Show Notes
It was a joy to bring on a fellow Arizona critic & film scholar, the brilliant & funny Barbara VanDenburgh, to discuss the masterful Arizona-raised filmmaker Steven Spielberg. Barbara's favorite director and her greatest area of film knowledge; it's wild to realize that we haven't done an official Spielberg episode of the pod before this one. I know you'll love it! Covering the filmmaker's life, career, major themes, techniques, collaborators, and more, we touch on most of his pictures in this fast-paced conversation, and pay special attention to three of his summer releases, JAWS, JURASSIC PARK, and A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. Guest Bio: Barbara VanDenburgh is a longtime arts and entertainment journalist, a film critic, and a member of the Phoenix Critics Circle. She is also the founder and host of the First Draft Book Club, a popular, long-running book club that discusses recently published works of literary fiction at Changing Hands Bookstore in Phoenix. She is the former books editor of USA Today and currently manages programming and communications for The Sidney Poitier New American Film School at Arizona State University.
Originally Posted on Patreon (6/16/26) here: https://www.patreon.com/FilmIntuition/posts/161259047 Donate to the Pod via Ko-fi & PayPal Shop Watch With Jen logo Merchandise in Logo Designer Kate Gabrielle's Threadless Shop Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive
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What a thrill to have New York Times bestselling author Brynne Weaver of BUTCHER & BLACKBIRD on the pod. Offering listeners a deeper dive into her fascinating background in forensic archeology, neuroscience, & Alzheimer's research, as well as her writing process, Brynne & I also delve into three science fiction horror movies featuring phenomenally tough women in ALIEN, 28 DAYS LATER, & THE DESCENT. Official Bio: #1 NYT bestselling author Brynne Weaver has been writing since early childhood. As a teenager, she completed several full-length novels by hand. In 2021, she published her first fantasy romance, The Diviner, and launched her bestselling "neon romantasy" paranormal dark romcom Shadow Realm trilogy with A Shadow In The Reaping. Brynne then co-wrote two standalone novels, Black Sheep and Marrow, before publishing the smash hit Butcher & Blackbird in 2023. Wrapping up the Ruinous Love Trilogy in 2025, Brynne then launched the dark romcom x thriller Seasons of Carnage series with the instant NYT bestseller, Tourist Season. Known as the “Queen of Dark Romcom,” Brynne Weaver aspires to write female-focused stories about resilient characters navigating the darker edges of love.
SLEEPY HOLLOW series co-creator, screenwriter, & the co-host of Podcast Like It's the 2000s, Phillip Iscove joined me for this thoughtfully incisive, laugh-filled, ' 90s-kid-nostalgic episode devoted to the three film pairings of formerly married superstars Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman. Beginning with Tony Scott's DAYS OF THUNDER, we dive into the wilds of Ron Howard's FAR & AWAY, and wrap it up with their strongest picture together, Stanley Kubrick's EYES WIDE SHUT. This hilariously breezy chat flew right by, & I know you'll dig it. (See Video Clips from this Episode on Jen's official YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@FilmIntuition) Originally Posted on Patreon (10/12/26) here: https://www.patreon.com/FilmIntuition/posts/watch-with-jen-172167102 Donate to the Pod via Ko-fi & PayPal Shop Watch With Jen logo Merchandise in Logo Designer Kate Gabrielle's Threadless Shop Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive
As the old adage goes, friendships that begin with Midnight Run quickly move on to The Twilight Zone. It was such a joy to bring my Midnight Run-Through pod guest Alan Sepinwall back to Watch With Jen to chat about his brilliantly engrossing, brand-new, page-turning biography of Rod Serling, hitting shelves next week. I read & loved my advance copy of Sepinwall's great book. And as you'll quickly deduce, I had a ball covering all things Rod Serling and The Twilight Zone with him in this engaging episode, which found us zeroing in on three of the show's classic alien invasion episodes in particular, including "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street," "The Invaders," and "To Serve Man." Bio: One of the country's most influential and respected TV critics, Alan Sepinwall has worked for Rolling Stone & The Star-Ledger, a New Jersey newspaper. His writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Ringer, and many others. He is the author or co-author of eight books about the medium, including NY Times bestsellers TV (The Book) and The Sopranos Sessions. He currently runs the TV criticism website WhatsAlanWatching.com. His newest book, Serling, a biography of Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling, is available for pre-order and will be released on October 13. Originally Posted on Patreon (10/7/26) here: https://www.patreon.com/FilmIntuition/posts/171704675
When it rains, it pours! I spent most of September recording terrific episodes & now I have enough banked that you'll receive a few extra tricks & treats this month from Watch With Jen. Today, that means I'm introducing you to the delightful playwright & screenwriter Megan Mostyn-Brown (partner of another pal & recurring guest, Mr. Jordan Harper). Megan's bold, briskly paced debut coming-of-age horror novel "The Need" is now available in stores, & in this wide-ranging conversation, we covered screenwriting, the creative process, dealing with big personalities, childhood bullies, our mutual genetic diseases, & the films RUNNING ON EMPTY, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, & BONES AND ALL that inspired her book.
It's always a pleasure & honor to have one of our most knowledgeable & inventive guests, the great Karina Longworth, back on the podcast. The brains & voice behind her critically beloved film history podcast, You Must Remember This, Karina joined me to discuss the brand-new season of the long-running series called The Bisexuals. Covering not only her behind-the-scenes process and her recent studies in film restoration, but also several classic movie icons, in this engaging episode, we chat about Tallulah Bankhead in Alfred Hitchcock's LIFEBOAT, Montgomery Clift in William Wyler's THE HEIRESS, & Rock Hudson in Douglas Sirk's WRITTEN ON THE WIND. Listen to the Watch With Jen™ Podcast on RSS, Spotify, Google, Stitcher, Apple, Pandora, and More Donate to the Pod via Ko-fi & PayPal Shop Watch With Jen logo Merchandise in Logo Designer Kate Gabrielle's Threadless Shop Theme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive