Watch With Jen™

What better way to celebrate the 100th episode of Watch With Jen than with a Titanic-sized conversation about passionate Titanic filmmaker James Cameron with the ever-passionate Tomris Laffly?A contributor to Variety, RogerEbert.com, The Playlist, Timeout New York, Filmmaker Magazine, and Vulture, Tomris Laffly is a member of the prestigious New York Film Critics Circle. A noted lover of the director's work (and especially Titanic, which is one of her favorite movies), while we left out The Abyss, True Lies, and his documentaries due to time, over the course of this in-depth two-hour discussion, we take a closer look at the life, career, films, recurring themes, and obsessions of James Cameron.One of my favorite episodes that I've recorded this summer (though believe me when I say there is some GREAT stuff ahead), you won't want to miss this conversation.Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music ArchiveOriginally Posted on Patreon (8/22/21) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/55207246

In the tradition of my collaborative episodes with Bright Wall/Dark Room and the Classic Film Collective, I have another one for you today that is sure to make you see red (in a good way!).Since 1998, DVD Netflix has delivered more than 5 billion DVD & Blu-ray rentals to movie lovers in every American zip code and to military bases around the world in their famous, iconic red envelopes. With an extensive library of movies from the early 1900s to today and shows from such premium networks as HBO and Showtime, DVD Netflix is a must for physical media lovers. In this fun, chatty episode, we'll go behind the scenes to talk to some of the people behind not only DVD Netflix but also its popular online movie blog.Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music ArchiveOriginally Posted on Patreon (8/18/21) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/55055653Visit FilmIntuition.com to find links to our Patreon and the official Watch With Jen merch shop.

This week, I was honored to welcome back my gifted friend and an official friend of the show. William Boyle is the acclaimed novelist of such books as Gravesend, The Lonely Witness, A Friend is a Gift You Give Yourself, City of Margins, and the upcoming Shoot the Moonlight Out.A knowledgeable film buff and a bard of Italian-American New York life, especially in the era he came of age in the 1990s (which I love since we're roughly the same age), in the past, Bill appeared to discuss the career of David Morse along with critic Nell Minow, and stopped by twice last year to chat including once about actor Mickey Rourke.This time, he joined me to discuss five of his favorite underrated, overlooked, and/or largely forgotten Italian-American films, including Fatso (1980), Mac (1992), Household Saints (1993), Angie (1994), and Two Family House (2000). In this delightfully breezy yet reflective chat, we shared some of our own family tales, our thoughts on the movies, and agreed that since we have no idea how to pronounce a few of the gorgeous Italian names, we'd say them multiple ways to ensure we were right at least once. So pull up your chair, prepare and plate some pasta, and enjoy it along with a hearty sauce and this rich conversation.Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music ArchiveOriginally Posted on Patreon (8/7/21) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/54636577

This week's guest is the impressive critic, in-demand lecturer, and insightful author, Mr. Adam Nayman. A contributor to The Ringer, Criterion, CinemaScope, and more, the Toronto-based Adam has written books on Showgirls, Ben Wheatley, the Coen Brothers, and Paul Thomas Anderson. His newest title, David Fincher: Mind Games is available for pre-order now and will be released in November from Abrams.If you're a fan of his work, it should come as no surprise that Adam Nayman is a very well-prepared and knowledgeable guest. In fact, he actually went above and beyond to track down a copy of an out-of-print autobiography by our subject in order to share it with us today. In this fascinating episode, he joins me to discuss the life and career of Gene Tierney as well as her films Laura, Leave Her to Heaven, Whirlpool, and Night and the City.Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music ArchiveOriginally Posted on Patreon (7/29/21) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/54276854

This week, I was so pleased to welcome one of the best film writers currently working today - the wonderful Sheila O'Malley - to the podcast. A regular film critic for RogerEbert.com and a member of the prestigious New York Film Critics Circle, Sheila's work has also appeared in Film Comment, The New York Times, The L.A. Times, Criterion Collection, Sight & Sound, and other outlets.Additionally, a scene from her full-length script July and Half of August was turned into a short film, which played at the Albuquerque Film and Music Experience, as well as at EbertFest. She's also written the narration scripts for two tribute reels played at the Lifetime Achievement Oscar ceremony, one for recipient Gena Rowlands (read by Angelina Jolie) and one for recipient Anne V. Coates (read by Diane Lane). Always a must-read, when she isn't doing everything else, Sheila writes about actors, movies, and Elvis at her outstanding personal site, The Sheila Variations.Extremely knowledgeable when it comes to the art of acting and classic film, in this richly researched episode, Sheila joins me to dissect the movies (and mores!) of Hollywood's notorious pre-code era, including The Public Enemy, the original Scarface, Three on a Match, Baby Face, and Design for Living.Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music ArchiveOriginally Posted on Patreon (7/21/21) with links to items discussed here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/53958553

