Seeing and Believing 258 | Dave Franco’s The Rental and Nicholas Ray’s In a Lonely Place

Seeing & Believing kicks off a new series on film noir starting with Humphrey Bogart in a Lonely Place and Dave Franco’s directorial debut with The Rental.

Shea Serrano’s Joy Ride

Reveling, then recognizing the same enthusiasm in us, Shea Serrano delights to share these experiences.

Star Trek: Discovery’s Christopher Pike: An Old-Fashioned Hero for Our Cynical Times

In Star Trek: Discovery, Captain Pike shows an unswerving commitment to goodness and willing sacrifice that isn’t just refreshing, it’s downright inspirational.

How to Train Your Dragon: Revision, Restoration, and Edenic Longing

Even though How to Train Your Dragon should be a very silly story, sometimes very silly stories manage to say the very best things.

Seeing and Believing 257 | Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Old Guard and Elizabeth Coffman/Mark Bosco’s Flannery

Wade and Kevin sit down with Netflix’s superhero-adjacent action flick The Old Guard, and the documentary Flannery about the renowned 20th Century author.

What “Wedding Night” Videos Say about Christian Influencer Culture

One of the reasons Christian influencers make videos about their newly minted sex lives is almost certainly to get views, which begets both more followers—more impact for Jesus, naturally—and also more money.

Funny Beliefs 6 | Grace

Many things can bring relief, connect us with each other, and reveal our faults, but laughter does these things with playfulness and joy.

For a Few Years, Everyone in France Was Wearing Squid Hats, and the Guy Who Wrote Les Misérables Was to Blame

So-called cephalomania first took off in France, where it suddenly became fashionable to host octopus- and squid-themed parties, and for a few years, squid-shaped hats were considered to be the height of fashion among French women.

Hamilton Invites Us to Imagine the Power of Forgiveness

Alexander is redeemed, not because he deserves it, but because Eliza grants redemption to him.

Seeing and Believing 256| Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow and Max Barbakow’s Palm Springs

Kelly Reichardt’s latest film about two friends milking a rich man’s cow on the sly, and why Wade and Kevin also like Palm Springs, the Hulu original film.

School Reopening Dilemma Is an Education in Itself

The issue of reopening schools has raised a question we’ve been putting off for far too long: what is the purpose of public education?

Funny Beliefs 5 | Limits

This is a story of getting burned out on comedy and learning to love it again with an enjoyment story that comes through accepting limits.

From Boccaccio to Chaucer: Storytelling during and after Plague Time

Why do something so frivolous as telling stories when human lives may be at stake? Shouldn’t we be in the business of… well, surviving?

Children of Blood and Bone and the Importance of the Black Imagination in the West

Tomi Adeyemi’s success with Children of Blood and Bone is especially important for our cultural moment.

Exploring America’s Love of a Steely Savior in Jesus and John Wayne

Jesus and John Wayne is history as confession, history as lament, a type of history that hopes in a God who never puts us to shame, even as hope in America does.

Seeing and Believing 255 | Aaron Schneider’s Greyhound and Andrew Patterson’s The Vast of Night

Wade and Kevin see what Rom Hanks serves up with Greyhound, then turn their attentionAndrew Patterson’s 1950s-set sci-fi flick The Vast of Night.