John Singleton was 21 – 21! – when he made one of the most acclaimed debuts of the 1990s, one which led to him becoming the first African-American to get a Best Director nomination at the Oscars. It would be the perfect punchline if it was bad, but annoyingly for […]
Pop Screen
Rita Ora in 50 Shades of Grey – Episode 117
Sam Taylor-Johnson is about to release Back to Black, her second music biopic following 2009’s Nowhere Boy. So naturally Pop Screen decided to review… her EL James adaptation? Yeah, why not, it’s got Rita Ora in it. Returning co-host Joe did a lot of Ritasearch for this podcast and was […]
Jimmy Cliff in The Harder They Come – Episode 116
There are some pop movies that capture the appeal of an entire genre. Such was the case with Perry Henzell’s The Harder They Come, a crime drama that was such a hit it essentially popularised reggae in the United States. Such things are possible only with a star of the […]
Lol Creme (10cc) with the Lunatic (1991) – Episode 115
In 2024, Pop Screen is spending a month in Jamaica, hailing the island’s mighty presence in the field of music. And to kick off, we’re talking about… er, 10cc? Yes, when they said they don’t like reggae, they love it, few could have expected that love would manifest itself in […]
The Alarm in Vinyl (2012) – Episode 114
In 2004, the veteran Welsh rock band The Alarm pulled off an audacious hoax, releasing their single ’45 RPM’ under the alias of The Poppy Fields. The Poppy Fields were supposedly a new band of teenage rock stars in skinny jeans, as was the style at the time. As the […]
Cyndi Lauper in Vibes (1988) – Episode 113
Good vibes only this week, as Mark Cunliffe of We Are Cult rejoins the podcast to talk about Cyndi Lauper’s lead role in the 1988 supernatural comedy Vibes. A film so inspired by Ghostbusters that Dan Aykroyd was briefly attached to star, it has an enviable cast fronted by Lauper, […]
Mick Jagger in Performance (1970) – Episode 112
Memo to you: Pop Screen is back for 2024 and we’re covering one of the wildest, most controversial and most ambitious rock movies of the 1970s. Starring Mick Jagger among a motley cast of models, gangsters, boxers and one father of a national embarrassment, Performance saw Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell […]
Uncut Review of 2023
Mamma Mia, here we go again. 2023 is done and dusted and it’s that time of the year for all podcasts to come together and review the past 12 months. Instead of a bog standard top 10 run down we are trying something different. Once again though, collaborating with our […]
Metallica in Some Kind of Monster (2004) -Episode 111
Pop Screen finishes 2023 with a movie that could not be less stock to our ears – Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s Metallica: Some Kind of Monster. Granted unprecedented levels of access to the world’s biggest heavy metal band, the directors of the Paradise Lost trilogy made a raw documentary […]
Mariah Carey in Glitter (2001) – Episode 110
All we want for Christmas is this: Mariah Carey’s notorious film vehicle is the subject of Pop Screen’s festive episode. Equally reviled and unfortunate, it’s the tale of a foster child who grows up into an aspiring singer, and whose rise to fame is, shall we say, subtly patterned on […]