essay about loving movies

Essays About Movies: 7 Examples and 5 Writing Prompts

Check out our guide with essays about movies for budding videographers and artistic students. Learn from our helpful list of examples and prompts.

Watching movies is a part of almost everyone’s life. They entertain us, teach us lessons, and even help us socialize by giving us topics to talk about with others. As long as movies have been produced, everyone has patronized them.  Essays about movies  are a great way to learn all about the meaning behind the picture.

Cinema is an art form in itself. The lighting, camera work, and acting in the most widely acclaimed movies are worthy of praise. Furthermore, a movie can be used to send a message, often discussing issues in contemporary society. Movies are entertaining, but more importantly, they are works of art. If you’re interested in this topic, check out our round-up of screenwriters on Instagram .

5 Helpful Essay Examples 

1. the positive effects of movies on human behaviour by ajay rathod, 2. horror movies by emanuel briggs, 3. casablanca – the greatest hollywood movie ever (author unknown).

• 4.  Dune Review: An Old Story Reshaped For The New 2021 Audience by Oren Cohen

5. Blockbuster movies create booms for tourism — and headaches for locals by Shubhangi Goel

• 6. Moonage Daydream: “Who Is He? What Is He?” by Jonathan Romney
• 7. La Bamba: American Dreaming, Chicano Style by Yolanda Machado

1. My Favorite Movie

2. movies genres, 3. special effects in movies, 4. what do you look for in a movie, 5. the evolution of movies.

“​​Films encourage us to take action. Our favourite characters, superheroes, teach us life lessons. They give us ideas and inspiration to do everything for the better instead of just sitting around, waiting for things to go their way. Films about famous personalities are the perfect way to affect social behaviour positively. Films are a source of knowledge. They can help learn what’s in the trend, find out more about ancient times, or fill out some knowledge gaps.”

In this movie essay, Rathod gives readers three ways watching movies can positively affect us. Movie writers, producers, and directors use their platform to teach viewers life skills, the importance of education, and the contrast between good and evil. Watching movies can also help us improve critical thinking, according to Briggs. Not only do movies entertain us, but they also have many educational benefits. You might also be interested in these  essays about consumerism .

“Many people involving children and adults can effect with their sleeping disturbance and anxiety. Myths, non-realistic, fairy tales could respond differently with being in the real world. Horror movies bring a lot of excitement and entertainment among you and your family. Horror movies can cause physical behavior changes in a person by watching the films. The results of watching horror movies shows that is has really effect people whether you’re an adult, teens, and most likely happens during your childhood.”

In his essay, Briggs acknowledges why people enjoy horror movies so much but warns of their adverse effects on viewers. Most commonly, they cause viewers nightmares, which may cause anxiety and sleep disorders. He focuses on the films’ effects on children, whose more sensitive, less developed brains may respond with worse symptoms, including major trauma. The films can affect all people negatively, but children are the most affected.

“This was the message of Casablanca in late 1942. It was the ideal opportunity for America to utilize its muscles and enter the battle. America was to end up the hesitant gatekeeper of the entire world. The characters of Casablanca, similar to the youthful Americans of the 1960s who stick headed the challenge development, are ‘genuine Americans’ lost in a hostile region, battling to open up another reality.”

In this essay, the author discusses the 1942 film  Casablanca , which is said to be the greatest movie ever made, and explains why it has gotten this reputation. To an extent, the film’s storyline, acting, and even relatability (it was set during World War II) allowed it to shine from its release until the present. It invokes feelings of bravery, passion, and nostalgia, which is why many love the movie. You can also check out these  books about adaption . 

4.   Dune Review: An Old Story Reshaped For The New 2021 Audience by Oren Cohen

“Lady Jessica is a powerful woman in the original book, yet her interactions with Paul diminish her as he thinks of her as slow of thought. Something we don’t like to see in 2021 — and for a good reason. Every book is a product of its time, and every great storyteller knows how to adapt an old story to a new audience. I believe Villeneuve received a lot of hate from diehard Dune fans for making these changes, but I fully support him.”

Like the previous essay, Cohen reviews a film, in this case, Denis Villeneuve’s  Dune , released in 2021. He praises the film, writing about its accurate portrayal of the epic’s vast, dramatic scale, music, and, interestingly, its ability to portray the characters in a way more palatable to contemporary audiences while staying somewhat faithful to the author’s original vision. Cohen enjoyed the movie thoroughly, saying that the movie did the book justice. 

“Those travelers added around 630 million New Zealand dollars ($437 million) to the country’s economy in 2019 alone, the tourism authority told CNBC. A survey by the tourism board, however, showed that almost one in five Kiwis are worried that the country attracts too many tourists. Overcrowding at tourist spots, lack of infrastructure, road congestion and environmental damage are creating tension between locals and visitors, according to a 2019 report by Tourism New Zealand.”

The locations where successful movies are filmed often become tourist destinations for fans of those movies. Goel writes about how “film tourism” affects the residents of popular filming locations. The environment is sometimes damaged, and the locals are caught off guard. Though this is not always the case, film tourism is detrimental to the residents and ecosystem of these locations. You can also check out these  essays about The Great Gatsby .

6. Moonage Daydream:  “Who Is He? What Is He?” by Jonathan Romney

“Right from the start, Brett Morgen’s  Moonage Daydream  (2022) catches us off guard. It begins with an epigraph musing on Friedrich Nietzsche’s proclamation that “God is dead,” then takes us into deep space and onto the surface of the moon. It then unleashes an image storm of rockets, robots, and star-gazers, and rapid-fire fragments of early silent cinema, 1920s science fiction, fifties cartoons, and sixties and seventies newsreel footage, before lingering on a close-up of glittery varnish on fingernails.” 

Moonage Daydream  is a feature film containing never-before-seen footage of David Bowie. In this essay, Romney delves into the process behind creating the movie and how the footage was captured. It also looks at the director’s approach to creating a structured and cohesive film, which took over two years to plan. This essay looks at how Bowie’s essence was captured and preserved in this movie while displaying the intricacies of his mind.

7. La Bamba:  American Dreaming, Chicano Style by Yolanda Machado

“A traumatic memory, awash in hazy neutral tones, arising as a nightmare. Santo & Johnny’s mournful “Sleep Walk” playing. A sudden death, foreshadowing the passing of a star far too young. The opening sequence of Luis Valdez’s  La Bamba  (1987) feels like it could be from another film—what follows is largely a celebration of life and music.”

La Bamba  is a well-known movie about a teenage Mexican migrant who became a rock ‘n’ roll star. His rise to fame is filled with difficult social dynamics, and the star tragically dies in a plane crash at a young age. In this essay, Machado looks at how the tragic death of the star is presented to the viewer, foreshadowing the passing of the young star before flashing back to the beginning of the star’s career. Machado analyses the storyline and directing style, commenting on the detailed depiction of the young star’s life. It’s an in-depth essay that covers everything from plot to writing style to direction.

5 Prompts for Essays About Movies

Simple and straightforward, write about your favorite movie. Explain its premise, characters, and plot, and elaborate on some of the driving messages and themes behind the film. You should also explain why you enjoy the movie so much: what impact does it have on you? Finally, answer this question in your own words for an engaging piece of writing.

From horror to romance, movies can fall into many categories. Choose one of the main genres in cinema and discuss the characteristics of movies under that category. Explain prevalent themes, symbols, and motifs, and give examples of movies belonging to your chosen genre. For example, horror movies often have underlying themes such as mental health issues, trauma, and relationships falling apart. 

Without a doubt, special effects in movies have improved drastically. Both practical and computer-generated effects produce outstanding, detailed effects to depict situations most would consider unfathomable, such as the vast space battles of the  Star Wars  movies. Write about the development of special effects over the years, citing evidence to support your writing. Be sure to detail key highlights in the history of special effects. 

Movies are always made to be appreciated by viewers, but whether or not they enjoy them varies, depending on their preferences. In your essay, write about what you look for in a “good” movie in terms of plot, characters, dialogue, or anything else. You need not go too in-depth but explain your answers adequately. In your opinion, you can use your favorite movie as an example by writing about the key characteristics that make it a great movie.

From the silent black-and-white movies of the early 1900s to the vivid, high-definition movies of today, times have changed concerning movies. Write about how the film industry has improved over time. If this topic seems too broad, feel free to focus on one aspect, such as cinematography, themes, or acting.

For help with your essays, check out our round-up of the  best essay checkers .

If you’re looking for more ideas, check out our  essays about music topic guide !

Meet Rachael, the editor at Become a Writer Today. With years of experience in the field, she is passionate about language and dedicated to producing high-quality content that engages and informs readers. When she's not editing or writing, you can find her exploring the great outdoors, finding inspiration for her next project.

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Lisa Schwarzbaum's Entertainment Weekly farewell essay: Loving movies

Fourteen years after the fact, I still occasionally hear from readers angry that I didn’t like Fight Club . Four years later, I still occasionally receive messages from people upset that I liked The Twilight Saga: New Moon too much. Eight weeks since opening day, both lovers and haters of Les Misérables still have a thing or two they want to tell me about my review. I’ve spent 22 years at Entertainment Weekly, 19 of them as a critic—a glorious tenure that ends this week. And I’ve heard from hundreds of readers fired up about movies and passionate enough to respond to something I’ve written in the magazine’s pages or online.

Often the mail has been gratifying: I love that too! I hated that as much as you did! Sometimes the messages have been harsh: You suck! EW should get rid of Lisa! (Passing fun for the writer but crap for me, you-suck grams have become a depressingly regular aspect of anonymous, online comment-board culture.) The pissed-off wife of a wildly successful producer of high-octane action schlock once sent me a popcorn bucket filled with stones because…well, I’m not sure why, something about throwing stones at her husband’s work. Anyway, she wanted to remind me that, while her beloved’s pictures rake in billions, my stuff would be gone in 60 seconds. On the flip side, I once received an effing cool email from Josh Brolin telling me, and I quote, “ You can f—ing write! ” and promising to be in my movie. Not that I have any plans whatsoever to write a screenplay.

A writer always wants to feel she’s connecting with readers. And certainly, agreeing with me or disagreeing with me is a heartfelt form of engagement. But as I move away from regular criticism for EW (my plans include a book, an online project, speaking engagements about popular culture—oh, and a dog!), here’s a party favor I want to leave you with: What matters is not if we’re in sync about a particular movie but why .

My part of the conversation is to use my own experience, analytic ability, aesthetic understanding, points of reference, writing skills, and—lucky me!—EW platform to explain how I come to, say, adore the Lord of the Rings trilogy or despair of the hideous Saw sensibility. (I even explained carefully why I was giving away the ending of Pay It Forward —but some readers went into a hate-mail rage nonetheless. Seen it lately, by the way? I didn’t think so. It’s still hideous hooey.) Your mission is to read with an open mind, watch movies with an open mind, and use the places where we diverge as inspiration for an ongoing conversation about this ever-changing medium we love together.

Grades, stars, thumbs, and assorted icons are inevitably crude, if handy, quantifiers of quality—they’re shorthand, attention-getting invitations to the party. Once we’ve both shown up, though, let’s have a good time pondering both the complexities of Django Unchained and the simplicities of A Good Day to Die Hard . Because then we’ll never run out of things to say to one another.

