Fan Expo is coming to Toronto, so author Sam Maggs — who’ll be there Friday through Sunday, signing copies of The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy and promoting her new book Wonder Women: 25 Innovators, Inventors and Trailblazers Who Changed History — brings some true Browncoat love for Serenity, Joss Whedon’s 2005 big-screen sequel to his beloved space western Firefly. Your genial host Norm Wilner aims to misbehave.

Writer-director John Magary, whose film The Mend was one of the best pictures you didn’t see last year, celebrates the curious hybrid of horror and social satire that is Mike Nichols’ 1994 Wolf — you know, the one where Jack Nicholson and James Spader have a literal pissing contest over Michelle Pfeiffer. Your genial host Norm Wilner cannot help but encourage him.

As his new film Edge of Winter makes its way into North American theatres, director Rob Connolly takes the podcast to Toontown for a conversation about Robert Zemeckis’ delightful 1988 blockbuster Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Your genial host Norm Wilner doesn’t see a single weasel in the room, no sir.

With his new feature How Heavy This Hammer opening in Toronto and Vancouver this week, filmmaker Kazik Radwanski drops by the studio to talk about Stroszek, Werner Herzog’s singular 1977 tale of alienation, despair and dancing chickens. Your genial host Norm Wilner keeps the impression to a respectful minimum.

New York chef Andrew Carmellini — who designed the dishes in Simply Irresistible before setting off on the path that led to Locanda Verde, The Dutch, Lafayette, Bar Primi, Little Park and the soon-to-be-opening Leuca — celebrates The Blues Brothers the only way he can: Through the music, man. Your genial host Norm Wilner regrets not wearing sunglasses.

Beloved actor Enrico Colantoni — of Galaxy Quest, Veronica Mars, Flashpoint, Remedy and the new psychological thriller The Dark Stranger, available today on DVD and on demand — brings the love for Martin Brest’s 1988 action comedy Midnight Run and the perfection of a still-youthful Robert De Niro. Your genial host Norm Wilner wants to know where he gets his sunglasses.

With his wilderness thriller The Interior newly available on demand and on disc, filmmaker Trevor Juras sits down to discuss another study of creeping dread in the great outdoors: Werner Herzog’s 2005 documentary Grizzly Man. Honestly, your genial host Norm Wilner would have just stayed home.

Actor-filmmaker Connor Jessup, who stars in Blackbird, American Crime and the upcoming Closet Monster, stands up for Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Still Walking, a 2008 drama about a very specific day in the lives of a Japanese family. Your genial host Norm Wilner is really happy about this, because more people should know about this movie.

Writer and comedian Ian MacIntyre (Degrassi: Next Class, Inspector Gadget, George of the Jungle) has been a fan of Ghostbusters almost all of his life, so what better time to bring him into the basement for an appreciation of Ivan Reitman’s 1984 comedy? Incidentally, you’ll be happy to hear your genial host Norm Wilner has mostly recovered from his cold.

With her awesome space adventure series Killjoys kicking off its second season on Syfy and Space this Friday, writer-producer Michelle Lovretta pulls herself away from the edit bay to talk about another space adventure: James Cameron’s Aliens, the 1986 sequel that rewrote the rules for an entire franchise. Your genial host Norm Wilner apologizes for his terrible cold.

This episode is a goodie for a couple of reasons: First, the guest is comedian and writer Dana Gould, who’s worked on two of the greatest sitcoms ever produced, The Simpsons and Parks and Recreation. Second, the movie is Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, which remains as vital a cinematic satire now as it was five decades ago. Your genial host Norm Wilner just tries not to get in the way.

His retro action thriller Gridlocked arrives on Blu-ray, DVD and VOD today, but director Allan Ungar is taking a moment to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Michael Bay’s The Rock — the movie where Nicolas Cage yells at Sean Connery and lives to tell the tale. Your genial host Norm Wilner was surprised to realize there’s a Michael Bay movie he can discuss non-sarcastically.

The Before Trilogy. Sure, Richard Linklater’s decades-spanning walk-and-talk cycle is an ambitious pick, but filmmaker Maureen Judge is up to the challenge; with her new documentary My Millennial Life streaming on TVO.org, she tackles the love story of Jesse and Celine from a number of interesting angles. Your genial host Norm Wilner implores you not to listen to this episode if you haven’t seen the movies.

With his new movie Borealis opening the Brooklyn Film Festival this Friday (and newly available for rental and purchase on iTunes Canada), actor-screenwriter-producer Jonas Chernick takes a moment to savor the joys of Swingers, the movie that made Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn indie idols and launched Doug Liman’s mostly magnificent directorial career. Your genial host Norm Wilner thinks this choice is so money.

Actor-producer Carolina Bartczak, whom you’re about to see opposite Michael Fassbender in X-Men Apocalypse, brings Pedro Almodovar’s Volver into the basement to feast upon its swooning visuals, its complex script and Penelope Cruz’ unforgettable performance. Your genial host Norm Wilner has been there.

