Popzara Podcast

Article: Problemista (2024)

The directorial debut from writer-comedian Julio Torres, Problemista follows the life of a young El Salvadorian immigrant as he seeks a Visa sponsorship in the US in order to pursue his dream of becoming a toymaker at Hasbro. Alejandro (Julio Torres) is our nervous yet optimistic protagonist who, due to his recent unemployment, only has one month to find a new employer before he’s forced to go back home.

Article: The Thaumaturge

Many words have been written and much breath spent on the modern attention span. To be precise, we're usually talking about the lacking nature of the modern attention span.

Article: Dragon’s Dogma 2

They say that if you eat a being's heart, you gain its powers. To test this, I've gone around eating a whole bunch of hearts lately.

Article: Princess Peach: Showtime!

Say what you will about the Mushroom Kingdom, what with its incessant plumbing issues and problems with turtle-based crime, but let it never be muttered that the people of the Kingdom don't appreciate the arts! Whether it's painting, music, or dance, you're sure to find an outlet for your creative juices in the Mushroom Kingdom. Even the local leadership plays a role in the artistic world, as we see in Princess Peach: Showtime!, a platformer-brawler-explore-'em-up starring everyone's favorite royalty.

Article: Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)

The real failure in Pixar’s Lightyear wasn’t in its story, animation, or even its casting. No, the actual reason was its intent; the idea this was the movie a preteen Andy would have seen as a child that would make him want to rush out and buy Buzz Lightyear toys and such.

Article: Rise of the Ronin

Bushido: the code of the samurai! It's a strict system of behavior and etiquette that these noble warriors followed to preserve their honor. Tenets of Bushido included things like keeping samurai out of sunlight, avoiding water and never, ever feeding them after midnight.

Article: Ricky Stanicky (2024)

Creating high-concept cinema can be an art form but is also an exercise in logic. A wholly unique premise can find its own plot if guided by a creative mind.

Article: Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)

In 1984, a team of eccentric scientists armed with proton packs and witty banter took the world by storm. Ghostbusters became a cultural phenomenon, blending laugh-out-loud humor with genuine scares to create a supernatural comedy masterpiece.

Article: Polar Vortex: A Family Memoir (2024)

Denise Dorrance’s Polar Vortex earns its title from the brutal record-breaking "cold wave" that devastated parts of the Midwestern United States and Canada back in 2019, including the lowest-ever recorded temperature in Iowa, which the events here take place. It tells the story of a woman living abroad who suddenly finds herself in charge of caring for her ailing nonagenarian mother.

Article: Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story

Your familiarity with the name Jeff Minter will say a lot about when - and where - you were born, or spent much of your game-playing days in the 1980s. To most Americans (and much of the world), Jeff is probably best known for creating Tempest 2000 on the Atari Jaguar (arguably the best game on a failed platform) or Neon, the stock music virtualizer on the Xbox 360.

Article: Dreo Polyfan 704S Omni-Directional Oscillating Fan

As always, I continue to be in awe at how Dreo continues to make hit after hit products after thinking I’ve seen all they can do. Their latest comes just in time for spring and summer weather with the Dreo Polyfan 704S Omni-Directional Oscillating Fan that brings quiet yet powerful air circulation that's perfect for anytime of the year.

Article: Orion Haste

Let's go on a journey through time - think back, long, long ago, to the late 2000s to mid 2010s, and you might recall a magical web design framework called Flash. Flash was ubiquitous for quite some time.

Article: Contra: Operation Galuga

Once again I turn back the clock of time to the 80s, where me, my friends, and my cousins were constantly playing Contra on the NES. All of the run ‘n gun action, jumping from platform to platform and over pits of death, and taking on huge bosses kept all of us coming back to play over and over.

Article: Stitches (2024)

The second collaboration (published in English) between horror manga maestro Junji Ito and Hirokatsu Kihara may not be what fans were expecting. Last year’s English-language publication of Mimi’s Tales of Terror (Shin Mimibukuro, or New Earmuffs) was likely the first time Western audiences were able to experience Kihara’s writings, who is probably best-known for helping craft some of Studio Ghibli’s most celebrated films (i.

Article: Damsel (2024)

Netflix's latest fantasy adventure, Damsel, directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later), stars Netflix staple Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things and Enola Holmes) as Elodie, a young woman from a struggling noble family. Initially presented with the opportunity to marry Prince Henry (Nick Robinson) and restore her family's fortune, Elodie eagerly embraces what seems like a fairytale come true.