More Than One Lesson

The first and biggest problem with Infernal, though sadly far from the only one, is its decision to emulate the “found footage” format when telling its story.

If you don’t know that term, it first came to prominence with The Blair Witch Project in 1999 and refers to a filming style wherein the narrative appears to play out as if it were captured by a home video camera: with shaky camera work, out of focus shots, and intentionally awkward angles. Since the release and success of “Blair Witch”, dozens of movies ranging from low-budget independents to major studio efforts have sought to imitate the format, with mixed results. The most recent mainstream success franchise to use this format has been the Paranormal Activity films.

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In this episode, Tyler and Josh discuss Jonathan M. Gunn’s Do You Believe? and Robert Altman’s Short Cuts.

EPISODE BREAKDOWN
00:00:44- Intro, Premium Episode, dream interpretation
00:07:40- Do You Believe?
01:29:00- Short Cuts

Josh was recently a guest on Reel World Theology, discussing Neill Blomkamp’s Chappie.

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In this minisode, Tyler and Josh discuss Oliver Stone’s Platoon, winner of Best Picture of 1986.

In this minisode, Tyler and Josh discuss Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor.

In this episode, Tyler and Josh discuss Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher and Oliver Stone’s Wall Street.

EPISODE BREAKDOWN
00:00:44- Intro, Podcast Awards, Premium Episode
00:04:40- Foxcatcher
00:58:33- Wall Street
01:25:28- Episode wrap-up

In this episode, Tyler and Josh discuss Kevin Smith’s Dogma.

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More Than One Lesson has once again been nominated for a Podcast Award in the Religion category (for the sixth year in a row!). Now is your chance to support the show by voting for us! You can vote once per day at the Podcast Awards website.

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One of my biggest criticisms of the genre known as the “Christian film” is that the films too often feel reactionary. Rather than being created from a desire to tell a good story and tell it well, many films in the “Christian” genre are responding to a specific cultural condition with a specific message and an undeniable agenda.

The latest film to fall into this category is Old Fashioned, written and directed by Rik Swartzwelder, who also stars as the lead role opposite Elizabeth Roberts. The film centers around a couple whose romance is more akin to “courtship” than dating and was specifically marketed as the Evangelical response to 50 Shades of Grey. I should be upfront about the fact that I wasn’t expecting much from it.

But the marketing campaign was probably a disservice to the film because what I saw offered me a few surprises, which not only endeared it to me as a positive entry in the “Christian film” genre, but also gave me some glimmers of hope for where that genre might be headed.

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For most of my life, and likely for all of the rest of it, I have been torn between whether I will be governed by my reason or by my emotions. I’m a critical thinker and a logical problem solver with a deductive-reasoning mindset. I’m also a highly sensitive and often emotionally vulnerable man.

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