HeyJaredUnclear and Present Danger
New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie and freelance writer John Ganz delve into the world of 90s post-Cold War thrillers with Unclear and Present Danger, a podcast that explores America in an age of transition to lone superpower, at once triumphant and unsure of its role in…
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 4
- Latest publication
- Sep 5, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 4, 2026
Latest episodes
X-Files: Fight the Future (opens the original)
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On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John discuss the 1998 X-Files movie, directed by Rob Bowman with a screenplay by X-Files creator Chris Carter. Starring, obviously, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, the X-Files movie tells a convoluted story of hidden aliens, government plots, a secret cabal of evil rich people and a global conspiracy. It is a perfect encapsulation of 1990s conspiracism and we had a great time discussing it. Episodes come out every two weeks,
Gattaca (feat. Nicole Hemmer) (opens the original)
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On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle is joined by Nicole Hemmer, a professor of history at Vanderbilt University and co-host of the This Day in History podcast, to discuss the 1997 dystopian science-fiction film Gattaca , directed by Andrew Niccol and starring Ethan Hawke, Jude Law and Uma Thurman. In Gattaca , Hawke plays Vincent Freeman, a natural-born human being in a world of people genetically-engineered for perfection. Freeman dreams of space travel but is barred f
Armageddon (opens the original)
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On this week’s episode of the pod, Jamelle and John cover Michael Bay's 1998 asteroid movie Armageddon — the one where oil drillers, not astronauts, are sent to save the world. They discuss why it reads as the most right-wing film they've covered: a movie that valorizes blue-collar white masculinity and treats scientists and bureaucrats as obstacles, an opening sequence that prefigures 9/11, and a worldview that anticipates George W. Bush–era conservatism. Also covered: the Michael Bay auteur-ve
Godzilla (1998) (opens the original)
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On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, we watched Roland Emmerich’s attempt to bring Godzilla to Hollywood in the appropriately titled Godzilla . Ostensibly a film about the dangers of nuclear testing, Godzilla is a total mess, a miserable failure that deserves its poor reputation. We talked about that deservedly poor reputation, as well as changing American perceptions of the military as the 1990s came to a close. Tune in! In our next episode, we tackle Michael Bay’s masterpiece
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