The Good, The True, and The Cinema

Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus Zero picks up two years after Godzilla Minus One. Koichi Shikishima, Noriko, and Akiko are trying to build a life in post-war Japan when a new monster, Ghidorah, emerges from a chrysalis and starts destroying cities. Scientists, pilots, a meteorologist, and a sea captain search for a way to stop it, and the plan that wins out is to bring back Godzilla to fight it.In this episode, Joshua Johnson, John Dougherty, and Craig Detweiler review Godzilla Minus Zero and what it says about collective trauma, survivor’s guilt, and the cycles of violence that war leaves behind. They talk about their own history with Godzilla, what makes Ghidorah a different kind of monster, and how the film keeps its human drama at the center. Then each host brings a double feature, and the hosts close with their October Watchlist.When the thing that wounded you becomes part of you, how do you keep from turning it into a weapon?Now Showing: Godzilla Minus Zero (01:00) Godzilla Minus Zero: spoiler-free review (17:25) Spoiler sectionDouble Feature (42:24) The Babadook (Jennifer Kent, 2014) The Boy and the Heron (Hayao Miyazaki, 2023) Pressure (Anthony Maras, 2026)October Watchlist (55:29) Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935) Jimmy (Aaron Burns, 2026) The Incomer (Louis Paxton, 2026) Jennifer’s Body (Karyn Kusama, 2009) The Invite (Olivia Wilde, 2026) Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother (Bassam Tariq, 2026) The Only Living Pickpocket in New York (Noah Segan, 2026) Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger (Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace, 2026) Tenzing (Jennifer Peedom, 2026)Support the showEmail [email protected] for any thoughts or feedbackFollow The Good, The True, and The Cinema:InstagramJoshua:Instagram, LetterboxdCraig:Instagram, LetterboxdJohn:Instagram, LetterboxdProduced and Edited by Joshua JohnsonMusic by Steve SlaggThe Good, The True, and The Cinema is a part of The Shifting Culture Podcast Network

Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord won this year’s Palme d’Or at Cannes. It’s his second win, after 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days in 2007. Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan play a conservative Christian couple who move their five children from Romania to the small Norwegian town where she grew up. When a teacher finds bruises on one of the children, Child Welfare Services steps in.In this episode, Joshua Johnson, John Dougherty, and Craig Detweiler review Fjord and what it has to say about parental rights, religious freedom, and the reach of the state into family life. They talk about the film’s sympathy for a strict religious family, the courtroom scenes in the second half, and the performances from Reinsve and Stan. Then the hosts hold their first Standoff: a draft of Palme d’Or winners, where each host picks five past winners.When both sides have turned their convictions into idols, who is still able to see the other?Now Showing: Fjord (01:18) Fjord: spoiler-free review (21:22) Spoiler sectionThe Standoff: Palme d’Or Movie Draft (40:30)Team Joshua The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011) The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, 1964) The Cranes Are Flying (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1958) Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976) It Was Just an Accident (Jafar Panahi, 2025)Team John Barton Fink (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1991) The Mission (Roland Joffé, 1986) Brief Encounter (David Lean, 1946) All That Jazz (Bob Fosse, 1980) Parasite (Bong Joon Ho, 2019)Team Craig Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979) The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974) The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949) Dancer in the Dark (Lars von Trier, 2000) Shoplifters (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2018)Support the showEmail [email protected] for any thoughts or feedbackFollow The Good, The True, and The Cinema:InstagramJoshua:Instagram, LetterboxdCraig:Instagram, LetterboxdJohn:Instagram, LetterboxdProduced and Edited by Joshua JohnsonMusic by Steve SlaggThe Good, The True, and The Cinema is a part of The Shifting Culture Podcast Network

It took Laika 1,155 days, 142,000 3D-printed faces and more than 715 miles of brass wire to build the woods outside Portland, Oregon, one frame at a time. The result is Wildwood, a stop-motion fantasy about a girl who follows a murder of crows into an enchanted forest to bring her baby brother home.In this episode, Joshua Johnson and John Dougherty review Travis Knight’s adaptation of Colin Meloy’s novel, while Craig Detweiler is away traveling. They talk about grief that refuses to let go, parents who will do anything out of love, a kids’ movie where violence has a cost, and rival factions learning to listen to each other. They pair it with two films about children, monsters and enchanted worlds, from Hayao Miyazaki and Jim Henson. John reports from the last days of the Philadelphia Film Festival, and a listener asks about Rob Reiner.When does love that will do anything stop being love?Now Showing 02:06 – Wildwood (Travis Knight) 19:30 – Spoilers beginDouble Feature 50:33 – Princess Mononoke (Hayao Miyazaki, 1997) 55:31 – Labyrinth (Jim Henson, 1986)Philadelphia Film Festival Report 1:02:25Listener Mail 1:09:45 – When Harry Met Sally (Rob Reiner, 1989)Support the showEmail [email protected] for any thoughts or feedbackFollow The Good, The True, and The Cinema:InstagramJoshua:Instagram, LetterboxdCraig:Instagram, LetterboxdJohn:Instagram, LetterboxdProduced and Edited by Joshua JohnsonMusic by Steve SlaggThe Good, The True, and The Cinema is a part of The Shifting Culture Podcast Network

