The Establishing Shot

Whether it is journalism, novels, songs, or even emails, there are a plethora of films that celebrate writers. With this movie draft, we aim to do the same thing! In this draft, we take our favorite “writers in movies”, using that category with creative freedom. This draft was originally done to go with a discussion of Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, but this release is in accordance with a discussion of Steven Spielberg’s The ...

When The Post was released in 2017, it was released into a political climate that was fraught with distrust and an anxiety about the loss of the freedom to seek the truth. Many wondered then if this based-on-a-true-story political thriller by Spielberg starring powerhouses Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks was just a product of the cultural atmosphere it was made in. Little did they know that 8 years later we might be worse off than ever....

This fall, there are a lot of interesting movies being released! But don’t fret! I go through the entire fall winter movie slate for you in this episode to clue you in on what to mark on your calendar. We have everything from new entries from great directors (Paul Thomas Anderson, Kogonada, Kelly Reichardt, Edgar Wright, Noah Baumbach, Richard Linklater, Yorgos Lanthimos, Luca Guadagnino, Chloe Zhao) to sequels and franchise entrie...

With fantastical giants, dreams you can catch and blow into the heads of sleeping children, and a child who is swept away in adventure beyond her imagination, The BFG is, in a way, Spielberg getting back to his roots. While there is plenty of charm in the imagining of this Roald Dahl adaptation and a ton of humanity in the Motion Capture (MoCap) performance of Mark Rylance, the story and characters built could have done with some m...

Cold War movies have been releasing since the end of WWII, and in this movie draft, we explore the plethora of options. There are spy movies, political thrillers, sci-fi metaphors, satires, sports movies, and so many more genres to choose from. We had a lot of fun discussing the nuances of these movies, what thematic aspects make them Cold War coded, and end up with a diverse spread of films. 

https://www.establishingshot...

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...