The Substance

Happy Halloween!! Sorry this took so long to upload but we hope you enjoy and if you haven't, go check out Sarah's great book on the Alien films!

Buy Becoming Alien by Sarah Welch-Larson

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⁠Substantive Cineme Movie List⁠

Use tag "substantive cinema" on Letterboxd (and make sure to put a space in there) to tag your reviews as you watch along with us or when you...

Happy Spooky Season, y'all! We are kicking off our October slate with a "Low Cinema" episode on Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, perhaps the platonic ideal of the dumb, horny, young people in the woods slasher.

Kev and Anna Ghoul from Laurie Strode Trap House join us for this conversation and we cover:

<...

One milestone celebration episode deserves another! This week we go from marking the 200th episode of The Substance to the much more impressive achievement of Severin Films hitting 20 years of releasing and restoring (and sometimes rescuing and resurrecting!) cult and genre films.

Co-founders David Gregory and Carl Daft join us to look back at their twenty years at Severin as we talk:

We did it, Joe. Episode #200 of the show is finally out!

We wanted to pick a special film for 200, and Greta Gerwig's 2017 directorial debut, Lady Bird, has it all. A beautiful coming of age story, tense mother/daughter dynamics, angsty artistic aspirations, first love and first heartbreak, spiritual longing, and more. All in about 90 minutes too! And I am delighted to be joined by my wife, whose life experience mirror Lady Bird's in some wild ways.

Enjoy, and here's to the next two hundred!

<...

The Road to #200 is almost at an end!

Looking back at the Substantive Cinema episodes we've released this year, we couldn't help but notice an unintentional theme. Southland Tales, 28 Years Later, Team America: World Police, and now Civil War all deal with a troubled society trying to either make things better or simply bring a little order to the chaos. Wonder how we gravitated to these...

Regardless, we are excited to be joined by multitalented filmmaker Chell Stephen to discuss Alex Garland's Civil War (interestingly, the second Garland project...

This took a liiiiiitle bit longer to publish than we had intended but we are excited to share our Panic Fest 2026 coverage with you all!

It was a highlight of the year and we met so many incredible people (wish we could have talked with everyone!). Many of these films are hitting the festival circuit or starting to come our on VOD (and we just saw that the Loner Blu-ray is now available), and they are all worth checking out!

List of Movies We Discuss

Panic Fest 2026 is almost upon us! Last year, Panic Fest was one of the highlights of our year. We had an incredible time taking in new features and shorts as well as getting to know and spend time with some wonderful people (Listen to our Recap Episode rom last year for more)!

Hope to see you there, if you're in the neighborhood!

Panic Fest:

Website

Instagram

Joe & Becca:

YouTube

Instagram

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Happy Don't Believe Anything You Read On The Internet Day, everyone!

Today we continue our April Fool's Day tradition of covering a silly movie (and then realizing that it's got more substance than audiences may think at first). 20 years ago Trey Parker and Matt Stone were pissed off at how America was recklessly engaging in conflicts around the world and decided to express their frustrations with puppets and some incredible action set pieces. If only that was relevant now...

Joining us this episode is Justin LaLiberty of Vinegar Syndrome...

On this episode we reflect on the reality that we must die, and in order to live we also must love. And it's a discussion on (ostensibly) a zombie movie that a 20+ year later legacy sequel!

When the teaser trailer for 28 Years Later dropped, it seemed clear that the film wouldn't be a safe, mindless retread of previous material looking to cash in on fan nostalgia. It was visually striking, poetic, foreboding, and promised a dark, brutal world that not only has experienced a viral outbreak, but has evolved to, as much as people...

We are creeping up on Episode 200 so we sat down with (former) Editor Dave to talk about the State of The Substance as well as doing a bit of a spiritual check in as we look back on the road that has lead us here and look forward to where we are headed post #200!

Shoutouts:

Wake Up Dead Man

The Wild Robot

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

The Weight by Melissa Mendes

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

Laurie...

***I don't like doing disclaimers on episodes and this one isn't totally filthy or anything but there is some explicit dialogue in the film that we discuss, so if you listen in the car with other people or whatever, you've been warned***

"This is the way the world ends. Not with a whimper, but with a bang."