This week, I was so pleased to welcome back the lovely, very funny, & terribly sweet Stephanie Crawford. A talented film writer and podcaster with an infectious love of cinema and physical media, you can check out Stephanie's work at her personal website House of a Reasonable Amount of Horrors.Teaming up to celebrate the new 4K release of Almost Famous, we study three key rock music movies that explore (and were made in) three different decades. In this affectionate, personal, yet analytical conversation, we discuss Tom Hanks' 1996 directorial debut That Thing You Do! (which was set in the '60s), Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous from 2000 (which took place in the early '70s), and the iconic Prince rock movie Purple Rain from director Albert Magnoli which was made in and represents the early 1980s.Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music ArchiveOriginally Posted on Patreon (on 7/16/21) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/53776811

This week, I'm proud to welcome back one of my dear mates (as he would say), Mr. Blake Howard. A podcaster extraordinaire, Blake is the man behind One Heat Minute Productions. Recent acclaimed podcasts you can find from him include All the President's Minutes, Josie and the Podcats, Increment Vice - hosted by our good friend Travis Woods - and the new Zodiac Chronicle. Additionally, Blake is a very insightful film writer and has recently launched a cool column on heist films at Vague Visages.Couple this with the fact that he's a devoted husband and father of two adorable young children and is also going back to school to become a teacher, and he's one of the busiest men I know. (He's also one of the nicest!) And as someone lucky enough to chat with him nearly every week in our Pandemic Movie Club, I was thrilled to have him back on the podcast to discuss three masterful Irish Mob Movies: Miller's Crossing, Road to Perdition, and The Departed in an energetic, upbeat (save for a few risky opinions), and very entertaining feature-length chat.Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music ArchiveOriginally Posted on Patreon (7/9/21) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/53504215

Returning to Watch With Jen today is one of the podcast's most popular and frequent guests - my good friend and Pandemic Movie Club buddy Jordan Harper.An Edgar award-winning crime writer of the remarkable novel She Rides Shotgun and the terrific book of short stories Love and Other Wounds, Jordan also works in Hollywood as a TV writer and producer and has been behind such series as The Mentalist, Gotham, and Hightown. He also created a stunning pilot for CBS of L.A. Confidential that was just celebrated at the ATX Festival as well.And since the most frequent feedback I receive whenever Jordan is on is compliments about our chemistry and banter (as evidenced in the David Mamet episode), it's only fitting that this time around, we ditched the crime genre in favor of screwball comedies.Breaking down the subversive wit, ingenuity, and downright horniness of four famous Preston Sturges movies, we discuss Barbara Stanwyck's powers of seduction as a con-woman in The Lady Eve, the lessons Hollywood can and has learned from Sullivan's Travels, the chaotic confidence of The Palm Beach Story, and the brilliance of Eddie Bracken yelling "Spots!" in The Miracle of Morgan's Creek.Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music ArchiveOriginally Posted on Patreon (7/1/21) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/53174633

Since I was a few days late with the last episode, this week, you have two terrific new installments of Watch With Jen to enjoy (as well as a Patreon only bonus episode of Watch With Jen: Ask Me Anything where I answer your burning questions).And keeping with the theme of more is more, in this episode, I am joined by not one but five wonderfully talented women to talk about a handful of their favorite representations of female creativity in classic movies. My guests, Kate Gabrielle, Meg Hesketh, Raquel Stecher, Jill Blake, and Marya E. Gates are all contributors to Gabrielle's inspired new Patreon, The Fifth Avenue Anti-Stuffed Shirt & Flying Trapeze Club Classic Film Collective, where they share prose, poetry, art, music, etc. that's centered on classic movies.From Bette Davis battling her twin sister to Deanna Durbin scheming Broadway to Joan Crawford taking on her daughter to an indie favorite from director Claudia Weill, we cover a lot of ground in this chatty episode. Discussing our own creative processes, along with double standards in the arts, our checkered relationship stories (romantic & otherwise), and more, it's a whole lot of fun.Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music ArchiveOriginally Posted on Patreon (6/25/21) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/52923857

This week, I was so excited to welcome back Elizabeth Cantwell, whom I enjoyed talking to about The Shining in the Bright Wall/Dark Room episode earlier this season.A poet and a high school teacher, Elizabeth is the author of the chapbook Premonitions, as well as two full-length books of poetry, Nights I Let the Tiger Get You and All the Emergency-Type Structures. Additionally an editor at Bright Wall, you can find her essays on a variety of films ranging from Jaws to Burn After Reading in Chad Perman's prestigious online film journal. Working by day as a high school teacher, she happily tricks her students into learning through her accessible, engaging courses on horror, creative nonfiction, and War & Peace.Having recently launched a podcast in her own right, you can hear Elizabeth along with her husband, writer Christopher Cantwell happily obsessing over a wide range of topics on their new podcast "Spores, Molds, and Fungus."Warm, kind, and incredibly intelligent, Elizabeth joined me to discuss sex, gender, and final girls in horror as it relates to Black Christmas (1974), Dressed to Kill (1980), Cat People (1982), Vampire's Kiss (1989), and Mandy (2018) this long, breezy, entertaining chat that I know you're going to love.Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music ArchiveOriginally Posted on Patreon (6/20/21) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/52723379