The 98th Academy Awards Ceremony – Pr. Ted Giese, 3/17/26 (0762)

0:00Be strong and courageous. Those are the words that the Lord spoke to Joshua as he was sending him across the Jordan to take possession of the Promised Land. Pastor Brian Wolfmiller talking about his presentation at the 2026 issues et cetera making the case conference. Where does that courage come from? From Joshua's strength, from the number of soldiers, no, from the promise, I will not leave you or forsake you. The Christian is courageous to face all of the troubles of this world, not because we're strong, not because we can resist the world and the flesh and the devil on our own, but because the Lord is with us. The Lord fights for us. The Lord keeps us through all the troubles of life into the joy and hope of the life to come. You can meet and hear Pastor Brian Wolfmiller making the case for Christian courage at this year's Making the Case Conference June 12 and 13 at Concordia University Chicago. Learn more at IssueZTC.org.

1:09Last year when I hosted Los Angeles was on fire, but this year everything's going great. I'm told there's concerns about attacks from both the opera and ballet communities. They're just mad, you left out jazz. As you know, there are some countries whose leaders don't support free speech. I'm not at liberty to say which. Let's just leave it at North Korea and CBS. Anna, would you like to read the nominees? Thank you, Emily. And the nominees are Sean Penn, one battle after another. Sean Penn couldn't be here this evening or didn't want to, so I'll be accepting the award on his behalf. Michael B. Joe. I stand here because of the people that came before me, Sydney Poitier, Denzel Washington,

2:10Howley Durn, Jamie Foxx, Forrest Whitaker, Will Smith, and to be amongst those giants, amongst those greats, amongst my ancestors, amongst my guys. Thank you, everybody in this room. Jesse Butler. It's Mother's Day in the UK today. So I would like to dedicate this to the beautiful chaos of a mother's heart. Those are excerpts from Sunday's 98th Academy Awards ceremony. A couple hours of self-congradulatory Hollywood banter, some comedy and a few political jabs. What is the big takeaway from the Academy Awards? Welcome back to Issues, etc. I'm Todd Wilkin. Thanks for tuning us in. Pastor Ted Geese joins us to talk about the 98th Academy Awards ceremony. He has a bachelor's degree in fine arts. He's passed with Mount Olive Lutheran Church in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

3:12And he teaches a course for Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary, called a Lutheran Approach to Art Media and Film. Ted, welcome. Thanks, Todd. So you say that it really helps to have actually seen these films to make sense of what happened at the Academy Awards. What do you mean? Well, you know, I think years ago people, there were more people seeing films like in general, more of the films were kind of more populist, I would say, probably, especially going back far enough. Like, maybe you remember people actually having like Oscar Watch parties and things like that, or maybe even like at the office or in some place of work, maybe you would have like a pool where people would throw in a tuning, sorry, Americans, a $2 bill or something like that. And then you would figure out like, well, who, who had the best shot at figuring out who, who was going to win all the awards, etc. There was more just social buy-in on everything. So at this point, things are not quite like that. So and the best picture category now like we talked about before

4:15is open to like 10 different nominees, which is a pretty wide field. So as a result, it's very possible that people might not actually have seen all of the top 10 films. You have to kind of hunt for them all over the place through streaming services and things like that. It's going to be hard to maybe see them all in the theater, maybe in your town or your community. So as a result, I think that people might just feel like they don't really know the what's going, like they're not as invested in it and they don't maybe know the contents of what possibly could be winning awards in the first place. So that I think has an impact on it. Like we, like Michelle and I, my wife, we did a fair job of seeing as many as we could. Like we watched all the top 10 films as we had talked about in the last couple of weeks, here on issues, etc. But we also watched some of the extra ones when we saw that things were up in different categories. We kind of looked at that. But even still, there were some that I saw that Michelle didn't see and like in the cold open

5:16for Conan O'Brien, he referenced very strongly this one movie called Weapons. And the whole cold open is kind of predicated on this character from the movie and like this kind of thing that happens in the third act of the film. And if you didn't see the film, like Michelle was just like, I don't know what this is all about. And then I explained it and that didn't help her appreciate it anymore. So she was instantly kind of like shut out of that part of the experience. And I think that that could be the case for people if they just casually sat down to watch the Oscars on Sunday night, but didn't actually have a chance to check out the majority of what was up for awards. So back to Conan O'Brien, he's pretty safe choice for hosting the Oscars. There have been more controversial posts in the past. How was he? Yeah, he's quite good. Like, you know, he didn't, you know, there's there's always going to be some political stuff that pops up. He had like maybe

6:18one or two political jokes. He had one about British people, like the British, I guess they didn't have anybody nominated in the best actor, best actress category, which is the first time in like decades or something that that has happened. But you know, he says, well, you know, at least a spokesperson from the British said that at least they arrest certain kind of criminals that, you know, like that's not happening in the States. So this is sort of a kind of an Epstein related joke, but that it's also sort of political at the moment kind of thing. And they're referring to former Prince Andrew, who's now just Andrew Mountbatten in England being arrested. And that isn't even his arrest wasn't even for the thing that the joke was about. But generally speaking, yeah, like he's, Conan O'Brien is an interesting character because even recently he's come out and said that he, you know, as soon as you comedians kind of buy into like hate and like trying to like,

7:20you know, not be about being funny, then now you've kind of lost the plot. So he's not just a safe pair of hands. He also genuinely wants to be funny. Now he's not going to be everybody's cup of tea, but I thought he was pretty good mostly overall. And it's a bit of a hard gig. The best part about it is I think for him in this particular case. And I think he'll probably get invited back again for future years is that he was competent. He did a great job. And also, you know, he was kind of came on strong at the beginning, did his opening, like you might imagine, like a Bob Hoper, Billy Crystal or something from the past. But then he kind of faded out away. Like he didn't dominate the show. It wasn't about him. He just kind of lightly did his part here and there. There was just the right amount of corner of Brian once the show got going. I think I saw a clip of a bit that he did that I thought was some comedic genius and he didn't even

8:20really speak a word that was where he was supposed to be doing a big dance number and they called him on time. And then the real laugh came when he decided to go, you know, get on with the show. And he's wearing tap shoes walking across the stage. And I thought that was kind of quintessential Conan O'Brien. Very awkward comedy. Yes. He's very clever. And he leans into that part of that. That's been part of his stick forever because he's this really tall gangly guy. And, you know, he has to kind of lean into all of that awkwardness. And he does a great job with that. So talk a little bit about some of the politics it made it to way into the the thank yous. Yeah, you know, you're going to get all sorts of politics in there. And again, I would say that previous years have probably been worse. But there's there is a fair amount of like, you know, gender politics to kind of sneak their way in there. Like there's some social signaling and

9:22stuff like that of virtue as far as Hollywood considers virtue going on. Then there were a couple of you know, kind of on the nose sort of things. And it's a very strange time, I think, for Hollywood. Because they there's there's probably some infighting. There's some disagreements about what should or shouldn't be considered political. I think that, you know, you do have an industry that has like a large amount of people with Jewish background in it. And now you have like all of these issues to do with the Israelis and Palestinians. And now the the war that's going on with Iran and all of this other stuff going on. So what do y'all do with that? So there was some like comments, Jimmy Kimmel was in there for a moment. And he had a comment about world leaders and countries that respect free speech. This is boilerplate Jimmy Kimmel. So you get some of that stuff kind of

10:24peppered through the whole thing. And then there were two this Javier Bardem and then Kimmel and Najani. They both had these little moments. And we have a little clip and maybe we can hear that and then dig into it. Not to work. I'm very polystyred. I am here to present the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film. There is a real art to making a short film. To tell a story that efficiently takes vision, creativity, and discipline. And I'll say it, I think many full-length movies would work just as well if not better as short films. You know what? We should take some of these feature films, remake them as short. Save it some time. We have so much going on. Instead of it's a wonderful life. How about it's a wonderful month. Westside anecdote. The King's tweet. Some of that jazz.

11:30Call me by your nickname. No county for old man. One battle. That's it. You get one. Choose wisely, Paul. Shindler is posted. The nominees are. All right, so what would you have to say about those? Well, you know, Steven Spielberg's there because he's one of the producers for Hamnet. And Hamnet won Golden Globe for Best Picture. It was up for Best Picture here. He's in the audience. He's the director of Shindler's list. So you'll notice that the audience was going along and they were laughing and that was all funny and everything. Then he got to that last joke. Of course, it's big laugh, big laugh, big laugh. And then here comes this one. There was some laughing, but it wasn't even nervous

