When it comes to movie characters, those showing signs of mania often make for the most interesting storylines. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss two films that focus on such characters. The first is director Lynne Ramsay’s “Die My Love,” and the second is Guillermo del Toro's “Frankenstein."

In the wide range of human experiences, pretty much any perspective can make for good cinema. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss two films that tackle polar-opposite themes in an attempt to create cinematic art. The first is “Bugonia,” written and directed by the Greek-born filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos. The second is “Train Dreams,” a film directed and co-written by Clint Bentley.

We all face challenges. Sometimes they involve professional responsibilities, other times they’re complicated by personal histories. Often they involve a blend of both. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere,” followed by “It Was Just an Accident."

Here’s a question that every moviegoer has likely asked at one time or another: what exactly is the point of movie criticism... or, more to the point, movie critics? On this week’s show, Nathan Weinbender, Mary Pat Treuthart, and Dan Webster try to provide an answer.

Among the many reasons for why a film succeeds—directing, acting, cinematography and clever use of computer graphics—quality screenwriting is key. On this week’s show, Dan Webster and Nathan Weinbender discuss a pair of films by critically-acclaimed filmmakers that swim, or sink, based on the strength of their screenplays.

Thomas Jefferson wasn't the first writer to wax on about the pursuit of happiness, but his famous Declaration of Independence references always struck an emotional chord. On this week's show, Dan Webster, Mary Pat Treuthart, and Nathan Weinbender discuss two films that feature characters on quests for something that, at least tangentially, involves happiness. The first is "The History of Sound," starring Paul Mescal and Josh O'Connor, and the second is the French import, "Souleymane's Story."

As the daily TV news leads warn us, violence is an ongoing part of our contemporary life, which makes the various examples of it perfect fodder for the movies. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Mary Pat Treuthart, and Nathan Weinbender discuss two movies that incorporate violence, or references to it, at their very core. The first is the aptly titled “The Smashing Machine,” in which Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson plays the real-life MMA fighter Mark Kerr. The other is “Anemone,” a film starring Daniel Day-Lewis as a man tortured by memories of war.

Of all the American filmmakers to emerge in the last three decades, no one has produced a more admirable body of work than Paul Thomas Anderson. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Mary Pat Treuthart, and Nathan Weinbender discuss Anderson’s latest effort, the Leonardo Di Caprio vehicle “One Battle After Another,” and then they tackle the filmmaker’s entire career, with each of them making a case for what they think is his best film.

Life just wouldn’t be the same without music. And as a sign of that, a number of documentary filmmakers have lately been celebrating the lives and careers of musicians. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss this filmmaking trend, and offer up their thoughts on a few of the films that you might want to check out.

If relationships are key to humankind’s survival—which they are—then they’re even more important to the plot of pretty much any movie you can name. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Mary Pat Treuthart and Nathan Weinbender discuss a pair of movies that depend, in some fairly essential ways, on the relationships forged—and in other cases broken—by a range of characters. The first is “Caught Stealing,” a change of pace for director Darren Aronofsky, and the second is “Splitsville,” a study of missed connections and emotional chaos and how both affect a pair of marriages.