The Hollywood Apology Trend & Inside Pop Quiz: Oscars Edition – IP 146

This week, we bring you another installment of the Inside Pop Quiz – but this time, Sean quizzes Amita on her Academy Award History knowledge and also gets a few predictions for the upcoming awards ceremony. Then, we discuss the increasing amount of apologies in Hollywood – from Aziz Ansari to Kevin Hart, it feels like every day a celebrity is apologizing, or *not* apologizing for suggestive behavior, comments, tweets or actions. The sheer number of mea culpas these days makes it hard to tell who is being genuine and who is trying to get ahead of bad PR. We dissect who seemingly is getting the apology right and who may be a little too late to say sorry.

Plus, Amita reviews Sean’s big sell- the Oscar nominated Animated Short – Bao – and shares an album from the soul/funk band with an international vibe, Khruangbin.

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Oscar Nominations – IP 144

And the nominees are…

In this episode, we share our immediate reaction to the 2019 Academy Award Nominations- what films we think might win Best Picture, what documentaries were snubbed and Sean shares his secret adoration for one of the Supporting Actor Nominees!

Plus, Amita gives her rating and review of the Actors on Actors conversation between Mahershala Ali and John David Washington. Then, she sells a thought piece about Hollywood’s Disability problem.

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Winter 2019 Pop Culture Preview – IP 143

We kick off the new year with a special Winter Preview edition of the Inside Pop Quiz! Sean tests Amita’s knowledge of major upcoming releases in TV, Music and Movie. Play along and see how much you know (and how much you find out) about some of the most anticipated offerings of the season.

Plus – the Big Sell returns in a big way! Find out why Amita’s Big Sell of a conversation between  Gina Rodriguez, Gabrielle Union, Ellen Pompeo and Emma Roberts gets four stars! Plus hear all about Sean’s Oscar campaign season influenced Big Sell – a revealing discussion between actors Mahershala Ali and John David Washington.

Links/Info:

The Horror films Jordan Peele asked Lupita Nyong’o to Watch Before Filming Us:

Dead AgainThe ShiningThe BabadookIt FollowsA Tale of Two SistersThe BirdsFunny GamesMartyrsLet the Right One In, and The Sixth Sense.

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Netflix Goes for the Oscar, How to Watch a Movie, Jose James Covers Bill Withers – IP 136

This week we tackle the age old, innuendo laced question – ‘Does size matter?’ Our resounding answer is – ‘yes!’ – especially when it comes to the size of the screen on which one watches feature films. This week news broke that Netflix is considering releasing Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma and the Coen Brothers’ The Ballad of Buster Scruggs in movie theaters before these films play on its streaming service. This would be an unprecedented move by the media behemoth that might give these movies a much better chance of getting some awards love.

Is a movie still a ‘movie’ if it plays on your tablet before it hits theaters? Is the motion picture academy ready to change the way it defines films? Should movie directors have a say in how their works are distributed? We tackle all of these issues in this episode and discuss our ideal way of watching movies (fyi – if it’s The Conjuring 2 Sean likes it in the dark, on his couch).

Plus – Sean reviews Jameela Jamil’s “I Weigh” movement and Big Sells Amita a new Bill Withers cover by the great vocalist Jose James.

Links:

Watch the trailer for Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma

Watch the trailer for The Coen Brothers The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Listen to Jose James’ rendition of Bill Withers’ ‘Hope She’ll be Better

I Weigh Instagram feed

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Oscars 2018 Special – IP 113

Inside Pop’s annual Oscars wrap up is here! Listen to get our take on the fashion, the snubs, the rightful victories, the highlights and the awkward moments. We’ll rate Jimmy Kimmel’s performance as host and also discuss our favorite musical performances of the night.

Who was the presenter that left Sean speechless? Which acceptance speech made Amita stand-up and cheer? Listen to this special Oscars episode to find out!

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Oscar Nominations, Black Panther, Kelela – IP 108

It’s been a long, strange, sometimes underwhelming trip to the Oscar Nominations but we’re here to share our immediate reactions. We give you our thoughts on why certain movies are heading to the red carpet and others got snubbed and we also try to make sense of why the film Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri has become a frontrunner. We celebrate nominations for Get Out, The Big Sick, Logan, Mudbound and Lady Bird and share our gratitude to whomever was genius enough to book Tiffany Haddish to announce the nominations.

