The Book of Eli (2010)
Boys' Bible Study
This stylized post-apocalyptic thriller is a unique example of a mainstream Hollywood blockbuster with overtly Christian themes, even if it stops just short of a true Christian message. Directed by the Hughes Brothers (MENACE II SOCIETY, DEAD PRESIDENTS, FROM HELL) and starring beloved leading man Denzel Washington, THE BOOK OF ELI depicts the Bible as a source of tremendous power in a fallen world. Eli (Denzel Washington) is a survivor of a nuclear holocaust, wandering westward on a mysterious mission with few possessions except for a large book that he treasures. When Eli crosses paths with...
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Salomé (1923)
Boys' Bible Study
We dip into cinematic classics of the silent age (before people learned how to talk) with 1923 classic SALOMÉ, co-directed by married couple Charles Bryant and Alla Nazimova. The latter stars as the titular SALOMÉ, a Bible character who has achieved historical infamy despite not being officially referred to by her first name. The story is provocative: a teenage princess dances seductively for her stepfather King Herod who promises her anything in reward; she picks the head of prophet John the Baptist, who is summarily executed and presented to her on a platter. Bryant and Nazimova’s...
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Touched by an Angel s7e22 "The Face of God" TEASER
Boys' Bible Study
Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month! If we had to nominate one piece of broadcast media to be “the best episode of television of all time”, in the shortlist would be this compelling TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL episode about human cloning, with a cameo by (an actor portraying) the legendary Albert Einstein. TBAA (as our listeners are well aware by this point) is a famous y2k era TV drama where a Greek chorus of angels inflict themselves upon humans going through moral crises. In this episode, a genetic scientist named Dr. Conover...
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Face the Beat (2024) feat. Pretty R1cky
Boys' Bible Study
This Christian feature film about an aspiring DJ feels like a remake of the 2015 Zac Efron-fronted EDM movie WE ARE YOUR FRIENDS, but unfortunately is lacking a lot of substance both in its spiritual and musical themes. FACE THE BEAT is the story of Zack aka “ZDJ Grey”, a teenager who wants to escape the rat race by kickstarting his career as a DJ and music producer. The film uses a lot of EDM stock music to represent Zack’s creative output, which confusingly runs the gamut from chill house to lo-fi hiphop. Zack’s support system includes his divorced parents (a working-class nurse...
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Greatest Heroes and Legends of the Bible: Sodom and Gomorrah (2003) TEASER
Boys' Bible Study
Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month! We were very intrigued to find out just how deep this cartoon anthology series of Bible stories would go into the story of Sodom. GREATEST HEROES AND LEGENDS OF THE BIBLE is a y2k era animated series of biblical stories tied together by live action segments hosted by none other than the legendary Charlton Heston. Heston is well known for his portrayal of Moses in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, one of the most famous Bible adaptations in American film history, so he’s the closest thing we...
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Mindreader (2022) feat. Brad Roelandt
Boys' Bible Study
Veteran Christian film director Rich Christiano is back with a riveting parable about a magician named Dexter whose life story is obviously meant to represent the life of Jesus. Dexter is a stage performer specializing in mentalism, drawing huge crowds with his special trick where he guesses audience members’ secret words and then gives them extremely specific life advice. Dexter’s advice is so good that audiences have started to believe he is a miracle worker. This draws the ire of the Pharisee-like Magicians’ Association, an elite club trying to maintain the sanctity of stage magic,...
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Barbara Sundstrom short film roundup! TEASER
Boys' Bible Study
Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month! THE GUARDIAN (2012) & FOSTER CARE (2013) Inspired by our rediscovery of one of our favorite Christian directors on our episode last week with guest Louise Weard, we decided to spend this week immersing ourselves once again in Barbara Sundstrom’s work, getting a few notches closer to having watched her entire catalog. Barbara Sundstrom is a Texas-based former youth film ministry director with a career spanning several features and shorts, primarily focused on empowering a youth cast...
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In the Mirror Dimly (2007) feat. Louise Weard
Boys' Bible Study
This dark, gripping teen drama about a girl suffering from an eating disorder begins with a surreal carnival dream sequence where protagonist Nicole sees herself distorted in a funhouse mirror, seemingly instigating a pattern of binge-eating candy and purging. Stuck traveling in between the houses of her divorced parents, Nicole’s disorder becomes life-threatening after an electrolyte imbalance causes her to faint while horseback riding on her father’s remote ranch. Director Barbara Sundstrom is a lesser known but accomplished Christian film ministry director whose work we’ve celebrated...
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Promised Land (TV, 1996-1999) TEASER
Boys' Bible Study
Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month! We’re getting deeper into our exploration of popular American TV with Christian themes, now scraping into this seemingly forgotten spinoff series of TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL, also created by TBAA executive producer Martha Williamson. PROMISED LAND launched with a “backdoor pilot” in the third season of TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL where audiences met their new favorite family: the Greenes (Dad Russell, mom Claire, son Josh, daughter Dinah, mother Hattie, and roguish redheaded nephew Nathaniel.)...
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Touched by an Angel s8e8 "Heaven's Portal" feat. Woodrow White
Boys' Bible Study
Prayer, Love, Unity, Respect: in this topical episode of popular 90s/y2k era TV drama TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL, angel-in-training Gloria goes to a rave and actually does ecstasy with the human teen boy she’s supposed to be protecting. Raves were a huge point of anxiety in pop culture in the y2k era. Although their colorful futurism and utopian optimism inspired a generation of media and fashion, people also had safety concerns about the newfound popularity of club drugs like ecstasy, leading to a large-scale moral panic. In the U.S. in 2003, then-Senator Joe Biden co-sponsored the RAVE Act...
info_outlineForget French body horror or the return of Francis Ford Coppola: real heads know the cinematic event of 2024 was this star-studded retelling of the life of REAGAN. With experienced director Sean McNamara at the helm (ON A WING AND A PRAYER, BRATZ, THE EVEN STEVENS MOVIE) we at Boys’ Bible Study were confident this film’s depiction of Ronald Reagan would be respectful and thorough. Besides, many Americans are gearing up to vote in the most consequential election of our lifetimes, so it felt only right to review REAGAN and look back at the political values we cherish from our recent past as inspiration for casting our ballots. Dennis Quaid stars as Reagan using what appears to be a combination of prosthetics and digital de-aging (for Reagan’s younger years) that creates an otherworldly effect. He’s joined by other “who’s whos” of conservative Hollywood (Jon Voight, Robert Davi, Kevin Sorbo, Marshall Teague, and more) as well as some other surprising cameos. We were particularly excited to see Scott Stapp (former lead singer of Creed) in a quick cameo as Frank Sinatra. Much of REAGAN is re-told through grating narration of Jon Voight doing a bad Russian accent, representing the Soviet agents and politicians who the film claims monitored Reagan’s every move during his life, disturbed by his crusade against communism. REAGAN takes a nonstop glowing tone in its framing of the conservative president’s life and actions; everything Reagan done is perfect and in deliberate service to his master plan to fight the Soviets. Even the big bowls of jellybeans Reagan was known for keeping in the White House were a clever personality test for evaluating his cabinet, by seeing which flavors they chose. It seems clear that the REAGAN film is a piece of cultural warfare trying to inject some positive reviews of conservatism into the popular mindset, made by Hollywood conservatives who might relate to Reagan’s own background as an actor. Ultimately, this choice to uplift Reagan’s career at all costs makes the film a laughably ridiculous puff piece. Whatever your political values, t’s simply not serious to reduce the life of a consequential politician to the level of complication of a YA novel.
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