Faithspotting

Kenny and Mike discuss the newest Pixar film and spot faith issues presented in Luca . Faith Issues Spotted: The Judeo-Christian understanding of living and witnessing the Way of God as a stranger in a strange land. Embracing the commonalities with people of other nations, customs, and faiths. The use of myth and legends to instill fear and antipathy toward "others" vs Christ's call to love the "o...

Anthony Ramos   Warner Brothers/HBO Kenny and Mike discuss the film and faith elements spotted in the Jon M. Chu directed film of the Tony Award winning musical In The Heights that is both contemporary in voice and a throwback to an earlier style of film musical. Faith Reflections Spotted: The power and place of "calling" and knowing how to distinguish calling from desire and dream. The balance be...

Following up on their discussion of, the 2018 film A Quiet Place, Kenny and Mike discuss the film and spot faithin John Krasinski's sequal, A Quiet Place Pt. 2. Faith Issues Spotted: As in the original, A Quiet Place Pt.2 depicts the reality that there is no escaping the threat of the invading aliens. Much like sin, which is beyond the ability of humanity to escape and overcome, there is no place...

Kenny and Mike discuss the film and spot faith reflected in the 2018 blockbuster A Quiet Place. Faith Elements Spotted: Place of Sacrificial Love.  Complexity of Guilt and Recovery: Civic Guilt , Law Based-Objective Existential /Religious Guilt , Moral Responsibility- Subjective aspects. Not limited or defined by laws.  Psychologic Guilt, Subjective experience of guilt. Faith Allows/Offers forgive...

Kenny and Mike welcome special guest Rev. Eric Folkerth as they continue their discussion of the Netflix documentary Echo in the Canyon. In this second episode they spot and discuss the faith elements echoed in the film.  Faith Echoes  Faith lives through the passing of stories and tradition from one generation to the next for them to apply in their voice and to their context. Notion of the Commun...

Mike and Kenny are joined by Rev Eric Folkerth who is a United Methodist pastor and a singer /songwriter to discuss the film and faith spotted in the Netflix documentary Echo in the Canyon.  The film documents the rise of folk rock in the mid 1960's that was rooted in and grew from Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles. Jakob Dylan facilitates the examination through interviews with music legend of that ti...

Kenny and Mike discuss the film and spot faith elements presented in Crip Camp, the Netflix documentary that tells the story of a camp for children and youth with disabilities. The film also shares the impact many of the former campers had as adults in the Civil Rights Struggle for persons with disabilities. Crip Camp is a production of Higher Ground Productions and is directed by James Lebrecht a...

Kenny and Mike discuss the Academy Awards, winners, runners-up, and the show. Afterward they discuss the film and spot the faith elements in the Oscar winning feature length documentary film, My Octopus Teacher. Time Index: Oscar Recap               00:00       My Octopus Teacher  24:30            Faith Spotted             28:34             Faith elements: Incarnation , the importance of being phy...

Mike and Kenny are joined by guest Dr. Ryan Parker in a discussion of The Academy Award nominees for Best Picture and the faith elements spotted in films. Ryan is a theologian with an Masters of Divinity degree as well as a PhD. in Religion and the Arts. Ryan also works in the film industry in marketing, public relations, and story development with an eye also toward film production.  Faith Elemen...

In the 3rd of the 4 part series leading up to the 2021 Academy Awards (April 25th) Kenny and Mike offer their thoughts on the nominees, including their favorites, predictions, possible swaps. In addition, they discuss faith elements spotted in the film Another Round f or which director Thomas Venterberg is one of the nominees. For faith elements spotted in the other nominees' films see the Faithsp...

Kenny and Mike discuss the best acting nominees for the 2021 Academy Awards. The discussion includes their favorites, predictions, and changes to nominees they would have made.  The episode also includes  with a discussion of faith elements spotted in the films of the actors and actresses. More detailed notes on the films Faithspotting has covered are available at https://revkennydickson.com/ Best...

In the first of a 4 part series leading up to the Academy Awards, Mike and Kenny discuss the Actresses and Actors nominated for best supporting performances. For additional faith notes for most of the nominated films see the episode posts at    https://revkennydickson.com/ Best Supporting Actress: Maria Bakalova  Borat Subsequent Moviefilm       Glenn Close     Hillbilly Elegy    An awareness and...

2021 Academy Awards Series Kenny and Mike discuss the film Mank and spot faith elements in the David Fincher, Academy Award nominated film starring Gary Oldman as screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz. The film examines Mank's writing the screenplay of Citizen Kane as he struggles to overcome the physcial injuries of an automobile accident, alcoholism, and the ever challenging demands of Orson Wells. ...

Kenny and Mike discuss and spot faith elements in the film One Night in Miami , directed by Regina King. Written by Kemp Powers and based on his play, the film stars Eli Goree, Kinglsey Ben-Adir, Aldis Hodge, and Leslie Odom Jr. who was nominated for an Academy Award for Supporting Actor. The film is an historical fiction narrative about 4 of the most famous black leaders of the time, Cassius Clay...

Mike and Kenny discuss the film and spot the faith elements in Shaka King's "Judas and The Black Messiah." Faith Issues Spotted: The Judas betrayal of Jesus Narrative- presented in each of the Gospels. Though William O'Neal (LaKeith Stanfield) did not initiate the contact with the FBI, he agreed to inform and eventually betray Chairman Fred Hampton and requested and accepted payment.  Through his...

Kenny and Mike discuss the faith elements and other aspects of the films Promising Young Woman and Nomadland. Carey Mulligan stars in the Emerald directed Promising Young Woman and Frances McDormand stars in the Chloe Zhao directed Nomadland. While the films are very different in look and feel, they share similar faith elements presented. Faith Elements Spotted Processing Grief and Loss in ways th...

Kenny and Mike discuss the films and faith issues spotted in two court dramas, The Chicago 7 set in 1969 Chicago and Mangrove set in early 1970's London. Both films depict protest movements, violent response and trials where the justice is not blind and scales are not balanced.  Faith Elements Spotted: Chicago 7 : Place of war within Christian teaching & tradition.     Is war compatible with Chris...

Kenny and Mike discuss the upcoming PBS Series, The Black Church: This is Our Story, This is Our Song with series director and producer Stacey Holman. The Black Church premieres February 16 and 17 at 9pm ET on PBS. Hosted and produced by Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., The Black Church series examines the 400 year history of the Black Church and it's place at the heart of black history an...

Due to Covid protocols, Kenny joins Mike by phone for a virtual recording of Faithspotting as they share their thoughts about, and spot faith elements in the newest Pixar film Soul. We apologize for the less than optimum sound quality. While Soul is perhaps the most impressive Pixar film visually, it is a complicated film that addresses age old questions, experiences, and wonder. Soul is the most...

Mike and Kenny share and discuss their top 5 Christmas films. Faith is about story and in addition to specific faith elements spotted they share the stories behind these films that make them truly favorite Christmas films.  Faith Elements Spotted: Themes With Accompanying Scripture and Hymns The power of story to bring persons and groups together, establish commonality, Traditions, and memories wh...

Faithspotting hosts Mike and Kenny continue looking at the faith elements in the NETFLIX series, The Crown . In this episode, Faithspotting examines the faith elements spotted in "Bubbikins," the fourth episode of season three and "The Hereditary Principle" the seventh episode of season four. Faith Elements: Both episodes examine mental illness and how it is addressed by members of the Royal Famil...

Kenny and Mike discuss the NETFLIX film Hillbilly Elegy and examine faith elements spotted in the latest film from Director Ron Howard. Set in Middletown Ohio in 2011, with flashbacks to 1997, Hillbilly Elegy is based on the bestselling memoir by J.D. Vance and depicts his struggle to overcome extreme family disfunction and systemic poverty community and family poverty. Warning: Those who have exp...

Kenny and Mike discuss the faith elements spotted in 2 episodes from the NETFLIX series The Crown , "Vergangenheit" from season 2 and "Aberfan" from season 3.  Vergangenheit was the 6th episode in the show's second season. The subjects depicted were a request by Queen Elizabeth's (Claire Foy) uncle and former King, the Duke of Windsor (Alex Jennings) to re-enter service to the Crown and country fo...

Mike and Kenny discuss the film and faith issues in the important Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma . The film is a documentary addressing the addictive and destructive elements of social media. Former early executives of social media platforms discuss the manipulative tactics and use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support a business model built entirely around luring the attention and fo...

Kenny and Mike discuss the film and faith elements found in Joaquin Phoenix's Academy Award winning performance in Todd Phillips's film Joker .            Spoiler Alert! As with all Faithspotting episodes, we hope the conversation addressing the issues of life and faith spotted in Joker will be interesting and informative to listeners regardless of whether or not they have seen the film.  Faith Is...