Is it time to reassess the '90s Street Fighter movie?


That's right, Pop Screen is entering the arena of public opinion and fighting for the death this week as we attempt to persuade you that Steven S. DeSouza's 1994 Street Fighter adaptation is both an intentional comedy and a good one at that. That doesn't mean everyone is in on the joke - but some of the people who aren't are the ones that justify us doing an episode on this in the first place, so thanks Kylie!


Join Graham and Simon as they discuss the film's justly legendary Raul Julia performance, DeSouza's place in the '80s action screenwriter hierarchy, and the singers and rappers who star in the upcoming remake. We also accuse a major contemporary artist of plagiarising this very movie - tune in to find out who we slander! - and talk about our video game nostalgia. Press X to continue.


Our Patreon delivers a roundhouse kick to the face of extra content, with a bonus episode of this show every month - Venom: Let There Be Carnage is the latest one - plus Rob's franchise review podcast They'll Love Me When I'm Dead, Graham's self-explanatory The Arts Hole, weekly articles about The Twilight Zone and Doctor Who, plus our end-of-month round-up show Last Night... Follow us on Bluesky, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date.

Street Fighter (Pop Screen 175) Kylie Minogue - Is it time to reassess the '90s Street Fighter movie?

You wouldn't think a film with a name like Steve would prompt such a wild variety of tangents, but it's all here, from Graham's hatred of eggs to Mark's attempt to restart the War of the Roses. Yes, we're talking about Steve, the Netflix film starring Cillian Murphy and co-starring everyone from Tracey Ullman to Little Simz, the latter fresh off the back of making Graham's Album of the Year 2025 with Lotus.
As well as giving you the 101 (FM) on Simz, we also talk about what the film does and doesn't get right about its '90s setting, and its pre-fame cameo for a currently-big British comedian. And since Mark and Graham are currently over on Patreon running The Geek Show's arts and culture podcast The Arts Hole, they also talk about Max Porter's source novel and the many interesting changes made in adapting it for screen. Don't worry if that sounds a bit highbrow, we also insult Ricky Gervais's terrible new cartoon.
As mentioned, Patreon backers get podcasts not available anywhere else, like The Arts Hole and Rob's franchise review show They'll Love Me when I'm Dead, plus our end-of-month round-up Last Night... There's also a Simbi-themed bonus episode of this very show coming up, as well as weekly articles about The Twilight Zone and Doctor Who. Follow us on Instagram, Bluesky, Twitter and Facebook to find out more.

Forgettable title, unforgettable film: Steve (Pop Screen 174) Little Simz 

In the same year, Nick Cave sang The Mercy Seat and appeared in this brutal prison drama, the first film from his regular music video collaborator John Hillcoat. You'd ask if he was OK, but it's late-'80s Nick Cave: he absolutely wasn't. A brutal, shocking look at a near-future prison accelerating towards a riot, Cave's cameo as a new inmate who decorates his cell walls with his own blood is by no means the bleakest thing on offer.



This week, Pop Screen welcomes Rob Spencer of Caliber 9 from Outer Space to talk about Cave's varying levels of fame across the world - including in his, and Rob's, birth country Australia - plus Hillcoat's career all the way up to his current planned adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian. (Good luck there, John!) We also discuss whether artists have to be good people, why Australian films are so often really grim, the unusual musical career of one of Cave's co-stars and pitch a soap opera about the Bad Seeds.



You can break a whole host of exciting things out of their confinement by donating to our Patreon, including a bonus episode of this show every month - we're about to release one on Venom: Let There Be Carnage - Graham's other podcast The Arts Hole, franchise review show They'll Love Me When I'm Dead, weekly articles on Doctor Who and The Twilight Zone, and more. Follow us on Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for more info.

Why is Australian Cinema so Grim? Ghosts... of the Civil Dead (Pop Screen 173) Nick Cave

Can you believe this is the first Spike Lee movie we've covered on the podcast? Lee is a director who's always had something to say about music, not always complimentary, and his Akira Kurosawa remake Highest 2 Lowest copped some flack for its take on modern hip-hop. It's the story of a legendary record label boss, played by Lee's recurrent collaborator Denzel Washington, who springs into action when his colleague's son is kidnapped.