Thirty-five days before Elizabeth Holmes reported to federal prison, she let Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim into the rented house outside San Diego that she shared with her partner, Billy Evans, and their two children. The result is You Can See Everything, a documentary about a woman the world had already made up its mind about, and about whether a camera can show anyone as they really are.In this episode, Joshua, John, and Craig review You Can See Everything. They talk about truth and perception, what a documentary can and can’t capture, and whether a film about deception can still be a pursuit of truth. Each host brings a Double Feature pick that blurs the line between record and recreation. Then the hosts take up the backlash over Greta Gerwig’s The Magician’s Nephew and Meryl Streep’s Aslan, and ask what makes an adaptation faithful. John reports from opening weekend of the Philadelphia Film Festival, and a listener writes in about seeing The Tree of Life for the first time.Can we see everything and still understand nothing?Now Showing 00:00 Intro 01:35 You Can See Everything (spoiler-free) 17:30 You Can See Everything (spoilers)Double Feature 53:12 The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer, 2012) 56:08 American Vandal (Dan Perrault and Tony Yacenda, 2017) 58:54 Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, 1950)Movie News 1:01:15 Greta Gerwig’s Narnia and the adaptation debatePhiladelphia Film Festival 1:11:00 Opening weekend updateListener Mail 1:15:25 The Tree of LifeSupport the showEmail [email protected] for any thoughts or feedbackFollow The Good, The True, and The Cinema:InstagramJoshua:Instagram, LetterboxdCraig:Instagram, LetterboxdJohn:Instagram, LetterboxdProduced and Edited by Joshua JohnsonMusic by Steve SlaggThe Good, The True, and The Cinema is a part of The Shifting Culture Podcast Network

A Facebook data scientist has the files to prove the company knew its algorithm was feeding outrage, and a Wall Street Journal reporter wants the story. Sixteen years after The Social Network, Aaron Sorkin returns to Facebook with The Social Reckoning.In this episode, Joshua Johnson, John Dougherty, and Craig Detweiler review Sorkin’s whistleblower thriller, starring Mikey Madison, Jeremy Allen White, and Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg. Then each host brings a double feature in conversation with it, and Joshua offers a Good, True, and Beautiful review of The Tree of Life.When the truth lands on a tech giant like a paper cut, what can courage still accomplish?Now Showing: The Social Reckoning (01:52) The Social Reckoning: spoiler-free review (14:39) Spoiler sectionDouble Feature (29:29) His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940) The Post (Steven Spielberg, 2017) Dark Waters (Todd Haynes, 2019)A Good, True, and Beautiful Review (44:16) The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)Support the showEmail [email protected] for any thoughts or feedbackFollow The Good, The True, and The Cinema:InstagramJoshua:Instagram, LetterboxdCraig:Instagram, LetterboxdJohn:Instagram, LetterboxdProduced and Edited by Joshua JohnsonMusic by Steve SlaggThe Good, The True, and The Cinema is a part of The Shifting Culture Podcast Network

It's the near future. Methane under a new Greenland drilling field ignites, and an ice shelf the size of Maryland breaks loose and drifts toward Norway. Oil magnate Digger Rockwell and his friends in the White House have three days to warn the world, and they choose silence. Alejandro González Iñárritu's Digger turns it up to 11 and never lets up.In this episode, Joshua Johnson, John Dougherty, and Craig Detweiler review Iñárritu's big swing of a satire: Tom Cruise in prosthetics, foaming at the mouth; Riz Ahmed as the scientist who tells the truth; and a film that shouts its ideas instead of telling jokes. Then each host brings a double feature in conversation with it, and they close with their September watchlist.When the real world already reads like satire, what is left for satire to do?Now Showing: Digger (01:08) Digger: spoiler-free review (08:44) Spoiler sectionDouble Feature (44:15) Asteroid City (Wes Anderson, 2023) Sullivan's Travels (Preston Sturges, 1941) The Mosquito Coast (Peter Weir, 1986)September Watchlist (1:02:20) Blue Heron · Tuner · Natchez · Don't Say Good Luck · I Swear · Teenage Wasteland · Catherine Called Birdy · I Love Boosters · MaydaySupport the showEmail [email protected] for any thoughts or feedbackFollow The Good, The True, and The Cinema:InstagramJoshua:Instagram, LetterboxdCraig:Instagram, LetterboxdJohn:Instagram, LetterboxdProduced and Edited by Joshua JohnsonMusic by Steve SlaggThe Good, The True, and The Cinema is a part of The Shifting Culture Podcast Network

