Her second feature Octavio Is Dead! opens in Toronto and Regina this Friday, so broadcaster and filmmaker Sook-Yin Lee is here to dive into the simple, stark power -- and, regrettably, the present-day relevance -- of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1973 drama Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. Your genial host Norm Wilner is pretty sure he didn't confuse Munich for Berlin again.

Do you like scary movies? Emily Gagne and Danita Steinberg, hosts of the new podcast We Really Like Her!, bring the love for Wes Craven's Scream, the 1996 movie that taught us all to be afraid of crank calls and department-store ghost costumes. Your genial host Norm Wilner made sure to record this during the day in a room with plenty of windows. It's just safer for everybody.

Before writer-director Antoine Bourges brings his first feature Fail to Appear to Toronto's TIFF Bell Lightbox this week, he stops into the studio to discuss the austere allure of Chantal Akerman's 2000 Proust adaptation La Captive -- a choice that lines up very nicely with his own aesthetic. Your genial host Norm Wilner exerts only the smallest amount of control on the conversation.

For our 175th episode, we welcome author, actor and fake Internet judge John Hodgman — whose lovely book Vacationland is out in paperback today! — to the studio to talk about Murder on the Orient Express, Kenneth Branagh’s opulent Agatha Christie adaptation starring all those actors you like. Your genial host Norm Wilner is delighted to play conductor.

With his new film Adventures in Public School is on iTunes and Amazon Video in the US, and available for pre-order on iTunes in Canada, Kyle Rideout drops in to talk about the lush, digitally enhanced beauty of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amelie. Which explains why your genial host Norm Wilner has been receiving photos of a gnome for the last few weeks.

As his new film The Child Remains expands across Canada, writer-director Michael Melski turns his thoughts to Peter Medak’s 1980 chiller The Changeling, and how effective a horror film can be with one great actor and a few carefully calibrated scares. Your genial host Norm Wilner still prefers not to think about the wheelchair.

Birdland director Peter Lynch digs deep into The Conversation, Francis Ford Coppola’s note-perfect 1974 thriller about surveillance, paranoia and the strange watchability of Gene Hackman in an ugly plastic raincoat. Your genial host Norm Wilner strongly recommends you watch the movie before listening to this episode. Like, really strongly.

Oscar-winning documentary producer Frederic Bohbot — whose first dramatic film Boost is now available on iTunes — does his best to unpack the tangled conspiracies and complex filmmaking of Oliver Stone’s JFK. Your genial host Norm Wilner resists the urge to say “back and to the left” every six seconds.

Her new short Pumpkin Movie has its Canadian premiere at Hot Docs this Thursday, April 26th, so filmmaker Sophy Romvari is here to discuss Kirsten Johnson’s masterful 2016 essay film Cameraperson. Never seen it? Your genial host Norm Wilner thinks you should rectify that as soon as possible.

With his new film Kodachrome arriving on Netflix this Friday — and opening theatrically in major U.S. cities — filmmaker Mark Raso digs deep into the mysteries of The Talented Mr. Ripley, Anthony Minghella’s 1999 adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s seductive chiller. Your genial host Norm Wilner is totally not getting into that rowboat.

As far back as he can remember, actor Ajuawak Kapashesit has always loved GoodFellas. And with his new movie Indian Horse opening across Canada this Friday, it seemed like the perfect time for him to tell us about that. Your genial host Norm Wilner brought his shinebox and everything.

This week, the podcast goes to London so director Saul Dibb -- whose striking WWI drama Journey's End expands across Canada this Friday -- can share his love for A Prophet, Jacques Audiard's knockout drama starring Tahar Rahim as a young man trying to survive six years in a French prison. Your genial host Norm Wilner wouldn't make it six hours.

With The Amazing Gayl Pile launching its fourth season on CBC Digital this Thursday, co-star Andy King -- actor of Fargo, director of Filth City -- stops in to talk about the seminal comedic experience that was Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker's Airplane! Your genial host Norm Wilner just wants to say good luck; we're all counting on you.

Peter Kuplowsky's What The Film Festival returns to Toronto this weekend, and alumnus Zak Tatham -- who screened Space Breakers there back in 2016 -- drops by to talk about his love for William Friedkin's Sorcerer, the gripping, intense remake of Clouzot's The Wages of Fear that had the misfortune to arrive in the summer of Star Wars. Your genial host Norm Wilner has seen it in theatres! Twice!

The podcast is three years old today, and to celebrate here's actor and improv god Andrew Phung -- now a two-time Canadian Screen Award winner for Kim's Convenience -- to talk about the 1989 martial-arts movie Best of the Best, as well as pretty much every action franchise over the last few decades. Your genial host Norm Wilner wants to see where this goes.

He just shared a Best Picture Oscar win with Guillermo Del Toro, and now you can hear veteran Toronto producer J. Miles Dale celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Big Lebowski, the beloved Coen Brothers comedy that reimagines classic film-noir tropes through a very hazy filter. Your genial host Norm Wilner just wants to know about the stranger in the Alps.

