The Cult Popcast

Episode 212 ”Violent Night”

| Review | Time for some season’s beatings! Santa Claus comes to town in Violent Night, a jolly little Christmas action flick that takes itself just the right amount of seriously. With equal parts Die Hard, Home Alone, and Bad Santa, this might be another holiday staple. Merry Christmas you filthy animals.

Episode 211 ”Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

| Review | In August 2020, Chadwick Boseman passed away. The Black Panther’s legacy was iconic, and director Ryan Coogler determined not to recast the character, but to continue his story through his family. While not a perfect film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is an inspired and bittersweet end to “Phase Four” of the MCU, and it introduces newcomer Tenoch Huerta as Namor, ruler of the underwater kingdom of Talokan (Atlantis).

Episode 210 ”Tales of the Jedi”

| Review | The dead speak! Tales of the Jedi is a short and sweet anthology of bonus Clone Wars episodes designed to fill out the lives of two beloved characters in particular: Count Dooku and Ahsoka Tano. We get more Qui-Gon, need I say more?

Episode 209 ”The Banshees of Inisherin”

| Review | “I just don’t like ya no more.” What happens when your best friend suddenly stops wanting to have anything to do with you? Enter Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson in The Banshees of Inisherin, a darkly humorous drama from Martin McDonagh set in 1920’s coastal Ireland.

Episode 208 ”House of the Dragon” Season One

| Review | Game of Thrones is back, baby! Despite the profoundly terrible end to the original show, HBO has since invested a great deal of time and money into producing more stories from the mind of George R. R. Martin. House of the Dragon is the first of these to see the light of day. Set many generations before the Mad King was deposed by Robert Baratheon and Ned Stark, this story recounts a bloody conflict within the once great Targaryen family that comes to embroil the whole continent in war.

Episode 207 ”Welcome to Wrexham”

| Review | The pandemic was hard on everyone, especially celebrities. In his tragic boredom, movie star Ryan Reynolds teamed up with It’s Always Sunny’s Rob McElhenney to buy an old professional football club from Wales. Wales. FX/Hulu’s Welcome to Wrexham is the documentary series following their efforts to restore the ailing team to greatness, and revitalize the local community.

Episode 206 ”The Rings of Power” Season One

| Review | Well, well, bless my beard! There’s a new series based on Tolkien’s legendarium? And made by Amazon? Surely this won’t be divisive. Especially with it being the most expensive show in history at nearly half a billion dollars for just the first season! Today’s cast is regarding The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, and it tells the tale of the Second Age of Middle-earth.

Episode 205 ”Triangle of Sadness”

| Review | Documenting the absurd voyage of an ill-fated luxury yacht, Triangle of Sadness is the new hilariously irreverent social satire from Ruben Östlund, complete with class warfare and political discourse. Warning: there be explosive sewage and projectile vomit.

Episode 204 ”Black Adam”

| Review | Can you smell what The Rock is cooking? Hint: it’s another mediocre entry into a floundering DC cinematic universe. Black Adam isn’t a total waste - there is some cool CGI action, a fun peek at the Justice Society, and Pierce Brosnan chewing the scenery as Doctor Fate. Here’s to hoping James Gunn can fix DC now that he’s in charge.

Episode 203 ”She-Hulk: Attorney at Law”

| Review | She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is a show that is difficult to describe. It’s a clever sitcom with moments of genius, but ultimately it’s just another “Phase Four” Marvel Disney+ series. Think Ally McBeal, but green. And large.