There are a handful of movies that I've specifically wanted to cover on the show from the very beginning and today we're checking a big one off of the list. Richard Kelly...

Hey there, we intended to get this episode published last month but life and *waves hands at everything going on in the US* got in the way. HOWEVER! This was an encouraging conversation and a great way to orient ourselves as we kick off a new year under an oppressive, malicious, and very dumb empire.

Kat Armas is is a Cuban American writer, speaker, and theologian from Miami, FL. She holds a ThM from Vanderbilt Divinity School, and a dual MDiv and MAT from Fuller Theological Seminary where she was awarded the Frederick Buechner...

They said it couldn't be done but here we are, getting in our Christmas episode riiiiight before the big day!

A few years ago Alexander Payne's The Holdovers made a big splash and became an instant Christmas classic to many. The film follows professor Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) as he is forced to look after the students without anywhere to go over Christmas break. Through a series of events he bonds with a talented but mischievous student played by Dominic Sessa, in an incredible debut performance, and the school's head cook (Da'Vine Joy Randolph...

Enjoy this feed drop from earlier this year when host Philip Marinello joined Mike White and Robert Bellissimo on The Projection Booth to talk about the underseen Palme d'Or winning 1962 film O Pagador de Promessas.

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"Do you read Sutter Cane?!"

We're back in your feeds with another underrated banger from one of the all time Masters of Horror™. John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness is an absolute thrill ride and since Arrow Video has released what we hear is a gorgeous new 4K we figured it was time talk about one of his best (and most slept on) movies.

We are excited to be joined by Derrick (simi.views on all the socials) for his first appearance on the show as he's beginning to...

We are back! Had big plans for Spooky Season this year but health, vehicle nonsense, family, and general exhaustion at the state of things in the US had other plans. It was an absolute pleasure talking with Clark Collis about his new book Screaming and Conjuring on the last episode and to follow it up we've brought back an incredible guest and we're diving back into the work of one of the undisputed Masters of Horror™.

A few years ago we covered Romero's debut film and foundational masterpiece The Night of the Living Dead wi...

Happy Spooky Season, all! We're kicking off our October programming this year with a bang and covering two of our favorite things: horror movies and beautiful hardcover books.

Clark Collis is a British entertainment journalist and a long time senior writer for Entertainment Weekly along with being a regular contributor to other outlets covering film. He's also a life long horror fan. Modern horror cinema is in a fascinating place and in his new book, Screaming and Conjuring, Clark charts the period of horror cinema that immediately preceeds our current time (from Scream to T...

Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver & Raging Bull are widely considered two of the best films of their era that were made in America. He and Robert DeNiro were a powerhouse creative team and they're still considered one of the all-time great collaborations in the history of the medium. This makes it curious that the film that they made together in between these monumental classics, 1977's New York, New York, has been largely forgotten and left out of the conversation.

We're seeking to remedy that with our episode this week and we are happy to be...

It's been a crazy week, so the show notes will be short and sweet.

Brian Recker is a public theologian, has a new book on Hell coming out at the end of the month, and I had a great time talking with him. In our conversation we cover:

We hope you enjoy the...

When Netflix first expanded from being a mail order DVD/Blu-ray service to starting a streaming video service, it was revolutionary. They had top creators making movies and television series and had a wonderfully full library of titles to offer. Then Amazon Prime, Hulu, AMC+, Disney+, Paramount+, Peacock, the many variations of HBO, and more came and the selections of any single given service was severely diminished (Tubi & Kanopy, we love you! Sponsor the show 😉). With costs going up and our collective attention spans diminishing, this is not a recipe for a thriving culture. It's also not a sustainable bus...

This week we're talking everybody's favorite topic- local politics! But legitimately, it's something that's becoming more important by the day and actually far more fulfilling and invigorating than you may initially think.

We invited our friend Britt (many of you know her as @thebrittbee) to have this conversation with us as she's been such a great example of this since the beginning of the year. Topics covered include:

It's time to get annihilated! Greg D. of the Nightmare Junkhead, Nerds of Nostalgia & the Screenland podcast (and weekly host of the Friday Night Frigts horror/genre programming at the Screenland Armour theater) joins us to dive into Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's film The World's End.

