Boys' Bible Study
Ash, Scott, and Julian are innocent angel babies incapable of doing wrong. They invite guests from Hell to watch and critique the best contemporary Christian movies. God wants you to listen to this podcast!
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Loving the Bad Man (2010)
11/16/2025
Loving the Bad Man (2010)
This shocking Christian film about the power of forgiveness at all costs will stun you with its gripping plot twists and the hilarious Stephen Baldwin reveal (in prison at the 30min mark, covered in drawn-on white supremacist tattoos). LOVING THE BAD MAN is by director, producer, and writer Péter Engart, an extremely competent filmmaker with a few features under his belt, each featuring a faith-based celebrity cameo. Stephen Baldwin is a recurring presence in this genre, and he is extremely entertaining here as “the ethical Nazi” who leads a white gang in prison. But the real star is Cree Kelly as Julie, a beautiful and humble Christian girl who missions to juvenile delinquents while working at a grocery store. When her car breaks down late at night outside a dive bar, she goes inside for help and is raped by Mike Connor, a mechanic with rage issues. Julie’s rape becomes an unexpected miracle when she becomes pregnant and decides to keep the baby, much to her family’s chagrin as they beg her to end the pregnancy. She then commits to the ultimate Christian project of “loving the bad man,” taking her baby to the prison for daily visits with her rapist so he can be part of his son’s life. Mike is bewildered and angry at first, but Julie’s persistent kindness slowly brings him to Christ, although violent racial tensions between black, white, and latino gangs threaten his newfound inner peace. LOVING THE BAD MAN works because the actors give their performances total commitment. The film stays surprisingly believable despite a plot that would feel unrealistic to most viewers, including many Christians. It often reads like a male fantasy of how an ideal Christian woman should respond to tragedy, rather than a sympathetic portrait of a woman’s strength. Its approach to race relations also has to be seen to be believed. Overall, LOVING THE BAD MAN is one of the most entertaining films we have ever watched for this podcast, thanks to its fascinating and deeply insensitive portrayals of some of the darkest corners of human behavior. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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Audience of One (2007)
11/02/2025
Audience of One (2007)
“In 1994, at age 40, Pastor Richard Gazowsky saw his first movie. Later that year, he received a vision from God.” So begins the saga of AUDIENCE OF ONE, a brilliant documentary that serves as a cultural Rosetta stone for our podcast, an intimate portrait of where faith in God meets faith in movies. It’s both a monument to the power of belief and a sobering testimony of how unchecked pride can poison spiritual authority. Director Michael Jacobs was given deep access to Gazowsky, his family, and his church (Voice of Pentecost, San Francisco). The film opens as the congregation-turned-film crew prepares their first feature. Having felt “called” by God to make a movie, Gazowsky appoints himself director and enlists family, parishioners, and a few hired outsiders despite no one having experience. Their ambitious project, GRAVITY: THE SHADOW OF JOSEPH, reimagines the biblical story of Joseph as a futuristic, Star Wars-inspired epic to be shot in Italy. Funded through church offerings, the production quickly spirals. Gazowsky secures favors and finances he can’t repay, including a $17,000-per-month studio he’s eventually evicted from. His leadership is strikingly confident, and he makes quick decisions and commands authority, but many are disastrous. He insists the film be shot on 70mm at 60 frames per second, a technically absurd and prohibitively expensive choice. In Italy, the crew manages to film only two incomplete, soundless scenes before the production collapses. Yet Gazowsky remains undeterred. In the film’s haunting conclusion, he preaches that his next plan is to create a company producing 47 films a year, alongside resorts, airlines, and a space program. Gazowsky’s faith seems consumed by ambition, though his audacity occasionally borders on genius. Still, his willingness to endanger and exploit his congregation, including children on unsafe sets, feels reckless and cruel. AUDIENCE OF ONE is an extreme but eye-opening look at faith-based film, where the movie is a powerful totem that allows the filmmaker to create an idol to both himself and God. In a roundabout way, it is an inspiring tale of faith, art, and the creative spirit. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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Slaughter of the Innocents (1993)
10/19/2025
Slaughter of the Innocents (1993)
Christian imagery and biblical references abound in this violent early 1990s crime thriller, tonally similar to THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS is a lesser-known entry in the 1990s serial killer canon. Instead of a theatrical run, it premiered on HBO in 1993, which may have contributed to its obscurity. That’s unfortunate, because the movie takes creative risks and deserves to be reevaluated as a cult classic. The film stars Scott Glenn as FBI Special Agent Stephen Broderick, a family man whose crime scene experience makes him a natural choice to investigate the Provo Canyon Massacre, a brutal child murder committed by someone calling himself “God.” A man awaits execution for the crime, but Broderick believes the real killer is still at large. His son Jesse, played by Jesse Cameron-Glickenhaus (the real-life son of director James Glickenhaus), is a precocious 10-year-old computer whiz whose tech skills help his dad link the massacre to a recent abduction in the same Utah area. Jesse’s inclusion is one of the film’s funniest choices—it’s bizarre to see a cheerful 10-year-old browsing crime scene photos and discussing grisly details of child violence. For us at Boys’ Bible Study, SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS stands out for its Christian imagery. The “God” killer, Mordecai Booth (Zitto Kazann), is consumed by a biblical obsession so intense he even steals two giraffes from a zoo to honor Noah’s Ark. The title itself comes from the biblical story of King Herod slaughtering infants to prevent Jesus’s rise. The final scene is so strange and powerful that we won’t spoil it, but it perfectly captures what we love to see as a Christian film review podcast. Though this is a secular movie, it features two actors familiar from faith-based cinema: Kevin Sorbo as FBI agent John Willison and Michael D. Weatherred (of THE BUTTERCREAM GANG) in a small role. We love when secular films engage with biblical imagery, even when it borders on blasphemy. The aura Christian symbolism lends to a story—its power to evoke awe, fear, and moral imagination—shows religion’s lasting influence on culture’s darkest corners. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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Six: The Mark Unleashed (2004)
10/05/2025
Six: The Mark Unleashed (2004)
