We Love the Love

We're headed to North Dakota for some reason this week as we look at the fast-developing romance of the 1993 horror "classic" Leprechaun ! Join in as we discuss Jennifer Aniston's movie-stealing performance, Warwick Davis's star turn, and the AMC theaters merch section. Plus: How old are these characters supposed to be? Why do any of them live out in the middle of nowhere? Sh...

We're kicking off the spooky season with a return to the Universal monster movies and Boris Karloff in Karl Freund's 1932 version of The Mummy ! Join in as we discuss Karloff the union organizer, the fights between Freund and star Zita Johann, the film's connection to silent film trends, and Imhotep's convoluted scheme. Plus: What was Imhotep doing for ten years? Why aren't there any classic novel...

We're continuing our month of movie monsters with a look at Jennifer Kent's 2014 cult classic The Babadook ! Join in as we discuss the movie's dismal emotions and colors, its outsized impact compared to its tiny box office, the movie's varying levels of Australian-ness, and Sam's "bad kid" status. Plus: How did the Babadook become a queer icon? Is this monster a murde...

We're checking in this week on a brand new rom com, Roshan Sethi's 2025 adaptation of A Nice Indian Boy , starring Karan Soni and Jonathan Groff! Join in as we discuss awkward first dates, a scene-stealing performance by Zarna Garg, and the nice change of a gay rom com that's not about coming out. Plus: What's the best joke in the movie? Why would Jay smoke weed in his fiance's...

We're at the beach with Jack and Diane as we look at the romance of Nancy Meyers's 2003 smash rom com Something's Gotta Give ! Join in as we discuss thinly-veiled adaptations of real life, the film's examination of Jack Nicholson, and the weird lack of Frances McDormand. Plus: How long has Julian (Keanu Reeves) been tracking down productions of Erica's (Diane Keaton) plays? Why...

We're closing out the trilogy of Nora Ephron romantic comedies with a look at the third Tom Hanks / Meg Ryan collaboration, 1998's You've Got Mail ! Join in as we discuss formative computer memories, childhood bookstores, and War of the Worlds (2025). Plus: Why does the rest of the Fox family seem to hate books? Did Birdie really date Franco? When is David Lowery's Mother Mary comi...

We're headed back to 2007 to look at the romance of the indie sensation Juno , starring Elliot Page as a pregnant teenager, Michael Cera as the awkward boyfriend, and Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner as would-be adoptive parents. Join in as we discuss the careers of director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody, the film's iconic soundtrack, and a couple weirdly un-streamable movies. Plus...

We're returning to Genovia after seven years away to look at the romance of Garry Marshall's 2004 Disney sequel The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement ! Join in as we discuss the career of screenwriter Shonda Rhimes, the long development of Princess Diaries 3 , the odd CGI plane, and a lot about the Genovian government. Plus: Who would want a remote control closet? Why is Genovia's a...

In honor of The Roses (in theaters now), we're taking a look at the 1989 adaptation of the same novel, Danny DeVito's The War of the Roses , starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. Join in as we discuss the movie's odd framing device, the 1989 Golden Globe slate, the plight of the American housewife, and movies we watched in high school. Plus: What was Barbara's goal in seduc...

We're closing out the Summer of Superheroes with Kinka Usher's star-studded 1999 comedy Mystery Men ! Join in as we discuss the rise of commercial directors in the 1990s, our favorite jokes from the movie, the unfulfilled promise of Geoffrey Rush's Casanova Frankenstein, and, of course, "All Star" by Smash Mouth. Plus: How many of these characters actually have powers? How mu...

This week the Summer of Superheroes continues with our look at the deeply implausible romance of Guillermo Del Toro's original Hellboy movie! Join in as we discuss Ron Perlman's performance, Atlantis: The Lost Empire , Nazi occultism, and Marvel's Son of Satan. Plus: Why wasn't David Hyde Pierce credited for voicing Abe Sapien? What exactly was Rasputin's goal? And, most import...

For our last look at a Marvel hero in this Summer of Superheroes, we're taking a look at the romance of the 2005 Jennifer Garner vehicle Elektra ! Join in as we discuss our favorite cinematic assassins, the movie's odd visual style, its treatment of Japan, and hitman human resources. Plus: How does this movie connect with Daredevil (2003)? Is the movie gory enough? Did its failure at the b...

We're taking a look at the dawn of the SPUMC as we dig into the romance of Venom ! Join in as we discuss Tom Hardy's double performance, the lobster tank scene, The Brock Report, and surprise good guy performance by Reid Scott. Plus: How do these Sony movies connect to Spider-Man? Why didn't Riz Ahmed get to use his British accent? And how does Sony keep tricking people into thinking t...

To herald the release of Fantastic Four: First Steps , we're starting the second half of our Summer of Superheroes with a look at the romance of 2007's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer ! Join in as we discuss the history of FF adaptations, the challenge of writing a super-genius, the flattening of Sue Storm, and our favorite movies of 2025 so far. Plus: Why are adaptations so scar...

We're celebrating our 400th episode with a look at the biggest 400 in cinema, Francois Truffaut's 1959 French New Wave classic, The 400 Blows ! Join in as we discuss the New Wave's place in cinema history, Antoine Doinel's poor fire safety, his conspicuous lack of siblings, and engage in a cinemabration of eight years of podcasting. Plus: How closely does the film map onto Truffaut...

Our Summer of Superheroes reaches its climax with arguably the most important movie in the genre's history: Richard Donner's 1978 film Superman , starring Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Margot Kidder, and a firmly on-book Marlon Brando. Join in as we discuss the geophysics of Lex Luthor's evil plot, the other attempts to put Superman in cinemas, the nearly two-year shoot, and our fav...

We're taking a look at one of the most-maligned superhero movies of the twenty-first century: Martin Campbell's 2011 adaptation of Green Lantern , starring Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively. Join in as we discuss good and bad superhero costumes, the many attempts to adapt this character for film, the dead-on-arrival post-credits scene, and the Reynolds-Lively relationship timeline. Plus: Does...

The Summer of Superheroes continues as we look at Ivan Reitman's 2006 superpowered rom com My Super Ex-Girlfriend , starring Luke Wilson, Uma Thurman, and Anna Faris! Join in as we discuss secret identities, the official hierarchy of hair colors, the movie's abysmal gender politics, and the best way to remove a splinter. Plus: How long has G-Girl been active? Can anyone at this architectur...

We're kicking off our summer of superheroes with one of the first theatrical superhero movies: the 1966 Batman movie starring Adam West and Burt Ward! Join in as we discuss the development of the TV show, the film's relationship to camp, Batman's detective work, and the state of modern superhero cinema. Plus: Why is this Batman movie set entirely during daylight hours? Why did Burt War...

We're closing out our D.C. Onscreen series with a look at the interwoven affairs of the 2008 Coen brothers comedy Burn After Reading ! Join in as we discuss our favorite Coen Brothers movies, the perplexed reception the film got from critics, and possibly the worst street in all of D.C. Plus: What's the best blind date spot in D.C.? Is anyone in this movie not an idiot? Does 2008 comedy se...

Hollywood couldn't figure out how to sell a historical fiction political comedy about teenagers set twenty-five years in the past, but we're big fans of Andrew Fleming's 1999 film Dick and we're here to talk about it! Join in as we discuss teenage celebrity crushes, child stardom, an odd choice for weed storage, and a deep cast of sketch performers. Plus: Why does Nixon White House...

Our D.C. Onscreen series takes us to Georgetown as we look at the reincarnation romance of Emile Ardolino's 1989 film Chances Are ! Join in as we discuss our favorite afterlife bureaucracies, Yale's draconian library fees, and the performances by Cybill Shepherd, Robert Downey Jr., Ryan O'Neal, and Mary Stuart Masterson. Plus: Why didn't the mobster just kill Louie (Christopher Mac...

Goldie Hawn grew up in the D.C. area, so it's only right for our D.C. Onscreen series to look at her starring role in 1984's Protocol ! Join in as we discuss theme restaurants, a weirdly deep cast, Reagan assassination parody, and the death of Skype. Plus: Who thought any of this Ohtar stuff worked? How did Sunny Davis get shot in the butt? Why does Chris Sarandon totally disappear from th...

We're moving our D.C. Onscreen series into the 1980s with a look at the romance of Joel Schumacher's sophomore feature, D.C. Cab ! Join in as we discuss our own D.C. cab experiences, 1980s D.C., the explosive popularity of Mr. T, a movie in search of a plot. Plus: Who is the lead of the movie? Which characters can you actually root for? How did Universal botch the movie's marketing? An...

We're kicking off our series on DC Onscreen with a look at the romance of Otto Preminger's 1962 Senate drama Advise & Consent ! Join in as we discuss the movie's deployment of star Henry Fonda, the tension between Preminger's liberalism and Allen Drury's Pulitzer-winning novel, and the real-life incidents that inspired the story. Plus: What stunt castings did Preminger want...