Saints and Cinema

Send us Fan Mail All five Winterstein brothers are together in Olympia for the celebration of their parents' 50th wedding anniversary, so what else would we do but record an episode with all of us? (Excuse the microphone bumps, as we were sitting around a card table...) We reminisce about first theater experiences and movies we remember from our childhood. Then we talk about marriage movies,...

Send us Fan Mail Tim and Jay talk about Father Stu , "Christian" movies, and where Mark Wahlberg's labor of love fits, both in the cinematic and theological landscapes. Some other films (and TV series) we mention briefly in this episode: Goodfellas (again), War Room , The Passion of the Christ , Fireproof , God's Not Dead , Uncharted , The Americans , Yellowstone . Tim wrote so...

Send us Fan Mail Jay and Tim talk with Pastor Mark A. Pierson about the men's movie night at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Long Beach, California. We also say requiescat in pace to Ray Liotta, Jay sounds like he's in a cavern, Tim badly pronounces French movie titles, and a lot of movies get mentioned. Some of the films we mention in this episode: Silence ,  Calvary ,  Field of Dreams...

Send us Fan Mail It's the third week of Easter, so Jay and Tim make a list of films where resurrection shows up: Ordet (1955), Cool Hand Luke (1967), Silent Light (2007), The Kid with a Bike (2011), and Happy as Lazzaro (2018) . Some other movies we mention briefly: Halloween , La Promesse , The Child , Young Ahmed Come find us: Website Instagram Facebook Twitter YouTube  (starting with Episo...

Send us Fan Mail Tim and Jay talk with Rev. Dr. Scott Stiegemeyer, professor of theology and bioethics at Concordia University in Irvine, California, about the new movie After Yang . We talk about technology, memory, grief, and what it means to be human. Some of the movies we mention in this episode: After Yang , Columbus , Blade Runner , Robot and Frank , Drive My Car , Saint Maud . The Blackest...

Send us Fan Mail Tim and Jay mess around, talk about Academy Award nominations and possible winners, don't really put to rest the highbrow/lowbrow art debate, and mention a few more films they hope to see this year. Some films we mention in this episode: The Power of the Dog , West Side Story , Drive My Car , Spencer , After Yang , The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent , Columbus , Killers...

Send us Fan Mail Everyone has to have a best-of list. This is ours. Some honorable mentions, and then our top five films of 2021 (at least of those we've seen), and then a couple we're looking forward to in 2022. Some of the films we mention in this episode: What We See When We Look At the Sky; Pig; The Tragedy of Macbeth; The Green Knight; Lost Daughter; This is Not a Burial, It's...

Send us Fan Mail 'Tis the season! Tim and Jay talk to Pastor Brian Bowes about his annual Christmas movie watch list and what makes a movie a "Christmas movie." Some of the movies we mention in this episode:  Elf ,  Miracle on 34th Street ,  Holiday Affair ,  A Christmas Story ,  Home Alone ,  The Bells of St. Mary's ,  National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation ,  Going My Way...

Send us Fan Mail Jay and Tim get all the answers to all their questions about him & her from writer and director Ice Mrozek. Among other things, Ice tells the best story that has ever been told on this podcast, involving his first acting audition, a major director, an award-winning editor, and a dinner party. Our first episode with Ice is here . Keep up with release information for him & h...

Send us Fan Mail Tim's and Jay's good intentions go unrealized, they talk about their favorite films from the festival and what they still want to see, what it's like to be a film festival programmer. They also tell you why you should go to a film festival, and why it's like summer camp. Some of the films mentioned in this episode:  Belfast ,  Keeping Company ,  East of Middle...

Send us Fan Mail Jay and Tim keep the Newport Beach Film Festival episodes rolling with the writer/director of Electric Jesus , Chris White, as well as Contemporary Christian Music historian and music advisor for the film, John J. Thompson. We talk about the film, the unique subculture of CCM, '80s Christian rock, the detailed reconstruction of the musical and period setting for the film, and...

Send us Fan Mail Jay and Tim talk about the film him & her with writer/director/actor Ice Mrozek. We get into a little of how [REDACTED] came about, and what it was like to [REDACTED]. We talk about the filmmaking process, the difference between an idea and the finished product, and look forward to the world premiere screening of him & her at the Newport Beach Film Festival on October 24....

Send us Fan Mail Unlike our normal, light-hearted content, we turn slightly darker with both the original and the first two episodes of the remake of Scenes From a Marriage . Tim wrote about one scene in the first episode of the remake here . Some of the movies we mention in this episode: Scenes From a Marriage , A Marriage Story , and, briefly, The Card Counter and The Godfather . Opening music:...

