Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey begins with the Trojan Horse—but the real story begins with what that act breaks.

The Odyssey isn't simply about a man trying to get home. It's about hospitality betrayed, promises broken, the cost of war, and whether someone who has violated the moral fabric of the world can ever truly return to the person they once were. In this episode of The Sacred Frames, Jeff Cook, Sean Palmer, and Movie Mike Yager unpack Nolan's adaptation scene by scene. They explore why the Trojan Horse becomes the defining moral event of the film, why hospitality—not heroism—sits at the heart of Homer's story, and why Nolan portrays home as less a place than a moral destination. Along the way, they debate whether

Odysseus is a hero or simply the protagonist, whether Matt Damon was the right choice for the role, and why Nolan's screenplay has become one of the film's most divisive elements. They also discuss the film's portrayal of PTSD, confession, shame, fatherhood, the Sirens, Hades, Penelope, and the haunting question that echoes throughout the story: Do you really want to go home—and who will you be if you get there? The conversation also explores Nolan's recurring fascination with fathers and sons, why nearly all of his films are ultimately stories of homecoming, and whether The Odyssey offers hope for restoration or simply a mirror of humanity's endless cycle of violence.

What four films best capture the story of America?

In this Fourth of July edition of Sacred Frames, Jeff Cook, Sean Palmer, and Mike Yager each build their own cinematic "Mount Rushmore," selecting four films they believe reveal the promises, contradictions, triumphs, and tragedies that have shaped the American experiment. From Far and Away, Do the Right Thing, Wall Street, and The Right Stuff to Lincoln, Killers of the Flower Moon, Saving Private Ryan, Malcolm X, and beyond, the conversation explores immigration, race, capitalism, war, religion, identity, and the enduring tension between America's highest ideals and its deepest failures.

Rather than asking which films are the greatest, this episode asks a different question: Which stories help us understand who America has been—and who it might still become?

Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day has become one of the most divisive films of the year—and it split the Sacred Frames hosts as well.

Mike Yeager sees Disclosure Day as a late-career masterpiece: a hopeful meditation on empathy, trauma, faith, and humanity's place in the cosmos. Jeff Cook had the opposite reaction, arguing that the film never earns its emotional weight, depends too heavily on Spielberg's past work, and ultimately fails to deliver on its philosophical ambitions. Sean Palmer lands somewhere in the middle, praising the filmmaking while wrestling with the story's themes and ending.

In this conversation, we explore:

*Does the movie have anything meaningful to say about faith, theology, and human nature?

*Does the ending work?

*What role do empathy, trauma, and redemption play in Spielberg's vision?

Along the way we discuss Close Encounters, E.T., A.I., The Fabelmans, Schindler's List, and the larger themes that have shaped Spielberg's career for decades. Whether you loved Disclosure Day, hated it, or are still trying to figure out what Spielberg was attempting, join us for a thoughtful—and spirited—conversation.