Popcorn Culture

On this week's episode, we check out Netflix's latest foray into big budget Western cinema with The Harder They Fall. After discovering that his enemy is coming out of prison, an outlaw by the name of Rufus Black (Idris Elba) gets the old gang back together to finally have his revenge. The film's stacked cast also includes Zazie Beetz, Regina King, Jonathan Majors, and LaKeith Stanfield. We discus...

There's a specific pleasure built into bad films - not all bad films, just the ones that push the boundaries so far that they almost circle all the way back to being good... perhaps even great? In this Supercut, we discuss the specific formula that's needed for a bad movie to transcend itself and become deeply enjoyable. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Take Tom Hardy's second outing as Eddie Brock and his extraterrestrial frenemy, Venom, and add bonus Woody Harrelson on-screen and Andy Serkis behind the camera and you get Venom: Let There Be Carnage. The first film didn't fare well with critics, though audiences enjoyed it - so we discuss whether this sequel is more successful than the original. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informatio...

Bringing together 3 major headliners, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot, Red Notice is one of Netflix's biggest releases this year. Taking place in the world of heists, elite criminals, and stolen art, and marking the third collaboration between The Rock and director Rawson Marshall Thurber, it also promises to be a classic action comedy - so in this review, we talk about whet...

Sure, we all love the intensity and drama of a critically acclaimed film, but there’s nothing quite like a movie that is just simply… fun! Whether that involves gigantic kaiju battling robots, a wild spin in car with a headphones-sporting driver, or an animated princess who suddenly comes to life, we all love having a roaring good time at the movies. So this week, we celebrate the thi...

Marvel’s unveiling of Phase 4 has thus far been a wild ride, and The Eternals adds a whole new bunch of personalities to it - specifically, a race of immortal beings with superpowers, who have secretly lived on Earth for thousands of years. Oh, and they’re played by people like Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Richard Madden, Gemma Chan, and Kumail Nanjiani. To up the ante, the movie is di...

Is there a movie more emblematic of childhood friendships in the 1980s than The Goonies? A group of kids attempting to save their homes from developers discover an old map that takes them on an adventure to discover pirates’ treasure - but a family of criminals are after the treasure too! Featuring early appearances of some very well known faces - Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, and Corey Feldman a...

On this week's Throwback, we're revisiting one of the most influential comedic crime capers in Hollywood history, The Italian Job (1969). A British crook named Charlie Croker (Michael Caine) is fresh out of prison when he comes up with a plan to steal gold ingots by conjuring a traffic jam in the streets of Turin. Like all good heist films, the Mafia is also involved. We discuss the way this class...

With Halloween right around the corner, we're taking a walk down Fear Street, and dissecting all things horror! From horrifying monsters and ghouls, to fears that are based in things that are all too real, we discuss what makes for an effective horror movie or show, and what doesn't work. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Directly following on the ending of A Quiet Place, Part II follows the Abbott family in their continuing quest to survive a world that's been overrun by sightless aliens, who hunt based on sound. Emily Blunt, Milicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe reprise their roles, and this time are joined by Cilian Murphy, as a conflicted, mourning neighbour. We discuss whether or not this film lives up to the lean,...

An atmospheric, arthouse horror film, Roh tells the story of two children and their mother, living in a shack deep in the woods, visited by mysterious signs and figures. While it was released back in 2019, we never got the chance to review it - and when better than Halloween week? In this episode of Throwback, we take it back a mere two years to revisit this local gem and talk about whether it liv...

From Orson Welles to Steven Spielberg, Akira Kurosawa to Jordan Peele, Federico Fellini to Greta Gerwig, directors are very often the engine that drives movies. Many outshine onscreen stars, with particular styles and themes associated with them, and often go on to shape entire genres of filmmaking. In this Supercut, we look at the person behind the curtain, so to speak, and talk about our favouri...

From Orson Welles to Steven Spielberg, Akira Kurosawa to Jordan Peele, Federico Fellini to Greta Gerwig, directors are very often the engine that drives movies. Many outshine onscreen stars, with particular styles and themes associated with them, and often go on to shape entire genres of filmmaking. In this Supercut, we look at the person behind the curtain, so to speak, and talk about our favouri...

