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.

Fantasy in its various forms is the lifeblood of moviemaking. And this is true whether you’re talking romance, action, comedy or any other genre you can name. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss a pair of films that indulge in fantasy, each conforming to its particular genre. The first is the racing film “F1” and the second is the existentialist meditation titled “The Life of Chuck.”

One of the favorite games that most, if not all, movie fans plays is: What are your top 10 movies? Well, the New York Times just compiled a list 10 times as big. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss that list, something the editors are proclaiming as the "100 Best Movies of the 21st Century," and list their own picks for the top 10.

Love comes in many forms, a fact that’s especially true when it plays out in the movies. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss two films that embody the emotion we know as love in entirely different ways. First up is Wes Anderson’s latest, titled “The Phoenician Scheme.” Following that is Celine Song’s second feature film, titled simply “Materialists.”

With the exception of those of us who no longer welcome birthdays, most people love anniversaries. But when it comes to movies, anniversaries give us the opportunity to remember great cinema and the directors who make it. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss two such directors, Akira Kurosawa, whose film “Ran” is enjoying the 40th anniversary of its release this month, and Steven Spielberg, whose 1975 film “Jaws” is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

From time to time we all encounter difficult people. And while they may have reasons for their troubled temperaments, that doesn’t make them any easier to deal with. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss two films that feature problematic characters. First up is “Bring Her Back,” a horror offering starring Sally Hawkins, followed by “Mountainhead,” a streaming feature focusing on badly behaved billionaires.

Stephen King once declared that: “Any fool with steady hands and a working set of lungs can build up a house of cards and then blow it down, but it takes a genius to make people laugh.” On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss the very nature of comedy as they talk about two productions, one being the biographical 2-part streaming series on the late Paul Reubens titled “Pee-wee as Himself,” and the big-screen dark comedy “Friendship.”

For those at Movies 101 headquarters, it’s good to be back together. Dan Webster and co-host Mary Pat Treuthart have been out of the country for the past few weeks, and the third member of the team, co-host Nathan Weinbender, has been lurking in dark Seattle theaters watching as many Seattle International Film Festival movies as he could. So for this week’s show, Dan, Nathan, and Mary Pat first discuss Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. Following that, however, Nathan regales everyone with thrilling tales of his SIFF 2025 shenanigans.

In the past, we’ve referred to them as "buried treasures" among other descriptors, but by whatever name, we mean movies—and sometimes streaming miniseries—that we consider well worth checking out. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss a selection of movies—and the writer-directors who made them—that they’ve enjoyed over the years, and that they think our listeners might enjoy as well.

It’s been a tough 2025 for movie fans, what with the passing of some of cinema’s great talents. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart offer their thoughts on two of those lost talents, the visionary director David Lynch and the Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman.