Watch With Jen™

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 Archive

Originally 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 Archive

Originally 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 Archive

Originally Posted on Patreon (6/20/21) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/52723379

As Leo Tolstoy wrote in the first sentence of Anna Karenina, "happy families are all alike, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Joining me to discuss five wide-ranging international films centered on families with varying levels of dysfunction is NYU trained freelance television editor and writer, producer, director Steven Santos.

A New York City native who now lives in Los Angeles, for nearly fifteen years, Steven Santos has edited nonfiction TV shows for a variety of cable channels including Discovery, Animal Planet, The Travel Channel, NatGeo, A&E, TLC, History Channel, HGTV, and Oxygen.

In 2010, Steven also began to produce and cut video essays solo as well as in a creative partnership with film and TV critic Matt Zoller Seitz, which led to some top-notch work both online and off as the two developed a television show about film for Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail.

Returning to his first love of writing and filmmaking, after relocating to Hollywood in 2018, Steven has written and developed several film and TV projects, including scripting a full season of television by himself, while still working as a TV editor.

Filled with both personal stories and cinematic analysis, in this extended episode, we dissect My Family aka Mi Familia from 1996 (set in Mexico and America), Secrets & Lies, which was made a year later in England, Festen or The Celebration, which came out of Denmark in '98, The Royal Tenenbaums from America in 2001, and France's A Christmas Tale, which was released in '08.

Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive

Originally Posted on Patreon (6/11/21) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/52386781

Joining me today is a Rotten Tomatoes approved critic and a podcaster in her own right, the wonderful Rosa Parra. A member of the Hollywood Critics Association, the Latino Entertainment Journalist Association, GALECA, and a fellow member of the Online Association of Female Film Critics, Rosa is also the co-founder and co-host of Latinx Lens. In her fun and informative podcast and companion website, Rosa focuses on highlighting Latinx representation and contributions in film and television. Additionally, Rosa, along with her co-writers and co-hosts, review all films with their unique Latinx Lens, lending a vital underrepresented perspective on cinema.

An endlessly kind and supportive Twitter presence, I was so pleased to welcome her to this podcast to discuss three of the most vital filmmakers of the past 30 years, three gifted Mexican filmmakers whose groundbreaking work ushered in the Mexican New Wave in the 1990s, and three good friends who collectively call themselves the Three Amigos. The men to whom I'm referring are, of course, the marvelous Alfonso Cuarón, Guillermo del Toro, and Alejandro González Iñárritu, whose rich films inspire and challenge not just film fans but also each other.

In this celebratory yet highly analytical feature-length episode, Rosa and I take a look at two movies from each director to compare and contrast their films and styles, and also chat about their collaborators, while taking the rest of their work into consideration as well. Whether it's Cuarón's unique one-two punch of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Children of Men, del Toro's feminist fantasies Crimson Peak and The Shape of Water, or the gritty realism of Iñárritu's Amores Perros and 21 Grams, Rosa and I explore it all. Needless to say, this episode is a must for film geeks! Enjoy.

Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive

Originally Posted on Patreon (6/3/21) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/52077664

In this entertainingly super-sized episode, we have two guests for the price of one! First up, is a teacher and writer from Lafayette, Louisiana. After graduating from AFI with an MFA in directing, Mike Miley first got his start as an award-winning short filmmaker. Having left life in the L.A. entertainment industry behind to work in education in California and Louisiana, Mike has taught middle and high school English for fifteen years and Film Studies at his alma mater Loyola University (New Orleans) for the past six.

Additionally, an essayist and author who's written about both subjects in popular and academic publications including TheAtlantic.com and Bright Lights Film Journal, in 2015, one of his works was included as a notable literary essay in 2015's Best American Essays. Mike's first book, Truth and Consequences: Game Shows in Fiction and Film was published by the University Press of Mississippi in 2019, Conversations with Steve Erickson, which he co-edited will be released from there in July, and he is currently working on his next book - about filmmaker David Lynch - to be published in the future.

Joining me to discuss four films from the '90s and early '00s that made game shows either a central focus or the goal of its characters, we move from Ron Shelton's terrifically funny White Men Can't Jump to Robert Redford's classy yet now largely forgotten Quiz Show to Paul Thomas Anderson's epic Magnolia to George Clooney's messily ambitious Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. Dissecting key points in these movies and sharing our own experiences watching these films growing up and/or in the theater, it was great fun both reminiscing and hyper-analyzing all four with Mike.