One of the most dramatic and exciting entries in David A.R. White’s filmography is this tense, gritty end-times drama set in a world where monogamy is outlawed and bisexuality is encouraged (which is a bad thing, by the way). SIX: THE MARK UNLEASHED is a who’s who of faith-based cinema, featuring Pure Flix kingpin David A.R. White, his prolific collaborator Kevin Downes, DIY acting mercenary Eric Roberts, pretty-boy Stephen Baldwin, and future WALKING DEAD star Jeffrey Dean Morgan. White and Downes play Brody and Jerry, two unchipped men scraping by through smuggling cars and “white hat hacking” in a society where every respectable citizen bears “the mark of the Beast” in the form of a computer chip implanted in the neck that makes its wearer beholden to a mysterious governing force known as The Community. Always hunted by The Community’s law enforcement, Brody and Jerry struggle to stay off the grid. Meanwhile, another unchipped man, former cop Tom (Morgan), is captured and tortured until he agrees to go undercover to betray the renegades. Misadventures soon land all three men in prison, where they encounter charismatic convict-preacher Luke (Baldwin) and hear the teachings of Jesus Christ. They also learn of a mysterious figure, Elijah Cohen, who seems to be a “Jesus 2.0,” wandering the fallen world and performing angelic miracles. The Community is determined to crush both Cohen and the Prodigal City settlement of Christians who refuse the chip and compulsory bisexuality. Will Brody and Jerry take the easy way out by surrendering to The Community’s demands, or will they heed Luke’s words and embrace Christ, even if it means execution by beheading? SIX stands out among rapture films for the brutal specificity with which it depicts the suffering of those who love God in a secular world. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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Faith Based (2020) TEASER
09/28/2025
Faith Based (2020) TEASER
Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month! In 2020, a time of deep uncertainty for film releases as quarantine disrupted theatrical schedules, a certain comedy arrived lampooning the kinds of films we love here at Boys’ Bible Study, and out of fear of being owned by its cutting satire we only decided to watch it now in 2025. FAITH BASED is a slacker comedy evoking the post-2000s wave of comedies such as ANCHORMAN and GET SMART, both of which co-star veteran comic actor David Koechner, who also makes a cameo in FAITH BASED. The real stars are Luke Barnett and Tanner Thomason, playing underachieving roommates in Reseda, Los Angeles, desperate for money and relevance. They discover how much certain Christian films make, referencing (in the film’s fictional world) actual titles we’ve covered on Boys’ Bible Study such as GOD’S NOT DEAD and WAR ROOM. Kevin Sorbo is singled out as a “D-list actor” whose attachment to low-budget Christian movies helps them reach a sheep-like audience eager for anything with a godly message. Armed with a perfect scam, Luke and Tanner set out to make a movie despite zero experience, immersing themselves in Luke’s father’s church to seem more legit. The plan unravels when Tanner falls for a hot Christian woman and begins embracing religion to impress her, threatening their bromance. Trouble also brews when aging exploitation star Butch Savage (Koechner) never responds to their casting offer, putting the project at risk. FAITH BASED sounds like a premise rich enough to mine for comedy, but we found the filmmakers’ shallow research into Christian cinema leaves many joke opportunities on the table. The script leans on obvious critiques and swings wildly in tone, making it hard to tell whether the film aims to be cutting or heartwarming. We invite any future filmmakers critiquing Christian movies to hire Boys’ Bible Study to “punch up” your scripts for a very modest consulting fee, most of which we promise to tithe! View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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A Line of Fire (2025)
09/21/2025
A Line of Fire (2025)
This new offering from perpetually busy Christian film auteur David A.R. White continues his “single dad action hero” era that began with 2020’s BECKMAN. BECKMAN, LOVE ON THE ROCK (2021), and now A LINE OF FIRE are just a few of the many films White has made since the COVID era reshaped DIY filmmaking. Together, they show a man striking out on his own and reinventing himself, possibly influenced by his personal life, including a public divorce from actress Andrea Logan. Logan was a frequent artistic collaborator and business partner, and the two co-founded Pure Flix, the family-oriented streaming service intended as a wholesome competitor to Netflix. As prolific as he is, White inevitably draws inspiration from his own life, and it’s no surprise that many of his recent films, including A LINE OF FIRE, portray him as a single dad juggling work responsibilities while navigating new love for the first time in years. In this film, former FBI agent Cash (played by White) is called back into service after his late wife's sister, also an agent, is assassinated by a crime boss’s thugs. Supporting characters are played by notable celebrities such as Cuba Gooding Jr., whose recent fall from grace seems to have led him to the low-budget circuit, and Scott Baio, who alternately help and betray Cash. This repeated cycle of trust and mistrust becomes a tedious plot device, culminating in the reveal that one of White’s own allies, Joan (a puzzling performance by Eve Richards), is a double agent operating under the name “Mr. X.” A LINE OF FIRE is slickly produced and competently shot, with bursts of gory action that push the boundaries of wholesomeness, yet its plot is ultimately forgettable. Still, it’s hard to fault White, who seems to be having a blast making five movies a year and rediscovering himself in the process. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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St. John in Exile (1986) TEASER
09/14/2025
St. John in Exile (1986) TEASER
Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month! Another entry in the noble genre of “Christian one-man show,” ST. JOHN IN EXILE stars career stage and screen actor Dean Jones as the exiled saint on the island of Patmos. We were excited to review this filmed stage production, since we’re huge fans of other one-man pieces of Bible fanfiction and inspirational slop—like Curt Cloninger’s WITNESSES (a true VHS classic) and Mike Adkins’s A MAN CALLED NORMAN, a beloved sermon distributed by Focus on the Family. Both of those productions feature their leads absolutely killing it and drawing heavy laughter and applause from captive audiences. ST. JOHN IN EXILE is no exception. The late Dean Jones was clearly a trained actor, with a film career dating back to the late 1950s, including many classic family films such as THAT DARN CAT and THE COMPUTER WORE TENNIS SHOES. He kept acting well into his golden years, with his final performance in the 2009 Christian movie GOD PROVIDES. For the math-challenged, that’s over 50 years of regular acting work, much of it devoted to uplifting the Word of God or making wholesome entertainment for families. These decades of experience pay off in a captivating performance as St. John. Jones is a huge asset to the material, which would be extremely boring without his investment in the role. Unfortunately, the script in ST. JOHN IN EXILE is a little too straight-laced to match the wild, wonderful turns of WITNESSES, which we love for its constantly shifting perspective and Curt Cloninger’s 10+ voices and personalities. Still, the film raises some interesting questions about biblical history—insisting that the same St. John authored both the Gospel of John and Revelation, a belief once common but now challenged by contemporary scholarship. We only wish ST. JOHN IN EXILE had leaned into some insane end-times visionary type shit. Regardless, Dean Jones’s performance and the film’s enduring place in the Christian media video world make it a must-have for collectors and completists of the faith-based film genre. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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Leap: A Tale of the Last Days (2025)
