Faraway, So Close! (1993)

Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month! www.patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Much of what we know about history is a lie. The biggest lie of them all, both literally and figuratively, is the coverup of the existence of giants. Primary sources such as the Bible (heard of it?) speak of a race called the Nephilim. These larger-than-life offspring of angels and human women have been depicted in documentaries such as NOAH by Darren Aronofsky. Nephilim were said to have been destroyed in the Great Flood, but a race of giant people supposedly persisted on Earth into contemporary times. If this news comes as a surprise to you, there is one group to blame: the evil Smithsonian Institution, whose alleged purpose is to destroy the remains of giant skeletons so the lie of evolution can persist. Fortunately, some brave souls like the creator of A RACE OF GIANTS boldly proclaim this history and were able to sneak it past the censors. The documentary teaches us a few things: 1) that throughout North America, the bones of giant humans and even fossilized remains of their giant tools (pause) have been found and then lost through a series of unfortunate coincidences or outright archaeological malice; 2) that the legend of Big Guys has existed in many ancient cultures for a reason, because sometimes guys are really tall; and 3) that certain findings, such as the famous Guadalupe Woman skeleton embedded in rock formations inappropriate for the generally accepted carbon dating of Earth, supposedly go as far as to disprove the very concept of evolution. Without coming across as overtly Christian, A RACE OF GIANTS makes the case for the young earth creationism described by the Old Testament in a compelling, albeit confusing and roundabout way. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

Wim Wenders's intriguing and often baffling sequel to WINGS OF DESIRE reunites several actors from the original but places them in a shifting narrative that can be difficult to follow. At times FARAWAY, SO CLOSE! even transforms into a straight mafia crime thriller, a tonal detour that feels sudden and disorienting. In many ways it is clearly a sequel, tying off threads from the first film and expanding its angel mythology in ways that feel almost like fan service. We revisit Damiel, the former angel now living as a human with his trapeze artist wife Marion, happily running a pizza place called Angel's House. The film even repeats the musical cameo idea from the original. Where Nick Cave performed live in WINGS OF DESIRE, here we get a performance from Lou Reed. But other additions feel like they belong to a completely different cosmology. Willem Dafoe plays Emit Flesti, whose name reversed reveals his nature as "Time Itself." The character functions almost like a demon, tormenting angels who have fallen to the human world. These ideas add intriguing layers to Wenders's angel lore, but they also make the mythology far more complicated than the elegant framework established in WINGS OF DESIRE. That earlier film's bold choices, like casting Peter Falk as himself but secretly a former angel, ultimately reinforced its central themes. FARAWAY, SO CLOSE! often feels both too close and too far from its source. The film's ending highlights the tension. Cassiel is killed during an elaborate plot involving a hijacked barge, only for the tragedy to turn into relief when he is restored to angelhood. It raises an odd implication. If fallen angels can simply become angels again after death, the sacrifice at the heart of WINGS OF DESIRE begins to lose its weight. Still, this is not to say we did not enjoy watching FARAWAY, SO CLOSE! It is a fascinating and often strange expansion from one of cinema's most distinctive filmmakers, even if its ambitious ideas occasionally threaten the elegant foundation of the original. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month! www.patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Sensationalist Christian filmmaker Danny Carrales has a talent for conveying the urgency of Jesus's teachings. It's one thing to hear the words that those who don't accept God's grace will be doomed to a life of eternal torture; it's another thing to actually see this happen to a guy who seemed like a pretty decent person but unfortunately dropped dead before he decided to accept Jesus. In an instant, he's floating above his body, traveling through a pillar of light, until the direction suddenly switches and he screams in terror as the sky around him turns to fire. This is an example of the high drama level of ESCAPE FROM HELL, cowritten by Danny Carrales and Michael Martin, the team who gave us the high-octane rapture movie THE GATHERING and also HEAVEN'S WAR, a CGI-heavy story of the eternal spiritual struggle unseen to humans. ESCAPE FROM HELL inhabits a couple of well-traveled Christian movie tropes. It takes place in a hospital, a frequent setting for faith-based movies, since it's a hub for souls entering and leaving Earth. Also, similar to Australian thriller TABERNACLE 101, the film's action largely concerns a scientifically minded