Your Brain on Film

The stress of holding contradictory beliefs—also known as cognitive dissonance—is a common struggle everyone experiences. Just...not everyone can cope with it.  First Reformed is the cinematic encapsulation of what can happen when we allow that dissonance to consume us.

Gone With the Wind and Birth of a Nation are two films that depict the America many white men would like to live in. Spike Lee uses BlacKkKlansman to cinematically survey the decades-long fallout from those racist attitudes, recalling concepts and truths from Ta-Nehisi Coates' book "Between the World and Me" to depict African Americans' ever-present struggle to exist comfortably in their black bodies.

Filmmakers are often heavily influenced by other artists, including musicians. And that musical influence guides the way they tell stories. I'd like to make a case that there's a deeper story to Mid90s than what appears on the surface—and it largely stems from Jonah Hill's infatuation with Kanye West.

At the beginning of Crazy Rich Asians, Rachel is teaching a class on the art of game theory. It's a craft studied by the top athletes, economists, and psychologists in the world—and it can improve the way you approach any situation in life. In this episode, we explore how Rachel uses game theory to win love.

The rabbit-filled ending of The Favourite is, indeed, a strange one—but it's also an ending that's easy to track if we think about the movie's true story. Abigail and Sarah’s power struggle not only ruins Queen Anne, but puts the entirety of Great Britain in jeopardy. In effect, this period piece becomes a timeless, cautionary tale about the ugly effects politics can have on everyone.