Silence with Blake Altman

9th Annual Evvie Winners with Lindsay Kelly

Lindsay and Evan review the winners of the 9th annual Evvie Awards!

The 9th Annual Evvie Award Nominees with Jared Walter

Jared stops by to help Evan unveil the nominees for the 9th annual Evvies.

If We Picked The Winners with Spencer Coile

Evan and Spencer choose their favorite nominees for the 96th Academy Awards in a format paying homage to the great Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.

The Best Movies of 2023 with Blake Altman

Your Favorite Movie is back with Season 2 - Awards Season! Blake Altman stops by to discuss his and Evan's top 10 favorite movies of 2023. Movies discussed: Air Anatomy of a Fall Barbie Beau is Afraid Bottoms The Covenant Godzilla Minus One The Holdovers The Iron Claw John Wick Chapter 4 Killers of the Flower Moon Knock at the Cabin May December Oppenheimer Past Lives Saltburn Skinamarink

Silence with Blake Altman

My guest today is Blake Altman. Blake is an educator and former scholar of textual studies at Bowling Green State University. One of my favorite pastimes is just saying, “Hey Blake, thoughts on…” and then the title of a movie. We go way back and I always appreciate how Blake’s opinions are so detailed and thoughtful. As a textual scholar, Blake has years of experience analyzing film, media, and literature. His Letterboxd updates are always a delight in the feed. Blake’s favorite movie is Martin Scorsese’s 2016 religious historical drama Silence. Drawing on the history of Jesuit priests’ ministry to the Hidden Christians of 17th century Japan, Silence tracks Fathers Rodrigues and Garrupe as they travel to Japan to search for their mentor Father Ferrera who is rumored to have apostatized, or publicly renounced the Christian faith. They must travel and worship in complete secrecy, for the price of faith is torture and death. Along their harrowing journey, the young priests are given a true test of faith and the audience is challenged to grapple with the totality of religious persecution, performative religiosity, and the depths of true fate. After the interview, Evan breaks down what this season has meant to him and what he has learned about the power of film.