A project Nate worked on is arriving this February: It's House of David, a serious retelling of the life of David. But Nate only worked on early drafts, and it's now a Prime Video project. The guys watch the preview; Brian criticizes vestiges of what feels like Rings of Power; Nate talks about the vision for the project, and (even if he were to have quibbles about the final result) talks about what success for this series would do: Reignite some interest in telling faithful Bible stories. He talks about the importance of Christians telling real stories, and Brian makes a surprising pivot into the movie Magnolia (1999, directed by PTA, definitely NOT a Christian movie, don't show your family and then send us angry messages). Brian argues that Magnolia's director Paul Thomas Anderson is trying to take a divine perspective on the rise and fall of ten characters in Los Angeles. Nate gives his thoughts on a movie that is more honest about grace and judgment than any "Christian" film he has seen recently. As Magnolia's Christian Officer Kurring (John C. Reilly) puts it: "Sometimes people need to be forgiven. And sometimes they need to go to jail. And that's a very tricky thing on my part." This leads to a challenge: Christian directors should be more ambitious than Paul Thomas Anderson in their efforts to make Christian films great again.
Best Selling Author N. D. Wilson and Editor Brian Kohl host the Stories Are Soul Food podcast! The podcast that helps feed the right kind of loyalties and shape affection for the first and the greatest Author, Jesus Christ.