil successfully translates the video games to the big screen, Allan and Patrick use the movie to explore a much bigger question: why are audiences connecting so strongly with horror right now?

Could the rise of horror and decline of superhero movies be connected? What do monsters reveal about the fears and anxieties of the culture that creates them? And why might stories about ordinary people trapped by forces beyond their control feel especially relevant today?

Then, after the spoilers begin, the guys look at how Resident Evil borrows the visual language and mechanics of video games—from first-person perspectives and NPC-like supporting characters to levels, puzzles and increasingly difficult monsters—and debate whether those ideas actually work as cinematic storytelling.

Plus: can Patrick's experience playing Resident Evil overcome the movie's very thin plot? And can Allan survive 90 minutes of watching people make terrible decisions?

⚠️ Spoilers begin after the Kirby Center segment.

This week on WVIA Pop Shop, Allan Austin and Patrick Hamilton take on Practical Magic 2, the long-awaited sequel to the 1998 cult favorite starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman.

Sally and Gillian Owens are back, but so is a familiar problem: a family curse they thought they'd broken decades ago. As a new generation of the Owens family confronts its consequences, Allan and Patrick ask whether the sequel successfully recaptures the magic of the original—or simply repeats it.

Along the way, they wrestle with continuity problems, messy storytelling and what makes a sequel worthwhile. Then, after the spoilers begin, the conversation turns to the idea at the heart of both Practical Magic films: sisterhood. Why does this story resonate so strongly with its audience despite its narrative flaws? Can emotional connection matter more than storytelling logic? And what does the sequel have to say about identity, allyship and the importance of spaces built around shared experience?

Plus: Allan thinks you need to stop worrying about the plot and feel the vibes. Patrick very much disagrees.

⚠️ Spoilers begin at 16:38.