Science fiction fans have been awaiting this adaptation of Frank Herbert’s magnum opus with bated breath, and it certainly has a lot going for it: directed by Denis Villeneuve, the film stars (among others) Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Jason Momoa, Oscar Isaac, and Rebecca Ferguson. The plot revolves around Paul Atreides, a gifted young man destined for greatness, who must travel to the most...

Do you wanna play a game? In the spirit of Netflix's Squid Game that's currently taking pop culture by storm, we're dedicating this Supercut to Movies and TV shows based on games. Whether they're classics like Tron or more recent blockbusters like Ready Player One, we talk about what makes these movies work, why they sometimes fall short, and what we'd like to see more of in the future. See omnyst...

Here's a question to get the existential crisis going - are we all in a simulation? And if we are, who's the hero of this story? In the case of Ryan Reynolds' character in Free Guy, he's just a non-player character (NPC) with no real purpose... until he decides otherwise. In this episode, we talk about the highly anticipated comedy, Free Guy, in all its chaotic, colourful glory See omnystudio.com/...

This week, we're reviewing 2021's biggest pop culture phenomenon and the show that's positioned to become Netflix's most-watched series of all time, Squid Game. The nine-episode first season tells the story of Seong Gi-Hun, an out-of-luck gambler who accepts an invitation to compete in a series of children's games for lots of money. Obviously, nothing is as it seems and the game has deadly implica...

The first rule of Fight Club: you do not talk about Fight Club. Thankfully, that same rule does not apply to fight films! From all out brawls, boxing classics and choreographed wuxia sequences, fights in films and television can be things of beauty. In this Supercut, we discuss our favourites and choose our fighters. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The first rule of Fight Club: you do not talk about Fight Club. Thankfully, that same rule does not apply to fight films! From all out brawls, boxing classics and choreographed wuxia sequences, fights in films and television can be things of beauty. In this Supercut, we discuss our favourites and choose our fighters. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Suicide Squad (2021) - not to be confused with Suicide Squad (2016), despite sharing some characters - is a soft reboot of sorts, repositioning DC's ragtag band of anti-heroes, and introducing some new players such as Idris Elba's Bloodsport, John Cena's Peacemaker and Sylvester Stallone's King Shark, all in a relentlessly chaotic, hyperviolent style. We talk about whether this film works to s...

The latest installment in the MCU, Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is also one of the most anticipated movies this year. Telling a story that's about coming to terms with one's past and estranged family, but also featuring wuxia and superheroes, Shang Chi stars Simu Liu in the titular role, Awkwafina as his best friend, and Tony Leung as his father (and the villain of the piece). In this...

The latest installment in the MCU, Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is also one of the most anticipated movies this year. Telling a story that's about coming to terms with one's past and estranged family, but also featuring wuxia and superheroes, Shang Chi stars Simu Liu in the titular role, Awkwafina as his best friend, and Tony Leung as his father (and the villain of the piece). In this...

There’s nothing quite like going on an adventure vicariously on screen - whether we’re hurtling through space, trekking through jungles, or getting lost in an unknown city. In this week’s Supercut, we celebrate the spirit of adventure in cinema and television, and talk about the most exciting journeys we’ve been on. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It has all the makings of a rollicking fantasy adventure - a scientist, played by Emily Blunt, enlists the help of a skipper a.k.a. Dwayne Johnson, to take her down the Amazon, in search of the Tree of Life. Of course, it isn’t going to be smooth sailing, as they face all sorts of dangers in the jungle. Based on a Disney theme park ride, the movie also stars Jack Whitehall, Edgar Ramirez, an...

This 1951 classic features some Hollywood greats: Humphrey Bogart, Katherine Hepburn, and directed by John Huston. Set in Africa during World War I, Bogart plays a steamer captain who offers Hepburn’s character safe passage out - leading to a clash of personalities between the two, amidst what is often described as some of the most influential action scenes in Hollywood. We throwback to the...