09/07/2025
Leap: A Tale of the Last Days (2025)
The long-awaited third film in the notorious anti-Catholic parkour LEAP trilogy follows its lo-fi predecessors LEAP (2010) and LEAP: RISE OF THE BEAST (2011), continuing to proselytize its staunch anti-Vatican message with an athletic twist. Director Christopher Tempel returns, now armed with a drone camera, and delivers a crisp, ambitious reboot to a series that clearly holds nostalgic value for him despite his open disappointment in the first two films, which he considers amateurish. Characters Blake, the handsome parkour-running college boy lead, and Liz, his hometown girlfriend who works at her grandmother’s coffee shop, even watch LEAP: RISE OF THE BEAST within the movie, creating a truly meta moment. Blake remarks, “It’s a little cheesy.” Liz agrees but adds, “Better than the first one… the director spent like $200,” prompting Blake’s deadpan “Woof!” Ironically, the first two LEAP films feel more authentic and excited, with a scrappy auteur spirit that this reboot largely sacrifices in favor of Tempel’s improved technical precision. Still, LEAP (2025) features striking special effects, including a chilling scene where blood runs from a tap until a “blessed” character touches it, suddenly turning the water clear. The “blessed” in this film are Seventh Day Adventist sabbath keepers like Blake and Liz, who resist Catholic programming that encourages Sunday worship over Saturday. Tempel doubles down on his outspoken belief that a literal reading of the Bible naturally leads to Seventh Day Adventism, portraying Christianity as having been “pranked” by the devil and his servant, the Vatican, into dishonoring God’s true way—ensuring that many sincere Christians will end up in hell. It is one of the harshest, most legalistic interpretations of Protestantism, suggesting that God values paperwork over love. This uncompromising message, paired with the film’s polished digital effects and fully AI-generated soundtrack, results in a cold, tedious viewing experience. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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We Believe (2024) TEASER
08/31/2025
We Believe (2024) TEASER
Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month! We kick off football season with a review of a new film by prolific Christian director Jason Campbell. WE BELIEVE, which even features a cameo by former Superman actor Dean Cain, takes an impressionistic look at a real high school football community in St. Mary’s, West Virginia, centering on the inspirational story of coach Jodi Mote. Grounded in fact, the film makes odd leaps into seemingly fictional storylines about St. Mary’s students, an attempt to introduce conflict while staying inoffensive to the community. That tension becomes the film’s biggest weakness. WE BELIEVE was cowritten by Campbell, Jodi Mote, and his wife Brandy, so the Motes clearly have a personal stake in telling the story of Jodi’s sudden stroke, which left him unable to coach the St. Mary’s Blue Devils during a crucial season. He was temporarily replaced by Bill Hanlin, a local legend remembered for coaching an undefeated season in 1963. The film’s action drifts between Mote’s recovery (as his team and special ed students miss him), Hanlin instilling Christian values in the Blue Devils, and contrived side plots: a Danish freshman exchange student turned field-goal kicker, and a troubled teen named Trey whose broken home pushes him into drinking and sexual temptation. The Danish subplot is especially bizarre, since actor Addison Dattilo, tattooed and visibly closer to 28 than 14, plays the role with the vibe of a California surfer instead of a homesick exchange student. In general, it is disappointing that the only conflicts (underage drinking, divorce, high school politics) are fictionalized; meanwhile the true story is flattened. The film would be far more compelling if it explored Mote’s actual challenges. What did loneliness and frustration feel like for a devout Christian man whose body had failed him? To admit weakness, however, would cut against the film’s purpose: flattering its collaborators. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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Standing With God (2024)
08/24/2025
Standing With God (2024)
While most Roblox gamers are busy with worldly pursuits such as “dressing to impress” or “stealing a brainrot,” MinisterMatt and his Robloxian Children of God Ministries are using the popular gaming platform to spread the word of God. We review an hour-long Christian narrative special created entirely in Roblox called STANDING WITH GOD, subdivided into three episodes: “Challenges,” “Trials and Faith,” and “I Believe.” The story follows a college-aged protagonist named John as he navigates the conflicts between personal faith and a secular world. Filmed entirely on location in the popular Roblox RP server Brookhaven, John begins his first term at Brookhaven School and immediately struggles with self-doubt. His new friends accept his faith but treat it as a curiosity, accusing him of being “abnormal” for requesting wine-free drinks at parties instead of getting drunk like the rest. Teachers at the school target Christian students by “preaching” pro-evolution lectures that are explicitly anti-God, while the looming threat of LGBTQ acceptance encroaches on everyday life, as rainbow-haired men go on dates with each other in full public view. What’s a Robloxian Christian to do? John seeks guidance from an older Christian mentor, a famous pastor whose program he follows on television. But more significant than the actual plot of STANDING WITH GOD (which is admittedly hard to follow thanks to the static Roblox animation and the unrelenting monotone of robot voices) is the sheer fact that a group of internet believers banded together to create a feature-length production using only the resources immediately available to them. The boundaries between film and performance, roleplay and acting, blur as the conventional movie set is digitized, and actors log into location (the RP server) in costume (avatar) to perform film ministry. STANDING WITH GOD proves that, just like “IRL” film production, it’s not the size of your Robux budget but the urgency of your message that makes for truly passionate filmmaking. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy
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In Gramps' Shoes (2014)
08/10/2025
In Gramps' Shoes (2014)
We first fell in love with the film character Gramps and his anti-evolution hijinks when we watched GRAMPS GOES TO COLLEGE (2014), one of the most outrageous Christian films of all time. We knew we’d eventually explore the entire Gramps cinematic universe. We continue our journey with IN GRAMPS’ SHOES, the confident first entry in this series, which, based on its morbid ending, does not feel like it’s setting itself up for a sequel. Thankfully, writer Donald James Parker and director Chip Rosetti broke canon and persisted. Donald James Parker’s work as Gramps could be compared to Jacques Tati’s “Monsieur Hulot”: an archetypal clown character wandering through our overly complex modern society and exposing its foibles. In IN GRAMPS’ SHOES, Gramps heals the broken modern nuclear family by moving into his adult daughter’s house and making a positive male role model impression on her teenage son and daughter. Sixteen-year-old Scott has taken up smoking cigarettes, is curious about marijuana, and in general has a grumpy, antisocial teenage attitude that needs to be healed with Christ’s love. Gramps challenges Scott and his teenage cohorts to a footrace, which Gramps clears spectacularly, given that his passion is long-distance running. This inspires the whole family to take up cross-country racing, culminating in a climactic scene where Scott wins his high school cross-country meet and the heart of a Christian runner girl on the team, who he secures as his prom date. But it wouldn’t be a Gramps movie without hearing Gramps take aim at pop culture unrelated to the main events of the film; IN GRAMPS’ SHOES chooses to attack the HARRY POTTER series of books and films, saying they are “bait” to lure kids away from the church and toward a life of witchcraft and wizardry. Gramps states that things loved by many people are probably ungodly, because what God loves is not the same as what man loves. That’s good news for IN GRAMPS’ SHOES, because not a lot of people like this movie, so God probably loves it. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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Frailty (2001)
07/27/2025
Frailty (2001)
The tension between faith and delusion builds to a thrilling climax in FRAILTY, the Bill Paxton-directed y2k crime drama with Christian themes. Matthew McConaughey, who we recently reviewed as a cast member of 1994’s ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD, stars as a man recounting his troubled childhood as the son of a religiously-motivated murderer (Bill Paxton) to a detective (Powers Boothe) who is trying to solve the case of the God’s Hand killer. This killer, who McConaughey’s character Fenton believes is his own brother Adam, targets seemingly random victims who are allegedly demons in human form. According to Fenton, his brother Adam is carrying out the legacy of their father, who experienced religious psychosis that led to a series of murders carried out with an axe the man believed to be a magical weapon provided by God. Young Fenton and Adam react to their father’s passion for God and murder in different ways; Adam’s naive admiration for his father foils Fenton’s teenage skepticism. The two boys are possibly a metaphor for the human journey of faith and doubt, a reading supported by a surprising twist revealing the true nature of God’s prophecy. FRAILTY does a great job of exploring Christian themes in an edgy way that condemns blind faith while still understanding the importance of faith itself. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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Touched by an Angel s8e3 "The Birthday Present"
07/13/2025
Touched by an Angel s8e3 "The Birthday Present"
TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL returns to our watchlist with another episode from its triumphant season 8, possibly one of the best runs in all of television history. Using its “human of the week” format, TBAA stars Roma Downey as Monica, Della Reese as Tess, John Dye as Andrew (the angel of death) and Valerie Bertinelli as the dumbass angel-in-training Gloria (our favorite character.) Gloria and Andrew figure prominently in “The Birthday Present”, the story of a mail carrier accidentally uncovering brutal child abuse in an idyllic suburban neighborhood. Mailman Chuck, portrayed by frequent Christian media star and former sitcom actor Kirk Cameron, is struggling with the death of his grandmother when he accidentally kills a boy with his mail truck after the boy suddenly runs into the road. When apologizing to the boy’s father, Chuck encounters a loaded gun carelessly disposed of in the front yard and realizes the young boy ordered it illegally off the internet to kill his father. Meanwhile, the boy’s sister is missing after hiding from her father’s abuse in a nearby nuclear bomb shelter (???) and being protected by Tess, who for some reason talks in baby voice the whole episode. In typical TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL fashion, human and angel stories weave together effortlessly to prove that God endlessly punishes the weak while enabling their oppressors — and this is a good thing. The addition of Kirk Cameron’s confident guest starring performance fully bridges the gap that TBAA straddles between niche Christian entertainment and mainstream pop culture. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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2 to Tangle (2013) TEASER
07/06/2025
2 to Tangle (2013) TEASER
Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month! “And twins!” This Christian romantic thriller about identical twins performing emotional terrorism on a Christian woman will make you believe in love during this Valentines-Day-in-July season. 2 TO TANGLE is one of a few feature films created by the son/father team (respectively) of director Caleb Johnson and writer Jeff Johnson. Per Caleb Johnson’s self-written iMDb bio, Caleb directed his first film TIME COLLECTORS at the age of 17, before immediately moving onto 2 TO TANGLE, which won him international acclaim and was even sold at Walmart! 2 TO TANGLE is pretty accessible for a DIY faith-based film, mostly because the whirlwind plot is insanely stimulating. Young Christian woman Jess is on the rocks with her boyfriend Tom, an inventor/entrepreneur who doesn’t share her Christian faith. A struggling relationship is made even worse when Jess’s coworker finds Tom on a Christian dating website. Jess catfishes Tom by signing up for the website under the screen name “Pocahontas” and messages him in disguise; she ends up catching feelings for Tom’s online persona. But things are not what they seem when Jess learns the man she’s messaging is actually Tom’s secret twin brother Michael, who is also an inventor/entrepreneur for some reason. This kicks off a bizarre series of events involving car crashes, evil spirits (!!!) and a long makeover sequence. 2 TO TANGLE has the madcap precocious energy of DIY filmmakers wanting to put absolutely everything they can think of into their film. The barely coherent plot will keep you guessing until the final scene of the movie. 2 TO TANGLED is the fun type of Christian film where if you showed it to someone not hip to the genre, they would describe it as a train wreck, but if you watch faith-based films every week (as we do here at BBS) you would find it a delightful “breath of fresh air.” View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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George W. Bush: Faith in the White House (2004)
