Cinema Eclectica

Could the King of Pop have become the King of Cinema? Not, perhaps, on the evidence of 1988's Moonwalker, a curious, personal but deeply overbudgeted melange of music videos, live performance, claymation and a bewildering plot-line where Jackson fights back against Joe Pesci's not exactly Scorsese-worthy drug dealer by turning into a car. Critics at the time found it bizarre, self-indulgent and incoherent, and while that's not exactly wrong, its frequent songs and dance routines do remind you what an extraordinary performer Jackson was. This week on Pop Screen, lifelong MJ fan Archaeon joins us to discuss the album - Bad - that the film was designed to promote, argue that the Smooth Criminal video is a dark-horse candidate for Jackson's best ever, and try to work out what the hell Pesci's haircut is. Other topics of discussion include possible inspirations for Spike the Rabbit, the tragic history of the Noid, the very '80s child performances and the status of Pesci's character as a back-handed 'tribute' to J

The director of Deliverance made a film starring the Dave Clark Five? It happened! This week, We Are Cult's Mark Cunliffe rejoins the podcast to talk about John Boorman's very uncharacteristic debut Catch Us If You Can, starring Clark as a stuntman who goes on the run with Barbara Ferris's frustrated advertising spokeswoman. Made in the shadow of A Hard Day's Night, its unsettling satire on the PR industry and strikingly direct drug references make it a precursor to the more pessimistic counterculture cinema that would emerge later in the 1960s. Aside from discussing this prescient, underseen gem, we also talk about the Dave Clark Five's music, and how they went from being rivals to the Beatles to their current place in the popular memory. There's also space to consider the great career of John Boorman, and recommend his excellent autobiography (which contains the best Lew Grade anecdote you'll ever hear). Other burning issues include the cross-generational appeal of Yootha Joyce, the problematic wigs of Boo

There aren't many pop movies of the 2010s that won an Oscar, but then there aren't many pop movies as well-crafted and emotionally devastating as Asif Kapadia's 2015 documentary Amy. A bruising look at the rise and fall of Amy Winehouse told with intimate archive footage, it's both a celebration of a unique talent and an excoriation of the culture that led to her death. On this week's Pop Screen, Aidan joins Graham to discuss who, if anyone, the villain of the movie is, what it says about 2000s Britain that it killed its one true pop icon, and who added those wretched synth strings to Take the Box. We also celebrate Winehouse's pointed, sometimes shocking lyrics and unmistakable voice, and pour cold water on the "27 Club" mythology - without noticing the episode number for this very show... If you'd like to help us buy a better pair of glasses so we don't make this mistake again, you can donate to our Patreon where you get a whole bonus podcast - Director's Lottery - as well as exclusive Pop Screen episode

The long-awaited biopic of Sir Elton Hercules John - wait, Hercules? Yes, Hercules - was always going to be a flamboyant affair, but no-one suspected it would be a full-scale, dancing-in-the-streets musical. Yet that is exactly what director Dexter Fletcher and screenwriter Lee Hall delivered in 2019's Rocketman. This week, the Ben, the Ben, the Ben is back to help Graham make sense of the extraordinary results. Along the way, we discuss the many names attached to the lead role before Taron Egerton came along, the film's fought-for R rating - and its somewhat shorter Russian cut - and the best bits from Elton's riotous autobiography. We also talk about Fletcher's salvage job on a certain other 1970s rock biopic, and wonder relatedly if Bryan Singer has ever actually been on a film set. If you want to help us afford electric boots and a mohair suit, you can donate to our Patreon, where backers will get a bonus episode every month, as well as access to our other movie podcast Director's Lottery, Graham's Doct

Phyllida Lloyd's 2008 film Mamma Mia! was a box-office sensation - so why are we vaulting straight over it to review its 2018 sequel? A lot of reasons, as Mark and Graham discover on this week's episode of Pop Screen. Beginning with an absolutely gonzo rendition of When I Kissed the Teacher, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again takes plenty of big, weird chances, not least the decision to pattern its plot structure on The Godfather Part II. This new ambition can only be ascribed to a change of writer and director, the latter post filled by Ol Parker, the former by Richard Curtis, who it would be fair to say Mark and Graham have priors with. We discuss how his sensibility gels with the Mamma Mia! cinematic universe, the way the film simultaneously celebrates and lampoons its predecessor, and the ever-vexed question of whether men can sing. As well as running this podcast, we also run a struggling restaurant on an imaginary Greek island, so we'd appreciate your Patreon donations. It's not a one-way thing: you get plen

