The Establishing Shot

Bridge of Spies might be one of Spielberg’s most underrated films, and an argument could be made for it being his best of the 2010s. Being his 4th collaboration with Tom Hanks and his 1st with Mark Rylance, this film supports top notch acting and a superb script with precise and interesting editing. We talk about all of this and whether James B. Donovan ever got over that darned cold in this episode.

Presidents are portrayed in movies in so many different ways: fictional presidents, real presidents, real presidents in a fictional role, satirical presidents, and so many more. Our movie draft this week, in which we draft both real and fictional portrayals of US presidents covers these wide varieties as we discuss what we love most about some of the best film versions of our commander in chief. This draft was in honor of our discu...

What do you get when you have one of our all time great directors in Spielberg with one of our all time great actors in Daniel Day-Lewis playing one of our all time great US Presidents? You get one of our all time great president movies in Lincoln! We talk about the incredible performances, the masterful script from Tony Kushner, the subtle camera moves, the top notch production design, and much more in this great discussion of Lin...

Animals in movies are great! When a character gets to ride a cool animal in a movie…even better! This week, we are doing a draft of “ridden animals” in movies in honor of our discussion of Spielberg’s War Horse last week. Horses, mythical creatures, giant lizard things…who knows what we will pick?! Listen to find out if we picked your favorite ridden movie animals!

This time it’s Spielberg but with horses! War Horse has its problems, such as the question of who it’s for (kids or adults) or its prolonged runtime, but overall, its beautiful cinematography and composition along with its sentimentality that toes the line of sentimental schlock without ever crossing it make for an enjoyable and even hopeful movie. Adapted from Michael Morpurgo’s children’s novel of the same name, this movie has it...

WE MADE IT TO 100! It’s been a great journey to get here. I’ve learned a lot along the way and met some amazing people. To celebrate, I share some reflections, have listeners and past/future guests share their favorite films covered so far, and I share my top 10 films of 2025 so far. You don’t want to miss this special episode!

In stop-motion animation, Wes Anderson found the perfect medium for his controlled, detail filled style while still being tangible enough an animation style to surprise you with emotion. To celebrate his Fantastic Mr. Fox and Isle of Dogs, we did a stop-motion animation movie draft! We talk about everything from Henry Selick and Jack Skellington to Chicken Run and more. This is definitely an artform that deserves way more recogniti...

Tintin is a unique film in the Spielberg filmography as his only fully animated film. Because of this, this discussion is full of interesting topics like his forging into motion capture technology, the sense of playfulness felt in the film, and much more. I might even get into a bit of Movie-Dad talk with my guest Daniel Howat of Next Best Picture, talking about movies we have enjoyed showing our kids. This was a fun episode for a ...

Desert settings always make for a great cinematic experience! This was just as true for Nolan’s Oppenheimer even if the desert was being used for something highly problematic. In this episode, we take turns drafting our favorite movies with desert settings. They span a wide variety of genres from sci-fi to thriller to classic epics to animated musicals! And as it turns out, talking desert movies is not so dry after all.

With Oppenheimer turning into a cultural phenomenon (aka Barbenheimer) in the lead up to its release alongside Barbie and its subsequent financial success and critical acclaim, Christopher Nolan has emblazoned his name onto the list of historically important filmmakers. We talk about the significance of a 3 hour experimental biopic making summer blockbuster levels of money, the incredible artistry and storytelling on display, the N...

The 1990s and 2000s were some of Spielberg’s most successful decades! We see him come into his own as a director and mogul of the movie industry. He solidifies his legacy as a household name, and silences his harshest critics by showing his ability to make both popcorn blockbusters and “important” and artful films. This episode looks at takeaways from the middle career of Spielberg and then looks forward to the last stretch of his ...

There is nothing quite like a scene that happens underwater. One of my favorites comes from The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou when Steve and the rest of his crew have a transcendent moment encountering the infamous Jaguar Shark that ruined Steve’s life. In this episode we explore other such scenes with a draft of underwater scenes in movies. We took somewhat different approaches to this draft to very fun results!

Harrison Ford has been one of the most treasured American actors since his breakout role as Han Solo in Star Wars and was solidified as a film icon as Indiana Jones when Raiders of the Lost Ark released only a few years later. This week we talk about his Hollywood and acting personas, the ups and downs of his career (mostly ups even in his lesser films), and most importantly do a movie draft where we take our favorite performances ...

Nearly 20 years after Indiana Jones rode off into the sunset with his father, Spielberg returned to our favorite tomb-raiding professor of archaeology in his older years with Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. In the opinion of my guest and I, this film certainly has its flaws with some undercooked characters and questionable CGI but is largely undeservedly maligned for all the wrong reasons. We talk about the making of the film, its re...

Hostage and kidnapping stories actually have a rich history in film. From serious dramas, to edge-of-your-seat thrillers, to comedies, there was a lot of great cinema to choose from for this week’s movie draft. This draft follows up our discussion of Spielberg’s Munich, and it is fully of fun discussion of some of the most fun and/or thrilling hostage movies.

Munich is one of Spielberg’s least discussed movies and undeservedly so. It displays some of his best action set pieces, contains serious contemplative political and ethical questions, and has all of the iconic Spielbergian shots and framing. And that is not even to mention that its subject matter dealing with Israeli-Palestinian conflict is still just as relevant as ever. My guest and I marvel at what this movie accomplishes (cine...

As a belated companion to our Catch Me If You Can episode, we are doing a movie draft of Leonardo DiCaprio performances! Leo is arguably the biggest movie star of his era. Making the turn from young heartthrob to a medium for auteurs to explore conflicted characters through was impressive. And he has worked with nearly all of the great directors of a generation. An old friend and avid Leo fan joins me to talk about all this and mor...

With his adaptation of the sci-fi classic War of the Worlds, Spielberg continues his 2000s science fiction fun with yet another 9/11 coded film with a broken family and troubled father. Join me and the Nerds & Jesus podcast as we talk about these themes, the Tom Cruise factor, Dakota Fanning’s breakout child performance, the mix of practical and digital effects, and the blockbuster-ness of it all in this week’s episode. 

Have you ever thought of watching movies as a spiritual practice? Abby Olcese’s book Film for All Seasons: Experiencing the Church Year at the Movies explores this idea by taking the stories that inspired the church calendar and connecting those occasions with films that explore similar themes. In this interview, we talk about how Abby got her start in writing about film, the art of storytelling as it relates to human experience, a...