Jim Groom and Michael Branson Smith dig into Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm (1997), where suburban Connecticut families freeze under the pressures of shifting social mores, crumbling marriages, and one fatal ice storm.

Jim Groom and Michael Branson Smith discuss Todd Solondz’s 1996 indie darling Welcome to the Dollhouse. Dawn Wiener faces the brutality of junior high, the cruelty of family favoritism, and the faint promise of escape through music, fantasy, and misfit connection.

Jim Groom and Michael Branson Smith frame a new lens on Kids (1995): how the real “kids” built a family in the absence of parents, and how that story was twisted by outsiders.

Jim Groom and Michael Branson Smith discuss Nai Nai’s proverbs to AIM slang, as Dìdi reveals how families and friends communicate expectations and escape them.

Jim Groom and Michael Branson Smith talk Weapons as it confronts America’s cycle of denial — from Sandy Hook to generational rot — asking if the real horror is how much we want a scapegoat.

Jim Groom and Michael Branson Smith dive into the house that bleeds, locks its doors, and bankrupts the Lutzes—turning the American Dream into an American Nightmare.

Jim Groom and Michael Branson Smith discuss snowsuits, pajamas, and psychoplasmics—Cronenberg’s rage babies embody the horror of childhood shaped by parental wounds.

Jim Groom and Michael Branson Smith discover when the American Dream breaks down, even the family dog learns to kill.