Pop Culture Pastor

Dave opens with a story about growing up watching his mom compete, and why a single mom showing up to tryouts with her kid on her hip hit differently than expected. From there, he and Cody get into the barriers to women's sports that never show up in a spreadsheet, whether a report can account for the people it's measuring, and Roy's two very different attempts at being helpful. Also on the table: why Rebecca's boyfriend storyline keeps getting played for laughs when it clearly isn't a joke, w

School's back in session, so Dave, Cody, &Jackson are drafting the best fictional teachers in pop culture. One rule — they've got to actually be on the school's payroll. No swamp mentors, no karate handymen. Plus bonus rounds for best fictional school and best non-teaching school employee, real-life favorite teacher shout-outs, and a look at the highest-grossing movies ever set in a classroom. Also: Jerry Bruckheimer says Pirates of the Caribbean 6 is happening, and we have questions.

Dave and Cody are back on the pitch, and this week the conversation gets stuck on one uncomfortable question: what do you do when the person telling you the hard truth about yourself is a jerk about it? Alice Chilton has an attitude and a point, and the guys dig into why it's so much easier to focus on the delivery than the message. Also under discussion — whether Beard's avoidance of Ted is loyalty or self-protection, Cody's pitch for how Rebecca should have handled the hire, what Ted actually

This week on Be Kind Rewind, Dave, Cody, & Geek Jackson revisit Real Genius (1985): the smartest teen comedy of the 80's(?) and the movie that proves Val Kilmer was one of the great comedic actors we barely got to see. We dig into what holds up (Kilmer at his most magnetic, a movie where being smart is the whole appeal instead of a handicap to overcome, and an anti-military-industrial-complex streak that hits harder in 2026 than it did in '85), what doesn't (Mitch is fifteen, the Kent pranks ge

New show, new watch-alongs. Dave & Cody kick off Ted Lasso Season 4 with the premiere, "Home," and they've got some thoughts. Three years after Ted got on that plane, he's the assistant manager at a Kansas City grocery store, teaching life lessons with a bag of Pup-Peroni. Rebecca, Keeley, and Higgins fly in with an offer to coach Richmond's new women's team. Dottie Lasso drops a line about fathers that Cody is NOT letting slide. And Ted finally opens the door he's been avoiding all episode. A

Pop Culture Lately: The Grab Bag Is Open Twice a year or so we empty out the entire bag...everything we've been watching, reading, and playing that never fit anywhere else. Dave, Cody, & Geek Paul dig through it all: a widow who talks to an octopus, eight artists who secretly lived inside a shopping mall for four years, and a Mr. Rogers movie where Mr. Rogers is the antagonist. Along the way: Spider-Man is printing money on a Tuesday, the horror genre keeps saving cinema, Woodstock '99 was wor

SPOILERS Dave & Cody welcome back Geek Jason to review Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The movie just posted one of the biggest openings in history, and the table digs into why: - Destin Daniel Cretton was given room to tell a smaller, more intimate story - The Bernthal and Holland chemistry - The Hulk and the Punisher as perfect storytelling guest stars Also: Jason brings a perspective on Peter's isolation that only someone who works with kids in care could. The Pastor's Corner lands on Aunt

You're killing me, Smalls. This week on a Be Kind Rewind, Dave, Cody, & Paul Walcher head back to the summer of 1962 for The Sandlot (1993), a movie that flopped with critics and became a multigenerational classic anyway. We get into what holds up (the Ray Charles fireworks scene, Ham roasting an entire lineup of batters, the ensemble of kid actors who genuinely became friends), what doesn't (the pool scene, and yes we talk about it honestly), and the behind-the-scenes stuff you might not know.

Dave & Cody are joined by film professor Paul to review Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, which just posted the biggest live-action opening of 2026 and the best reviews of Nolan's career. The table digs into Ludwig Göransson's score, the IMAX cinematography, the 60-foot Cyclops puppet, Robert Pattinson's genuinely repulsive heel turn, and John Leguizamo's surprise best-in-career performance. Dave makes the case that softening Odysseus's hubris costs the third act its humility, and lays out a Pas