Cinema Eclectica

The centrepiece of Pop Screen's Bowie month could only be one thing: David's first, extraordinary lead role, as the alien Thomas Jerome Newton in Nicolas Roeg's trippy science fiction masterpiece. For those unfamiliar with the film, Bowie plays an extraterrestrial sent to Earth to bring water back to his home planet, funding his return trip by patenting alien technology. But the world of high finance drags him off course, as do Earthly temptations like alcohol and weird sex. Lots of weird sex. In this week's episode of Pop Screen, Graham is joined once again by Rob from Directors Uncut to look at the many facets of this enigmatic film, and marvel at just how banjoed on cocaine Bowie was during this period of his life. There's also some talk about the recent TV series based on Walter Tevis's source novel, the unexpected actors - and one novelist - who might have taken Bowie's role, and Rip Torn's infamous appearance in Norman Mailer's Maidstone. If you don't want us to have to patent our alien technology in

Yeah, when we announced a month of David Bowie movies, you weren't expecting this one, were you? An adaptation of an obscure early Berthold Brecht play that Bowie recorded for the BBC in between Scary Monsters and Let's Dance, Baal is quite probably the most challenging artefact in his screen career - and we're including the Twin Peaks movie in that tally. But it's also thematically linked to his music in a number of interesting ways, and it paired him with a great British director - the late Alan Clarke. On this week's episode, Graham is joined by We Are Cult's Mark Cunliffe once again to discuss the holy trinity of Brecht, Bowie and Clarke, as well as the way that Bowie's screen career took off just as his musical career was hitting a troubled patch, the secret to success on Letterboxd and the vexed question of what Alan Clarke did in the Television Centre lifts. There may also be singing. We're sorry. If you don't want us to be reliant on handouts from Weimar-era aristocrats, you can donate to our Patreo

Pop Screen kicks off a special month dedicated to the films of David Bowie with perhaps his last great role, as the enigmatic inventor Nikola Tesla in Christopher Nolan's equally enigmatic thriller. A story of magic, revenge and dead wives (look, we said it was a Christopher Nolan film), it sees Bowie join a remarkable cast including Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, Andy Serkis and Gil from Frasier. On this week's show, Ewan from Cult Following joins us once more to get this Bowie celebration started, discussing the film's superhero-heavy cast as well as his favourite Bowie albums, Bowie's absence from (and return to) public life during the 21st century, Nolan's love of serious men in suits, the genius of Andy Serkis and a story about Ewan accidentally injuring himself in the shower for some reason. It's Pop Screen alright! If you want to help us out financially in our bitter grudge match with Thomas Edison's podcast, you can donate to our Patreon. Among many ot

We normally use a still from the film for our episode image, but who could resist this photo from the premiere of Neill Blomkamp's Chappie? It perfectly encapsulates the bizarre appeal of the film, which assembles an enviable cast of blue-chip movie stars and reliable character actors, then has them play support to a Johnny 5/Robocop hybrid and a South African rap group, not necessarily in that order. This week, Andrew from Behold! returns to Pop Screen to authorise the launch of the Moose, by which we mean talk about Chappie's insane tonal shifts, its wincingly misjudged ending and the chequered career of Blomkamp following his smash-hit debut District 9. There are fewer mad tangents than usual, largely because the whole film is a series of mad tangents. Get ready to go Zef! Whatever that means! If you want to help us earn enough money to build a cute robot that can podcast for us, you can donate to our Patreon, where you'll get a monthly bonus episode of this show, unrestricted access to our other movie p

It's no surprise that Pop Screen keeps going back to the 1960s - in many ways, that decade saw the birth of the pop movie as a recognisable genre. That doesn't mean that every film became a classic, although the film we're looking at today became a cult classic of the most disreputable type. Famously described by Mark Kermode as "the Plan 9 from Outer Space of musicals", Robert Hartford-Davis's Gonks Go Beat mixes cheapo science fiction, musical comedy and Romeo and Juliet into a bewildering stew. Following the attempts of an intergalactic mediator to reconcile the warring nations of Beatland and Balladisle, it has a roster of musical stars including Lulu, a pre-Cream Ginger Baker, the Nashville Teens, several other artists who are even more obscure than the Nashville Teens, and Charlie off Casualty. It almost defies description - except for the fact that Mick from our sister podcast Behold! is here, valiantly attempting to summarise the truly inexplicable. If you appreciate our attempts to make a truly gea

