Seeing and Believing with Wade Bearden & Kevin McLenithan

After 400 episodes, we've reached the end. But before we go, Kevin and Sarah have a conversation about their ethos of faithful movie criticism, bringing the podcast full circle to a conversation Kevin and Wade had with Josh Larsen (Think Christian, Filmspotting, Fear Not!) in the earliest days of the podcast. This is our final weekly podcast episode. Thank you for listening. We're not packing up our critical gear entirely: Seeing & Believing is now a newsletter. Keep the conversation going by giving us a follow on Substack or Letterboxd. Watch Skhizein! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kevin and Sarah retire to the drawing room, where they'll be getting to the bottom of the mystery of both this week's movies. First up is Kenneth Branagh's A Haunting in Venice, Kenneth Branagh's third installment playing and directing a Hercule Poirot mystery. For the Watchlist, Kevin chooses Robert Altman's 2001 murder mystery of manners, Gosford Park. Episode 400 will be our final weekly podcast episode before we transform Seeing & Believing into a Substack. If you have any thoughts about the show, we'd love to hear them. Send us an email at seeingandbelievingcapc at gmail dot com, or follow us on Letterboxd. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, Sarah and Kevin review Bottoms, the latest from director Emma Seligman about a pair of high school seniors (Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri) who start a fight club to try to impress girls. For the Watchlist, Sarah introduces Kevin to Howard Hawks's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. We're launching a Seeing and Believing Substack! Subscribe HERE!. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email at seeingandbelievingcapc@gmail.com. Follow us on Letterboxd Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sarah and Kevin explore a dystopian sci-fi story in the form of Landscape with Invisible Hand, the latest movie from Cory Finley adapted from an M.T. Anderson novel of the same name, about a pair of teens who live under a vaguely benevolent alien occupation that's drained the planet of its jobs and resources. For the Watchlist, Sarah and Kevin talk about another story that has to do with finding love in a hopeless economy: Charlie Chaplin's 1936 film Modern Times. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email at seeingandbelievingcapc@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sarah and Kevin explore a dystopian sci-fi story in the form of Landscape with Invisible Hand, the latest movie from Cory Finley adapted from an M.T. Anderson novel of the same name, about a pair of teens who live under a vaguely benevolent alien occupation that's drained the planet of its jobs and resources. For the Watchlist, Sarah and Kevin talk about another story that has to do with finding love in a hopeless economy: Charlie Chaplin's 1936 film Modern Times. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email at seeingandbelievingcapc@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sarah and Kevin vs. Dracula...on a boat. This week, they review The Last Voyage of the Demeter, an adaptation of a chapter from Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. For the Watchlist, Kevin continues the theme of "danger on a boat" with his choice of Wolfgang Petersen's 1981 film Das Boot. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email at seeingandbelievingcapc@gmail.com Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kevin and Sarah dive into the sewers with the titular teens from the new animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. Then, Sarah and Kevin enter the magical world of Miyazaki's 2004 film Howl's Moving Castle. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email at seeingandbelievingcapc@gmail.com Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mad science is afoot in this week's double feature. First up, Sarah and Kevin get to the bottom of the new Netflix mystery/comedy/science fiction thriller They Cloned Tyrone, starring John Boyega, Teyonah Parris, and Jamie Foxx as a trio investigating strange goings-on in their neighborhood. For the Watchlist, Kevin introduces Sarah to one of his favorite horror movies, Eyes Without a Face. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email at seeingandbelievingcapc@gmail.com Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The heat of summer is here. Kevin and Sarah brave forest fires as they review Christian Petzold's latest movie Afire, about a writer who can't seem to finish his latest manuscript while on vacation. Then, they take on a listener Patreon pick by reviewing the 2022 Irish Best International Feature Oscar nominee, The Quiet Girl. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email at seeingandbelievingcapc@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Barbenheimer is upon us. Sarah and Kevin review two new releases this week: Christopher Nolan's biopic about the father of the atomic bomb, Oppenheimer, followed by Greta Gerwig's romp about a Barbie having an existential crisis. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email at seeingandbelievingcapc@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sarah and Kevin's mission, which they chose to accept, is to review the latest entry in the Mission: Impossible series. Will Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie pull it off once again? For the Watchlist, Kevin and Sarah square off over differing interpretations of Satoshi Kon's dreamlike movie Paprika. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email at seeingandbelievingcapc@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kevin and Sarah don their adventuring gear and go exploring with Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny...but does this franchise belong in a museum? For the Watchlist, Sarah and Kevin discuss Peter Bogdanovich's 1971 film The Last Picture Show. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email at seeingandbelievingcapc@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Alien-invasion movies are perfect for exploring the question of who humanity is when they're at their worst. First up, Kevin and Sarah review Wes Anderson's latest movie Asteroid City, which juxtaposes lonely humans against an even lonelier universe as they try to make a connection with the unknown. For the Watchlist, Kevin introduces Sarah to the Steven Spielberg adaptation of H.G. Wells' novel of the same name, War of the Worlds. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email at seeingandbelievingcapc@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, we review a pair of movies about coming of age and learning to live with yourself. Pixar specializes in stories that revolve around this topic, so naturally Kevin and Sarah were interested to examine their latest release, Elemental, to see if it holds up against the rest of Pixar's offerning. Then, Sarah introduces Kevin to Kelly Fremon Craig's directorial debut, The Edge of Seventeen, starring Hailee Steinfeld. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kevin and Sarah take on horror-adjacent movies in two different flavors this week. First up, they review The Blackening, a comedy that aims to puncture common tropes about Black characters in horror movies. Then, Kevin picks Jeremy Saulnier's much more serious film Green Room, about a punk band fighting for their lives, for the Watchlist segment. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email! Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's spring, and romance is in the air. Sarah and Kevin each fall for Celine Song's debut feature Past Lives, about two childhood sweethearts reconnecting decades later. For the Watchlist segment, Sarah introduces Kevin to the Merchant/Ivory adaptation of Edith Wharton's A Room with a View. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email! Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kevin and Sarah are both fans of the surprise 2018 movie introducing Miles Morales, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It's been five years, and we've been waiting to see if the new sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse can live up to the promise of the original. Then, Kevin and Sarah take on Paul Verhoeven's satire, RoboCop. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email! Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kevin's a fan of the first two movies in Paul Schrader's unofficial "Men with Guilt" trilogy. Sarah's a little less enamored of those movies overall. Will the two be able to agree on the third film in Schrader's trilogy, Master Gardener? Then, Sarah introduces Kevin to Elaine May's work via her Watchlist pick, Mikey and Nicky. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email! Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this bonus episode, Sarah and Kevin review Kelly Reichardt's latest movie, Showing Up, in which Michelle Williams plays an artist trying to hold it together as she prepares for a show. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email! Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patre Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sarah is watching Aliens in the Big Apple so Kevin and special guest Chris Williams cover the 10th entry in the The Fast and the Furious saga, Fast X. After the high octane review the pair return to 1947 for the watch list segment to discuss Jacques Tourneur's film noir classic, Out of the Past. All this, plus listener feedback in episode 382. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sarah and Kevin dive back in to the MCU with their review of James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Is it a worthy capper to the trilogy? Then, they take on another colorful dystopia, this time in the form of Katsuhiro Otomo's 1988 anime film Akira. Tickets for Sarah's screening of Aliens at the IFC Center in New York City Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email! Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kevin and Sarah clash over Nida Manzoor's action/heist/drama mash-up Polite Society! When the dust settles, they take the time to explore societal clashes of a different flavor with the 1936 romantic comedy My Man Godfrey, starring William Powell and Carole Lombard. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email! Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kevin and Sarah never read Judy Blume's beloved 1970 book Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret when they were kids. Now that they've had the opportunity to catch up with the story via Kelly Fremon Craig's adaptation, was it worth the wait? Then, Sarah introduces Kevin to Agnes Varda's beloved film, Cléo from 5 to 7. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email! Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, Sarah and Kevin review Ari Aster's newest film, Beau Is Afraid, starring Joaquin Phoenix. Then, Kevin and Sarah discuss Henry Selick's masterpiece Coraline. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email! Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kevin and Sarah sink their teeth into a pair of vampire movies. First up is Renfield, which is loosely based on characters from Bram Stoker's Dracula, and which features Nicolas Cage as the vampire. Then, Sarah introduces Kevin to one of her favorite movies, Kathryn Bigelow's 1987 vampire/Western film Near Dark. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email! Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kevin and Sarah take the opportunity to let their nerd flags fly as they review Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. They continue the swordplay with their Watchlist pick, the 1998 film The Mask of Zorro. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email! Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Do video games count as good art? That's what Kevin and Sarah want to know as they reviewTetris, a dramatization of the efforts to purchase the rights to distribute the game of the same name. Then, they review a Patreon pick, the Oscar-winning 1984 film Amadeus. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email! Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sarah and returning guest Abby Olcese find themselves reviewing not one but two adrenaline-soaked action movies this week. First, they take on John Wick: Chapter 4, the latest in the action/revenge franchise starring Keanu Reeves as a lone assassin against the rest of the world. For the Watchlist segment, Abby and Sarah discuss Walter Hill's 1979 film The Warriors, in which a gang must fight their way back across New York City to get safely to their home turf. Mikey Neumann's series about the first three John Wick movies can be found here: Is John Wick About the Gods of Olympus? Does John Wick 2 Jettison its own Franchise Symbolism? John Wick takes on Crime (and Jesus?) Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email! Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this bonus episode, Sarah and Kevin sit down with Chris Staron of Truce Podcast to discuss Inherit the Wind, a 1960 drama about the Scopes Monkey Trial. This episode is part of the Truce Podcast's ongoing series about Christian fundamentalism. Click to find out more about the Truce Podcast Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email! Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sarah and Kevin find themselves in survival situations this week. First up is the new movie 65, starring Adam Driver as a space traveler who crash lands on Earth...in the time of dinosaurs. For the Watchlist segment, Kevin introduces Sarah to Robert Redford's solo outing as a desperate, resourceful sailor in the 2013 film All Is Lost. Kevin and Sarah also take a moment to share their thoughts about last weekend's Oscars. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email! Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kevin and Sarah spend this week contending with morality and the heavy questions of faith...which, to be honest, they do every week, but this time both movies they're reviewing are explicitly about religion. First up, they journey to the heart of Iceland in Hlynur Pálmason's new film Godland. For the Watchlist segment, Sarah and Kevin have a conversation about Éric Rohmer's My Night at Maud's. Sarah also delivers a special report on the state of the True/False film festival. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email! Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kevin and Sarah strap on their boxing gloves and go a few rounds with the latest Rocky sequel, Creed III. For the Watchlist segment, Kevin and Sarah discuss one of Kevin's favorite movies, Raging Bull, and the ways that it demonstrates Martin Scorsese's ability to make sophisticated religious films. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email! Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Music provided by TakeTones. Free Download Music: https://taketones.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kevin and Sarah take on the latest MCU installment, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The movie is set to launch Phase 5 of the ambitious film franchise, but is it thinking too big? For the Watchlist segment, Sarah introduces Kevin to the 2014 sci-fi action movie Edge of Tomorrow, starring Tom Cruise playing against type as a cowardly soldier trapped in a time loop during an alien invasion of Earth. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email! Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's raining men! Kevin and Sarah review Steven Soderbergh's latest movie, Magic Mike's Last Dance. Is it light on its feet, or does it land with a thud? For the Watchlist segment, Sarah and Kevin talk about Frank Perry's 1968 adaptation of John Cheever's short story The Swimmer, in which Burt Lancaster attempts to swim home, backyard pool by backyard pool, across an increasingly strange county. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email at seeingandbelievingcapc@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kevin and Sarah confront the truth in all its forms. First, they take on a rare review of a TV show, the Rian Johnson howcatchem murder mystery starring Natasha Lyonne, Poker Face, about a woman on the run who solves murders with her ability to tell when anyone is lying. For the Watchlist segment, Sarah and Kevin discuss Drew Goddard's 2018 movie Bad Times at the El Royale, a movie concerned with the nature of truth and identity starring a murderer's row of excellent actors. Dave Courtney's Letterboxd review of Knock at the Cabin, which was discussed in the feedback section of the show. Have thoughts about the movies we reviewed? Send us an email at seeingandbelievingcapc@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this bonus episode, Sarah and Kevin talk about the movies they're most interested in seeing in the coming year. Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kevin and Sarah take on an apocalypse or two. First up, their review of M. Night Shyamalan's latest outing, Knock at the Cabin, about a family vacation gone wrong when four strangers appear on their doorstep, demanding that the family make a terrible choice in order to prevent the end of the world. For the Watchlist segment, Sarah and Kevin discuss Take Shelter, Jeff Nichols's intimate psychological drama about a man who dreams about the end of the world. Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on the podcast: two movies about the cost of making art. Kevin and Sarah review Jafar Panahi's latest film No Bears, in which a lightly fictionalized version of Jafar Panahi retreats to a remote border village in order to direct a movie based in reality, with very real stakes. Then, Sarah introduces Kevin to her latest watchlist pick, Bob Fosse's All That Jazz, in which Roy Scheider plays a lightly fictionalized version of Bob Fosse at the height of his career…and perhaps the end of his life. Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Follow us on Letterboxd Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're digging ourself out of the year-end lists and getting back into the swing of things for 2023 with a new release and a watchlist pick. This week, Kevin and Sarah pair their Watchlist review of Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru with their review of its 2022 remake Living, written by Kazuo Ishiguro and starring Bill Nighy. Does the remake do justice to the original? Or is it simply populated with a lot of boxes that need to be checked? Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's the triumphant return of Seeing & Believing! After taking careful notes, watching as many movies as we could, and tallying our favorites, we've assembled a list of our favorite films…as well as a few guest voices to help us along the way. Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Read Sarah's essay about After Yang for Bright Wall/Dark Room Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kevin and Sarah weigh the cost of greatness, and whether or not Damien Chazelle manages to pull off the gargantuan undertaking that is Babylon, his 3-hour epic about the silent era of Hollywood. Then, Sarah and Kevin turn their attention to Hirokazu Kore-eda's latest, Broker. Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kevin and Sarah return to Pandora to review James Cameron's long-awaited sequel to Avatar. Was the wait worth it? Or is The Way of Water simply more of the same? Then, Sarah and Kevin get into literary adaptations in Noah Baumach's filmed version of the Don DeLillo novel, White Noise. Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this bonus episode, Sarah and Kevin review Aftersun, Charlotte Wells' writing and directorial debut. Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kevin and Sarah find themselves in the dark fairytale of Pinocchio, Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson's version of the beloved fairy tale reimagined in stop-motion animation. Then, Sarah and Kevin swoon over Park Chan-wook's romantic thriller Decision to Leave. Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Movie magic! Musicals! Axe murders! All in a day's work for Sarah and Kevin as they review a pair of movies that revolve around the power of cinema. First up is Steven Spielberg's semiautobiographical The Fabelmans, which presents pieces of Spielberg's legacy alongside a loosely fictionalized version of his own life growing up. For the Watchlist segment, Sarah introduces Kevin to Jacques Demy's musical take on Hollywood with a French twist, The Young Girls of Rochefort. Follow us on Twitter @SeeBelievePOD Support the Seeing & Believing Patreon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices