The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

1. 1
   Number 1: A Witness to Film History

   This week I’m joined by Godfrey Cheshire to discuss his new book, Cheshire on Film: Life & Writings. Cheshire is a long-time critic—in addition to writing for Variety and RogerEbert.com, among many other outlets, his stint at the New York Press with Matt Zoller Seitz and Armond White was a legendary run during the golden age of the alt-weeklies and was recently collected in The Press Gang—and his new book highlights a number of his seminal pieces, including interviews with David Lynch and Charlton Heston. But it also functions as a memoir of sorts, a remembrance of a vibrant time in film and film writing that is hard to imagine today. And it serves as a crash course on Iranian and Chinese cinema for those who need one. This is a must-read for anyone who is interested in the world of cinema. You can check out his Substack here. If you’re in North Carolina on September 9, Chesire will be at the Rialto hosting a Q&A and signing books. And New York City residents should make sure to check out Cheshire’s appearance at the IFC Film Center with filmmaker (and Bill and Ted costar) Alex Winter on Monday, September 21. If you make it out there for either of these shows, please say hi from The Bulwark!

   September 04, 2026·50min
   Play
2. 2
   Number 2: Life Is a Highway: The Terror of ‘It Ends’

   This week’s episode is a real treat: I’m joined by Alex Ullom, the 28-year-old writer/director of It Ends, and he provided a real window into the process of getting a low-budget indie movie made. His story has everything: fundraising from professional magicians; a first cut that didn’t work at all; acceptance into SXSW followed by no offers to buy the movie; a grassroots groundswell that got it the attention of Letterboxd; and, finally, a pickup by leading indie distributor Neon for release this week. It’s playing in Los Angeles and New York City this week before expanding wide next week, and I cannot stress this enough: if you liked Backrooms or enjoyed the existential dread of Exit 8, you have GOT to go see It Ends.

   August 21, 2026·39min
   Play
3. 3
   Number 3: How the FCC Is Trying to Silence Trump Critics

   This week, I’m joined by Robert Corn-Revere. Currently the chief counsel at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, Corn-Revere also served as the chief counsel to the Federal Communications Commission chair in 1993 and as a counsel on important First Amendment cases that have made their way all the way to the Supreme Court. (Seriously, check out his Wiki, it’s crazy.) We had a pretty in-depth chat about how the FCC works and the myriad ways in which Trump’s hand-picked chair, Brendan Carr, is perverting some of the long-term ideals of the commission.

   August 14, 2026·50min
   Play
4. 4
   Number 4: Can Subsidies Bring Film Production Back to the USA?

   On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined by Chris Fenton to discuss efforts to pass a federal tax credit that would help reshore American film production and his own made-in-America film, Bad Counselors, which hits theaters next week. Things got a little spicy as we debated some of the downsides of these programs—and how they might come to pass—but let’s make sure to maintain a respectful tone in the comments if you choose to weigh in.

   July 17, 2026·1h
   Play
5. 5
   Number 5: How the Screen Has Changed Us

   On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined by renowned critic and film historian David Thomson to discuss his new book, A Sudden Flicker of Light: A Revisionist History of Movies. It’s a bracing tome, given its thesis: That the film screen has fundamentally altered who we are and how we interact with the world, in ways mostly negative. I’ll have more on this book in my newsletter this week, but I really hope you pick it up; there’s a lot to chew on in it.

   July 10, 2026·45min
   Play