More Than One Lesson

Hey, everybody. As seems to be my tradition, I am going to list a few movies that are now officially ten years old.

LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE
MEMENTO
DONNIE DARKO
THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS
OCEAN’S ELEVEN
IN THE BEDROOM
A BEAUTIFUL MIND
BLACK HAWK DOWN
MULHOLLAND DR.
MOULIN ROUGE
GOSFORD PARK
TRAINING DAY
MONSTER’S BALL
SHREK
MONSTERS, INC.
GHOST WORLD
SEXY BEAST
ZOOLANDER

If you’re like me, you tend to define your life by the movies that you saw, using them as a sort of signpost for a specific moment. I saw many of these films my first year living away from home, in Chicago. To think that these films are now ten years old really reminds me of just how far into adulthood I really am. High school is way behind me and college is starting to fade into the distance. It’s strange to think back on how different my life was back then. I had not yet lost anybody very close to me, nor had I met my now-wife. These movies represent, to me, a much more innocent time in my life, in which the future lay bright and shining before me. To me, the most important thing in the world was seeing as many movies as I could and trying to crank out some good work in school. As much as I still love movies, it is fascinating to see just how much my priorities have changed. It occurs to me that this may sound slightly mournful, but, I assure you, it’s not. Despite some major setbacks in my life, I’d venture to say that I’m the most content I’ve ever been. Maybe in another ten years, even more so.

Happy New Year, everybody.

In this episode, Tyler discusses the themes of various classic Christmas movies.

In this episode, Tyler discusses what we can learn from Ben Steinbauer’s Winnebago Man.

EPISODE BREAKDOWN
00:00:42- Intro/Podcast Awards
00:02:00- Winnebago Man
00:20:25- The Browning Version
00:25:15- What we can learn from these films
00:34:20- Episode wrap-up

In this episode, Tyler discussed Oren Moverman’s The Messenger.

In this episode, Tyler discusses what we can learn from Andrew Dominik’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

EPISODE BREAKDOWN
00:00:45- Intro/Announcements
00:05:13- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
00:22:20- The King of Comedy
00:35:45- What we can learn from these films
00:55:17- Episode wrap-up

In this episode, Tyler is joined by Meghan Witzke to discuss Alejandro Amenabar’s Agora.

EPISODE BREAKDOWN
00:00:42- Intro/Corrections
00:03:25- Meghan Witzke
00:26:35- Agora
00:49:30- Inherit the Wind
01:01:05- Apologetics/Debate tips*
01:26:30- Episode wrap-up

*In this episode, I make reference to a blog I wrote called “How I Abused Apologetics.” It can be found here.

In this episode, Tyler discusses what we can learn from Lee Unkrich’s Toy Story 3.

EPISODE BREAKDOWN
00:00:44- Intro
00:02:55- Toy Story 3
00:46:40- Falling Down
01:08:43- Episode wrap-up

*correction: Tyler incorrectly attributes the quote “Where’s your Messiah now?” to the film The Bible, when it is in fact from The Ten Commandments. We regret this error.

June 25, 2005, I got married to Jennifer Erin Alders. It is one of the smartest things I’ve ever done.

In the five years that have followed, Jen and I have had many ups and downs. We’ve faced all kinds of hardships; financial, professional, emotional, you name it. I wish I could say that we always managed to get through those times by gazing into each other’s eyes and lovingly assuring ourselves that everything was going to be okay. Certainly, sometimes we were able to do that. Other times, however, we would blame each other, as if to say, “This would all be going fine if it weren’t for you.”

[…]

In this episode, Tyler is joined by filmmaker Jason Eaken to discuss what we can learn from the Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man.