Saints and Cinema

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Jay and Tim talk with Pr. Mark Pierson of St. Paul's Lutheran Church (Long Beach, CA) about the first in our 25th anniversary series of films from 1999. We talk about where we were in 1999, and then get into free will, chance, fate, God, confession, forgiveness, salvation...and frogs.

Some of the movies we mention in this episode are: Boogie Nights, Sidney/Hard Eight, There Will Be Blood, Fight Club, The Matrix.

Tim wrote something about Magnolia in 2017 for The Jagged Word.

The brief clip is from Aimee Mann's song "Save Me."

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Opening music: "Let's Start at the Beginning," Lee Rosevere
Closing music: "Découvre moi," Marc Senet & Simon Grivot

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Obviously we haven't seen all of the Oscar-nominated films. Who do you think we are? But we have fun talking about the ones we have seen.

96th Academy Awards air on Sunday, March 10, at 4 pm (Pacific).

Some of the films we mention in this episode: Oppenheimer, Poor Things, American Fiction, The Holdovers, Killers of the Flower Moon, Parasite, The Zone of Interest, Barbie, Perfect Days, Society of the Snow, Maestro, Past Lives, Anatomy of a Fall, Four Daughters, To Kill a Tiger, The Eternal Memory, The After, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, Godzilla Minus One, Mission:Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part 1, May December, Rustin, El Conde, The Boy and the Heron, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

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Opening music: "Let's Start at the Beginning," Lee Rosevere
Closing music: "Découvre moi," Marc Senet & Simon Grivot

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First episode of 2024, we talk about our favorites of 2023. These might be our most divergent best-of lists so far. Is your favorite on our lists? Are our favorites on your list? Let us know!

Some of the films we mention in this episode: Past Lives, Beau is Afraid, Anatomy of a Fall, Sisu, John Wick 4, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1, Oppenheimer, Poor Things, Infinity Pool, American Fiction, Wildcat, Dune 2, The Zone of Interest, The Holdovers, The Iron Claw, Afire, Asteroid City, The Boy and the Heron, Killers of the Flower Moon, Godzilla Minus One, Monster, Tori and Lokita, Talk to Me, The Boys in the Boat, Maestro, Society of the Snow.

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Opening music: "Let's Start at the Beginning," Lee Rosevere
Closing music: "Découvre moi," Marc Senet & Simon Grivot

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In only our second-ever joint episode, we spend some time with Philip Marinello of The Substance discussing whether movies are serious or frivolous. Are they just entertainment or something more significant? How seriously should we take them? Then we each offer up our own frivolous and serious picks. Enjoy!

The Substance

Special thank you to Dave Hallahan of The Gospel According To... podcast for editing this episode!

Some of the movies we mention in this episode: Dumb and Dumber, Jackass Forever, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Spotlight, After Yang, Columbus, Calvary, A Hidden Life, Silence, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Boondock Saints, The Rock, The Evil Dead.

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Opening music: "Let's Start at the Beginning," Lee Rosevere
Closing music: "Découvre moi," Marc Senet & Simon Grivot

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On the last day of the 2023 Newport Beach Film Festival, we finally catch up with Phillip Yaw Domfeh, NBFF alum, filmmaker, producer, and Senior Manager of Disney's Launchpad short film incubator. We talk about all sorts of things, from music, to his films, including Cary in Retrograde (which he made with his wife, Priya), to the films he's working on now for Disney's Lanchpad, to religion and what he's learned about faith.

For this episode, Phillip graciously allowed us to use part of his song from Cary in Retrograde, "Give Up the Ghost," which you can purchase here, or wherever you get digital music.

Phillip and Priya's production company, Cosmic Otter Productions

Disney Launchpad 

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Opening music: "Let's Start at the Beginning," Lee Rosevere
Closing music: "Découvre moi," Marc Senet & Simon Grivot

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Jay and Tim preview their favorite week of the year, the Newport Beach Film Festival. We talk film festival programming, feature films, short films, what we've seen, and what we're looking forward to watching.

See the schedule and get tickets here: NEWPORT BEACH FILM FEST
(Use the code URSpecialNBFF for $5 off a ticket!)

Some of the feature films we mention in this episode: Monster, Vincent Must Die, Exposure, Crawdaddy, American Star, The Michoacan File, Gentleman, Remembering Gene Wilder, William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill, Nyad, Fingernails, Susan Feniger: Forked, The First Day of My Life, Without Her, The Holdovers, May December, High Class.

Some of the short films we mention in this episode: Astor Place: The American Dream, David Se Va, Cherubs, Eat Flowers, Dark Moon, The Ruse, Blood, The Chosen One, English Tutor, #followme, Detox, The Stranger, Baseball Behind Barbed Wire, music videos by The National, Zach Bryan, shame, Sparks.

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Opening music: "Let's Start at the Beginning," Lee Rosevere
Closing music: "Découvre moi," Marc Senet & Simon Grivot

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In this episode Tim and Jay talk about The Equalizer 3 and what's going on with some of the symbolism and religious references in the movie. Then we talk about other action franchises, and what sets some apart from others.

Some of the films and franchises we mention in this episode: The Equalizer, John Wick, James Bond, Jason Bourne, Mission: Impossible, Taken, Nobody, Transformers, Jurassic Park, The Transporter.

 

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Opening music: "Let's Start at the Beginning," Lee Rosevere
Closing music: "Découvre moi," Marc Senet & Simon Grivot

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Jay and Tim talk about Christopher Nolan's latest, and where it fits among our favorite Nolan films.

Some of the films we mention in this episode: Barbie, Oppenheimer, The Dark Knight, Memento, The Day after Trinity, Paper City, The Prestige, The Dark Knight Rises, Tenet, Dunkirk, Following, Inception, Interstellar.

Wendell Berry's essay, "The Way of Ignorance" (2004), from this book (or here).

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Opening music: "Let's Start at the Beginning," Lee Rosevere
Closing music: "Découvre moi," Marc Senet & Simon Grivot

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In our 60th episode, we talk with Josh Larsen of Think Christian and the Filmspotting podcast about his new book Fear Not! A Christian Appreciation of Horror Movies.

We talk about what Christians can learn from horror movies about themselves and about the world, and then we give our top 3 horror films.

Fear Not!
Movies are Prayers

Think Christian
Filmspotting

Brehm Film at Fuller Theological Seminary

Some of the films we mention in this episode: A Nightmare on Elm Street, Funny Games, V/H/S, The Exorcist, The Blair Witch Project, Jaws, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Vampyr, Train to Busan, Psycho, Rear Window, The Birds, Them (Ils), The Host, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Cache, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Us.

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Opening music: "Let's Start at the Beginning," Lee Rosevere
Closing music: "Découvre moi," Marc Senet & Simon Grivot

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Jay and Tim talk to cinematographer (and fellow Lutheran) Ryan Spacone about Jesus Revolution, Christian movies, cinematography, and how Lutherans understand vocation with respect to film. What does a cinematographer do? How does Ryan choose the jobs on which he's going to work? What makes a film "Christian," and is Jesus Revolution that? What would make a good Christian film? We talked about all that and more.

Some of the films (and series) we mentioned in this episode: Jesus Revolution, God's Not Dead, Lawrence of Arabia, National Treasure, The Chosen, Fare (although Tim didn't actually say the name of it).

Check out Ryan's work here.

Tim wrote something about Jesus Revolution here.
 

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YouTube (starting with Episode 81)

Opening music: "Let's Start at the Beginning," Lee Rosevere
Closing music: "Découvre moi," Marc Senet & Simon Grivot