It's 2006. Post-9/11 America is hungry to see justice served, and Jeff Zucker hands To Catch a Predator the 9 p.m. slot. Lance Oppenheim's Prime Time follows Chris Hansen and his crew as decoys lure men into a staged house on camera, and it asks what happens to the soul of anyone who deals in darkness every night for ratings.In this episode, Joshua Johnson, John Dougherty, and Craig Detweiler review Oppenheim's fever dream of a film: Robert Pattinson playing the meme of Chris Hansen more than the man, a story built on true events but told as fiction, and whether all that restless style ever reaches the substance underneath. Then each host brings a double feature in conversation with it, and John offers a Good, True, and Beautiful review of The Princess Bride, one of his favorite films of all time.When we tune in to watch someone get what's coming to them, what happens to us?Now Showing: Prime Time (01:49) Prime Time: spoiler-free review (24:03) Spoiler sectionDouble Feature (41:18) Network (Sidney Lumet, 1976) Spotlight (Tom McCarthy, 2015) Close-Up (Abbas Kiarostami, 1990)A Good, True, and Beautiful Review (57:30) The Princess Bride (Rob Reiner, 1987)Support the showEmail [email protected] for any thoughts or feedbackFollow The Good, The True, and The Cinema:InstagramJoshua:Instagram, LetterboxdCraig:Instagram, LetterboxdJohn:Instagram, LetterboxdProduced and Edited by Joshua JohnsonMusic by Steve SlaggThe Good, The True, and The Cinema is a part of The Shifting Culture Podcast Network

Eugene, Oregon, 1933. The Great Depression is four years old, a widowed veteran has lost his home and his daughter, and a warden offers him a way out: six days on foot through the forest with a pack full of gold. Padraic McKinley's The Weight is a film about desperate people carrying other people's fortunes, and everyone on the trail is there because there was nowhere else to turn.In this episode, Joshua Johnson, John Dougherty, and Craig Detweiler review McKinley's directorial debut: Ethan Hawke's quiet, physical performance, Russell Crowe's warden, a rope bridge that earns its cliché, and an ending that may pull its punches. Then each host brings a double feature in conversation with it, and Craig opens the show's first Good, True, and Beautiful review with one of his all-time favorites.How far would you carry someone else's burden to get back to the people you love?Now Showing: The Weight (00:58) The Weight: spoiler-free review (20:03) Spoiler sectionDouble Feature (35:58) O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2000) Sorcerer (William Friedkin, 1977) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (John Huston, 1948)A Good, True, and Beautiful Review (52:47) Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942)Support the showEmail [email protected] for any thoughts or feedbackFollow The Good, The True, and The Cinema:InstagramJoshua:Instagram, LetterboxdCraig:Instagram, LetterboxdJohn:Instagram, LetterboxdProduced and Edited by Joshua JohnsonMusic by Steve SlaggThe Good, The True, and The Cinema is a part of The Shifting Culture Podcast Network

England, 1381. The Black Death has taken half the population, a boy king is tormented by dreams of demons, and the council decides the peasants will pay. Paul Greengrass's The Uprising is bathed in religious language amidst a culture of rage, and everyone in it believes God is on their side.In the first episode of The Good, The True, and The Cinema, Joshua Johnson, John Dougherty, and Craig Detweiler review Greengrass's deliberately ugly film about the Peasants' Revolt: Andrew Garfield's Ploughman, Jamie Bell's John Ball, and a film that can't decide what it believes about violence. Then each host brings a double feature in conversation with it, and they close with their favorite films of the summer.When the powerful promise a miracle, where should the rest of us place our faith?Now Showing: The Uprising (01:14) The Uprising: spoiler-free review (17:40) Spoiler sectionDouble Feature (37:02) The Wind That Shakes the Barley (Ken Loach, 2006)Braveheart (Mel Gibson, 1995)Timbuktu (Abderrahmane Sissako, 2014)Summer Watch List (53:07) The OdysseyTeenage Sex and Death at Camp MiasmaDisclosure DaySpider-Man: Brand New DayThe End of Oak StreetThe Rivals of Amziah KingObsessionCoyote vs. AcmeThe InviteSupport the showEmail [email protected] for any thoughts or feedbackFollow The Good, The True, and The Cinema:InstagramJoshua:Instagram, LetterboxdCraig:Instagram, LetterboxdJohn:Instagram, LetterboxdProduced and Edited by Joshua JohnsonMusic by Steve SlaggThe Good, The True, and The Cinema is a part of The Shifting Culture Podcast Network

This is The Good, The True, and The Cinema, a film podcast in pursuit of the good, the true, and the beautiful. Join Joshua Johnson, cultural critic and host of Shifting Culture, Craig Detweiler, filmmaker, author, and president of Wedgwood Circle, and John Dougherty, writer, educator, and film critic for America Magazine. Together, they review new releases, revisit the classics, and have a lot of fun along the way.Follow The Good, The True, and The Cinema anywhere you get podcasts.Support the showEmail [email protected] for any thoughts or feedbackFollow The Good, The True, and The Cinema:InstagramJoshua:Instagram, LetterboxdCraig:Instagram, LetterboxdJohn:Instagram, LetterboxdProduced and Edited by Joshua JohnsonMusic by Steve SlaggThe Good, The True, and The Cinema is a part of The Shifting Culture Podcast Network