Many people think of movies as an escape from reality. But even when they transport us to a different time and place, movies can help us think more deeply about our present. This year, those thought provoking films have included Sinners, The Phoenician Scheme and Mickey 17.

For our third annual summer movie panel, we’re breaking down recent films to see what they say about the world we live in today. We’ll cover everything from politics to artificial intelligence.

GUESTS:

• James Hanley: one of the founders of Cinestudio in Hartford.

• Alissa Wilkinson: Movie Critic at The New York Times. Her latest book is We Tell Ourselves Stories: Joan Didion and the American Dream Machine.

• Walter Chaw: Senior Film Critic for FilmFreakCentral.net, author of A Walter Hill Film: Tragedy and Masculinity in the Films of Walter Hill and film instructor at the University of Colorado Denver.

Movies mentioned in this episode:

• Alissa's recommendations: Seek out exciting, funny, exploratory documentaries in your local cinema. (You can find more of Alissa's documentary recommendations in her writing for The New York Times)

• Walter's recommendations: Eephus, Misericordia, April, Sharp Corner

• James' recommendations: No Other Land, Lee, Blitz

• Films that help us think about artificial intelligence: Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, M3gan 2.0, Mickey 17, The Social Network, Soylent Green, S1m0ne, A.I. Artificial Intelligence

• Other films discussed: Sinners, The Phoenician Scheme, Jaws, Superman, 2001: A Space Odyssey

• Every other film mentioned: The Substance, Fatal Attraction, Jurassic World Rebirth, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, The Sugarland Express, The Wizard of Oz, The Exorcist, Star Wars, The Shining, Gattaca, The Truman Show, Friendship, Citizen Kane

For more on Jaws, you can listen to CT Public's piece on its 50th anniversary.

You can also listen to Disrupted's previous summer movie panels from 2023 and 2024.