Skip to main content
Establishing Shot Indiana University
Michaela Owens is thrilled to be the editor of Establishing Shot, in addition to being IU Cinema's Programming and Audience Development Manager. An IU graduate with a BA in Communication and Culture and an MA in Cinema and Media Studies, she never stops thinking about classic Hollywood, thanks to her mother’s introduction to it, and she likes to believe she is an expert on Esther Williams.

Entries by Michaela Owens

Kneecap (2024): Be the Bullet

Posted by

Three men pose on a stage

Still from Kneecap Michaela Owens sings the praises of the new, acclaimed quasi-biopic of the Irish hip-hop group Kneecap. It isn’t controversial to say that the musical biopic isn’t exactly the freshest genre out there. It’s easy enough to guess what the story beats will be, what songs will be highlighted, and what “fateful” moments… Read more »

Going for Broke with Grant and Gosling

Posted by

Ryan Gosling sits on a diving board above an empty pool

Ryan Gosling in The Nice Guys Michaela Owens compares the comedic stylings of Cary Grant and Ryan Gosling in two of their most outrageous performances. When Ryan Gosling was first cast in Barbie and tidbits about the movie were steadily released, there was doubt floating around on the internet of whether or not the “somber”… Read more »

Food for Thought: Audrey Hepburn in Charade

Posted by

Audrey Hepburn eats ice cream while walking by the Seine with Cary Grant

Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn in Charade While there is much to love about Stanley Donen’s romantic thriller, Michaela Owens tucks into one specific aspect that makes Audrey Hepburn’s character so entertaining. Reggie Lampert is terrified. Her husband, Charlie, has been murdered. A trio of dastardly men are after the $250,000 he stole from them,… Read more »

Cary Grant: More Than Just a Pretty Face

Posted by

Cary Grant crouching on a roof in the dark

Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief Michaela Owens defines what makes Hollywood icon Cary Grant such a fascinating and endlessly watchable star. Seeing Cary Grant’s face is a religious experience. With his impossibly deep tan, expressive chocolate-brown eyes, glistening black hair, and famously dimpled chin (who else can say they have an instantly recognizable… Read more »

Devil in a White Dress: The Femme Fatales of Double Indemnity and Body Heat

Posted by

A woman sits in a darkened room, smoking

Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity In this appreciation of the femme fatale, Michaela Owens looks at two of cinema’s coolest and most indelible, Phyllis Dietrichson and Matty Walker. In a blackened office, Fred MacMurray bitterly recounts his story of lust and crime into a Dictaphone as he slowly bleeds out, a consequence any man deserves… Read more »

James Cagney, Song-and-Dance Man

Posted by

James Cagney leaps in the air while dancing on a stage as George M. Cohan

James Cagney as George M. Cohan Michaela Owens explains why she appreciates James Cagney’s tour-de-force performance in Michael Curtiz’s tremendous musical biopic Yankee Doodle Dandy. It only takes a few seconds of a James Cagney performance to know that there hasn’t been and never will be another actor like him. With his rat-a-tat voice, jerky… Read more »

Skip to toolbar