Zen Pop

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Midnight Mass- Episode #893 Oct 27, 2026

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Mike Flanagan’s Midnight Mass just turned 5! To celebrate, we’re replaying our 2021 conversation about our favorite Mike Flanagan show with Camryn and Sky, who were just 16 and 14 when we recorded it. The dialogue alone gives us so much to talk about, and the questions about faith, fear, grief, and stay with you long after it ends. We hope you’ve seen it by now, but if you haven’t, Midnight Mass is your Halloween watch with our podcast deep dive to go with it!

The Sixth Sense- Episode #892 Oct 20, 2026

Show notes

Halloween month continues with The Sixth Sense! Cathy and Todd revisit M. Night Shyamalan’s 1999 phenomenon, the quiet ghost story starring Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment and Toni Collette that gave us “I see dead people” and one of the most famous twists in movie history. They dig into the hidden clues, the meaning of the color red, the “Stuttering Stanley” scene, and whether Cole knew Malcolm’s secret all along. Beneath the chills, they find a film that’s really just about so many different kinds of grief. Rewatch, reflect, and relate to what The Sixth Sense has to teach us.

Poltergeist Episode #891 Oct 13, 2026

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We celebrate Halloween month on Zen Pop with the original Poltergeist from 1982. Cathy and Todd revisit the movie that made us afraid of television static, bedroom closets, and that terrifying clown doll, along with the behind-the-scenes stories that fueled its “curse” reputation. JoBeth Williams and Craig T. Nelson play Diane and Steve Freeling, whose suburban family life turns upside down when their youngest daughter, Carol Anne, played by Heather O’Rourke, starts talking to the “TV people.” We discuss childhood fears, how parents respond when their kids are scared, and what happens when the things we bury refuse to stay buried. Rewatch, reflect, and relate to what Poltergeist has to teach us.

The Dark Knight Episode #890 Oct 06, 2026

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Cops and Robbers month continues with The Dark Knight. We rewatched Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight and know for sure that Heath Ledger earned that posthumous Best Supporting Actor Oscar, and that we got to see a lot of Chicago. Christian Bale plays Bruce Wayne/Batman, who teams up with Gary Oldman's Lt. Jim Gordon and Aaron Eckhart’s DA Harvey Dent to take down the mob, only to find that every move he makes invites a worse response. After the Joker pulls off a bank heist where his own crew kills each other off, he offers to rid the mob of Batman and starts a campaign to prove that anyone, even Gotham's White Knight, can be pushed into madness. Rewatch, reflect, and relate to what The Dark Knight has to teach us.

Heat Episode #889 Sep 29, 2026

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It's Cops and Robbers month, and we rewatched Michael Mann's Heat and know for sure that it set the standard and that the Academy blew it by giving it zero Oscar nominations. Robert De Niro plays Neil McCauley, a professional thief who lives by one rule: never get attached to anything you can't walk away from in 30 seconds flat (emotional unavailability as a lifestyle!). Meanwhile, Al Pacino's LAPD detective Vincent Hanna is closing in while his third marriage falls apart because he's really married to the job (he's an obsessed workaholic!). When the two men finally sit down for coffee they realize they're mirror images of each other, men who made different choices in their need for control and in how they deal with their trauma. Rewatch, reflect, and relate to what Heat has to teach us.

The Town -Episode #888 Sep 22, 2026

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Cops & Robbers Month- The Town
We rewatched Ben Affleck's The Town and know for sure that Jeremy Renner earned that Best Supporting Actor nomination and that we got to see a lot of Boston. Affleck plays Doug MacRay, who runs a crew of bank and armored car robbers in a one-square-mile neighborhood where the family business isn't optional, it's inherited (generational trauma!). After a job goes sideways and the crew briefly takes a bank manager hostage, Doug starts trailing her and ends up dating her. Meanwhile, Jon Hamm's FBI agent is closing in and Doug's ex-girlfriend, played by Blake Lively, is feeling used and discarded. Rewatch, reflect, and relate to what The Town has to teach us.

Point Break -Episode #887 Sep 15, 2026

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Cops & Robbers Month
We rewatched and overanalyzed Point Break, and realized Bodhi was doing self-help before self-help was a thing, just with more bank robberies and extreme sports thrown in. An FBI agent goes undercover with a crew of surfers who rob banks in president masks to fund a life of chasing the perfect wave. But it's also a movie about a generation looking for meaning outside the usual institutions, and a new kind of masculinity starting to take shape. This week: Set the Scene, Remember When, Random Facts, WTF!, Hot Takes, Hidden Gems, and REEL Therapy.
Rewatch. Overanalyze. Learn about yourself.

Summer School- Episode #886 Sep 08, 2026

Show notes

Cathy and Todd close out their "Movies We Love (But Love to Make Fun Of)" series with 1987's Summer School, the comedy where Mark Harmon's laid-back gym teacher gets stuck teaching English after the assigned teacher wins the lottery and bails. It's full of '80s pop culture, and underneath all of it there's a genuinely sweet message about meeting struggling kids where they are.

Teen Wolf- Episode #885 Sep 01, 2026

Show notes

Cathy and Todd discuss Teen Wolf for Movies We Love and Love to Make Fun Of month, the 1985 werewolf-basketball classic that turned a barely-known Michael J. Fox into a star just months after Back to the Future changed his life. They discuss the movie's best and strangest moments from Stiles's party-hosting mastery to Boof simply refusing to take no for an answer, and get into what the wolf actually represents: a metaphor for suddenly gaining power and having to learn how to handle it responsibly. They count down their 10 best Gen X high school party scenes in movie history and break down the infamous end-credits clip that wasn't even supposed to make it into the film.

St. Elmo’s Fire- Episode #884 Aug 25, 2026

Show notes

Cathy and Todd discuss St. Elmo's Fire for Movies We LOVE and LOVE to Make Fun Of month, the 1985 classic that made $37.8 million on a $10 million budget despite critics disliking it. They get into the David Blum "Hollywood's Brat Pack" article that changed everyone's careers overnight, Andrew McCarthy's book and documentary about being labeled a Brat, and then go over the movie's genuinely alarming WTF moments like Kirby's rewarded stalking arc, Billy pushing past Jules's "no," and his "there was no St. Elmo's Fire, you're making it up" non-help speech — before landing on their red flags list for the movie's worst behavior and the quotes they still can't stop repeating ("Wasted Love!").

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