It's the dead of winter, so what better time to watch the frostiest of music movies - in every sense? Set in a bitterly cold early '60s New York, the Coen brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis sees Oscar Isaac's titular folk singer getting the cold shoulder wherever he goes, whether it's from his volcanically angry ex, played by Carey Mulligan, or the strange hand of fate itself.


This week, Joe from Dreaming Machine rejoins the show to decide whether this is one of the Coens' sad funny movies or one of their funny sad movies, as well as dissecting the film's real-life inspirations, the response it got from veterans of the real-life 1960s NY folk scene, and its supporting turns from Justin Timberlake and Adam Driver. Plus, we get with the modern podcast market and come up with a conspiracy theory...


If you want to give us money that isn't contingent on us recording a space-race themed novelty song, you can donate to our Patreon, where we're about to launch a whole new series of podcasts and article series for 2026, as well as continuing our ongoing Doctor Who and Twilight Zone series. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook to find out more.

The Coen Brothers and Inside Llewyn Davis - Pop Screen 154

Get yourself a couple of small beers, pop The Battle of Algiers on and enjoy a (French) 75 minutes with Graham and Simon talking about arguably THEE film of 2025 - Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another. The story of a gone-to-seed revolutionary fighting to protect his daughter from a simultaneously ridiculous and plausible nemesis, it's a big-budget epic with the soul of a weird little cult political satire.


It also has tons of musicians in the cast, from an attention-grabbing role for Teyana Taylor to the drummer from Haim, and several others you might have missed. We'll guide you through all its cameos and real-life inspirations, as well as talking about what it takes - and what it cuts - from its source novel, Thomas Pynchon's Vineland. Plus, we pitch the Pop Screen New Testament...


If you want to be part of a club just as exclusive as - but substantially less right-wing than - the Christmas Adventurers, we've got a Patreon where we're about to drop an exclusive episode of this very show concerning the Kinks and the origins of a British TV classic... Plus, written articles on The Twilight Zone and Doctor Who, an end-of-month round-up podcast called Last Night... and some exciting new features coming for 2026. To find out more, follow us on Bluesky, Instagram and Facebook.

Haim, Teyana Taylor & More in One Battle After Another - Pop Screen 153

Greetings from Castbury Pod! For our latest episode, Graham is joined by new co-host Ian to discuss a Bruce Springsteen movie - but not the one you're thinking of. Yes, while Deliver Me From Nowhere is still in theatres, we're rewinding a few years to look at Gurinder Chadha's Blinded by the Light, a true story of an ordinary British Pakistani boy in 1980s Luton finding his voice through a sustained obsession with The Boss.


Part of our hero's dilemma is that, by this point in the '80s, Bruce is not cool - but when was his star at its brightest? We discuss the ups and downs of his commercial fortunes, as well as the film's well-chosen cast of young newcomers in the lead and familiar faces in support. We also pitch an Ozzy Osbourne biopic, talk about formative music fandoms we were part of - everything from Frankie Goes to Hollywood to REM! - and decide on which musical subculture deserves to have a movie made about it.


You can find Ian at https://medium.com/@smoggywood.productions - yes, this is what happens when you don't remember your blog address during the podcast. As for us, we can, as ever, be found on Patreon, where you can get a monthly bonus episode of this show as well as weekly written articles on The Twilight Zone, Doctor Who and much more. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more.

Bruce Springsteen in Blinded by the Light - Episode 152

When Max Planck began his ground-breaking work on quantum theory, do you think he realised it would be used to prove Satan is a flask of slime in the basement of a San Francisco church? This is - we think - the plot of Prince of Darkness, in every way John Carpenter's weirdest film. Its bizarre plot involves precognitive dreams, clerical conspiracies and possessed homeless people, the latter of which gives us the Alice Cooper cameo required to feature it on this show.