06/29/2025
George W. Bush: Faith in the White House (2004)
Do you ever reminisce about the good old days? We took a trip down memory lane to a time when political decisions were based on strong moral values, and when faith allowed men of consequence to weather tumultuous times. Our source material for this nostalgia sesh is GEORGE W. BUSH: FAITH IN THE WHITE HOUSE, a “documentary” (heavy emphasis on the scare quotes) produced by GRIZZLY ADAMS creator Charles E. Sellier Jr. and hosted by conservative radio host Janet Parshall. The thesis of the documentary is that the 43rd American president’s strong personal Christian faith is what gave him strength during the September 11th terrorist attacks, the toughest circumstances ever beset upon an American president since George Washington. On the DVD jacket for the documentary, it bills itself as alternative programming to Michael Moore’s FAHRENHEIT 9/11, a cultural product also from 2004 that argues active malice among politicians and the media class leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths in the Iraq War. Wanting to be more fair and balanced than Michael Moore, GEORGE W. BUSH: FAITH IN THE WHITE HOUSE takes the funny tone of pretending to present sides of praise and criticism of George W. Bush, but then immediately settling on the most maudlin stories of Bush giving great hugs and being caring to his staffers during hard times in their lives. The obvious point of view here is to launder Bush’s difficult and destructive political decisions through the lens of him being a real sweetie. The stories of Bush’s day-to-day demeanor may be true, but how does that explain his desire to enter the Iraq War? Did God guide Bush to the “lesser of two evils” that protected American lives and liberated the Islamic world? I guess we’ll never know for sure, because God hasn’t allowed us to live in the reality where we saw the other side. It could have been even worse! GEORGE W. BUSH: FAITH IN THE WHITE HOUSE assures us that is probably the case; after all, Bush’s is constantly seen praying in the Oval Office, always wears a suit, and donated money to the evangelical “crusades” of roving minister Arthur Blessitt, whom he met at a Holiday Inn. A guy like that is probably gonna do the right thing, so don’t worry about it! View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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Noah (2014)
06/15/2025
Noah (2014)
To celebrate Father’s Day, we spend time with the story of one of the most important Old Testament patriarchs as depicted by acclaimed American filmmaker Darren Aronofsky. NOAH takes great liberties with the biblical legend of Noah, adding elements inspired by the pseudepigraphical Book of Enoch. In Aronofsky’s NOAH, the harsh realities of day-to-day life in Bible times are exaggerated with high fantasy elements. The most notable addition to the story are the giant stone “Watchers”, towering giants whose stone exteriors imprison the souls of fallen angels doomed to wander Earth. These Watchers have a relationship with Noah’s family, who they see as some of the last remaining humans on earth who care about doing God‘s will. Noah (Russell Crowe) hears the call of the Lord in a mysterious dream, which is later expanded upon when Noah’s grandfather Methuselah (Anthony Hopkins) feeds Noah an ayahuasca-like hallucinogen, revealing the Great Flood and its brutal cleansing of the earth. Methuselah also gives Noah a seed from the garden of Eden, allowing Noah to carry on the esoteric knowledge of the garden to the new family line he will begin once the earth is destroyed. However, Noah is apprehensive about repopulating the Earth with humans who are by their nature prone to sin. He vows to kill the twins carried by his daughter-in-law Ila (Emma Watson) if they turn out to be girls, so humans will go extinct. He also doesn’t let his incel son Ham (Logan Lerman) take a goth e-girl to be his wife. Fortunately, Noah’s innate sense of human decency prevails (at least with Ila), because if he had killed Ila’s babies, we wouldn’t be alive to have a podcast today. Aronofsky’s adaptation of Noah is similar to THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST in the fact that it executes a Bible story with a mixture of ambitious high fantasy and gritty realness. It’s admirable that Aronofsky is able to turn one of the most implausible Bible stories into something that feels real. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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Highway to Heaven s1e20 "The Banker and the Bum" (1985)
06/01/2025
Highway to Heaven s1e20 "The Banker and the Bum" (1985)
Before there was TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL there was HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN, an 80s sitcom that may be the blueprint for the angel media craze that swept American pop culture at the end of the 20th century. HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN was created and directed by American television legend Michael Landon, who also stars in the series as the angel Jonathan Smith. Landon, known for his roles on all-American historical dramas BONANZA and LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, enlisted his former LITTLE HOUSE… co-star Victor French to play Jonathan Smith’s buddy Mark Gordon, a retired policeman (and mortal human) who accompanies Jonathan on his weekly assignments to use angelic influence to improve people’s lives. God is referred to as “The Boss” in the series; this world-building is consistent with TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL’s commitment to never discussing Jesus’s sacrifice or the concept of sin on network television. Both series only refer to a faceless God and His angelic messengers who can impact earthly forces. This week on BBS, we chose to explore this historical television series in our ongoing study of angel media, focusing on an episode with a trope we love: body swap. On previous BBS episodes ME AGAIN and SWITCHED we discuss the sub-genre of Christian body swap stories, and HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN s1e20 “The Banker and the Bum” is a triumphant new entry in that category. When homeless man Willy the Waver (Ned Beatty) has 24 hours to live, he makes a simple wish to tell elitist mayoral candidate Melvin Rich (also played by Ned Beatty) to “be nice”. Angel Jonathan Smith grants this wish by swapping the two men’s positions, teaching Melvin Rich an important lesson on empathy for others. The character of Willy the Waver reminds us of a common trope in Christian media: the homeless person who does unnecessary “kindness” to others that no one asked for in order to prove his unfortunate life is cheerful (in this case, waving to random cars on the road on a strict schedule like it’s his job.) “The Banker and the Bum” is both a charming tale of acceptance and a reminder of the shallow understanding much Christian media has of homeless people. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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Chi Ann Blaze of Fury (2025) TEASER
