watch this.
by Romi Robinson
In this spinoff of Rock of Ages, Romi invites a few friends to watch movies with her and talk about stuff. It’s like Rifftrax but for theater/meme kids, and more prone to tangents than you might think. New episodes intermittently.Note: You'll need to find your own way to watch the movies we're watching. Synching instructions are within the episodes themselves.
Episodes
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BONUS: An Almost Christmas Story (David Lowery)
As soon as I heard that Watch This (and Rock of Ages) darling John C. Reilly would be appearing in a Christmas short on Disney+ I knew we had to do it as a bonus episode. It’s shorter than O Night Divine, and has a cool cast besides John - including Jim Gaffigan and Natasha Lyonne. This episode…
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65. Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig)
Originally recorded January 28, 2024. I planned to get this episode out shortly after it was recorded, but personal things got in the way and my interest in making new episodes dried up for most of the year. Nevertheless, I wanted to get it released before the upcoming Christmas episode (you’ll…
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64. It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra)
I’ve wanted to do this movie ever since I started Watch This two years ago, and now seems like a good time to finally bring it out. Chances are most of you are more familiar with the countless movies and TV shows that ripped off its plot. But this movie is worth watching not only to see the root…
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63. Free Birds (Jimmy Hayward)
Remember back in the Humans episode where I promised we’d do this episode next Thanksgiving? Well that time is now and we’re finally doing Free Birds! This movie took the Internet by storm around this time last year thanks to the efforts of the Schaffgang. And why wouldn’t it? It’s about going…
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62. The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (Des McAnuff)
Hokey smoke, it’s the second of two reunion episodes for the summer! If you’ve followed us closely enough you’ll remember this being my original birthday pick for this year, before a tragic event involving Schaffrillas Productions caused me to rethink doing the campy Y2K-era comedy. But with that...
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61. Teen Beach Movie (Jeffrey Hornaday)
We’re back for a few more episodes this year! And for this first reunion episode we’re cruisin’ for a bruisin’ with Teen Beach Movie, the infectious Disney Channel musical comedy about two surfers who end up inside another beach musical. Along the way, we catch you up on what we’ve been up to...
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60. The Fabelmans (Steven Spielberg)
This episode is dedicated with love to everyone who listened to us and supported us over the past year-and-a-half. Your support is legendary and we wish you all the best. As much as it pains me to say this, this will be the final Watch This for the time being, due to availability concerns and…
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ENCORE: The Mitchells Vs. The Machines (Michael Rianda)
Original episode airdate: January 30, 2022 Sorry for no new episode this week, but without revealing too much, Watch This is essentially running on fumes harder than it ever has before. As we prepare for a turnover in personnel, we're dialing it back to a happier time, where as many as four...
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59. Lake Michigan Monster (Ryland Brickson Cole Tews)
This episode is dedicated to the resilience of the Schaffgang (Schaffrillas Productions’ inner circle), and to the memories of Chris Schaffer and Patrick Phryllas, two of its founding members, whose humor and heart were instrumental in the development of the Schaffrillas brand. The entire gang…
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58. 20th Century Women (Mike Mills)
My second annual birthday episode has arrived, absurdly late due to circumstances beyond our control. But it’s here, and that’s all that matters. Furthermore, due to an unforeseen personal upheaval that affected all of us, I decided maybe we shouldn’t do Rocky and Bullwinkle (which was my…
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57. The Trotsky (Jacob Tierney)
This week we’re watching a gem of a movie starring Jay Baruchel as Leon Trotsky. Sort of. He’s playing a guy who believes that he’s the reincarnation of Leon Trotsky and seeks to replicate every facet of the socialist revolutionary’s life. He starts a revolution among his fellow students and…
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56. Top Gun (Tony Scott)
We’re heading to the Danger Zone with Top Gun, one of the most iconic movies of the 80s. It boasts a top-tier cast, a stellar soundtrack and some impressive effects for the era, not to mention a fairly recent sequel that pretty much everyone’s heard about by now. Let’s fly high with a Forced…
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55. Knives Out (Rian Johnson)
With its sequel now making waves on Netflix, we’re kicking off our 2023 lineup with Knives Out, the movie that made everyone forgive Rian Johnson for his polarizing Star Wars movie The Last Jedi. In fact, it was so successful that Netflix is making it into a trilogy, with the third Knives Out…
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BONUS: Sight and Sound 100 Greatest Films of All Time 2022
Once every 10 years, the British film magazine Sight and Sound puts out a ranking of the 100 greatest films of all time, as voted by over a thousand industry professionals. So we at Watch This thought it would be cool to discuss the movies that made the newest list (which came out in December)…
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BONUS: The 2022 Watch This Year-End Roundtable
And just like that, we’ve reached the end of another year of Watch This. Our 2022 has been much more eventful than our 2021, managing to last nearly the entire year. And you better believe that we’ll be discussing what we watched this year, plus some hopes for 2023 and beyond. Plus, you’ll get to...