Join Graham and Rob as they discuss the film's plentiful inspirations from Nigel Kneale, Carpenter's enduring second career as a composer and the role "supermensch" manager Shep Gordon played in getting Cooper on board. Plus a radioactively hot take from Graham on the film's possible real-world subtext...


If you'd like to fund our research into ancient evil from a dark-matter universe, you can donate to our Patreon where you'll find a monthly bonus episode of this show - the latest one is about Seed of Chucky - plus weekly articles about The X-Files, The Twilight Zone and Doctor Who. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Bluesky to find out more.

John Carpenter & Alice Cooper in Prince of Darkness - Episode 151

Well, it's not Halloween without a bit of trick or treating, isn't it? Pop Screen's spooky month kicks off with an '80s teen horror that also allows us to remember one of the greats we lost this year - Ozzy Osbourne, whose short but hilarious cameo as an anti-rock preacher in Charles Martin Smith's movie allows the Black Sabbath frontman a chance to kick back at a moral panic he was then very much in the crosshairs of.



Join Aidan and Graham as they remember Ozzy's understandably baffled appearance on Geraldo Rivera's Satanism special, talk about the film's use of sitcom, teen movie and homoerotic tropes, and ponder who's going to be the cuddly dad of metal now Ozzy is gone. We also ponder how influential this film might have been on a certain Netflix series, and grudgingly talk about Gene Simmons's cameo towards the start of the film.



If you play this podcast backwards, you'll find a hidden message telling you to join our Patreon, where we're about to drop an exclusive episode on Seed of Chucky, as well as publishing weekly written reviews of The X-Files, The Twilight Zone and Doctor Who. Follow us on Facebook, Bluesky and Instagram to keep up to date!

Ozzy Osbourne in Trick or Treat - Pop Screen 150

The loneliness of eternity. The horrors of the 20th century. Nick Cave's hair. Yes, this week Pop Screen is tackling the biggest things possible with Wings of Desire, in which Wim Wenders's observations of Berlin, fondness for the poetry of Rilke and Bad Seeds fandom combined to form one of the most unlikely masterpieces of the 1980s.


Join Joe and Graham as they discuss Wenders's wayward, rewarding career and the notes of unexpected reality in this grand fantasy - from Peter Falk's supporting turn as himself to Solveig Dommartin's real-life trapeze skillz. We also talk about the film's sequels and remakes, Claire Denis's talent for novelty casting decisions, which era of Nick Cave's work appeals to us the most, and why every sufficiently highbrow artist needs their own Berlin period.


For a more sustained taste of heaven, you should donate to our Patreon, where you'll get a bonus episode of this show every month plus an end-of-month round-up podcast, Last Night..., that isn't available anywhere else. All this and weekly written articles on The X-Files, The Twilight Zone and the various things Doctor Who's cast and crew get up to away from the show in Outside the Blue Box. Follow us on Bluesky, Instagram and Facebook to find out more.

Nick Cave and the Wings of Desire - Pop Screen 149

As impossible as it seems, there are people who can still do original things with superheroes - and it's no surprise that one of those people is Boots Riley. One part of the deliciously funky activist hip-hop act The Coup, he turned to directing with 2018's outrageous comedy Sorry to Bother You and followed it up with this singular Amazon Prime series about a reclusive giant teenager who yearns of being like his favourite superhero.



There's more to it than that, of course, and the series takes aim at the one element of superhero stories that this famously self-mocking genre rarely touches, namely their politics. As well as featuring Walton Goggins as a billionaire superhero whose attitudes are more in line with America's actual billionaire class than Batman or Iron Man, the show also gives Graham and Rob the opportunity to talk about class, disability, lost media, animation, practical effects and - in Graham's case - make a truly, truly unfortunate slip of the tongue.



