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Everybody Stays at the Party Says Podcaster and Comedian Tom Scharpling

Everybody Stays at the Party Says Podcaster and Comedian Tom Scharpling

The Best Show creator Tom Scharpling talks with PopMatters about his memoir It Never Ends and how he reached the greatest phase of his radio/podcasting career.

What Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Elvis’ Got Right and a Lot That It Didn’t

What Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Elvis’ Got Right and a Lot That It Didn’t

Baz Luhrmann used many entertaining razzle-dazzle techniques to capture Elvis Presley’s complex story on film. He even got some things right. But there’s a lot he didn’t.

The Past Isn’t Past in Stanley Kwan’s Fantasy Drama ‘Rouge’

The Past Isn’t Past in Stanley Kwan’s Fantasy Drama ‘Rouge’

Stanley Kwan’s 1987 fantasy drama based in Hong Kong, Rouge, is part romance, part ghost story, part political fable, and all gorgeous.

Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Elvis’ Would Be Better as a Comic-Book Movie

Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Elvis’ Would Be Better as a Comic-Book Movie

Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic about Presley and his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, is a flashy tale of heroes, villains, and victims – much like a comic book movie.

How the “Indian Liberace” Korla Pandit Swept Hollywood

How the “Indian Liberace” Korla Pandit Swept Hollywood

Were it not for Hollywood credence Korla Pandit – who could only realize himself by pretending not to be who he was – would have been little more than Missouri snake oil.

Tied and Noosed ‘Dancing Pirate’ Waltzes into Technicolor

Tied and Noosed ‘Dancing Pirate’ Waltzes into Technicolor

Restored 1936 Technicolor film Dancing Pirate crosses the early talkies’ vogue for absurd musicals with its other vogue for Hollywood Mexicana.

Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘driving home 2 u’ Is More than a Road Trip

Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘driving home 2 u’ Is More than a Road Trip

Doubling down on her songwriter image, Olivia Rodrigo makes a pop star rite of passage of her own with driving home 2 u.

Powell & Pressburger’s Radical and Ravishing ‘The Red Shoes’ Performs the Dark Side of Devotion

Powell & Pressburger’s Radical and Ravishing ‘The Red Shoes’ Performs the Dark Side of Devotion

Powell & Pressburger’s film version of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Red Shoes” asks, is Art worth dying for?

Subversive AIDS Film ‘Parting Glances’ Was Quite Unlike Its Contemporaries

Subversive AIDS Film ‘Parting Glances’ Was Quite Unlike Its Contemporaries

In a brave and subversive move that appealed to mainstream audiences yet was undeniably queer, “AIDS film” Parting Glances used barbed comedy to convey tragedy.

Director Adam Rehmeier on His Abrasive Punk Comedy with a Sweet Heart, ‘Dinner in America’

Director Adam Rehmeier on His Abrasive Punk Comedy with a Sweet Heart, ‘Dinner in America’

Director Adam Rehmeier talks with PopMatters about the making of his subversive punk comedy, Dinner in America, produced by Ben Stiller.

That Rare Occasion of Freedom: Filmmaker Boaz Yakin on Making ‘Aviva’

That Rare Occasion of Freedom: Filmmaker Boaz Yakin on Making ‘Aviva’

Filmmaker Boaz Yakin talks with PopMatters about the liberating experience of forsaking tone and not caring if he makes a cent on his gender-swapping, story-told-through-dance, not-from-Hollywood film, Aviva.

Nöthin’ But a Good Time Parties Like It’s 1989

Nöthin’ But a Good Time Parties Like It’s 1989

Nöthin’ But a Good Time takes readers on a loud tour of the monster decade of the ’80s, but not for the reasons you’d think.

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