Did You Do Your Homework? | A Pop Culture Podcast

This one's hot off the presses - we get deep into romance and the readers that love it with our discussion of Amazon Prime's 2022 release, Book of Love (dir. Analeine Cal y Mayor). Do we fall in love with this bilingual tale of transcription? Listen to find out...

A few weeks ago, Martha made a list on Twitter, and Pete decided we needed a whole episode to hash out the fallout from that list. It's our Batman episode! We're talking about the archetypical hero, the Dark Knight himself, the world's greatest detective in his iconic cinematic incarnations. Homework for the episode: Batman (1989, dir. Tim Burton); Batman Forever (1995, dir. Joel Schumacher); Batman Begins (2005, dir. Christopher Nolan).

Maren and Martha move a little off their beaten path to break down Dear Evan Hansen, the Broadway sensation-turned cinematic flop. We discuss the movie's treatment of teen suicide, depression, and the musical talents of Amandla Stenberg.

It seems to happen every few years: two movies with strikingly similar stories get released in the same year. Typically, one emerges as the "winner," the film that sticks in the public's consciousness, while one fades away into pop culture obscurity. What determines these "winners" and "losers" in the world of dueling movies? We take a look at two twin pairs: Big Trouble in Little China (1986, dir. John Carpenter) and The Golden Child (1986, dir. Michael Ritchie); and Armageddon (1998, dir. Michael Bay) and Deep Impact (1998, dir. Mimi Leder) to see if we can figure out the why of it all.

We temporarily turn our attention from cinematic rom coms to tackle the extremely cute tv show, Starstruck (2021, created by Rose Matafeo). How does this very Millennial-oriented jaunt hit two mid-gen Millennials? About as well as you'd expect...

What happens when a story knows it's a story? What do you do when you realize you're just a character in someone's narrative? Our episode today is all about self-aware stories and the dawning realization that we may all just be side characters in someone else's book. Homework for the episode: The Neverending Story by Michael Ende (1979); In the Mouth of Madness (1994, dir. John Carpenter); Stranger than Fiction (2006, dir. Marc Forster)

We're back! Did you miss us? We have a short and sweet episode for you on the Amazon Prime movie, Summer '03 (2018, dir. Becca Gleason) starring Love YA! star Joey King.

It's the most wonderful time of the year, when everyone is still putting together their best of lists and retrospectives of the year prior. DYDYH is no exception - you all know how much Martha loves a ranked list! Here are our personal Top Ten Lists of 2021.

Follow us down the rabbit hole as we watch, analyze, and dissect the defining film franchise of our generation, The Matrix. Spoiler warning for The Matrix Resurrections (and the other ones, but we figure you've probably seen those before). Coming next time: our top ten lists from 2021! Happy New Year, everyone!

It's finally here! Maren and Martha close out the holidays with the 2021 Nteflix Christmas move, A Castle for Christmas (dir. Mary Lambert). It's a plaid-and-snow-covered good time. We're going to take a short break and will be back in your ears in 4 weeks. Real life is upon us! Happy new year, everyone!

We trace the origins of the 'historically anachronistic' film from its nebulous origins with A Knight's Tale (2001, dir. Brian Helgelund) up through the current Hulu series The Great (2020-, created by Tony McNamara). Pete finally gets an episode as self-indulgent as Martha has for years and years. Will Martha pronounce the word "anachronism" correctly? You'll have to listen to find out!

We go back in time to the mid-aughts to discuss the tale of preteen shenanigans, Unaccompanied Minors (2006, dir. Paul Feig)Will this group of unruly children salvage a merry Christmas, despite being hunted like animals by Lewis Black? Listen and find out...

It's the Cowboy Bebop episode! Pete and Martha hash out the new Netflix adaptation of the 1998 classic anime. We also look at the 2021 Disney+ animated series Star Wars Visions, with tales of the expanded universe.

Sorry this is late, the holidays are here and it's time for the traditional bout of losing control of our lives! We're here today to talk about the brand spanking new Netflix original, Love Hard (2021, dir. Hernan Jimenez). It's not included in the episode, but our next movie will be Unaccompanied Minors (2006, dir. Paul Feig, available on Netflix).

We're living in a hellscape, so Pete and Martha are breaking down media that puts a macabre, game show spin on gladiatorial entertainment. We're talking about Squid Game (2021, dir. Hwang Dong-hyuk) and The Running Man (1987, dir. Paul Michael Glaser).

I don't have a clever quip for you today - it's a pretty straightforward discussion about a movie that thinks its being sex positive. Is it? Let's find out! Today we're discussing the 2012 teen film The First Time (dir. Jonathan Kasdan), starring Britt Robertson, Dylan O'Brien, and many others.

Did Martha and Pete have a fully formed thesis when they set out to do this episode? Absolutely not. Did they want to talk about DUNE very, very badly? You're darn tootin'. We take a look at the desert power epics, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962, dir. David Lean)and DUNE (2021, dir. Denis Villeneuve) and discuss their impact on cinema and science fiction.

One of the reasons we're now a combo teen film/rom com movie podcast is because those genres borrow so much language from each other. Case in point? Netflix's 2021 original Afterlife of the Party, starring Victoria Justice and Midori Francis.

It's a super special crossover event! Pete and Martha team up with the crew of Catching Up David to discuss the finest video game adaptations the 90's had to offer. Homework for the episode: Super Mario Bros (1993, dir. Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton); Street Fighter (1994, dir. Steven de Souza); Pokemon the First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back (1998, dir. Kunihiko Yuyama and Michael Hagney)

How is this the first Disney Channel Original Movie we've covered? Martha and Maren watch the "made in 2012, feels like 1998" DCOM Radio Rebel (2012, dir. Peter Howitt) based on the novel Shrinking Violet by Danielle Joseph.