Voiceover: Movies that Move Us

Why do we keep falling in love with monsters? And what changes when the Beast is less a prince in disguise than the wild, outsider part of ourselves?

Heather and Chloe Donaldson compare three very different Beauty and the Beast adaptations: Disney’s 1991 animated classic, Jean Cocteau’s dreamlike La Belle et la Bête (1946), and Juraj Herz’s gothic Czech film Panna a netvor (1978), also known as The Virgin and the Monster. They explore Belle’s independence, the Beast as an outsider, monster romance, fairy tale symbolism, and the strange appeal of the maiden-and-monster story. The conversation also asks whether Belle’s marriage is a retreat from the life she wanted—or a way for two outsiders to find a world of their own.

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Why can a movie make you feel closer to God one minute and terrified of existence the next? From 2001: A Space Odyssey and Baraka to Nosferatu and Omaha, this episode explores how cinema turns awe into wonder, transcendence, and dread. Along the way, we connect space movies such as Interstellar, Sunshine, Contact, and Project Hail Mary to questions about faith, scale, mystery, mortality, and what it means to feel small. You’ll learn why film can create awe rather than simply depict it, how silence and long takes open a crack in ordinary reality, and why horror can feel as spiritually overwhelming as science fiction.
Spoilers for the films discussed.
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Why does Jaws still make people afraid to go in the water? And how did a broken mechanical shark help Steven Spielberg create one of cinema’s most enduring suspense films?
Heather talks with Columbus film commissioner John Daugherty about Jaws, the 1975 thriller that helped define the summer blockbuster. They explore Spielberg’s suspenseful direction, the shark’s limited screen time, John Williams’s unforgettable score, the film’s human performances, and the childhood fear that can linger long after the credits. They also discuss why horror movies can be so thrilling in a theater, how audience reactions turn a screening into a shared experience, and why low-budget genre films continue to attract filmmakers and investors.
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Signs was advertised as an alien invasion movie, but what if it's about something so much more? A pastor revisits M. Night Shyamalan’s 2002 thriller and finds a story about grief, faith, family, and the possibility that nothing is accidental.

Pastor Jeff McCullough and Heather explore Signs through the eyes of someone who spent 15 years in ministry. This movie analysis examines Mel Gibson’s Graham Hess, his crisis of faith, and the lonely burden of being the person everyone expects to have answers.

Jeff McCullough is known to many as Pastor Jeff from Hello Saints! A YouTube channel where he works for interfaith connection as an evangelical pastor exploring the beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

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Why do we feel betrayed when a movie changes the book we love? And can a new adaptation reveal something the original story could not?

Heather talks with Kacy Faulconer and Tyler Gardner of BYUradio’s Proofread about book-to-screen adaptations, faithful film adaptations, fan expectations, and why Hollywood keeps returning to familiar literary IP. They discuss Cloud Atlas, A Wrinkle in Time, The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Project Hail Mary, Life of Pi, Anna Karenina, and Pride and Prejudice.

The conversation also previews upcoming adaptations including the next Pride and Prejudice adaptation. Hear why some books need a limited series, how adaptations can add meaning, and whether a movie should work independently or as a companion to the novel.

What if Hidalgo was never really about winning the Ocean of Fire? In this film commentary, Heather and Cindy Quinney revisit the 2004 Viggo Mortensen movie to unpack Frank Hopkins’s Native identity, the Wounded Knee Massacre, the Ghost Dance, and the ending that still brings them to tears.

This Hidalgo 2004 analysis explores the film’s horse symbolism, mixed-race identity, historical framing, and transformation from shame and isolation to community and purpose. We discuss why the desert journey matters, how the movie uses purity and belonging as metaphors, why the injured horse scene is so powerful, and what filmmakers should consider when portraying Indigenous history and culture.

Cindy Quinney is the Executive Director of Gathering of Tribes, which works to meet the needs of Indigenous Latter-day Saints through producing media, organizing events, and serving communities. Cindy is an enrolled member of the Onion Lake Cree Nation. She lives in Calgary, Canada.

Catch Me If You Can looks like a slick con-artist movie, but its real emotional engine is a kid trying to rebuild the family he lost. This conversation unpacks why Carl Hanratty becomes the father Frank actually needs and why “Nobody’s chasing you” lands like the movie’s emotional gut punch.

In this Catch Me If You Can analysis, Heather and Chris Lamb break down Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Abagnale Jr, Tom Hanks as Carl Hanratty, Christopher Walken as Frank Sr, and Steven Spielberg’s ability to hide a family drama inside a heist movie.

The conversation also traces Leonardo DiCaprio’s career from Romeo + Juliet and Titanic through The Great Gatsby, Shutter Island, The Wolf of Wall Street, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and One Battle After Another. Was Catch Me If You Can DiCaprio’s last “little boy” movie—and why does he so often play men who look like they belong while never quite fitting in?

