The Kulturecast

Two guys, a week in wine country, and a whole lot of avoidance. This week on Required Viewing, we uncork Alexander Payne's Sideways (2004) and study it from every angle — why a shaggy road-trip comedy about a failed novelist and a fading actor became the defining midlife-male-sadness movie of its era, and what it's really pouring underneath the pinot.We get into Payne's gift for making you laugh at people you'd never want to be, Miles as a portrait of self-sabotage dressed up as good taste, wine as the film's central metaphor (yes, that merlot line), and how a small character comedy quietly reshaped an entire industry. Great movie, terrible role models — let's swirl it around.Media scholar Dr. David D. Perlmutter and Chris Stachiw, Doctor of Podcasting, pour this one out.New episodes every Thursday.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.———The Kulturecast is a film and culture podcast from Weirding Way Media, hosted by Chris Stachiw, the Doctor of Podcasting, alongside a rotating table of guest co-hosts. Each week digs into where film and culture meet — and how each one bends the other. Now home to sub-feeds including Required Viewing: A 360° Film Study with Dr. David D. Perlmutter.New episodes weekly.Subscribe on Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-kulturecast/id931361376Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/5wjxip9XVYapYuY12yEaGY.Back the show: https://www.patreon.com/cw/kulturecast

From suburban horror to the back end of the Cretaceous, the American genre picture keeps finding new ways to burn down the cul-de-sac. The End of Oak Street, the latest from It Follows director David Robert Mitchell, is a studio tentpole carrying an arthouse thesis, offering Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor as a marriage coming apart at the seams while something much older comes down the street. Along with a fleet of dinosaurs shot without an ounce of reverence, it takes to task suburban rot, willful ignorance, and the family unit under pressure, to largely successful effect.Mike White of The Projection Booth joins the show to talk David Robert Mitchell, dinosaur cinema, and so much more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.———The Kulturecast is a film and culture podcast from Weirding Way Media, hosted by Chris Stachiw, the Doctor of Podcasting, alongside a rotating table of guest co-hosts. Each week digs into where film and culture meet — and how each one bends the other. Now home to sub-feeds including Required Viewing: A 360° Film Study with Dr. David D. Perlmutter.New episodes weekly.Subscribe on Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-kulturecast/id931361376Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/5wjxip9XVYapYuY12yEaGY.Back the show: https://www.patreon.com/cw/kulturecast

Required Viewing: A 360° Film Study is a brand new sub-feed within The Kulturecast main feed where Dr. David D. Perlmutter and The Kulturecast's Doctor of Podcasting Chris Stachiw talk all about filmic topics through the lenses of a different film, tv series, or pop culture topic each Thursday.On this Episode Zero: Syllabus, the good doctors sit down to discuss the thesis behind the show, what might cause something to meet the criteria of "required viewing", and what you might expect to hear in the coming episodes of "Required Viewing: A 360° Film Study".———Every film says more than whether it was good. On Required Viewing: A 360° Film Study, media scholar Dr. David D. Perlmutter and Chris Stachiw, the Kulturecast's Doctor of Podcasting, take one movie apart from every angle — theme, craft, and cultural fallout — and throw out the star-ratings entirely. New episodes every Thursday.A sub-feed of The Kulturecast, from Weirding Way Media. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-kulturecast/id931361376Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/5wjxip9XVYapYuY12yEaGY.Back the show: https://www.patreon.com/cw/kulturecastBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.———The Kulturecast is a film and culture podcast from Weirding Way Media, hosted by Chris Stachiw, the Doctor of Podcasting, alongside a rotating table of guest co-hosts. Each week digs into where film and culture meet — and how each one bends the other. Now home to sub-feeds including Required Viewing: A 360° Film Study with Dr. David D. Perlmutter.New episodes weekly.Subscribe on Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-kulturecast/id931361376Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/5wjxip9XVYapYuY12yEaGY.Back the show: https://www.patreon.com/cw/kulturecast