So keep exploring. Keep responding. And just so you know: The experience of talking with you for two decades has been A+ .

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The 50 Greatest Romantic Movies of All Time

It’s the closest thing there is to a universal genre. That’s because, with rare exceptions, everyone falls in love, or at least wants to. And when you think about it, almost every movie is a love story. Thrillers, comedies, sci-fi — no matter what the form, the spectacle of two people falling in love in the middle of it has always been what makes the world of movies go round. That’s why choosing the greatest movie love stories presents a special challenge. Because really, what isn’t a contender? In a way, though, we kept our criteria simple. We were looking for grand passion, for chemistry and heat and all that good stuff. Yet there’s an ineffable quality that elevates a truly great movie romance. Let’s call it the Swoon Factor. It’s about the swoon that happens onscreen; it’s about the swoon that happens between the audience and the screen. What follows are the 50 films that, more than any others, got our hearts racing.     

Dirty Dancing (1987)

Set in 1963 but oh-so-’80s in its idea of hairstyles and heartthrobs, this sexy summer-camp romance defied its critics to become a classic. Nicknaming Jennifer Grey’s character “Baby” went a long way to illustrate what’s really going on here: The teenage daughter of conservative Jewish parents is forever being infantilized by her folks, until she meets a slightly older — but undeniably adult — dance teacher (Patrick Swayze) who shows her the time of her life. Corrupted by rock ’n’ roll, Baby grows up fast, getting over her initial shyness (“I carried a watermelon”) while rehearsing with her seductive instructor, who practices a racy new style of close-contact, ultra-suggestive moves that can only be read as carnal. Like “Rebel Without a Cause” and “Grease” before it, the movie plays on the fantasy of an off-limits attraction between Baby and the bad boy. — Peter Debruge

Trouble in Paradise (1932)

In this gold-standard screwball caper comedy, a gentleman thief, a lady pickpocket and a Parisian heiress form an elegant triangle, the preferred shape of Ernst Lubitsch — that sublime architect of romantic instability — who loved to test how seemingly solid couples might respond to a good romantic upset. Here, the temptation isn’t merely sentimental, as there’s a potential fortune on the line. What’s more, Gaston Monescu (Herbert Marshall) and Lily (Miriam Hopkins) make clear from the moment they meet that each is perfectly capable of robbing the other blind. She boosts his wallet, he knicks her garter (we needn’t see the deed to be scandalized). The movie came out before the Production Code, and it sparkles with the kind of naughty innuendo that was soon prohibited in Hollywood, but which Lubitsch was sophisticated enough to suggest even behind closed doors. — PD

Splash (1984)

A man falls in love with a mermaid: What could be simpler, or sweeter, than that? Yet Tom Hanks, in the movie that made him a movie star, does not go lightly into his communion with a woman who’s half-fish. Ron Howard’s landmark comedy was one of the first films to demonstrate that a high-concept premise could be executed in a way that was artful and classic: a throwback to the Hollywood that used fantasy to put us in touch with reality. Daryl Hannah, as Madison the red-tailed mermaid, acts with a dazed curiosity and eagerness that’s irresistible, and Hanks turns his disgruntlement into a profound expression of love’s challenge – namely, that we can’t choose who we love, but we can choose to embrace the love that chose us. — Owen Gleiberman

The Bridges of Madison County (1995)

Amid a career of macho performances, Clint Eastwood tapped into his sensitive side to deliver one of his most indelible characters in Robert Kincaid, a National Geographic photographer on assignment in Iowa, who stops by a farmhouse to ask for directions. He’s greeted by Francesca, a lonely war bride who offers to show him around (an Italian-accented Meryl Streep, who says so much in her silent gestures, like the way she absentmindedly touches herself in the places she wants to be caressed). It’s no big surprise that this dissatisfied housewife develops feelings for this stranger. More touching is Kincaid’s admission that he’s fallen for Francesca, too, but knows she has no intention of leaving her family. Still, that doesn’t stop him from trying. “This kind of certainty comes but just once in a lifetime,” he tells her. The sight of Kincaid looking desperate in the rain, the downpour likely masking tears, is so radically counter-Eastwood, you’ve gotta believe it. — PD

The Notebook (2004)

In the two decades since “The Notebook,” Ryan Gosling has cultivated his image as a chiseled heartthrob to such a degree that he seemed the perfect choice to play a live-action Ken doll in the “Barbie” movie. But back when director Nick Cassavetes was casting the role of Noah Calhoun, he saw the actor (and former Mouseketeer) differently — as someone both relatable and reckless enough to chase his dream girl (Rachel McAdams’ Allie) up a Ferris wheel. No matter what Allie does, he keeps on loving her in the best possible version Hollywood can make of a Nicholas Sparks novel. The secret formula here comes in catching up with Noah and Allie half a century later, as played by screen legends James Garner and Gena Rowlands, coupled with the tear-jerky reason we’ve been reliving all their most romantic memories. — PD

All That Heaven Allows (1955)

The colors gush in Douglas Sirk’s lush 1950s melodrama, about a New England widow, Cary (Jane Wyman), who falls for the studly but respectful hunk (Rock Hudson) who tends the trees at her house. It may be love, but her two grown children — and nearly the entire community — are disapproving of Cary’s feelings, pressuring her to break off the relationship. Seen today, neither the age difference nor the class divide seem like deal-breakers, which makes Cary’s sacrifice seem all the more futile. (Years later, Todd Haynes updated the dynamic with a Black gardener and a still-living gay husband in “Far from Heaven.”) During the 1950s, Hudson carved out a niche as a sensitive leading man, to the point that he’s almost pathetic here (consider the state of him in the final scene). Others may try to meddle, but in the end, it’s her decision alone whom she loves. — PD

The Sound of Music (1965)

You might ask: How romantic could a musical this notoriously G-rated and squeaky-clean really be? But if “The Sound of Music” has incandescent songs, as well as a singular true-life story about the Von Trapp Family Singers (seven motherless Austrian children returned to vitality through the life force of Julie Andrews’ nun-turned-governess Maria), the movie’s secret weapon is its love story. Andrews, while she’s certainly playing the soul of goodness, invests her slow-blooming affection for Christopher Plummer’s Capt. Von Trapp with an almost forbidden sense of broken decorum. And Plummer, who looks like he belongs in a far darker movie, plays the captain as a lost man literally coming back to existence. When these two dance and realize, at the very same moment, that they’ve fallen in love, it’s one of the most electrifying scenes in movie history. — OG

Once (2007)

It’s not unusual to see a musical scale the heights of romantic passion. What’s different about John Carney’s film is that it’s a small-scale, non-stylized, kitchen-sink indie drama, yet in its lo-fi and platonic way it uses songs to create the majesty and devotion of a musical daydream. On the sidewalks of Dublin, a 30ish busker (Glenn Hansard) strums a guitar with a worn-out hole where the pick board should be. Most folks pass him by, but a girl (Markéte Irglová) lingers. They’re drawn into each other’s orbit, and though we never learn their names, a romance — or is it? — begins to play out in the songs they sing together. They both have other relationships, yet ”Once” tells the delicate tale of how, through song, these two save each other. As they give themselves over to numbers like “When Your Mind’s Made Up,” the movie swoons, and you will too. — OG

Pretty Woman (1990)

Some think of it as the ultimate guilty-pleasure rom-com. Others say that its story of a wealthy businessman (Richard Gere) who hires an escort (Julia Roberts) for a week to be his public romantic partner represents Hollywood at it most reprehensibly sexist. The truth, however, falls right in between. “Pretty Woman” only got tagged with the guilty-pleasure label because it came out at the dawn of the modern rom-com era (it sparkles like Tracy and Hepburn next to a lot of the films that came afterward). And as far as morality goes, it’s not the movie that’s sexist. It’s the world of high-gloss commodification that Vivian, played by Roberts not just with the boldest smile of her era but with the vivacity that turned her into a singular movie star, must navigate. Look closely at the dance of chemistry and arbitration between Roberts and Gere, and you’ll see that “Pretty Woman,” in its slickly-packaged-by-director-Garry Marshall way, is nothing less than a screwball celebration of the politics of love. — OG

Mississippi Masala (1991)

Mira Nair took a pioneering risk in depicting the romance between Demetrius (Denzel Washington), a blue-collar Black carpet cleaner, and Mina (Sarita Choudhury), a young Indian woman whose family fled Uganda to the American South. Set in Greenwood, Miss., where locals helped the creative team finesse the authenticity of the movie’s dialogue and detail, Nair’s contemporary interracial romance confronts the pushback of both the African American and South Asian communities to Demetrius and Mina’s relationship. But unlike Sidney Poitier social drama “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” her parents’ reaction makes up just a fraction of the script, which gives complex backstories to each side of the couple. It’s also incredibly sexy, whether they’re chatting by phone in separate beds or sharing the same one in the movie’s scorching love scene. The movie argues for colorblindness while celebrating both cultures, modeling a relationship never before seen on screen. — PD

Say Anything (1989)

“Optimism is a revolutionary act,” writer-director Cameron Crowe quips in the commentary for his late-’80s teenage touchstone. That kind of radical confidence drives high school senior Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack), who musters the nerve to ask out valedictorian Diane Court (Ione Skye), even though all his peers think she’s out of his league. At first, Lloyd may seem like a nobody when compared to his most-likely-to-succeed sweetheart, but over time, he proves to be loyal, decent and unflappably sincere — qualities that made him the model boyfriend for kids of the ’80s. The clincher: Even when dumped, he shows up with a boombox, blasting Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” outside her window. The gesture became an iconic declaration of love for a generation … and still holds up, even if the technology is obsolete. — PD

The Way We Were (1973)

Today, it would probably be a rom-com about opposites attracting: Katie (Barbra Streisand), a wisecracking Marxist Jewish political activist, and Hubbell (Robert Redford), a debonair WASP writer born with the entitlement not to have to worry about “causes.” But 50 years ago, when the story was filmed by director Sydney Pollack not as a comedy but as a romantic drama of tumultuous love-hate passion, the film, in its high-end soap-opera way, seemed to be expressing something new in the culture — the way that love, after the 1960s, was no longer going to be asking people to stay in their ethnic lanes. “The Way We Were” is a hefty slice of middlebrow Hollywood corn, yet the irresistible tug of it is that Streisand and Redford embody their characters on a level of romantic mythology. And let’s not forget the power of that title song! As sung by Streisand, it’s the incarnation of nostalgic beauty. — OG

Carol (2015)

Movies that involve romantic stories of same-sex couples are inevitably placed in a category called “gay” or “queer” or whatever, often by their biggest fans. Yet if you think about it for five seconds, that’s a retrograde way of putting movies into boxes. The director Todd Haynes has made several masterpieces (“Far From Heaven,” “Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story”), but he has never made a drama more darkly romantic and enticing, more seductive in its suspense, more mired in the agonizing compulsion of love than this lavishly mesmerizing adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s 1952 novel “The Price of Salt.” During the Christmas shopping season, Therese (Rooney Mara), a New York department-store clerk, meets Carol, a woman of the world played by Cate Blanchett with a femme fatale swagger just this side of threatening. Their relationship will be fraught with the drama of divorce, blackmail, a private detective, and other elements that, as staged by Haynes, acquire the heightened quality of a vintage film noir. The final scene, set in the bar of the Oak Room, features one of the most transporting locked-gazes-across-a-crowded-room moments you’ll ever see. — OG