12:32laughing. It just kind of like it was the dud thing. And that's the punch line. That's the end of the series of jokes that he was telling. And this Kamal, he grew up Muslim. This is one of those kinds of things. So you see what we're taking these two, you know, Javier Bardem's comments about free Palestine and no war. And like you can start to see how these things are cropping up in in the program that evening. But I think it indicates something kind of going on within Hollywood themselves. They've they've made activism such a high level virtue kind of thing to be involved in. And now they're kind of hitting loggerheads with each other on certain topics. And how is that going to continue to play out? That's probably a bigger question that the industry is going to need to kind of deal with. The other thing is is that this is something that is really in the mix within like the North American zeitgeist at the moment too. So

13:36where do people fall on that when it comes to these things? And I think the general problem that the Oscars have had in previous years is that they're divisive and not populist and they're not really aiming at the things that people in general, the unifying things in general that people, the common experiences that people have, they're not really focusing on that as much as they used to because the industry isn't focusing on that stuff as much as it used to. And this is I think where in the past maybe the industry have been a little more subversive about some things. And then you know, at the actual Oscar ceremonies, you'd have these moments where they're pretty on the nose about what they're thinking about things. But overall, you know, you don't, you know, have the subtlety, you know, in general out there in the world of the industry. And it's really kind of grading in those moments. I would say that you got like those moments where it's like political, where it doesn't necessarily need to be. And then there's also just some just general cringe

14:38factor moments where Hollywood just comes across as like extraordinarily old and tired and like dead almost. And they're trying to capture this younger crowd. So you've got like your Timothy Shaolin made types and your Michael B. Jordan types that are there. But then you've got like Barbara Streisand in the MMM random like talking about Robert Redford. And you have this this thing where they're talking about like Rob Reiner. And they take like five minutes to do this talking about Robert Reford and like five minutes to talk about Rob Reiner with Billy Crystal. And in theory, you know, like there this is supposed to be honoring old Hollywood and like a real moment of pathos. And it just kind of grinds to a halt. And it's also just kind of somewhat out of touch. I mean, their experience in grief as a community, I suppose, but which is understandable. But where is America and the rest of the world, the viewing audience on this stuff, is that really

15:39is a 15 minute portion of the show, what people want to see. And then in addition to that, the politic to end of it as well. Pastor Ted Geese is our guest. We're talking about the 98th Academy Award ceremony. We'll get into the films themselves next. This week on The Word of the Lord Endors Forever, we move further along in Proverbs, wrapping up chapter 14 and then 15 with tranquil heart, soft answer, severe discipline, path of life and humility before honor. Join me, Pastor Will Whedon, for The Word of the Lord Endors Forever, your daily 15 minute verse by verse, Bible study on demand. Listen at thewordendors.org or your favorite podcast provider. Does this sound like your church budget process at the end of

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19:50learning from the early Christians, you'll find this book at our website, issuesetc.org, or call Concordia Publishing House in order, love, marriage, and family, 1-800-325-3040. Pastor Ted Geese is our guest. We're talking about the 98th Academy Awards ceremony. Ted, let's get into the films begin with Frankenstein. Some of these were very heavily nominated. Some were completely passed over too. Yeah, so with Frankenstein as the thing we'll start with, it was just kind of lay the groundwork here. There was one category that had two winners in the same category, which is unusual. It was a tie. This is the best live action short Oscar. It was the singers and two people exchanging saliva. I did not see these movies. But then most of the movies that were up for Oscars, they only won a single award. So HamNet won for Best Actress. We'll come back to that later. Avatar for Best Visual Effects. F1 for Best Sound. Sentimental Value for Best International

20:54Feature. Mr. Nobody Against Putin. So there's another kind of political kind of a thing. That was for Best Documentary Feature. And there's a Canadian angle to that because one of the people involved in it was Canadian filmmaker. Then all the empty rooms, which was the best documentary short. And the girl who cried pearls for Best Anime Short, that's another Canadian project. And then there was the movie Weapons, which won for Amy Madigan for Best Supporting Actress in that category. And all of those movies just had a single Oscar win. And then you get to K-pop Demon Hunters, which won for Best Animated Feature and for Best Original Song. And from there, then you get into the Best Picture Nominated Films, some of which won multiple awards. So Frankenstein won three, sinners won four, and one battle after another won six. So then of those nominated Best Picture Films, if we start then with Frankenstein,

