The most radical thing about The Look of Silence isn't that a man sits knee-to-knee while interviewing the men who brutally murdered his brother, but that the man approaches those interviews with the goal of forgiving them.

What does it really mean for a movie to be "patriotic"? Every list of patriotic movies features the same rah-rah films celebrating our military prowess, our national history and our small town pastimes, but what if you had to make a list of patriotic movies that didn't include The Patriot or The Sandlot or Saving Private Ryan or any of the others?

Is it possible that a mockumentary about a beauty pageant can both celebrate and make fun of tradition? Are the rebellious teenagers of Dazed and Confused more American than apple pie? Can the married owners of The Birdcage be emblematic of family life in this country?

These questions and more as Geoff and I explore 8 unconventional patriotic movies. Plus, even more quandaries as we answer your screenwriting questions about compelling characters, villains who want to get caught and more.

Everyone else was doing it, and since we're nothing if not topical, we've decided to rank every Pixar movie, but we're also going beyond a simple list to discuss what makes Pixar magical (and/or disappointing). Will we put Up ahead of Toy Story? Will we put Ratatouille ahead of Finding Nemo? Will the ranking ultimately be arbitrary because there's only cosmetic distance between each entry of the top ten?

Satisfy your curiosity for these questions now.

To help us out, we've invited FSR Associate Editor Kate Erbland and Mousterpiece Cinema co-host Josh Spiegel to wrestle with the most important cultural, position-based question of our time.

You should follow Kate (@katerbland), Josh (@mousterpiece), the show (@brokenprojector), Geoff (@drgmlatulippe) and Scott (@scottmbeggs) on Twitter for more on a daily basis.

This week on the show, we explore the curious trend of summer high school movies developing cancer -- why are so many YA summer releases designed to make us cry? Who's up for a triple feature of Paper Towns, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and The Fault in Our Stars?

Plus, Geoff offers a control-based hypothesis for why book fans have produced a loud backlash to Game of Thrones this season.

And our special interview this week is with John Cusack. Jack Giroux speaks to the veteran actor about playing Beach Boy genius Brian Wilson in Love and Mercy.

Mad Max: Fury Road and Pitch Perfect 2 are both out this weekend, and since we're nothing if not topical, we're covering both because they make an excellent double feature.

First up, special guest co-host John Gholson will review Fury Road without spoilers, while placing it within the larger context of the Mad Max Universe and explaining why we should feel free to buy into the hype. Then, he and I will discuss the issue of the dearth of Black Widow action figures and why we can't be too quick to call the toymakers evil.

For the grand finale, Pitch Perfect and Pitch Perfect 2 screenwriter Kay Cannon joins us to explain what's inherently funny about placing two naked people into a scene about joining a collegiate club and to talk about how her experiences on 30 Rock helped pave the way for writing feature films.

Kevin Pollak's latest movie is a documentary that questions whether pain is necessary to create the kind of comedy that resonates. Misery Loves Comedy sees an enormous amount of professional funny people explaining their experiences, and Pollak joins us this week to discuss the myth of the tortured artist and what he learned crafting 700 hours of footage into a 90-minute movie.

Plus, Geoff and I will dissect a serious scene from a comedy -- specifically the To The Pain speech from The Princess Bride -- in order to see how one cup of dirt and three cups of sugar can create meaningful dramatic moments in a movie that makes you laugh. 

Double plus, we'll have a spoiler-free interrogation reviewification of Avengers: Age of Ultron that sends us to the corner store for ear plugs. 

You should follow the show (@brokenprojector), Geoff (@drgmlatulippe) and Scott (@scottmbeggs) on Twitter for more on a daily basis.

Now that we've had time to process Ex Machina, it's easy to recognize that we haven't had enough time to fully process Ex Machina. However, we're going to dive into the deep end of its concepts, philosophies and plot devices with writer/director Alex Garland. We'll also discuss the game theory of misdirecting your audience and compare the isolation of Ex Machina to Garland's other scripts.

Plus, with Geoff still on assignment, we're pleased to have author and screenwriter Jason Arnopp fill in as guest-host for a conversation about what horror and sci-fi have in common.

You should follow Jason (@jasonarnopp), the show (@brokenprojector), Geoff (@drgmlatulippe) and Scott (@scottmbeggs) on Twitter for more on a daily basis.