From Train to Busan to the far-flung future with cloning and fascism, Korean cinema spans the genre gamut. Mickey 17, the latest film from Parasite's Bong Joon Ho, is the latter, offering a look into the future with Robert Pattinson playing two roles as Mickey 17 and Mickey 18. Along with a cavalcade of character actors, it attempts to take to task fascism, biotech abuse, and more, to unsuccessful effect.Texas Tech's Dr. David D. Perlmutter and K-drama anthropologist Miranda join the show to talk Korean cinema and so much more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.———The Kulturecast is a film and culture podcast from Weirding Way Media, hosted by Chris Stachiw, the Doctor of Podcasting, alongside a rotating table of guest co-hosts. Each week digs into where film and culture meet — and how each one bends the other. Now home to sub-feeds including Required Viewing: A 360° Film Study with Dr. David D. Perlmutter.New episodes weekly.Subscribe on Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-kulturecast/id931361376Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/5wjxip9XVYapYuY12yEaGY.Back the show: https://www.patreon.com/cw/kulturecast

As the MCU barrels towards the inevitable ultimate crossover event that is Avengers: Doomsday, we must first check in on everyone's friendly neighborhood webhead. Once again starring Tom Holland, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is fourth film featuring the MCU's take on Spidey, with 100% less multiversal madness, thankfully. Along for the ride are Punisher, Black Widow, and maybe even an X-Man or two; The Projection Booth's Mike White crosses over to talk about them and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

Battle Los Angeles is one of those forgotten sci-fi films that toed the line between war and alien invasion, doing something that few films since have: create a novel and compelling world for an alien invasion to occur. Dr. David D. Perlmutter joins Chris to talk war, aliens, and what happens when the two are combined.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

While it may be simplistic to say that the Blackberry died at the hands of the iPhone, it wouldn't be entirely inaccurate. That death, however, was a very beautiful corpse as one might imagine due to Blackberry device becoming so ubiqutous as to have a nickname: "Crackberry". Join Chris, Dr. David Perlmutter, and Mark Stachiw as they talk all about the film as well as the history surrounding it and much more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

Last year's Superman was a genuine suprise, especially for those amongst us who had soured heavily on the previous attempt at a unified DC Universe with Snyder's Darkseriousverse. The hope was real that James Gunn at would be enough to point the ship in a new, more interesting direction. Unfortunately, Supergirl is not that and barely lives up to even the smaller successes of Superman while attempting to broaden the universe in mostly unsuccessful ways. The Projection Booth's Mike White crosses over once again to talk Milly Alcock, DC comics, and why Superman just ain't for either of us.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

Jackass has been a part of pop culture since the show first aired on MTV back in the pastoral years of the year 2000; 26 years later, the Jackass boys are a bit older but still up to, for the most part, their old tricks. While the group has shrunk (and grown) over the last two decades, the rambunctious stunts and pranks still remain, even if Jackass: Best and Last is effectively a glorified clipshow at worst and a pseudo-docu-goodbye at best. The Projection Booth's Mike White crosses over to talk about poo cocktails, penises, and more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

Sci-fi has taken many forms as a genre, and since it happens to be a genre that both Dr. Perlmutter and Chris have an affinity for, why not cover one of the true classics. While those who saw Forbidden Planet in theaters may not have realized that it was merely an amuse bouche for the more pop culture pliable Star Trek, the film is definitely one worth talking about and reappraising from a modern-day perspective.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

Zombie films are a dime a dozen these days, for both good and for bad. For every Shaun of the Dead there's a hundred Walking Deads, everyone's favorite show to hate watch. With Train to Busan, however, there's no hate watching as it's one of the finest examples of how you can innovate the zombie genre even after all of the ground has been tread. Texas Tech's Dr. David D. Perlmutter and K-Drama anthropologist Miranda join the show to talk Korean cinema and so much more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

At this point in his career, a Spielberg film should be an event worth heading to the local multiplex to check out; should being the key phrase. Couple that with a return to the subject matter of aliens that seems like an equation for cinematic success...right? The Projection Booth's Mike White joins the episode to talk all about Spielberg's latest extraterrestrial film entry and whether it holds up against the other Spielberg alien films.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