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54. Miracle on 34th Street (George Seaton)
Apologies for not having this episode out actually on Christmas, but that’s what happens when unavailability gets in the way. Anyway, here’s the Grand Finale of our second Holiday Moviethon, and our 2022 lineup in general. It’s the inspirational story of a man who shows up in New York City…
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ENCORE: The Muppet Christmas Carol (Brian Henson)
The Miracle on 34th Street episode was gonna be out for this weekend, but last-minute availability problems prevented that from happening. Rest assured, the episode will be out sometime after Christmas, along with two special bonus mini-episodes (one of which is our second annual roundtable; the...
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53. Jingle All the Way (Brian Levant)
The third entry in our 2022 Holiday Moviethon is a brave tale of two fathers duking it out to find the same sought-after toy for their kids during the last-minute gift rush. In the 26 years since its release, it’s become highly prophetic in regards to Black Friday rushes and the like. But does…
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52. The Polar Express (Robert Zemeckis)
From the director of Roger Rabbit, Back to the Future, Forrest Gump and that terrible Pinnochio movie from earlier this year that doesn’t involve Pauly Shore, comes this delightful motion-capture fantasia about a train bound for the North Pole in a world where everyone has the face of Tom Hanks....
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51. Good Luck Charlie, It's Christmas! (Arlene Sanford)
This episode is dedicated to Bob McGrath, whose passing we learned of during recording shortly after it was announced, and Kirstie Alley, whose passing I was notified of during the editing phase. Our second annual Holiday Moviethon is officially underway, and we’re kicking it off with an...
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50. Walk Hard (Jake Kasdan)
This is a super special episode. Not only is it the last non-holiday Watch This of 2022, but it’s our 50th episode AND the one where we finally get a glimpse of the myth, the legend, Dewey Cox. Possibly the greatest biopic parody of all time (besides the recent Weird Al one on Roku), Walk Hard...
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49. The Humans (Stephen Karam)
With one episode to go until the big 5-0, and with Thanksgiving and all it entails on the horizon, we’re watching a movie about a family gathering for the holiday in a crappy, bare-bones NYC apartment. A bit like last year’s Thanksgiving selection (Pieces of April), but more dysfunctional and...
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48. Mamma Mia (Phyllida Lloyd)
For the third time now, we’re watching a movie based on a musical in tandem with Rock of Ages doing an episode covering said musical. And for the second of those three times, we’re doing it because Riley was in a local production of said musical. This time around, it’s a movie about doing ABBA...
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47. Wreck-It Ralph (Rich Moore)
This past week marked 10 years since the most slept-on modern movie in the Disney canon was first unleashed onto the world. Wreck-It Ralph has everything you could ever ask for in a Disney movie: funny moments, great characters/dynamics, an emotional core, cameos from video game characters, fun...
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46. Closet Monster (Stephen Dunn)
The finale of our 2022 Trilogy of Terror has arrived (a few days late), and it’s a bit more lax than one would expect from a Spooktober selection. While it does include body horror elements, it’s more of a coming-of-age fable about growing up gay and finding solace in fantasy, with a talking...