When she was ten years old, Marya E. Gates' favorite actor was Nicholas Cage. That's not the only thing you need to know about her, but it's definitely important. She's also currently spending an entire year watching only movies directed by women, and she's our guest co-host this week.

We'll have a thorough, frank discussion about her experience watching movies made by women, the challenges facing female directors and the potential solutions to bring greater equality and more voices to the studio system.

Plus, we'll lighten things up a bit by celebrating the hallmark style of 80s movies. Naturally that involves a lot of lace and werewolf fur.

You should follow Marya (@oldfilmsflicker), the show (@brokenprojector), Geoff (@drgmlatulippe) and Scott (@scottmbeggs) on Twitter for more on a daily basis.

If you're standing in the rain with a lost love, this is the perfect episode to listen to. It'll dry you right out.

This week, Geoff and I will briefly question why Nicholas Sparks keeps getting away with writing the same exact story over and over before sharing a list of some of our favorite tragedies. Somehow, the topics blend together perfectly.

Plus, we'll answer screenwriting questions about annoying characters and overbearingly bleak tones, and The Immigrant writer/director James Gray will talk about actors with surprising styles and what he got out of film school.

You should follow the show (@brokenprojector), Geoff (@drgmlatulippe) and Scott (@scottmbeggs) on Twitter for more on a daily basis.

This week on the show it's our honor to have modern indie pioneer Hal Hartley join us to discuss love, religion and revenge in his latest movie Ned Rifle.

Plus, we brainstorm 6 pitches for animated children's movies that Disney should remake as live-action, and Geoff's pick for what actor should play Ursula in a dark Little Mermaid wins everything.

Double plus, we answer your screenwriting questions about managing to live while attempting to sell a script in L.A., the difficulties for non-English-speaking writers, and the guidelines for killing your main character in a blaze of glory at the end. 

You should follow the show (@brokenprojector), Geoff (@drgmlatulippe) and Scott (@scottmbeggs) on Twitter for more on a daily basis.

Should TV shows and movies with mysteries at their hearts reveal their answers or is it better to let the top spin? What's the right balance in making your audience wonder and making your audience gasp at the answers? Geoff and I will consider these questions with Lost, Agatha Christie and Inception in tow. Plus, Geoff offers a 4-layer dip for categorizing mysterious stories. We'll call it the Oldboy Upstream Color Spectrum until someone else comes up with a better name.

The bigger question on the show this week is whether we want the things we think we want. With new episodes of The X-Files coming soon, and so much geek culture co-opted, repackaged and dumped on our doorsteps, it's starting to seem like the disappointments outweigh the anticipation.

Our big finish is a conversation with Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, the filmmakers behind the romance-horror Spring, where a misguided old monster and a misguided young monster help each other while falling in love. It's as if Linklater and Cronenberg had a baby (with dragon wings and squid arms).

You should follow the show (@brokenprojector), Geoff (@drgmlatulippe) and Scott (@scottmbeggs) on Twitter for more on a daily basis.

Do you have to move to Los Angeles to become a professional screenwriter?

This is probably the most common question that aspiring professional screenwriters have. The answer is also the most hated, most despised, most likely truest pieces of screenwriting advice that aspiring professional screenwriters can get. However, instead of merely ending the conversation by insisting you uproot your life in order to make your dream come true, Geoff and I want to dissect and explain exactly why living in Los Angeles is so vital to creating and maintaing a career as a screenwriter.

Plus, we explore and revel at the concept that Cinderella, Captain America and Harry Potter are all the same character.

If you've ever stuffed DVDs into envelopes or furiously filled out Without a Box submission forms in order to prepare your baby, your darling, your movie to be sent off to a film festival for their harsh and final judgment, this one's for you. DC Shorts founder and programmer Jon Gann joins us to discuss some common mistakes made by filmmakers attempting to get their work screened and to talk about the philosophy behind how his team chooses what movies they pick.

Plus, Geoff and I answer your screenwriting questions about avoiding procrastination, specialized drafts and how to write scene description without going overboard.

You should follow the show (@brokenprojector), Geoff (@drgmlatulippe) and Scott (@scottmbeggs) on Twitter for more on a daily basis.

In Everly, Salma Hayek's title character is stuck inside a highrise apartment with well-armed bad guys constantly coming through the door. She'll need a lot of fire power and guts to survive the night.