21:58this is the Gilmo del Toro film. And it won for Best Achievement in Makeup and Hair Styling, Best Achievement in Production Design, and Best Achievement in Costume Design. So essentially all of the awards that the film won were all technical awards. But all of the people that got up to accept those awards really, really thanked Gilmo del Toro. And you could see that there was a genuine appreciation for him as a director. And along the way, we talked about other Oscars he'd won in the past. But this year I predicted and it turned out to be true that it just wasn't going to be his year for Frankenstein. Then you do have Hamnet. Hamnet is the Chloe Zau film. It deals with Hamlet as written by William Shakespeare, but kind of drawing from this life experience of him and his wife Agnes and the death of their son Hamnet, one just a single one for Best Performance by an

23:03actress. Marty Supreme, this is that one that Timothy Chalamet and Gueth Paltrow are in, and Timothy Chalamet was dunked on quite a bit through the course of the Oscars because he recently made some comments about opera and ballet and how they're kind of these past art forms that are struggling to continue and how he's afraid of that for film and theater, like going to theaters to watch films. And this was all taken the wrong way, but they were just really handing it to him over and over again through the course of the of the night and he didn't win for Best Actor, which he was up for. They had nine nominations and they were shut out. There was not a single win for Marty Supreme. And it was a rather unpleasant film as far as I was concerned. F1 The Movie, this is the Joseph Kaczynski film, like I said, one a single award for Best Sound,

24:09Train Dreams, which was one that I really kind of enjoyed and we talked more about in the last couple of weeks. That one by Clint Bentley was nominated for four awards, including Best Picture, and was totally shut out so that it didn't win anything. The Secret Agent, which is this Brazilian film, which I had high hopes for before I sat down to watch it and was rather disappointed in. That was up for four awards. It was totally shut out. It got absolutely nothing. Bagonia, the Yergos Lathamos movie with Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons. Again, Yergos Lathamos, we've talked about this before, super unpleasant, not very interesting. I just find him hard to deal with and I'm happy that he didn't win because maybe that means I get a break. Maybe the next set of Oscars and Golden Globes and whatever, he doesn't get nominated for anything. I would like to have a break from Yergos Lathamos. Thank you very much. Totally shut out, nominated for four awards. Emma Stone has been winning recently for Best Actress. She was shut out as

25:14well. Then we get to Sinners. Sinners was the big favorite for even Best Picture. It was a favorite for that. This is the Ryan Kugler film. It won four awards. It was nominated for 16. This is actually lower than I think maybe some people expected. It won for Best Achievements in cinematography. This is a lady named Autumn Durland Acapal and she won in this category as the first woman to win in the category of cinematographer. Then it won also for Best Achievement in Music, Written for a Motion Picture. This is Ludwig Gorenson. He was like the understudy for Hans Zimmer. Hans Zimmer can't do something. Ludwig Gorenson is the guy you get to do it. Now he's becoming more and more elevated. He also did the music for that TV show, The Mandalorian on Disney+. He's got other achievements along the way. He's really hitting his stride. They also won for Best

26:19Performance by an actor in a leading role. This is Michael B. Jordan. Then in the movie, he played twins. He had to play both characters and then they had to actually make it look like this is natural. This was a very big achievement in terms of acting and also editing and production. He did a great job. People were very happy that he won. He remembered a bunch of people like Sydney Pace and different actors from the past. Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, people that had also won the who were of African American background. The first thing he did is thank God when he got there and received his Oscar. Then it also won for Best Original Screenplay for Ryan Kugler, who's also the director. When I saw that he won for Best Screenplay, I figured he's not going to win for Best Director. And sure enough, that's how that unfolded. Then sentimental value. This is the the Yauhan Trier film that is Norwegian and English. We talked about this one in the last

27:21couple of weeks. I really liked this. I thought it was one of the best films and it won best international feature film. And as a result, I knew then that it's not going to win Best Picture also. So this is a way that the Academy was able to say, we really appreciated this film, but that they were going to give the best picture to some other film. So that's just a single award for that film. This is the one with Stellan Scarsgard in it and Elephanning. Then we get to one battle after another. This is the Paul Thomas Anderson film. This is the one that actually won for Best Picture. It won for Best Casting. And Best Casting is a brand new category. This is the first time that category has been awarded. Then it won also for Best Achievement in Directing, Best Performance by an actor in a supporting role, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing. And this is one of those things where some people are going to be quite upset about it. They're going to think, well, sinners should