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ENCORE: Muppets Haunted Mansion (Kirk Thatcher)
Before anyone asks - yes, the Closet Monster episode hit a roadblock, which has sadly become all too common for Watch This these days. But I was already planning on uploading an encore airing of the Muppets Haunted Mansion episode from this time last year anyway, so to keep you busy until the...
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45. Nope (Jordan Peele)
Our 2022 Trilogy of Terror continues with the latest offering from another modern horror master: Jordan Peele. While not as steeped in existential dread as Hereditary, Nope is still a fun time that deserves all the attention it’s been getting. Come for the Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing…
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44. Hereditary (Ari Aster)
To kick off our first annual Trilogy of Terror, we unleash the wrath of Paimon through Ari Aster’s breakthrough Hereditary (also the first movie we've ever done that was released by A24 - wow!). Easily one of the best horror flicks of the past 20 years, it breaks the rules of the movies that came...
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43. Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise)
NOTE: At some point in this episode we briefly assured that Angela Lansbury was still alive - in a cruel case of bad timing we happened to record it the DAY before the news broke that she had died. Therefore, this episode is dedicated to her. Also sorry for the delay. Before we get into our...
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42. Grease (Randal Kleiser)
This episode is dedicated to the legendary Olivia Newton-John (1948-2022), whose talent and beauty made this movie even more of a classic than it was already destined to be. This episode is also dedicated to those affected by Hurricanes Fiona and Ian - please help them out if you can. This week...
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41. Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson)
We’re just over a year into the Watch This podcast and what better way to mark this than with our first foray into the world of Paul Thomas Anderson? This movie’s got it all: a lush period setting/look, snappy dialogue, a bangin’ soundtrack, a pair of talented newcomers for lead actors, an…
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BONUS: Anima (Paul Thomas Anderson)
Note: This was gonna be out on Monday, but I kept forgetting about it and ended up releasing it two days later. My apologies, but at least it gave me the opportunity to give a tip of the hat to Earth Wind and Fire and their epic ballad about the 21st night of September. As a prelude to our...
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40. Where the Wild Things Are (Spike Jonze)
What happens when you get the guy who directed Adaptation and Being John Malkovich to helm an adaptation of a beloved children's book? You get this bittersweet fable with a stacked cast and one of the most impressive fusions of full-body puppets and CGI ever crafted. Despite initial complaints…
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39. Morbius (Daniel Espinosa)
So it’s come to this. I didn’t even think we’d be doing Morbius this early in the game, but Nick picked it for his first birthday episode (a bit late). Anyway, four months of Morbius jokes and memes on Watch This (and even spilling into Rock of Ages) have led up to this moment of crazy Morbin’...
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38. In the Heights (Jon M. Chu)
In the Heights is the musical that propelled Lin-Manuel Miranda to the Broadway elites. Just over a decade later, it became this movie. It’s our last show before our first planned hiatus, and it’s a fitting temporary sendoff, filled with boos, Dall-e shenanigans, and all-around general…
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37. Jetsons: The Movie (William Hanna and Joseph Barbera)
A last-minute shake-up, and the fact that George Jetson was supposedly born at the end of July, brings us to the Jetsons’ first feature-length movie (and the only one that wasn’t a wrestling crossover). It’s an interesting little movie to be sure, but does it distract from the fact that the…
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36. The LEGO Movie (Phil Lord and Chris Miller)
Everything is Awesome! This week we’re watching The LEGO Movie, which has got to be one of the most potent combinations of visual creativity, hilarity and genuine heart in all of 21st century animation. It also set the stage for other stylized animated films like Into the Spider-Verse and The...
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35. Diary of a Wimpy Kid (Thor Freudenthal)
It’s Andrew’s first birthday episode and his gift to the Watch This crew is the first entry in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid film series. This slice of life middle school movie was mostly dismissed by critics but has gradually become a cult classic, fondly remembered by the Millennial and Gen Z crowds...
