Jim Groom and Michael Branson Smith discuss The Terminator, where the nuclear family becomes humanity’s answer to nuclear annihilation.

Jim Groom and Michael Branson Smith discuss WarGames and the generation gap between computer-literate kids and the adults trying to keep control of the machines.

Jim Groom and Michael Branson Smith talk Red Dawn, boyhood war games, frontier fathers, and what happens when children are taught to turn grief into violence.

Jim Groom and Michael Branson Smith follow Rosetta and Luciano across Italy as institutions reject them and a reluctant escort begins to take responsibility for their lives.

Jim Groom and Michael Branson Smith travel across Brazil with Dora and Josué as an unwanted obligation slowly becomes a family neither wants to lose.

Jim Groom and Michael Branson Smith consider how Raise the Red Lantern turns marriage, ritual, and family tradition into a system of control.

Jim Groom and Michael Branson Smith discuss unfinished dreams, family strain, and the humor that keeps everyone together in Mike Leigh’s Life Is Sweet.

Jim Groom and Michael Branson Smith follow Razieh into the streets of Tehran, where a lost banknote turns a simple trip for a goldfish into a child’s journey through the strange and contradictory world of adults.