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Film Reviews

The Good, The True, and The Cinema

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.

Latest Episodes:

Ep. 7 - Wildwood and the Philadelphia Film Festival Oct 28, 2026

Show notes

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 begin

Double Feature
50:33 – Princess Mononoke (Hayao Miyazaki, 1997)
55:31 – Labyrinth (Jim Henson, 1986)

Philadelphia Film Festival Report
1:02:25

Listener Mail
1:09:45 – When Harry Met Sally (Rob Reiner, 1989)

Support the show

Email goodtruecinema@gmail.com for any thoughts or feedback

Follow The Good, The True, and The Cinema:

Joshua:

Instagram, Letterboxd

Craig:

Instagram, Letterboxd

John:

Instagram, Letterboxd

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 Oct 21, 2026

Show notes

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 debate

Philadelphia Film Festival
1:11:00 Opening weekend update

Listener Mail
1:15:25 The Tree of Life

Support the show

Email goodtruecinema@gmail.com for any thoughts or feedback

Follow The Good, The True, and The Cinema:

Joshua:

Instagram, Letterboxd

Craig:

Instagram, Letterboxd

John:

Instagram, Letterboxd

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 Oct 14, 2026

Show notes

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 section

Double 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 show

Email goodtruecinema@gmail.com for any thoughts or feedback

Follow The Good, The True, and The Cinema:

Joshua:

Instagram, Letterboxd

Craig:

Instagram, Letterboxd

John:

Instagram, Letterboxd

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 Oct 07, 2026

Show notes

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 section

Double 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 · Mayday

Support the show

Email goodtruecinema@gmail.com for any thoughts or feedback

Follow The Good, The True, and The Cinema:

Joshua:

Instagram, Letterboxd

Craig:

Instagram, Letterboxd

John:

Instagram, Letterboxd

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 Sep 30, 2026

Show notes

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 section

Double 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 show

Email goodtruecinema@gmail.com for any thoughts or feedback

Follow The Good, The True, and The Cinema:

Joshua:

Instagram, Letterboxd

Craig:

Instagram, Letterboxd

John:

Instagram, Letterboxd

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 Sep 23, 2026

Show notes

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 section

Double 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 show

Email goodtruecinema@gmail.com for any thoughts or feedback

Follow The Good, The True, and The Cinema:

Joshua:

Instagram, Letterboxd

Craig:

Instagram, Letterboxd

John:

Instagram, Letterboxd

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 Sep 16, 2026

Show notes

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 section

Double 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 Odyssey
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma
Disclosure Day
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
The End of Oak Street
The Rivals of Amziah King
Obsession
Coyote vs. Acme
The Invite

Support the show

Email goodtruecinema@gmail.com for any thoughts or feedback

Follow The Good, The True, and The Cinema:

Joshua:

Instagram, Letterboxd

Craig:

Instagram, Letterboxd

John:

Instagram, Letterboxd

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 Sep 10, 2026

Show notes

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 show

Email goodtruecinema@gmail.com for any thoughts or feedback

Follow The Good, The True, and The Cinema:

Joshua:

Instagram, Letterboxd

Craig:

Instagram, Letterboxd

John:

Instagram, Letterboxd

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

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