Plus, Sean makes his case for why Black Panther should have received an Oscar nomination THIS year! He’s not joking!

And we end the show with The Big Sell. Sean rates Amita’s Big Sell from last time, Kelela’s “Frontline,” and then Big Sells Amita an article by Alissa Wilkinson (one of his favorite culture critics) on the backlash against Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri. Read it HERE

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Black Mirror, The Chi, Forgotten Films of 2017 with Dave Karger, Pop Culture Resolutions – IP 106

Did you resolve to put more time and energy into staying on top of the best pop culture stories of the week? Lucky for you, The Pop Insiders are here to help you keep that resolution with our brand new episode!

First, we give our spoiler free reviews of the new Lena Waithe Showtime drama – The Chi (please feel free to listen and then correct our pronunciation of the title of this show) and the first episode of the new season of Black Mirror.

Then we speak with IMDb special correspondent and frequent Today Show awards commentator – Dave Karger – about the movies of 2017 that may not be front-runners for the big awards, but are definitely worthy of your attention. From Detroit to Wonderstruck to Downsizing, Dave will tell you why you should give these flicks a second – or maybe first chance.

We also share our pop culture resolutions for the new year and hold each other accountable for how successful we were in keeping our 2017 resolutions.

And the Big Sell returns – Sean recommends (wait for it) a new new age song (nope that isn’t a typo) to start Amita’s year off on an optimistic and blissful note.

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Top Fashionable Females on TV, March Madness Bracket Winner, The White Helmets – IP 69

We conclude our pop culture themed Women’s History Month segments with an interview with Esta Fiesta, host of the Poised N Polished podcast! We talk to Esta about her top 3 fashionable female characters on TV and discuss fashion and feminism.

Next, the conclusion of our inaugural March Madness bracket dedicated to Amita’s celebrity husbands contains a surprising finale. Wait until you hear who she chooses to be her ultimate celeb husband.

And we discuss Sean’s Big Sell from last week, the Oscar winning documentary short, The White Helmets.

Tweet us who you would have picked to win the March Madness bracket @Popinsiders and let us know your favorite fashionable female on TV.

Links:

Poised N Polished on iTunes

Esta Fiesta’s Blog – Living Fiesta

 

Oscars 2017 Recap, Get Out, Sampha – IP 65

Dozens of hours spent in the dark have all lead to TONIGHT. Listen to hear our immediate reaction to Hollywood’s Biggest Night as we help you figure out WTF happened during the last minutes of the show!!! Bonnie & Clyde give La La Land the award for Best Picture (no surprise to anyone) but then a producer for La La Land declares that Moonlight is the actual winner. Huh? Are you confused? Elated? Concerned for Faye Dunaway? So are we! Listen to hear us make sense of it all! Plus red carpet moments, rating Jimmy Kimmel as host, and declaring the winner of our Long Distance Popcast VS Inside Pop Oscar Ballot  – we’ll give you our unique perspective on the 89th Annual Academy Awards.

Plus – we review the new must see, must talk about, must tell everyone how much you love it movie of the moment – Jordan Peele’s Get Out! But – does the film live up to the hype? One of us thinks – mmmm, maybe not?

And The Big Sell returns after a week off. Amita rates and reviews Sampha’s new album, Process. And in an unprecedented move, Sean also rates his own Big Sell.

 

Oscars Special – Predictions & Party Etiquette – IP 64

We have an extra special episode this week featuring not one, not two, but three guests to discuss the Oscars!

Our podcast friends, Claudia Castillo and Matt McKee, hosts of Long Distance Popcast joined us for an Oscar Ballot Battle Royale- we all filled out separate Oscar Ballots and are competing against one another to see who will best predict the winners on Sunday night.

Then, we chat with friend of the podcast, Caroline Hand, about her predictions for Oscar night and share some very important etiquette tips for hosting or attending an Oscar Party.

This episode is filled to the brim with Oscar goodness and you don’t want to miss it (unless you’re Mel Gibson- sorry buddy, you’re not winning this year)

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter on Oscar night to find out who will win the Oscar Ballot Battle and read our live twitter commentary during the awards show!

And please check out Long Distance Popcast on Twitter here and listen to their podcast here.