In this week's Movie Date podcast, Rafer and Kristen compare notes on their favorite pharmaceutical drug names. They also ask some big questions, including: Does volleyball really need to be seen in 3D? Should Steven Soderbergh retire? And if the only good part of a date is the kissing at the end...is it really a good date? It's all in honor of this week's big releases: "Top Gun 3D," "Side Effects," and "Identity Thief."

February is one of the thinnest months in the movie release schedule. With aging action stars like Sylvester Stallone and not-quite-funny comedies like Movie 43 dominating the big screen. But it’s also a golden time for movie trailers, as the studios try to drum up interest for the big budget movies to come in the summer.

Movie Date is making a film trailer, with your help! We’ll combine everyone’s lines into one sound-rich, fabulous, studio-quality audio trailer that we'll make available online - and maybe even play on air.

In this week's podcast, Rafer and Kristen play a game of would you rather involving racist hitmen versus zombie kidnappers. Will Rafer choose to be kidnapped? Will Kristen decide on racism? Find out, and along the way, get their thoughts on "Stand Up Guys," "Warm Bodies," and "Bullet to the Head."

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.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, former governor of California, is back with a new movie, "The Last Stand." But can the 65-year-old "governator" still move tickets as an action hero? Or will fans have trouble seeing him as something other than a politician and the man who messed up a marriage with Maria Shriver? The Takeaway's Movie Date team, Rafer Guzman and Kristen Meinzer, share their thoughts on politics and Hollywood.

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.

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."  

The co-hosts of The Takeaway's Movie Date podcast debate big versus small screen holiday movie music.

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.'

For this Thanksgiving's box office releases, Kristen Meinzer and Rafer Guzman, our Movie Date team, review four movies, including "Life of Pie."