Movies 101

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...

Some people find foreign films intolerable. Others of us seek them out simply because they tend to offer something different from the usual Hollywood fare. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss two foreign films that are radically unique: the Oscar-nominated Spanish-French film “Sirāt” and the French film “Alpha.”

Though the possibility, not to mention practicality, of interstellar space travel remains in doubt, that hasn’t stopped moviemakers from exploiting the idea. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss the latest sci-fi space venture, “Project Hail Mary,” a Ryan Gosling vehicle based on Andy Weir’s best-selling novel. They also share their choices for, as the...

The Motion Picture Academy has had its say, and that means that we can now have ours. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss the 98th Oscars broadcast, the wins and the shoulda-beens. Then they discusss another music-themed documentary, this one featuring the former Beatle Paul McCartney, Amazon Studio’s “Paul McCartney: Man on the Run.”

Forget the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs or the SAG awards, it’s the Oscars broadcast that movie fans care most about. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss the 98th Academy Awards, who is nominated, who has the best chances of winning and who they each think should win.

As with most art forms, movies depend heavily on tradition—either by embracing it or countering it in new, original ways. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss the importance of two cinema giants, artists who in their respective ways represented the best that moviemaking has to offer: the Oscar-winning actor Robert Duvall and the master documentary dire...

February and March are famously not-great months for new movie releases, with Hollywood dumping some of its most forgettable products into theaters and focusing all its energy on the Academy Awards. But Spokane movie fans are in luck, because they’re about to have access to an embarrassment of cinematic riches from around the world. On this week's show, Nathan Weinbender and Mary Pat Treuthart dis...

Characters in peril, whether physical and/or emotional, tend to make good movie material, especially when those of us in the viewing audience can relate to what’s going on. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss a pair of movies that feature characters in various stages of duress. The first is the latest adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel “Wuthering Heig...