The Bodyguard (1992)

Is there anything more romantic than someone jumping in front of a bullet for you? Technically, that’s Frank Farmer’s job, but by the time Kevin Costner’s clean-cut, ex-Secret Service agent leaps in to protect endangered diva Rachel Marron (Whitney Houston) — on Oscar night, no less — we know he’s acting out of love more than duty. Frank sweeps both audiences and Rachel off their feet much earlier in the film, during a concert meltdown where he lifts her up and carries her through the mob — a chivalrous image immortalized on the film’s poster. Amazingly enough, “The Bodyguard” never made a big deal of its interracial romance, and that itself was a big deal. Powered by one of the all-time great soundtracks, the pop blockbuster is a classy entry in the oft-smarmy category of R-rated ’90s thrillers. Recent talks of a remake raise the question of which couple could out-sizzle Costner and Houston. — PD

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)

Marriage, they say, has its ups and downs. But it’s doubtful that any movie has ever dramatized the ebb and flow of feeling in a relationship with the primal power of F.W. Murnau’s silent classic. In outline, it could almost be a murderous film noir: A man — known only as The Man (George O’Brien), and haunted by better times with his wife, known only as The Wife (Janet Gaynor) — leaves the farmhouse where they live with their child to be with a woman from the city (Margaret Livingston). She wants him to drown The Wife, and part of the film’s shock is that he nearly does. But “Sunrise” proceeds as a series of shocks, which have the effect of jolting love back to life. Shot as a kind of sensuous living daydream, it is the cinema’s most profound and stirring roller-coaster of passion, an affirmation of what it means for two people to be meant for each other. — OG

The Princess Bride (1987)

Presented as a beloved fairy tale passed down between generations, screenwriter William Goldman’s tongue-in-cheek riff on classic adventure tales takes the best parts of nearly a century of cinematic love stories and remixes them for the home-video set (the goal was to get through to media-savvy audiences who thought they’d seen it all). Starting with two impossibly beautiful leads in Cary Elwes and Robin Wright, he builds a legend of swashbuckling pirates, dangerous rescues and well-earned revenge, describing it all (via kindly narrator Peter Falk) as the ultimate example of the form. That’s an impossible tall order — a genre-straddling smorgasbord the studio didn’t know how to market at the time — which director Rob Reiner miraculously achieves by enlisting an astonishing ensemble. Everyone from Billy Crystal to Christopher Guest, Wallace Shawn to Andre the Giant assemble to support the sacrifice Westley makes to save his beloved Buttercup from marrying the wrong guy. — PD

Past Lives (2023)

Two men and a woman sit at a bar, and before the audience knows anything about them, we try to figure out what their relationship is. Who belongs with whom? That we can’t entirely tell is key to what makes Celine Song’s remarkable drama such a haunting fable of love’s enigma. It turns out that Nora (Greta Lee), a New Yorker born and raised until the age of 12 in South Korea, is married to Arthur (John Magaro), a mouthy homegrown American she met at a writers’ retreat. The other man, Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), is the childhood friend Nora has maintained ties with; he’s at once her past, the spirit of her homeland, and maybe her romantic partner in another avenue of existence. “Past Lives” is a movie that will strike chords of recognition in any true romantic, as it’s about the secret journey that love takes: a communion that may occur in this life, or that may just be waiting for the next one. — OG

Beauty and the Beast (1946)

It’s one of the most poetic distillations of romantic desire in all of movies; you could also call it the “Splash” of its day. Jean Marais plays the Beast, who in Jean Cocteau’s film is a kind of delicate aristocrat with the face of a courtly lion. Josette Day is Belle, who ends up imprisoned in the Beast’s castle to work off a debt accrued by her father. What follows is an intricate fairy tale of deception and magic, built around the luminous ingenuity of Cocteau’s visual effects. Yet the most magical thing about it is the bond that develops between Belle and her disarmingly chivalrous captor/lover, a character so touching in his passion that when Greta Garbo saw the movie, it’s reported that she reacted to his death at the end by crying out, “Give me back my Beast!” — OG

Love & Basketball (2000)

The title of this Y2K sports classic references two very different games, and the rules aren’t fair in either one. After discovering that they both love basketball, Monica cockily challenges childhood friend Quincy to a match (later, famously, she’ll play for his heart). Monica wins that first bout, but he winds up injuring her — an early sign that the dynamic is different when two sexes occupy the court at the same time. That gap widens as they grow up (into Omar Epps and Sanaa Lathan). He finds it relatively easy to follow in the footsteps of his NBA-pro dad, whereas there’s no equivalent path for female players. Writer-director Gina Prince-Bythewood empathizes with Monica, who watches fame go to her old friend’s head. Per the formula, audiences are conditioned to root for the romance to work out, but basketball occupies a bigger part of Monica’s heart, and the movie finds the perfect solution. — PD

Call Me by Your Name (2017)

Italian director Luca Guadagnino (“I Am Love”) turned André Aciman’s ecstatic, wildly overwritten novel of a formative first love between teenage Elio (Timothée Chalamet) and his father’s slightly older — but still relatively inexperienced — teaching assistant, Oliver (Armie Hammer), into a sensual summer dream. There’s an intensity to the sights, sensations and emotions that imprints itself on audiences, such that Elio’s memories become our own. One needn’t be gay to recognize the significance that such an all-consuming early infatuation can leave on a young person’s romantic identity, though the movie offers a welcome message to all who’ve struggled to come to terms with their own sexuality in the eloquent heart-to-heart between the boy and his surprisingly understanding dad: “How you live your life is your business. Just remember, our hearts and our bodies are given to us only once,” he says. “Don’t kill it and with it the joy you’ve felt.” — PD

Vertigo (1958)

For a director who was known as the thrillingly precise and methodical Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock was not shy about portraying romantic rapture. A number of his films (“To Catch a Thief,” “Notorious,” “Rear Window”) are entrancing love stories, but in “Vertigo” he dove deep into an almost private zone of love-as-fetishistic-obsession. James Stewart’s middle-aged detective falls for the woman he’s hired to follow — played, with a depressive carnality, by Kim Novak, who also plays the woman’s shop-girl look-alike, who Stewart then feels compelled to transform into the first woman. No classic Hollywood movie balances love on the precipice of kink and danger the way this one does, which is why “Vertigo” opened the door to everything from “Blue Velvet” to the career of Brian De Palma. — OG

La La Land (2016)

Damien Chazelle’s glorious, heartrending, bittersweet musical does an extraordinary job of retro-fitting the song-and-dance pleasures of vintage Hollywood into the sunlit freeway landscape of contemporary Los Angeles. Yet the film’s most radical feature is the way it brings Mia (Emma Stone), an aspiring actress, together with Seb (Ryan Gosling), a jazz pianist drowning in his own purity, and celebrates their union with intoxicating affection — only to show you how their love crashes on the shores of warring egos. What lifts “La La Land” into the realm of transcendently moving love stories is that it presents a happy ending that almost happened, and that could have happened if only life had turned out a bit different. — OG

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Dramatically speaking, the most exciting part of a relationship occurs either during the time a couple is falling in love or else at the moment it’s falling apart. Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman incorporates both aspects — albeit as endangered flashbacks — while exploring a fantasy that anyone who’s been through the emotional wringer of a relationship can identify with: What if you could erase all traces of an ex from your memory? Director Michel Gondry proved the perfect partner to visualize the sketchy sci-fi apparatus that makes a brain scrub possible for Joel (Jim Carrey), who realizes halfway through that, however painful, he can’t live without any trace of his soulmate, Clementine (Kate Winslet), the manic free spirit with the Kool-Aid-colored hair. As Joel tries to hold on to the good times while his mind’s being wiped, Kaufman allows audiences to absorb their best memories and make them our own. — PD

Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

Hugh Grant stammered his way into our hearts, fumbling and fluttering his eyelids the whole way, in a delightfully English rom-com from screenwriter Richard Curtis (who juggled no fewer than eight couples in his 2003 directorial debut “Love Actually”). This more streamlined love story starts where practically every Jane Austen story ends: at the altar. Grant’s not the one getting hitched at those opening nuptials, though he does fall hard for an American guest played by Andie MacDowell. Their courtship is unconventional (it amounts to shagging anytime their friends tie the knot), but the chemistry is undeniable. When it’s time for Charles and Carrie to get married, however, each of them says their vows with someone else. So how do they wind up together? It’s the little surprises that delight. — PD

Out of Sight (1998)

In terms of sheer sex appeal, it’s hard to top the chemistry between George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez, who play an incorrigible bank robber and the U.S Marshall tasked with apprehending him in Steven Soderbergh’s sultry, time-skipping Elmore Leonard adaptation. It’s steamy from the start, as a prison break leaves cop and quarry stuffed in a trunk together — a cozy way to get acquainted. Four years after “Pulp Fiction,” the picture came at a moment when Soderbergh was experimenting with film editing and features several nifty innovations, including an unconventional love scene that turns up the heat by cutting between flirtation and payoff. In one thread, Jack Foley and Karen Sisco roleplay in the hotel bar, pretending to be strangers. Skipping ahead, it teases glimpses of the “time out” where all this cocktail talk is headed: a striptease upstairs, in which the pair put aside their differences long enough to make love. — PD

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)

Great as he is, we don’t tend of think of Daniel Day-Lewis as an overwhelmingly romantic movie star. In Philip Kaufman’s heady, intoxicating, high-wire adaptation of the Milan Kundera novel, he plays Tomas, a character who is very much a fickle Lothario — a randy physician in 1960s Prague who bounces from one conquest to the next, though he does have a regular thing going with Sabine (Lena Olin), an artist who likes to spice their lovemaking with mirrors and bowler hats. But then Tomas meets Tereza (Juliette Binoche), whose gravity pulls him down to earth. And then the Soviet tanks come rolling in, blowing up all their lives. When that happens, “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” becomes one of the most seriously moving love stories in cinema, a tale of three lost souls yearning to connect, to survive, to unlock love’s mystery. — OG

A Star Is Born (1954)

For 30 years, the Judy Garland/James Mason version of “A Star Is Born” was tainted by the messy circumstances of its making. The script kept getting rewritten, Garland was a notoriously unstable presence on set, and when the movie premiered in New York, it was three hours long — but executives at Warner Bros. then chopped it by half an hour, without so much as consulting the director, George Cukor. Yet when the movie was re-released in the ’80s, its reputation was elevated in a way that’s comparable to what happened with Hitchcock’s “Vertigo.” A world of moviegoers discovered that Cukor had crafted one of the most darkly entrancing love stories ever made. Its haunted spirit of rapture and loss is incarnated in Garland’s performance of “The Man That Got Away,” in Mason’s jaw-dropping drunken slap of Garland during a scene set at the Oscars, and in the tragic finale, which touches the secret heart of love: the faith necessary to sustain it. — OG

