The Canon: An Essential Movies Watchlist

Let's kick off season 4. ScreenAge Wasteland contributors Bob, Jacob, and RJ join Raf to preview the movies being discussed in season 4 of The Canon. Get the full schedule, including which episodes Bob, Jacob, RJ, and the rest of the SAW contributors will be appearing on. We'll see you next week for more essential movie talk.

In this very special episode of The Canon, Sailor Monsoon joins Raf to discuss 10 (actually 13) movies that Raf can't believe weren't voted into The Canon. Celebrated directors, incredible foreign films, modern classics, and the world's biggest movie star make up the list of the most egregious movies left out of The Canon listing. What movies did we miss? Which movies on our list don&#...

In this very special episode, ScreenAge Wasteland managing editor, Marmaduke “Duke” Karlston, joins Raf to answer the million dollar question of how the movies in The Canon made it into The Canon. Dukes goes through the birth of The Canon, the history and rules of voting for the selected movies, and Canon plans for the future. 

Inconceivable! Season 3 is finally coming to an end and it's going out as you wish. An all-star line up of SAW contributors join Raf to talk about Rob Reiner's magical 1987 film. The gang has fun storming the castle and recounting some of the best scenes and moments from a fan favorite film. We'll see you in a few weeks for Season 4! Read the full Canon entry on ScreenAge Wasteland: ht...

This one is for all of the cyberpunks and self proclaimed "weebs". Jacob and Sailor join Raf for a colorful discussion about arguably the most important anime movie ever made. It's one of Sailor's favorite movies and a movie that Jacob hadn't seen until last week, but both appreciate it's influence across pop culture. And yes, we do talk about the famous "Akira bike...

Charlie don't podcast! This episode smells like victory in the morning. The one and only John Cory Lechner (@Texner13) goes up the river with Raf to unpack the madness in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now . As our first war movie and only Vietnam War movie in The Canon, we bring all of the necessary big guns to discuss accordingly. Read the full Canon entry on ScreenAge Wasteland: http...

We finally did it! The ScreenAge Wasteland crew travels to a distant planet to chat about the 1968 sci-fi classic. Spoiler alert: Bob, Duke, Jacob, and Raf were actually on Earth the whole time, just like Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes . Is this movie a really good 2 hour long episode of The Twilight Zone ? Did it spawn the best reboot film series of the 21st Century? No matter what the ans...

Look at the big brains on this episode! David Cohan and David Wilson are back on the Canon to discuss Quentin Tarantino's classic crime film. David C. reveals a great Christopher Walken impression, David W. learns about LA geography, and Raf relives the glory days of the pre-streaming service internet. Read the full Canon entry on ScreenAge Wasteland: https://screenagewasteland.com/lets-talk-a...

Don't you...forget about us! Let's take a trip back to high school and reminisce about how awkward and confusing a time it was. A brain, a jock, a princess, a basket case, and a criminal changed our perception of high school stereotypes when they got together in John Hughes' classic, The Breakfast Club . SAW contributors RJ and Duke join Raf to talk about the Saturday detention that ch...

Welcome to The Canon, little tramp! We finally celebrate the genius of Charlie Chaplin with one of his best works.  The Gold Rush is a titan of the silent film era and still one of the crowning achievements of cinema. ScreenAge Wasteland's resident authority on all things silent film related, Sailor Monsoon, joins Raf to talk about some of Chaplin's most memorable set pieces and his place...

Good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight! Writer, producer, and sometimes actor Maura Mazurowski joins Raf in order to pose some really serious questions. Why wasn't Jim Carey nominated for an Oscar?  How much does The Truman Show have in common with  The Matrix ? What is Truman's relationship to cats? These questions and much, much more get answered in another exciting episode of The C...

This one is for all of the wiseguys! As far back as we can remember, we always wanted to be gangsters. We enshrine our first Martin Scorsese picture into the Canon this week. Gus Prum (@lilgustaffson on Twitter) joins Raf to talk about the 1990 mobster classic and do some unofficial promo-ing for the Criterion Collection. Gus also talks about his work in nature documentaries, growing up in the NYC...

Time to assemble! Director of C.A.N.O.N., Raf Stitt, has gathered the world's mightiest ScreenAgers for an epic episode about an epic movie. Bob, Duke, Jacob, and RJ join to discuss how Marvel's The Avengers changed the course of cinema, debate who the best Avenger is, and reminisce some major life events. It's a long one, but don't worry though, this episode doesn't have a pos...