Look at the film we're covering on this week's Pop Screen. Who can say it's not beautiful? That's right, this week Graham and Ewan are reviewing True Stories, the sole directorial credit for Talking Heads frontman David Byrne. A drily comic compilation of stories inspired by Byrne's love of local tabloids, it gave John Goodman an early starring role, it gave Thom Yorke a band name and it gave Warner Bros.' marketing department a headache as they struggled to sum it up in a trailer. It's a strange movie, but fortunately God made some people who like it that way, and it's been a consistent cult favourite. Join us to discuss the film's unusually sweet-hearted view of the suburbs, what the film says about its director, the epic nerd feud between Errol Morris and Byrne, and why you shouldn't expect a seat at David Byrne's house. Some people say this movie is the cathedral of our time. Not me. Shopping is a feeling, and if you've been looking around for the perfect Patreon to donate to, might we suggest ours? Bac

Christina Aguilera waited ten years to make her first film, and when she did the reviews suggested she could have waited a little longer. This week, Joe and Graham look at Burlesque, which pairs Christina with one of the most accomplished (Oscar-winning!) singers-turned-actors in history, Cher. It's a strange mix of let's-put-the-show-on-here cliches, Bob Fosse lifts and discussion of local zoning laws. Yet it wasn't as big a flop as you might remember, and its soundtrack has a bizarrely prestigious list of songwriters. Join us as we discuss Ali, Christina's character, and her strange lack of motivation, Cher's changing feelings about the film, and - of course - the truly outrageous supporting role for Kristen Bell. Once you've heard the former Veronica Mars refer to Christina Aguilera as "a slut with mutant lungs", you'll never be the same again. If you don't want to see us reduced to putting on burlesque shows to raise money for podcasts - seriously, you don't want to see that - donate to our Patreon, whe

On paper, Light of Day has everything going for it. One of the first films Michael J Fox made after Back to the Future, it's a gritty tale of rock 'n' roll as a blue-collar pressure vent, aptly made by the director of Blue Collar, Paul Schrader. Its supporting cast has acting royalty in the form of Gena Rowlands, rock royalty in the form of Joan Jett, and a theme song by Bruce Springsteen. And yet... after disappointing at the box office it disappeared so thoroughly it's never released an English-language DVD release. This week on Pop Screen, Archaeon joins Graham to discuss why the film didn't connect, whether it deserves better, and the small but enjoyable screen career of Joan Jett. We also talk about the very unexpected cameo from a future alternative rock icon and Oscar-winning composer, Springsteen's long and tangled history with the film, and those old butter adverts where a little animated man plays the trombone. If you can't see how the latter is connected to this film, I'm sorry, I just can't help

Pop Screen takes its first dip into the flamboyant world of Japanese director Sion Sono with Tokyo Tribe. Adapting a manga by Santa Inoue, Sono takes the characteristically weird decision to tell it in the form of a hip-hop opera, with dialogue rapped by a mixture of actors and real Japanese rappers like Young Dais. It works better than it sounds, and Geek Show head honcho Rob Simpson is here to guide Sono newbie Graham through its neon-lit wastelands. Along the way we discuss Riki Takeuchi's colossal performance as gang boss Buppa, Sono's involvement in Nikkatsu's "pinku eiga" revival, the scene-stealing appearances by a DJing grandma, and so much more. We also wonder if we live, despite all appearances, in a golden age of maverick film-makers, and look forward to Sono's English-language debut with Nicolas Cage in Prisoners of the Ghostland. Pop Screen makes most of its money from the murder business and deals with corrupt politicians, but if you'd like to top us up we've got a Patreon which offers bonus e

The prospect of a Frank Zappa episode of Pop Screen is likely to get you either cheering or groaning, which is of course why we're doing it. This week, confirmed Zappa obsessive Aidan Fatkin joins regular host and Zappa dunce Graham to talk him through the jazz-rock-classical-comedy titan's career - his epic discography, exhaustive production techniques, ribald wit and many, many, seriously many battles with the forces of censorship. We're also here, of course, to talk about his 1971 film 200 Motels, a plotless mix of skits, musical performances, animation that might be too weird for cult status. Full of sex, lies and videotape - hey, that's a catchy title! - it can be hard work but, like Zappa himself, it's a true one-off. We discuss the career of co-director Tony Palmer and his influence on rock-doc history, as well as Keith Moon playing a sexy nun, a bizarre misunderstanding over the word "pad" and Danny Baker for some reason. If you want to keep this podcast Absolutely Free from advertising, why not don

