Cinematic Doctrine: A Movie Review Podcast Hosted by Christians

MOVIE DISCUSSION: 

Melanie and Melvin talk about George Washington, David Gordon Green's critically celebrated directorial debut, a coming-of-age poverty drama dripping with heart. 

Topics: 

• (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 28-minutes discussing various Director's who've produced remarkably good movies and remarkably bad movies, why there might be such varied quality among projects, and what makes these movies distinct in their own right. (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 
• George Washington isn't as plot heavy as it is character heavy, so Melvin explains some of what defines each character in the film. 
• Melanie and Melvin both recommend George Washington prior to tuning in to their spoiler-filled discussion. 
• Despite their clear talent virtually all of the teen and pre-teen actors  have no acting credentials which speaks to David Gordon Green's effective directing. 
• George Washington displays endearing cross-generational relationships that are both mundane and valuable, the kind where people treat each other like people regardless of age. 
• Despite George Washington's warmth, the film is emotionally difficult to engage, as one guest Melvin invited to watch the film texted him that they couldn't finish it. 
• George Washington, through understated means, plays along the dichotomy between beauty and sadness. 
• Melvin reads a quote from the movie that comes from one of its leads, Vernon, and the two discuss what made this part of George Washington resonate so deeply with them. 
• George Washington's angle for a teen/pre-teen coming-of-age narrative is to explore experiences of shame, repentance, forgiveness, and responsibility, concepts that are regularly ignored or poorly handled in films about adults or adult situations. 
• The benefit of the ensemble cast of George Washington is that it gets to display various intimate and relatable responses to real-life situations everyone will encounter during one point of their life or another. 

Recommendations: 

• Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) (Movie) 
• Eighth Grade (2018) (Movie) 

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PATREON PARTY PLEASER:

This movie was selected by our Patreon Supporters over at the Cinematic Doctrine Patreon. Support as little as $3 a month and have your voice heard!  

Melanie and Daniel join Melvin to discuss the 20th anniversary of Ben Affleck Daredevil! Is it as bad as Catwoman? Let’s find out together as we dissect the film from start to finish!

TOPICS:

• (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 51-minutes discussing the Oscar Nominations, who we think will win, standouts, and the Oscar’s as an institution (PATREON EXCLUSIVE)
• Daredevil has a director’s cut with an additional 30+ minutes, content that does contextualize and improve a few plot details and subplots that otherwise are expedited in the theatrical cut.
• Although it’s dependent on what the movie needs at the time, it’s neat that this version of Daredevil is, in a way, more blind than the Marvel/Netflix Daredevil, who functionally can just “see” everything despite his condition.
• This version of Daredevil isn’t particularly devout in his Catholicism, and parts of the initial R-rated pitch of the film are evident in the film’s tone and violence.
• Both Colin Farrell’s Bullseye and Michael Clarke Duncan’s Kingpin are extreme highlights of the movie.
• Daredevil is noticeably truncated from a much longer cut which results in every sequence feeling like a lightly tethered series of decent scenes.
• Celebrating the dope early 2000’s nu-metal, Hot Topic-esque licensed soundtrack which includes Rob Zombie and Evanescence.
• After rewatching Daredevil, 20 years later after its release, how do we feel about this early 2000’s superhero relic?

Recommendations:

• Born Standing Up by Steve Martin (Book)
• Overlord (2018) (Movie)
• We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2021) (Movie)

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PATREON PARTY PLEASER: 

This movie was selected by our Patreon Supporters over at the Cinematic Doctrine Patreon. Support as little as $3 a month and have your voice heard!  

Melvin and Melanie explain, beat for beat, the entirety of Where the Scary Things Are, one of 2022's most baffling and hilariously unwatchable features that nobody knows about. Amidst frustrated and confused laughter, the two bring you from opening to closing credits! Hilarity ensues! 

Topics: 

• (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 18-minutes discussing Christmas seasonal stress (gift giving and decorations) and the balancing Christian traditions with Western traditions (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 
• The blurb for Where the Scary Things Are is about a group of students who find a monster and turn it into an influencer. Sort of. 
• The choice to shoot Where the Scary Things Are at Field of Screams, a real horror themed park, greatly benefits the general aesthetic of the film. 
• A teacher gives the students their project to create a local myth, and while the film showcases him as a moral third-party, the things he does as a teacher are remarkably not great. 
• Ayla is a combination of an extremely unhinged bully who also cares a lot about her grades, which is an inherently funny combination. 
• There comes a point early on the audience will go, "Why are these kids even friends?" because it's clear nobody likes each other. 
• The creature design for Where the Scary Things Are is a major plus to the film, despite the creature doing nothing throughout the movie. 
• Melanie's biggest frustration is how unclear Where the Scary Things Are is when it comes to its tone and theme. 
• Speaking of, there's one scene that theoretically comes together in showcasing the theme of Where the Scary Things Are, but it's a scene where the performances are so poorly executed that it completely disrupts the film. 
• It takes an hour before the first kill happens and it's limited to the small viewfinder of a handheld camera, so the spectacle of violence is mostly stale. 
• Melvin proposes what makes a "so bad its good" movie good, and how Where the Scary Things Are fits perfectly into that category. 

Recommendations: 

• The Iron Giant (1999) (Movie) 
• Roar (1981) (Movie) 

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LET'S TALK: 

TrucePodcast.com

Chris Staron of Truce Podcast joins Melvin to chat a bit of Gremlins, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, and play a Hallmark-Christmas themed quiz game! Ultimately, this episode is an excuse to continue our several-episode's long discussion on the concept of comedy and its ever-changing nature, alongside the eternal nature of slapstick!

(PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 25-minutes talking about Chris Staron's fascination with Jordan Peele's latest film Nope, why it can just be a fun movie and doesn't need to necessarily mean anything to someone, and the difference between straight horror movies and science-fiction horror movies. (PATREON EXCLUSIVE)

Recommendations:

• Family Fears: Gremlin Party! – Cinematic Doctrine (Article)
• Mixed Nuts (1994) (Movie)
• Klaus (2019) (Movie)

Also, we found the movie Chris said he worked on. It's on Amazon. Stream it here!

Support the show

Support on Patreon for Unique Perks! 

• Early access to uncut episodes 
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• One-time reward of two Cinematic Doctrine Stickers & Pins

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MOVIE DISCUSSION:

Beyondtherut.com

Guest Jerry Dugan of the Beyond the Rut podcast joins Melvin to discuss James Cameron's latest flick Avatar: The Way of Water, a sequel many years in the making!

Topics: 

• (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 30-minute interview with Jerry Dugan about his podcast, the difficult experience of podcasting, and his favorite episodes (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 
• Jerry Dugan shares some of his affinity for James Cameron as a director, and the two discuss what it is they've come to know about his style.
• Giving just enough plot setup for all the 10-year questions we've had about what an Avatar sequel would be about and saving spoilers for the end of the episode.
• When Avatar: The Way of Water's initial trailer came out, Melvin was, admittedly, not excited in the least. Now that the movie is out, he can confidently say he loved it!
• One primary takeaway from Avatar: The Way of Water is how expertly directed the film is, clearly showcasing a confidence in its whimsical, simple-yet-complicated worldbuilding and storytelling.
• The directorial economy present in every scene of Avatar: The Way of Water far exceeds the inefficiency in virtually every scene from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which Melvin brings up because of some comparison's he's seeing due to each films visual setting. Ultimately, this makes the 192-minute runtime much more bearable.
• Discussing the state of CGI in the industry, things we dislike, and why Avatar: The Way of Water stands out from the rest.
• Opening spoilers so we can open predictions for future installments!
• Sequels are complicated because they need to converse with the previous film's themes, tone, and general experience. We wonder how subsequent features will innovate on all of these things, including its visual technology and connecting with the Pandora section in Disney World (which, if you didn't know, is canon to the film's story).

Recommendations:

• Truce Podcast 
• The Last Dragon (1985) (Movie) 

Support the show

Support on Patreon for Unique Perks! 