The Remains of the Day (1993)

Repression and strict social restraints are constantly keeping lovers apart in the works of director James Ivory, producer Ismail Merchant and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who together made a career’s worth of exquisitely nuanced literary adaptations frequently (and often unfairly) lumped in with lesser, made-for-TV costume dramas. While “A Room with a View” and “Maurice” are more overtly passionate, the trio’s take on Kazuo Ishiguro’s celebrated novel offers a heartbreaking portrayal of a couple kept apart by codes beyond their control. In this case, a butler (Anthony Hopkins) born and raised to serve the English aristocracy is so mindful of his place that he can’t bring himself to tell the housekeeper he adores (Emma Thompson) his true feelings. It’s wrenching to watch this docile attendant struggle between emotions for a colleague and devotion to his job, and yet, between the lines, and in these two masterful performances, are written volumes. — PD

Sid and Nancy (1986)

The director Alex Cox brought off something singularly audacious by centering a punk biopic on Sid Vicious, the Sex Pistols’ bassist and all-around showman-fuckup who was so dissolute most of the time that he could barely play his instrument or keep from nodding out. Yet the ultimate audacity of Cox’s film is that it dares to present Vicious’s relationship with Nancy Spungen, the torn-fishnet groupie from suburban Pennsylvania who turned him into a heroin addict, as if they were the Tristan and Isolde of the rock ‘n’ roll gutter. As Sid, Gary Oldman gives what may still be his greatest performance, and Chloe Webb, as Nancy, gives what is simply one of the most powerful performances in the history of cinema. Her Nancy is a caterwauling liar and junkie, such a damaged shard of a human being that it tears your heart apart just to behold her. Nancy and Sid are barely functional narcissist addicts, yet their love affair is fused on an animal level; they need each other to live, and to die. “Sid and Nancy” is raw and exhilarating — the greatest of all music biopics, and (not so incidentally) the most romantic. — OG

Moonlight (2016)

Told through poetic glimpses over three separate chapters in the life of its main character, “Moonlight” doesn’t feel like a love story at first. Director Barry Jenkins introduces Chiron at age 10, too young to recognize his own homosexuality, and yet already being teased as soft by his peers. In the middle segment, the boy meets Kevin, with whom he starts to explore his feelings, only to have that possibility derailed by bullying. Subverting stereotypes at every turn, the movie gives this lost soul a second chance in the final stretch, focusing on a tender, tentative reunion between Chiron (bulked up and thick-skinned from his time in prison) and his former crush. By this point, audiences are so invested in the character that “Moonlight” broke free of the rigid box that confines most queer stories to LGBT audiences, making it a crossover success and historic Oscar winner. — PD

The Apartment (1960)

The dialogue still zings and the heartbreak still stings in Billy Wilder’s ahead-of-its-time depiction of two Manhattan office drones who are both exploited by the same manager: Jack Lemmon plays ultra-cynical insurance salesman Bud Baxter, while Shirley MacLaine is Fran Kubelik, the elevator girl who brightens his days … but loves his boss. The plot (which involves Bud lending his place to higher-ups to schtup their secretaries) anticipates the #MeToo movement, while also acknowledging the reality that well-intentioned workers frequently fall for their colleagues. Bud goes about it the relatively respectful way, while Fran’s plight illustrates how unfair the world can be to those who mix business and pleasure. For audiences that love “Mad Men,” but identify with the underdog, the movie poses a wonderfully adult conundrum — one which forces Bud to decide between personal ethics and professional ambition, knowing it could all go sideways for him, career-wise. — PD

An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)

In the New Hollywood ’70s, a great many aspects of classic big-screen romance — the unabashed yearning, the sparkle, the lock-step gender roles — began to fall by the wayside. There was a lot of chatter about how romance itself was fading out of the culture. But that’s part of what made “An Officer and a Gentleman” loom so large. In its meticulous throwback of a story about a drifter, played with pinpoint narcissistic glamour by Richard Gere, who enlists in the Navy and falls for one of the “Puget Sound Debs” (Debra Winger) who want to marry a future jet pilot, the movie seemed to bring back, for the post-feminist era, the kind of shamelessly ardent love story that had fallen out of fashion. It helped that director Taylor Hackford infused it all with a contempo grittiness. As a basic-training movie, “Officer” anticipated much of ”Full Metal Jacket,” but what makes it indelible is the hungry desire enacted by Debra Winger, whose gaze of soulful adoration brings Gere fully alive as a romantic actor. — OG

In the Mood for Love (2000)

Cinema could hardly conjure a more lovely or elegant couple than cigarette-smoking Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung, who floats through stairwells in form-fitting cheongsams. Operating on the wisp of a plot, improvised and evolved over nearly a year, Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai denies these two beautiful avatars a conventional romance. They play neighbors who discover that their spouses are having an affair, and rather than sink to the same level, they indulge in a bit of imaginative detective work, reenacting how their partners might have met. This thin outline leaves near-infinite room for Wong to evoke a subjective range of responses from his audience, using the full range of cinematic tools — color, costume, gesture, music — to solicit a different reading from each viewer. Your mileage may vary, but keep in mind: Wong’s a feel-maker as much as a filmmaker, rewriting the rules via this elliptical dance between unrequited lovers. — PD

Moonstruck (1987)

At early test screenings, audiences weren’t falling for Norman Jewison’s now-classic New York romance the way they were supposed to, until he laid the tune “When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie…” over the opening credits. Cher tamped down her natural glamour to embody pragmatic Italian-American widow Loretta Castorini, who’s ready to settle for Johnny’s (Danny Aiello) passionless marriage proposal when she meets his brother Ronnie, played by a hot-blooded Nicolas Cage. Let’s just say, Ronnie gives this sensible Catholic woman reason to go to confession. The script by John Patrick Shanley is all but bursting with culturally specific detail, from drool-worthy dishes to unusual superstitions, but it’s the colorful ensemble — family members who want what’s best for Loretta — that ultimately serves to validate her seemingly reckless choice. After a lifetime of listening to her head, she finally decides to follow her heart. That’s amore! — PD

City Lights (1931)

Charlie Chaplin stubbornly resisted the film industry’s embrace of sound, releasing this silent treasure into a sea of talkies. Cinema may have gone a different direction, but his stubborn adherence to pantomime (plus his obsessive need to reshoot every shot until perfect) makes this love story seem all the more timeless, as Chaplin’s signature character, the Tramp, falls for a blind flower seller (Virginia Cherrill). She mistakes him for a wealthy man, and the Tramp allows her to go on imagining him that way in the most poetic version of a familiar rom-com trope ever committed to film: At some point, he’ll have to come clean. Will she still love him when she discovers the truth? The final scene, in which she recognizes the vulnerable fool after her vision has been restored, not by sight but by contact, ranks among the medium’s most romantic. — PD

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Of the many qualities that made it a revolutionary movie, two stand above all others. The first, and most talked about, is how violent it was — the bystander shot through the eye, the climactic slow-motion blood ballet, and everything else that rubbed the audience’s nose in what being a criminal really meant. But the other quality that defined “Bonnie and Clyde” was how shockingly sultry and romantic it was. The ads for the movie said, “They’re young. They’re in love. And they kill people.” The subtext was that something in the connection between Faye Dunaway’s torrid hunger and Warren Beatty’s vulnerable stud glamour was itself so dangerous that it was lethal. Just check out the two stars’ faces as they exchange one last look before being strafed to death by a hail of bullets. That look is the essence of true love. — OG

The 'Before' Trilogy (1995, 2004, 2013)

Taken by itself, 1995’s “Before Sunrise” represents the perfect encapsulation of young love: Two strangers meet on a train, get off together in Vienna and spend the night walking and talking (there’s some debate as to whether they make love, as the movie’s too modest to show it). Nine years later, director Richard Linklater delivered one of the most satisfying sequels of all time in “Before Sunset,” reuniting with his two characters, Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy), in Paris. Their time is once again limited, but now, the conversation deals with their regrets. But the attraction remains, and the movie ends with the implication they wind up together. But is it happily ever after? Linklater and company caught up with the pair once again with “Before Midnight,” and the movie finds them together, but dissatisfied, acknowledging the challenges that confront couples after nearly a decade together. It was impossible to guess when they first met how deep this relationship would go, and still anybody’s guess how it will end. — PD

Annie Hall (1977)

“I lurve you,” says Woody Allen’s Alvy Singer, coming about as close as he can to declaring his feelings for Annie Hall (Diane Keaton), the beguiling thrift-shop space cadet who charmed the world with her la-di-da innocence. Allen’s late-’70s classic was, at the time, a new kind of love story — the saga of a “relationship,” which is to say a partnership not truly built to last. And maybe Alvy Singer had to say “lurve” instead of “love” because, deep down, he wasn’t really sure that he could commit himself to the L-word. Yet the magic of “Annie Hall” is that is channeled how an entire generation had come to regard love in the age of therapeutic navel-gazing: as something intoxicating yet transient, rooted in a seems-like-old-times nostalgia that felt more at home looking back than forward. — OG

Jerry Maguire (1996)

Tom Cruise had always been a solo vessel — a cruise missile of a movie star. It was Cameron Crowe’s inspiration, in casting Cruise as a sports agent who gets tossed out of the game and has to reinvent himself as a better person in order to come back, to pair Cruise with Renée Zellweger, an unknown actor who did not come off like some female-movie-star equivalent of Tom Cruise. She had a homespun allure that seemed to be calling his cockiness, his very stardom, on the carpet. The beauty of the line “You complete me” is that Cruise seemed, at last, to be letting down the guard of a dozen years of mega-stardom. The beauty of “You had me at hello” is that it reminds us of how easy love is when it’s real. — OG

Roman Holiday (1953)

Audrey Hepburn plays the fed-up crown princess of an unspecified country in this escapist romp through the Eternal City. The project kicked off a seven-picture run with Paramount, during which she may as well have been the queen of Hollywood romances: “Sabrina,” “Funny Face,” “My Fair Lady” and more. Suffocating under the obligations of her position, she sneaks out during a European tour, landing in the hands of Gregory Peck’s dishonest (yet honorable) American newspaperman. He thinks he’s hit the jackpot, betting his editor he can deliver an exclusive interview with the princess — but he doesn’t gamble on falling for the dame. Their whirlwind romance lasts but a day, but in that time, the reporter gives Ann/Anya/Audrey a taste of freedom. She plays it coy for most of the movie, but the closeup on her face at the end says it all. — PD

Gone with the Wind (1939)

The scene where Clark Gable carries Vivien Leigh up the stairs, with intimations of (to put it mildly) erotic coercion, would not pass muster today. Yet that scene, and others that rhyme with it, are part of what make the most epic of Old Hollywood love stories one of the most darkly complicated and enthralling of Old Hollywood love stories. Leigh’s Scarlett O’Hara is fierce, strong, manipulative — the Southern belle as aristocratic vixen — and so she and Rhett Butler are destined to turn love into a battle that’s doomed to end in a draw. But what heat and light their fireworks give off! “Gone with the Wind” is a movie that’s now seen as “problematic,” yet one of the most seemingly imperfect things about it — the alternating currents of sex and anger, devotion and contempt that fuel the central relationship — is what makes it such a tumultuous classic. — OG

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

A couple needn’t end up together for a love story to stand the test of time. In the case of Jacques Demy’s bittersweet musical, there’s a relatable quality to the way circumstances keep a working-class French couple from their happily ever after. That downbeat fate serves to balance the bright colors and bold choice of delivering every line of dialogue, no matter how banal, through song. That recitative strategy is common enough in opera, but downright revolutionary on film, still fresh and highly unusual all these years later. Naive young Geneviève (Catherine Deneuve, doll-like at 19) sells umbrellas in the family shop. Guy (Nino Castelnuovo) fixes cars at a nearby garage. They seem destined to be together, until military service calls him away. Michel Legrand’s score leans into the melancholy what might have been in what feels like a snow globe rendering of real life. — PD

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

It’s a queer love story set entirely in the closet. Yet by dramatizing the inner lives of two cowboys who find a romantic home on the range in early 1960s Wyoming, Ang Lee’s breathtaking adaptation of the Annie Proulx short story undermined every expectation of contemporary audiences. In showing us two men who discover a love that they themselves think is forbidden, the film dramatizes how prejudice can worm its way into the very fabric of people’s lives; it also demonstrates that the myth of the straight-as-an-arrow American macho he-man is just that – a myth. At the same time, our yearning for Ennis and Jack to make a life for themselves becomes overwhelming in its heartbreak. The performances of Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger are indelible — and, in Ledger’s case, miraculous, as he turns the muffled, barely articulate Ennis into a living metaphor for a love that cannot speak its name. — OG

Ghost (1990)

It’s a love story, a ghost story, a corporate crime story, a pottery story, and a movie in which Whoopi Goldberg plays the world’s funniest cut-up mystic. But who would have guessed that just four months after “Pretty Woman,” it would be the headiest romantic movie of its year? The director, Jerry Zucker, was a veteran of the “Airplane!” troupe, yet somehow he juggled all these elements to touch a chord of pure fairy-tale rapture, spinning out the story of a New York banker who’s killed by a mugger and returns as a ghost to protect his artist girlfriend. The way Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore bond across the ectoplasmic divide is at once thrilling and moving (true love, it seems, knows no restrictions, from either physics or the spirit world). The film turned the Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody” into a retro smash, but only because of how it tapped the film’s emotions: intimate, operatic, quavering with devotion. — OG

Brief Encounter (1945)

It all began with a little piece of grit in her eye. Fortunately — or not — for Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson), a doctor was present to remove the offending particle, and when her vision cleared, there he stood, Dr. Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard), handsome and kind. The train station where this meeting happens serves as a kind of romantic purgatory, with each locomotive that steams through reminding Laura and Alec of their obligations to their actual partners. But every Thursday, they meet in town, too weak to resist the growing love between them — feelings which the conservative forces of the time could not condone, but which spoke to a human experience too widespread to go ignored. And so David Lean’s slender, achingly honest film has stood for years, staunchly refusing to judge two would-be adulterous souls, letting audiences in on a secret that even their spouses don’t suspect. — PD

A Star Is Born (2018)

It’s a seesawing Hollywood love story that’s been told on the big screen close to half a dozen times, yet never more powerfully or artfully than by Bradley Cooper in his astonishing directorial debut. From the bombastic kitsch of the 1976 Streisand/Kristofferson version, Cooper borrowed the idea of turning the central character into a rock ‘n’ roll star, and his performance as Jackson Maine — a half-deaf drunken burnout, running on fumes, even though he’s able to fool the world into thinking he’s still a rock god — grounds the soap-opera story in something disarmingly earthy and real. When Jackson meets Ally (Lady Gaga), a budding singer-songwriter, and invites her onstage to sing “Shallow,” you will get chills the way few romantic movies have given them to you — and the tremors don’t let up, as the two get on a serpentine roller-coaster of love vs. jealousy, arena rock vs. dance pop, and tragedy slipping into redemption. — OG

Moulin Rouge! (2001)

Baz Luhrmann’s visionary jukebox musical is in love with a lot of things: the look and feel of faux 1890s sound-stage Paris (that nightclub windmill etched in light), the epiphany of pop songs like Elton John’s “Your Song” when they pop up in what should be the wrong place (but then why does it feel so right?). Mostly, though, the film is in love with Christian and Satine, the romantic bohemians played by Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman, who summon gazes of such doomed longing that the film’s ultimate love affair seems to be with love itself — the unearthly kind, the kind that lives as an impossible dream. — OG

To Catch a Thief (1955)

From “The Awful Truth” to “An Affair to Remember,” Cary Grant enjoyed a two-decade run as Hollywood’s most dapper leading man, romancing everyone from Katharine Hepburn to Ingrid Bergman, sometimes multiple times over. But it was paired with impossibly elegant star (and future princess) Grace Kelly that Grant sparkled brightest, playing a notorious jewel thief who finds Kelly’s wealthy American tourist even more irresistible than her invaluable diamond necklace. Like a well-practiced cat burglar, this sprightly Hitchcock movie tiptoes so lightly it hardly touches the ground, sweeping audiences away to the chicest of locations on the French Riviera. Whether it’s the scene of Kelly’s gems outdazzling a fireworks show (she stands in the shadow while her diamonds glisten in full view of Grant) or the hilltop picnic overlooking Monaco, the vibrant full-color fling gave landlocked Americans a fizzy Mediterranean fantasy featuring the most distinguished couple imaginable. — PD

Titanic (1997)

The swooniest romantic movie of its time, and also the most sublime, James Cameron’s ocean disaster epic is the rare Hollywood blockbuster that achieves a larger-than-life quality. Yet its secret weapon as a love story is the too-often-unacknowledged deftness of its storytelling. As Jack and Rose, the sweethearts from opposite sides of the class divide, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet have an effervescent chemistry, yet they’re playing starry-eyed youths caught in a puppy-love fling. The implication is that their union might last just about as long as the Titanic’s voyage — were it not for that fateful iceberg. In “Titanic,” it’s disaster itself that elevates love into something timeless. — OG

Casablanca (1942)

It was often said that in the 20th century, the movies taught people how to fall in love. You certainly know that watching “Casablanca.” In all of cinema, there is no love connection more pure, more impassioned, more haunted by the past, more alive in the present, more complicated by circumstance than the one between Rick (Humphrey Bogart), the expatriate owner of a shady Moroccan nightclub and gambling den, and Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), the woman he fell in love with in Paris in 1940, only to be abandoned by her for mysterious reasons. Do they still love each other? The answer to that is as simple as listening to Sam (Dooley Wilson), the saloon pianist, play “As Time Goes By” and hearing that it’s really about how a kiss is just a kiss…for all time. Yet if Michael Curtiz’s ageless Hollywood classic celebrates what love is, it’s also about the deepest level of what love means : not just rapture but sacrifice, devotion to the other, a giving over of oneself to something larger. “Casablanca” remains the ultimate big-screen romance, in part because Bogart and Bergman show us that love is a force within us powerful enough to connect to — and save — the world. — OG

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Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, loving vincent.

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A truism when it comes to dining out? If you eat at a restaurant whose main selling point is that its towering height or location near a natural wonder affords a feast for the eyes, chances are the food there will fall into the category of a disappointing afterthought. 

That can also be the case when it comes to films whose primary attraction is their visual pizzazz. Too often there is a lack of there actually there beyond the wow factor. Consider the gorgeous backdrops of the 1998 Robin Williams-starring afterlife fantasy " What Dreams May Come ": Looks, 10; story, ugh. “ Avatar ” might be the ultimate example of this syndrome as its eye-popping 3-D effects only underlined its barely multi-dimensional sci-fi screenplay.

Faring slightly better script-wise is the ambitious animated biopic “Loving Vincent.” That would be Vincent as in Van Gogh, the tormented 19th-century Dutch painter, who absorbed the essence of then-popular Impressionism and re-imagined it with his trademark brawny brushstrokes. That technique lent a unique vibrancy to his vividly hued renderings of the French countryside and portraits of acquaintances that are highlighted in the film. As a result, his output seems to be uniquely suited for what is being sold as the first-ever fully painted feature film. This rather melancholy if stiff account of the artist’s final weeks before he died in 1890 from what he claimed was a self-inflicted gunshot is neither consistently riveting nor all that original. But the movie at least benefits somewhat from focusing on this singular tragic soul—yes, Van Gogh is shown famously cutting off his left ear—whose work continues to fascinate us today.

What is faultless, however, is the dedication and ambition of Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman , the movie-making team behind this Polish-U.K. collaboration. Consider that this production required the services of 125 painting animators to create 65,000 oil-painted frames that incorporated 120 of Van Gogh’s better-known works–a process that took ten years to complete. If you ever wanted a masterpiece hanging in a gallery to come to life, your wish has been fully granted many times over.

Their visual experiment is intensely mesmerizing to watch as Van Gogh’s familiar stars radiate in the nighttime skies, flickering halos hover around candles, a river pulses with shimmery waves, rain falls like strips of rectangular confetti in shades of black and gray and golden wheat waltzes in fields. Bursts of kinetic energy vibrate in nearly every scene as if the screen were radioactive. But this electric surge is more than just window dressing. It captures the very reason why Van Gogh, whose genius was mostly unsung during his brief life, is often considered the father of modern art. A social misfit prone to bouts of depression, Van Gogh would devote the last decade of his 37 years to answering his calling. The result was over 800 oil paintings that bared his emotions in a way that offered a portal into the next century and continues to speak to us today. 

But movies can’t live by beautiful undulating images alone. “Loving Vincent” takes the form of a mirthless murder mystery that integrates Van Gogh’s portraits and landscapes with hand-painted live-action footage of actors. This derivative detective story probes whether Van Gogh committed suicide or was shot by someone else. Assuming the role of investigator and narrator is Armand Roulin ( Douglas Booth ), a bitter young man in a canary-yellow jacket who has a weakness for alcohol and barroom brawls. A year after the artist’s death, he is reluctantly tasked by his postmaster father (Chris O’Dowd) to deliver Vincent’s final letter addressed to his beloved younger brother, Theo. Armand heads to Paris, where he learns from noted paint supplier Pere Tanguy ( John Sessions ) that Theo met his own demise months after his sibling died. The elder man also fills him in on the history of Vincent’s transformation from an unemployable failure to a prolific producer of fine art.

From this point on, “Loving Vincent” follows the well-worn path of many a TV and film sleuth. With newfound respect for and curiosity about Van Gogh, Armand takes off to picturesque Auvers-sur-Oise and begins to interrogate those who knew Vincent during his last six weeks. That includes an innkeeper’s spirited daughter, Adeline Ravoux ( Eleanor Tomlinson ), who has mostly kind things to say about Vincent’s time as a guest, and the less-generous Louise Chevalier ( Helen McCrory ), housekeeper to Dr. Gachet ( Jerome Flynn ), the physician who treated him. A religious woman, she demonizes Vincent, declaring, “He was evil.” Then there is Gachet’s daughter, Marguerite ( Saoirse Ronan ), who may or may not have been romantically connected to Van Gogh. Each witness offers widely divergent opinions of the artist before he died. Not helping matters is that the gun involved was never found. Ultimately, viewers are left to form their own conclusions about what happened.

