Pop & Locke

After months of delay, Wonder Woman 1984 was finally released on HBO Max in addition to select theaters. There was plenty of anticipation for the sequel, but ultimately it was less than impressive. With a wishing stone, the introduction of the villain Cheetah, and the return of Steve Trevor the movie jumped around leaving the audience confused. With a third movie already approved, we hop...

Michael Cannon, Stephen Kent, Pat Eddington, and Nick Armstrong join the show to discuss how The Mandalorian focused on character development. The show has let us discover much more of the galaxy and introduces even more opportunities for story-telling. Ultimately the show is about the travels of a lone bounty hunter in the outer reaches of the galaxy, far from the authority of the New Republic. H...

There was one TV show that was able to show the horrors of war, incisively critique it, but still inspire compassion for those affected by it. M*A*S*H creators understood the power of comedy to hit just the right laughable notes between moment of introspection. Throughout this special episode of Pop & Locke we ask Mike Farrell, who plays BJ Hunnicutt on the show, about his time with the c...

Humans in a fascist, militaristic future wage war with giant alien bugs is truly the best way to describe Starship Troopers. This was the third movie in a trio directed by Paul Verhoeven throughout the late 80s and 90s. When the movie was first released in 1997, it received mixed reviews because a large portion of the audience did not conclude that the movie was satirical. Hosted on Acast. See aca...

In 2019 Los Angeles, Deckard is a blade runner who is tasked with the job of hunting down humanoids known as "replicants" who are illegally on Earth. Fast forward to 2049, when Officer K is a new blade runner who discovers a well-kept secret that leads him to Deckard, who has been missing for 30 years. What is the difference between being "born" and being "created"? Who gets to decide whether or n...

Evey Hammond is a regular U.K. citizen, which is under the rule of the fascist and tyrannical Norsefire Party. Every become the enemy of the state by teaming up with an enigmatic and larger-than-life freedom fighter known only by the letter "V". What is the meaning of the Guy Fawke's mask? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 1976 film, All the President's Men, follows The Washington Post reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, as they uncover the details of the Watergate scandal that leads to President Richard Nixon's resignation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Purge: Election Year is not a good movie, but it is ripe with social commentary. The dystopia film is set in the not so distant future where the New Founding Fathers of America are the dominant political party. But a young newcomer, Senator Charlie Roan is trying to unseat the incumbent to put a stop to government-sanctioned violence. The movie attempts to critique grotesque violence, but ends...

Get Out cleverly uses common horror tropes to reveal truths about how damaging racism still is in our modern world. Us, as the title suggests, tells a story about how neglecting to come to grips with our past makes us our own worst enemies. Alissa Wilkinson and Ciara Wardlow help us unpack both thriller films. Why is horror considered a primarily white genre? How did Jordan Peele connect with his...

Christopher Nolan's Batman operates within the state in a very strange way. Nolan believes that his trilogy of movies are actually each in their own genre. Batman Begins is a classic origin story broken down in three parts. The Dark Knight exists as a crime movie with the Joker as a terrorist who seeks chaos. The Dark Knight Rises is an epic film with a militaristic enemy. How are the Joker and Ba...

Peter Suderman and Sean Malone join the show today to talk about one of the most famous summer blockbusters ever. Jurassic Park is more than a movie about the misuse of innovation that ends up creating vicious dinosaurs. The movie itself was an innovation in of itself.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Big Lebowski has spurred a cult-like following revolving around The Dude. In 1998 the Coen brothers released "The Big Lebowski" and the theaters were half-empty. The movie was a follow up to their Oscar-winning film "Fargo". The movie follows a dopey but profound slacker noir about a guy — a conscientious objector to all human conflict — whose quest to avenge a soiled rug unravels into a wild...

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb hit theaters in 1964 a mere few months after the Cuban Missile Crisis. Not to mention it was also the height of the Cold War when Americans were worried about nuclear annihilation and mutually assured destruction. This satire lives on today as the best black comedy about nuclear warfare ever written. Hosted on Acast. Se...

In a dystopian future, the totalitarian nation of Panem is divided into 12 districts and the Capitol. Each year two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. The Hunger Games is not only serves as entertainment for the Capitol, but it also serves as a reminder to the Districts about how much power the Capitol actually has to suppress them....

Gattaca highlights a the future where eugenics is common. A genetic registry database uses biometrics to classify those so created as “valids” while those conceived by traditional means and more susceptible to genetic disorders are known as “invalids”. In this world genetic discrimination is illegal, but valids qualify for professional employment while invalids are relegated to menial ta...

The Wachowski sisters directed one of the most famous science fiction films ever that has influenced the entire genre since its’ release in 1999. The Matrix is much more than a movie about a hacker who discovers the real nature of this reality. Why do you think the Matrix has stuck around as part of our cultural vernacular for so long? How did the Matrix change the sci‐​fi genre forever?...

In Mrs. America, Cate Blanchett brilliantly plays conservative culture warrior Phyllis Schlafly, who built a coalition of housewives that ultimately kept the Equal Rights Amendment out of the US Constitution. In addition to Schlafly, the relationships between Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm, Bella Abzug and Jill Ruckelshaus are the focus of Hulu’s new mini-series. The show does not...

We asked Anthony Comegna and Jesse Walker to join the show to crack open unexplained phenomena and paranormal activity cases that are explored throughout The X-Files. The X-Files is perhaps the very first, long-running, science fiction show to earn a primetime slot. FBI Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully take on open cases that involve extraterrestrial life, alien abductions, future tellers, and so...

Our three favorite muggles; Emma Ashford, Lauren Sander, and Trish Beck-Peter, join the show to discuss the Wizarding World of Harry Potter created by J.K. Rowling. With the existence of magic, the Harry Potter series tackles many question about immense power and good versus evil. Is Hogwarts a public school? What is the role of the Ministry of Magic? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mor...

If you were to boil down the 1995 film Hackers, it’s a “wired ride with teenage cybercowboys” claimed Joe Brown in a 1995 Washington Post article. On today’s show we’re joined by the Cato Institute’s own Aaron Ross Powell and Julian Sanchez, as well as Eva Galperin, Director of Cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. We hope it inspires you to hack the planet. Hosted on Acast. See aca...

The focus of our show today is no other than the self-proclaimed gun-toting gay cowboy who is the owner of the G.W. Exotic Animal Park. Joe Exotic is the main character in the new hit Netflix documentary, Tiger King, and throughout the show we see his very public feud with another small private zoo-owner, Carole Baskin. Their love for tigers in particular starts a feud that proves that there can o...

The Good Place is a show that lays out a moral vision for the world that’s surprisingly sophisticated and deeply informed by academic philosophy — a vision that puts learning, and trying to do good front and center. We follow the journey of four characters who thought they were in The Good Place, but they are actually in The Bad Place because they did not earn enough points on Earth by doing good...

Leslie Knope, Ron Swanson, April Ludgate, Andy Dwyer, Tom Haverford, Ann Perkins, and the rest of the gang are all loyal employees of the Parks and Recreation Department of the Pawnee local government. Leslie Knope hopes to beautify her town by helping Ann Perkins turn an abandoned construction site (the pit) into a community park, but what should be a fairly simple project is stymied at every tur...

HBO’s Westworld causes you to question the very nature of your reality. In this world, humans interact with AI intelligences, hosts, for the experience of a lifetime, but at times it is challenging to decipher who’s a host and who’s human. In many instances, the hosts seem more human-like than the real humans. What does it mean to be a conscious being? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mo...

The world we live in has changed dramatically since Snow White first hit theaters in 1937. What society expects of women has changed and will continue to change. Disney has tried to evolve it’s princess stories as society has evolved, but have they been successful? Do young girls still resonate with Disney princesses? Are Disney princesses heroines or damsels in distress? Are any princesses indepe...