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)

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Email goodtruecinema@gmail.com for any thoughts or feedback

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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

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:

Instagram

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

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:

Instagram

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 Beautiful is a part of The Shifting Culture Podcast Network