05/25/2025
Chi Ann Blaze of Fury (2025) TEASER
Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month! For the first time in the history of our podcast, we are reviewing a film in which we co-starred. This is CHI ANN BLAZE OF FURY, the brand new film by 3Angels Power, a Canadian film production company based in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. In 2019, BBS co-host Julian struck up a friendship and artistic relationship with the Karam sisters (Gladys, Mona Lisa, and Jeanne d’arc) whose films he found by accident after misspelling a search term on YouTube. He was immediately captivated by the creative writing and directing of the sisters’ 2013 feature film FRANCESKA FINGER NAILZ, a 3 hour long epic about a misunderstood spirit wreaking havoc on a rural Canadian town. Julian wrote to the 3Angels, offering to film any script they sent to us with a troupe of actors. Weeks later, we had a script in hand for several scenes of a film that would become CHI ANN BLAZE OF FURY. We got about 20 of our friends together, drove to Marina del Rey and recorded a long scene on a beach in which a group of people discuss love and philosophy while fielding phone calls warning them to the existence of yet another evil spirit named Chi Ann. A long time passes and we are unsure about the status of the production; six years later, 3Angels surprise posts the film and we get to watch in its entirety. As fans and promoters of DIY filmmaking, it was so exciting to yield our will to filmmakers we admire and do whatever they asked us to do to realize their vision. 3Angels have a unique command of language and storytelling. No films look and sound like theirs. We’re proud to be involved, and we hope our review inspires lovers of film to watch CHI ANN BLAZE OF FURY, subscribe to 3Angels’ channel, and stay tuned to their electrifying updates. Watch CHI ANN BLAZE OF FURY for free on YouTube: While watching, please like and subscribe 3Angels' channel to support creative DIY filmmaking.
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Michael (1996)
05/18/2025
Michael (1996)
In the 1990s, filmmakers and audiences seemed obsessed with “magic men” who caused chaos in their communities while teaching everyone an important lesson. Some of these men were angels; some of them were just weird little freaks who made a big difference. Some examples of this: POWDER, MEET JOE BLACK, PHENOMENON, and another John Travolta starring film called MICHAEL. MICHAEL is an interesting hybrid magic man/religious film where this “magic man” archetype is also the archangel Michael from the Bible. This device allows the film to be safe-religious while not directly invoking Jesus, a storytelling technique also used by popular Y2K-era television show TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL. In the film, Michael is an angel discovered living in Iowa by tabloid reporters who specialize on documenting unexplained phenomena. When they travel to meet Michael, they find out he is indeed a real angel, but not in the way that most of us would expect to experience one. He is sweet, but with bad manners, and prone to seducing earth women because he’s very interested in sex with them. Michael also introduces new rules of angel encounters on earth: for instance, angels are only allowed to visit earth 26 times and they can only perform small miracles. Inventing fake angel tropes outside of the Bible is a very common device of these safe religious 90s films, usually used to tie up plot continuity issues. In the end, Michael’s secret mission is to unite the characters Frank (played by William Hurt) and Dorothy (played by Andie MacDowell) in a romantic love they will treasure forever. Although it’s a sweet but ultimately quite stupid film that uses half-baked angel powers as a cop out, MICHAEL is an extremely interesting study in trends of biblical imagery in mainstream pop culture of the recent past. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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Battlefield Earth (2000)
05/04/2025
Battlefield Earth (2000)
This infamous sci-fi film is perhaps the church of Scientology’s biggest attempt to ingratiate itself with mainstream culture. BATTLEFIELD EARTH is based on a novel by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, whose end goal was to adapt this book into a Hollywood film. Hubbard made an attempt in the mid-1980s to produce the adaptation himself, but it failed, and Hubbard died in 1986. Hubbard had hinted to John Travolta, a prominent Scientologist, that Hubbard would have liked Travolta to star in the film. Travolta took it upon himself to bring BATTLEFIELD EARTH to life in the mid-90s, eventually co-producing and starring as Terl, the dreadlocked 9-foot-tall antagonist of the film. Travolta’s character Terl is a “Psychlo”, a colonial race of humanoid aliens on a universe-wide mission to strip less powerful planets of their resources. 3000 years in the future, earth is one of these planets. Johnny Goodboy is a human “man-animal” living like a post apocalyptic caveman and being hunted by the Psychlos. When Terl meets Johnny, Terl enslaves the human, thinking him inferior, but Johnny quickly adapts to Psychlo civilization and reads the historical Declaration of Independence which inspires him to thwart his captors with a daring escape. Although BATTLEFIELD EARTH doesn’t demonstrate much about the Scientologist doctrine, perhaps it proves that Hubbard’s main spiritual goal was aimed at the lowest heights possible — achieve fame and attention in the Hollywood system. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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Touched by an Angel s7e21 "The Sign of the Dove" TEASER
04/27/2025
Touched by an Angel s7e21 "The Sign of the Dove" TEASER
Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month! We’re back with coverage of TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL, the television series that may hold the key to understanding the American psyche once and for all. The popular 90s and 2000s era show uses an “angel of the week” format as each story is about different angels inflicting themselves upon the lives of hapless humans. This week we focus on SIGN OF THE DOVE, a dueling angel experience which interweaves stories of Andrew (angel of death, portrayed by John Dye) and Monica (the show’s protagonist, played by Roma Downey) helping two humans whose life paths have woven for generations. Andrew tells us the story of a human family he’s been taking to heaven since the 1200s, including delightful time travel skits in period costumes (such as Revolutionary War-era powdered wigs.) Ben Mason is the last of this family; unfortunately he doesn’t know he’s about to perish in a bombing by his neighbor Nick Freeman, who doesn’t mean harm to Ben but wants to collect insurance money and will kill Ben by accident. The history of a freed African American slave could be the key that unlocks Nick’s humanity and prevents him from setting the fateful bomb. While we’re waiting at the edge of our seats, we ponder the angel logic of TBAA. Why don’t angels drink alcohol? Why do they make themselves visible to some humans but not all? What is it they can really do? TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL reviews have become our favorite fodder for podcast episodes because they are so dense with insane moments and inconsistent world building. Hopefully our review of “The Sign of the Dove” will be one you write about in your family Bible to remember forever. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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The Book of Eli (2010)
