Seeing And Believing With Wade Bearden & Kevin Mclenithan

What better way to celebrate Thanksgiving than with movies about dysfunctional families and the legacy of colonialism? Rian Johnson's crowd-pleasing whodunit Knives Out is first on the chopping block this week—can it live up to its star-studded cast and the promise of a throwback mystery? Johnson's film is followed by a sequel to the movie that launched a thousand memes and childhood singalongs: Frozen 2. Elsa, Anna, Olaf, and Kristoff are back for another adventure, this time in an enchanted forest that contains mysterious secrets from Elsa and Anna's past. Wade and Kevin dig into the songs, the ice powers, and the story of the follow-up to one of the biggest animated films of the decade.

Mister Rogers mania continues into 2019, as the Tom Hanks-starring A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood hits theaters this weekend. Seeing and Believing reviews Marielle Heller's new film and adds an interview with Joanne Rogers herself into the bargain. Wade and Ms. Rogers chat about what it was like to have known and loved the remarkable Fred Rogers, as well as see the outpouring of interest in him after his death. The guys then turn to something a little faster-paced, James Mangold's Ford v. Ferrari. Does the Matt Damon/Christian Bale film satisfy Wade and Kevin's need for speed?

It's not Halloween anymore, but Seeing and Believing experiences a pair of hauntings all the same with the two films this week. First up is the Stephen King adaptation Doctor Sleep, a sequel to The Shining. Wade and Kevin also take a look at the Jim Gaffigan-starring Light from Light, director Paul Harrill's quiet drama about a paranormal investigator trying to help a widower find closure after his wife's death.

Seeing & Believing wades into some deep waters with today's pairing of films. Taika Waititi's Jojo Rabbit, set in Nazi Germany, is about a young boy who's a member of the Hitler Youth and has an imaginary friendship with Adolf Hitler. They also spend some time with The Lighthouse, from the director of the Puritan horror movie The Witch. Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe's 19th-century lighthouse keepers slowly go mad on a storm-scoured rock in the middle of the ocean, how can you go wrong?

Whether you like biopics of golden-age Hollywood stars or picaresque tales about people pursuing their pro-wrestling ambitions, Seeing & Believing's got you covered in this episode. Renee Zellweger makes her bid for an Oscar this year with her electrifying turn as Judy Garland in Judy. Smaller indies are represented this week as well, as Wade and Kevin dig into The Peanut Butter Falcon, about a young man with Down syndrome who has dreams of a career as a professional wrestler. 

Seeing & Believing begins the transition into awards season with this week's episode. The guys review John Crowley's latest literary adaptation, this time of Donna Tartt's Pulitzer-winning The Goldfinch. They also offer a glimpse of their most-anticipated films of the upcoming Oscar season. Some heavy hitters are lined up in the wings for the holidays which ones have caught Wade and Kevin's eye?

With Kevin out this week, Wade is joined by Grindhouse Theology's Blake Collier to discuss "IT Chapter Two." "IT Chapter Two" picks up 27 years after 2017's "IT," bringing the now grown up cast (which features Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, and James Ransone) back to Derry, Maine to battle Pennywise once again. In their second segment, Wade and Blake discusses David Cronenberg's 1983 horror picture, "The Dead Zone."

Wade is joined by film critic Sarah Welch-Larson to discuss 'Ready or Not, the new horror-comedy from Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. In their second segment, the Wade and Sarah discusses 'The Last Black Man in San Fransisco,' the new drama from director Joe Talbot. It's a balance between deadly games and gentrification on Episode 215 of Seeing and Believing.

Wade and Kevin review Blinded by the Light, from the director of Bend It Like Beckham. Based on the memoir by Sarfraz Manzoor, Gurinder Chadha's new film centers on a Pakistani teen trying to survive Margaret Thatcher's Great Britain with the help of Bruce Springsteen's music. Does it manage to do justice to the power of Springsteen's music? They also take a look at Richard Linklater's latest effort, and adaptation of Maria Semple's bestselling novel, Where'd You Go, Bernadette.

