Reel World Theology

On this episode of the Reel World Theology podcast: While wildly popular with audiences, Bohemian Rhapsody, the latest Queen/Freddie Mercury biopic, is also gathering its detractors. There are a number of reasons, from historical inaccuracies, conveniences, and in the way in which it presents Mercury's sexuality. We dive in, talk about the inaccuracies, and try to focus on the things that the film did do well. We also have the age-old discussion about the difference between a person and their art and how we engage both of those things.

On this episode of Reel World: Rewind: With the impending release of Ralph Breaks the Internet, it seemed only fitting to rewind six years to its predecessor, Wreck-It Ralph. It also seemed incredibly fitting to bring back the original co-host of Rewind and Disney fanatic, Blaine Grimes, to talk about this Disney animated feature. Despite featuring a rather familiar plotting and stakes, director Rich Moore crafts a uniquely endearing story rife with retro gaming nostalgia, plenty of kid-friendly jokes not featuring butts, and charming characters caught up in pixelated hijinks. Blaine and Josh discuss the movie's slightly essentialist themes and how it breaks them, as well as what threat might be posed to cultural artifacts and childhood nostalgia. Plus, the meme-ification of pop culture is discussed, Josh consistently forgets the name of Ralph Breaks the Internet, and, of course, they bring up Star Wars. There are definitely no cuts, nary a butt, nor a hint of coconuts on this episode of Reel World: Rewind.

On this episode of the Reel World Theology podcast: We talk about one of the most affecting movies of the year, The Hate U Give. While it has not been blowing the doors off the box office, those who have watched this one have rarely walked away without having to really wrestle with a wide array of topics. Based on a wildly popular book, The Hate U Give offers honest and thoughtful conversation to some of the most challenging conflicts of our day in a way that is highly accessible to a wide range of ages. Point being, we have a lot of ground to cover.

On this episode of the Reel World Theology podcast: We have another podcast sponsored by one of our generous Patreon donors. Chase Tremaine chose for us to talk about Bad Times at the El Royale. While we all thought the trailer was fantastic and the fact that Drew Goddard being attached was a great sign, after seeing the film we didn't come away bursting at the seems to discuss the film. But, after reading an interview with Goddard, it changed the entire movie for us.

On this special Halloween episode of the podcast: It's that time of year again where we get to do a little something special and celebrate Halloween through the lens of cinema. This year we had an incredibly timely opportunity to talk about the new Halloween film and it's relation to the original Halloween film all in time for Halloween, itself. We reflect on what made the classic so groundbreaking and do some comparisons in the new one. Does it live up to its name or is it another cheap cash-in on the franchise?

On this episode of the Reel World Theology podcast: We continue our dive into the start of awards season films with director Damien Chazelle's La La Land follow-up, First Man. This intense look at the life of Neil Armstrong feels wholly unique and unlike any other version of humanity's first trip to the moon that we have seen to date. There is a lot of good stuff here and Chazelle, again, tried to explore that balance between achievement and sacrifice. We have a lot to cover in this one.

On this episode of Reel World: Rewind: Leave it to Josh to pick a non-scary movie for October, but he tries his best by picking a horror-adjacent movie in the 1993 Barry Sonnenfeld movie, Addams Family Values. Enlisting the help of Blake Collier, they set out to find an explanation for why this movie is so great, doesn't feel dated, and also one of the more progressive comedies of the 1990's. While the episode itself might get a bit hyperbolic about the movie's "wokeness", Blake and Josh hail the exceptional characters, perfectly weighted gallows humor, and oddly exceptional use of the Addams Family to make incisive class-centric commentary. All in all, Addams Family Values toes-the-line of screwball and satire rather well and makes this sequel to a movie no one asked for completely worth a rewatch and a conversation.

On this episode of the Reel World Theology podcast: After a trailer that brought cheers (and even possibly tears), it felt like the excitement level for A Star Is Born could not be any higher. We talk about our expectations and if this film was more "La La Land" or something else that is mostly layered from the films that it pulls heavily from. We also make sure we give Gene his due credit for tricking everyone into thinking this was "the perfect date movie." What?!