The Man from Earth: Hollow, Pretentious, and Poorly Directed

This movie was selected by our Patreon Supporters over at the Cinematic Doctrine Patreon. Support as little as $3 a month and have your voice heard!  

Shirleon joins Melvin to discuss a movie neither of them had heard of before: The Man From Earth! John Oldman says he’s lived for 14,000 years, but his coworkers aren’t so sure. So ensues a film of debate regarding time, materialism, and spirituality. Philosophical pretention abounds! Strap yourself in and tune in now!

Topics:

• (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 34-minutes discussing a series of Summer Blockbusters that may or may not be – as Melvin puts it – “Not”busters, or films that flopped at the box office in contrast to their exorbitant budgets, and why that may be. (PATREON EXCLUSIVE)
• Shirleon, “There [are] a few moments where, like, it’s charming.”
• Melvin, “Let’s just get out of the gate. Like, this is a poorly directed film.”
• There are many interesting things within the film, but the package fails to bring anything together.
• Shirleon and Melvin discuss other movies set in one room that are more visually stimulating and offer better performances.
• Pretentious is a weighty word to use in art criticism, so Melvin first colors what he considers “pretentious” as it relates to film-making before, then, calling The Man From Earth pretentious.
• Discussing the depiction of materialism in the film, and Shirleon does some live fact-checking.
• How the film dives into religious concepts but continues to have nothing to say about humanity, truth, or anything of importance.
• Melvin shares his one note-header, “Athiests make bad movies to!”.

Recommendations:

• The Fast & Furious Franchise
• Stopmotion (2023) (Movie)

The Man From Earth is Not Rated. It features David Lee Smith, Tony Todd, John Billingsley, Ellen Crawford, Annika Peterson, William Katt, Alexis Thorpe, and Richard Riehle. Directed by Richard Schenkman. The Man From Earth is available here.

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Melvin Benson is the Founder, Editor-In-Chief, and Lead Host of Cinematic Doctrine. Whether it’s a movie, show, game, comic, or novel, it doesn’t matter. As long as it’s rich, he’s ready and willing to give it a try! His hope is to see King Jesus glorified as far as the east is from the west!

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It Ends – horror in lower case – Cinematic Doctrine: A Movie Review Podcast Hosted by Christians

Send us a Question!MOVIE DISCUSSION: Kathryn joins Melvin to discuss a little-seen existential horror, It Ends, a film about a car that drives on and on… and on. From its curious hook to its Gen Z attitude, the two explore what works, what doesn't, and what it has in common with its modern contemporaries.Topics:(PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 42-minutes discussing The Hollywood Reporter's "Top Genre Filmmakers of 2026: From Curry Barker to Guillermo del Toro", whether its top 10 actually makes sense, why we think these directors are revered so well, and more. (PATREON EXCLUSIVE)In honor of the film; Choose two who will attack you and two who will defend you: 50 hawks, a rifleman, 5 gorillas, or 10,000 rats.Kathryn feels the movie is "fine", and found the film both easy to understand and not necessarily engaging.Melvin feels the first act is the strongest, while the second and third act start to meander and run out of ideas.For Kathryn, she didn't connect with the film because she's self-proclaimed, "unc". Melvin, however, feels the characters aren't strong enough to carry the film.Choosing when and how to grow up.Melvin has a few complaints, although some people may call them nitpicks.How the ending probably would have been better if it was part of the second act, and the third act was entirely different.Recommendations:Hidden (2015) (Movie)Reread your favorite book! Support the showSupport on Patreon for Unique Perks! Early access to uncut episodes Vote on a movie/show we review One-time reward of two Cinematic Doctrine Stickers & PinsSocial Links: ThreadsWebsiteInstagramLetterboxdFacebook Group 

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