28:23have won. And this one shouldn't have won. And they're going to say, this is not the best Best Film of the Year. But the thing that people need to remember about the Oscars is that the Academy is a meritocracy. Interestingly enough, this is the first year that people who are voting, like from within the Academy, had to actually watch all of the things in each category in order to be eligible to vote for those categories. So sometimes in the past, they would just vote for their friends or they vote for their own people they're connected to for business related things. Or people they thought just should deserve an award because of long history or whatever. This time they actually had to watch the films. They had to be evidence that they had done this. Even still though, like when you look at Paul Thomas Anderson, is this the best Paul Thomas Anderson movie that he's made? Well, probably not. I mean, he's he's made things like Boogie

29:23Knights and Magnolia punch drunk love. There will be blood, the master inherent vice, phantom thread and licorice pizza. Like he's made a lot of movies. So in a way, this is I think he was nominated like 18 times or something before this. So finally, this is his first set of Oscars was that evening. So there's a way in which the Academy will take a person's career and say, you've got a track record and we are we are behind you now. We think you deserve this boom. So there's there's that as part of it as well. So I think that that's always a piece of the puzzle and when people kind of think to themselves, is this really the best movie? It isn't just necessarily whether or not it's the best movie. It's whether or not within their kind of tight circle of Hollywood, whether or not the individual's deserving of the ward or the film is deserving of an award. And that's what I think we see played out this last Sunday. That was to Ted Geese is

30:26our guest. We're talking about the 98th Academy Awards ceremony. He was to highlight a positive moment after this. Living according to a Christian sexual ethic today feels like an uphill battle, but this battle isn't new. Love, marriage and family, learning from the early Christians, is the issues that set or a book of the month for March. This book is published by Concordia Publishing House, their phone number 1-800-325-3040, or learn more about love, marriage, and family at issuesetc.org. Find out how Christian sexual ethics still means light in the darkness with love, marriage, and family learning from the early Christians. Himmity is important, very important. It's an invaluable tool that helps teach and confess the

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32:33Have you ever wanted to enter a program that teaches right habits and intellectual rigor as you apprehend the beautiful, the good, and the holy, all the while learning classical languages and reading classical texts? Do you want to be a classical scholar? I'm Dr. Charles Schultz, the new leader of the Classical Lutheran Education Program at Concordia Chicago. Learn more about this program at CUC by visiting CUChicago.edu, CUChicago.edu. Welcome back. I'm Todd Wilkin. Pastor Ted Geese is our guest. He teaches a course for Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary called a Luther approach to art media and film. We're talking about the 98th Academy Awards ceremony. Ted, you wanted to highlight a positive moment in one of the acceptance speeches. Yeah, so as you go through, you know, you're kind of looking for

33:38things that are big missteps and you're looking for like people that really put their foot in their mouth. But you know, there are times where you get pleasantly surprised, where something comes at you that you didn't really 100% expect. So this notable moment, I like, and I think very positive moment came from this Jesse Buckley in her acceptance speech for best performance by an actress in a motion picture for the movie Hamnet, where she played Agnes, the wife of William Shakespeare. And the film is about grief and loss because their eldest son, their only son dies and having to kind of deal with that and within the family and within with as a couple and, you know, professionally because he's a writer of plays and all of the rest of it. So this is all part and parcel of the film. And I'd seen her in other awards ceremonies, thanking people and it just so happened that they have a different date for this than North America.

34:41But it just so happened that Sunday was Mother's Day. And this then became part of her, her acceptance speech. But while I was watching that acceptance speech, it made me reflect back on another acceptance speech that is by like just in way of contrast is like diametrically different. So as I was watching it, I thought of this Michelle Williams acceptance speech from the 2020 Golden Globes. And she had been in this limited series called Fosse Verden, which was a TV miniseries about dance and musicals and stuff like that. So she got up and she gave this acceptance speech. And a portion of that, I'd like for everybody to hear this just so that they can kind of gauge the temperature of the room where we're at right now. So this is from 2020 Golden Globes, Michelle Williams best performance by an actress in a limited series or motion picture. Here's her

35:46acceptance speech. You're acknowledging the choices that they make as an actor moment by moment, seen by scene day by day, but you're also acknowledging the choices they make as a person. The education they pursued, the training they sought, the hours they put in, I'm grateful for the acknowledgement of the choices I've made and I'm also grateful to have lived at a moment in our society where choice exists because as women and as girls, things can happen to our bodies that are not our choice. I've tried my very best to live a life of my own making and not just a series of events that happened to me, but one that I could stand back and look at and recognize my handwriting all over. Sometimes messy and scrolling, sometimes careful and precise, but one that I had carved with my own hand and I wouldn't have been able to do this without employing a woman's right to choose.

