Pop Culture Confidential

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538: Special Episode: Guesting on the AwardsWatch Podcast: Previewing the 53rd Telluride Film Festival Aug 24, 2026

Show notes

Christina joins the AwardsWatch podcast for a special episode! We’re less than two weeks before the 53nd Telluride Film Festival kicks off on Labor Day weekend and we have a packed show. On episode 360 AwardsWatch Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by Editor-In-chief Erik Anderson Associate Editor Sophia Ciminello, contributors Jay Ledbetter, Mark Johnson, and Jorge Tenreiro, and Christina Birro of Pop Culture Confidential to break down what we think will be at Telluride this season, who might be getting the Silver Medallion festival tributes, and much more.

You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music, YouTube and more.

Music: “Modern Fashion” from AShamaleuvmusic (intro), “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

537: We Talk 'The End of Oak Street', 'The Invite', & TV's 'Furious' and 'Lanterns' (Guest: Ryan McQuade) Aug 19, 2026

Show notes

Summer's winding down but the watchlist isn't. Ryan McQuade (AwardsWatch) is back on Pop Culture Confidential to review and discuss The End of Oak Street and The Invite, plus a couple of TV picks worth your time, Furious and Lanterns.

536: Director Brian L. Tan & Co-Producer Tara McNamara On Their Award-Winning Film 'Bandit' & Filmmaking Journey Aug 18, 2026

Show notes

Christina is joined by director Brian L. Tan and co-producer Tara McNamara to talk about their new film Bandit & their filmmaking journey! Tan describes the film as "The White Lotus from the perspective of the help." Set in Indonesia, Bandit follows two childhood friends, desperate for cash, whose theft goes horribly wrong. The film is already making serious festival waves: it won the Grand Jury Prize at the Dances With Films festival in Los Angeles and Best Foreign Film at the Burbank International Film Festival.

535: Lupin to Blood Sacrifice: Creator and Showrunner George Kay's Global Playbook Aug 13, 2026

Show notes

Christina talks to creator and showrunner George Kay.

Kay is one of the most versatile and prolific creators working in television. His work spans genres and continents, with global hits like Lupin, The Long Shadow, and Hijack. George Kay is seemingly the busiest man in television, with two shows premiering soon: first his upcoming Swedish crime drama Blood Sacrifice, starring Jakob Oftebro and Peter Andersson as an estranged father-son detective duo hunting a killer targeting police, premiering August 20 on Netflix , and later the fall the legal drama War, starring Dominic West and Sienna Miller.

In a wide-ranging conversation, Christina talks to Kay about his shows and process and they dig into the rules of a great cliffhanger, simplicity of character, writing a show not in your own language, and much more.

534: The Best Movies of 2026, So Far! (Guest: Ryan McQuade) Jul 26, 2026

Show notes

It's been an incredible first part of the year at the movies! Ryan McQuade (AwardsWatch.com) joins Christina to talk about their 10 best movies of the year so far (not an easy task!) Plus, they talk about the Venice Film Festival 2026 lineup that just dropped, the steep decline of women directors in competition, and less studio and streamer films on the Lido.

533: Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. Review & Deep Dive (Guest: Ryan McQuade) Jul 16, 2026

Show notes

Guest Ryan McQuade (AwardsWatch.com) and Christina journey into Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey! Join us as we review, discuss, and dissect Nolan's latest epic.

532: The Footballer Who Vanished: Directors Ramiel Petros & Nicholas Freeman on Their Doc 'The Last Guest Of The Holloway Motel' Jul 13, 2026

Show notes

He was Player of the Year for Norwich City Football Club in the 1970s. Then he vanished, for decades.

Directors Ramiel Petros & Nicholas Freeman found him hiding in plain sight, managing a motel in Los Angeles that was about to close for good. His name is Tony Powell, and his story became the heart of their doc, The Last Guest of the Holloway Motel.

In this episode, Ramiel and Nicholas join me to talk about their doc and about Tony & his story: a story about escaping a homophobic culture, the price paid, the power of family, and the long road to self-acceptance. It's a story with twists you won't see coming.

531: A Conversation With The Great K Callan! ('Ruth', Widow's Bay) Jul 10, 2026

Show notes

We are thrilled and honored to be joined by Widow's Bay's own Ruth, the incredible K Callan (Widow's Bay just got 19 Emmy nominations!!!). At 90 years old, K Callan is a LEGEND , over 7 decades working in TV, from Norman Lear shows to Bosom Buddies with Tom Hanks, Martha Kent in ABC's Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Dawson's Creek, Veep, Great Nana in Knives Out and more. She is INCREDIBLE in the breakout show Widow's Bay, a scene stealing perfomance.

In our wide-ranging conversation we talk about the show, working with Katie Dippold, the great female characters on Widow's Bay, working with Matthew Rhys, an alternative ending they filmed, how TV has changed over the decades, roles for women, staying in the Hollywood industry means being persistent, the highs and lows, her fabulous party-planning skills, and much more!

Watch or listen on Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

530: Guadagnino's 'Artificial' Dropped by Amazon. Google Invests in A24. AI: Hollywood's Big Dilemma? (Guest: Critic/Author John Bleasdale) Jun 27, 2026

Show notes

Film critic and journalist John Bleasdale joins Christina to discuss the news that Luca Guadagnino's film about OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Artificial, has been dropped by Amazon, which just happens to have a partnership with OpenAI...

Also in the mix: the many partnerships forming between creators and tech. A24 has announced a $75 million research partnership with Google DeepMind. Steven Soderbergh is embracing AI. Scorsese has signed on as a partner with an AI image-generation startup. And Netflix has acquired an AI filmmaking start-up founded by Ben Affleck. Have the tech companies taken over Hollywood? Is AI Hollywood's big dilemma?

John Bleasdale. Film critic. Writer. Author of Darkness Visible the Cinema of Jonathan Glazer. Instagram @drjonty

529: Emmys 2026! Nomination Predictions ft. Guest Eoin Daly Jun 24, 2026

Show notes

TV time! Emmy nominations drop on July 8th. Christina and guest Eoin Daly make their boldest nom predictions. From The Pitt to Hacks, Widows Bay, Pluribus, and a lot of surprises. Who's getting in? Who's getting snubbed?

The Emmys ceremony is on September 14th.

Eoin Daly on Instagram. @eoin_daily

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