Style definitely trumps substance here, as most of the actors are better defined through their vocal performances rather than their shape-shifting physical presences. Van Gogh himself shows up primarily in moody black-and-white photographic-like flashbacks told from his point of view as played by look-alike Polish theater actor Robert Gulaczyk . In fact, my favorite scene involves a smiling little girl at the inn running to Vincent and briefly sitting in his lap as he sketches a chicken with skinny legs—just like hers, he teases. In those few minutes, he is momentarily at peace and smiling for once. Helping to set the right melancholy mood is a superb score by Clint Mansell , propelled by strings and piano.

Only a fool would fail to use a version of Don McLean’s ode to the artist, “Starry Starry Night,” to conclude “Loving Vincent” and, in this case, Kobiela and Welchman do exactly that. If you are hungry for dazzling eye candy and don’t mind a less-than-meaty narrative, this might please your palate. 

Susan Wloszczyna

Susan Wloszczyna spent much of her nearly thirty years at USA TODAY as a senior entertainment reporter. Now unchained from the grind of daily journalism, she is ready to view the world of movies with fresh eyes.

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Matt zoller seitz.

A Bit of Light

Film credits.

Loving Vincent (2017)

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic elements, some violence, sexual material and smoking.

Robert Gulaczyk as Vincent Van Gogh (voice)

Aidan Turner as Boatman (voice)

Saoirse Ronan as Margaret Gachet (voice)

Douglas Booth as Armand Roulin (voice)

Eleanor Tomlinson as Adeline Ravoux (voice)

Jerome Flynn as Dr. Gachet (voice)

Chris O'Dowd as Postman Roulin (voice)

John Sessions as Pere Tanguy (voice)

Helen McCrory as Louise Chevalier (voice)

• Dorota Kobiela
• Hugh Welchman
• Jacek won Dehnel

Cinematographer

• Tristan Oliver
• Justyna Wierszynska
• Clint Mansell

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• The story of Richard and Mildred Loving, a couple whose arrest for interracial marriage in 1960s Virginia began a legal battle that would end with the Supreme Court's historic 1967 decision.
• Richard Loving, a white construction worker in Caroline County, Virginia, falls in love with a local black woman and family friend, Mildred Jeter. Upon Mildred discovering that she is pregnant, they decide to marry, but knowing that interracial marriage violates Virginia's anti-miscegenation laws, they drive to Washington, D.C. to get married in 1958. Richard makes plans to build a house for Mildred less than a mile from her family home.
• 1958. Having grown up in the racially integrated rural community of Central Point in Caroline County, Virginia, it surrounded by the largely segregated American south, Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter, a white bricklayer and black woman respectively, fall in love and get married in a civil ceremony in the District of Columbia. However, such a union is not only not recognized, but interracial relationships are considered illegal by the Commonwealth of Virginia. County law enforcement and courts coming down hard on them - the initial plea bargained suspended sentence banning them from the state for twenty-five years - starts what ends up being their extended and very public legal battles at a national scope, with some risk to their own lives, to be able to live in loving peace in Caroline County in wanting to remain close to their family, which becomes all the more important to them as they begin a family of their own. — Huggo
• The movie starts on a porch where a White man named Richard Loving (Joel Edgerton) is sitting on the porch with his Black girlfriend, Mildred (Ruth Negga). It is the mid 1950s in Virginia. They go off to a drag race which Richard moderates; both Black and White people are in attendance despite it being a period of segregation. Another day later, Richard lays down bricks since he works on building houses. Later, he takes Mildred to an empty field a few miles from where he lives. There is a squared off section of dirt and he asks her where she thinks the kitchen and bathroom should go. He tells her hes bought an acre of land and asks her to marry him. The next time we see Mildred, she is pregnant. Richard convinces Mildred to drive with him to Washington, D.C. to have their marriage performed because its supposedly quicker but its really because Virginia is one of 24 states where interracial marriage is still illegal. They return to town, married, and Richard works at an auto shop, keeping his marriage a secret. When he comes home to the house he lives in with his mother, she tells him that the sheriff is looking for him. When he asks, "What did he want?", she responds, "To find you". Richard nails his marriage certificate on his wall. That night, Mildred and Richard go to sleep together. The sheriff busts into the house, hoping to see them engaged in sex but instead they are just sleeping. The sheriff asks "What are you doing with that woman?" Mildred replies, "I'm his wife". The racist sheriff tells her, "That's no good here. You went out of town knowing your marriage wasn't legal in Virginia." Richard and Mildred are taken to the local jail and kept in separate cells. He is released on bail the next morning but she is told she will have to stay there until they can see the judge on Monday, which is several days away. Richard is forbidden to speak to her so she is left alone in jail, pregnant. When Richard turns to his home, he immediately sets out to hire a lawyer. The one he meets with says they'll be sentenced to one year in prison but this sentence can be suspended on the condition that they leave the state of Virginia for a minimum of 25 years. At home, Richards mom now tells him, "I told you not to marry that girl". He responds, "I thought you liked her". She replies, "I like hundreds of people." Mildred is finally released from jail and attends court with Richard and their lawyer. They both plead guilty. The judge says exactly as predicted they can avoid jail time only if they leave town. Privately, Richard and Mildred balk at this idea, both wanting to stay in the town that they grew up in and love. But they have no choice so they move to Washington, D.C. where they can live as an interracial couple. Richard and Mildred try to adjust to the city life but it doesn't suit them. They much prefer an area filled with grass and fields than buildings and concrete. Even though they try to make the best of it, Mildred notes that she always thought Richard's mom would be the one to deliver their baby, as she does for many families. On this notion, Richard arranges for them to return to Virginia for his wife to give birth to his child. They drive into town and transfer Mildred into her brothers car midway. Richard stays low and then follows behind later. This way, they can show up in town separately because it is forbidden for them to be there together. Mildred gives birth, with the assistance of Richard's mom. The next day, Richard is outside and the police arrive, having been alerted to his return. They ask about Mildred but Richard says she's not there. The police threatens to beat him into a pulp if he doesn't retrieve her. Mildred hears from inside. She kisses her newborn baby and hands him over to her sister; she then comes out on the patio, revealing herself. Now both Mildred and Richard are in jail again. They are worried about serving jail time for violating the court order. In court, their lawyer from before returns and even though he knew nothing of their plan claims that he had informed them that Mildred could give birth in Virginia and that they shouldn't be faulted for his misinformation. Outside, they try to thank him for his deed but he just asks them not to come back. Obviously that lie will only work once. Back in Washington D.C., time has passed and Mildred and Richard now have three kids two older boys and a young daughter. Mildred's sister visits but mentions that she hates how far away they are. Mildred complains that there are no fields for the kids to play in, like when she was growing up in Virginia. Later, the kids are outside playing with the neighborhood kids but they are forced to do so amongst the busy traffic roads. One of her sons gets hit by a car; he is okay but it shakes Mildred up and now she want to return to Virginia and to the country life. At first, the family stays in small apartments discretely Mildred and the kids arriving first and then Richard joining them later. Then they move in with Mildred's family. Footage from the 1960s Civil Rights Movement is on TV. Mildred's cousins convince her she needs to get them to help fight the miscegenation laws that make her marriage illegal and suggest she writes to Attorney General Robert Kennedy. She does. Richard is up on a ladder, working on the house when he sees a car speeding through the fields towards him. Afraid hes been found out, he rushes off the ladder and tries to hide. But it is just Mildred's brother. When Richard asks why he seemed so frantic to get there, Mildred's brother replies that he always drives that fast. Richard admits to being paranoid. Mildred receives a phone call and is told that the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) wants to take her case and help fight for her. She doesn't quite understand but the woman on the other end tells her that Robert Kennedy forwarded a letter to them and they will provide her with a lawyer. When she says she cant afford a lawyer, the woman clarifies that the help would be provided free of charge. The lawyer, Bernie Cohen (Nick Kroll) comes into town and sets up his practice in a temporarily vacated office, in a comical scene. Mildred and Richard arrive and he explains how he is going to fight for their marriage and that it could go all the way to the Supreme Court. Bernie points out that enough time has passed since their last court case. He suggests one possibility is they can get arrested again so they can appeal and take it to the courts adding that the ACLU would bail them out. Neither Mildred or Richard is thrilled about the idea of exposing themselves as having violated the court order. Now Richard is skeptical altogether. But Bernie says he'll continue brainstorming ideas and Mildred retains her confidence in him. Another lawyer working pro bono suggests to Bernie that they can reopen the case simply by asking the judge to set aside his original verdict and if he appeals, then they can take it to the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. Bernie does this and and as predicted, the judge refuses to change his mind, setting their case back in motion. Back at the Lovings home, the lawyer laughs because the judges ruling claims that Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix. He finds this is going to help their case in the U.S. Supreme Court since its a ruling not based on the Constitution in any way. To get publicity for the case, the lawyer sends a reporter from Life Magazine (Michael Shannon) to take some pictures of the couple. He spends the day with them and photographs Richard and Mildred as they show affection for each other around the house and while watching television. The Virginia Supreme Court also rules against Mildred and Richard which allows them to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. They are met with reporters afterwards and continue promoting their case. Back at their home, they ask the lawyer what angle can be used against them in the Supreme Court. Their lawyer admits that they're going to use the children, with the opposition claiming that its unfair to bring biracial children into this world this is juxtaposed with all three of their kids running around, playing, happily. The Lovings are not going to be present during the Supreme Court so Bernie asks Richard if he wants to make any statements. He simply says, "Tell the court I love my wife." Mildred gets a phone installed in the house shes staying at so she can receive calls in case any news comes in. Richard continues his work at a construction site, laying bricks. When he gets into his truck after work, he sees a brick wrapped in a magazine page the Life Magazine article on his marriage with a picture of Richard and Mildred watching TV. Richard looks around the site, paranoid at who knows about his family. A vehicle follows his truck so he speeds up and drives erratically to lose it. But when he gets home, he realizes he might have simply been paranoid since no car has followed him that far. Time has passed. Mildred gets a phone call telling her the Supreme Court has struck down the country's last segregation laws, unanimously. Mildred remains stoic and polite but beams at the news. Now Richard is laying bricks again but this time on the house he was planning on building for Mildred and him in the beginning of the film. In Virginia, with their now family of five. Over titles, we learn Richard died in a car accident just eight years later. Mildred died in 2008.

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Review: In ‘Loving,’ They Loved. A Segregated Virginia Did Not Love Them Back.

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By Manohla Dargis

• Nov. 3, 2016

There are few movies that speak to the American moment as movingly — and with as much idealism — as Jeff Nichols’s “Loving,” which revisits the era when blacks and whites were so profoundly segregated in this country that they couldn’t always wed. It’s a fictionalization of the story of Mildred and Richard Loving, a married couple who were arrested in 1958 because he was white, she was not, and they lived in Virginia, a state that banned interracial unions. Virginia passed its first anti-miscegenation law in 1691, partly to prevent what it called “spurious issue,” or what most people just call children.