The Academy Awards are upon us, which works out nicely because Samora Smallwood — whom you may know from Amazon’s The Shelter, and who’ll you’ll be seeing in the new seasons of The Expanse and Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments — wants to discuss Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Your genial host Norm Wilner is up for that.

Actor, playwright and musician Charlie Kerr (Lost Solace, After Wrestling) comes by the studio to celebrate the bittersweet charms of Boy, the 2010 breakout of some weirdo from New Zealand called Taika Waititi. Your genial host Norm Wilner just wants to see how this leads to Thor fighting the Hulk.

With his second feature Great Great Great newly available on iTunes, director Adam Garnet Jones digs into the lasting impact of Jane Campion’s The Piano, which made a massive impression on him when he needed it most. Your genial host Norm Wilner is happy to hear him out.

Actor Eric Johnson takes a break from menacing Dakota Johnson in Fifty Shades Freed (in theaters Friday!) for a deep dive into the ever-more-relevant dystopian masterpiece that is Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men. Your genial host Norm Wilner is fully on board.

Producer and distributor Avi Federgreen -- whose Indiecan Entertainment just released its 100th feature, Monolith -- settles in for a conversation about an unlikely inspiration: Some Kind of Wonderful, the John Hughes-scripted reversal of his own Pretty in Pink that locked Eric Stoltz, Lea Thompson and Mary Stuart Masterson in a classically '80s love triangle. Your genial host Norm Wilner regrets recording this on such a rainy day.

Stephen McHattie has appeared in everything from Hill Street Blues to Pontypool to Watchmen to Orphan Black; his latest picture is Peter Lynch’s Birdland, available Friday on VOD in the US and Canada. He wanted to talk about John Ford’s landmark Western The Searchers. Your genial host Norm Wilner was delighted to ride along.

Carsten Knox — critic, screenwriter and host of the Flaw in the Iris and Lens Me Your Ears podcasts — pops by to talk about the emotional wallop of Anthony Minghella’s Truly Madly Deeply, and the complex magic of Juliet Stevenson and Alan Rickman’s emotional duet. Your genial host Norm Wilner promised himself he wouldn’t cry.

As Workin' Moms returns for a second season Tuesdays at 9:30 pm on CBC, creator and star Catherine Reitman brings some love for Lindsay Lohan, Tina Fey, Mark Waters and everyone else associated with the hit 2004 comedy Mean Girls. Your genial host Norm Wilner was not wearing pink, because we recorded this on a Monday and pink is for Wednesdays, duh.

He created Less Than Kind and Hit On Me, he plays the Burly Russian in Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water and now actor-writer-producer Marvin Kaye rings in the new year with a conversation about Bruce Beresford’s devastating 1980 war drama Breaker Morant. Your genial host Norm Wilner read up on the Boer War for this.

Happy dystopian holidays! Your genial host Norm Wilner welcomes old friend and top set decoration buyer Alexandra Hooper -- whose work is showcased this month in Guillermo Del Toro's The Shape of Water and Alexander Payne's Downsizing -- to talk about Brazil, and how Terry Gilliam's 1985 masterpiece set her on the path to becoming the artist she is.

You didn’t think we were going to miss the opportunity to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Alien 3, did you? Elsewhere, NY director Jeffrey P. Nesker is looking to rehabilitate David Fincher’s moody monster movie, and your genial host Norm Wilner is willing to hear him out.

Dim the Fluorescents is finally opening in Toronto, so here’s co-star Claire Armstrong on the subtle, potent notes of Never Let Me Go, Mark Romanek’s eerily calm adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s disquieting novel about lifelong friends with a very specific destiny. Your genial host Norm Wilner is glad to bring this one back into circulation.

It's the 150th episode of the show, and this week's guest is very special indeed: it's Paul Scheer, of Human Giant and The League and How Did This Get Made and James Franco's instant cult movie The Disaster Artist! And he's here to talk about his love of another cult object: Bowfinger, the 1999 satire that brought Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy and Frank Oz together and set them loose on Hollywood hangers-on. Your genial host Norm Wilner renewed his MindHead membership for this.

His new movie Sweet Virginia is in theatres and on VOD in the U.S., and coming to Canada on December 1st, so it’s the perfect time for director Jamie M. Dagg to discuss the way Ron Fricke’s large-format documentary Baraka changed his understanding of cinema. Your genial host Norm Wilner has many questions.

Documentarian Jennifer Baichwal, whose new documentary Long Time Running captures the Tragically Hip on their heart-rending final tour, dives into The Dead Zone to unpack the philosophy and psychology of David Cronenberg’s terrific Stephen King adaptation. Your genial host Norm Wilner shows great restraint in only busting out his Christopher Walken impression once.

Filmmaker Brendan Prost (Spaces and Reservations, Sensitive Parts) brings the love for Nights and Weekends, the 2008 collaboration between Greta Gerwig and Joe Swanberg that really ought to be better remembered. Your genial host Norm Wilner gets all personal on this one. (Also, see Gerwig’s solo directorial debut Lady Bird in theatres this month! It’s good too!)

It’s a special Friday bonus episode with Lauren Lee Smith, whose new series Frankie Drake Mysteries premieres Monday November 6th on CBC! And she wants to talk about Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream! And we only have 20 minutes! Your genial host Norm Wilner is in no way intimidated by any of this.