Following Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, The World's End is the third film in what has become to be called "The Cornetto Trilogy." Like the films that come before it, it deals with themes of growing up, accepting personal responsibility, and finding one's place in...

A few months ago we had Marta on to discuss Abbas Kiarostami's Taste of Cherry and it was a wonderful conversation! Towards the end we talked about how it's a shame that his film The Wind Will Carry Us is hard to find and that Criterion should put it out on Blu-ray and behold, on one of the next slate of announcements there it was! When we saw that, we knew we were going to have her back to cover it and here we are.

Like many of Kiarostami's pictures, this deals with matters...

Bong Joon Ho's second feature film is a challenging watch but it's also a cinematic marvel of incredible substance. Recently, Philip joined Jen and Sarah on Movies & Us to talk about the 2003 film that Criterion calls "a haunting journey into ever-deepening darkness that begins as a black-comic satire and ends as a soul-shattering encounter with the abyss."

Enjoy!

As of the publishing of this episode, you can currently stream the film on Tubi (Tubi sponsor the show!) 🍿

If you like the show, hit the 5 sta...

On the eve of the publishing of his first book of poetry, A Rebellion of Care, we are excited to welcome David Gate to The Substance for the first of what will hopefully be many wonderful conversations (listen through until the end for a teaser of what's to come!).

He's blown up on social media as loads of people resonate with his work that's centered around joy and honesty. In this episode we discuss:

Hey friends! We are back with a month of new to our feed episodes and are kicking off with a feed drop from our pals over at Cinematic Doctrine.

Earlier this year, Philip was invited on to discuss what might be the quintessential American horror film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and it was a wonderful time. Discussion topics include:

If you're watching along with us and logging films on Letterboxd be...

Tyler Huckabee returns to the show and the late, great Hannibal Lecter makes his Substance debut!

In 1991, Jonathan Demme shocked critics and audiences alike with his sleek, stylish, unsettling, and genuinely fantastic film The Silence of the Lambs. It went on to be the third film in cinematic history to win all 5 of the big awards come Oscar season. The film won Best Picture, Demme won Best Director, screenwriter Ted Tally won Best Screenplay, and Jodie Foster & Anthony Hopkins each won Best Actor/Actress. It was a true cultural phenomenon and in the last 30...

Sorry for the publishing delay! And yes, we know it says Tuesday on the intro, etc. It was a holiday weekend and things have been busy. But here we are with a new show and a WONDERFUL conversation with Episcopal priest and author, Reverend Joseph Yoo.

Joseph has grown his online platform over the years on an authenticity and decency that feels so refreshing amidst so many spiritual and religious leaders taking advantage of people or sharing a message absent of love. It's also refreshing that he's not seeking to be a "content creator"...

Hey there, film fam! Been working on this for the last few weeks in between life and our regular episodes but Panic Fest 2025 was such a great time that we wanted to highlight some of the wonderful talent from the festival as well as Screenland Armour, the fest's incredible host!

Panic Fest is a Kansas City based genre film festival that has been running for over a decade and has been recognized by a number of critical organizations as one of the best genre festivals in the world. It's a wonderful blend of feature...

As Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan's most recent collaboration, Sinners, is dominating the domestic and worldwide box office, we thought it would be a good time to look at their first project together, Fruitvale Station. Fruitvale is partially the telling of the tragic story of the killing of Oscar Grant in Oakland CA on New Year's Day 2009, but it's so much more. Beyond being a mere recreation of events and the conveying of the awful facts, the film is a beautiful portrait of a young man who is struggling against a system that is set against him and...

Kogonada. Ever heard of him? The South Korean-born American filmmaker began to get attention for his video essays that analyzed themes and motifs from various films and television series before launching as a writer/director with the film we are covering this week, Columbus (2017).

The movie follows two people who are at a place in their lives where they need to make important decisions related to their family and their future. Jin (John Cho), the son of a renowned architect, comes to Columbus to see his father when he falls ill but is unsure...

