Explore every episode of the podcast The Good, The True, and The Cinema
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ep. 8 - Fjord and a Palme d'Or Movie Draft | 04 Nov 2026 | 01:18:41 | |
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 The Standoff: Palme d’Or Movie Draft Team Joshua Team John Team Craig Email goodtruecinema@gmail.com for any thoughts or feedback Follow The Good, The True, and The Cinema: Joshua: Craig: John: Produced and Edited by Joshua Johnson Music by Steve Slagg The Good, The True, and The Cinema is a part of The Shifting Culture Podcast Network | |||
| Ep. 7 - Wildwood and the Philadelphia Film Festival | 28 Oct 2026 | 01:16:49 | |
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 Double Feature Philadelphia Film Festival Report Listener Mail Email goodtruecinema@gmail.com for any thoughts or feedback Follow The Good, The True, and The Cinema: Joshua: Craig: John: Produced and Edited by Joshua Johnson Music by Steve Slagg The Good, The True, and The Cinema is a part of The Shifting Culture Podcast Network | |||
| Ep. 6 - You Can See Everything and The Battle Over Narnia | 21 Oct 2026 | 01:20:37 | |
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 Double Feature Movie News Philadelphia Film Festival Listener Mail Email goodtruecinema@gmail.com for any thoughts or feedback Follow The Good, The True, and The Cinema: Joshua: Craig: John: Produced and Edited by Joshua Johnson Music by Steve Slagg The Good, The True, and The Cinema is a part of The Shifting Culture Podcast Network | |||
| Ep. 5 - The Social Reckoning and a Good, True, and Beautiful Review of The Tree of Life | 14 Oct 2026 | 01:07:26 | |
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 Double Feature A Good, True, and Beautiful Review Email goodtruecinema@gmail.com for any thoughts or feedback Follow The Good, The True, and The Cinema: Joshua: Craig: John: Produced and Edited by Joshua Johnson Music by Steve Slagg The Good, The True, and The Cinema is a part of The Shifting Culture Podcast Network | |||
| Ep. 4 - Digger and Our September Watchlist | 07 Oct 2026 | 01:22:52 | |
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 Double Feature September Watchlist Email goodtruecinema@gmail.com for any thoughts or feedback Follow The Good, The True, and The Cinema: Joshua: Craig: John: Produced and Edited by Joshua Johnson Music by Steve Slagg The Good, The True, and The Cinema is a part of The Shifting Culture Podcast Network | |||
| Ep. 3 - Primetime plus a Good, True, and Beautiful Review of The Princess Bride | 30 Sep 2026 | 01:11:55 | |
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 Double Feature A Good, True, and Beautiful Review Email goodtruecinema@gmail.com for any thoughts or feedback Follow The Good, The True, and The Cinema: Joshua: Craig: John: Produced and Edited by Joshua Johnson Music by Steve Slagg The Good, The True, and The Cinema is a part of The Shifting Culture Podcast Network | |||
| Ep. 2 - The Weight plus a Good, True, and Beautiful Review of Casablanca | 23 Sep 2026 | 01:08:03 | |
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 Double Feature A Good, True, and Beautiful Review Email goodtruecinema@gmail.com for any thoughts or feedback Follow The Good, The True, and The Cinema: Joshua: Craig: John: Produced and Edited by Joshua Johnson Music by Steve Slagg The Good, The True, and The Cinema is a part of The Shifting Culture Podcast Network | |||
| Ep. 1 - The Uprising and Our Favorite Movies of the Summer | 16 Sep 2026 | 01:13:56 | |
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 Double Feature The Wind That Shakes the Barley (Ken Loach, 2006) Summer Watch List The Odyssey Email goodtruecinema@gmail.com for any thoughts or feedback Follow The Good, The True, and The Cinema: Joshua: Craig: John: Produced and Edited by Joshua Johnson Music by Steve Slagg The Good, The True, and The Cinema is a part of The Shifting Culture Podcast Network | |||
| The Good, The True, and The Cinema | 10 Sep 2026 | 00:00:44 | |
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. Email goodtruecinema@gmail.com for any thoughts or feedback Follow The Good, The True, and The Cinema: Joshua: Craig: John: Produced and Edited by Joshua Johnson Music by Steve Slagg The Good, The True, and The Cinema is a part of The Shifting Culture Podcast Network | |||