The America that the Lovings lived in was as distant as another galaxy, even as it was familiar. The movie opens in the late 1950s, when Mildred (Ruth Negga, a revelation) and Richard (Joel Edgerton, very fine) are young, in love and unmarried. They already have the natural intimacy of long-term couples, the kind that’s expressed less in words and more in how two bodies fit, as if joined by an invisible thread. It’s a closeness that seems to hold their bodies still during a hushed nighttime talk on a porch and that pulls them together at a drag race, under the gaze of silent white men.

Jeff Nichols on ‘Loving’

The director describes an emotional scene in his film about the interracial couple who struck down anti-miscegenation laws..

Those hard, reverberant stares are about the only hint that the world in “Loving” is going to be falling off its axis. Mr. Nichols (“Take Shelter,” “Mud”) has a way of easing into movies, of letting stories and characters surface obliquely. If their story didn’t open when and where it does, there would be nothing remarkable about Mildred and Richard. But this is a Virginia still in the grip of Jim Crow, so when they decide to marry, they exchange vows in Washington. Not long after, the local sheriff (Marton Csokas) and his deputies — prowling like thieves — enter the couple’s home in the middle of the night and arrest them for breaking the state’s law against interracial marriage.

The Lovings have been the subject of both books and movies, including “The Loving Story,” the 2011 documentary directed by Nancy Buirski that is partly the basis for Mr. Nichols’s movie. Ms. Buirski’s documentary primarily consists of archival film footage, including of both Lovings at home with their three young children, and with the lawyers who helped the couple in their legal fight. The footage is charming, in the way that some images from the past tend to be, with their old-fashioned clothes and recognizable yet faraway worlds. Part of the allure, though, is just the Lovings themselves and how they look at each other and how they look at the camera — her shy openness, his wary reserve.

Movie Review: ‘Loving’

The times critic manohla dargis reviews “loving.”.

“Loving” is the story of an interracial couple, Mildred and Richard Loving, who fought for their right to marry during segregation. In her review Manohla Dargis writes: There are few movies that speak to the American moment as movingly - and with as much idealism - as “Loving“. Director Jeff Nichols has a way of easing into movies, of letting stories and characters surface obliquely. The insistent quotidian quiet of “Loving” can feel startling as it plucks two figures from history and imagines them as they once were, back when they were people in love instead of monuments to American exceptionalism. Because, in the end, it is the absolute ordinariness of their love that defined them and made it into the story of this country.

With exacting economy, Mr. Nichols borrows from the documentary — its people with lined faces, its rooms with weathered walls — drawing on signifying minutiae, textures and cadences to fill in his portrait. He captures the era persuasively, embroidering the realism with details like Mildred’s knee-skimming skirts and Richard’s brush-cut hair. One sequence restages a 1965 visit to the Lovings from a photographer, Grey Villet (Michael Shannon, a bolt of lightning), who was on assignment from Life magazine and whose exquisite, artfully casual photographs remain the most recognizable images of the Lovings, partly because they suggest the unforced intimacy of family snapshots.

Mr. Nichols’s most distinct aesthetic choice is the movie’s quietness and the hush that envelops its first scene and that eventually defines the Lovings as much as their accents, gestures, manners and battles. He wraps them in a deep-country quiet, the kind that can unnerve city people and sound — feel — utterly foreign, especially to ears habituated to the noise of American movies with their therapeutic chatter. There’s beauty in this silence, as when Mildred closes her eyes as the wind stirs the trees. There’s also diffidence and thudding fear, because while Richard’s taciturn affect may be a matter of temperament, his darting, haunted eyes also suggest those of a whipped dog.

The movie lightly traces the arc of the Lovings’ story, including their decade-long legal fight to live in their home state as husband and wife, even as Mr. Nichols plays with time, omits certain facts and glosses over others. He’s more interested in showing Mildred and Richard laughing with their friends than in hanging around courtrooms, watching their defense. Here, in scene after scene, the story of the Lovings is nothing if not wrenchingly personal. (The lawyers — played by a broadly funny Nick Kroll and a rather more subdued Jon Bass, with a sardonic twist — humorously sweep in like the cavalry, courtesy of Robert F. Kennedy and the American Civil Liberties Union.)

It’s perhaps unsurprising that “Loving” elides how the real Mildred Loving saw herself, which apparently changed over the years. At times, she identified as part white, part black and part Indian; at other times, Ms. Loving said she was Indian and white, with no African-American ancestry. On the Lovings’ D.C. marriage license , she is identified solely as “Indian.” (The scholar Arica L. Coleman details these complexities in her book “That the Blood Stay Pure,” which, among other things, looks at Virginia’s contribution to white supremacy.) In “Loving,” race is a fiction, but it is a lie that continues to justify terror long past slavery’s end, reducing people to boxes, one checked black, the other white.

Movies get a lot of mileage from the fantasy that we are the heroes of our own stories. Life’s regular hum — the effort and joy of making homes, having children and nourishing love — tends to be drowned out by speeches and dramas in which characters rob banks to get out of debt instead of struggling or despairing. It’s why the insistent, quotidian quiet of “Loving” can feel so startling. It plucks two figures from history and imagines them as they once were, when they were people instead of monuments to American exceptionalism. It was, the movie insists, the absolute ordinariness of their love that defined them, and that made the fight for it into an indelible story of this country.

“Loving” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned) for racist language. Running time: 2 hours 3 minutes.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Science Fiction — Her: Modern Perspective of Love in a Movie

Her: Modern Perspective of Love in a Movie

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Published: Jul 17, 2018

Words: 1585 | Pages: 3 | 8 min read

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How Can I Write an Essay About a Movie?

By Film Threat Staff | May 23, 2023

Watching movies for a long time has been a major past-time for most individuals. The people expect to sit in front of their screens and get thrilled into a world of adventure, mystery, and wonder.

But how can you gauge your appreciation and understanding of filmmaking? Writing an essay about a movie is one way of showing your grasp of the content.

Movie analysis is a common assignment for most college students. It is an intricate task where every detail matters while tied together to form a part of the story.

A part of the assignment involves watching a particular movie and writing an essay about your overall impression of the movie.

Essay writing services such as WriteMyEssay show that more than rewatching a movie several times is needed to make up for a solid movie analysis essay. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to write your movie analysis:

What Is a Movie Essay?

The world of literature is multifaceted while testing different attributes of students. A movie analysis essay, at its core, seeks to uncover the hidden layers of meaning within the cinema world.

A movie analysis essay is much more than a movie review that seeks to delve into the artistry behind filmmaking. Thus, it seeks to test a student’s prowess in understanding various elements that come together to form a meaningful cinematic experience.

The main purpose of movie analysis essays is to dissect different components employed by a film in making a unique and impactful storyline.

Students can appreciate the filmmaking process’s complexities by analyzing these different elements. Also, students can develop a keen eye for the nuances that elevate a movie from entertainment to a work of art.

Here are top tips by experts when writing an essay about a particular movie during your assignments:

1. Watch the Movie

The first obvious standpoint for writing an essay about any movie is watching the film. Watching the movie builds an important foundation for the writing exercise. Composing an insightful, compelling, and well-thought movie essay requires you to experience it.

Therefore, select an appropriate environment to watch the movie free from distractions. Moreover, immerse yourself in the full movie experience to absorb all the intricate details. Some critical elements to note down include:

• Characterization
• Cinematography

We recommend watching the movie several times in case the time element allows. Rewatching the film deepens your understanding of the movie while uncovering unnoticed details on the first take.

2. Write an Introduction

The introductory paragraph to your movie essay should contain essential details of the movie, such as:

• Release date
• Name of the director
• Main actors

Moreover, start with a captivating hook to entice readers to keep reading. You can start with a memorable quote from one of the characters.

For example, released in 1976 and Directed by Martin Scorsese, ‘The Taxi Driver’ starring Robert De Niro as the eccentric taxi driver.’

After writing an enticing introduction, it is time to summarize what you watched. A summary provides readers with a clear understanding of the movie’s plot and main events. Hence, your readers can have a foundation for the rest of your movie essay.

Writing a summary need to be concise. The entire movie essay should be brief and straight to the point. Ensure to capture the main arguments within the movie’s plot. However, avoid going into too many details. Just focus on giving concise information about the movie.

4. Start Writing

The next vital part is forming the analysis part. This is where the analysis delves deeply into the movie’s themes, cinematography, characters, and other related elements.

First, start by organizing your analysis clearly and logically. Each section or paragraph should concentrate on a particular aspect of the film. Ensure to incorporate important elements such as cinematography, character development, and symbolism.

In addition, analyze different techniques employed by filmmakers. Take note of stylistic choices, including editing, sound, cinematography, imagery, and allegory. This helps contribute to the overall impact and meaning.

Lastly, connect your analysis to the thesis statement. Ensure all arguments captured in your analysis tie together to the main argument. It should maintain a straight focus throughout your essay.

Remember to re-state your thesis while summarizing previously mentioned arguments innovatively and creatively when finishing up your movie essay. Lastly, you can recommend your reader to watch the movie.

Final Takeaway

The writing process should be a fun, demanding, and engaging assignment. Try these tips from experts in structuring and logically organizing your essay.

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Loving v. Virginia: 4 Lessons from the Film About the Landmark Supreme Court Case

By Mekita Rivas

The United States has come a long way for marriage equality , but less than 50 years ago, some states outlawed the marriages of interracial couples.

We are introduced to one such couple in Loving , the new film from writer-director Jeff Nichols. Our window into the world of Richard Loving (Joel Edgerton) and his childhood sweetheart Mildred (Ruth Negga) opens as they navigate a new chapter in their lives: marriage and pregnancy. But what should be a happy time for them isn't, as interracial marriage is against the law in Virginia. (Richard is white, Mildred is black and Native American.)

The film is based on a true story: In 1958, the Lovings marry in Washington, D.C. They return to Virginia to build a house and start their family. Those plans are soon stifled when local authorities get word of their illegal arrangement; Richard and Mildred are jailed separately and charged with unlawful cohabitation. It is in this moment that their nine-year journey for justice begins.

Nichols’s film arrives at a time when many Americans are uncertain about what a Trump presidency will look like and what effect his policies will have on civil rights. Minority populations are being targeted by his policies and supporters alike, and race relations seem more strained than ever.

Though the film was probably not made knowing how the election would turn out, the Lovings’ story is being re-told at a time when we need to hear it. It reminds us that our progress wasn’t made that long ago, and offers key lessons we need to be empowered to combat the injustices of today and tomorrow.

Anti-miscegenation laws go as far back as the 1660s, predating the formation of the United States by more than a century. The laws are commonly thought of as prohibiting marriage between whites and non-whites, but some also forbid marriage between non-whites and other non-whites. In 1935, for example, Maryland passed a law banning marriage between blacks and Filipinos. And while anti-miscegenation laws are often considered an injustice that was exclusive to southern states, the reality is that such laws existed in states along the West Coast and throughout the Great Plains.

Although the Lovings’ marriage was recognized by the District of Columbia, they faced an uphill battle in receiving that same recognition from their home state of Virginia.