Today we know Morrissey as a character on The Simpsons, but are you aware he also taught Villanelle how to do local government admin? This is just one of the revelations in Mark Gill's 2017 film England is Mine, a film about Morrissey's early life starring Jack Lowden as the indie icon-in-the-making. Released just as Morrissey exhausted the patience of his remaining fanbase by threatening to sue Der Spiegel for accurately reporting his terrible opinions, it vanished quickly - but did it deserve better? This week, Mick Snowden of Behold! podcast joins Graham to mull that question over. They also discuss their shared love of The Smiths, including the evergreen hobby of picking out the references to old films and girl-group hits the band's lyrics and record sleeves are studded with, and share theories about why Morrissey's official Facebook page is so very, very strange. "I've never had a job/ Because I'm too shy", and if you want to help me maintain this unsupportable lifestyle you can donate to The Geek Show

It's the film that's so punk, it annoyed even the punks - Derek Jarman's Jubilee, with its motley cast including Toyah Wilcox, Rocky Horror legend Richard O'Brien, a pre-fame Adam Ant and at least one former tightrope walker, is our subject of discussion this week. Join We Are Cult's Mark Cunliffe and regular host Graham Williamson as they discuss Jarman's influence as a film-maker, a gay rights advocate and even a gardener, as well as the film's fascinated yet critical overview of Britain's first wave of punk. There's also room to consider the divergent careers of the film's stars, from the hugely influential original punk scene kid Pamela "Jordan" Rooke to Ian Charleson and Karl Howman: incestuous brothers in Jubilee, but the actors went on to have very different later careers. We also talk about punk's questionable, semi-ironic use of fascist and serial killer iconography, as well as the vexed question of why the British scene burned out so quickly - albeit leaving some tremendous music. Obviously money

It would be fair to say that Battleship, Peter Berg's $250 million dollar Hasbro adaptation, does not arrive with the greatest of advance press. And yet, on this week's Pop Screen, our hosts are still astonished at how much goes wrong. Join Graham and Andrew (from Behold! podcast) as we anatomise the film's scanty, mostly burrito-focused characterisation, its unfortunate obsession with the acronym "RIMPAC", its unexpectedly cute alien baddies and its truly beyond-parody choice of end credits song. But because this is Pop Screen, we talk about more than the movie. This was an inauspicious screen debut for Rihanna, so we also take some time to discuss the Barbadian R&B superstar's ability to expertly ride the wave of cultural changes, as well as her little-heralded role in putting British indie-pop out of its misery. We also wonder what she's been doing since the release of her last album in 2016, and discover a new way in which that infamous year is cursed. Rihanna can afford to sit around posting on Ins

Brian De Palma is not a name commonly associated with campy rock-opera frivolity, but his 1974 film Phantom of the Paradise is closer to Rocky Horror territory than you'd expect from the Carrie auteur. A gonzo melange of Gaston le Roux, the Faust myth and the 1970s music scene before it figured out how to be cool, it's like nothing else you've ever seen before, and this week Graham joins his Directors' Lottery colleague Rob Simpson to figure it all out. Along the way, we discuss De Palma's career, its roots in experimental hippie-era satire and its many highs and lows. We also discuss Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow's 2015 documentary about the director, and how it affected our understanding of this film. There's also room for some consideration of the film's star, singer-songwriter Paul Williams, a delightful anecdote about a young Guillermo del Toro and a quiz about the many, many lawsuits this film unexpectedly faced. If you don't want to see us reduced signing our life's work away in blood to make money,

Before we find out if Chadwick Boseman is going to win a posthumous Oscar for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, let's take a look back at Get On Up, his previous brush with the Academy's sweet tooth for musical biopics. Widely predicted to be a frontrunner in the 2015 Oscar race, the Mick Jagger-produced biopic of James Brown walked away empty-handed. It would be one thing if it was a competitive year, but this was the year when the big winner was The Revenant, so, y'know. What went wrong? Well, as Ben and Graham discover on this week's episode, it certainly isn't any fault of Boseman's. They anatomise his remarkable performance as the Godfather of Soul, and examine the themes and strengths that run through the actor's tragically short career. There's also room for discussion of James Brown's turbulent life, ranging from his legendary work ethic to his infamously contradictory political stances, as well as his monumental influence on hip-hop. Showbusiness is a fickle mistress prone to wild mood swings, so if you wa

Pop Screen roars back, like an army of mods on scooters, with Quadrophenia. One of the definitive British cult movies, a peerless translation of an ambitious concept album and a loving tribute to a scene that, in its era, was so dangerous that the term "moral panic" was coined to describe the press reaction. It's the film that made Brighton rock. But even this is selling Frank Roddam's film short, as Mick and Graham discover. It worked in the 1970s because it tapped into the disaffection and rage of late '70s Britain, it worked in the 1990s as part of the mass Sixties revival of Britpop, and it works now because - hey! - it's a good film, got some good tunes in it and that. All of these topics will be discussed, as well as Roddam's links to everything from one of Hollywood's legendary unproduced screenplays to Masterchef, the film's early roles for Sting, Ray Winstone and Timothy Spall, and the bit-part actor whose name had to be redacted from a song by Iggy Pop. Want to support this non-stop flow of solid

What better time for a mockumentary than April Fools Day? The history of  music industry mockery is long and storied, but Graham, Sarah and Mark went for a recent example - Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, a note-perfect spoof of the early 2010s style of pop-promo documentary. A flop on its initial release in 2016, time has shown that ever since this film was born, it was dope. Join our trio of reviewers as we consider the career of The Lonely Island, the comedy hip-hop trio who created and star in the film, as well as the real-life inspirations behind some of the film's funniest jokes, how its cavalcade of cameos - everyone from Nas to Mariah Carey to Ringo Starr - matches up to real-life music documentaries, and the reasons why this film couldn't beat out the Ninja Turtles at the US box office. We also have a dramatic reading of the press release for Justin Bieber's new album, which could be taken straight from Conner4Real's dialogue. If you want to help us earn Patrick Stewart money, you can donate to

Pop Screen continues its dive into the strangest products of the 1980s trend towards long-form music videos with a lost gem of British pop surrealism - Jack Bond's It Couldn't Happen Here, starring the Pet Shop Boys. Arguably the first stumble in the relentless upwards trajectory PSB were enjoying, it's been disowned by the band and archly reappraised by Bond as "the first post-Brexit movie". After joining Graham to review Spice World in Episode 2, Ewan Gleadow makes his Pop Screen return for this utterly befuddling film, which sees Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe embarking on an epic road trip involving existentialist ventriloquist dummies, burning men walking calmly through Kings Cross and Barbara Windsor. We also discuss the label of "irony" that hung around the band's necks for much of their early careers, their unfortunate habit of releasing anti-consumerist songs whose messages went over the heads of Thatcher's Britain, and the vexed question of what the best Pet Shop Boys album is. If you want to help u

We have taken out our Invisalign, and this is the podcast: Mick Snowden of Behold! rejoins Pop Screen to review Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry. It's basically a piece of embedded journalism from the household of a very 21st-century pop star, from the day she first uploaded 'Ocean Eyes' to being tapped to write a Bond theme at the age of eighteen.  Along the way, Graham and Mick will debate whether 140 minutes is the right length of time to document a career that's still only one album long, as well as pondering the mysterious name of Billie's no-mark boyfriend "Q", appreciating the convenience of having a mother who doubles as a masseuse, sharing a personal anecdote about a Radio 2 DJ and delineating the difference between a guy who has a car and a Car Guy. Alas, we have yet to achieve the level of success that might make Katy Perry pay attention to us, but if you want to help us get there you can donate to our Patreon and get yourself an exclusive bonus episode every month. You can also keep up

This week, Mark Harrison from Film Stories and VODzilla returns to the podcast to talk all things Josie and the Pussycats! Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont's Archie Comics-derived spoof was received poorly on its initial release - yikes - twenty years ago, but with Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina revitalising the source material and Framing Britney Spears turning the world's eyes back to the turn-of-the-millennium celebrity landscape, there's no better time to reconsider its beguiling mix of vicious industry satire and affectionate character comedy. Under consideration: the film's totally jerkin' soundtrack, the divergent future careers of the film's central trio of Rachel Leigh Cook, Rosario Dawson and Tara Reid, the many reasons why it might have failed at the box office - including a Simpsons episode that coincidentally pre-empted one of its central gags - and the link between this film and Salman Rushdie that you never knew existed. In the spirit of this film's infamously blunt product place