Let's get some revenge! We welcome our first Korean film into the Canon. It's very fitting that it's Park Chan-wook's Oldboy , which introduced a lot of American audiences to Korean cinema as a whole, eating live octopus, and hammer hallway fights. Bob and Sailor join for a SPOILER filled discussion. Read the full Canon entry on ScreenAge Wasteland: https://screenagewasteland.com/l...

Stay gold, Screenagers! Raf is joined by Seth Vargas (@ohsethy on Twitter) of the Movie Friend podcast to discuss masculine bonds, rumbles, and found families. Seth and Raf also explore how The Outsiders may have kicked off the 80's teen wave, and the film's connection to world cinema. Read the full Canon entry on ScreenAge Wasteland: https://screenagewasteland.com/lets-talk-about-the-outs...

Happy Valentine's Day! This episode is for all of our number one fans out there. Just don't go all Annie Wilkes on us! Raf is joined by a murderer's row of SAW writers - Duke, Bob, Romona, and RJ - to talk about the classic Stephen King adaptation. Kathy Bates puts on an acting masterclass, Rob Reiner is the best director at adapting King's work to screen, and one of the most memor...

An alien invasion! But the aliens are friendly - what a relief. Pat Brennan (@Pattbb8 on Twitter) of The Commentary Podcast joins Raf to talk about Steven Spielberg's classic tale of communication, family, and spaceships. It might be Spielberg's most personal movie, but it's also the one where he convinced Francois Truffaut to play a scientist. Which means it's great for multiple r...

Let's go to toon town! Things get wacky in this episode. Raf is joined by RJ and Sailor to talk best toon deaths, dueling ducks, and the sex appeal of shirtless Bob Hoskins. Raf also reveals that he has the hots for Helen. Sailor debuts some spot on impressions. And RJ wonders if a discussion about a movie almost 40 years old needs a "SPOILER ALERT" warning. Read the full Canon entry...

Look! A murder mystery! ScreenAge Wasteland All-Stars Jacob Holmes, Romona Comet, and Bob Cram Jr. are back to chat about a Hitchcock classic. The crew breaks down the film's flaw production design, impeccable cinematography, and the funky little romance at the center of everything. Also, Raf, Romona, Bob, and Jacob become each other's accountability buddies for their 2024 New Year resolut...

The Canon! Now also available on YouTube (sort of)! However, you can check out Dhalgren's 'Dhalhouse' video essays on the ScreenAge Wasteland YouTube page (youtube.com/@ScreenAgeWasteland). You can also check out Dhalgren on this very episode of The Canon, where he joins Raf to talk about Andrei Tarkovsky's  Stalker . It's not every day that we get to talk about heady Soviet er...

This episode is crazy! We are back for Season 3 and kicking it off with a bang! Sailor Monsoon joins Raf to talk about one of the three movies to ever sweep the "big five" at the Oscars. It's also arguably the movie that made Jack Nicholson the megastar that he is today. Sailor explains why One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is such an important movie in his life. He also previews h...

Get busy living or get busy dying! Season 2 of The Canon ends with a bang. Brandon and Andrew of the Namely 90s Podcast (@Namely90s on Twitter and Instagram) join Raf to talk about an essentially 90s movie.  Shawshank Redemption  has everything you could want in a movie - quotable lines, memorable moments, and Morgan Freeman's velvety voiceover narration. Raf, Brandon, and Andrew take a trip d...

Beware of fauns! This episode features a deep dive of Guillermo del Toro's modern fantasy classic. Raf is joined by the writing/producing/directing creative team Armand Brescia and Sam Gilberg. Together, they discuss why Pan's Labyrinth still resonates so strongly, Sam and Armand's production company (New Angel Productions, and whether The Beatles are still considered cool. Read the fu...

Our very first silent movie! It's about damn time! Sailor Monsoon joins Raf to talk about DW Griffith's monumental masterpiece. Also in this episode: Raf suggests modern directors to make silent movies, Sailor butchers some German pronunciation, and we offer our first giveaway. Read the full Canon entry on ScreenAge Wasteland: https://screenagewasteland.com/lets-talk-about-intolerance-1916...

Come with us if you want to live!  The Terminator  is peak 80's action awesomeness. It's got time travel, a pet iguana, and a nightclub named Tech-Noir. Duke and Dhal join Raf in the latest installment of The Canon to discuss how a James Cameron fever dream ended up giving us one of the most iconic movies of all time. Read the full Canon entry on ScreenAge Wasteland: https://screenagewaste...