When Graham and Sarah decided to do an episode on Never Rarely Sometimes Always, it was not a topical film. Its storyline, about a young girl crossing state lines in order to get an abortion, now puts it at the forefront of a major American news story, but there's much more to Eliza Hittman's film than being merely newsworthy. It's a haunting, measured, beautifully acted and shot film that never lets its unmistakable anger overwhelm its humanity, complete with a small but meaningful appearance from the acclaimed singer-songwriter Sharon van Etten. Van Etten's appearance is one of two things that qualifies NRSA (as all the cool kids are calling it) for this podcast - the other is the soundtrack by Julia Holter, whose career is also discussed. Other topics of conversation include this film's superiority over a certain other, more garlanded, stab at feminist cinema from 2020, the unexpected way Hittman found her lead actress, the career of the film's cinematographer Hélène Louvart, the minor scandal involving t

Can you believe this is our first Jim Jarmusch episode? The white-haired director's habit of casting musicians means pretty much all of his films qualify for this show, with regular collaborators including Tom Waits, Iggy Pop and RZA. All of them turn up in this, his ensemble zombie comedy from 2019, along with the rather less expected name of Selena Gomez. (Gomez's presence does at least mean this is the second show in a row where we mention Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers, and no, we weren't expecting that either) Joining us this week is Rob, from The Geek Show's other movie podcast Directors Uncut. Both he and Graham are paid-up fans of both Jarmusch and this movie, and they discuss the film's puzzlingly negative reception, its skilful use of the screen personae of stars as different as Tilda Swinton, Caleb Landry Jones and Iggy Pop, and the remarkable voice of Adam Driver. We also discuss how Rob's fondness for Iggy and Tom has survived problematic early encounters with their music, the changing fortune

We're returning to the pop landscape of the early 2000s this week, a pop landscape that had your host Graham wondering whether there was any point being a pop cartographer any more. The dominant feature of said landscape was TV talent shows, usually run by either Simon Cowell or his Salieri, Simon Fuller, the latter of whom masterminded this week's film. A modern-day beach party movie starring first-season American Idol finalists Justin Guarini and Kelly Clarkson, From Justin to Kelly was legendarily unsuccessful, but that doesn't mean returning co-host Jeff hasn't got a bagful of fascinating trivia about it. Said trivia includes Guarini's history in musical theatre, the film's epic director's cut, and a subplot removed from the third act that could have led to the film getting a very different reception. We also talk about the film's odd, PG-certificate vision of teen debauchery, the possible membership of the Pennsylvania Posse, the film's inability to remember if its musical numbers are diegetic or not, a

Pop Screen is going into hardcore auteur territory this week, with a film directed by and starring the one and only Barbara Streisand. A story of hidden family secrets, illicit affairs, licit affairs, quasi-licit affairs - look, there's a lot of affairs, alright? - it was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars while Streisand was snubbed for Best Director, suggesting her music career was preventing her being taken seriously as a film-maker. On this week's Pop Screen, Aidan and Graham discuss how fair that is, balancing the film's sentimental, sometimes dated tone against its visual beauty, surprising eagerness to confront taboos and unexpected appearance from George Carlin. We also discuss the legacy of Streisand's directorial debut Yentl, Nick Nolte's brief, perplexing reign as People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive, and the two classic Simpsons jokes this film inspired. Every time I hear the wind, it seems to whisper the phrase "Donate to our Patreon, where you can get a monthly bonus episode of this podca

Pop Screen is going a bit off the beaten track this week, but rewardingly so. Peter Watkins is a maverick British director whose previous film The War Game was banned on the instruction of then-Prime Minister Harold Wilson, so when he was hired by Universal to make a teen-focused rock and roll film they probably expected something insurrectionary. What they might not have expected is for Watkins to train his satirical weapons on the pop world they were hoping to tap into, in this documentary-style tale of a singer whose popularity is exploited by a totalitarian government. The singer is played by Manfred Mann's Paul Jones, and the tunes are good enough for one of them to be covered by Patti Smith. That's just one of the many discoveries Graham and Mark make on this week's show, and they still have time for generous digressions about the voiceover in The Hateful Eight, the career of screenwriter Johnny Speight and what Volodymyr Zelenskyy might have learned from network censors. If you'd like some more of th