Adding in a bonus round because how can you not when you're discussing game shows, after my chat with Mike, I welcomed my pal, actor, writer, and film buff Rob Belushi - who serves as a real live game show host on Game Show Network's Get a Clue - to the podcast. In a short, breezy chat, Rob shares his take on the movies Mike and I discussed and then lets us behind-the-scenes of life working on a game show. Answering some of your burning questions from social media and sharing some amusing stories, this conversation with Rob was the perfect coda to this episode.

Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive

Originally Posted on Patreon (5/28/21) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/51800513

An animation lover since childhood with fond memories of belting out songs from the contemporary Disney classic The Little Mermaid, this week I'm joined by the Rotten Tomatoes approved film critic and podcaster Rachel Wagner.

In addition to covering as many films as she can each year on her website Rachel's Reviews, Rachel has a particular love of interviewing others - from actors to directors to composers to animators - anyone with an interesting story to tell. A prolific podcaster in her own right, Rachel is the founder of the very popular Hallmarkies Podcast and her own Rachel's Reviews podcast and YouTube channel which covers all things animated, including a monthly Talking Disney and Obscure Animation show.

A member of the Utah Film Critics Association and the Online Association of Female Film Critics, when she isn't busy with all of that, you can find Rachel on Twitter (@rachel_reviews). Discussing her exciting adventures in podcasting and film coverage, in this fascinating hour-long episode, we take a look at three obscure works of foreign animation, including The Girl Without Hands (2016), Louise by the Shore (2016), and Away (2019). Incredibly knowledgeable on the subject, you might want to listen to Rachel's recommendations with a notebook and pen!

Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive

Originally posted on Patreon (5/21/21) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/51530018

Kind, witty, and wildly gifted, Nikki Dolson is a prolific crime writer whose work has been published in such well-respected places as Shotgun Honey, Tough, ThugLit, and Bartleby Snopes. The author of what she affectionately calls "a novelish thing" - the book All Things Violent - Nikki has also released a short story collection entitled Love and Other Criminal Behavior. And later this year, one of Nikki's outstanding pieces will appear in the prestigious Best American Mystery and Suspense stories anthology for 2021, edited by Alafair Burke and Steph Cha.

In this intriguing episode that's sure to delight bibliophiles and cinephiles alike, Nikki returns to the pod to consider all things western. From the adaptations of two stellar short western stores by Elmore Leonard and Annie Proulx (including 3:10 to Yuma and Brokeback Mountain, respectively) to Young Guns and beyond, we evaluate both what makes an adaptation successful and the genre as a whole. A woman whose wit and intelligence shines through no matter what topic, this wide-ranging installment is filled with laughter and irresistibly rapid-fire conversation. (Note: This episode contains plot spoilers)

Originally Posted on Patreon (5/14/21) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/51266960

Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive

Washington City Paper film critic Noah Gittell joins me to discuss two cult-favorite Gen X titles from the '90s - our mutual favorite "Zero Effect" and the brilliant "Fight Club" - in this nerdily analytical episode. A reporter at BBC Talk Movies and a guest lecturer at Smithsonian Associates, Noah is also a freelance contributor for a number of outstanding outlets, including The Atlantic, The Ringer, The Guardian, Polygon, and The Economist.

Filled with spoilers about "Zero Effect" and "Fight Club" as well as a few other twisty, unreliable narrator centrist films from the same era, in this in-depth conversation, we dissect not only what makes them great but also pinpoint their place in history then and now.

Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive

Originally Posted on Patreon (5/3/21) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50825689

A witty and wonderful writer-director currently living in Los Angeles, Jessica Ellis attended UCLA and the prestigious American Film Institute. Having recently made her feature filmmaking debut with the lovely coming-of-age movie What Lies West, Jessica's film is now available for pre-order at all online retailers and will be released on VOD on May 11. A bright light on Twitter, in this episode, she takes us behind-the-scenes of What Lies West before dissecting some of her favorite summer adventure movies, including Dirty Dancing, Now and Then, and The Way, Way Back from her perspective as a cinematic storyteller in her own right.

Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive

Originally Posted on Patreon on 4/27/21 here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50551103