In anticipation of FUBAR: Age of Computer‘s premiere on Viceland this Friday, November 3rd, director Michael Dowse (It’s All Gone Pete Tong, Goon, The F Word) celebrates Michael Cimino’s magnum opus Heaven’s Gate. Your genial host Norm Wilner apologizes for the abbreviated running time.

Actor and producer Paula Brancati — currently running for her life in Slasher: Guilty Party — embraces her Sicilian heritage by settling in with Francis Ford Coppola’s genre-defining blockbuster The Godfather. Your genial host Norm Wilner is happy to serve as consigliere.

French-born, Toronto-based actor, writer and producer Florian François -- whose new series Rencontres is available now on Bell Fibe TV1 -- drops in to discuss Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano's 2011 smash Intouchables, which paired François Cluzet and Omar Sy for a crowd-pleasing buddy comedy. (Sort of.) Your genial host Norm Wilner tries his best to get the accent right.

With Denis Villeneuve's sequel bringing it all back up again, writer-director Vincenzo Natali (Cube, Splice, the best episodes of Hannibal) settles in with Blade Runner, the 1982 thriller that redefined science-fiction cinema for a generation -- and started Ridley Scott on decades of obsessive re-editing. Your genial host Norm Wilner would like you to know there was a fan spinning for the entirety of the episode.

Sarah Kolasky, star of the new drama Great Great Great -- which she co-wrote and co-produced with director Adam Garnet Jones, and which opens this Friday after Wednesday night screenings at Landmark theaters across Canada -- digs into the emotional puzzle box that is Lynne Ramsay's Morvern Callar. Your genial host Norm Wilner has his Walkman at the ready.

Actor Rick Roberts snuck away from rehearsals for the Soulpepper production of Waiting For Godot — playing at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto through Saturday October 7th — to dig deep into the industrial and philosophical muck of David Lynch’s Eraserhead. Your genial host Norm Wilner has been looking forward to this one.

Just days after Joseph Kahn's Bodied won the Grolsch Midnight Madness People's Choice Award at TIFF, here's screenwriter Alex Larsen -- who based the script on his own life as battle rapper Kid Twist -- to celebrate the wonders of Hayao Miyazaki's luxurious mythical adventure Princess Mononoke. Your genial host Norm Wilner can't believe it's taken this long for someone to pick a Studio Ghibli movie.

He's the star of the new film Black Cop, which has its world premiere at TIFF tonight (Tuesday September 12th) and screens twice more over the course of the week, and Ronnie Rowe, Jr. is on the podcast to talk about Mathieu Kassovitz' 1995 breakout La Haine, a thriller whose themes have only grown more relevant in the decades since it arrived. Your genial host Norm Wilner lives a life without hate; just don't mention the Transformers movies.

Her first feature Mary Goes Round premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival tomorrow -- that's Saturday, September 9th -- so there's no better time for writer-director Molly McGlynn to drop in and talk about her love for American Beauty, which put Sam Mendes and Alan Ball on the map when it bowed at TIFF in 1999. Your genial host Norm Wilner is willing to look closer.

In advance of The Lowest of the Low's new album Do The Right Now dropping this Friday, September 8th -- and the Low launching said album with a concert at the Danforth Music Hall on Saturday September 9th -- occasional soundtrack composer and full-time musician Ron Hawkins stops in to talk about The Third Man, that all-time great Carol Reed thriller where Orson Welles rides a Ferris wheel. Your genial host Norm Wilner brought his cuckoo clock.

There’s no better guest to take us into Fan Expo than actor Jason Deline, who brings his profound love for Batman: The Movie — and its star, the late Adam West — into the studio. Your genial host Norm Wilner has Bat-Shark-Repellent standing by, because he’s considerate like that.

Musician Luke Lalonde makes his acting debut in Pavan Moondi's Sundowners (opening in Toronto this Friday, August 25th, at TIFF Bell Lightbox), so he drops in to discuss Spike Jonze's amazing Adaptation., the one where Charlie Kaufman writes himself into a movie about Charlie Kaufman writing himself into a movie. Your genial host Norm Wilner was pretty psyched about this one.

With his first feature O, Brazen Age! arriving on iTunes today, writer-director Alexander Carson stops in to discuss Terence Davies’ autobiographical 1988 drama Distant Voices, Still Lives and its profound impact on his own artistic development. Your genial host Norm Wilner made sure to put the kettle on.

Actor, writer and producer Kelly McCormack — currently killing it as Zeph on Killjoys and Eloida on The Neddeaus of Duquesne Island — brings big love for Brian de Palma’s Phantom of the Paradise, the 1974 cult classic that reimagines Faust for the club age. Your genial host Norm Wilner spends the episode wondering if they’ve both been dosed.

With  his first feature Lady Macbeth in theaters in the U.S. and Canada, it's the perfect time for director William Oldroyd to drop in and talk about his fascination with Michael Haneke's Cache, the 2005 thriller in which Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche are tormented by an unknown stalker with a very patient camcorder. Your genial host Norm Wilner has never owned a video camera, honest.