On this week's show, Simon reteams with Graham to talk about this complex, uneven but rewarding film, comparing its narrative priorities to Kurosawa's High and Low and exploring where it sits in Lee's canon. We also discuss its multiple musician cameos, including the weirdly negligible Ice Spice appearance and meatier roles for Princess Nokia and ASAP Rocky. You should listen to it as soon as possible.


For the price of an extremely small ransom, you can get a bonus episode of this show - we've just dropped one on Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey - as well as other goodies like the end-of-month round-up podcast Last Night..., weekly written articles on The Twilight Zone and Doctor Who, and Graham's other podcast The Arts Hole.



For more on that, come back for our next episode in two weeks' time, and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Bsky and Facebook.

ASAP meets Akira: Highest 2 Lowest - Pop Screen Episode 172

After the inevitable Christmas number one, the life of an X Factor winner isn't always easy. But Shayne Ward, of 'That's My Goal' fame - stop pretending you don't know it - had something unique to fall back on. A stint on Coronation Street gave him enough acting cred, and willing co-stars, to star in his own murder mystery series where he plays an ex-cop turned cruise ship singer with a murder to solve in every port.


Listeners, it is insane. This week, Graham is joined by Mark Harrison of Film Stories and the forthcoming First Question quiz podcast to discuss his chance discovery of a series that has become an obsession. We also talk about the strange world of straight-to-VHS soap opera spin-offs, the show's Guy Ritchie-inspired poker tournament episode, the other shows and films that could benefit from The Good Ship Murder's earworm of a theme tune, and how the show might end up doing an episode about Morrissey.


If you'd like to go on an adventure with us in mind, you can donate to our Patreon. We're currently working on a bonus episode of this very show about Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, as well as keeping our two new podcasts - They'll Love Me When I'm Dead and The Arts Hole - running. Backers also get an end-of-month round-up podcast, weekly articles about The Twilight Zone and Doctor Who, and more - follow us on Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to find out more.

British TV's Maddest Murder Mystery - The Good Ship (Pop Screen 171)

Have you ever seen a hitman movie and thought "It's good, but it needs to be shot entirely in infra-red?" No, because no-one has - except Harmony Korine. After looking at his most famous film Spring Breakers a couple of years back, Robyn and Graham now reunite to talk about the first film from his excellently-named production company EDGELRD, a film whose strangeness is not limited to the fact that Travis Scott gives the most sensitive performance in it.


Along the way, we'll discuss Scott's unexpected role in The Odyssey, and talk about that time when Korine wanted to make a whole film of people beating him up. We'll also talk about the film's, uh, distinctive promotional roll-out, its use of generative AI and its video game influences. There's also a long detour about how great the new Boards of Canada album is. That's nothing to do with the film, it's just really good.


The old world is collapsing, but our Patreon remains strong - backers will get a bonus episode of this show every month, along with Graham's other podcast The Arts Hole, about all the silliest happenings in the world of arts and culture. There's also a review of classic franchises in They'll Love Us When We're Dead, weekly articles on The Twilight Zone and Doctor Who, and more. Follow us on Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram and Facebook to find out more.

How Good is the New Boards of Canada album, also AGGRO DR1FT - Pop Screen Episode 170

Has Pop Screen gone highbrow? A biopic of a classical composer isn't normally the kind of film we'd cover, but then biopics of classical composers aren't usually anything like Lisztomania. The final instalment in Ken Russell's legendary series of films about his classical music heroes, it stars Roger Daltrey from The Who as Franz Liszt, Ringo Starr as the Pope, and this is not even close to the strangest thing about it.



Join Graham and Mike as they unpick the real-life animus between Liszt and Wagner that inspired the somewhat unorthodox Nazi-vampire-zombie-Frankenstein-Thor subplot in this movie, as well as the historical phenomenon that gave the film its title - it's not just a Phoenix song! - and, of course, the chequered and glorious career of Uncle Ken. Plus: a plea for better biopics, a history of the Strauss film that forced Russell to leave the BBC, and a defence of Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights.


If you don't want to see us reduced to marrying a domineering Russian countess for money, you can donate to our Patreon where you'll get a bonus episode of this podcast every month, plus Graham's other show The Arts Hole, Mike's Twilight Zone reviews, regular essays on Doctor Who's cast and crew and the unclassifiable end-of-month podcast that is Last Night...



