Current and aspiring writers of all backgrounds will love this episode, devoted to storytelling, humanism, empathy, and creativity. Horror author Laurel Hightower makes her Watch With Jen pod debut, exploring some of Disney's magic-minded movies of the past few decades, particularly ENCHANTED, ENCANTO, and WISH. A sprawling, soulful chat with a woman who instantly felt like an old friend, I can't recommend this conversation enough.

Bio: Laurel Hightower is a bourbon-loving, pitbull-snuggling native of Lexington, Kentucky. She is the Bram Stoker-nominated author of WHISPERS IN THE DARK, CROSSROADS, BELOW, EVERY WOMAN KNOWS THIS, SILENT KEY, SPIRIT COVEN, THE DAY OF THE DOOR, and THE LONG LOW WHISTLE, and has more than a dozen short fiction stories in print.

Originally Posted on Patreon (4/18/26) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/155953536

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Recently on the pod, I reunited with the gifted arts journalist Candice Frederick, one of my oldest friends from the early days of Film Twitter. Candice was one of the first guests I ever had on Watch With Jen, and we had a ball logging on to discuss some of the best and most under-discussed coming-of-age movies of the past 40+ years, including those we first saw as adults in our early 40s. While initially we were going to focus on RUNNING ON EMPTY, PARIAH, and JUNO, we wound up having a breezy, sunny, nostalgic, and introspective chat about a wide range of movies and cultural figures that defined our generation, including River Phoenix and John Hughes. It's ideal for Spring!

Bio: Candice Frederick is a talented culture journalist for hire. She was formerly the Senior Culture Reporter at HuffPost. Other bylines include The Daily Beast, Time, History.com, New York Times, Bloomberg, ELLE, Harper's Bazaar, and many others.

Originally Posted on Patreon (4/11/26) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/155361805

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In honor of that time I went on an Easter Egg Hunt as a toddler in 1984 and had no luck, I'm giving everyone this Easter egg of an episode a day early. Hope you and yours have a safe, happy, healthy, and lovely weekend full of good movies and great memories.

This week, I'm honored to bring back one of my oldest Film Twitter buddies, the great Brian Saur, who I've known and collaborated with on various projects for over sixteen years, from the blog Rupert Pupkin Speaks to DVD Netflix to pods. Gifting us with an inventive trio of forgotten film noir titles he discovered on his incredible Pure Cinema and Just the Discs podcasts, in this entertaining discussion, we cover THE POWER OF THE WHISTLER (1945), ROAD HOUSE (1948), and SHAKEDOWN (1950), and other unsung B-movie goodies you'll treasure as a cinephile.

Bio: Brian Saur is the co-host of the Pure Cinema Podcast, a long-running film podcast he hosts alongside Elric Kane. As the official podcast of the New Beverly Cinema, the show has spent the past nine years exploring cult and classic films, with a particular emphasis on uncovering hidden, off-the-beaten-path gems. Over the years, it has featured high-profile guests such as Quentin Tarantino, Sean Baker, Rian Johnson, Edgar Wright, Patton Oswalt, Larry Karaszewski, and Dan Waters. At its core, the podcast aims to recreate the experience of walking into a video store and getting personalized movie recommendations from the knowledgeable staff behind the counter. ‍ Listen to Pure Cinema anywhere you get podcasts.

Originally Posted on Patreon (4/4/26) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/154778751

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It's always such a joy when I can bring on a friend I know IRL who lives in my home state, so it is with great pleasure that I scheduled a Zoom hang with the critically acclaimed, wondrously creative, and darkly comedic journalist-turned-author Amina Akhtar. More of a breezy, nostalgic chat about life, Gen X, print journalism, and the '90s, than a traditional episode devoted to the movies, with the release of Devil Wears Prada 2 right around the corner, it was the perfect time to talk to Amina about the twenty years she spent working in the fashion magazine industry.

Accidentally stumbling into a full time position at Vogue after a month working as a fact checker, Amina was the assistant to Anna Wintour's second in command, and worked along with Lauren Weisberger, who no one in her office realized was secretly writing and getting ready to publish the thinly veiled satire of her work life with Wintour at Vogue in The Devil Wears Prada. Light-hearted, funny, and eye-opening, Amina shares her insights and memories, and we discuss how the film, starring Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, and Meryl Streep, reflected and differed from the real thing.

Bio: Amina Akhtar is a novelist and former fashion editor. Her satirical first novel, #FashionVictim, drew critical acclaim. Kismet, her second book, was set in the stunning and creepy world of wellness. Almost Surely Dead, Akhtar’s third novel, was published by Mindy Kaling’s imprint. Akhtar is currently working on her fourth novel.

Akhtar has worked at Vogue, Elle, the New York Times, and New York Magazine, where she was the founding editor of the women’s blog The Cut. She lives not too far from Sedona, Arizona.

Originally Posted (3/29/26) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/154266082

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Two of my favorite buddies, New York Times bestselling, award-winning KING OF ASHES author S.A. Cosby and WBUR and Spliced Personality film critic Sean Burns, return to the podcast to celebrate the career of the great character actor Delroy Lindo. Originally conceived at the end of last season before life and scheduling got in the way, with Lindo's recent Oscar nomination for SINNERS, this winter/spring was the perfect time to discuss one of our favorite scene-stealers of the last 35+ years on Watch With Jen.

Referencing everything, including our favorites like HEIST and GET SHORTY, in this episode, we took a closer look at MALCOLM X, THE CIDER HOUSE RULES, THE CORE, and A LIFE LESS ORDINARY to illustrate that he's always one of the most compelling parts of any movie, no matter how it turns out in the end. The result is a fun, thoughtful, and rollicking conversation.

Originally Posted on Patreon (3/22/26) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/153670188

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We're back with the first episode of our seventh season! CALIFORNIA BEAR author Duane Swierczynski returns to the podcast to discuss his brand new graphic novel DEAD FLOWERS for John and Sandy Carpenter's Storm King Comics, digs into the way that filmmaker and composer John Carpenter's work has inspired him, and introduces Jen to THE FOG, PRINCE OF DARKNESS, & IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS.

Originally Posted on Patreon (3/15/26) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/153124788

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Sharply intelligent, dazzlingly analytical, & a genuinely kind soul, my gifted friend, freelance writer and Letterboxd editor Mitchell Beaupre is one of my favorite guests for a reason. Returning to the pod for the first time in a year, this episode kicks off the start of a new Watch With Jen miniseries covering some of our favorite westerns of the twenty-first century. Beginning with 2020-2025, Mitchell and I take a deeper look at Kelly Reichardt's FIRST COW, Jane Campion's THE POWER OF THE DOG, & Kevin Costner's HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA - CHAPTER 1.

Note: Unless a wild burst of inspiration suddenly strikes, this will most likely be the pod's season finale for '25. Fear not, Watch With Jen: Season 7 will launch in the new year. Sending best wishes to you and yours for a safe, happy, healthy, and peaceful holiday season.

Originally Posted on Patreon (12/22/25) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/146466616

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Lina Chern, the Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning author of Play the Fool, is here this week to discuss psychics solving crime, predestination and tarot onscreen, and the beauty of free will on film in Minority Report, The Dead Zone, The Gift, and Three Colors: Red. Her delightful sequel to Fool, Tricks of Fortune, was released over the summer, and we did a full-length video interview about the book, her writing, and our taste in pop culture, which you can see on the Poisoned Pen Bookstore YouTube Channel.

Originally Posted on Patreon (12/20/25) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/145545464

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