Can you believe this is Pop Screen's first animated film? Better late than never, as Gav Smith of My Favourite Film rejoins us to talk about Interstella 5555 - The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem. A story as epic as its frankly overlong title, it was created by Daft Punk as both a homage to the anime they loved growing up and a visual accompaniment to their classic 2001 album Discovery. On this week's episode, Gav and Graham discuss Daft Punk's career from their house beginnings to their increasing flirtations with disco and soft rock, the strange saga of the sample on their single 'One More Time', and the fairly obvious problem with the spray-painting machine that disguises the film's blue-skinned aliens. It sounds like a lot, but it doesn't feel like Homework. If you can forgive that pun, you'll definitely be able to cope with our Patreon, where donors get an exclusive episode of Pop Screen every month, full access to our other movie podcast Directors Uncut, Graham's twice-weekly Doctor Who reviews, and

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a-Moonstruck, a film which is not exactly subtle in its depiction of Italian-American culture but is at least witty, well-written and full of heart, thanks to its script by John Patrick Shanley. This week, Pop Screen closes out its Oscars month by inviting playwright Sarah Hayton back on to discuss Norman Jewison's 1987 film, which won Cher a Best Actress award. Frankly, she's so good in this you overlook the fact that her and Nicolas Cage are, on paper, the weirdest screen couple in the history of cinema. Digressions include the infamous video for 'If I Could Turn Back Time', both of our guest hosts being surprised by Jewison's classy back catalogue, the twist ending in Shanley's last film Wild Mountain Thyme, the world-class Simpsons joke this film inspired, and disses on at least two Ridley Scott films, one of which hasn't even been shot yet. It's certainly value for money, not least since this is a free episode. If you fancy getting even more cont

Pop Screen's Oscar month continues with one of the 21st century's biggest collectors of little bald gold men - Rob Marshall's Chicago. Among its twelve nominations and six wins was a Best Supporting Actress nomination for 1990s hip-hop stalwart Queen Latifah, who gets a solo number crammed with innuendo, but she was beaten to the win by her own cast-mate Catherine Zeta-Jones. This week, Cliff from the Devil Times Five horror podcast joins us again to talk about his uncharacteristic love for this 1920s true-crime-inspired musical extravaganza. Topics covered include: which classic Doctor Who story does the Cell Block Tango remind Graham of? Which line in Cell Block Tango does Cliff think is a bit unfortunate? And other topics that don't relate to the Cell Block Tango, including a mini-sequel to this very episode we plan to release soon for Patreon backers... ...and if you want to know what that's all about, here's our Patreon, where you can also get a monthly bonus episode of this very show, as well as unres

Pop Screen's Oscar month goes back to, er, 2021 with the film widely predicted to win Chadwick Boseman a posthumous Oscar - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. Less a biopic of the titular blues singer and more a drama about temptation and (often racial) exploitation adapted  from August Wilson's play, it nevertheless features a powerhouse, Oscar-nominated turn from Viola Davis as Ma Rainey. This week, Ewan Gleadow from Cult Following returns to argue the merits and demerits of the film's obsessive fidelity to Wilson's source, the difficulties of pitching movies about jazz and blues to a modern audience and Denzel Washington's project to bring Wilson's 'Pittsburgh Cycle' to the screen. We also take a quick look at this year's Oscar nominees, discuss the unexpected film Ewan's local multiplex preferred to Licorice Pizza, and ask why people nowadays like pop stars who are quite dull. If you enjoy hearing people get all of that out of one reasonably short movie, you can donate to our Patreon and get a monthly bonus epis

March is Oscar month on Pop Screen, and as luck would have it one of this year's frontrunners is absolutely made for us. A goofy, shaggy 1970s coming-of-age comedy featuring a Tom Waits cameo, the entire band HAIM and their parents - seriously, their real-life parents - it's inspired rabid devotion and some dissent for its treatment of racial prejudice, age-gap relationships and its outspoken pro-water-bed stance. This week, Graham is joined by Mark Harrison from Den of Geek to discuss Paul Thomas Anderson's love letter to his childhood. We identify which of Bradley Cooper's lines are taken directly from real life, how Anderson first met the Haim family, the difficulties of being a visual storyteller in a box-set TV era, and whether or not Sean Penn is in on the joke of his cameo at all. Also Graham openly invites the director onto Pop Screen, which... you never know? If you want to keep us afloat during the current gas crisis - yeah, that doesn't look like a period detail any more, does it? - you can donat

