Movies

Welcome to Pop Culture on the Apricot Tree, a podcast dedicated to discussing pop culture from a Latter-day Saint perspective. (More about us)

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Ep 17 - Howl's Moving Castle: The Heroism of Domesticity in a Weird World at War

Join us for a discussion about the weirdness that is Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle with William Morris, author of The Darkest...

Ep 15 - Top Gun Maverick: Fast Planes, Amazing Cameras, and Heroic Masculinity

Sure, Top Gun Maverick is a near perfect summer blockbuster, but what moral lessons can we draw from it? We talk about the difficulty of...

Ep 13 - Mirai: Travels Through a Literal Family Tree

Join us for a cozy discussion of the delightful Japanese film Mirai. We talk about how this film compares to other depictions of family...

Ep 12 - The Adam Project: Time Travel Families Are Forever

This movie may be so-so as a science fiction property, but we think it's excellent as a film about family relationships, grief, and...

Ep 10 - Hamilton: Church History Needs More Rap Battles

Surprisingly few movies exist about the revolutionary period of American history, but a huge exception is the musical phenomenon known as...

Ep 7 - Free Guy: Living in the Simulation

We use the unexpectedly delightful movie Free Guy as a jumping off point to discuss all things video games. How do video games differ...

Ep 5 - Silence: Struggling for Faith, Come Hell or High Water

We dive into Martin Scorsese's 2016 film Silence, an adaptation of the novel by Shusaku Endo. The story explores the story of Jesuit...

Ep 4 - Turning Red: Crouching Tiger Mom, Twerking Panda

Pixar's 2022 coming-of-age film Turning Red has proved controversial, to say the least. It's a step away from the studio's usual all-ages...

Ep 3 - Noah: Interesting Interpretation or Stretching Scripture?

Did rock monsters really help Noah build the ark? How about Methuselah wielding the flaming sword? We discuss the 2014 film Noah, the...

Ep 1 - Encanto: We Don't Talk About Expressive Individualism

We open our podcast with an episode on Disney's 2021 family musical, Encanto. And we actually mostly don't talk about Bruno. Listen for...