Early on in Armando Iannucci’s The Death of Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev (Steve Buscemi) barges into the apartment of Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov (Michael Palin). He informs Molotov that Stalin (Adrian McLaughlin) is dead and plans to release Molotov’s wife, who’s been suffering in captivity at the hands of the sadistic Lavrenti Beria (Simon Russell...

I’m launching a sci-fi comedy podcast called Sir Callahan in two weeks. After years of talking shit about other people’s work, I’m finally giving my faithful readers the opportunity to return the favor. To honor the enduring concept of fortnights, I’ve selected fourteen films that greatly influenced the writing and production of the show–fourteen...

Last week, the first official teaser for Trainspotting 2 was released. I’m so happy about this that I don’t have a follow-up cranky remark. Okay, I hate T2 as a title and I’m extremely annoyed with James Cameron for allowing it. When did we all become so fussy about sequel titles? Just call it...

It isn’t even half over yet but 2016 is already shaping up to be the most dehumanizing year I’ve lived through since 2015. Trust in the establishment is at an all-time low, our leading Presidential candidates are both universally despised, rapists are allowed to walk free as long as they look like chorus dancers from American Psycho:...

  “It’s a human zoo A suicide machine!”– High Rise by Hawkwind, sadly not featured in this film. Published in 1975, J.G. Ballard’s grim, dystopian vision is far removed from today’s artistic climate where calls for trigger warnings and safe spaces reverberate across the pop culture landscape with ever greater frequency. That a film of High-Rise...

Welcome to the first installment of Forgotten Gems Friday: an ongoing series of articles intended to cast a spotlight on some of my favorite little-seen films. When I first pitched the idea to the PopChomp staff, the first film I proposed was a movie I originally hated. But Ridley Scott and Cormac McCarthy’s The Counselor has recently become one of my...

I wish I knew how to quit you, Quentin. I mean Jesus, look at you. Back when I was in college, I flirted with the possibility of becoming a professional film critic. I started writing insipid movie reviews for the college newspaper and dreamt of a future in which I could be seen or heard...

Not only are you about to discover my all-time favorite Bond films, but at least three of them rank among my all-time favorite movies period. If you haven’t seen any of these films before, rectify that as soon as you can. I apologize in advance if I get carried away in my effusive praise for...

We’re into the Top Ten now, ladies and gentlemen. I was genuinely surprised by how difficult it was to rank some of these movies. This is my one problem with making lists like this. A large part of me dies every time I find myself comparing the Sean Connery movies to the Roger Moore ones. Anyone...

This is going to be the controversial article, isn’t it? Hoo boy. One of these films is widely regarded as the absolute worst in the series while another is often hailed as one of the best. But I’m going to argue that all these films rest comfortably in the middle. Despite my reservations, I’d happily recommend...