What kind of film do you think the above image is from, listeners? If you answered "Why, a biopic of a 1960s rock band, of course", congratulations - you are Oliver Stone, and this is an episode of Pop Screen about your 1991 film The Doors. Join Doors fan Aidan and Doors, uh, not-fan Graham for an exploration of this fabulously lavish, maddeningly shallow account of Jim Morrison's life and death, which occasionally remembers there were some other guys with instruments standing behind him. Along the way we'll discuss Aidan's tendency to turn up on 27-club episodes, the strange decline in modern conspiracy theories about pop star deaths, the odd position that The Doors has right in the middle of Stone's run of political films, and the early '90s nostalgia bonanza that saw The Doors sharing chart space with The Stone Roses and The KLF. We also talk about the film's many inaccuracies, and Ray Manzarek's amusing appearance on The Adam and Joe Show. Hello, I love you, won't you donate to our Patreon, where you ca

Back in 2007, Wong Kar-Wai could have done anything for his first American film. What he chose to do was cast easy-jazz chanteuse Norah Jones in a road movie where she would play alongside David Straithairn, Rachel Weisz, Jude Law and Natalie Portman, and tell her not to take acting lessons because she's such a natural. Which, you must agree, is a choice! On this week's Pop Screen, Sarah and Graham discuss the resulting film, which the passing of time has not made any less befuddling. It has all of Kar-Wai's usual strengths (gorgeous cinematography, swooning romanticism, a lovingly-picked score) and a few new flaws (a script full of clonking metaphorical dialogue, an unintentionally creepy ending). We also find the time to talk about the film-stealing cameo by Chan "Cat Power" Marshall, Portman's 2000s career, Jude Law's chequered legacy as both an actor and a spoonerism, and the Mike Flowers Pops for some reason. Kar-Wai's famously unconventional working methods are dissected at length, as is Amazon's hilar

The 1960s were, depending on your viewpoint, either the best or the worst time to release a film about political assassinations, and there weren't many wilder examples than John Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate. A wildly paranoid tale of a returning military veteran convinced that one of his brothers-in-arms is now a brainwashed Communist assassin, it essentially created the conspiracy thriller as we know it, and had a knockout cast including Laurence Harvey, Angela Lansbury and - the reason we are gathered here today - Frank Sinatra. Geek Show head honcho Rob Simpson joins the podcast again to talk to Graham about Sinatra's legacy, his Vegas residencies and his Rat Pack friends, including much praise for Sammy Davis Jr.'s wardrobe in Sweet Charity. There's also some discussion of the very unexpected actress who could have taken Lansbury's role, the Jonathan Demme remake and its political inspirations, and the vexed question of what, exactly, this film is saying about the Cold War. Sadly, we can't r

Looky looky at our black booky: this week Pop Screen is looking at an artefact of the utmost early '90sness, Vanilla Ice's first and only starring vehicle Cool As Ice. Deeply influenced by the teen rebel films of the 1950s and shot by Spielberg's future DoP Janusz Kaminski, these classy influences sit uncomfortably with a story in which Kristin Minter falls in love with the Iceman after he nearly gets her killed in a horse fall. This week, first-time host Jeff joins us to unpick the layers of this profound work of cinema, including its unexpectedly Malick-influenced romantic montage, its puzzling attitude towards the conflict of witness protection, and the clash of tones which leads to cartoon sound effects being dubbed over Ice's big action hero moment. We also discuss Vanilla Ice's brief time in the spotlight and long career tail, including his many reality TV appearances and the remarkable speed with which his record company overhauled his image into something more pop-friendly. Stop, collaborate and list

Pop Screen is 50 episodes old! To celebrate, we've got Gav Smith from the My Favourite Film podcast back in to cover one of the big names (in terms of profile, if not in height) that we haven't covered so far - Prince, and his blockbuster first movie Purple Rain. Gav is a Prince superfan, Graham a Prince ignoramus - can he be converted? More a vehicle for the extraordinary album accompanying it than a narrative movie, Purple Rain nevertheless maintains a cult following, thanks in part to encapsulating the fascinating contradictions that Prince embodied. He could be macho and androgynous, collaborative and singular, spiritual and pervy - all of these aspects of the man are discussed on this week's show, along with digressions about Tipper Gore, the rival band in School of Rock and Morris Day's superb chat-up lines. Sadly, we don't have Morris's silver tongue, so we're going to ask you straight up - donate to our Patreon. (Why, what did you think we meant?) You'll get a monthly bonus episode of this show, unr