Chris Lamb is a high school math teacher in the Seattle area and an avid movie lover. When he's not in the classroom or out on a run, you'll usually find him at the local theater with a bucket of popcorn and a box of Hot Tamales, ready for the next film.

What if The Ten Commandments isn't really the movie we remember it being? Seventy years later, Cecil B DeMille's biblical epic reveals something fascinating about old Hollywood, Technicolor, religious imagery, and the power of movies to feel genuinely sacred.

In this conversation, Chloe Donaldson joins Heather to revisit The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner and Anne Baxter and explore why its theatrical performances, massive spectacle, rich Technicolor photography and Hollywood melodrama still have such unusual power.

We also explore the idea of cinema as “moving stained glass” and why a movie theater can sometimes function almost like a sacred space.

Along the way, we discuss why modern movies can look so washed out compared with old Hollywood, how animation changes the film's depiction of God, and Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein and Catholic imagery.

Whether you love classic movies, biblical epics, film analysis, Technicolor, Cecil B DeMille or the history of Hollywood, this is a different way of looking at one of the most famous religious films ever made.

What if the most important 9/11 stories are not the ones you already know? Michael Gier explains why his new 9/11 documentary looks beyond the attacks to the untold stories of heroism, resilience, service, and second chances that followed.

In this Voiceover interview, Gier discusses The Heroism and Resiliency of 9/11, his nearly five-year filmmaking process, 35 hours of interviews, and the decision to use reenactments to tell stories connected to Flight 93, the World Trade Center, the 9/11 boatlift, and New York Says Thank You.

Michael Gier focuses on stories of service, sacrifice, and resilience, whether in narrative or documentary filmmaking. He produced the award-winning documentaries Wounded Heroes and Healing the Heroes of 9/11.

A chaotic family sings, jokes, and bickers across Iran—but the trip is hiding a goodbye none of them can face. Hit the Road turns a familiar family road movie into a devastating story of exile, censorship, love, and the lies people tell to survive.

In this film commentary conversation, photographer and artist Maya June Mansour joins Heather Bigley to unpack Panah Panahi’s Hit the Road, its connection to Jafar Panahi and Iranian cinema, and the way humor becomes a survival mechanism under oppression.

You’ll learn how Hit the Road uses long shots, color, music, unanswered questions, and emotional contrast to transform a simple road trip movie into a universal story about separation and freedom.

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Dr Strangelove was supposed to make nuclear war look absurd. Decades later, one of its darkest inventions no longer looks like fiction.
Nuclear disarmament activist Jim Thomas revisits Stanley Kubrick’s
legendary Cold War satire and explains what the film got frighteningly right. From nuclear
deterrence, mutual assured destruction, Golden Dome, the Doomsday Clock and the renewed nuclear arms race, this conversation explores why Dr Strangelove may be more relevant now than many viewers realize.
Jim also reflects on Peter Sellers, George C Scott, Daniel Ellsberg, Hanford plutonium production and the silent theatrical performance that changed his life.

Ultimately, Kubrick’s warning still matters to a generation that did not grow up under the shadow of the Cold War.

Chelsea Allen, a producer at Ninth Mode Media, revisits Hotel Rwanda with Heather, discussing how she's changed since she first saw the film as an idealistic high schooler.

Hotel Rwanda (Terry George, 2004) asks a question most viewers think they can answer—until fear, family, and survival enter the room. Rewatching the film as an adult reveals why “Never Again” is not merely a promise but a test of how much we are truly willing to risk for another person.

Heather and Chelsea revisit the film, while bystander apathy, dehumanizing propaganda, colonialism, and the international community’s failure to act inform their discussion.

Chelsea Allen has worked with non-profit organizations such as Impact Experience, the Guild of Future Architects, and the San Diego Symphony to create community through arts-based social impact initiatives. Chelsea holds a B.A. in Political Science from Yale University.

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Philosopher Barry Lam joins Heather for a chat about Spartacus (Kubrick, 1960).

Spartacus is remembered as a massive Hollywood epic, but its most dangerous idea has little to do with gladiator battles. This conversation reveals why Stanley Kubrick’s 1960 film is really about human dignity, political power, freedom, and something Roman elites can never understand.

Starring Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, and Woody Strode, Dalton Trumbo’s screenplay emerged from the Hollywood blacklist. This might be why the slave rebellion represents more than political resistance, and the film contrasts Roman power with family, tenderness, art, education, and community.

The discussion also considers Stanley Kubrick’s relationship to the film, the legacy of classic Hollywood epics, the politics of the Roman Empire, and why Spartacus still speaks to modern culture wars.

