Who's Our Lead goes back to Boston this week to discuss Matt Damon in the Martin Scorsese directed Best-Picture winner, The Departed. With two successful franchises in full swing, Damon continues a streak of critical and commercial success as he turns in what may be his best ever performance in one of Scorsese's most purely entertaining movies.

Jarrod and Jordan discuss Matt Damon in the massively successful, franchise-starting thriller The Bourne Identity. Damon is pitch perfect in this nervy action movie, turning in a physical performance unlike anything he had done in his career prior to this.

On this week's Who's Our Lead?? Jarrod and Jordan discuss Kevin Smith's Dogma, which marks the end of Matt Damon's significant involvement in a certain type of independent filmmaking. He still has more movies to make, but it seems unlikely that we'll ever see Damon in a movie that features a poop demon ever again, for better or for worse (it's for better).

Jarrod and Jordan discuss Matt Damon in Steven Spielberg's 1998 massively culturally significant WWII film Saving Private Ryan. Matt Damon plays the titular role and, despite not showing up from 2/3 of the movie's runtime, plays a massive part in the moral and emotional complexities this movie is sifting through.

Jarrod and Jordan discuss Good Will Hunting, a film that must be discussed when talking about Matt Damon. Directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Damon and Ben Affleck, Good Will Hunting was smash success at the box office and the Oscars and stands as an enduring movie of the 1990s. Though Damon had starring roles before this, most notably in The Rainmaker, this movie serves as the beginning of Matt Damon's rise to be a person you and your parents have heard of in movies.

The first episode of the new podcast Who's Our Lead?? where we talk about people you've seen in movies. The first mini-series of Who's Our Lead?? is a survey of the career of Matt Damon and in this episode we draft the movies that we'll watch and discuss.

Paul Schrader makes his masterpiece about the most Schraderian figure in history, Yukio Mishima.

Jarrod and Jordan discuss the first film ever directed by Paul Schrader that he did not also write, 1982's Cat People. This detachment shows a bit in the final product, but if you think that means this episode short guess again, loser.

Jarrod and Jordan welcome back a familiar face from the Paul Schrader extended universe, Martin Scorsese, as they discuss the colossal 1980 film, Raging Bull. Schrader's involvement in this film may have been smaller than it was the last time he and Scorsese brought a miserable shell of a man to our screens, but his presence is felt in the final product, a movie that makes boxing look more elegant and more brutal than its ever looked before.

Jarrod and Jordan slam the door on the 1970s and enter the 1980s with Paul Schrader's American Gigolo.

On this week's Intrinsically Profane, Jarrod and Jordan have the rare opportunity to discuss a Paul Schrader-penned film that we have no idea how he feels about, as he's never commented 1979's Old Boyfriends. No wayward Facebook posts; no asides published in Variety. Nothing. Astutely re-worked and directed by Joan Tewkesbury--unfortunately the only film she would direct--and featuring a great lead performance from Talia Shire, we dare say this is an under-discussed and under-valued part of ...

Oh my god.... that's my podcast. Almost exactly a decade after he left, Paul Schrader returns to Grand Rapids, Michigan for his second ever directed feature film, 1979's Hardcore. Listen to Jarrod and Jordan discuss this deeply personal, stylish, and a bit beguiling film here and follow Intrinsically Profane at the places listed below. Twitter/X: @schraderbros Instagram: @intrinsicallyprofane Letterboxd: SchraderBros Email: intrinsicallyprofane@gmail.com https://linktr.ee/intrinsicall...

After 40 years in the desert, writing beloved classics such as Taxi Driver, finally--FINALLY--ol' Paul Schrader takes the reins with his directorial debut, 1978's Blue Collar. A troubled production, a great performance from Richard Pryor, cocaine, systemic racism in America, Detroit-- all ingredients for a great directorial debut if you ask us.

Stop me if you've heard this one before...Paul Schrader thinks this movie was taken away from him and that it's worse because of it. In the case of the 1977 movie Rolling Thunder directed by John Flynn, maybe he's right, but probably not because both Jarrod and Jordan agree that this movie is great and has Schrader's sensibilities all over it. Listen in on our discussion of the last Paul Schrader script before he becomes a director himself. You can follow Intrinsically Profane in the followi...

Jarrod and Jordan discuss the second of Schrader's two scripts released in 1976, the Brian De Palma-directed Obsession. Topics include John Lithgow's wild accent, Hitchcock's Vertigo, and the compatibility of De Palma's stylistic flourishes with Schrader's dour script.

We maybe waste time getting to the point, but Paul Schrader sure didn't! This week on Intrinsically Profane, Jarrod and Jordan discuss Schrader's second screenwriting credit and first collaboration with director Martin Scorsese, the 1976 masterpiece Taxi Driver. Topics include loneliness, social isolation, the disintegration of personality, and fascism. A heavy film full of heavy topics from our two favorite New Hollywood goofballs. You can follow Intrinsically Profane in the following place...

Jarrod and Jordan discuss another of Paul Schrader's foundational film influences, Yasujiro Ozu's 1953 film Tokyo Story, a beautifully melancholy film about a family's generational dissonance in a post-War Japan. You can follow Intrinsically Profane in the following places Twitter/X: @schraderbros Instagram: @intrinsicallyprofane Letterboxd: SchraderBros Email: intrinsicallyprofane@gmail.com https://linktr.ee/intrinsicallyprofane

Jarrod and Jordan begin their watch of Paul Schrader's written and directed works with 1974's The Yakuza, Schrader's first writing credit. They discuss the conflicting visions of director (Sydney Pollack) and writer that form the final version of a movie about two men's path to understanding through the world of Japanese organized crime. You can follow Intrinsically Profane in the following places Twitter/X: @schraderbros Instagram: @intrinsicallyprofane Letterboxd: SchraderBros ...

Before discussing Paul Schrader's films, Jarrod and Jordan discuss Robert Bresson's 1959 film Pickpocket, which is perhaps the greatest cinematic representation of the transcendental style and Paul Schrader's ~whole deal~, aesthetically speaking. You can follow Intrinsically Profane in the following places Twitter/X: @schraderbros Instagram: @intrinsicallyprofane Letterboxd: SchraderBros Email: intrinsicallyprofane@gmail.com https://linktr.ee/intrinsicallyprofane

In the first episode of Intrinsically Profane, Jarrod Nelson and Jordan Petersen Kamp discuss Paul Schrader's 1972 book, Transcendental Style in Film, in which Schrader develops his guiding aesthetic theory using the works of three directors: Yasujiro Ozu, Robert Bresson, and Carl Dreyer. Other topics include Schrader's upbringing in the Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan and education at Calvin College, a background that is shared by Jordan.