Watch With Jen™

By Jen JohansTV & Film Film Interviews Film History

Watch With Jen™ episodes

July 05, 2023 Watch With Jen - S4: E22 - French Crime Movies: Part 1 with William Boyle
Returning to Watch With Jen this week, we have my very talented friend and an official (and very popular) friend of the show. William Boyle is the acclaimed novelist behind such titles as Gravesend, The Lonely Witness, A Friend is a Gift You Give Yourself, City of Margins, and Shoot the Moonlight Out. In addition to crafting these wonderfully humanistic Lumet-like character-driven ensemble crime epics, Bill is quite the pop culture buff and one hell of a good movie trivia game player too.
Although he's a distinctly American writer-, given that he sets his sometimes interconnected tales in Brooklyn neighborhoods, Bill has quite a following for his work in France where he routinely visits for appearances and book events. Knowledgeable in his love of film, and continuing to foster his keen interest in the country, its people, as well as its cinema, this episode seemed like the perfect starting point for a new series that Bill & I will be revisiting in the future that's devoted to our love of French Crime Movies.
To kick us off, Bill bypassed some of the most obvious iconic titles like ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS, RIFIFI, PURPLE NOON, and LE CERCLE ROUGE, and selected slightly deeper cuts from the '50s, '60s, and '70s respectively. In this fascinating 86-minute installment that we're calling Part 1, we explore the films TOUCHEZ PAS AU GRISBI, SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER, and MAX & THE JUNKMEN, while also championing other titles you'll want to be sure to jot down. Vive La France!Vive La France!
Originally Posted on Patreon (7/5/23) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/85589343
Logo: KateGabrielle.com
Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive
1 hr 27 min
June 29, 2023 Watch With Jen - S4: E21 - "Succession" with Roxana Hadadi
Whether you're embarking on an exotic vacation or staying close to home, we're back from our month-long hiatus a few days early to give you something you can escape into your headphones & enjoy over the long holiday weekend. Delivering a month of hotly anticipated episodes featuring a killer lineup of guests & themes, we begin with the return of the brilliantly insightful Roxana Hadadi on HBO's remarkable "Succession," which is one of the most popular watercooler shows of the twenty-first century.
A TV critic with Vulture, who also writes about film & pop culture, previously Roxana was the film editor & a critic with Pajiba, & her reviews, essays, recaps, and other writing have also been published by The AV Club, Polygon, RogerEbert.com, The L.A. Times, Crooked Marquee, The Playlist, Fox Digital, GQ, & Inverse.
Back together for the first time since last summer's great installment devoted to "The Americans," here we cover the entire 4-season run of "Succession." An in-depth conversation that's filled with spoilers, it doesn't take long for Roxana & I to throw ourselves into the emotional highs & lows of Jesse Armstrong's incredibly well-written, brilliantly acted, masterful series in this feature-length episode that fans of the show will love.
From "Columbo" to "Mr. Inbetween," we've only covered television a handful of times on this podcast because it's time intensive & best dissected once a series has ended, but we hope to keep bringing you these occasional celebratory explorations of shows we can't stop thinking about in the future so if you enjoy them, please share, subscribe, review, & let us know.