Barry Lam is a professor of philosophy at UC Riverside and the Host/Producer of Slate's Hi-Phi Nation podcast.

Kelly Loosli, co-founder of the BYU Animation Program, discusses The Red Turtle (Dudok de Wit, 2017) and how it's a film with "spirit."
The Red Turtle looks like a survival story, but its real escape may have nothing to do with leaving the island. This Studio Ghibli co-production uses almost no dialogue to turn loneliness, nature, love, and loss into a mystery that keeps changing the longer you sit with it.
Heather and Kelly also discuss The Red Turtle meaning, its ambiguous ending, Michael Dudok de Wit’s minimalist visual storytelling, and why wordless animation can create such intense emotion.
The conversation also challenges the assumption that animation is only for children, connecting The Red Turtle to Studio Ghibli, adult animation, and other films that tell profound stories through images, movement, sound, family, and nature.
Kelly has worked extensively in live action and animation for commercials, television, and feature film for leading companies including DreamWorks Feature Animation and Buena Vista Motion Pictures.
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Sarah Ruiz, aerospace engineer, describes how Apollo 13 (Ron Howard, 1995) propelled her toward a career with NASA.

Apollo 13 was nominated for 9 Academy Awards and won for Best editing and Sound. Based on the 1994 book Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13, the film details how the three astronauts on Apollo 13 were forced to abandon their mission to land on the Moon and instead return to Earth because of an equipment failure that lead to reduced oxygen and electrical power.

The film stars Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, and Gary Sinise as astronauts and was a huge career boost for Ed Harris who played the Houston Control Center Flight Director.

Sarah Ruiz currently works in private industry on a new rocket program. In December 2025, she retired from NASA’s Johnson Space Center, where she worked for more than 28 years, including as a flight controller for the space shuttle from 2005-2011.

Jenny Chan of Pacific Front Untold podcast joins Heather to discuss Asian representation--they focus their remarks on Empire of the Sun (Spielberg, 1987).

Empire of the Sun stars a young Christian Bale in a historical war drama about the Japanese invasion of Shanghai in 1941 and a boy caught in a concentration camp with other British colonials. But the film is emblematic of challenges in other American films that should include characters from a variety of Asian nations but instead uses Asians as background set dressing.

Jenny Chan is Director at Pacific Atrocities Education. Based in the Bay area, she is an alum of University of Illinois.

Two Gen Z all-stars join Heather to discuss whether the Hunger Games influenced them or not as young people.

Claire and Cyrus were once members of the high school chess team and they bring with them a long-term friendship that informs today's chat. Watch them react to each each other as much as they react to the films under discussion.

Claire Cirelli is a software engineer in Phoenix, with a Bachelors from Arizona State University.

Cyrus Kirby is a philosopher turned data engineer in Boston who just finished a MS in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Gareth Higgins, a Reconciliation scholar from Belfast, Ireland, talks to Heather about Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru (1952), a film about a city bureaucrat who decides to build a playground for a local women's group.

While Akira Kurosawa is best known for his samurai films, Ikiru won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.

Gareth Higgins' most recent book, co-authored with Kathleen Norris, is A Whole Life in Twelve Movies: A Cinematic Journey to a Deeper Spirituality. He also helped found the Wild Goose, New Story and Movies & Meaning festivals. Gareth leads retreats in North America and Ireland; he co-founded The Porch community, and is deeply involved in transformative men’s work through The Storyteller and the Firekeeper. He holds a PhD in Sociology from Queen's University Belfast.

Kawika Allen and Leone Saaga joined Heather for a bonus discussion about Chief of War (2024) and Hawaiian spirituality.

Chief of War is a limited series created by Jason Momoa for Apple TV that tells how the Hawaiian islands were unified under Kamehameha in the face of encroaching Western colonialism.

Chief of War has won multiple awards, including from the Critic's Choice for Social Impact.

Leone Saaga teaches Hawaiian Language courses at Brigham Young University. Previously she has taught in multiple Hawaiian Language Immersion programs. She holds a Masters in Education with an emphasis on Teacher Leadership.

Kawika Allen is the founder of and leads the Polynesian Psychology Education Research Team at BYU’s McKay School of Education. He is a co-editor of the Handbook of Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapies from the APA. He holds a PhD in counseling psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Nina McConigley talks to Heather about her new novel How to Commit a Post-Colonial Murder (Pantheon, 2026) and how her feelings have changed about Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1941).

Rebecca is an adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 novel, which is itself a reworking of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, from 1847. And we only just realized that in this interview!

Nina McConigley's short story collection, Cowboys and East Indians, won the 2014 PEN/Open Book Award and the High Plains Book Award. She was also a 2022 recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Creative Writing Fellowship. She teaches at Colorado State University.