Movies 101

Few things in life are more powerful, or painful, than the relationship between parent and child. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss two films that explore such relationships.

As every filmmaker from D.W. Griffith to Jean-Luc Godard would tell you, no theme provides more fuel for a movie than crime does. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss two movies that focus on characters who don’t so much flirt with crime but embrace it wholeheartedly.

Over the years, we here at Movies 101 headquarters have made no secret of our admiration for the films of Martin Scorsese. And we’re not about to stop now. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss the Apple TV five-part biographical miniseries “Mr. Scorsese” and offer up thoughts about some of the man’s choicest works.

When it comes to movie characters, those showing signs of mania often make for the most interesting storylines. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss two films that focus on such characters. The first is director Lynne Ramsay’s “Die My Love,” and the second is Guillermo del Toro's “Frankenstein."

In the wide range of human experiences, pretty much any perspective can make for good cinema. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss two films that tackle polar-opposite themes in an attempt to create cinematic art. The first is “Bugonia,” written and directed by the Greek-born filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos. The second is “Train Dreams,” a film directed and co-written by Clint Bentley.

We all face challenges. Sometimes they involve professional responsibilities, other times they’re complicated by personal histories. Often they involve a blend of both. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere,” followed by “It Was Just an Accident."

Here’s a question that every moviegoer has likely asked at one time or another: what exactly is the point of movie criticism... or, more to the point, movie critics? On this week’s show, Nathan Weinbender, Mary Pat Treuthart, and Dan Webster try to provide an answer.

Among the many reasons for why a film succeeds—directing, acting, cinematography and clever use of computer graphics—quality screenwriting is key. On this week’s show, Dan Webster and Nathan Weinbender discuss a pair of films by critically-acclaimed filmmakers that swim, or sink, based on the strength of their screenplays.

Thomas Jefferson wasn't the first writer to wax on about the pursuit of happiness, but his famous Declaration of Independence references always struck an emotional chord. On this week's show, Dan Webster, Mary Pat Treuthart, and Nathan Weinbender discuss two films that feature characters on quests for something that, at least tangentially, involves happiness. The first is "The History of Sound," starring Paul Mescal and Josh O'Connor, and the second is the French import, "Souleymane's Story."

As the daily TV news leads warn us, violence is an ongoing part of our contemporary life, which makes the various examples of it perfect fodder for the movies. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Mary Pat Treuthart, and Nathan Weinbender discuss two movies that incorporate violence, or references to it, at their very core. The first is the aptly titled “The Smashing Machine,” in which Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson plays the real-life MMA fighter Mark Kerr. The other is “Anemone,” a film starring Daniel Day-Lewis as a man tortured by memories of war.

Of all the American filmmakers to emerge in the last three decades, no one has produced a more admirable body of work than Paul Thomas Anderson. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Mary Pat Treuthart, and Nathan Weinbender discuss Anderson’s latest effort, the Leonardo Di Caprio vehicle “One Battle After Another,” and then they tackle the filmmaker’s entire career, with each of them making a case for what they think is his best film.

Life just wouldn’t be the same without music. And as a sign of that, a number of documentary filmmakers have lately been celebrating the lives and careers of musicians. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss this filmmaking trend, and offer up their thoughts on a few of the films that you might want to check out.

If relationships are key to humankind’s survival—which they are—then they’re even more important to the plot of pretty much any movie you can name. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Mary Pat Treuthart and Nathan Weinbender discuss a pair of movies that depend, in some fairly essential ways, on the relationships forged—and in other cases broken—by a range of characters. The first is “Caught Stealing,” a change of pace for director Darren Aronofsky, and the second is “Splitsville,” a study of missed connections and emotional chaos and how both affect a pair of marriages.

A study released last October showed that movie remakes tend to lose money. Yet the film industry, for a variety of reasons, keeps churning them out. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Mary Pat Treuthart and Nathan Weinbender discuss one recent remake, Spike Lee’s film “Highest 2 Lowest,” which is his version of Ed McBain’s 1959 novel “King’s Ransom,” as well as take a look back at another McBain adaptation, Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 film “High and Low.”

One of the joys of moviegoing is the chance to enjoy the kind of intensity that comes from indulging in a fictional world. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss two films that offer that type of opportunity. The first is “Weapons,” a box-office-busting exercise in horror, and “Cloud,” a psychological thriller from Japan.

The actor Peter Ustinov is reported to have said: “Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious.” That holds true whether you’re Lenny Bruce, Weird Al Yankovic or Leanne Morgan. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss a trio of films, all of which are either sequels or reboots and all of which—like their earlier counterparts—test the limits of farcical comedy. They start off with “The Naked Gun,” followed by “Happy Gilmore 2” and then end with “Freakier Friday.”

Over the decades, show business has given us any number of celebrities who at times seem as familiar to us as actual member of our own families. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss a pair of streaming documentary features that focus on well-known public figures from the past—TV host Ed Sullivan in Netflix’s “Sunday Best: The Untold Story of Ed Sullivan,” and Jayne Mansfield in HBO Max’s “My Mom Jayne.”

Movies that open at film festivals seldom achieve blockbuster status, but the best ones—and even some that are merely good—usually end up reaching their desired audiences. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss a pair of Sundance Film Festival releases that are well worth checking out: the first is Eva Victor’s “Sorry, Baby” and the second is Sophie Brooks’ “Oh, Hi!”

Like most everything in life, perspective is all. And when it comes to movies, perspective is reflected in what’s also known as point of view. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss two movies that reveal their narratives through the eyes of very different characters. The first is the Ari Aster feature “Eddington,” and the second is “Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight,” the first venture as writer-director by the actress-turned-filmmaker Embeth Davidtz.

Summer wouldn’t be summer without a few movie blockbusters, and this summer of 2025 certainly has its share. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss a pair of big-screen bonanzas, both of which are part of far-larger franchises. The first is the newest iteration of “Superman,” this one directed by James Gunn, and they pivot from there to the Gareth Edwards-helmed “Jurassic World Rebirth,” the seventh in a series dating back some three decades.