“What went we out into this wilderness to find?”: Frontier Isolation in Carnival of Souls (1962) and The Witch (2015)
[Warning: Ahead there be spoilers. Though, it must be noted, the terror of both Carnival of Souls and The Witchrelies more on atmosphere than shocking plot twists.] There are few experiences that can match the slow-motion, attenuated terror of growing up…
Film as Confession: Taste of Cherry (1997) and Sex, Lies, & Videotape (1989)
“Film is truth, 24 times a second.” –Jean Luc-Godard We live in a world of displacement. Through the efforts of cultural, societal, and technological change, we move and breathe day after day as those forced towards awareness. Being in the…
2019 Oscar Pool – with Prizes!
The Oscars are just around the corner; and once again, the Reel World Theology team will be holding a pool competition with our awesome fans and listeners! How to Play: We have streamlined the process considerably this year: simply click…
The Natural & Contrived Loves of The Lobster (2015) & Never Let Me Go (2010)
Yorgos Lanthimos’ seventh directorial feature, The Lobster, is a compulsive critique on societal expectations often assigned to an individual’s relationship status. It’s a dark comedy that is as neurotic as its Greek director (see Dogtooth and The Killing of a…
The Flash: Season Five, and A Time Traveling Legacy
With a show like The Flash, time traveling is no rare occurrence. Barry Allen, Iris West and the team at S.T.A.R. Labs have been cruising the time stream since season one. One could argue it’s one of the primary vehicles…
Maybe Redemption Has Stories to Tell: Warrior (2011) & Good Will Hunting (1997)
Every movie is a story about redemption. Warrior (2011) and Good Will Hunting (1997) are no different, but what they tell us about redemption—and its source—could not be less similar. Good Will Hunting is a story about Will Hunting (Matt Damon), a…
Them! (1954) & Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
“We may be witnesses to a Biblical prophecy come true ― ‘And there shall be destruction and darkness come upon creation, and the beasts shall reign over the earth.’” ― Dr. Harold Medford, Them! The 1954 horror film Them! from…
The King’s Speech (2010) & Rope (1948)
There’s nothing like a trusted mentor and teacher to change your life for the better. That’s the idea behind one of my favorite movies, The King’s Speech (2010), based on a true story from the life of King George VI.…
Keeping Watch on the Evil and the Good: Worshipping the State in Cool Hand Luke (1967) and Minority Report (2002)
For 13 years, my father was a corrections officer in a high security prison in Texas. Among his wards was the infamous Eyeball Killer, a man who murdered prostitutes and surgically removed their eyes. During routine searches of the man’s…
#036 – The LEGO Movie and The Man Upstairs
On this episode of the Reel World Theology Podcast: We get to do something we don’t often have the chance to do (as of now) on the show– go back and talk about a movie that has been out for…