Originally Posted on Patreon 6/29/23 here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/85260037
Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive
Logo: KateGabrielle.com
1 hr 43 min
May 27, 2023 Watch With Jen - S4: E20 - PTA & DDL with Ethan Warren
Returning to the podcast this week for the first time since I chatted with him and other wonderful writer-editors of the online film journal BW/DR (Bright Wall/Dark Room) about their favorite comfort movies a few seasons back, we have Ethan Warren.A member of the Boston Society of Film Critics who holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of North Carolina - Wilmington, plus the writer-director of the film WEST OF HER, Ethan stopped by to give us the inside scoop on his rich, fascinating new cinema studies book for Columbia University Press. Part of the publisher's Directors Cuts series which focuses on the work of the most significant contemporary international filmmakers, Ethan Warren's outstanding work entitled "The Cinema of Paul Thomas Anderson: American Apocrypha" is now available and I highly recommend you check it out.Having just recorded my own contributions on Paul Thomas Anderson's SYDNEY aka HARD EIGHT for the tie-in Pod Thomas Anderson podcast that Ethan collaborated on with One Heat Minute Productions and Blake Howard, I opted to have Ethan join me to chat about Anderson's two collaborations with the great actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Opening the episode with an appreciation of Anderson's work, including stories of seeing his films in the theater and our evolving relationship with them, plus more information about the author's book and writing process, the second half of this roughly hour-long conversation zeroes in on THERE WILL BE BLOOD and PHANTOM THREAD.Note: This will be the last new installment of the podcast for roughly a month, as I'm giving myself a little time to recharge ahead of our upcoming 200th episode. Rest assured, I'll be sharing recommendations and other surprises on our Patreon next month and will also continue working on shows behind the scenes but am giving myself a little break to heal from an injury and creating a cushion of episodes in case I travel, anything unforeseen arrives, or life gets busier. Thank you for your listenership and support!Originally Posted on Patreon (5/27/23) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/83634986 Logo: KateGabrielle.comTheme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive
1 hr 2 min
May 22, 2023 Watch With Jen - S4: E19 - 3 Thrillers from '93 with Peter Avellino
This week, it was so great to welcome Peter Avellino back to the podcast. A talented and thoughtful writer (& Film Twitter royalty), Peter Avellino's long-form essays on the movies that fascinate & frustrate him in equal measure have long made his blog Mr. Peel's Sardine Liqueur a must-read for cinephiles. Just in time for the Memorial Day kickoff of Summer Movie Season in 2023, Peter & I go back in time thirty years in order to highlight three intelligent thrillers for grown-ups released in the summer of '93: GUILTY AS SIN, THE FIRM, & THE FUGITIVE. Celebratory & nostalgic, yet clear-eyed, while all Watch With Jen listeners are bound to enjoy this conversation, those with a special place in their heart for moviegoing in the early '90s are sure to find this episode particularly entertaining. Originally Posted on Patreon (5/22/23) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/83393401 Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive Logo: KateGabrielle.com
1 hr 10 min
May 18, 2023 Watch With Jen - S4: E18 - Dennis Hopper - Part 3
Welcome to Dennis Hopper in the 1990s aka Watch With Jen's third & final installment in our first spotlight series devoted to the careers of iconic character actors that we love to see onscreen. Timed to be running the same week as his birthday, we kick off our Hopper finale with an extended appreciation of his return to the director's chair for the 1990 film THE HOT SPOT c/o its biggest fan, my Pandemic Movie Club buddy & fellow erotic thriller devotee Travis Woods. Then we take you on a tour of Hopper's prolific & diverse '90s period of memorable performances in films such as THE INDIAN RUNNER, BOILING POINT, RED ROCK WEST, TRUE ROMANCE, SPEED, & WATERWORLD, & wrap everything up with some bonus recommendations by my brilliant guests. Included in this episode, you will hear from Jed Ayres, Duncan Birmingham, William Boyle, Elizabeth Cantwell, S.A. Cosby, Jordan Harper, & Travis Woods. The feedback on this series has been extraordinarily gratifying & I want to thank you so much for your listenership & support. While I will be taking a very short hiatus at the start of summer after we release S4: E20 to rest & recharge due to a recent injury, Watch With Jen has much more in store for you very soon, including two tie-in episodes that are focused on highly anticipated July Criterion releases with VIP guests, as well as our 200th episode. One of these conversations was recorded yesterday & it was staggeringly great so I can't wait to share it with you.Note: Due to language & subject matter, once again, this episode is for mature audiences only.Originally Posted on Patreon (5/18/23) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/83198058Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music ArchiveLogo: KateGabrielle.com
