Never Mind Pop Film

Charlie (Joseph Cotten) is going back to California to spend some time with his family and to get away from it all. Charlie could only be described as the black sheep of the Newman family; he has a shady past, although no one can quite place their finger on it. Despite his eccentricities, the Newmans welcome him back with open arms, and are surprised with the expensive and lavish gifts that he bestows upon them all. They find it delightful, and odd, but don't give a second thought to it.
However, his niece (also named Charlie, played by Teresa Wright) notices that her uncle is acting strangely. If Charlie thought his behavior would discourage his niece, he thought wrong. Charlie (the niece) investigates an article in the library and puts together the horrible cache of secrets held by her uncle. If hiding a dark secret from her family isn't burdensome enough, some survey-takers ask a great deal of questions about the newcomer to town. These questions predominantly lean toward fi…

Before there was the movie based on the musical, there was the musical based on the movie. That first movie is The Producers. The film tells the story of failed broadway producer Max Bialistock (Zero Mostel), and a scheme hatched by fellow producer Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder). Their plan is to raise more money in investments than the show will earn, then abscond with the investment money. It's a stupid plan, but that doesn't stop Max and Leo from going through with it.
They set out to make the worst musical in Broadway history. With a Hitler-reverent script written by a former Nazi soldier, an overly flamboyant and inappropriate director, and a burnout lead actor aptly named LSD, they are sure that they've come up with a sure-fire flop.
The film is a product of its time. With its go-go dancing Swedish bombshell, hippie freakouts, and vaguely offensive portrayal of homosexuals, not to mention the muted colour palette, it's certainly a film from the late 1960s. However, the…

Unmistakably the best of the series. A progressive society where good and evil is presented in black and white. Star Wars was a breath of fresh air to moviegoers in the 70's where society was only shades of gray. Taxi Driver presented Travis Bickle as a hero, albeit a demented one. Here, Luke, Han and Leia are all entirely good heroes. So it came as a sucker punch that after the feel-good 'New Hope' its sequel was so dark.

Star Wars ended with so much going for the Rebel Alliance. Luke finished off the Death Star with relative ease, and seemingly the Empire was back on its heels. But alas, this was not the case. Vader now commands the Empire and will cease at nothing to destroy the Rebels. Things are not looking good for underdogs. Hoth, the current base of the Alliance is fending off one attack after another. After escaping certain death Luke and R2-D2 head to the Dagobah system to learn the teachings of Yoda.

The Empire Strikes Back presents the largest challenge for man…

A hitch-hiking intellectual treads through the desert, a hopeless waitress tends tables, and a gangster sits in a car deliberating whether or not he should head down to the border. Arthur (Leslie Howard) doesn't believe in the meaning of life anymore. After becoming a published writer everything has lost its value for him. Gabby has dreams of reuniting with her mother in France and escaping the dreary hell of fending off advances every day from schmoes in the Arizona desert. 
The two meet cute and Gabby thinks she may have found true love. The two share a love for poetry and the  Arthur has found a cause worth dying for. With his life insurance settlement he can make Gabby a more enlightened being. 
Duke Mantee is about to walk into their lives and potentially end all of their dreams. He has killed people before and he won't mind doing it again to save his skin, but he is not a monster. He knows to respect his elders and slaps Half-back around when he doesn't. Half-drunk …

Marshal Will Kane (Gary Cooper) just hung up the badge and the gun belt and got happily married to a beautiful bride (Grace Kelly) when their honeymoon plans get jolted with horrible news. Frank Miller, a madman criminal that Kane himself put behind bars, has been pardoned.
To make it even worse, Miller threatened to murder Kane for what he did and it seems that Miller is planning to follow through on that threat. All of Miller's old gang is waiting at the station for him to arrive on the noon train. The friends of Kane urge him to leave while he still has a chance, and Will and his wife get out of town before Will turns the wagon around. 

You can run away from the problem, however long you can stay in front of it, but you can't run away from your conscience.
The town however, as well as his newly-wed wife don't agree with Will. The town is too cowardly to act and ignored the marshal's appeals for help. His wife was going to board the same train that could bring Will'…

Two notable films have been made about the transition from silent film to talkies, Singin' in the Rain is the funniest (if not simply just because the other film is Sunset Boulevard) it is frequently referred to as the best musical of all-time and sits at number five on the AFI top one-hundred films lists.
Don Lockwood's motto is "Dignity, always dignity." Just don't ask the matinee idol about how he started in Hollywood and that motto will stand true. He along with his best pal/songman Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor) have hit it big and are enjoying their Hollywood lifestyles. Currently Don is linked to his frequent co-star Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) but in truth he can't stand her and she is too dumb to know the difference. 
Talkies are ushering in a new age of film and even people like aspiring actress Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) are starting to take notice. Don's latest picture The Duelling Cavalier is going to be transformed into a talkie, but yo…

Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) is a thousand things to a thousand different people. A gumshoe detective with a cold heart and devilish grin everything about the man oozes cool from his stylish suits to the dozens of smokes he puts back a day--he is the man who the term "Bogarted" was created after. To Miles Archer (Jerome Cowan) he is a partner in the private-detecting business, to Archer's wife he is a lover, to Det. Dundy (Barton MacLane) he is a lying pain in the ass and for Brigid O'Shaughnessy (Mary Astor) the only solution for her problem, of which she has several.
John Huston's first effort starts off simply enough: a woman strolls into Spade and Archer enlisting help to find her runaway sister, after Archer gets killed, things get messy. Brigid's actual motives are made clear and the object of her desire is The Maltese Falcon, the fabled treasure that men have been searching for for hundreds of years. Spade is under investigation for the deaths of Arche…

In a lot of ways Tod Browning was the first visionary for the horror genre. His film featured terrifying characters that were the best for their time, foreboding scores and unsettling mis en scene. Dracula was well-recieved when it came out, but when Freaks was initially released the studio cut a half an hour of the film and disowned the final product.
The cast was essentially made up of actual disfigured people and lends authenticity to the entire film. You would tend to think that as the film goes on the "freaks" are the members of the traveling show, but they are in fact the able-bodied Hercules and the fair Cleopatra.
Hans, the leader of the traveling show, is swept up by the beauty of Cleopatra. Freida, the woman who secretly loves Hans, pleads with Cleopatra not to keep toying with Hans, when she inadvertantly slips that Hans is due to inherit a great fortune. With this knowledge Cleopatra plans on marrying Hans and running away with Hercules, the strong-man of the ci…

Psycho has had a wide variety of influence on films, ranging from Pulp Fiction to The Usual Suspects. It is widely regarded as one of the best horror films of all-time.
Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) is fed up; she's taking $40,000 from her boss and running away to California to finally wed her financially-strappe beau Sam. It's a nerve-wracking trip and after spending a night in her car she pulls into the quaint Bates Motel. There she meets the timid Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) who, while well-meaning, is a little too curious for his own good.

Marion checks in and unpacks, all the while overhearing an argument taking place between Norman and his over-bearing mother. She lost her sanity Norman tells Marion, but when Marion suggests she stay in an institution Norman's easy-going nature disappears instantaneously. The shock of his outbursts wears off and Norman laments, "we all go a little mad sometimes" and Marion replies that "sometimes, just one time can be …

Federico Fellini in his previous efforts was known for his portrayals of post-war Italy and the plight of the downtrodden. With La Dolce Vita he took a turn with his career and made something just as revelatory about the world we live in.
La Dolce Vita features a journalist, Marcello Rubini (Marcello Mastroianni), who has no real solid footing on any place in life. He wants to be a serious intellectual like his friend Steiner, but instead spends his time with the other riff-raff paparazzo who just want a snap of the latest matinee idol. He pines after American actress/ sex symbol Sylvia (Anita Ekberg) picturing her to be his salvation - among many of the other women in his life. Like Tati’s film the protagonists see something in the blonde women they chase after but are forever out of reach.
Fellini’s primary tool of empathy is Marcello’s lack of direction in life. The audience can identify with it quite easily in today’s world and feel bonded to Marcello’s story because of it. Howev…

The name George Bailey has been and always will be synonymous with Jimmy Stewart. Despite the many roles Stewart has taken (Vertigo, Harvey, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Rear Window, etc.) the fact that he is most remembered as a small business owner down on his luck resonates with the underdog in all of us.

After giving everything to Bedford Falls George Bailey faces a calamity, his uncle has lost the $8,000 deposit for the bank. Now George has to recoup the money or go to jail. Facing suicide to save his family from grief George receives the help of a compassionate angel who shows him how much the world would miss George Bailey.
Frank Capra's most beloved film and the best Christmas movie around. It's a Wonderful Life endures as a beloved testament to everything Christmas embodies: family, friends and the joy of life.