Naturally, director Joe Lynch says, "the whole movie is about a mother and daughter reconnecting."

Our conversation with the filmmaker obviously covers the emotion and tonally wild action of Everly, but we also cover topics like making movies that Hollywood won't and the European techno-erotica of RoboCop. Plus, Lynch's enthusiasm should replace the three cups of coffee and that eight ball you were planning on crushing today.

Also on the program, I try to pinpoint exactly why the Oscars feel perfunctory and devoid of meaning.

Gary Whitta got a big break with The Book of Eli, a spec screenplay where he doesn't so much save the cat as he kills it and cooks it over a spit within the first few pages. Now he's coming off writing for one of the stand-alone Star Wars movies, he's working with Mark Millar on Starlight, and his debut novel "Abomination" is available for pre-order through an innovative publishing platform. It has everything in the above image and more.

Whitta joins me this week as our special guest co-host (Geoff is on assignment in Kazakhstan), and we discuss the dominance of The Empire Strikes Back, the slightly ironic relationship movies have to comic books now and why he might not have done the very thing that brought him success knowing what he knows today.

Things get educational, so grab a notepad and a splashguard.

You should follow Gary (@garywhitta), the show (@brokenprojector), Geoff (@drgmlatulippe) and Scott (@scottmbeggs) on Twitter for more on a daily basis.

Last week we looked at American Sniper as a political football, and this week we turn to a fresh take on military life which will sadly only get a fraction of the attention Sniper did. 

Amira and Sam star Martin Starr will discuss preparing to play an army veteran, finding humor and nuance in an important script and the vital way in which the movie portrays a progressive Muslim girl. 

Plus, Geoff and I will weigh in on the blockbuster-ish news about Ghostbusters getting an all-female cast and Indiana Jones hypothetically looking to Chris Pratt to take the whip and fedora. 

Then, Rob Hunter will take some time out of shivering in the cold at Sundance to tell us his five favorites of the fest. You'll want to write these down and hunt them down in the future. 

You should follow the show (@brokenprojector), Geoff (@drgmlatulippe) and Scott (@scottmbeggs) on Twitter for more on a daily basis.

Through editorials and online chatter, we seem to be struggling to talk about American Sniper in a meaningful way, deciding instead to divide into Team A and Team B before launching empty words back and forth. It's a political movie, yes, but it's vitally important that we remain able to discuss political movies without succumbing to conversation-ending blather.

This week, Geoff and I will discuss the great need for art to stay uninfected by the corrosive divisiveness that is modern political discourse. 

We'll also dissect a handful of amazing, inspiring (and disheartening) movie speeches and answer a listener screenwriting question about what goes into a shooting script. You'll want to wear a helmet for this one.

Now that we've all had some time to think about it, we're going to explore the best movies of 2004 after dissecting our favorites from 2014. Pay extra special attention to the names of filmmakers, writers and actors that are shared between the years. What has stood the small test of time? What has survived by living in our memories or hiding out in our hearts? The answers will probably not surprise you or be in any way controversial.

To undertake this epic task, we've brought on FSR associate editor Kate Erbland and freelance writer for Esquire and The Atlantic Alexeander Huls to round out a four player rodeo of film appreciation.

You should follow Kate (@katerbland), Alex (@alxhuls), the show (@brokenprojector), Geoff (@drgmlatulippe) and Scott (@scottmbeggs) on Twitter for more on a daily basis.

It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new year, which means that we'll be examine the concept of beginnings by figuring out how three different movies (Scream, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Drive) successfully set up the rest of their runtimes for success.

Plus, we'll answer your screenwriting questions and try to explain why the Academy considers Whiplash to be an adapted script when it's an original concept. 

We'll be speaking with a co-lead for one of the semi-finalist teams, Tim Wen, whose short film Unexpected Arrival earned one of the top spots and a chance to compete for the grand prize. He'll talk about the challenge of making something quick without a budget and how to aim the camera in a way that hides your flaws.

Plus, while Geoff is sleeping off an egg nog bender, I'll offer three ingredients for a successful boxing movie and challenge you to correct me without your fists.

You should follow the show (@brokenprojector), Geoff (@drgmlatulippe) and Scott (@scottmbeggs) on Twitter for more on a daily basis.

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