04/20/2025
The Book of Eli (2010)
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 local warlord Carnegie (Gary Oldman), Carnegie suspects that Eli’s book may be the Bible, which Carnegie himself has been seeking because he believes reading it will give him the power to control large groups of people. Carnegie is perhaps a metaphor for hypocritical conmen religious leaders who use Christianity as a way to acquire power and money, whereas Eli could represent Christ or even just a true honest believer who has made it his mission to spread faith into the world. This metaphor becomes even more clear when Eli’s quest is revealed to be delivery of the Bible to an enclave of secret archivists who will reprint and preserve it forever. The authenticity of Eli’s faith becomes even more clear when Carnegie does steal the Bible, only to be upset to find it is written in Braille, revealing Eli to have been blind the whole time. Despite being mortally wounded by Carnegie, Eli makes it to the archivists in time to speak the entire Bible to them as an oral tradition, ensuring its preservation. In the final scene of the movie, we see the archivists putting the newly reprinted Bible on a shelf alongside the Torah and the Quran. This ending, which is obviously inspired by the novel FAHRENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury, shows that THE BOOK OF ELI is not a truly Christian genre film — few faith-based films would equate the Bible and the Quran. To view THE BOOK OF ELI through the lens of faith-based film criticism is to see it as a religious cop out; hinting that the Bible is the source of spiritual truth but ultimately dismissing it as “just another book on a shelf.” View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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Salomé (1923)
04/06/2025
Salomé (1923)
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 SALOMÉ takes cues from the Oscar Wilde play on the subject, adding extra-historical depth to the characters to portray Herod's throne in the throes of self destructive decadence. Male characters are simpering and devilishly gay (note that Alla Nazimova herself was openly bisexual, so this feels like intentional camp rather than homophobia.) Fashions are extravagant and imaginative, seeming both historical and futuristic. Physical acting is taken to extremes: SALOMÉ is a truly exciting watch, showcasing how much depth of character is possible from a silent film. To watch SALOMÉ is to not only experience an avant-garde take on Bible story, but also to see human ingenuity on full display with no boundaries to self expression despite limitations by emerging technology. Unrelated, in this episode the Bible Boys also discuss our new obsessions in ultra contemporary media: Harmony Korine’s BABY INVASION and teen orthodox Jewish influencer Flynn Goldstein. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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Touched by an Angel s7e22 "The Face of God" TEASER
03/30/2025
Touched by an Angel s7e22 "The Face of God" TEASER
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 (portrayed by Annabella Sciorra who notably plays Gloria Trillo in THE SOPRANOS) is desperate for a child to call her own, so she fuses her personal longings with work and decides to give birth to a baby cloned from Albert Einstein. This doesn’t sit right with our favorite angels, Monica, Tess, and Andrew, who see human cloning as sacrilegious means for humans to “play God.” Monica becomes a bioethicist to monitor the doctor closely; meanwhile Andrew and Tess go back in time to tend to the dying Albert Einstein in his final days of life, to show Dr. Conover that even a brilliant man like her idol Einstein would be conflicted by the harmful effects caused by his life’s work. Like most TBAA episodes, “The Face of God” takes a hard ideological stance using incredibly convoluted evidence written by humans and delivered by fictional angels as a means to completely eschew narrative continuity and moral consistency. But UNLIKE most TBAA episodes, this one is the origin of the character Gloria (Valerie Bertinelli) who is by far our favorite angel and is created by God out of thin air in this episode as a “flex” by humans for wanting to make cloned animals. Get good! View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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Face the Beat (2024) feat. Pretty R1cky
03/23/2025
Face the Beat (2024) feat. Pretty R1cky
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 mother and a father who works in the music industry), his rich playboy friend Cooper who books him for gigs, and his vocalist girlfriend Ava who is played by notable Christian singer V. Rose. Zack feels discouraged in realizing his dream as a successful DJ, but eventually his dedication (and some crucial financial support from his father and Cooper) pay off to being discovered by a “music influencer” and artist representative at his first big gig, hinting toward a successful future in Christian music. You would think a movie like this would explore the sacrifices one must make to preserve personal faith in a secular industry, but it really doesn’t do anything like that at all. However, the film did inspire us to ruminate on what it takes to actually be a career DJ. Our DJ friend Pretty R1cky (@sobasedsopretty) joined us in the studio to discuss Los Angeles DJ politics, music as a force that comes directly from God, and their viral crucifixion tattoo that has earned them internet infamy. Follow Pretty R1cky on Instagram: View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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Greatest Heroes and Legends of the Bible: Sodom and Gomorrah (2003) TEASER
03/16/2025
Greatest Heroes and Legends of the Bible: Sodom and Gomorrah (2003) TEASER
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 have to a primary source for life in Bible times. Heston delivers his narrator lines with the poise of an aged Hollywood legend, but the cartoons themselves are unremarkable and low budget, clearly cutting on key frames to save time and money. The low quality animation does a huge disservice to the tale of Abraham, one of the most notable characters in biblical history, who rejected idol worship and did the first circumcision. But all would have been redeemed if the cartoon were brave enough to condemn Sodom directly for the sin of homosexuality. Unfortunately, it does not — the most wickedness we see in Sodom is a man laughing at another man being whipped (non-sexually.) But the director of this series, William R. Kowalchuk, has a sexy secret: his only feature film credit is on an obscure Canadian soft core porn comedy called SUMMERLUST, which looks extremely stupid and is about two men going on a sexy fishing trip (finding hot babes, not fucking each other.) When will God destroy Canada for its sins of lust and pornography? View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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Mindreader (2022) feat. Brad Roelandt
