We're Watching Here

After this, I promise I’m done talking Barbenheimer — at least until we get to the end of the year. But what can I say? It was a huge weekend. The rare post-pandemic box office weekend where the numbers are truly astounding and the films are beloved by both critics and audiences. So, of course, Perry and I are going to nitpick them to death. :-) We say several times that both Barbie and Oppenheime...

Originally for the latest episode of “We’re Watching Here,” Perry and I were going to talk about Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City. Unfortunately, I was unable to see it before our recording (it is available on PVOD, and I’m hoping to catch up with it soon). But Perry suggested maybe we talk about FX’s acclaimed dramedy The Bear , which recently finished its second season on Hulu. And I was delighted t...

Hi all, I’m going to keep the preamble short because there’s a lot of fun talk for you to listen to and I want you to have the time. As I explain in the episode, Perry and I had a bit of an unexpectedly long break from We’re Watching Here, mainly due to some crazy scheduling conflicts on my end. So, this episode is our first one since our Oscar episode in March, which is a bit crazy. Thankfully, I...

Our second "It’s My Favorite” episode is coming a tad later than we initially wanted, but I think it’s a fun conversation that goes longer than we anticipated. The fun thing about talking TV lately is that it’s as much about discovery as it is analysis. There’s so much TV that I’m constantly having new things recommended to me; it might take me forever to get around to it, but it’s fun to constant...

Hey everyone! We’ll have my typical weekly newsletter hitting in the next day or so (it’s been a busy week), but I wanted to make sure to get this latest episode of We’re Watching Here posted today while there’s still time to talk this week’s Oscars. It should be no surprise that I was very happy with the results of Sunday’s 95th Academy Awards. My favorite movie of the year, Everything Everywhere...

Today, I’m introducing a new feature to this newsletter. It’s a podcast we’re calling It’s My Favorite . I knew for awhile that I wanted to try incorporating a new podcast feature here. I spend most of my time telling you all about the movies and TV I love, and it’s great fun. But I thought it might be interesting to regularly chat with other people about the things they’re enjoying from month to...

Hey everyone! This week, we have a special treat: a week of two podcasts! There’s a new show I’m launching here on Friday that I’m really excited for you all to hear, and it was a ton of fun to put it together. Look for it to drop Friday morning! But first, Perry and I are back with a new We’re Watching Here, and I think it’s one of our best discussions of a recent movie. We both are long-time adm...

I’m getting this episode of WE’RE WATCHING HERE up just a bit late because of some computer editing issues. So, I apologize for the delay…we’ll have another episode in the coming weeks, as well as another podcast component to this newsletter that I’m really looking forward to. When Perry suggested doing an series on the films of Robert Altman, one of the movies I was most excited about finally get...

Real talk — when you have full-time jobs, young kids and several other responsibilities, time to record a podcast is at a premium. That’s why I’m so thankful whenever Perry and I can clear out some time to talk about movies. This was a big year for We’re Watching Here . We continued our Robert Altman miniseries and had our first live event, hosting Secret Cinema at the Maple Theater and introducin...

Hey all, This has been a busy week, capped off by several technical snafus when I was editing this podcast. So, I haven’t had time to write about all the things I’ve been seeing, which was my original plan for this week’s newsletter. And honestly, the things I saw this week (and there was A LOT) has been so good that I want to give it a little bit of time, because there’s a lot to talk about. I wa...

Way back when Perry and I started We’re Watching Here in early 2019, he mentioned one day wanting to do an episode where we discuss the British Film Institute’s Sight and Sound Top 100. For the uninitiated, Sight and Sound is a poll conducted by the BFI every 10 years, where they ask film critics and directors to vote on their 20 favorite films. Because the poll is conducted every year that ends i...

One of my favorite podcasts of this year was Downlow. D: The Rise and Fall of Harry Knowles and Ain’t It Cool News . This nine-part series chronicles the birth, dominance and downfall of the infamous film news and criticism website, and the allegations of sexual misconduct against its creator, Harry Knowles. I’ve spoken many times about the impact Ain’t It Cool News had on my life. It was the firs...

First, a quick Franchise Friday update. I was hoping to start back to that this week, but a few other things took precedent. Plus, as I looked at the schedule and planned out the rhythm for the series, I realized the timing wasn’t quite going to work with what I wanted to do next and still leave enough weeks to properly tackle what I have in mind for Halloween and Christmas. So, we’re going to pus...

Hey everyone! Ever since Perry and I started hosting We’re Watching Here in early 2019, I’ve wanted to host some sort of live event. Well, that time is here! If you live in the metro Detroit area (or are up for a drive), this Thursday, July 21 , at 7:30 p.m., Perry and I will co-host Secret Cinema at the Maple Theater in Bloomfield Hills. This is a fun event, where you’ll show up and won’t know wh...

When Perry suggested that our podcast do retrospective on Robert Altman, hitting not all the films but the most crucial ones, I was excited but also a bit leery. Excited because Altman was a giant blind spot for me. But leery because I knew so many of his films were hailed as bona fide American classics that it seemed daunting. But man, I’ve loved this miniseries (which is actually going to take u...

Hey everyone! Doing something a bit different today and bringing you an audio interview. I’m hoping to do these a bit more, as a way to keep the content here fresh and engaging. And if you don’t want to listen on a desktop, you can download the Substack app…or I’ll also put them up as episodes of We’re Watching Here . Today, I’m happy to bring you this interview with Cody Benjamin. Cody writes abo...

I’m so glad Perry had the idea for us to do a deep dive into the filmography of Robert Altman this year. Altman’s been a director who’s been a blind spot for me for decades, and I’ve been a bit intimidated to go back and sift through his work. Going through his movies with Perry has allowed us to take it film by film, talk through it, and wrestle with some of his work that isn’t always easily acce...

It’s a new year, and after a holiday break, Perry and I are back for more We’re Watching Here . We have some really fun stuff in store this year, and I want to make sure I highlight it wherever I can, so look for these special emails to hit whenever a new episode is released (we aim for a biweekly release, but our schedules sometimes mean we’re releasing when we can). We start off this year with a...

Hey everyone! We’re going to do something a little different for this week’s Saturday coffee. Instead of giving you some writing, I’m going to grace you with my nasally Midwestern voice and rambling opinions and showcase two podcast appearances I made this week (they were actually recorded back to back on Wednesday night, which I don’t know that I really recommend after a rough day at the office,...