We Love the Love

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...

We're tackling another listener request as we delve into the very weird world of the 2018 Netflix rom com The Kissing Booth ! Join in as we discuss the careers of the Euphoria cast, Netflix's 2018 rom com boom, a Welsh teen's idea of American high school, and the movie's odd but pernicious sexism. Plus: What is Jacob Elordi doing with his voice? How did a kissing booth get approved...

In honor of this year's remake of The Wedding Banquet (now in theaters!), we're taking a look at a more troubled Ang Lee romance: his 2007 adaptation of Eileen Chang's novella Lust, Caution . Join in as we discuss the star performances of Tony Leung and Tang Wei, the various censored versions of the film, Lee's use of sex as a storytelling device, and also Sinners because it's...

We're diving into one another's heads to explore the romance of Spike Jonze's 1999 genre-defying hit Being John Malkovich ! Join in as we discuss the 7 1/2th floor, the script's sparse character descriptions, the movie's exploration of gender and sexuality, and our own experiences with Malkovich. Plus: Does Malkovich ever sleep? How are they retrieving their clients in New Jers...

We're taking a look at the start of Tom Cruise's star career by digging into the romance of Paul Brickman's 1983 hit Risky Business , starring Cruise alongside Rebecca De Mornay, who was not in her 90s when this was made. Join in as we discuss the film as a response to Reaganism, expensive hot chocolate, our dads' favorite movies, and "Old Time Rock and Roll." Plus: Why w...

We're celebrating the start of the baseball season by digging into one of the sport's great movie romances: Ron Shelton's steamy 1988 classic Bull Durham , starring Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, and Tim Robbins in a love triangle fans are calling " Challengers for straight people"! Join in as we discuss our own minor league experiences, Kevin Costner's star trajectory, o...

We're setting sail for love as we look at the romance of Leo McCarey's 1957 melodrama An Affair to Remember , starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr! Join in as we discuss our favorite cinematic ships, singing dub star Marni Nixon, and an abundance of children's choirs. Plus: How did Nicky Ferrante get famous? How do we get AFI to update their ranked lists of movies? How is this movie th...

We're closing the book on our Unfinished Business series by taking a look at the scant romance of Justin Kurzel's 2016 adaptation of the Assassin's Creed video games, starring Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, and a bunch of wasted character actors. Join in as we discuss the way Kurzel adapts the style and structure of the games for film, the punishing seriousness of the tone, and...

We're taking a look at male-oriented rom coms with this week's episode on Judd Apatow's 2007 comedy hit Knocked Up ! Join in as we discuss comedy drug scenes, the rolling series of scandals that engulfed star Katherine Heigl, our favorite Seth Rogen performances, and the wide-ranging discourse the film inspired. Plus: Why are Apatow movies so long? Why doesn't Allison have her own...

As Paramount's proposed merger with Skydance continues to wend its way past regulators, we're looking back at the beginning of the studio's financial troubles through the lens of the 2017 flop Monster Trucks ! Join in as we discuss the film's inception as Paramount's next big franchise, the diverging opinions of studio leadership and director Chris Wedge, and the many ways the...

As is tradition, we're taking this week to unpack the romances of all ten Best Picture nominees at next Sunday's Academy Awards! Join in as we discuss The Brutalist 's AI controversy, the underserved women of A Complete Unknown , our Conclave theories, the maximalism of The Substance , and more! Plus: Will finally explains his long-hinted-at dislike of Wicked , Marc correctly identifie...

Our Unfinished Business is taking us back to some classic We Love the Love far, since there's both a half-baked romance and a bizarrely-run high school in Adam Shankman's 2005 Vin Diesel vehicle The Pacifier ! Join in as we discuss the babysitting potential of various Vin Diesel characters, the school's dubious disciplinary priorities, the 2005 Teen Choice Awards, and the television oe...

We're headed to the theaters for a look at the romance of the brand new DreamWorks Animation film Dog Man , based on the books by Dav Pilkey. Join in as we discuss the state of DreamWorks in the 2020s, our favorite clones, the film's animation style, and the Jurassic World movies. Plus: Does Dog Man retain the memories of his past lives? Is there a joke to Sarah Hatoff's name? Does Mar...

We're off to catch 'em all (unless that's a bad thing?) as we unpack the truncated romance of Pokémon the Movie 2000 ! Join in as we discuss our own Pokémon origin stories, the three elements of creation, the villainous Lawrence III, Ash's bad mom, and this film's impact on American political history. Plus: Which of the film's many bad songs is the worst one? Do Pokémon car...