While I may not be a Gen-Zer, I can most definitely get down with their brand of horror, especially if Backrooms is any indication of the quality and concept of their take on the genre. Contrast that with a "horror"-comedy franchise that's returned from a long justified and much needed absence in Scary Movie, and that makes for a hell of a double feature or at least two very apropo weekends at the cinema. Join me as I take a look at both and bemoan one way more than the other, and, shockingly, it was the more expensive of the two.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

We're running it back with some films we've already watched with a Robert Eggers film that has become a modern day classic: The VVitch. Starring Anya-Taylor Joy as Thomasin, she along with her family live in 1630s New England which may or may not be under the sway of a witch in the woods. Thomasin and her family are doomed to find out whether or not the witch is real or not. Dr. David. D. Perlmutter and Julie Brannan join the episode to talk all about it.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

Mike White May is all Sean Connery all month long, but now it must come to an end, and it comes to an end with a monk murder mystery with The Name of the Rose. Starring Connery as a thin facsimilie of Sherlock Holmes and Christian Bale as a young stand-in for Watson as they investigate an abbey in the north of Italy where strange murders have been taking place. Richard Hatem's Paranormal Bookshelf's Richard Hatem joins the show to talk all about the film and star Elya Baskin is interviewed about his time on the film.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

We take a break from Mike White May to talk about the latest entry into the forever franchise that has become Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu. Featuring Pedro Pascal, from time to time as the Mandalorian, and Grogu, the space western opera follows the further exploits of the two as they attempt to free the son of Jabba Hutt while working for the Rebels.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

Mike White May continues with more Sean Connery, except this time it's fake news and he's the one selling it in Wrong is Right. Starring Connery as Patrick Hale, a globetrotting news muckraker who gets involved with all the US letter agencies in a game of intrigue and murder. It's less fun than it sounds which is a real shame given the Connery of it all.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

We take another break from Mike White May to travel back to Netherrealm, Outworld, and everywhere in between (looking at your Orderrealm) with the sequel to 2021's COVID classic Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II. With the first tournament in the books, the latest film shifts focus to Johnny Cage (played by Karl Urban) as he is thrown right into the mix of the latest struggle of wills between Raiden, Shang Tsung, and the ultimate baddie, Shao Kahn. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

We take a break from Mike White May to go to college, specifically Harvard Law circa 1970s with The Paper Chase. Starring future presidential look-a-like contest winner Timothy Bottoms, he plays a Midwestern first year law school student enrolled at Harvard Law who runs into one of the true titans of cinematic academia, Professor Kingsfield. Professor David Perlmutter and Mark Stachiw, Esq. join the show to talk law school horror stories, the reality of the film, and whether the ends justify the academic means.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

Mike White May continues with more Sean Connery yet this time with an edgy, more facial-hair forward demeanor in yet another Sidney Lumet joint The Offence. Starring Connery as Sergeant Johnson, a cop in the UK who's had one bad day too many, and takes it out on a suspected child molester with catastrophic results. Professor Spencer Parsons joins to talk Connery, noir, and influences on '90s crime films.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

Mike White May continues with yet another Connery/Lumet joint, this time being an adaptation of the Lawrence Sanders book of the same name. Connery plays the titular Anderson, a burglar who is being inadvertantly surveilled by the a whole host of letter agencies, who decides to rob the building of latest squeeze right after he gets out of prison.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

It's Mike White May here at the Kulturecast and we're talking Sean Connery all month long! We kick off the month with a look at one of the many pairings of Sidney Lumet and Connery with the 1965 film The Hill. Featuring an ensemble cast including Ozzie Davis, it focuses on a group of military prisoners being held in a North African "glass house" where men are broken just for fun. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

