Thomas and Steven conclude their analysis of Malick’s Weightless trilogy, looking at his 2017 film Song to Song. With this movie, Malick solidifies the Weightless trilogy’s status as authentically Christian (specifically, Kierkegaardian) cinema. Using the setting of the Austin music scene, it delivers a positive message concerning the emptiness of hedonistic contemporary culture and how…
We are joined by both William Ramsey and Sean McCann for a discussion that follows up on the analysis we did with them earlier this year of Leave the World Behind. Unpacking the surprisingly dull recent Alex Garland film Civil War, we also spend time talking about the much more lively film The Second Civil…
Thomas and Steven discuss the first season of True Detective, analyzing its iconic depiction of occult conspiracy. They talk about the series’ treatment of religion and philosophical pessimism, its approach to masculinity, and the thematic ambiguities of the show’s conclusion. While expressing appreciation that this masterpiece of television includes so many positive notes, they also…
Continuing their examination of the Weightless trilogy, Thomas and Steven explore Knight of Cups, Malick’s 2015 film that dreamily depicts a screenwriter’s search for meaning, as he wanders through the maze of Hollywood life. Analyzing the film’s gnostic and tarot reference points, they again seek to discern whether Malick is subverting standard Hollywood spirituality with…
We joined our friend Jay Dyer on his show for a discussion about three films that deal with trauma-based mind control designed to cultivate psychical powers, particularly in children. Breaking down De Palma’s The Fury, Cronenberg’s Scanners, and Mark L. Lester’s Firestarter, we talk about theta programming, the real history of government-sponsored psychical research, and…
Jasun Horsley joins us for a conversation about his book Big Mother: The Technological Body of Evil, which analyzes the Satanic techniques that converge upon the human body in the modern world. Topics of discussion include how the Wachowskis’ red pill turned blue, the significance of the COVID-19 pandemic, how the occult divine child relates…
Thomas and Steven continue the Terrence Malick series, introducing a discussion of the Weightless Trilogy, which begins with To the Wonder (2012) and constitutes some of the most fully realized Christian cinema ever produced. We talk about Malick’s Kierkegaardian inspiration and analyze the film’s depiction of romance, family, and the search for God. https://twitter.com/StevenDeLay4 https://stevendelay.com/https://sunypress.edu/Books/L/Life-Above-the-Clouds
As a sequel to our Taxi Driver episode, we analyze Paul Schrader’s 2017 film First Reformed, an explicit work of religious engineering. We examine how the movie’s sophisticated propaganda depicts the dying remnants of American Protestantism being absorbed into the globalist religion of the future, complete with worship of the earth mother goddess. We also…
A return to our series on Christopher Nolan, discussing how Oppenheimer makes explicit the globalist politics implied by the sci-fi transhumanism of some of his previous films. We analyze how the movie treats standard Nolan themes, such as the master manipulator and the death of the soul (often symbolized by the death of women). Oppenheimer‘s…
In a discussion that much of our longrunning Joker analysis has built to, we do a deep dive into Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976). We explain the foundational place of Scorsese’s film in the feedback loop between media and spectacular crime that we call the Joker Cycle. Looking at other relevant films and filmmakers, we…
Thomas joins Luemas on Chant It Down Radio, discussing the first three films in the Jason Bourne franchise. Starring the deeply sus Matt Damon, limited hangouts and revelation of the method abound in these movies. Discussing how Hollywood’s political messaging has shifted over the last couple decades, Thomas and Luemas explain how the exceptionally spooked-up…
We and Sean McCann joined William Ramsey for a discussion about the recent Obama-produced apocalyptic thriller Leave the World Behind. Directed by Sam Esmail, the movie is filled to the brim with globalist propaganda concerning social collapse, ‘disinformation,’ and the need to trust the technocratic elite at all costs. It also includes the usual subtext…