In a year marked by the likes of Barbenheimer, Paul Giamatti’s wall-eyed stare, deadly flowers in Oklahoma and the musical mastery of Leonard Bernstein, it should make for an interesting night on Sunday for the annual Academy Awards fiesta. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart run down their guesses as to who will walk away with Oscar gold versus who they think should win.

When the names of certain filmmakers are mentioned, expectations among movie fans are bound to rise. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss the work of two such filmmakers: Wim Wenders, director of the Oscar-nominated International Feature Film “Perfect Days,” and Ethan Coen—yes, half of the moviemaking duo with brother Joel—this time directing on his own the offbeat comedy noir “Drive-Away Dolls.” They also mention “Rustin,” a biopic that is powered by an Oscar-nominated performance by Coleman Domingo.

The Bee Gees sang about “Night Fever,” but this time of year the main feeling among movie fans is "Oscar fever." On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss still more Oscar nominees, specifically the Live Action and Animated Short Film programs. But before that, they talk about the sumptuous French blend of cuisine and amour titled “The Taste of Things.”

We’re still a month away from the Super Bowl for movie fans, which is how Movies 101 typically views the annual Oscars broadcast, so there’s still plenty of time to catch up with the various nominees. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss one of those nominees, the German film “The Teachers’ Lounge,” which is up for Best International Feature Film, and then shift direction to talk about the Netflix documentary “The Greatest Night in Pop.”

It’s been over two decades now and the Spokane International Film Festival (SpIFF), despite a number of obstacles, continues to thrive. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss what to expect from the 2024 Spokane International Film Festival, which begins its eight-day run this weekend. Prior to that, though, they discuss “The Zone of Interest,” a German-language film—written and directed by British filmmaker Jonathan Glazer—that has been nominated for five Academy Awards.

On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss a big-screen feature titled “Origin” and a Hulu streamer titled “Self Reliance,” and also give a quick preview of the coming Spokane International Film Festival.

One of the most admirable human characteristics is that of endurance—the ability to forge on despite dire circumstances. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss three movies, each of which tackles some variation on that theme. “All of Us Strangers” stars Andrew Scott as a man haunted by a tragedy he suffered as a pre-teen, “Society of the Snow” is another retelling of the 1972 Andes airplane crash, and “Remembering Gene Wilder” is an exploration of the late comic actor’s life—which at one point involved the loss of a beloved partner and at another was challenged by a crippling disease.

More than halfway through the month of January, and we at Movies 101 are still catching up with the movie releases from 2023. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss three films from last year: the social commentary “American Fiction,” the study of dysfunctional family and professional wrestling titled “The Iron Claw” and the Tunisian documentary “Four Daughters.”

It’s already a new year, and yet we here at Movies 101 central are still catching up with the gaggle of late releases from 2023. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss three of those releases. First up is “Poor Things," a bizarre blend of feminism and—as Leslie Kelly terms it—“arty soft-core porn.” Next, the biopic of the late carmaker Enzo Ferrari, titled succinctly “Ferrari,” and then a Finnish study of an off-again, on-again would-be love affair called “Fallen Leaves.”

It’s that time again—when along with looking ahead to a new year, we look back at the one we just lived through. And for movie fans, that means recalling what wonders we saw on screens both big and little. On this week’s show, Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart run down their picks for what each of them thought were the best films of the last year. They also list some of the rest of what they thought made 2023 the year that it was, for good and bad.