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34. Dheepan (Jacques Audiard)
Sorry for the delay… to paraphrase Gabe Newell, after several weeks in development, we hope this episode was worth the wait. This week we get acquainted with French auteur Jacques Audiard, one of the best and most eclectic filmmakers you’ve probably never heard of. He won the Palme D’or, the...
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BONUS: Fight For Your Right Revisited (Adam Yauch)
Note: Apologies for there not being a "real" episode this week, due to an unforeseen personal event (i.e. testing positive for COVID) and the absence of key WT personnel on the desired recording dates, our commentary for Dheepan has been delayed to sometime after next weekend (i.e. Monday or a…
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33. The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos)
After last week we can only go up, and we’re certainly doing that this week. The Favourite comes to us from acclaimed director Yorgos Lanthimos and features a trio of talented ladies - all of whom have won Oscars, one of which was for this very movie. It’s also a smartly-written and...
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32. Perfume (Michael Rymer)
We’re watching a movie that seems to emphasize quantity over quality, with a stacked cast muddling through an improvised script. But we’re more interested in the more important matters, such as facts about classical composers, the Important Videos playlist, and all things Jeff Goldblum. In other...
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31. The Goonies (Richard Donner)
Hey you guys! We’re dialing it back to the 80s this week with an iconic family adventure. The Goonies is an integral part of the “larger-than-life 80s stories involving kids/preteens” genre that also includes ET and The Neverending Story, and has some top notch talent in front of and behind the...
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30. Jupiter Ascending (The Wachowskis)
Riley got to pick this movie in honor of her (late) birthday, and boy is it a doozy. It comes to us from the Wachowskis, perhaps best known for creating The Matrix franchise, and features Mila Kunis saving the world from a guy who CREATES LIFE… and destroys it. It’s pretty weird, but it’s an...
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29. Megamind (Tom McGrath)
We’re watching an animated flick from Dreamworks about a supervillain’s existential crisis. It’s a lot better than it sounds. Anyway, Megamind rewrites the rules of the works that came before it - plus it has a top-notch voice cast and graced the world with several memes. So yeah, it’s great! And...
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28. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma)
This week we're watching Katie Mitchell’s favorite movie, Portrait of a Lady on Fire! It’s a very well-liked French lesbian period movie that won an award from Cannes and quickly became a favorite among film kids. But will we like it? What would it be like if it had a different director? Will we...
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27. Napoleon Dynamite (Jared Hess)
This week we’re watching the low-budget teen indie comedy that charmed the world in the halcyon days of 2004. It also happens to be set in that year, even though you wouldn’t be able to tell that since it looks stuck in the past. And yet we’ve got a lot to say about movies from the future,...
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26. Encanto (Byron Howard and Jared Bush)
Another universally beloved, award-winning modern animated classic from the last five years is in our sights as we watch the movie that gave us such hits as “Surface Pressure”, “Dos Oruguitas”, and of course “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”, which defied the odds and topped the Billboard Hot 100 for...
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25. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Bob Persichetti et. al)
It’s the SUPER SPECIAL Episode 25 and what better movie to mark the milestone with than Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse? It shook the animation world to its core, won dozens of awards, and proved that you shouldn’t judge a studio by the mediocre or outright terrible movies that make up its…
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BONUS: Spider-Ham: Caught in a Ham (Miguel Jiron)
Check out our brand new subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/WatchThisThePodcast/ The Spider-Verse episode is gonna wait a little while longer, but for now we’re looking at a tie-in short starring Spider-Ham, one of the alternate Spideys, in a Looney Tunes-esque adventure. It ain’t much, but it’ll...
About this show
In this spinoff of Rock of Ages, Romi invites a few friends to watch movies with her and talk about stuff. It’s like Rifftrax but for theater/meme kids, and more prone to tangents than you might think. New episodes intermittently.Note: You'll need to find your own way to watch the movies we're watching. Synching instructions are within the episodes themselves.
Hosted by
Romi Robinson