• Early access to uncut episodes 
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MOVIE DISCUSSION: 

Were you able to catch Glass Onion in theaters before its holiday weekend release? Melvin and Dan did, and they're excited to share some details on what makes Glass Onion worth the wait! Don't worry, they don't get into spoilers until halfway into the discussion, and they'll make it clear when to tune out if you're wanting to go into Glass Onion blind! 

Topics: 

•  (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 31-minutes discussing Melvin's Covid sickness part 2, the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, and the rumors surrounding changes to the DC Universe (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 
• To give a non-spoiler review, Melvin and Dan celebrate the film's ensemble cast, general themes, and upbeat atmosphere. 
• The atmosphere of "body positivity" within the film as it showcases various actors in bathing suits was a little shocking for Melvin despite the setting, and he suspected some of Cinematic Doctrine's Christian audience may want to be forewarned about some of the non-sexual body-positive imagery within the movie in terms of preserving a pure thought-life. 
• Glass Onion is very-much a "theater movie" and a "crowd pleaser" despite being on Netflix.
• In contrast, a brief aside on The Gray Man, a Netflix flop, and the Kenneth Branagh "Poirot" mystery movies Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile.
• Getting into spoilers [27:25]
• Glass Onion is very much of the now, a quality that Knives Out had but not nearly to this degree.

Recommendations: 

• The Bulwark Goes to Hollywood - How Spider-Man Conquered Hollywood (Podcast)
• Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 (Video Game)

Support the show

Support on Patreon for Unique Perks! 

• Early access to uncut episodes 
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PATREON MOVIE DISCUSSION:

This movie was selected by our Patreon Supporters over at the Cinematic Doctrine Patreon. Support as little as $3 a month and have your voice heard!  

Melvin and Stephen discuss not just one of Stephen's favorite movies but his absolute favorite movie, It's a Wonderful Life!

Topics:

• (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 27-minutes celebrating the holiday season, from busy shopping to exciting gift giving, and everything in between (PATREON EXCLUSIVE)
• Summarizing It's a Wonderful Life because most summaries just summarize the last 20-minutes of the movie.
• Melvin, "[It's a Wonderful Life is] a very good depiction of a conflicted man."
• It's a Wonderful Life is Stephen's favorite movie, period. When he first watched it, he felt it depicted God in a way that he yearned for in film.
• Melvin ponders how we transform movies into something more when we recognize they're our favorites.
• What Melvin enjoyed about the movie was how it depicted the unique positives to community cohesiveness, including how that social construct is developed often through one man's kindness.
• A brief meditation on how It's a Wonderful Life has been misrepresentative of Christianity and God, including the cultural, spiritual belief that people have specific guardian angels.
• Discussing what we think keeps this movie in the public conscience. Stephen thinks it's the film's benevolence. Melvin thinks it's the depiction of a conflicted everyman.
• It's a Wonderful Life is very grounded, and the addition of the fantastical is almost a wish-fulfillment version of very realistic wants we often have in real life.
• In It's a Wonderful Life there's an evil man who enjoys being evil and a conflicted man who sees it costs something to do good.

Recommendations:

• Drag Me to Hell (2009) (Movie)
• You Can't Take It with You (1938) (Movie)

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MOVIE DISCUSSION: 

Melanie Dejesus joins Stephen and Melvin to talk about another Criterion Collection entry, In the Mood for Love. Often considered in competition for Wong Kar-Wai's best film against Chungking Express, the three discuss its themes of unfulfilled romance and intimacy, as well as meditations on time.

Topics: 

• (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 25-minutes talking about foreign movies we recommend, from kung-fu flicks to zombie horror! (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 
• Melanie immediately caught on to the film's usage of music and loved how it balanced its romance and friendship between Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chan.
• Melvin felt the film cleverly depicted scenes as dreamy, which is amplified with the aforementioned soundtrack including multicultural music.
• Stephen, "I think more than anything, it's the way the movie looks, sounds, and feels that really connects with me."
• Our two leads are simultaneously emotionally complex and emotionally immature.
• Discussing the developed motif for the song "Yumeji's theme", which plays several times within In the Mood for Love.
• In the Mood for Love displays a very dynamic and extensive image of the allure toward a lifestyle that cannot and will not fulfill someone's lost desires.
• In the Mood for Love is also the kind of movie that is both extremely interpretable and also clear about its themes.
• A discussion on non-sexual, intimate co-ed relationships in a religious culture that often separates or discourages co-ed relationships, despite living in a post-sexual revolution world where an individual's sexuality may not be heteronormative.
• In the Mood for Love also has a strong through-line about time and transition, and the fleeting nature of present or potential joy.

