It's that time of year, when every pop culture/movie podcast gets to merrily nitpick the selections from the Academy of Motion Pictures. What do we like? What do we not? We get into everything on this bonus episode!

Note: as of recording, your friendly podcasters were not aware of the malicious social media posts from Best Actress nominee Karla Sofía Gascón. We regret that we were not able to touch on that, as we certainly do not endorse their sentiments, and would like to remind all celebrities everywhere that you can just say nothing - no one ever has to be a racist asshole. 

Bonus: Oscar Nominations

It's finally here, our Best of the Year 2024! As always, what qualifies is a nebulous concept, but that's why it's our show and not yours. 

Next episode: Oscars recap!

Episode 156: Best of 2024

It's the discussion Martha looks forward to all year - our Oscars breakdown! Find out what we liked, what bummed us out, what fits we appreciated and what bits worked best. We recommend listening to this episode whilst watching a sandworm play a harp for no reason.

On our next episode: it's a Michael Mann deep dive! We're talking about The Last of the Mohicans, Heat, The Insider, and Miami Vice.

Episode 157: The Oscars

Are you a Mann or aren't you? We've touched on Michael Mann here and there but it's time to put him under the microscope.

Homework for the episode: The Last of the Mohicans (1992), Heat (1995), The Insider (1999), and Miami Vice (2006). Also discussed: Ferrari (2023), Collateral (2004)

Episode 158: A Mann Amongst Men

Remember when science was cool and good and we all wanted to be Sam Neill in Jurassic Park? So do we! That's why we're bringing you a whole episode on science movies, why we love them, and how OPPENHEIMER became an absolute box office behemoth.

Homework for the episode: Jurassic Park (1993, dir. Stevie Spiels); The Martian (2015, dir. Ridley Scott); OPPENHEIMER (2023, dir. Christopher Nolan)

Episode 159: When Science Was Cool

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to listen to Martha and Pete yell about Mission: Impossible for approximately 90 minutes. Martha made a timeline of action movies , but to what end? Will you agree with their rankings of the movies? Will Tom Cruise perish doing a ridiculous stunt? There's only one way to find out.

Episode 160:  Missions Impossible

It's Halloween in July! Pete has once again allowed Martha free reign to talk about her nonsense, so we're doing a horror episode. Homework discussed: House on Haunted Hill (1959, dir. William Castle); Poltergeist (1982, dir. Tobe Hooper); His House (2020, dir. Remi Weekes)

Join us next month when we're all about the man himself, Superman!

Episode 161: Haunted Houses

Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's our newest pop culture character deep dive!

Joined by friend of the show and brother of host Mark, we dig deep on the Man of Steel, what we love and what's not so great. We're talking about the new James Gunn flick, but also get into the 1979 OG Superman, the 2013 Man of Steel, as well as the comics All Star Superman by Grant Morrison and A Superman for All Seasons by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale.

Episode 162: All About Superman

Sometimes a movie comes out that's so good we build a whole episode around it. Today, there are two. Martha and Pete get together to talk about the role that music plays in telling a story through three truly excellent films.

Homework for the episode: Sinners (2025, dir. Ryan Coogler), KPop Demon Hunters (2025, dir. Chris Appelhans and Maggie Kang), Inside Llewyn Davis (2013, dir. Joel and Ethan Coen)

Music in the episode: I Lied to You (performed by Miles Conton); Golden (performed by Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami), and Fare Thee Well (Dink's Song) (performed by Oscar Issac and Marcus Mumford)

Episode 163: Music Tells the Story

We love an excuse to be relevant, and we also love an excuse to fill in gaps to our media consumption. This is both! Pete and Martha dig into the oeuvre of Paul Thomas Anderson, including a spoiler-filled discussion of his brand new film, One Battle After Another.

Homework for the episode: Magnolia (1999), Punch-Drunk Love (2002), The Master (2012), One Battle After Another (2025)

Next episode: our annual crossover episode with the folks at Catching Up David! We're talking FRANKENSTEIN, baby!

Episode 164: PTAwesome

We are educators connecting academic ideas to popular culture

Episode 164: PTAwesome

Did You Do Your Homework? | A Pop Culture Podcast

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