You’ve seen her on stage, you’ve heard her on The Dork Forest and The Jackie and Laurie Show and you’ll catch her on Netflix in Lady Dynamite this Friday, May 20th; now, Jackie Kashian sits down to celebrate Holiday Inn, Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby’s run through the calendar to the songs of Irving Berlin. Your genial host Norm Wilner has to be the one to bring up the blackface sequence.

As her new film The People Garden opens for a limited run at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, actor and filmmaker Nadia Litz sinks deep into the world of Klute, Alan J. Pakula’s singular New York thriller starring Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland as two very different people united by an inexplicable disappearance. Your genial host Norm Wilner can’t get over the footage of New York in the early 70s.

His new movie Natasha opens the Toronto JewishFilm Festival on Thursday and goes into theatrical release inToronto and Vancouver on Friday, so this seemed like the perfecttime to get author and filmmaker DavidBezmozgis into the basement to talk about the cinematicjoyride that is Leos Carax’ Holy Motors. Fun fact:Your genial host Norm Wilner did this entire episode ina leotard covered with dots.

With his new documentary How to Build a Time Machineabout to make its world premiere at Hot Docs on May 2nd, filmmaker Jay Cheel distracts himself by talking about Richard Lester’s Superman III, which broke from the cosmic seriousness of its predecessors to let Christopher Reeve’s Man of Steel have a little fun. Your genial host Norm Wilner really needed this after Batman V Superman: Death of Joy.

In a special Friday bonus episode, actor and photographer Kristine Cofsky — whose new film No Men Beyond This Point opens in Toronto tomorrow, and drops on iTunes next week — brings big love for Jonathan Demme’s 2008 drama Rachel Getting Married. Your genial host Norm Wilner always cries at fake weddings.

Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, star of John Carney’s new period musical Sing Street, crafts a love song to The Revenant, Alejandro G. Inarritu’s Oscar-winning tale of a fur trapper on an epic quest for vengeance against them what done him wrong. Your genial host Norm Wilner chokes it down like bison liver.

Filmmaker siblings Chris and Ben Blaine, creators of the remarkable new film Nina Forever, dive deep into Danny Boyle’s 1996 breakout Trainspotting in an extra-long, extra-great episode recorded on location in London, England. Your genial host Norm Wilner is delighted that you can hear birds chirping through the studio window.

With his new film Borealis opening in Toronto on Friday, and rolling out across Canada in the weeks to come, director Sean Garrity brings us our first David Cronenberg joint, and it’s a good one: Naked Lunch, the surrealistic 1991 William S. Burroughs adaptation that launched the second act of Cronenberg’s career — and showed us Peter Weller had a damn fine deadpan. Your genial host Norm Wilner went easy on the bug powder for this episode.

With the 2016 baseball season starting up, screenwriter Matt Hansen (Zoom) brings Phil Alden Robinson’s Field of Dreams into the basement for a conversation about magic realism, mysterious voices and emotional honesty. Your genial host Norm Wilner might have teared up a little.

Journalist and filmmaker Aaron Hillis — who also runs Video Free Brooklyn, one of New York’s last surviving video stores — sits down to discuss the singular genius of Elaine May’s underrated 1987 comedy Ishtar, starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman as hack singer-songwriters who become embroiled in an elaborate Middle Eastern spy caper. Be warned that your genial host Norm Wilner sings a few bars of “Dangerous Business”.

SEMcast is a year old! Holy crap, right? And to help us celebrate the occasion, filmmaker Jeremy LaLonde — whosenew comedy How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town opens the Canadian Film Festival in Toronto March 30th — comes to the basement with a stone classic: Woody Allen’s Annie Hall, the 1977 comedy that captured a culture and defined a genre. Your genial host Norm Wilner has Marshall McLuhan waiting in the wings.

With his new Chet Baker biopic Born to Be Blue opening in Toronto this Friday and rolling out in the US later this month, writer-director Robert Budreau picks a hell of a bruiser: Raging Bull, Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro’s 1980 study of self-destructive boxer Jake La Motta. Your genial host Norm Wilner keeps the ice bucket handy.

With his short film This Is Not What You Had Planned just added to the National Screen Institute’s Online Short Film Festival, writer-director Christopher Warre Smets tackles Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight — the movie that saved George Clooney’s career, made people take Jennifer Lopez seriously and set a bar for cinematic Elmore Leonard adaptations that stands to this day. Your genial host Norm Wilner can’t believe neither of us could remember the film was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing.

Before he takes his documentary Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah to the Academy Awards later this week, journalist and filmmaker Adam Benzine steals a moment to celebrate Shane Carruth's singular 2004 time-travel drama Primer. Your genial host Norm Wilner does his best not to meddle with the integrity of the conversational timeline.

With her new movie End of Days, Inc. opening in Toronto on Friday, director Jennifer Liao brings Edgar Wright's 2010 Scott Pilgrim vs. the World into the basement to celebrate its giddy spirit, its goofy romantic heart and its authentic Toronto locations. Your genial host Norm Wilner has garlic bread at the ready.