Recommendations: 

• Quarantine (2008)
• [REC] (2007) with qualifiers
• Ip Man Franchise

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MOVIE DISCUSSION: 

Melvin & Dan can only agree on one thing: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is, in fact, a Marvel movie. To focus their attention, Melvin proposes four ambitions that he feels will make-or-break the film for audience members.

Topics:

• (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 44-minutes discussing Kevin Conroy's passing, Video Rental store nostalgia, and media curation (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 
• Reflecting on Black Panther's immense cultural impact and success. 
• Reminiscing on the intended plans for King T'Challa in the MCU post-Endgame. 
• Melvin liked that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever had a somewhat self-serious profile as opposed to the more flippant, light sensibilities of other Marvel fare. 
• However, Melvin has four headers - ambitions - that he observed within Black Panther: Wakanda Forever that he felt prevented him from "buying in" to the fiction of the film but may actually be beneficial qualities to certain audience members. 
• His first point covers the film's global stage for a political drama between potentially warring counties. 
• His second point covers the personal character stories within the film. 
• A brief aside from the points, Melvin and Daniel agree: the suits at the end of the movie aren't that good. 
• Melvin's third point has to do with the film's metatextual pairing of T'Challa's fictional death and Chadwick Boseman's real-life death. 
• Melvin's final point covers what he would consider inefficient pacing, such as scenes clearly setting up future movies, or scenes having only one purpose at a time rather than being dynamic in detail. 

Recommendations: 

• Galatians: An Expositional Commentary by R.C. Sproul (Book) 
• Amy (2015) (Documentary) 
• The Decade-Long Quest For Shadow of the Colossus' Last Secret (YouTube) 

Support the show

Support on Patreon for Unique Perks! 

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TV-SHOW DISCUSSION: 

Marvel couldn't get through one more show without fans going nuts, and Melvin & Dan are here to parse through the mire. We get through what makes She-Hulk: Attorney at Law extremely fun and a breath of the fresh air, as well as what makes its ending both clever and dull. 

Topics: 

• (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 33-minutes discussing Phase 4 Marvel, it's ups and downs, the overwhelming content-drip of borderline week-to-week Marvel content and wanting more creativity from Marvel despite knowing its still, you know, Marvel. (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 
• Daniel details the conception of She-Hulk as a Marvel comic character in the late 70s/early 80s.
• Daniel, "She-Hulk is, other than WandaVision, one of the only one of these [Marvel shows] to take advantage of the fact that it is a streaming show."
• Although anyone could have predicted the negative response to She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, it was funny to see how the show, episode after episode, would almost commentate on the live-responses it was actively receiving.
• The CGI in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law was a big worry for many, but it looks alright throughout the show. Even so, it seems people are really pining for something real with their film and television, and Marvel continues to frustrate its audience with disorienting or cartoonish CGI.
• Talking the official return of Daredevil!
• And finally, a long discussion on the confused feelings Melvin & Dan have with the final episode of the show.
• There aren't a lot of fourth wall breaks throughout She-Hulk: Attorney at Law so it can make the intense fourth wall break during the final episode extremely jarring.
• In terms of power levels, thanks to She-Hulk's fourth wall break, does this mean She-Hulk is the most powerful figure in the MCU over Kang the Conqueror and the Celestials?
• At the end of the day, the stuff that works really well with She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is the more grounded, legal procedural stuff than either the standard superhero or the wacko fourth wall breaking stuff, and a second season capitalizing on a week-to-week court-room drama with superheroes could be far more rewarding to watch than this first season's strange content amalgamation.

Recommendations: 

• Using justwatch.com to search where movies and shows are streaming. 
• Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas (Book)

Support the show

Support on Patreon for Unique Perks! 

• Early access to uncut episodes 
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