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.