03/09/2025
Mindreader (2022) feat. Brad Roelandt
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, who believe Dexter is tainting the art form by refusing to deny claims of his own supernatural ability. The Association ambushes Dexter with a public test, which he passes, but is punished anyway in a shocking plot twist. We recommend fans of Rich Christiano (and his brother Dave) tune into this genuinely entertaining new drama to enjoy the surprise for themselves, but we at Boys’ Bible Study will reveal that Rich Christiano is still in top form after over three decades of regular output in the faith-based movie space. We were a bit disappointed with 2020’s PLAY THE FLUTE but thought MINDREADER was an exciting new entry in the virtuoso director’s catalog. Joining us to review MINDREADER is our friend Brad Roelandt, a longtime associate of ours in the Los Angeles found footage comedy scene, whose feature-length found footage film IMG0000 (2023, co-directed with Collin Lapinsky) creates thrilling associations between thousands of unrelated unlabeled YouTube videos uploaded from phone cameras with default titles. Fast-paced editing weaves together the self-documented life stories of thousands of ordinary people, finding joy and order in the hilariously mundane chaos of human existence, the way a magician might reach into an empty hat and find a rabbit. Watch IMG0000: Watch JOEY EARNS REWARDS USING THE MCDONALD'S MOBILE APP: View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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Barbara Sundstrom short film roundup! TEASER
03/02/2025
Barbara Sundstrom short film roundup! TEASER
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 and crew by giving teens real film production experience. Each one of Sundstrom’s Cross Wind Productions films has a very unique story but tends to focus on “social realism” themes of sin and suffering among ordinary people. Sometimes, they dip into the supernatural: for example, 20 minute short film THE GUARDIAN, which is written by a film student of Sundstrom’s, portrays a miracle that occurs when a “hobo” might be an angel in disguise. Christian teen Tara loses her father in a car crash but gets a second chance to say goodbye when she meets the homeless Leroy who coincidentally received Tara’s father’s eyes in a cornea transplant after the fateful accident. Faith also brings an orphaned teen to unlikely protectors in FOSTER CARE, a story by Sundstrom about how Christians’ good intentions need follow-through to make a positive impact. When teen Bridgette is suddenly orphaned by her mother’s intentional drug overdose, she is taken in by a family at her local church who aren’t ready for the commitment they agreed to when housing a troubled teen. Bridgette fortunately is able to find herself with yet another more suitable couple in church, which has got to be one of the luckiest stories about the foster system ever told. Blurring the line between stark realism and complete fantasy, Barbara Sundstrom remains the kind of compelling voice in faith-based film that keeps us as Christian film podcasters hunting for the next big thing. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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In the Mirror Dimly (2007) feat. Louise Weard
02/23/2025
In the Mirror Dimly (2007) feat. Louise Weard
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 for years on our podcast, especially her 2007 magnum opus THE SABER (about a marine recruit battling porn addiction.) Sundstrom does not shy away from intense themes in her work, which primarily stars the teenagers who work with her as a part of her film ministry project Cross Wind Productions. Teens deal with intense emotions, so Sundstrom must feel that teens can handle powerful artistic truths. The dark subject matter of IN THE MIRROR DIMLY combined with its forays into the surreal, sometimes intentionally and other times unintentionally through bizarre visual storytelling, make the film an essential watch for anyone who appreciates unique film experiences. Joining us for this week’s review is another singular filmmaker, but from a very different realm: Canadian edgelord auteur Louise Weard, whose star is rising with the recent success of her crowdfunding campaign for upcoming feature CASTRATION MOVIE PT. II. This will be a sequel to CASTRATION MOVIE PT. I, which last weekend drew two nights of sold out crowds at screenings in the Los Angeles area. Taking a break from her touring schedule to join us in the studio, Louise discussed the parallels between IN THE MIRROR DIMLY and her own work (mainly, tons of vomit sequences) and also dropped hints that Christian influences might creep into her upcoming CASTRATION MOVIE sequel. Download Louise Weard's films CASTRATION MOVIE and COMPUTER HEARTS on Gumroad: View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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Promised Land (TV, 1996-1999) TEASER
02/16/2025
Promised Land (TV, 1996-1999) TEASER
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.) Recently homeless, the family decides to nomadically drive their trailer around America after being told by an angel that their purpose is to help others. The American promise is a major theme of PROMISED LAND, leaning more heavily into an explicit endorsement of American values than TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL ever does. In fact, pilot episode “The Expatriate” centers around the Greene family helping a man who is moving from America to New Zealand after suffering a spinal injury from gun violence. It seems reasonable that a man who suffered a traumatic injury might want a change of scenery, but the Greenes (and thereby the logic of the show’s writers) seem to think it’s a sin to abandon America. It’s “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” taken to an extreme and delusional degree, with the Greenes adding value to America by inflicting themselves on average people’s lives who hold reasonable opinions. To get a broader sense of the vibe of PROMISED LAND, we also watch a late series episode where the show has completely abandoned the trailer-roaming angle of the show and the Greenes have settled down in Denver, CO. In the episode “What’s in a Word?” Nathaniel overhears cool black teenagers saying the “soft ‘a’ n-word” among themselves and, innocently not understanding the racial context, repeats this word to his own black friend in school the next day. This causes a massive stir within his community and ignites a conversation, poorly handled by the show’s writers, about racial dynamics in America. The conclusion? America is the greatest country on earth, no matter the cost. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: Follow us on Instagram: Follow us on Twitter:
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