We begin our mini-look at Taylor Sheridan's cinematic works with one of his more Western-facing screenplays Hell or High Water. It's an interesting look at violence, poverty, and what one will do for their family in the face of both. Texas Tech's professor of media and communications Dr. David Perlmutter joins the show to talk all about West Texas, the cowboys and Indians of it all, so much more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

While it may not have won Best Picture or Best Actress at the most recent Academy Awards, Bugonia was not only one of the best films of the last year but also one of the most thought-provoking. Featuring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, the film is a character study as well as being a musing on the state of the world and the way humans have left it. Professor of Media and Communications Dr. David Perlmutter joins the show to talk all about the wild film.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

Sometimes even we don't know why we do the things we do, but this time around, it's because we have to do our due diligence as film critics and take a bullet for you, the listener. Instead of watching Vice or W, we decided to subject ourselves to to Melania, a film that totally wasn't a bribe from Amazon to the Trump family. Because, if it was, that would essentially be light propaganda right?Right.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

Big unga bunga energy abound on this episode of the Kulturecast, Chris is joined by Dr. David Perlmutter and Richard Hatem of Richard Hatem's Paranormal Bookshelf to talk all about Otzi the Iceman and a story told in a dead language all about him: Iceman (2017). If you're not a fan of dialogue and cavemen, this is the film for you.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

Have you ever experienced deja vu? Have you ever experienced deja vu? On this episode of the Kulturecast, Chris is joined by Dr. David Perlmutter to talk about a Tony Scott film that doesn't make nearly as many cuts as one would think it would: Deja Vu. It's all about time travel, surveillance, and the convergence of the two.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

The Dyatlov Pass Incident is one of the most enduring mysteries of mountaineering and the theories about what happened are seemingly endless. On this episode of the Kulturecast, Chris is joined by physicist Dr. Katharine Mullen and Dr. David Perlmutter to talk all about An Unknown Compelling Force, the documentary all about the theories and possible explanation surrounding the incident.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

If you thought it was just going to be serious, introspective chats about films, worry not dear listener, French comedies are still a thing that exist! The Projection Booth's Mike White joins the show to talk all about The Visitors trilogy and the English-language remake Just Visiting. Somehow, you might be surprised what we suggest you check out from this four film episode...Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

To quote the immortal Bo Burnham "is it gonna end?" and I continue to wonder that myself; the last two months have been, yet again, another nightmare. But hey, let's get back to cinema with a look at The Life of Chuck, a film who's meaning and purpose seem unqiuely suited for this very special return episode, featuring Antenna Releasing's Ryan Verrill!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

While Halloween may be behind us, there's still horror movies to talk about, especially ones that have been releasing almost parallel to the duration of this podcast, now with a fifth and totally unnecessary entry. As Hell House LLC: Lineage may be the least necessary of the entire series, it does very little justify its existence as a lackluster epilogue to an otherwise peak found footage series. Ryan Verrill is a fan of the series and he's here to put a cap(?) on the series.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

Every year, this year not withstanding, I do an episode on Halloween, the best holiday of the year, on a horror movie, and this year it felt very apropro to cover Halloween Ends. Halloween Ends came out during the mid-years of the pandemic and was divisive in the horror community for the treatment of Michael Myers and the introduction and focus on a new, possible replacement. Divisiveness aside, the film treats Myers like a trauma monster, has some wild kills, and features an opening that may be one of the finest cold opens in horror history.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

Similarly to Tron, Final Destination is a franchise that has been out of the game for almost fifteen years, but no longer with this year's immensely entertaining Final Destination Bloodlines, a new step in the right direction for the franchise. Featuring the final film performance of Tony Todd's legendary career, it establishes new rules for the series while bringing the whole franchise together. Disc-Connected's Ryan Verrill joins the show to talk the film and the series in totality. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

Tron is a franchise that seems to come back every fifteen years to twenty for another swing at bat, often with arresting visuals and a killer soundtrack in tow. However, has the franchise at any point in over 40 years ever really escaped the gravity of "cult of cool" that has it looking stylistically interesting but not telling a truly engaging story? Seems like a question worth asking!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