36:48To choose when to have my children and with whom when I felt supported and able to balance our lives knowing as all mothers know that the scales must and will tip towards our children. Now, I know my choices might look different than yours, but thank God or whomever you pray to that we live in a country founded on the principle that I am free to live by my faith and you are free to live by yours. So women, 18 to 118 when it is time to vote, please do so in your own self-interest. What are your thoughts there? Well, listen Todd, this is extraordinarily sad. Like when I remember back in 2020 seeing her give this acceptance speech and how heartbreaking all of that is because essentially what she's saying is I wouldn't have won this award if I hadn't had that abortion and then to hear the crowd cheering. It is so deeply sad and to think of the number of

37:57of babies that because of careers, because of quote unquote career opportunities, because of pressures from an industry just within Hollywood, to think of the number of children that didn't have a chance to live outside of the womb that all died because of those choices that were being made and those abortions. So this periodically crops up. These kind of comments and things that this was one of those bigger really like in your face moments but these little comments crop up and that seemed to me to be just a very brazen example of that. Now the reason why I wanted to share that all with you guys to just as a way of remembering what where we've been along the way, this is like this is truly a truly a contrast. What we find with this Jesse Buckley's acceptance speech for best performance

39:00by an actress and emotion pitcher for the Oscars for her movie Hamlet is just night and day and if we could play that clip then we can talk about that afterwards. And the Oscar goes to Jesse Buckley. This is the first Oscar in and second nomination for Jesse Buckley. Previously she was nominated for a supporting role in the lost daughter. Thank you so much. This is this is really something. Thank you to the incredible women that I stand beside. I am inspired by your art and your heart and I want to work with every single one of you. To the producers who created this ship for us to stand in and my shipmates for life. Hilda, Jessica, Lindy, Zack, none of this is possible without you.

40:05My family, my Irish family, they're all here. Ireland bought them flight. Where can you just say? I am mom, dad. Thank you for teaching us to dream and to never be defined by expectation but to care from your own passion. You, Fred, I love you, man. I love you. You're the most incredible dad. You're my best friend and I want to have 20,000 more babies with you. I do. I do. And Eila, my little girl who is eight months who has absolutely no idea what's going on and is probably dreaming of milk. But this is kind of a big deal and I love you and I love being your mom and I can't wait to discover life beside you. Chloe and Maggie, you to get to know this incandescent woman and journey to understand the capacity of a mother's

41:07love is the greatest collision of my life. It's Mother's Day in the UK today. So I would like to dedicate this to the beautiful chaos of a mother's heart. We all come from a lineage of women who continue to create against all odds. Thank you for recognizing me in this role. This is the greatest honor. I can't even believe it. Gerv Mylamila Mahogad-Slan. All right. What do you thoughts there, Ted? I don't speak Gaelic, so I don't know what she said at the end. But I, like, this is full of joy. This is like so just completely different. This is the absolute opposite of like the the anti-natalist kind of crowd that is just like against the idea of, you know,

42:09or the children are just in the way or that, you know, like this is, you know, you can't achieve what this woman achieved if you embrace motherhood the way she's embraced it. And yet here she is. And there are lots of elements of that movie I didn't like. Like there's this whole kind of theme in it, in this hamnet about like this kind of pagan folk religion, witchcraft kind of stuff, and Christianity. And it's weird in that time period historically, you know, for the most part. And it's also, this is not a general recommendation to run out and see hamnet because this woman had, you know, won an Oscar. But I can get behind this lady. Like I don't know all the details of her life, but I hope she has more children with him. I hope they're able, if they're not, I hope they're able to be married. Like this is how sad everything is at the moment. I assume that they aren't married. Maybe they are. I haven't looked that up. But together as husband and wife, mother and

43:11father, I hope that they're able to have, you know, maybe not 20,000 children. But if they have, you know, more kids, and they can like embrace all of the joy of all of that. And if this can be an encouragement other people. And just the idea that like if we want to like take the temperature of the room, this is not generally playing by the script that Hollywood normally doles out at these awards. So I don't know if this, you know, caught them flat footed or was not something they expected. But she later afterwards was being interviewed like they immediately go out and they get interviewed by interviewers, right? Like they got some reporters there. And they had some from Ireland and, you know, sounded like somebody maybe from South Korea because of, you know, K-pop demon hunter or whatever. And she was getting asked this question and about motherhood and strength. And she said that the film helped her connect with kind of a tenderness in her

44:13womanhood, which she ascribed strength to in a way that's kind of anti-girlboss and the only way for women to come across as strong as if they act like men. And this too is interesting. And where does this go? This is a welcome shift. If this is an actual shift and not just an anomaly, I think this is a welcome shift in the kind of like the the fabric of culture in the moment. After Ted Geese is our guest, we're talking about the 98th Academy Awards ceremony. We'll get his expectations for movies this year next. Thy strong word, we praise you and acknowledge you up through endless ranks of angels.

45:17Hi, this is Pastor Will Whedon inviting you to join us for our him sing at the 2026 issues, et cetera, making the case conference this year's theme singing the ancient faith in our own days. Making the case is Friday, June 12th and Saturday, June 13th at Concordia University, Chicago. Find out more and register at issuesetc.org. Luther Academy provides additional theological education for our mission partners around the world, specifically pastors who are asking for additional education, but do not have the necessary resources in their own church bodies. By donating to Luther Academy today, you will be supplying food, housing, books, professors, and travel for Lutheran pastors who attend our conferences. To learn more about Luther Academy and how you can donate today, visit LutherAcademy.com. Birds sing, cows moo, thunderstorms wake you from a deep sleep, but for many, they can't hear it.

46:20They're deaf, living in a world of total silence. The epithel Lutheran Mission Society for Deaf Ministry is the only recognized service organization in the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, devoted exclusively to the deaf and hard of hearing. Their mission is to bring the gospel message of Jesus' love and saving grace to those who are deaf. Learn more at elms-deaf.org. For nearly 140 years, the Lutheran witness has taught the faith, defended it against error, and shown forth the great treasures of the Lutheran Church and biblical doctrine. We're continuing this legacy by publishing issues and articles that help you see the world from a Lutheran perspective and that teach biblical doctrine and show forth the treasures of God's word. Visit our website to learn more and how to subscribe witness.lms.org. The Lutheran witness helping you interpret the world from a Lutheran perspective. Equipping the priesthood of all believers, your listening to issues, etc. Whoever desires to be a preacher, desires a good thing. Dr.

47:26Cameron McKenzie, Professor of Historical Theology at Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne, Indiana. It's a very good thing. It's a very wonderful thing to be called to apply God's word to the lives of God's people. There's nothing more important and really more rewarding than to bring a child into the kingdom of God through infant baptism and then at the other end of life to see a child of God pass from this life and into heaven and to be an instrument that God uses to do those things and others like them. It's just an amazing and wonderful privilege. For information about studying for the vocation of pastor, visit ctsfw.edu Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne, Indiana. We're talking about the 98th Academy Awards ceremony. That's Ted Deese's Hour Guest. I'm

48:33Todd Wilkin. Ted, what are your expectations for movies this year? Oh, you know, it's all been pretty bleak. There's a couple things that I am looking forward to. It's probably going to be just stupid, shameless fun, but there is a, and there's going to listen. It's going to be a train wreck. There's going to be problems. There's a he-man movie coming out, which is, I don't know, like I saw a trailer. It actually looks like it might be some amount of fun. We'll see. But then there's the third of the Dune films that are coming. That's coming out December 18th. So that's Dennyville News, the third part of his Dune trilogy that he's making with Timothy Shalameh in it. So we'll see how that all turns out. But there's a trailer I think for that dropping today. So people are going to, if you're listening to this on St. Patrick's Day. So that's something I'm looking forward to. There is also another big tentpole Marvel movie coming up. And this is one of those flat moments in the, in the Oscars because they had Chris Evans and

49:38Downey Jr. come out to do like a little spiel together. And it was just like all the scripted stuff was terrible. Like they also did this with Pedro Pascal and Sigourney Weaver for the Grogu movie. So there's this Grogu and the Mandalorian movie that's coming out of Star Wars 1 that probably isn't going to be very good. And then there's also this Marvel Doomsday movie with Robert Downey Jr. as Dr. Doom and, you know, Avengers movie that is probably, I don't know. It looks, it just all looks like it's going to be a big bloated mess. But these are some of the kind of big, big things that are on the radar at the moment. And we'll see how it actually all unfolds. Are there any films that you're looking forward to in 2026? I mean, here we are in March. But is there anything you're looking forward to? Or maybe I should even ask you like of those 10 for best picture or even just outside of the best picture, these Oscar nominated films. Did you,