Send us Fan Mail Jay and Tim finally get the Saints and Cinema Nicolas Cage episode done. We talk Pig and about 1 % of the rest of his cinematic output. And the return of outtakes. Some of the films we mention in this episode: Pig , Con Air , The Rock , Mandy , Face/Off , Raising Arizona , Bringing Out the Dead , Leaving Las Vegas . Opening music: "Let's Start at the Beginning," Lee...

Send us Fan Mail Tim and Jay talk with Dr. Scott Stiegemeyer (ethicist, pastor, professor, and co-host of The Blackest Eyes podcast) about George A. Romero's newly released 1973 film The Amusement Park . It is an anti-ageist film commissioned by the Lutheran Service Society of Western Pennysylvania, but rarely, if ever, seen until now. Aging, religion, churches, horror, and the surreal sense...

Send us Fan Mail On the two-year anniversary of Saints and Cinema, Tim and Jay have a feature-length conversation with friend and filmmaker Thomas Torrey. We talk The Killing of Two Lovers , Thomas's new podcast, fatherhood, indie filmmaking, and if there's anything so far worth putting on a best-of-2021 list. Some of the movies we mention in this episode: The Killing of Two Lovers ; Far...

Send us Fan Mail Jay and Tim talk revenge movies, what appeals to us about them, and quoting  Dumb and Dumber. Movies we mention in this episode include:  Dumb and Dumber ,  Taken ,  Death Wish ,  I Saw the Devil ,  Braveheart ,  In the Bedroom , and  Nobody . Opening music: "Let's Start at the Beginning," Lee Rosevere Closing music: "Découvre moi," Marc Senet & Simon...

Send us Fan Mail Tim and Jay talk Bill Maher, the Oscars,  Promising Young Woman , and mostly mess around and laugh too much.  Now, more outtakes than ever! Some movies we discuss in this episode include:  Promising Young Woman ,  Minari ,  Mank ,  Taken ,  The Trial of the Chicago 7 ,  Nomadland , a certain unnamed film from the Berlin International Film Festival. Bill Maher on the 2021 Oscars Op...

Send us Fan Mail Jay and Tim talk to friend, erstwhile Newport Beach Film Festival programmer, and current Programming Director for NewFilmmakers LA, Bojana Sandic about all sorts of things: what is NFMLA, what she thinks about the Oscars, what she looks for in films to program, what her quarantine watching has been like, and descriptive words to use other than "unique" or "weird.&q...

Send us Fan Mail Tim and Jay watch some films from the 2021 virtual edition of the Slamdance Film Festival; they talk high school, death, life, family, loss, and indie filmmaking. Slamdance Film Festival Some of the movies we mention in this episode: Taipei Suicide Story; Teenage Emotions; A Family; Man Under Table; Alps . Opening music: "Let's Start at the Beginning," Lee Rosevere...

Send us Fan Mail With a suggestion from our friend Kurt, we talk about bad movies, movies we don't like, the plot line cliches that make us want to turn off or walk out, and why people make bad movies. Thanks to everyone who gave us suggestions! And outtakes are back Some of the movies we mention in this episode: The Cold Light of Day, The Midnight Sky, Rambo: Last Blood, The Martian, Saw, Yo...

Send us Fan Mail Tim and Jay reveal their favorite movies of pandemic-afflicted 2020, along with some honorable mentions. Their lists intersect at one point and one point only! Thanks for listening during 2020, and we're looking forward to talking more about movies in 2021! Movies we mention in this episode, in no particular order: The Truth, Arkansas, The Outpost, About Him and Her, The Quar...

Send us Fan Mail In a first for Saints and Cinema, we have a crossover episode with Andrew Hackett of The Trace Podcast. We each talk about three movies that disturbed us (in a good way) and made us see the world or film or life differently. Our conversation takes us to a lot of places, covering Lynch, Haneke, Fincher, and more, including to questions about truth itself. The Trace Podcast Movies w...

Send us Fan Mail Tim and Jay talk film noir and Bogart; what noir has in common with Samson and Delilah; the ambiguity of noir's characters; and Tim laugh-cries over an episode of Wings  that may or may not have happened. We mention In a Lonely Place , Casablanca , The Big Sleep , and  The Maltese Falcon . Here's the book with the essay on noir by Eric S. Christianson. Opening music: &qu...

Send us Fan Mail Jay and Tim rank Meg Ryan's 1990s rom-coms, discuss the male equivalent of romantic comedies, and make a whole bunch of mistakes and ridiculous comments that end up after the closing music. Once again, the best part of the episode. Opening music: "Let's Start at the Beginning," Lee Rosevere Closing music: "Découvre moi," Marc Senet & Simon Grivot...