1 hr 25 min
May 14, 2023 Watch With Jen - S4: E17 - Dennis Hopper - Part 2
Between the fact that I'm a bit overscheduled next week & I've loved hearing from listeners who enjoyed the first installment in this series, I decided to take advantage of a free morning to edit & upload this episode early! Releasing just in time for Dennis Hopper's birthday on the 17th (& mine a couple of days later), welcome to the second installment of our three-part series devoted to the actor. Filled with analysis & appreciation of some of his most popular films & performances from a panel of seven outstanding guests, plus excerpts from a lifetime of interviews with Hopper voiced by yours truly, this episode covers the decade that made him an icon all over again with the film BLUE VELVET. I guess technically you could call this Dennis Hopper's Blue Period! Centered on the 1980s, we open with the controversial OUT OF THE BLUE & then talk about his great comeback year of 1986, & the films BLUE VELVET, RIVER'S EDGE, & HOOSIERS. Featuring great stories about seeing these films with audiences &/or way too young, plus insights from Hopper on directing actors & learning about women, along with Lynch's chronicle of casting him to play Frank Booth, this has been our most hotly anticipated release since I mentioned this project, so I hope you dig it. Originally Posted on Patreon (5/14/23) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/82997515Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive Logo: KateGabrielle.com
1 hr 31 min
May 10, 2023 Watch With Jen - S4: E16 - Dennis Hopper - Part 1
Around the time that the very first episode of Season 4 was uploaded, I embarked on a months-long journey to prepare & record the podcast's first entry in a new spotlight series devoted to some of the greatest character actors in screen history. Reaching out to good friends & past guests who I knew had a special interest in the life, films, characters, & performances of our first subject, Dennis Hopper, over the course of two months, I interviewed every participant one by one. Kicking off each conversation by inquiring what it was about Hopper that they found most compelling as a viewer (as well as their earliest memories of the actor), I challenged them even further, asking each guest to choose one or more of their favorite roles to dissect with me in a limited amount of time. While most people immediately gravitated to BLUE VELVET, I was thrilled by their willingness to touch on a number of his lesser-known or celebrated works, including some of the films that Dennis Hopper made as a director, & soon wound up with over 3.5 hours of stellar audio, primarily focused on the 1970s-1990s. Knowing that my overly ambitious idea for one episode was best reconfigured as a 3-part miniseries, I cut highlights from these conversations together & incorporated excerpts from interviews with Dennis Hopper I'd discovered in my research & then read them aloud as Hopper to add some variety to our stellar yet mostly masculine* lineup. Today, we're kicking things off a week ahead of Dennis Hopper's birthday with a look at the first part of his career. Although it's primarily set in the 1970s, we take a few forays into his earlier years as an actor & his iconic feature filmmaking debut EASY RIDER, plus flirt briefly with the '80s in order to cover his reunion with APOCALYPSE NOW director Francis Ford Coppola in RUMBLE FISH as well. Along with those titles, you'll also hear us discuss THE LAST MOVIE, THE AMERICAN FRIEND, KID BLUE, & others in Dennis Hopper - Part 1. Boasting a wonderfully insightful roster of contributors, this episode features the following guests in alphabetical order: Mitchell Beaupre, Duncan Birmingham, William Boyle, Elizabeth Cantwell, S.A. Cosby, Jordan Harper, Blake Howard, Mike Miley, & Travis Woods. Following this installment, next week's Part 2 is a must for fans of Dennis Hopper's '80s Renaissance era, including his iconic turn as Frank Booth in BLUE VELVET, & Part 3 will take us to the '90s. I hope you enjoy this long-in-the-works series & if you'd like to encourage the show's efforts to try new things like this in the future, please consider joining our Patreon (HTTPs://www.patreon.com/FilmIntuition) to support our research for as little as $1 per month, if you haven't joined us already, & be sure to recommend Watch With Jen to others to help spread the word. Thank you so much! *Note: our next subject is the remarkable Julianne Moore so I'm hoping that will help balance things out a little! Originally Posted on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/82813775 Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive Logo: KateGabrielle.com
1 hr 27 min