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Roger Daltrey & Ringo Starr in Ken Russell's Lisztomania - Pop Screen 169

Madness! Madness, they call them Madness, which is fair enough, because that's their name. At a very early stage in their quest to become one of Britain's most beloved bands, the Nutty Boys starred in a semi-improvised film about their formation and rise to fame. It was called Take It Or Leave It, it was surprisingly serious in tone, and it was, as Suggs put it, "the beginning and the end of our film careers".



Well, not in his case, actually - as Graham and Mark note, he had some other acting roles. But what about Take It Or Leave It? It turns out it's well worth revisiting, as a time capsule of both an iconic band in their early days and working-class London in the early '80s. We also discuss the differences between Jamaican, British and American ska, the time the band nearly made a sitcom with the writers of Blackadder, and the reason why you should never let Chas Smash use your hairdryer.



Fans of naughty boys in nasty schools will surely enjoy Graham and Mark's other podcast The Arts Hole, which is only available on our Patreon. Backers will also get a monthly bonus episode of this show, weekly articles on Doctor Who and the Twilight Zone, and our uncategorisable end-of-month miscellany Last Night... Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky and Twitter for more info.

The Madness Movie isn't as Nutty as you think - Take it Leave it (POP SCREEN EPISODE 

It's playtime! Pop Screen is starting a themed month on "autobiopics" - films where pop stars play themselves, but in a different context to the standard rock doc. The nearest we'll get to documentary is this film by Morgan Neville, which sees Pharrell Williams talk about his incredible career and range of star collaborators - Kendrick Lamar, Gwen Stefani, Jay-Z and more - through the medium of, er, Lego.


Joining regular host Graham, Mark Harrison talks about the history of "brickfilms", the Lego franchise's move from studio to studio, and the vexed question of whether 'Happy' is annoying or not. We also talk about the film's insight into creativity, the other Pharrell Williams movie directed by Michel Gondry that you'll never see, and, of course, try to imagine what he thought he was doing with that bloody hat. It's the podcast of the summer!


Our Patreon brings all the boys to the yard, and no wonder - we've just launched Graham and Mark Cunliffe's exclusive new arts and culture podcast The Arts Hole there.



You'll find that along with Patreon exclusive episodes of this show - listen to the end to find out what's next - written articles about The Twilight Zone and Doctor Who, and much more.



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The First Lego Brick Rock Doc - Piece by Piece (Pop Screen Episode 167)

"So we're doing this, right?" The new film from David Lowery, the director of The Green Knight, is not a love story, it's not a ghost story, and a lot of people aren't sure what it is at all. We know it's definitely about a very Gaga-esque pop star played by Anne Hathaway trying to heal the wounds of the past with her estranged dress designer (Michaela Coel), and we know it's got a storming FKA Twigs cameo which qualifies it for this show. But what lies beyond these facts?


Join Graham and Robyn as they look at the many musical and cinematic inspirations Lowery and Hathaway took - from Persona to Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour! - and discuss the film's soundtrack cuts from Charli XCX, Jack Antonoff and Twigs herself. We also talk about the responses we had to the film - both emotional and stigmatic - talk about Charli's busy year at the movies, and relitigate the eternal question of whether Jack Antonoff is actually a good producer or not. Plus a bit of Billie Eilish concert film talk, if that's your bag.


If you don't want to see us doing mildly lewd Gievenchy adverts for money, you can donate to our Patreon where you'll get Graham's new culture podcast The Arts Hole, plus Rob's franchise run-down They'll Love Us When We're Dead, weekly written articles about Doctor Who and The Twilight Zone, and more. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky and Facebook to find out more.

Explaining the spooky action of Mother Mary - Pop Screen Episode 166

Graham Williamson (@graham_williamson) · Zencastr

Graham Williamson (@graham_williamson)

Pop Screen is The Geek Show's new podcast tackling movies starring, about or by pop stars - and that's all genres, from rock to hip-hop, jazz to disco. Each week Graham and one of his stable of trusty co-hosts picks a pop movie and examines its history, its film-making and its music in-depth. It's an irreverent ride through an oft-misunderstood strain of cinema, from era-defining masterpieces to kitsch atrocities.