50:38did you see any of these Oscar nominated films? I didn't. And the only thing I might be looking forward to seeing, which I probably won't see, is the Hail Mary movie because I read the book years ago and I've learned a long time ago that the movie sometimes can ruin a really good book. Yeah, you know, Hail Mary, we do want to go see that. That's actually opening really soon here. I think it maybe is opening this weekend. That's by the same writer that did the Martian. And the Martian was really good if I'm remembering correctly. I remember sitting in the theater and seeing it. And this is a Ryan Gosling film. He's in it. And I just kind of wish they hadn't shown that there actually was an alien or anything about the alien in the trailer. I feel like they sometimes trailers just need to have less. And I guess that Ryan Gosling is going to be in another Star Wars movie that's coming up like an actual Star Wars Star Wars movie that's coming up called Star Wars Starfighter or something like that. So never know. Maybe that'll be good. But yeah,

51:41that's, and I think I remember going back and if I remember correctly, when we talked about the Martian, well, that's what's Matt Damon in it, you did watch that, I think, and you'd like that if I remember correctly. Yeah, I did it. And again, I'd read the book before. And that was just curious to see how they actually did it. Plus, I like Matt Damon a lot of these really fantastic actors. And he was in that one. Yeah, especially at the climactic scene of his liftoff. Yes. And also, you know, Ridley Scott movie, that one was. So yeah, I have high hopes for that. I think that actually will be good. I hope it's good. Now, you didn't end up having to watch K-pop Demon Hunter. This wasn't one that you had to end up watching along the way. My grandchildren have seen it many times. And I've never been in the house when they were streaming it. So, I heard a lot about it. I know all the songs by heart because my granddaughter knows them by heart. But I've not watched it. No. Now, I might not have watched it except for the fact that everybody

52:46of their dog was watching it. So I did end up watching it. I mean, I don't, I have nothing against animation. I like animation. It just, I had a very busy year last year. Watching it, there were a couple of things I thought were interesting in it. One thing was, you know, like now clearly like South Korea, there's quite a lot of Christians in South Korea. In fact, there's lots of Presbyterians in South Korea. So, you know, having some Christian content, you know, in general, like in a film like that would not be unexpected. So here you've got like a concept of demons. The only thing is is that and demon hunters at hence the title. But you also get kind of like, I got the sense that there's also, and I'm not really up on my Korean folk traditions. But you got the sense that the way that all of this was working out was that it was kind of within a a folk kind of approach to the idea of evil spirits and demons and things like that. So I don't know how

53:52Christian the film is per se. Like on the surface, you have like demons and fighting against demons. There was an interesting element in it, though, where it deals with the idea of shame. And it actually talks about shame, like just actually even uses the word, like people being ashamed about something or like, and this the way that demons kind of play on people's insecurities and try to push like a fence that's teetering to fall down, that's part of the story of that K-pop demon hunters. And I think that, listen, like I'm sure you will be more than equipped obviously to, you know, address that with your grandkids and the people around you, Todd. But like I think people should take the opportunity to have those conversations with the people and their families that have seen those that particular film. So I guess what I'm telling you Todd is you should sit down and watch K-pop demon hunters so that you can be well informed and have one of those kind of conversations.

54:57Because I think there is something definitely there that families can jump off from and have like fruitful conversations about the supernatural and the natural world. Pastor Ted Geese has a bachelor's degree in fine arts. He's pastor of Mount Olive Lutheran Church in Regina Saskatchewan, Canada. And he teaches a course for Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary called the Lutheran Approached Art Media and Film. You'll find a link to his movie reviews on the podcast page for this episode at issuesetc.org. Ted, thanks. Thank you. Tuesday on Issues Saturday, we'll discuss God's Hidden Will in Your Life with Pastor Roy Askins. We'll talk with Pastor Will Whedon about Philippians 4-8, think on these things and it's media coverage of religion with Terry Mattingley. I'm Todd Wilkin. Thanks for listening. Listen weekday afternoons to Pastor Todd Wilkin and guests on Issuesetc.org. Issuesetc.org is a listener supported program. Your financial support is vital for the continuation and expansion of

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