The Cult Popcast

Episode 242 ”Decision to Leave”

| Review | Korean cinema is back on the menu with Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave. Typically known for his stylish and provocative plots of sensual trysts and violent revenge, Park cools off just a little here to capture a more contemplative and intimate noir between an insomniac detective and his supposed femme fatale. From the camera play to the language dynamic - there are some pretty cool cinematic tricks on display.

Episode 241 ”Shazam! Fury of the Gods”

| Review | Four years ago, Shazam! was a breath of fresh air in the messy DC superhero pipeline of the time. It’s sequel, Shazam! Fury of the Gods tries to capture that lightning in a bottle for a second time. Unfortunately, the movie seems doomed to failure because of massive delays, and then dropping shortly after the announcement of a hard James Gunn flavored reset for the entire Warner Brothers DC catalog. Well, there are worse ways to spend two hours on a Saturday.

Episode 240 ”The Last of Us” Season One

| Review | Finally, a really good video game adaptation. You wouldn’t think it would be that hard to pull from years of highly successful IP, but here we are (looking at you, Halo). HBO gets it though. They’ve just created another cultural sensation with The Last of Us, a big budget television take on the classic Playstation action-adventure game of the same name. It’s been 10 years since this story took the gaming world by storm, but it’s more relevant now than ever.

Episode 239 ”Cocaine Bear”

| Review | Apex predator, high on cocaine… yeah, this is cinema. Elizabeth Banks’ Cocaine Bear is a campy B-movie premise wrapped in Hollywood quality production - it’s a fun, bloody, hilarious, terrifying, and heart-warming romp with a great cast. In the words of that one kid, “It seems like the kinda thing that stays with a man forever.”

Episode 238 ”Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”

| Review | Ladies and gentlemen, the next era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has officially kicked off with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. While deeply flawed in many ways, the latest Peyton Reed flick does give us more of the fantastic actor Jonathan Majors. There’s also some fun quantum realm aliens and Paul Rudd. Everybody likes Paul Rudd!

Episode 237 ”Skinamarink”

| Review | The boys have a super-mega-cast cooked up for today, as Gabe runs Steven through some recent horror/thriller movies he’s seen on his own. First is Knock at the Cabin, the hot new Shyamalan joint about a family contending with what may or may not be the end of the world. Next comes Missing, a stylistically inventive mystery about a girl trying to locate her mom after she’s disappeared in another country. Then we’ve got Infinity Pool, Brandon Cronenberg’s original story of a vacationing couple who discover a dark and twisted secret in their host country. And last but certainly not least, we have Skinamarink, a heavily atmospheric and very experimental micro-budget horror film that’s making waves for the sheer audacity of its execution.

Episode 236 ”Pokémon” Scarlet and Violet

| Review | Is it future or is it past? The long standing and successful intellectual property Pokémon takes the stage with the current generation named Scarlet and Violet. Steven finally gets to gush about something he sort of likes… or likes a lot? who’s to say really? Get ready to hear a whole lot of Pokémansplaining.

Episode 235 ”2023 Oscars Recap”

| Review | Another year, another smugly tone-deaf circlejerk of the cultural elite… but we just can’t look away. And many questions linger: will there be another era defining slap? Will there be upsets and bad jokes and wildly ostentatious outfits that make it impossible to see the stage if you’re sitting right behind the person in question? Let’s find out together. Get in loser, it’s the 95th Academy Awards.

Episode 234 ”Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”

| Review | Pray for mercy from... Puss in Boots! The swashbuckling feline is back and better than ever for his second “solo” film following up the original Shrek spin-off back in 2011. We catch up with Puss in his later years, as years of adventuring and roguish heroism have left him on the last of his nine lives. Deftly layering heavy themes with wholesome, hilarious fun and spectacular animation to boot, this is a flick everyone can enjoy.

Episode 233 ”Bardo”

| Review | It’s been almost a decade since Alejandro Iñárritu’s legendary one-two punch of Birdman and The Revenant. His new Netflix production, Bardo, is a meandering and meditative existential wide lens nonlinear dream walk through the director’s own inner self. His fears and insecurities, his loves and passions, his view on family and history and politics and culture - it’s all here, laid bare and put to screen like a surrealist stage play. It’s messy, but life is messy.