Episodes

Feb. 2, 2024

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, The Swan, The Rat Catcher, & Pois…

Wes Anderson’s love for Roald Dahl’s storytelling pours out of the screen in his four short film adaptations of Dahl short stories that dropped on Netflix in 2023. This week, we discuss the unique pop-up book execution of And...

Listen to the Episode
Jan. 26, 2024

Trailer 2024

Thanks for checking out our show! Check out the links below to learn more about the show, leave feedback, and support the show. Don’t forget to hit that subscribe button! https://www.establishingshotpod.com/ Feedback: Email u...

Listen to the Episode
Dec. 15, 2023

Christmas Movie Draft Special (w/ Harrison Fredericks & Andrew Fossie…

MERRY CHRISTMAS! It’s the most wonderful time of the year for movies, and what better way to celebrate than with a movie draft. In this Christmas Movie Draft Special, we draft Christmas movies into seven different categories ...

Listen to the Episode
Dec. 1, 2023

Christopher Nolan: An Epilogue

Christopher Nolan’s career is a fairly unique! He has made some huge movies (in scale, budget, and box office revenue) that smuggle in his personal obsessions and interests in intriguing ways. Nolan has truly come to define b...

Listen to the Episode
Nov. 17, 2023

Tenet (w/ Andrew Fossier)

Tenet is, in many ways, the culmination of Nolan’s career up this point. It is a huge budget genre movie with a sci-fi twist, and really feels like something only he could pull off. With action sequences unlike anything else ...

Listen to the Episode
Nov. 10, 2023

Dunkirk (w/ Kara Smith)

Dunkirk is the culmination of so many techniques and filmmaking obsessions that Christopher Nolan had developed up to this point in his career. We discuss its unrelenting pace, the incredible work done to bring this film into...

Listen to the Episode
Nov. 3, 2023

Interstellar (w/ Sam Camp)

Interstellar manages to be Christopher Nolan’s most expansive film yet while simultaneously being his most sentimental. We discuss the incredible work done making this film as well as why this film feels like Nolan’s most emo...

Listen to the Episode
Oct. 27, 2023

The Dark Knight Rises (w/ Zachary Lee)

The Dark Knight Rises was an ambitious end to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. Its epic scale feels like the natural target of the trajectory that this trilogy and Nolan’s career overall had been taking. Our discussion spa...

Listen to the Episode
Oct. 20, 2023

Inception (w/ Elijah Davidson)

A BIG episode for a BIG movie! Christopher Nolan’s Inception feels like a lifetime achievement in many ways. Its inception as an idea goes back to his childhood, and here we see the culmination of his visual, conceptual, and ...

Listen to the Episode
Oct. 13, 2023

The Dark Knight (w/ Houston Dragna)

Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight is arguably his most notable film to date, changing not just superhero movies but the film industry in general. His grounded approach to the comic book world, Ledger’s iconic performance, a...

Listen to the Episode
Oct. 6, 2023

The Prestige (w/ Jacob Phillips)

In our discussion about Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige, we marvel at the cinematic sleight of hand that Nolan brings with his technical and plot precision. He stretches his budget to its extremes with an incredible cast, ph...

Listen to the Episode
Sept. 29, 2023

Batman Begins (w/ Drew Felts)

In our discussion about Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, we dig into what he brought to this beloved franchise that changed superhero films. Working with a huge budget and his detailed mind, Nolan reimagined the world of Ba...

Listen to the Episode
Sept. 22, 2023

Insomnia (w/ Dave Lester)

In our discussion about Christopher Nolan’s first studio feature, Insomnia, we examine why this feels like his forgotten film. Somehow with Insomnia’s studio budget, star-studded cast, adapted script, and its fairly standard ...

Listen to the Episode
Sept. 15, 2023

Memento (w/ Philip Marinello)

Our discussion of Christopher Nolan’s sophomore film, Memento, praises the unique experience that he brought us in his budding career. Memento’s backwards structure, iconic design, and great performances put Nolan on the map ...

Listen to the Episode
Sept. 8, 2023

Following (w/ Haydn Fabre)

This week we discuss Christopher Nolan’s debut feature film, Following. With virtually no budget and borrowed equipment, Nolan was able to make an interesting twist on noir that already displayed his personal flair. In our mo...

Listen to the Episode
Sept. 1, 2023

Christopher Nolan: An Overview (w/ Jean-Pierre Boudreaux)

This week we kick off our Christopher Nolan series by discussing his career as a whole. This episode will act as an establishing shot for the rest of the series, cluing us in to techniques and themes to look for as we watch t...

Listen to the Episode
Aug. 18, 2023

Watch Old Movies with Your Kids

This week, we have a bonus episode where I talk about watching old movies with your kids, recommending Ty Burr’s The Best Old Movies for Families, and my four year old gives his review of two recent watches: The Wizard of Oz ...

Listen to the Episode
Aug. 11, 2023

2023 Fall Movie Preview

This week I take a break between director series and talk about some recent releases that I have seen as well as look forward to some upcoming releases coming out this fall by the likes of Martin Scorsese, Denis Villenueve, S...

Listen to the Episode
Aug. 4, 2023

Wes Anderson: An Epilogue

This week I wrap up our series on Wes Anderson’s filmography with an epilogue episode. I talk through some of my major takeaways from Anderson’s filmography then share a takeaway from the endeavor of going through a director’...

Listen to the Episode
July 28, 2023

"Asteroid City" (w/ Ian Naude)

This week we discuss “Asteroid City”, Wes Anderson’s latest film. With a meta-textual, layered framing device, highly stylized desert set and just as dry characters, and Wes at the height of his powers, this discussion was bo...

Listen to the Episode
July 21, 2023

The French Dispatch (w/ Kara Smith)

This week we discuss The French Dispatch, Wes Anderson’s first work in an anthology format. This one is both an ode to French cinema and to The New Yorker, is charming in its own drab yet fanciful Anderson way, and is chock f...

Listen to the Episode
July 14, 2023

Isle of Dogs (w/ Chase Ables)

This week we discuss Isle of Dogs, Wes Anderson’s second venture into stop-motion animation. Full of beautiful sets, love for Japanese art, and of course dogs, this is a really enjoyable film to both watch and discuss. In our...

Listen to the Episode
July 7, 2023

Best Films of 2023 So Far

This week we take a break from our Wes Anderson series for a look at my favorite movies of 2023 so far. It is halfway through the year, and I wanted to share some of the best films I have seen from 2023. Spoiler: there is one...

Listen to the Episode
June 30, 2023

The Grand Budapest Hotel (w/ Jean-Pierre Boudreaux)

This week we discuss The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson’s most successful film to date. It doesn’t get much better than Ralph Fiennes concierge-ing his way into our hearts. In our movie news section, we discuss whether we...

Listen to the Episode