explorer inducing a near-death experience in himself to prove the idea of life beyond death. Both films are like FLATLINERS for Christians, and both show that taking such a risk costs opening the door between worlds in very uncomfortable ways. ESCAPE FROM HELL is probably the more successful of the two for its tight structure, extremely laid-on-thick melodrama of family members crying while their loved ones' souls are experiencing eternal damnation, and weird, campy experimental techniques, like putting a sign saying "Ducks Be Not Proud" on the hospital roof so dying souls can read it before getting to heaven. Every collector of Christian films should have a copy of this VHS on their Bible study shelf, along with THE GATHERING and FINAL EXIT, the Carrales film we plan to watch next. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy  

Did Wim Wenders's WINGS OF DESIRE give a generation of angel films their wings? The seminal German film certainly inspired one major American box office hit: Brad Silberling's CITY OF ANGELS, a loose remake cleverly relocated to Los Angeles. Recently Boys' Bible Study has moved into full-time analysis of the Y2K angel boom in American cinema, and CITY OF ANGELS may be the most essential film of that wave, spawning countless imitations. One of the movie's main draws is its A-list cast. Nicolas Cage plays Seth, an angel stationed at an LA hospital, where he becomes unprofessionally enamored with heart surgeon Dr. Maggie Rice, played by Meg Ryan. Dennis Franz, fresh off his fame from NYPD BLUE, co-stars as Nathaniel Messenger, a hedonistic patient of Dr. Rice who is later revealed to be an angel who chose to "take the fall" and live as a mortal. The idea of angels longing to inhabit the world of flesh is a key trope pioneered by WINGS OF DESIRE, where the fallen angel was portrayed by American actor Peter Falk playing himself. CITY OF ANGELS expands on this idea by making the fallen angel a physically weak, unremarkable everyman, offering Seth a grim preview of the fate that may await him if he gives up eternity for love. After an emotionally intense courtship that unfolds across planes of existence, Maggie and Seth commit to each other, and Seth rejects immortality in order to experience human love and sex. He gets to do this exactly once before a cruel twist of fate, seemingly engineered by a mischievous God, befalls the newly mortal couple. CITY OF ANGELS lays its melodrama on thick and can feel like a tedious watch more than 25 years later, but it remains a well-made artifact of an era when nondenominational angels dominated the airwaves and lived vividly in the public imagination. Humans live briefly, angels live forever, and movies exist somewhere in between. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month! www.patreon.com/boysbiblestudy The urge to self-categorize as either a jock or a nerd seems inherent to human nature, even though those labels are relatively recent inventions. Today's looksmaxxing culture all over social media is really just a jargon-heavy reskin of those same old tribal attachments, complete with terms like "chad," "stacy," and "subhuman." The TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL episode "Most Likely to Succeed" does a great job showing how everyone still feels trapped by their high school caste, because even if you reinvent yourself, that nostalgic self-identification can be a prison. Case in point, Dennis Loggins was a total nerd in high school, complete with thick glasses and a precocious interest in computers. He was clearly in love with cheerleader Melissa, who treated him with sincere kindness, but her boyfriend, football star Ricky Jessup, made Dennis's life a living hell through cruel bullying. Flash forward ten years and Dennis is now a multimillionaire tech entrepreneur taking meetings with Bill Gates, yet he still harbors intense feelings for Melissa and deep resentment toward Ricky. He plans revenge at their ten year reunion by buying Ricky's football team and kicking him off the starting lineup to intentionally destroy his career. This is where the angels come in. Gloria, played by Valerie Bertanelli, is newly created by God and unfamiliar with the human world, and she poses as Dennis's assistant to earn his trust and convince him to forgive Ricky instead of staying trapped in the past. TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL remains one of our favorite pieces of faith-based media, a campy drama that constantly switches from absurd to melodramatic. The show is often at its best when it feels unconcerned with lore continuity, because it is funnier that way. Plus, the "revenge of the nerds" plot feels especially timely alongside the rise of looksmaxxing streamer Clavicular and his quest to mog the world. We highly recommend "Most Likely to Succeed," and if you watch, stick around for a jaw-dropping musical guest performance that comes out of nowhere and is guaranteed to make you smile. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

Powerhouse faith-based production company Angel Studios takes a break from raising awareness of human trafficking to bring us a heartwarming tale from the gridiron. THE SENIOR is an inspiring sports drama about a man willing to do whatever it takes to reclaim his former glory. Haunted by regret, 59 year old strength coach Mike Flynt takes the incredible step of rejoining his former college football team, becoming, at the time, the oldest man to play in NCAA Division III. THE SENIOR is based on Flynt's life, though major liberties are taken to make the story more watchable. In reality, Flynt is a bodybuilder and gym equipment entrepreneur who likely rejoined a college team as a kind of brand building publicity stunt. In the film, however, Mike is reimagined as an out of shape construction worker who grinds his way back to a 21 year old's level of athleticism through sheer willpower. It feels more authentic to watch a man pining over his glory days than to imagine him pulling a cynical stunt. THE SENIOR even shows Mike contemplating three football jerseys on the wall, missing a fourth. But why would a man with a career and family harbor regret for decades over a missed opportunity from when he was barely old enough to drink? THE SENIOR tugs the heartstrings in the predictable way most inspirational sports movies do, but it falters when it comes to showing Mike Flynt learning real adult lessons about moving on from regret. Sometimes the man giving the pep talks is the one who needs a pep talk the most. Our special guest this week is Nathan Faustyn (@loosenate) of the Loose Lips by @loosemeat.biz podcast, back on Boys' Bible Study as a dear friend of the show and our go-to sports movie correspondent. Listen to Nathan's podcast Loose Lips: https://looselipsbyloosemeat.libsyn.com  Subscribe to Nathan's podcast Loose Lips on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/LooseLips/  View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month! www.patreon.com/boysbiblestudy This week we continue our education on the mysterious ways of angels and what they're supposedly up to on Earth, this time by checking out a classic from one of the great film masters, Wim Wenders. What quickly becomes clear is that nearly everything we think we know about angels, whether in highbrow film or lowbrow TV, somehow circles back to TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL, the definitive compilation of contemporary angel lore. WINGS OF DESIRE (1987) is contemporary but predates TBAA, yet it's remarkable how many similarities these works share despite occupying different cultural zones. For all the ways storytellers have tried to mix angels and humans, modern takes tend to rely on the same handful of ideas, treating them like biblical canon even though they're mostly invented. It's fascinating how much angel mythology comes from movies and TV rather than ancient texts, even when it feels old and authoritative. WINGS OF DESIRE is a gorgeously shot film that looks beautiful both in black and white, representing a guardian angel's professional distance, and in color, representing the human world. Its images of angels silently hovering around their charges feel like both a love letter to Berlin and a meditation on angels. The film centers on two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, who independently long for the authenticity of human experience as an escape from their impartial immortality. That longing deepens for Damiel when he falls in love with a mortal circus performer named Marion. An unlikely bridge between worlds appears in Peter Falk, playing himself in an inventive twist on the angel myth. A former angel who gave up immortality to become an actor, Falk communicates with Damiel and Cassiel about mortal life. Will they follow his lead? At Boys' Bible Study, we appreciate the film's inventive addition to the trope: former angels living extraordinary lives on Earth. Using a recognizable name like Peter Falk makes the idea land harder for a celebrity-obsessed audience, pushing the fantasy of angels longing for humanity even further. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

Can you love a bad man? Can an angel be born yesterday? Can a dog be a Kat? These are the questions that have haunted us for six years of Boys' Bible Study, questions we haven't been able to answer until now. Six is a very powerful number. Put a lot of sixes together and that's the devil. But just one more is seven. And when those two numbers sit next to each other, it's the most evil and powerful force unleashed on mankind, greater than God and greater than Satan. On our anniversary, we like to do a yearly recap episode celebrating the film, TV, and other Christian media that was new to us this past year and that we reviewed on the show. We also commemorate the best of the best with our trademark Golden Calf Awards, honoring creators of outsider media we feel are underrecognized by the lamestream. Some major themes from Boys' Bible Study this year include a deep investigation of angels in media, especially 1990s television, the crowning achievement of which is obviously TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL. We became even more immersed in Christian and inspirational television with WALKER, TEXAS RANGER, HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN, and the more contemporary SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED, while continuing our passion for uncovering faith-based film auteurs. Our favorite discovery of the year was probably the father and son team Jeff and Caleb Johnson. Even more exciting, we acted in one of the films we reviewed. Our brief foray into stardom as cast members of CHI ANN BLAZE OF FURY by 3 ANGELS POWER will be an angel encounter we treasure forever. Some biblical wisdom for our sixth year: And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb." You don't want that to happen, right? So stick tight to your angels and try not to be intoxicated by the evil urges of 666 years of Boys' Bible Study. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

By watching TIME COLLECTORS we have now "collected" reviews of all three feature films written by Jeff Johnson and directed by Caleb Johnson. We've realized that the father and son team specialize in extremely convoluted plots involving double lives and criminal intrigue, usually with storylines tying together in a manner far more ambitious than your average DIY filmmaker. For instance, 2 TO TANGLE (2013) is about twins who were separated at birth and have never met each other, and all the confusion that could arise from that. ECHO RHYME (2016) involves faked deaths, revenge plots, and a gang of high level jewel thieves. While it's admirable that the Johnsons strive for such vivid storytelling, sometimes it's tedious to watch their films because the details get in the way of the entertainment. Fortunately, TIME COLLECTORS is probably the easiest to follow of the Johnson films, all the more impressive because it was their first major work and director Caleb Johnson was only 17 years old when it was released. TIME COLLECTORS is the story of Sam, a rich and influential Christian paleontologist, who dies in the film's first act and leaves property to his grandson Brad. While executing Sam's will, Brad realizes that Sam has left him clues hinting at an archaeological discovery so big that it could rock scientists' understanding of geological history, specifically that it would prove young earth creationism, the conservative Christian belief that the earth is only 6,000 years old based on certain biblical interpretations, is true and backed by scientific evidence. It turns out that Sam is in possession of the skeletons of human giants, which blows the lid off a massive conspiracy to cover up biblical truths in the academy. A gang of criminal toughs will stop at nothing to prevent this discovery from reaching the public. This entertaining Christian film is worth a watch for its explanation of the Christian myth of the giant Nephilim, but it also shows a common yearning we see in the genre for matters of faith to be proven without a doubt by science, something that seems contrary to what "faith" means. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month! www.patreon.com/boysbiblestudy In the past, natural occurrences such as sunsets and eclipses were thought to be miracles. Now, human reason has solved many mysteries, yet occurrences still happen that boggle the mind and make us wonder if there is still angelic influence on Earth. In the mid-90s, a TV series documented these freak happenings. COULD IT BE A MIRACLE? is an entertaining anthology of documented miracles retold with dramatic reenactments, and it also represents the non-denominational love of angels that permeated 1990s American media. We at Boys' Bible Study have examined this phenomenon previously by covering TV and film such as TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL and MICHAEL (1996), where ordinary people who are not devout Christians call upon angels in their lives without referencing Jesus or God specifically. COULD IT BE A MIRACLE? aids this worldview by presenting pulp authors of books about angels as expert witnesses and retelling stories of guardian angels and messenger spirits. In one example, a "tall, elegant nurse" rescues a hospitalized child from the brink of death by injecting him with "angel power." In another, a man is warned against boarding a train doomed to crash by the spirit of his identical twin brother who died as a baby. Expert witness Eileen Freeman claims angels are a different species, neither divine nor human, so apparitions of dead loved ones are not true "angel sightings," since the spirits of the dead are only "messengers." This idea is not backed up by biblical theology, but it feels nice, so most people were happy to let figures like Freeman make a lot of stuff up back in the 90s. Now that people experiencing religious psychosis get all their energy out by having frantic conversations with ChatGPT, is there any room for angels in big 2026? Angel sightings may have gone down, but one thing is true: TV "angelslop" like COULD IT BE A MIRACLE? is higher quality than the AI YouTube brainrot slop of our contemporary age. With lovingly composed music and graphic design, even a stupid program like this one feels like a miracle compared to what we have now. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy