Just when you think Directors Uncut is becoming fairly predictable it throws the biggest surprise of its run, to date – a director I had no clue about, Satoshi Miki. Rob is joined by Ben (Cymreig Samurai) to talk about this obscure director of Japanese comedies. Word to the warning, […]
Podcasts
James Taylor and Dennis Wilson in Two-Lane Blacktop – Pop Screen 75
This week’s Pop Screen is for people who like their cars fast, their movies mellow and their Californian singer-songwriters practically horizontal, as Aidan returns to the podcast to look at Monte Hellman’s cult road movie Two-Lane Blacktop. A none-more-70s tale of dead-end lives on the open road, it owes something […]
Michael Moore (Canadian Bacon & Bowling for Columbine)
We’ve had our summer holiday, and now we are back for season 2 and back to episodes coming out every two weeks. None of that weekly nonsense again, and all the episodes are brand new – no more second-hand, hand-me-downs. Joined by Graham (POP SCREEN) & Andy (ROAD TO KNOWHERE). […]
Cherie Currie in Wavelength – Pop Screen 74
Dust off your tinfoil hats, Pop Screen is going conspiracy barmy with this week’s episode on 1983’s Wavelength. A Roger Corman-produced science fiction thriller starring The Runaways’ Cherie Currie as a psychic who guides her singer-songwriter friend towards a military base full of captured extraterrestrials, it’s notable for a great […]
Jarvis Cocker in Journeys into the Outside – Pop Screen 73
This is (for) hardcore (fans): in celebrating the work of singer, radio host, memoirist and Greatest Living Englishman Jarvis Cocker, we could have picked anything from a Wes Anderson film to a Harry Potter one. Instead, Graham and Ewan have reunited for a look at a true collectors item, his 1999 Channel […]
ABC in Mantrap – Pop Screen 72
This week, Pop Screen is warming up its fingers to peruse the lexicon of love with Mantrap, a short film starring ABC – but mostly their lead singer Martin Fry – and directed by Pop Screen’s patron saint Julien Temple. Once again, we’re joined by Gav Smith from the very […]
Kate Bush Double Bill – Pop Screen 71
It’s in the trees! It’s coming! Yes, this week Pop Screen is gleefully hopping on board the Kate Bush bandwagon – what else were we going to do, wait for a new album or tour? – with a look at the Blessed Kate’s two main acting credits. The Line, The […]
Alexander MacKendrick (The Man with a White Suit & Sweet Smell of Success)
Season Finale Baby! This week, I am joined by Graham (POP SCREEN) and Aidan (LB) to talk about Ealing man turned award-winning educator, Alexander MacKendrick. A man whose teachings have been turned into one of the definitive filmmaking books, “on Filmmaking” it’s called, funnily enough. As for his films, we […]
Jackie Chan (Police Story & Who Am I?)
The penultimate episode of Season One, ladies and gentlemen. This time it’s Jackie Chan’s turn, the martial arts cinema legend held together by sellotape and good luck has helmed a few films behind the camera too. And on this episode, we talk about one of his finest achievements in Police […]
David Bowie in Labyrinth – Pop Screen 70
Pop Screen’s Bowie month ends in the only way it was ever going to: with a lot of talk about Muppets and ‘packages’. Made during a critical and commercial low point in Bowie’s musical career, this elaborate Jim Henson-directed fantasy nevertheless gave him one of his most celebrated screen roles […]