poptransmission

Author: DSquared

  • The 96th Academy Awards: No Surprise, Oppenheimer Was the Big Winner

    After sweeping the Directors, Producers, and Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as the Golden Globes, Oppenheimer was a shoo-in for Best Picture. Nominated in 13 (!) categories, it won seven – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Supporting Actor, Cinemaphotography, Editing, and Score. Poor Things took home the Oscar for Best Actress, Production Design,…

  • Oscars Predictions 2024: Looks Like Oppenheimer for the Big Wins

    The Best Picture nominations for the year 2023 run from blockbusters (Barbie and Oppenheimer) to critical favorites that few people saw (Past Lives and Anatomy of a Fall). Often by now many of the categories are sure things by building an unstoppable momentum during the Awards season. That’s still the case, but there are some…

  • Netflix’s A Nearly Normal Family: A Murder in the Swedish Suburbs

    Netflix continues to provide an array of compelling international programming. I love hearing the different languages (I would never dream of watching a foreign film dubbed in English) and exotic locales. Sweden is the setting for Netflix’s new limited series, A Nearly Normal Family. The Sandells – Adam, a local priest, Ulrika, a local attorney,…

  • Deep Tracks: 13 Songs That Rival the Big Hits

    Deep Tracks. The lesser-known songs from our favorite established artists can be even more enjoyable than their big hits. It’s the true fans that know a band’s deeper album tracks instead of just the singles on the radio. We can only hear “Stairway to Heaven” or “Blue Monday” so many times. That’s why the classic…

  • True Detective: Night Country – A Spooky Chill in Dark Alaska

    In 2014, True Detective offered a fresh take on crime dramas. It was a swampy thriller, set in voodoo-land Louisiana, starring mismatched detectives played by Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. It was HBO’s highest-rated debut since Six Feet Under, 13 years earlier. The second season in 2015, starring Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams, moved to…

  • Leave the World Behind: A Slow Burn Apocalyptic Movie

    I try not to look at other reviews too much before I write my own. But in my world, they’re hard to avoid entirely. Leave the World Behind seems to have a large share of detractors with the usual comments along the lines of “I want my two hours back” and an audience review of…

  • Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2023 Induction Ceremony

    The Rock Hall continued moving on from old white guys to a more diverse group of artists and musical styles, exemplified no better than this year’s headline inductee, Missy Elliott (on the heels of last year’s Dolly Parton). Here’s a complete list of the 2023 inductees: For the first time, the Induction Ceremony was livestreamed…

  • I/O, Peter Gabriel’s New Album Will Grow on You

    I/O, the new album from Peter Gabriel was 20 years in the making. Since 2002’s Up, Gabriel has been experimenting with a variety of musical outlets – a covers album, an orchestral arrangement of his earlier songs, soundtracks, and world music – but no album of new material. He teased us throughout 2023 by releasing…

  • New Music Alert: Ten Songs/Bands to Check Out

    Let’s have one more new music alert before the end of the year. As usual, these are songs I took a quick listen to and think the bands might be worth exploring. Some are new bands, some older bands with new music, and many of the bands are new to me. Let’s get started: –…

  • All the Light We Cannot See: An Uneven Adaptation of the Best-Selling Novel

    Here we go again…a favorite novel gets the greenlight from Netflix. A time for anticipation and possible disappointment. If the novel in question is the Pulitzer Prize winning, enormously popular, All the Light We Cannot See those feelings are heightened. How will the tone balance human hope and desire with the misery and fear of…

  • Napolean Review: The French Emperor’s Glory and Defeat

    France 1793. In the aftermath of the French Revolution, the Reign of Terror is in full swing. Marie Antoinette is beheaded as a young soldier looks on among the jubilated throngs. So begins Ridley Scott’s Napolean, an epic film saga starring Joaquin Phoenix (Walk the Line) in the title role and Vanessa Kirby (The Crown)…

  • Ten Top Albums of 2003

    . We’ve looked back 40 years (10 Albums of 1983 That Still Stand Out) and 30 years (1993: The Best Albums Through a 30-Year Lense). Before this year runs out, let’s remember the music scene from 20 years ago. Here are some musical headlines from 2003: Some good albums in 2003, but no real standout(s)…