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In Episode 094 of Considering the Cinema, your hosts Jason Pyles (aka “Jay of the Dead”), filmmaker Mack Robins (aka “Mackula”), and Dave “Dr. Shock” Becker return for the 17th installment of The Weekly Watchlist! Mack kicks things off with American Movie (1999) and its infamous companion short, Coven (1997). Inspired by Mark Borchardt’s struggles to complete his film, Mack wrestles with whether the documentary is an inspiring celebration of artistic perseverance or a frightening warning about the hardships of independent filmmaking. His investigation also leads him into an existential crisis over whether a 36-minute production can officially count as a feature film. Dave brings two dramatically different selections: First, he strongly praises the intriguing, papal-election drama, Conclave (2024), and its powerhouse ensemble cast. Then he revisits National Lampoon’s European Vacation (1985) after nearly 40 years to determine whether the Griswolds’ overseas adventure deserves a critical pardon.

Finally, Jason gets personal while discussing his lifelong passion for songwriting and his efforts to resurrect the musician within him. This leads to reviews of two Elton John documentaries: Classic Albums: Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (2001) and Two Rooms: A Tribute to Elton John & Bernie Taupin (1991). Jay also celebrates Bernie Taupin’s extraordinary lyrics, reveals his favorite lesser-known Elton John songs, and names the song he would choose to cover. Naturally, the episode continues long after everybody supposedly wraps up, spiraling into hilarious conversations about Elvis Presley movies, Burt Reynolds’ romantic history, Barney the Dinosaur, irritating children’s videos, and a hypothetical cross-country movie road trip. Join us!

Note: This episode was recorded on Friday, January 24, 2025.

THE WEEKLY WATCHLIST is the type of episode where we simply talk about whatever we’ve been watching lately from our own, personal watchlists. Here’s how it works: Jay, Mack and Dave have zero “movie-watching homework.” We are completely free each week to watch whatever we want from any era, year, genre, country, etc! We can finally go through our own personal watchlists and catch up with the films we’ve been meaning to see. So, every week will be vastly different. Let us know what you think of this format.

Jay of the Dead also hosts a WEEKLY HORROR MOVIE PODCAST with Mister Watson at Horror Movie Weekly.com. And of course, every Horror fan should check out Jay of the Dead’s New Horror Movies, The Gold Standard of Horror Movie Podcasts.

Thanks for listening to Considering the Cinema Podcast and Considering Horror Cinema, The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of Movie Podcasting… Don’t forget: You can email Jay, Mack and even Dr. Shock at ConsideringTheCinema@gmail.com or post a comment in the show notes for this episode. Continue reading →