Kristen Meinzer

In this week's Movie Date podcast, Rafer and Kristen look at the new Johnny Depp animated lizard cowboy vehicle, "Rango," and debate whether the film's grissly characters and graphic violence make it the best or worst children's movie ever.

You may know Josh Radnor best as the "I" of the Emmy-award winning TV show "How I met your Mother." But Radnor is also a director and writer, and today, his debut film "Happythankyoumoreplease" hits theatres, in limited release. The film centers on a young man named Sam, played by Radnor, and on his friends, all of whom are trying to figure out how to grow up and find love. But Sam’s journey takes an unexpected twist when a little boy named Rasheen decides to follow him home one day, and Sam decides to keep him. Radnor talks about his new film and about making the transition from small screen to silver screen.

Movie Date co-host and Newsday movie critic, Rafer Guzman gives us his take on the weekend's releases: the conspiracy theory romance “The Adjustment Bureau,” which stars Matt Damon and Emily Blunt; the eighties-themed romantic comedy “Take Me Home Tonight,” which stars Topher Grace and Anna Faris; and the new animated feature “Rango,” in which Johnny Depp stars as a lizard cowboy. 

The music industry has been criticized in recent years for having too many manufactured stars, and not enough artists; too many middle men making money, and not enough musicians being paid. But some are trying to forge a new way for a viable music market, like Stephen Nawara. He is a Detroit entrepreneur who has created a new site that lets customers to pay want they want, even if that amount is nothing at all.

They say that history is written by the people in power. And for centuries in the Western world, that meant that stories by and about people descending from Africa were barely touched upon in the history books. The Digital Diaspora Family Reunion (DDFR) is trying to change that. A web-based multi-media project, the DDFR encourages people with African ancestry to submit family photos, along with stories, from their own attics and shoeboxes.

In England, and around the world, all eyes may be on Kate Middleton, the future queen. But long before Middleton or even Queen Elizabeth I, women of the monarchy were attracting great attention and wielding surprising power in England. Helen Castor is a historian who’s been delving into the lives of these powerful, but largely unrecognized women, as far back as nine hundred years ago. She’s the author of “She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth.”

“Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark” is the most expensive Broadway production in history, and may very well be the most talked about musical in decades. Boasting a $65 million budget, a score by U2’s Bono and the Edge, twenty seven daredevil flying scenes, and direction by Tony award-winner Julie Taymor, it appears to have all the ingredients for success. But the show has also been plagued by a seemingly endless supply of unintended drama: injuries, postponments and more. Tired of it all, and convinced he could deliver a better Spider-Man musical sooner, Justin Moran wrote and produced his own Spider-Man musical.

"The King's Speech" took home best picture and three other trophies last night at the 83rd Academy Awards. Meanwhile, "Inception" also won four awards, mostly in technical categories. Other memorable moments included an exasperated Melissa Leo dropping the "f-word" while accepting her Oscar for best supporting actress, and co-host James Franco appearing on stage in a dress.

If you missed last night's broadcast, don't fret. Rafer Guzman, film critic for Newsday, and co-host of The Takeaway Movie Date Podcast with Takeaway producer Kristen Meinzer, are here to help with their Oscar hangover cure: a hearty mix of the winners, losers, and surprises that will be heating up YouTube and the water cooler conversations today.

A little over a week ago, in the midst of the heated debates around our nation’s proposed federal budget cuts, Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-WI) attracted national attention. After 240 of 241 House Republicans voted to strip Planned Parenthood of government funding, Moore spoke up. But rather than just explain that Planned Parenthood is the nation’s leading provider of reproductive health care, she chose to tell her personal story of growing up as a poor, single, teenage mother. Congresswoman Moore joins us from Wisconsin to talk about her story and her thoughts on reproductive health funding.

After nearly four hours of winners and losers and montages and speeches and glitzy gowns and fancy jewels, all I can say is … not every Oscars can be magical.

Or, more accurately, the Oscars can be downright boring.

Immediately after the end of the Civil War, Congress drafted and pushed to ratify the 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution, which were intended to guarantee African-Americans full equality under the law. But despite these amendments, Jim Crow laws quickly took hold of much of the nation, stripping African-Americans of such basic rights as serving on juries and voting without the penalty of a poll tax. What went wrong?

In this week's Movie Date podcast, Rafer and Kristen share their Oscar predictions and preferences for the big five categories — supporting actress, supporting actor, lead actress, lead actor, and picture. They also throw in a wild card category that they both admit they know nothing about.

It’s hard to believe that Oscars day – my favorite day of the year – is only 48 hours away.

All year, I’ve been gearing up for the big day, watching everything from awful foreign language flicks (the worst: "Biutiful") to amazingly touching animated shorts (my favorite: "The Lost Thing").

Below are my predictions for who I think will win and who I want to win for a dozen randomly selected categories. Check back in late Sunday night/early Monday morning to get the final (and full) list of winners and be sure to follow my live Tweeting on Oscar night.

And don't forget, to make your own picks before Sunday!

The Oscars are this Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern Time and all week long, we’ve been gearing up for the big night, interviewing nominees and blogging about the awards show. And even before their nominations were announced, we were sitting down with Melissa Leo, Colin Firth, and Danny Boyle. Today we'll make our final bets on the weekend's winners and losers.

This Sunday all eyes in the movie-watching world will be focused on “The King’s Speech.” With twelve Oscar nods, it’s the most nominated film of the year. Inspired by the real story of King George VI and his speech therapist Lionel Logue, the film celebrates their friendship, and the unorthodox means Logue enlists to help George overcome his stuttering. Mark Logue is the grandson of Lionel Logue.

Perhaps you’ve heard this riddle before: “What is the creature that is on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs at night?" The answer is “a man.” Greek mythology has it that the riddle was posed by Sphinx to Oedipus. And it’s this riddle that’s the jumping off point of Arnold Weinstein’s new book “Morning, Noon and Night: Finding the Meaning of life's Stages Through Books.” Both an ode to books and a reminder of their ability to help us through life’s stages.

American patriot lore tells us that the story of the American Revolution is simple. Oppressive British overlords wanted to profit from settlers in the new world. But patriots, led by the likes of Paul Revere and George Washington fought for the independence of the colonies. We fought the red coats. We won. And we’ve all lived happily ever after. Maya Jasanoff has a slightly different story to tell.

The Oscars are on Sunday and we take a closer look at what it's like to be nominated for an Academy Award. Luke Matheny is the director, writer and star of “God of Love,” a semi-tragic romantic comedy, which is nominated for best live action short. A first-time nominee, Matheny made his film as a school project. He explains what went into making his school film.

In the 1980s and 1990s banks avoided lending in minority neighborhoods and Blacks and Latinos were denied mortgages at disproportionately higher rates than equally credit-worthy whites. Redlining and mortgage discrimination was the norm. It seemed those days came to an end in the 2000s, when mortgage lenders began lending eagerly to anyone they could, and instead of being accused of avoiding minority borrowers, faced accusations of predatory lending in minority communities. However, now the tide has turned once again.

Last season, the New York City Ballet and other large dance companies in the U.S. had an average attendance of only 73 percent, according to Dance/USA. But this year, the City Ballet is facing a different attendance issue: sold-out tickets for their entire two-week run of “Swan Lake.”

What changed, you might ask? Two words: “Black Swan.” And one more word: “Oscar.”