May 06, 2023 Watch With Jen - S4: E15 - Kurt Russell with Chris & Elizabeth Cantwell
You've heard Chris and Elizabeth Cantwell on past episodes solo but recently, I was thrilled to be joined by this dynamic duo together for a hilarious & thoughtful conversation about one of their favorite movie stars. The co-creator and showrunner of one of my favorite television series Halt and Catch Fire (which he joined me to discuss in season 2), Chris Cantwell is an incredibly talented & prolific writer working on the TV projects Devil in Silver & Max Headroom, & also writing such comics as Star Trek: Defiant, Hellcat, Briar, Namor, Obi-Wan, Iron Man, Dr. Doom, & Regarding the Matter of Oswald's Body. His brilliant wife Elizabeth Cantwell is a poet, teacher, & writer-editor at Bright Wall/Dark Room whose essays on movies & men are always must-reads. Everyone says that their spouse is their best friend but for these two, it's legit! In this wildly funny, rapid-fire banter & tangent-filled celebration of Kurt Russell, we investigate the many eras & sides of the actor in the films SILKWOOD, OVERBOARD, THE COMPUTER WORE TENNIS SHOES, & TOMBSTONE. The perfect listen for a relaxing summer afternoon & our most hilarious installment since our Adrian McKinty conversation on EXCALIBUR & LORD OF THE RINGS released earlier this season, this episode is sure to make you laugh. Originally Posted on Patreon (5/6/23) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/82606292 Logo: KateGabrielle.com Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive
1 hr 24 min
May 02, 2023 Watch With Jen - S4: E14 - Literary Adaptations with Kristen Lopez
One of our very first guests, this week, I was so pleased to welcome Kristen Lopez back to the podcast. Currently working as the Film Editor of The Wrap, Kristen, who is also the creator of the classic film podcast Ticklish Business, has worked as an entertainment journalist for more than fifteen years. And this year, she's published her very first book in conjunction with TCM dedicated to literary adaptations. Focused on 52 different feature films and the works that inspired them, this cheerily written release, entitled BUT HAVE YOU READ THE BOOK? is now available everywhere, and you should definitely check it out because it's a lot of fun. In this brisk and enthusiastic overview of some of Kristen's favorite screen literary adaptations, we move quickly from Ernest Hemingway to Harper Lee to Cormac McCarthy to Dennis Lehane and more. Focusing primarily on the films TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, and THE GREAT GATSBY (2013), while touching on several others, book lovers are sure to enjoy this conversation. Originally Posted on Patreon (5/2/23) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/82404328 Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive Logo: KateGabrielle.com
47 min
April 26, 2023 Watch With Jen - S4: E13 - Early Richard Gere with Leslie Byron Pitt
A talented film critic, photographer, & podcaster based in England, Leslie Byron Pitt has written for Set the Tape & Empire Magazine, & has also been published on Vodzilla, Film Stories, & Little White Lies online. Additionally featured on Inside Cinema for the BBCi Player, when he isn't writing, doing expressive photography, or creating new pieces for print, Leslie can be found on the erotic thriller podcast Fatal Attractions. A returning guest from early in Season 2, when we did a really thoughtful episode devoted to three unique tales of human connection onscreen, in this terrific, fascinating conversation that's filled with research & rich insights, Watch With Jen continues its exploration into erotic cinema & the films of Paul Schrader this season with an in-depth look at Richard Gere's early breakout role in AMERICAN GIGOLO. Recently captivated by the way Gere skyrocketed to fame while taking on very daring roles that dealt with sexuality & questions of masculinity, Leslie & I move from GIGOLO to director Taylor Hackford's Oscar winner AN OFFICER & A GENTLEMAN, & then take a sharp left into Jim McBride's neon, rock 'n roll, comic book, & sex soaked remake of Jean-Luc Godard's BREATHLESS, which was a major influence on Quentin Tarantino. Jen's Note: I greatly respect and enjoy the level of analysis & research that Leslie brings to film discussions, & I know you'll enjoy this episode! However, while it isn't terribly explicit, due to the subject matter, much like the Schrader & Erotic '80s and '90s discussions, it's still one you should listen to without the kids. Originally Posted on Patreon (4/26/23) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/82090309 Logo: KateGabrielle.comTheme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive
1 hr 20 min

About Watch With Jen™

From the publisher's feed

3-time national award-winning writer & full time walking movie encyclopedia Jen Johans of FilmIntuition.com delivers a steady stream of great movie recommendations, thoughtful career deep dives, & first rate conversations with critics, authors, actors, journalists, filmmakers, and more on Watch With Jen.™️