Seeing & Believing features something (slightly) old and something (very) new with the two semi-autobiographical films being reviewed on this episode. The guys take a look at Lulu Wang's quirky, touching The Farewell, a story about a family coming together to lie to their beloved matriarch about her diagnosis of terminal cancer. Also under review is Joanna Hogg's The Souvenir, the just-released-to-streaming film about a drug addict and an aspiring filmmaker and the stormy bond between them.

Quentin Tarantino is back with another period piece, this time set in Hollywood during the closing days of the 1960s with Once Upon A Time.... In Hollywood. Wade and Kevin also offer their review of the indie film Them That Follow, which tells a story that is right up Seeing & Believing's alley: a pastor's daughter finds herself at a crossroads when it comes to her Appalachian community's Pentecostal snake-handling ways.

Join Wade and Kevin for an episode featuring the incredible heights that humankind is capable of achieving with technology! Witness the power of Disney to create all the wildlife of the savannah out of 1s and 0s in their remake of The Lion King! Thrill at Todd Douglas Miller's use of never-before-seen archival footage to retell the story of the historic 1969 moon landing in his new documentary Apollo 11!

Jump in the way-back machine with Wade and Kevin and travel back to Hawkins, Indiana, as they review the latest season of Netflix's hit original series Stranger Things. If romantic comedies and the Beatles are more your speed, this episode also has you covered with a review of Yesterday, a high-concept comedy that posits an interesting scenario: What if everyone in the world except one person forgot about the existence of the Beatles' music?

Wade and Kevin do a no-spoilers review of Spider-Man: Far From Home to examine whether the post-Endgame world of superheroes is still worth visiting. They also continue with the fourth film in their series on Stanley Kubrick with A Clockwork Orange. Malcolm McDowell's depraved hoodlum Alex has been iconic ever since the film's release in 1971, and the guys examine whether Kubrick's plays on the audience's sympathies result in a muddled curio or a complex cinematic classic.

'Seeing and Believing' goes to infinity and beyond this week with two much-anticipated reviews. First up is their take on 'Toy Story 4'. Directed by Josh Cooley. In their second segment, the duo continues their "Summer of Stan" review series with a look at Stanley Kubrick's 1968 science-fiction classic, '2001: A Space Odyssey'. Does it still hold up after all these years? And, just what do we make of those apelike creatures? Existential questions abound on this week's episode of 'Seeing and Believing'!

Wade is off for the week, so Kevin gets Dave Canfield of Screen Anarchy and Mindframe(s) to help him plumb the depths of two complex films: Claire Denis's sci-fi experiment High Life and Penny Lane's documentary about the Satanic Temple, Hail, Satan?

Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame is here, resolving the events not only of Infinity War but also of the 21 Marvel films proceeding it. Wade and Kevin offer their (spoiler-free) thoughts on the film, examining how well it works as its own film as well as the culmination of an entire franchise. They pair this discussion with a look back at arguably the biggest action blockbuster of its own decade, The Matrix. How has the reality-bending sci-fi of the Wachowskis aged in the two decades since its release?

Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is a movie more than two decades in the making, but it's finally out. With Adam Driver as a creatively frustrated film director and Jonathan Pryce as the eponymous crackpot knight, was this film worth the wait? The Jordan Peele-produced revamp of The Twilight Zone also gets a look this week. The guys examine how well the first three episodes of the new series fills the shoes of the beloved original.

We interview authors Kutter Callaway and Craig Detwiler about the book they co-authored with Robert K. Johnston: Deep Focus: Film and Theology in Dialogue. Kutter and Craig discuss the intersection of their faith with their cinephilia, the often rocky relationship between Hollywood and the church, and what it means to be in conversation with a work of art. Wade and Kevin also offer their review of Tim Burton’s latest crack at directing a live-action remake of a beloved animated Disney film, Dumbo.

The guys lean into the rule of threes with this week's films. Triple Frontier, the first collaboration between director J.C. Chandor (All Is Lost), screenwriter Mark Boal (Zero Dark Thirty), and Netflix. Is this film's story of U.S. Army veterans turned heist thieves in South America successful? Wade and Kevin then take a look at the new film from Iranian master Jafar Panahi, 3 Faces. Panahi's penchant for metafictional gamesmanship is well established; how does his latest fit into that phase of his career?