If The House that Jack Built wasn't serial killer entertainment enough, South Korea cinema seems to be equally obsessed with the more depraved amongst us with 2008's The Chaser. A serial killer chase film set in the nightlife district of South Korea, it's as wild as it is creative with the direction of the action in a way you just didn't see in American cinema at the time.It was optioned to be remade and it was the director's first film, and he wrote it as well; insane.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

If serial killer cinema is your bag, baby, and you've never seen Lars Von Trier's The House that Jack Built, let us tell you why you should change that immediately. Not only is it a career performance for Matt Dillon but it features what may be the most interesting and engaging serial killer performance this side of the Trinity Killer.If serial killers aren't your bag, stay for the Dante's Inferno of it all, and possibly the most meta death scene ever featuring Uma Thurman.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

Addiction, mental health, grief: all things that can lead to an inescapable amount of trauma, heartbreak, and instability in one's life. Now, more often then not, those things aren't caused by a red-headed immortal witch but then again, those things aren't Weapons, Zach Cregger's latest joint.It's another fairy tale in in a horror movie wrapping with some comedic bits to boot.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

Dramedy runs high with a film from Adam Carter Rehmeier that not only made waves in 2024 due to the dopamine machine known as TikTok but also made an impact when it was initially released: Dinner in America. Disc-Connected's Ryan Verrill joins the conversation with collaborator Jeremy Long as well to round out the conversation, ya fucking punks.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

Twice in one week while not having been around for months, kinda like a deadbeat dad who tries. Apropro that the second episode this week kick's off Disc-Connected Month with Aftersun, a movie about a seemingly not deadbeat dad and his young daughter on vacation in Turkey.Might not seem like "your" kind of movie but trust me, you'll never hear "Under Pressure" the same way again.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

As we take a step back from your regularly scheduled programming, you advise you to turn on, tune in, and drop out with a very different conversation on life, film, the impact of film on life, and how the hell Adam Sandler swinging a putter shaped like a hockey stick ties it all together with Happy Gilmore.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

On this episode of The Kulturecast, Mike White, Father Malone, and Chris Stachiw wrangle with The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), a shaggy, mythic Western brought to life—or perhaps strangled—by director John Huston and star Paul Newman. The trio digs into John Milius's wild, operatic script, packed with larger-than-life frontier chaos, and asks whether Huston's revisionist instincts and Newman's laid-back performance undercut the film's outlaw poetry. It's a strange, lurching ride through the West that might leave you pondering how history gets whitewashed, lionized, or laughed off entirely.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

Booby traps, RC cars, and ‘90s suburban chaos — this week, we're rewinding to Remote (1993), the Home Alone-adjacent adventure you probably forgot you loved. Join us as we dig into its offbeat charm, childhood wish fulfillment, and where it fits in the golden age of kid-powered cinema.For more Kulturecast episodes and podcasts guaranteed to be your new favorite audio obsession, check out Weirding Way Media at weirdingwaymedia.com.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

This week on The Kulturecast, we unpack The Brutalist — a visually arresting, emotionally layered film that blends architecture, identity, and postwar displacement. We dive into its moody aesthetics, deliberate pacing, and the story it builds, brick by brick.For more Kulturecast episodes and podcasts guaranteed to be your new favorite audio obsession, check out Weirding Way Media at weirdingwaymedia.com.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.

Have you ever heard of the healing power of laughter? Mike White March wraps with the scene of the cinematic crime with Patch Adams (1998), a film that weaponizes red noses and sentimentality in equal measure. Chris Stachiw and Mike White welcome guest co-host Mark Begley to dissect this "based-on-a-true-story" heartwarmer, in which Robin Williams plays a medical student who believes laughter is the best medicine—even if it means violating every hospital policy in the book. From groan-worthy gags to emotional manipulation set to a soaring score, the trio digs into what works, what absolutely doesn't, and why this film somehow became a cultural touchstone. Bring tissues… and maybe some antacid.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-kulturecast--2883470/support.