This week Leslie goes fifteen rounds in the ring arguing that tough guy Rocky is a Virgin’s Promise story at heart, while the opposition brings some heavyweight counterarguments.

Rountable team member Anne pitched the 2002 meta-comedy Adaptation this week, as proof that you can break some big story rules and still succeed—but maybe only if you’re screenwriter Charlie Kaufmann. His wild adaptation of Susan Orlean’s nonfiction book The Orchid Thief was directed by Spike Jonze.

This week the Roundtablers succumb to the selkie’s call with Song of the Sea, Kim’s pick for a story that combines Virgin’s Promise and Hero’s Journey structures. This 2014 animated fantasy based on Irish myth was written by Will Collins and directed by Tomm Moore.

In the premiere of Season Three, the Roundtablers debate Valerie’s assertion that Manchester By The Sea exemplifies the story principle of Surprising But Inevitable Ending. This haunting 2016 Oscar winner was written and directed by Richard Lonergan.

This week the Roundtablers bring the the Morality genre in for a rough landing with Flight, the 2012 film by Robert Zemeckis starring Denzel Washington.

This week the Roundtablers sneak into the Crime genre and make off with a rather poor impression of the 2007 caper comedy Mad Money, written by Glenn Gers and directed by Callie Khouri.

The Roundtable team touches down into the Worldview genre this week with the 2016 science fiction revelation drama Arrival, written Eric Heisserer and Ted Chiang, based on Ted Chiang’s “The Story of Your Life” and directed by Denis Villeneuve.

The Roundtablers trace the outlines of the Status genre this week with Real Women Have Curves, directed in 2002 by Patricia Cardoso from a script by Josefina Lopez and George LaVoo.

The Roundtable team marches into the Society genre this week with the 2014 historical drama Selma.

This week the Roundtablers throw the Lasso of Truth around the 2017 superhero Action movie Wonder Woman, making it tell the truth about its story, directed by Patty Jenkins with screenplay by Alan Heinberg.