Show solidarity with us by donating to our Patreon, where you can get a bonus episode of this show every month, plus a whole other podcast - the unclassifiable miscellany that is Last Night... - and weekly reviews of The X-Files, The Twilight Zone and the side-projects of Doctor Who stars in Outside the Blue Box. Follow us on Instagram, Bluesky and Facebook for more info

Boots Riley (The Coup) with I'm a Virgo - Episode 148

Pavement are a scrappy, bewildering band, so it's only fair that they get a scrappy, bewildering biopic - or is it? A hybrid of documentary, spoof, situationist prank and an off-Broadway jukebox musical that somehow actually happened in reality, Alex Ross Perry's Pavements throws the ultimate slacker band into a hall of mirrors in order to ask the question: what does it mean to never sell out?



This week on Pop Screen, Graham and Simon tackle all four dimensions (it'll make sense later, probably) of Perry's film: Simon from the viewpoint of an ARP fan who wasn't previously familiar with the band, and Graham... well, you'll find out on the episode, as well as discussions of the difference between West and East Coast snark, the lost original cut of the film, the unexpected afterlife of the band in Beabadoobee songs and Spotify weirdness, and Graham's sensible opinions about New York.



There is no castration fear, but there is a Patreon where you can get a bonus episode of this show every month - we've just done Ice Cube's instantly notorious War of the Worlds - as well as weekly written reviews of The Twilight Zone, The X-Files and Doctor Who. We also have an end-of-month round-up podcast, Last Night, for everything that doesn't fit anywhere else. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook to find out more.

Pavement in Pavements (2024) - Episode 147

We've covered the odd world of The Comic Strip Presents... on Pop Screen before, when Mark and Graham looked at their Kate Bush-starring TV epic Les Dogs. But they also made big-screen films, the first of which featured even more pop stars - Lemmy, Paul McCartney, Shane MacGowan, Bill Wyman, Sandie Shaw, Jools Holland and more - and made even less sense.


This week, Mark and Graham reconvene to discuss Peter Richardson's Eat the Rich, it's baffling casting decisions, infectious tabloid satire and quite a lot besides. As well as the film, we also talk about Bob Vylan at Glastonbury, Richardson's unmade Comic Strip film on Boris Johnson, Fiona Richmond, the pleasures of old episodic TV, Alex Cox's beef with The Comic Strip team, and the clashing rhetorical styles of Britain's godforsaken current crop of party leaders. Listen before we're arrested!


If you want to help fund our legal defences, you can donate to our Patreon where you'll get a bonus episode of this show every month - we've just covered Amazon's instantly-notorious War of the Worlds adaptation - plus weekly written articles on Doctor Who, The Twilight Zone, The X-Files and a whole exclusive podcast - Last Night... - that you can't get anywhere else. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more.

Lemmy, Paul McCartney and More in Eat the Rich - Pop Screen 146

In the middle of a not-great summer for musical icons, one death hit us particularly hard. It's Sly Stone, the mercurial, genre-hopping singer, producer and songwriter at the heart of Sly and the Family Stone, a funk Prometheus who suffered too much for bringing humanity its finest grooves. And, as it turns out, subject of a new documentary by Aamir "Questlove" Thompson, called Sly Lives!, or: The Burden of Black Genius.


Joining us for the first time in far too long is Dreaming Machine's Joe to talk about the music of Sly and Thompson alike, as well as the broad spectrum of interviewees in Questlove's film. Jam and Lewis, D'Angelo, Andre Benjamin (without his flute) - they're all here, all giving their own personal take on the movie's provocative subtitle. We also cover the early days of drum machines, Questlove's previous film Summer of Soul, the backlash cycle and Jack Antonoff. Fresh!


If you want us to take you higher, we release a monthly bonus episode on our Patreon, plus a whole extra podcast - the unclassifiable miscellany-fest that is Last Night... - that's not available anywhere else. All this and weekly written reviews of The X-Files, The Twilight Zone and Doctor Who! Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more.

Sly Stone in Sly Lives! - Episode 145

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.

Graham Williamson

Shows