In this week's Movie Date podcast, Rafer and Kristen review "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters," and in the process, are forced to explore one of Rafer's least favorite movie themes in recent years: the sibling romance. Other movies discussed this week are "Parker," starring Jason Statham and Jennifer Lopez; and "Movie 43," starring Kate Winslet, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Emma Stone, Kate Bosworth, Uma Thurman, and everyone else in Hollywood. Warning to the easily queasy: this podcast includes talk of fecal matter, brother-sister romance, brother-brother romance, misogyny, and menstruation.

Welcome to the third Movie Date Award Season Dispatch - in which Rafer and Kristen do not talk about award season at all, and instead focus on the strange intersections of politics and performance. Each dispatch is taken from a live interview, led by WNYC's Amy Eddings, and broadcast during All Things Considered on WNYC.

In this week's Movie Date podcast, Rafer responds to one of Kristen's harshest critics - with a giant spoonful of sugar. Rafer and Kristen also give their thoughts on this week's big releases: "Mama," starring Jessica Chastain; "Broken City," starring Russell Crowe, Mark Wahlberg, and Catherine Zeta Jones, and "The Last Stand," starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Advanced warning: if you can't stand sincere soft rock, you might want to fast-forward through this week's trivia question.    

Welcome to the second of several Movie Date Award Season Dispatches. Each dispatch is taken from a live interview, led by WNYC's Amy Eddings, and broadcast during All Things Considered on WNYC. In this dispatch, Rafer and Kristen share their thoughts on the Golden Globes - from the hosting to the winners to that speech by Lifetime Achievement winner Jodie Foster.

At The Takeaway, we think poetry was built for the digital age — and this inauguration could use a People’s Poem. So we invited noted poet Kwame Dawes to start us off with a first line — and we want you to be our co-authors! It’s a grand experiment — and here’s how you can make your voice heard.

Welcome to the first of several Movie Date Award Season Dispatches. Each dispatch is taken from a live interview, led by WNYC's Amy Eddings, and broadcast during All Things Considered on WNYC. In this dispatch, Rafer and Kristen share their thoughts on the Oscar nominees - and whether they truly represent the best pictures of the year. 

In this week's podcast, Rafer and Kristen talk about whether Gangster Squad is a horrible date, or merely a tolerable one. They also share their excitement about the Oscar nominations, the Razzie nominations, and this weekend's Golden Globe Awards. Welcome to red carpet season!

Rafer and Kristen answer just a few of the many letters they've received in recent weeks from Movie Date listeners, including questions about "The Hobbit," "Les Miserables," and "Django: Unchained." Plus, Kristen and Rafer talk about "On the Road," "The Impossible," and "Promised Land."

It's Christmas 2012, one of the most highly anticipated movie release days of the year, and Rafer and Kristen are prepared to throw down over two of the big ones: "Les Miserables" and "Django Unchained."

It's the week before Christmas, when a lot of movies hit the big screen. Of course, some of them are better than others, and Rafer and Kristen each have their favorites. On the chopping block: the new Kathryn Bigelow film about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, "Zero Dark 30"; the mother-son road trip comedy starring Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogan "The Guilt Trip"; Judd Apatow's follow up to "Knocked Up," "This is 40"; and the movie that turns Werner Herzog into an action star "Jack Reacher."  

In this week's podcast, Rafer and Kristen review the highly anticipated "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey." Along they way, they do their best Gollum imitations, contemplate the greatness of Benny Hill's humor, and recognize the similarities between "The Hobbit" and "The Smurfs." 

This week, Rafer admits to being a player, Kristen admits to wanting more handcuffs in the movies, and they both mull over why every person from Europe or the past in Hollywood films speaks with a British accent. Along the way, they also give their thoughts on "Playing for Keeps" (starring Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel, Catherine Zeta Jones, and Uma Thurman) and "The Fitzgerald Family Christmas" (starring and directed by Edward Burns).

Alfred Hitchcock was an imperfect man, and the new movie "Hitchcock" puts many of those imperfections on display. From his fixations on young blondes to his work obsessions to his heavy reliance (both professionally and personally) on his wife, Alma.

But is the movie telling the whole story? Is it embellishing?

Kristen and Rafer wanted to find out, and so they decided to turn to an expert.

For this Thanksgiving's box office releases, the movie date team reviews four movies; 'Rise of the Guardians', 'Silver linings Playbook',  'Life of Pi',  and  'Red Dawn.'

In this week's podcast, Rafer and Kristen review the highly anticipated final installment of the Twilight saga. "Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2"  is expected to be one of the highest grossing movies of 2012. Vampire lovers prepare to be awed in one way or another.  

In this week's podcast, Rafer and Kristen catch up after more than a week of being derailed by Hurricane Sandy. On the menu: Denzel Washington's booze-filled suspense flick "Flight," the long-awaited Daniel Day-Lewis-led "Lincoln," and "Skyfall," the new James Bond movie that has Rafer wondering if nobody does it better...and Kristen wondering if something fishy is going on with her local multiplex.  

Spanning four hundred years, and featuring an all-star cast of award-winning actors (most of whom play multiple characters), the new film "Cloud Atlas" is big, ambitious, and divisive.

Not surprisingly, Rafer Guzman and Kristen Meinzer find themselves disagreeing about whether it's any good, whether it makes any sense, and whether it's worth ...

The phrase “climate change” was not used once in the three presidential debates.

Four years ago, both presidential candidates agreed that climate change was a critical issue demanding urgent attention. But that national call to action has disappeared and in the past four years public opinion on the climate issue has cooled.

In this week's Movie Date podcast, Kristen finds one new movie comparable to "Scooby Doo" and another to be comparable to the tea cup ride at Disneyland. Meanwhile, Rafer confesses to some bad behavior at a certain movie screening, and admits that he likes Madea.

In this week's Movie Date podcast, Kristen shares her memories of the Ayatollah Khomeini and waterbeds while Rafer reminisces about Dr. Demento and parody music. It's all in honor of the new Ben Affleck-directed movie - based on real events - "Argo." They also talk a bit about "Seven Psychopaths" and Mahatma Gandhi.