Movies 101

This week, "Movies 101" will be discussing a trio of films that boast supremely interesting characters. We’ll start off with the imaginative documentary You Can See Everything, and we’ll follow first with Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Reckoning and the re-release of Ken Russell’s 1971 film The Devils.

This week, "Movies 101" will be discussing at least one film that should be an Oscar candidate. That would be Digger, an Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu project starring Tom Cruise. We’ll follow that with a dissection of Verity, a mystery/drama starring Dakota Johnson, Josh Hartnett and Anne Hathaway. And we’ll end with a look at one of John Wilson’s wry documentaries, this one titled The History of C...

This week, "Movies 101" will be discussing two films from Asia. One is the animated science-fiction mind-bender Akira, a 1988 release that is enjoying a remastered re-release. And the other is Hope, a Korean live-action film that belongs to the monster-vs.-human sub-genre of sci-fi.

This week, "Movies 101" will be discussing two films that have little in common other than a relationship with the past. The first is The Uprising, a re-creation of a real-life historical event that took place nearly 700 years ago. And the second is Practical Magic 2, a sequel to a fictional film about witches that premiered nearly three decades ago.

This week, "Movies 101" will be discussing a pair of movies that involve survival. The first is The Dog Stars, a Ridley Scott film based on a best-selling novel. The second is the blend of live action and animation titled Coyote vs. Acme.

This week, "Movies 101" will be discussing two films that feature teen characters. One, titled Tony, is based on the early life of a real person, the late chef and travel documentarian Anthony Bourdain. The other is a trek into horror titled, appropriately, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.

This week, Movies 101 will tackle a pair of films that have little, if anything, in common … save for something plot-oriented that smacks of mystery. The first is the big-budget sci-fi survival adventure title, pun intended, “The End of Oak Street.” The other is the Japanese historical study “The Samurai and the Prisoner.”

This week, Movies 101 will be discussing three movies made by foreign directors. They are the haunting British time-travel tale “Rose of Nevada,” the Icelandic domestic study “The Love That Remains” and the Croatian historical documentary “Fiume o Morte!

This week, Movies 101 will be discussing three movies made by foreign directors. They are the haunting British time-travel tale “Rose of Nevada,” the Icelandic domestic study “The Love That Remains” and the Croatian historical documentary “Fiume o Morte!

One of the many great things about film is its ability to adapt to any scale. An intimate story about one person’s inner life can be just as effective as one spread over a huge canvas with a cast of thousands. On this week’s episode, Movies 101 will look at two new releases on opposite ends of the scale spectrum: The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan’s multimillion-dollar, decades-spanning epic, and Oliv...

85 years ago, Orson Welles released his debut feature Citizen Kane, and movies were never the same. In the decades since, it has been exhaustively analyzed; the subject of countless books, documentaries and biopics; and regularly cited as the greatest American movie.

As we celebrate, each in our own way, the 250th anniversary of these United States, we have to admit: We don’t seem to be so united anymore. United or not, though, we Americans are a reflection of the movies that we watch. On this week’s show, The Movies 101 hosts will be discussing their choices for the movies that, for now at least, define what America is.

Supergirl & Toy Story 5

On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart will be discussing three different studies of the bizarre. Steven Spielberg’s aliens-come-runnin’ feature “Disclosure Day," followed by a couple of surprising suspense/horror hits, Curry Barker’s “Obsession” and Kane Parsons’ “Backrooms."

Movies tend to be built around their stars, but just as important—and, at times, arguably even more important—are the actors cast in supporting roles. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss who they think are some of the most effective, not to mention memorable, character actors—most of whom may never have headlined a movie but whose performances in many...

On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss a pair of streaming films that feature protagonists going through tough times. The first is the first directorial venture from the actress Kristen Stewart titled “The Chronology of Water.” They follow that with a look at the bewildering Chinese import “Resurrection.”

Looking for a new movie to watch? You now have so many options on so many different streaming services that you might get overwhelmed and give up before you even start browsing. That also means a lot of good movies inevitably fall through the cracks. On this week’s show, Nathan Weinbender, Mary Pat Treuthart and Dan Webster sift through the last 5 years of cinematic offerings and unearth a few tha...

On this week’s show, Nathan Weinbender, Mary Pat Treuthart and Dan Webster look at the ongoing trend of so-called “legacy sequels,” films that revive cultural properties after years—and sometimes decades—of dormancy.

On this week’s show, Nathan Weinbender, Mary Pat Treuthart and Dan Webster recap their time at the recent Seattle International Film Festival. They talk about the SIFF experience and highlight some of their festival favorites.

On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss a pair of streaming films. The first is a Belgian film by the Dardenne brothers titled “Young Mothers.” The other is a U.S.-based documentary about a Southern city titled “Natchez.”

Film festivals typically, but not always, feature films that will hardly ever play at your local metroplex. Yet is possible, though again not always, to be fans of both mainstream and festival films. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss the latest Hollywood wannabe blockbuster, “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” and then reveal what they expect from the 52nd S...

One common source of drama involves putting characters in difficult situations. How they react can, and often does, result in powerful individual acting performances. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss two films that put characters in difficult situations. The first is “I Swear,” the based-on-real-events story of a man with Tourette’s Syndrome. The o...

Among the several filmmakers whose work demands to be seen, Steven Soderbergh—for many of us—ranks somewhere in the Top Ten. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss Soderbergh’s newest film, “The Christophers,” which stars the great stage actor Ian McKellen. They follow that with a look at the latest film by the Palestinian-American director Cherien Dabis...

It’s no secret that the success or failure of a movie depends largely on how well we can relate to its central characters. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss a pair of films boasting protagonists with wildly diverse appeals. The films are the theatrical release “Fantasy Life” and the streaming feature “Outcome.”

Intensity and tension are important aspects of art. And this is especially true in cinematic art. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss two films that explore the meaning of tension in two different ways. The first is “The Drama,” a study of a couple about to be married who begin to obsess over something from the past. The other is “Crime 101,” an explo...