Pop Screen

The Jimi Hendrix estate have been notably controlling of the film rights to his life story since his death at the totemic age of 27. Hollywood, though, cannot stand for a classic rock star to go un-biopicised (it's a word now), which is why in 2013 John Ridley got Andre Benjamin - yes, Andre 3000 from OutKast - to play the legendary guitarist in Jimi: All is By My Side, a film tackling Hendrix's rise to success that breaks off conveniently before he wrote any of the classic songs the film doesn't have the rights to.

Our 27 Club correspondent Aidan rejoins Graham to discuss Hendrix's musical and cinematic legacies, his famous covers of everything from Bob Dylan to the American national anthem, the perils of watching films from a location manager's perspective, and the complaints levelled against the film by Hendrix's ex Kathy Etchingham. We also discuss the fractious screenwriting career and awful op-ed writing career of John Ridley, and the research process that led to him apparently deciding a book where Hendrix shoots purple lasers from his eyes was a reliable source. No, really.

If you want to hear us tackle an even more baffling film about Hendrix, you're in luck, because this month's Patreon bonus episode of Pop Screen is all about Larry Buchanan's Down On Us. We're also gearing up to launch another Patreon-only podcast, They'll Love Us When We're Dead, looking at overlooked and dormant film franchises, as well as producing weekly articles on The Twilight Zone and Doctor Who. All of these are only available at Patreon - follow us on Instagram, Bluesky and Facebook to find out more.

The history of pop is as much about subcultures as it is music, and this week Pop Screen is diving into one of the most enduring (at least round co-host Mick's gaff): mod. From its origins, which were so controversial the phrase "moral panic" was coined to describe the press reaction (fact!) to the late '70s revival that gave the world The Jam, there's always been some corner of Britain where Lambretta scooters are still the main mode of transport.

Chris Green's 2021 film The Pebble and the Boy is a coming-of-age road movie that asks what the legacy of Mod is today. Join Graham and Mick as they attempt to come up with their own answer to this question, one that takes in the pop career of co-star Patsy Kensit and a quiz we will never do again. We also give an appreciation of the late Stone Roses bassist Mani, who makes a cameo here, and the unexpected way in which his old band may have swung the Gorton and Denton by-election. Maybe.

You can hear our Second Coming every month on Patreon, where we release a bonus episode of this show - the next one, about the bizarre low-budget rock conspiracy film Down On Us, is coming in April - plus weekly articles about Doctor Who and The Twilight Zone, an end-of-month podcast pot-pourri we call Last Night, and much more. Follow us on Instagram, Bluesky and Facebook to find out more.

SAMMEH! Yes, finally we're getting round to Ryan Coogler's box-office-busting, Oscars-history-making period vampire gangster epic. Joe from Dreaming Machine rejoins Graham to talk about how Coogler's hit film explores the history, tradition and continued relevance of the blues, all the time mindful of our... let's say shaky status as two white guys talking about this. We want your songs, we want your stories, etc. etc.

Join us and find out which literary masterpiece might have inspired Coogler's choice of music for Remmick and his crew, which legendary folk singer was a regular at one of the cast's childhood church, and which legends of Black culture are nodded to in the film's legendary one-take musical number. We also talk about IMAX aspect ratio changes, Coogler's time with Marvel and how it may have impacted this film, and - the hot topic of the moment! - Timothee Chalamet's opinions on ballet.

If you can just let us in your house, we'll give you all kinds of rewards from our Patreon. We've just released an exclusive episode of this very episode about Roger Corman's Frankenstein Unbound, and we're about to launch two new podcast series in tandem with our regular features Last Night... - a monthly round-up of everything our critics couldn't fit in anywhere else - articles about The Twilight Zone and Doctor Who, and much more.

Follow us on Bluesky, Instagram and Facebook to learn more.

Have you seen The Bride yet? No, not Maggie Gyllenhaal's new film - we mean the 1985 film by Frank Roddam, director of Quadrophenia. Like Gyllenhaal's film, it's an attempt at a female-centred sequel to Mary Shelley's novel. Unlike Gyllenhaal's film, it has an actively deranged cast list including Quentin Crisp, Alexei Sayle, Ken Campbell, David Rapaport... and, as Dr. Frankenstein, Sting.

Join Graham and Mark as they divide Roddam's film cleanly into the bits that work and the bits that don't, which is made surprisingly easy by its two-stranded plot. We also discuss how the film compares to Poor Things, talk about Rapaport's remarkable career, reflect on the end of Sting's movie-star dreams and play a challenging game of FMK. Plus, an appreciation of Roddam's TV work, including one of the most groundbreaking documentaries ever made and Masterchef.

If you don't want to see us reduced to joining a travelling circus, you can donate to our Patreon where we're about to follow up this episode with an exclusive bonus discussion of Roger Corman's Frankenstein Unbound - and we're also about to launch two new podcasts, including Rob's They'll Love Me When I'm Dead and Graham's The Arts Hole.

None of this is available anywhere else, and the same goes for our weekly written features on classic TV SF. Follow us on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram to find out more.

It's the documentary you never knew you needed, and you do need it. Marcie Hume's chronicle of life on the road with '80s child actor Corey Feldman and his backing band of skimpily-dressed 'Angels' tracks the fallout from his infamous 2016 Today Show performance, which went viral and had the world asking questions like "Is this a sex cult?" and "No, seriously, is this a s*x cult?"

Join Jeff and Graham as they answer all these posers and more, with detours to consider Feldman's episode of Wife Swap, the different eras of his music, and Jeff's experience watching Corey's infamous 2023 Riot Fest performance. We also talk about the 'Two Coreys' years and the strange economics of '80s nostalgia. What are you waiting for? Just Go 4 It!

As we discuss on the podcast, there's another episode where we talk Corey... but to hear that you'll have to donate to our Patreon, where you'll also get exclusive access to our end-of-month round-up podcast Last Night..., weekly written articles on Doctor Who and The Twilight Zone, plus more features that we're working up for 2026. Follow us on Instagram, Bluesky and Facebook for more info.