This June, Establishing Shot will feature a miniseries we’re calling Here’s Looking at You, 2002 as we take a look back at films celebrating their 20th anniversary this year. Up first, we have Jesse Pasternack’s appreciation of a Steven Spielberg classic that deserves a reappraisal. It might seem strange to describe Catch Me If You… Read more »
Entries by Jesse Pasternack
How Dementia 13 (1963) Anticipated The Conversation (1974)
One of my favorite things to do as a cinema enthusiast is to watch how a director grows over time. I love seeing a director take situations they had mentioned or tentatively explored in earlier films and expand upon them in their later work. If you look closely, you can see them learning and taking… Read more »
The Brilliant Tonal Shifts of The Host
New Korean Cinema has many trademarks which I enjoy. Its films are full of great actors including but not limited to Song Kang-ho and Choi Min-sik. They are as entertaining as they are insightful about the world in which we live. But more than anything, what I love about New Korean Cinema (as well as… Read more »
The Cinematic Wonders of Close Encounters of the Third Kind
“What makes a man leave bed and board And turn his back on home? Ride away, ride away, ride away.” — Stan Jones, theme song from The Searchers “Face to face…with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby Steven Spielberg loves The Searchers (1956). He has repeatedly cited… Read more »
The Tragedy of Macbeth Breathes New Life into an Old Classic
I love watching different film adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays for the same reason that I love listening to different jazz musicians improvise off of old standards. The basic elements — whether it’s plot points or musical notes — may be the same, but the distinctive contributions of individual artists give it a particular character which… Read more »
The Enduring Mysteries of Possession (1981)
The first time I saw Possession (1981), I didn’t understand it. Part of that was due to the circumstances of my viewing. I had wanted to see this film for years due to its reputation as an unforgettable and strange film. I knew that Plan 9 Film Emporium, Bloomington’s wonderful video store, had a copy…. Read more »