Watch With Jen™

Although Watch With Jen: Season 5 won't get into full swing until roughly February, we're returning early with a special episode devoted to honoring the life & career of the great British character actor Tom Wilkinson, whom we sadly lost over the weekend. Getting together for a Zoom on New Year's Eve with the always soulful & analytical Roxana Hadadi, we spent an hour celebrating the films & performances of Wilkinson, with particular emphasis on his Oscar-nominated turn in MICHAEL CLAYTON & the '90s ensemble favorite THE FULL MONTY. It's an ideal conversation to listen to with a pad & pen because Roxana & I reference multiple other movie & television roles throughout its running time. As we all start settling back into our post-holiday daily routines, we hope you enjoy this tribute to a legend, & find some new performances of his to seek out to kick off an inspiring year of viewings.Roxana's Bio: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.Originally Posted on Patreon (1/2/24) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/95734421Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music ArchiveShop Watch With Jen logo Merchandise in Logo Designer Kate Gabrielle's Threadless Shop

Welcome to our podcast miniseries devoted to celebrating the 1988 contemporary classic, action buddy comedy MIDNIGHT RUN, written by George Gallo & directed by Martin Brest. Produced & hosted by Blake Howard & Jen Johans of One Heat Minute Productions & Watch With Jen, respectively, each week, we’ll explore the film we first bonded over when we became friends in 2019 by surfing through an incredible roster of guests from journalists to novelists & beyond who love it as much as we do. In our inaugural episode, you'll hear from filmmaker BenDavid Grabinski & film critic Drew McWeeny. Now available wherever you get your pods, each week, you'll find a new installment on Patreon & in both the One Heat Minute Productions & Watch With Jen podcast feeds.Originally Posted on Patreon (12/27/23) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/95329626

It's always the greatest joy to spend the last few episodes of a phenomenally busy season just chatting about movies hangout-style with some of my closest friends & this year was no exception. I'm so lucky that in the middle of award-season deadlines, one of my funniest cinephile pals, the great Sean Burns joined me for two evenings after Thanksgiving, first to discuss CARLITO'S WAY alongside S.A. Cosby & William Boyle, & then logging back onto Zoom the next night for his latest solo episode on four of director Robert Altman's many terrific under-discussed films: BREWSTER MCCLOUD, THE CAINE MUTINY COURT MARTIAL, COOKIE'S FORTUNE, & THE COMPANY.This is the final installment of Watch With Jen for 2023. It's been an incredibly ambitious & exciting year for the podcast. The show reached a few great milestones I never thought I'd achieve when I launched it in the winter of 2020 & I want to thank you for your listenership & support as I continue to learn & grow with each passing year. I'll be taking a handful of weeks off to rest, recharge, & start recording episodes I'm truly excited to bring you in Season 4, but don't worry because you'll still be finding brand new shows in your Watch With Jen feed. Launching next week in both my feed & our co-producer Blake Howard's One Heat Minute Productions, you'll begin exploring our years-in-the-making passion project MIDNIGHT RUN-THROUGH, which is devoted to the 1988 movie MIDNIGHT RUN. It was a joy to create & I know you'll love it!Note: Originally, I was going to wait to upload this episode until the end of next week but this year has been super stressful for so many people in my life (including myself) & I want to make sure you have enough to distract & delight you during your winter break &/or holiday travels. Wishing you & yours a peaceful & relaxing week & the happiest 2024.Sean's Bio:A film critic for WBUR's Arts & Culture and a contributing writer at North Shore Movies and Crooked Marquee, he was Philadelphia Weekly's lead film critic from 1999-2013 and worked as contributing editor at the Improper Bostonian from 2006-2014. His reviews, interviews, and essays have also appeared in Metro, The Village Voice, Rolling Stone, The Boston Herald, Nashville Scene, Time Out New York, Philadelphia City Paper, and RogerEbert.com.Originally Posted on Patreon (12/22/23) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/95121862Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music ArchiveShop Watch With Jen logo Merchandise in Logo Designer Kate Gabrielle's Threadless Shop

My holiday gift to you is the early upload of what is easily one of the five funniest episodes of Watch With Jen that I've released so far. Joining me for another chat-a-thon is one of my wisest & wittiest besties, Priscilla Page, who tackles the legendary, iconoclastic 20th-century filmmaker John Frankenheimer with me in her rollicking, rowdy, & incredibly articulate return. Needing to check that explicit language box almost immediately, as one does with Frankenheimer, we celebrate the man, the mythos, & the master of automotive action in the films GRAND PRIX & RONIN. Going on a few memorable tangents about Steve McQueen, James Garner, zen & the art of racecar driving, David Mamet, Robert De Niro, & how obsession with continuity is stupid, this episode serves up plenty of laughter & stories, though none are greater than the ones shared in the last section of the podcast by two of my other awesome friends.My wonderful honorary kid brother from Oz - Mr. Blake Howard - hooked me up with some amazing audio he recorded in 2021 with incredible actor & dear friend Donal Logue where Donal shared some heartfelt & hilarious memories of working with Frankenheimer on the holiday actioner REINDEER GAMES. (I'd heard a couple of these from Donal in the past & they're the best!) Originally released by Blake Howard in his One Heat Minute Productions pod spinoff "Rum & Rant" which has since been dubbed "Roast & Rant," I'm thrilled to include these stories with you at the tail end of the episode as a way to honor the late great John Frankenheimer's legacy.The best way to de-stress as you prep for the holidays, cinephiles will adore this one. It's a true pleasure to highlight gifted pals on the podcast, particularly as we begin to wrap up 2023, & Watch With Jen will return once more in December with a final S4 episode featuring the awesome Sean Burns on Robert Altman. Additionally, our spinoff pod MIDNIGHT RUN-THROUGH, co-hosted by Blake Howard, is premiering shortly & you'll also find it here, so get psyched!Priscilla's Bio: One of the brightest & most popular lights of Film Twitter, Priscilla Page writes about cars, movies, and cars in movies, focusing mostly on your dad's favorites: actioners, thrillers, westerns, etc. Her bylines include Hagerty, Autoweek, Empire Magazine, The Guardian, Polygon, Birth.Movies.Death., and Bright Wall/Dark Room. You can keep up with Priscilla's outstanding work through her Patreon.Originally Posted on Patreon (12/18/23) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/94880027Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music ArchiveShop Watch With Jen logo Merchandise in Logo Designer Kate Gabrielle's Threadless Shop

This week, I was honored to bring one of my dearest friends & fellow "Brunette Dad with Bangs" aboard Watch With Jen for her first-ever podcast appearance. A long-in-the-works collaboration that Priscilla Page & I began planning in the summer of '22, the very first time we hung out as we cruised around to chat & see the lights of L.A. on a summer night, it's only fitting that we made her debut a hangout episode about cars.More leisurely paced than your typical release, at the start of our discussion, I ask Priscilla about her background as a writer & the date in her twenties that made her first fall in love with cars. Soon, however, we shift our focus to two films & chase scenes starring Tom Cruise that she's written about & adores in writer-director Christopher McQuarrie's JACK REACHER & MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING.Part 1 of a two-part episode focusing on two filmmakers who've crafted some of the most delightful car sequences in American film, you'll hear us tackle director John Frankenheimer's GRAND PRIX & RONIN next. The perfect accompaniment to your holiday travel & a terrific way to begin to close out this season of the podcast, I'm so delighted to introduce you to one of my favorite people beyond the staggeringly great film essays that she's penned over the years in this wonderful conversation. (Note: You won't have to wait very long for Part 2; it will be dropping earlier than usual as my holiday gift to you.)Bio: One of the brightest & most popular lights of Film Twitter, Priscilla Page writes about cars, movies, and cars in movies, focusing mostly on your dad's favorites: actioners, thrillers, westerns, etc. Her bylines include Hagerty, Autoweek, Empire Magazine, The Guardian, Polygon, Birth.Movies.Death., and Bright Wall/Dark Room. You can keep up with Priscilla's outstanding work through her Patreon.Originally Posted on Watch With Jen's Patreon (12/15/23): https://www.patreon.com/posts/94718858Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music ArchiveShop Watch With Jen logo Merchandise in Logo Designer Kate Gabrielle's Threadless Shop We Now Have Mugs!

Note: We're doing something new this season on Watch With Jen. Usually, I release our end-of-the-year Physical Media conversations across multiple episodes. But in '22, some listeners said they found it slightly confusing to see similar titles a few times in a row & they'd rather have a marathon installment instead so we're trying it in '23 with a supersized, superstar-filled episode. Additionally, rather than ending the season on Physical Media as we've done in the past, this year, you'll still receive a few more outstanding eps after this week's release. (Oh, & if you wondered why I didn't upload a new pod last week, it's because I was researching & recording all of these wonderful conversations!)Clocking in at nearly 3 hours, this episode includes Walter Chaw on Walter Hill's 1979 film THE WARRIORS, Bilge Ebiri on Terrence Malick's DAYS OF HEAVEN, William Boyle, S.A. Cosby, & Sean Burns on Brian De Palma's CARLITO'S WAY, & Nikki Dolson on William Wyler's THE DESPERATE HOURS. Whether you're running holiday errands or just in need of a little company as you go about your work day, I hope you enjoy Watch With Jen's 2023 winter Physical Media extravaganza!Originally Posted on Patreon (12/4/23) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/94065404NEW: Bring home a Watch With Jen mug for the holidays!Shop Watch With Jen logo Merchandise in Logo Designer Kate Gabrielle's Threadless ShopTheme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive

This week, I was so pleased to welcome back to the pod one of my crime writer friends' favorite crime writers & a man whose taste in film, literature, & poetry is an endless source of delight on Twitter. Adrian McKinty was born & raised in Belfast, Northern Ireland, & then studied philosophy at Oxford University before he moved to Australia & New York. He is the author of more than a dozen crime novels, including his Dagger & Edgar nominated debut DEAD I WELL MAY BE, the critically acclaimed Sean Duffy series, as well as the smash international bestseller & award-winning standalone thriller THE CHAIN.A man whose books have been translated into over thirty languages, Adrian has won the Edgar Award, the International Thriller Writers Award, the Ned Kelly Award (three times), the Anthony Award, the Barry Award, the Macavity Award, the Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award. Adrian's most recent novels include the smash bestseller THE ISLAND & the latest Sean Duffy mystery THE DETECTIVE UP LATE.After having such a delightful first conversation with Adrian about EXCALIBUR & LORD OF THE RINGS earlier in the year (& then chatting with him once again for the upcoming MIDNIGHT RUN-THROUGH pod series with Blake Howard's One Heat Minute Productions), I couldn't wait to bring him back to discuss movies with me once again. Emailing me while working on his next book, Adrian came up with an ingenious idea to look at the ways that the Coen Brothers address creative blocks in the films BARTON FINK & INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS.Witty yet highly analytical, in this episode, we check into the hotel from hell to explore the life of the mind in the 1991 film first & then take a folksy walk through early '60s Greenwich Village in search of a cat in one of the Coens' final works as a filmmaking team. The perfect companion to your holiday travels this week in the United States, it's a must for fans of the filmmakers & especially those who adore FINK, which is dissected in great detail in this entertaining conversation.Originally Posted on Patreon (11/18/23) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/93115677Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music ArchiveShop Watch With Jen logo Merchandise in Logo Designer Kate Gabrielle's Threadless Shop

This week, I was so pleased to welcome back two friends & the hosts of The Film Stage's excellent podcast The B-Side, which covers movie stars in a fascinating way by focusing not on the films that made or kept them famous but the ones that actors made in between. A producer & filmmaker living in Pittsburgh, Dan Mecca started The Film Stage with Jordan Raup in college at Buffalo & Conor O'Donnell is a post-production supervisor based in New York City & also serves as a critic for The Film Stage. In the 39th episode of the podcast this season, the boys from The B-Side join me to discuss the career & main overarching theme that you will find in the filmography of child actor turned Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard. A man who's been working hard his entire life growing up on film sets where he'd see hundreds of craftsmen quietly executing their jobs with skill & precision in an industry that tends to overlook these individuals in favor of picture-perfect movie stars, Ron Howard is utterly fascinated by the working man. Particularly drawn to studying the work-life balance & the way we all struggle to care for family, friends, & ourselves while at the same time earning a living with purpose, since he stepped foot behind a camera, Howard's gravitated to these tales as a filmmaker. While we touch on numerous pictures that he's made and collaborators he's worked alongside throughout his career in this infectiously delightful & insightful feature-length conversation, we focus primarily on the films PARENTHOOD, THE PAPER, & THIRTEEN LIVES. Originally Posted on Patreon (11/12/23) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/92808304 Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive Shop Watch With Jen logo Merchandise in Logo Designer Kate Gabrielle's Threadless Shop

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.In this entertaining follow-up to the first installment of a new pod series focused on French Crime Movies that we launched in Season 4, Bill is back to chat about another trio of terrific works released across three decades: director Alain Corenau's CHOICE OF ARMS, Claude Chabrol's TORMENT (aka HELL), and Guillaume Canet's TELL NO ONE.Originally Posted on Patreon (11/7/23) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/92467704Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music ArchiveShop Watch With Jen logo merchandise in Logo Designer Kate Gabrielle's Threadless Shop

Peckerwood novelist and Hardboiled Wonderland blogger Jed Ayres returns to the podcast this week for a two-hour extravaganza devoted to the man famously dubbed "the poet laureate of wild assholes with revolvers," Mr. Elmore Leonard. One of the godfathers of contemporary crime fiction and an influence on every single writer working in the genre today (whether they realize it or not), Jed and I investigate the western genre that launched the Navy vet lovingly nicknamed Dutch. Revisiting a few films you've heard discussed on Watch With Jen in the past, including 3:10 TO YUMA and THE TALL T (both from 1957), we then explore some of the revisionist westerns made from his books or penned directly for the screen by Leonard in the late '60s and early '70s, including HOMBRE, THE MOONSHINE WAR, VALDEZ IS COMING, and JOE KIDD. A perfect way to kick off Noirvember since these are indeed works of Western noir, after these films were released at the end of the genre's heyday, Elmore Leonard moved to crime fiction. Fans of the author's work won't want to miss what is likely just the first of multiple eps devoted to Leonard. Originally Posted on Patreon (10/30/23) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/91886163 Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive Shop Watch With Jen logo merchandise in Logo Designer Kate Gabrielle's Threadless Shop