It's always great having a returning guest and this week we're welcoming back a friend we talked to back in 2021. Alexis Busetti is a seminary student and podcaster who we've been following and engaging with for several years. Her weekly show That Makes Total Sense!, is a wonderful listen and always has interesting and thoughtful people on.

This week, she's back to discuss what we've both learned over the last few years of making our shows, how we're preparing to love our neighbors through a socially and politically difficult time, how high control faith...

Happy April Fools Day, y'all!

Jupiter Ascending is silly and fun and we hope you join author and Kansas City film critic (The Pitch) Abby Olcese as we look at the Wachowskis's ambitious original science fiction fantasy film, Jupiter Ascending.

Starring: Mila Kunis, Mila Kunis, Eddie Redmayne, and Sean Bean.

⁠⁠⁠⁠Substantive Cinema Episode List

Shoutouts:

Death of a Unicorn

The Monkey

We Tell Ourselves Stories by Alissa Wilkinson

Last week we had a great time talking movies with our Canadian friend Marta Djordjevic, so we figured we'd keep it going and double down with another Canadian guest AND a Canadian film (and stay tuned in the post show to potentially hear Marta about this week's film)!

I Like Movies is writer/director Chandler Levack's 2022 directorial debut and it's a complete delight. It's very funny, it's sweet, it's sad, it's cringey, and it beautifully captures a period of life that everyone can relate to whether or not they are a movie lover. It's...

Way back when the show relaunched in 2020, we had planned on covering Abbas Kiarostami's Palme d'Or winning Taste of Cherry but I was overruled by my then cohosts who, at the time, were not terribly taken with the film. Now almost five years later, I'm excited to return to it with an even greater appreciation of it.

I'm also delighted to be joined on this episode by my internet friend, film historian, critic, and podcaster Marta Djordjevic. Her former podcast, McFly’s Movie House, is a treasure trove of insights and appreciation for cinema an...

Nazis...I hate these guys.

Seth Vargas of the Movie Friends podcast joins us to discuss Jeremy Saulnier's 2015 punk horror masterpiece, Green Room. When a down on their luck punk band takes a blind gig at a venue that ends up being a skinhead bar, things get gnarly.

We talk Seth's background in the aughts punk scene, Patrick Stewart's terrifying performance, the struggle of the independent artist, how systems can be just as malicious and destructive as individuals, the late Anton Yelchin, and more!

...

Sorry about the unintentional hiatus but we are back! Pre-Super Bowl, I sat down to catch up with Editor Dave to catch up and do a little TTU. David Lynch died and that sucks, but we have an incredible body of work to enjoy forever along with the legacy of inspiration he's left to countless artists. One way or another, Donal Trump won the election and the next four years are gonna be full of things that really suck (for everyone around the world, even the folks who voted for him), however this isn't the end of everything and...

We are excited to welcome Alissa Wilkinson back to the show. Alissa is an author and staff film critic for the New York Times. It has been a few years since we had her on the show to talk about the 2019 Greta Gerwig adaptation of Little Women and since then she's written two wonderful books, the most recent being We Tell Ourselves Stories: Joan Didion and the American Dream Machine.

We talk Joan Didion, John Wayne, old Hollywood, growing up in fundamentalism, the subversive spirituality of Martin Scorsese, what Jackass has to say (or...

We are back and joined by crime fiction and television writer Megan Abbott with a Substantive Cinema show on one of Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader's most underrated films, Bringing Out the Dead!

⁠Substantive Cinema Episode List

Shoutouts:

Between the Temples

Virtue

I Like Movies

Follow Megan

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Twitter

BlueSky

Website

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Twenty years ago on Christmas Day, Wes Anderson released his fourth feature film into the world. The star-studded Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou was not as an immediate hit as some of Anderson's other films but it's one that has aged incredibly well. Bill Murray leads a cast of phenomenal actors such as Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Anjelica Huston, and many others as the titular Steve Zissou on a quest for both revenge against the rare (and possibly fictional) shark that killed his partner and best friend, and his long lost dignity and relevance as...