This week, writer-director Alex Noyer – whose folk-horror creepshow Love Is the Monster is newly available on VOD – asks whether Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead is a faithful remake of the George A. Romero classic, or something entirely new. Your genial host Norm Wilner is very interested in the answer.

His new film Islands is now on digital and on demand, and writer-director Jan-Ole Gerster is here to dig into a favorite thriller: Martin Scorsese’s  revolutionary hit Taxi Driver. Your genial host Norm Wilner can’t believe no one’s ever picked this one before.

With her novel This Is Not a Test now a movie streaming on Shudder in the US and available on VOD in Canada, author Courtney Summers is here to howl about The Wolf of Snow Hollow, in which writer-director Jim Cummings plays a small-town deputy trying to solve a spate of violent murders while also dealing with his chaotic personal life. Your genial host Norm Wilner strongly suggests you watch the movie before listening to this episode.

With his ‘80s dramedy This Too Shall Pass now streaming in the US and Canada, writer-director Rob Grant wants to celebrate Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me, the coming-of-age movie that changed everyone’s idea of what “a Stephen King movie” could look like. Your genial host Norm Wilner is embracing the melancholy on this one.

With her first feature Forastera opening at Film Forum in New York this Friday, writer-director Lucía Aleñar Iglesias is here to explore the hidden depths of Celine Sciamma’s Petite Maman, the 2021 drama about a little girl who copes with her grandmother’s death by making a new friend: Her own mother, when she was also eight years old. Your genial host Norm Wilner wants you to know it’s simpler than it sounds.

With her hybrid documentary Modern Whore now available on digital and on demand, and screening this Thursday in Toronto at TIFF Lightbox, director Nicole Bazuin takes some time to celebrate the wild creative freedoms of The Great Muppet Caper – the one where Kermit and Fozzie play identical twins, and Miss Piggy rides a motorcycle. Your genial host Norm Wilner is so glad someone finally brought the Muppets to the podcast.

With their charming indie The Travel Companion rolling through its US release, directors and co-writers Travis Wood and Alex Mallis are here to ponder the paradoxes and metaphors of Hong Sang-soo’s 2011 drama The Day He Arrives. Your genial host Norm Wilner is really happy he could drop this one right after the Tropical Malady episode, for reasons that will become apparent.

It’s a Friday bonus episode! And we’re joined by writer-director Bretten Hannam, whose new film At the Place of Ghosts opens across Canada today, for a look at Apitchatpong Weerasethakul’s beguiling 2004 breakout Tropical Malady. Your genial host Norm Wilner is sorry about all the table noises, we recorded this one in-person during TIFF.

With his new film Two Pianos now playing in New York and Los Angeles, award-winning French writer-director Arnaud Desplechin is here to discuss a film he loves with his whole heart: Judd Apatow’s Funny People, the one where Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen play comedians grappling with life, death and jokes. Your genial host Norm Wilner truly did not see this coming.

With his latest drama Erupcja – starring Charli XCX as a young woman adrift in Warsaw – now playing select North American theaters, indie filmmaker Pete Ohs is here to explore the evocative world of Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist, about a very polite collision of cultures in a Japanese mountain village. Your genial host Norm Wilner also thinks this was one of the best films of 2024.