When Richard tries to bail Mildred out of jail, the sheriff says he feels sorry for Richard — he doesn’t know any better because he’s from a place where people of different races intermix and socialize, something the sheriff finds abhorrent.

“That’s God’s law,” the sheriff says. “He made a sparrow a sparrow and a robin a robin. They’re different for a reason.” If the sheriff — someone with a major source of power — believed that, what chance did the Lovings stand?

When we look at implementing future policies — whether at the local, state, or federal level — we must remember that precedence does not warrant prejudice. Anti-miscegenation statutes, slavery, and the Holocaust are just a few examples of injustices that were carried out under the guise of the law. Legality does not determine what’s right or humane; what’s right and humane determines what’s right and humane.

The Lovings move to D.C., where Mildred has a hard time adjusting to city life and being away from her family.

Her frustration grows, until she sees the 1963 March on Washington unfold on TV. Her curiosity is piqued. A relative encourages Mildred to write to then-U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy.

“That’s what he’s up there for. All this talk of civil rights — you need to get you some civil rights.”

Although Mildred initially scoffs at the idea, she ultimately goes through with it. And thankfully so — the letter proves to be a critical turning point: Kennedy refers the couple to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which accepts the Lovings’ case against the state of Virginia for their right to be married.

Like Mildred, it’s tempting to fall into the trap of thinking that your voice is small and inconsequential. But public servants are there for a reason, and that reason is to work for us; they can’t do that if we don’t make our voices heard. Speak up and get involved, because you absolutely can affect change from the inside out.

Initially, ACLU lawyers Bernard Cohen and Philip Hirschkop tried to have the case vacated and the original ruling reversed through Virginia Judge Leon Bazile, who presided over the case.

But Bazile wouldn’t budge, writing in defense of the original ruling: "Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents...The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix."

The Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals also upheld the original ruling, with Justice Harry Carrico arguing that the Lovings' case did not violate the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause because both the white and the non-white spouse were punished equally for the crime of miscegenation.

But that would not be the end of the road for the Lovings. They appealed the decision, and Loving v. Virginia moved onward to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“We may lose the small battles,” Mildred says. “But win the big war.”

On June 12, 1967, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of the Lovings, striking down Virginia’s law and upending the ban on interracial marriages in the 15 other states where anti-miscegenation laws were still in effect.

Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote the opinion for the court, stating that marriage is a basic civil right .

The Lovings paved the way for generations of interracial couples to love freely and openly. Though marriage equality for people of all gender and sexual identities wouldn't come for another 50 years, the case of Loving v. Virginia was a step toward the rights everyone deserves. The film helps us to remember the strides we've taken and the battles that have already been fought. Richard and Mildred Loving may have been fighting for their right to stay married to each other, but they also helped change the course of history for other couples like them.

By Ilana Kaplan

By Donya Momenian

Related: Why Guys Who Say They 'Don’t See Race' When Dating Are Lying

By Elizabeth Logan

By Tori Gantz

By Samuel Larreal

By Fortesa Latifi

Essay on Favorite Movie

Students are often asked to write an essay on Favorite Movie in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Favorite Movie

Introduction.

My favorite movie is “Toy Story”. It is an animated film produced by Pixar Animation Studios.

The story revolves around a group of toys that come to life when humans are not around. Their leader is a cowboy doll named Woody.

Other notable characters include Buzz Lightyear, a space ranger action figure, and Bo Peep, a porcelain shepherdess doll.

Why I Love It

What makes “Toy Story” my favorite is its unique plot, colorful animation, and the valuable lessons it imparts about friendship and loyalty.

250 Words Essay on Favorite Movie

Every individual has a favorite movie that they cherish, one that resonates with their emotions and intellectual curiosity. My favorite movie is “Inception,” directed by Christopher Nolan. This film is a perfect blend of science fiction and psychological thriller, offering a deep exploration of the human mind.

Plot and Characters

“Inception” revolves around a character named Dom Cobb, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Cobb is a thief who infiltrates people’s dreams to steal their secrets. The plot thickens when he’s given a task not to extract, but to implant an idea into someone’s mind, a process known as ‘Inception.’ The ensemble cast, including Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, each bring unique depth to their characters.

Symbolism and Themes

The movie delves into themes of reality, perception, and subconscious mind, challenging traditional narrative structures. The spinning top, a recurring symbol in the film, represents Cobb’s struggle to distinguish reality from dreams, adding a layer of complexity and intrigue.

Impact and Conclusion

“Inception” is not merely a movie, but an intellectual journey. It provokes thoughts about our perception of reality and the power of our subconscious mind. The movie’s ending, which leaves the audience questioning whether Cobb is in a dream or reality, amplifies its thought-provoking nature. This ambiguity and the film’s intricate exploration of complex themes make “Inception” my favorite movie. It serves as a testament to the power of cinema to not only entertain but also to stimulate intellectual and philosophical discourse.

500 Words Essay on Favorite Movie

Introduction: the power of cinema.

Movies have a profound impact on our lives, shaping our perceptions, emotions, and understanding of the world. Among the multitude of films I have encountered, one stands out as my favorite: Christopher Nolan’s “Inception.”

Exploring Complex Themes

What sets “Inception” apart from other movies is its exploration of complex themes. The movie delves into the intricacies of the human mind, dreams, and the nature of reality itself. It presents a world where technology allows individuals to infiltrate dreams and manipulate them. This premise raises intriguing questions about the boundaries between reality and illusion, and the moral implications of tampering with human consciousness.

Masterful Storytelling

Nolan’s storytelling in “Inception” is nothing short of masterful. The narrative is intricately woven, with multiple layers of dreams within dreams. This complexity keeps the audience engaged and guessing, resulting in an intellectually stimulating experience. The plot twists are cleverly executed, ensuring that viewers remain on the edge of their seats throughout the film.

Character Development

“Inception” also excels in its character development. Each character is well-rounded, with their motivations, strengths, and weaknesses clearly depicted. The protagonist, Dom Cobb, is particularly compelling. His struggle to distinguish reality from dreams, coupled with his desire to reunite with his children, adds a poignant emotional depth to the movie.

Visual Effects and Cinematography

The movie’s visual effects and cinematography are groundbreaking. The dream sequences are visually stunning, with gravity-defying scenes and landscapes that bend and fold in impossible ways. These surreal visuals not only serve to captivate the audience but also reinforce the film’s exploration of the fluidity of reality within dreams.

Soundtrack and Score

The soundtrack, composed by Hans Zimmer, is another noteworthy aspect of “Inception.” It perfectly complements the film’s narrative and emotional beats. The iconic score, “Time,” encapsulates the movie’s themes of loss, longing, and the relentless march of time.

Conclusion: The Impact of “Inception”

“Inception” is a testament to the power of cinema to challenge, engage, and move audiences. It pushes the boundaries of conventional storytelling, explores profound themes, and offers a feast for the senses with its stunning visuals and score. It is not merely a film to be watched, but an experience to be savored, analyzed, and remembered. This is why “Inception” holds the coveted position of being my favorite movie.

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• <em>The Idea of You</em> Is About the Ultimate Middle-Aged-Lady Fantasy: Being Noticed

The Idea of You Is About the Ultimate Middle-Aged-Lady Fantasy: Being Noticed

Warning:  This post contains spoilers for  The Idea of You.

These are grim days for romance. Marriage is down. Engagements are down. People don't seem to be into dating apps anymore. Even sex is down. The most successful movie last year ( Barbie ) was about the guy not getting the girl. Where does this leave romantic comedies, that great engine of fantasy that has launched a 100,000 Hinge profiles? How will people find each other without moony love stories to dream about?

Romance is not taking this situation lying down. (Sorry.) Just as movies about lone superheroes have morphed into movies about galaxies of superheroes, and movies about a scary monster have transmogrified into a Godzilla x Kong -style smackdown, romantic comedies have had to amp up the fantasy, and not just by having Ryan Gosling play a lover and a fighter in The Fall Guy . They've gone so far as to borrow a trick from their disreputable cousins in porn, and smash some deep taboos.

Read More: The Real Inspiration Between the Buzzy Boy Band Rom-Com The Idea of You

And I'm not just talking about the recent spate of films exploring love stories between older women and younger men. These have come in various forms, from the darkly funny May December to the erotic thriller and very French Last Summer . Neither of those movies is long on wish fulfillment, which is kind of like having a superhero movie where people solve interplanetary crises by negotiating.

No, the really deep taboo-busting is being done by The Idea of You , which is being heavily sold as an age-gap romance but is actually so much more than that. It really belongs in the genre of middle-aged-lady fantasy (MALF) movies. If there were a Comic-Con for slightly overwhelmed mid-career women—a Discontentment-Con, if you will— The Idea of You would have a main-stage panel. MALF is the genre that asks: if Thor can have a hammer that always comes back and a bunch of cool superhero friends and a fulfilling job saving the universe, can't a 40-year-old woman get everything she wants in a movie too? And The Idea of You answers that if she is Solène Marchand, the coolest single mom in all of the Western seaboard, she can and does.

Solène is an art dealer who represents female artists and lives in a lovely but not too flashy craftsman cottage with a fireplace and a piano in supernatural harmony with her teenage daughter Izzy. She has a cool but modest career that does not look as boring or cutthroat as art-dealing actually is, and a cluster of extremely loyal and supportive friends. She has mastered the feminine arts of cooking and wearing lingerie but in a human and relatable way; neither her fridge nor her boobs are holding up as she had hoped they might.

Seven minutes into the movie we meet the middle-aged lady's nemesis, her ex, who does something vaguely lucrative, lives somewhere overly rectangular, and sleeps with someone youngish. Despite apparently having everything a person could want, he lets his ex-wife and daughter down—again! Solène saves the day, abandoning her plans to go camping alone, of which she is totally capable, and volunteering to take her daughter and two friends to Coachella, like any totally chill hip hero mom would.

Read More: The Power of Bryce Dallas Howard's Body in Argylle

Sometimes people who consistently put themselves last, the movie seems to say, who put their hopes and dreams on hold for their families, or use their considerable talents in the service of the greater good, can emerge on top. So it is when Solène, through an adorable misunderstanding of music-festival signage, stumbles into the trailer of a boy-band member about a decade and half her junior and insists on using his bathroom. Instead of calling security, the young demigod immediately sees something in our heroine that nobody else has. He then does what all young men do when they have an older woman in their sights: he buys all the art in her gallery! He relishes her homemade sandwiches! Instead of requests for nudes, he texts her an invitation to tour Europe with him!

In one scene, Solène drives through a crowd of paparazzi and phone-wielding teens with Hayes Campbell, the young star, hiding in the reclined seat next to her. Nobody even notices her. In case the viewer misses it, the movie keeps reminding us: this is a woman whom nobody sees, except the star of the hottest boy band in the world. Nobody can take their eyes off him, and he can't take his eyes—or his hands, or several other body parts—off her.

This is the acme of the true fantasy—not attracting a young man with chiseled cheekbones, perfect teeth, and the ability to wear a thick cardigan on a very hot day without even a bead of sweat—but actually being noticed. When the couple inevitably gets photographed together, everyone has to recalibrate who Solène really is. Some are jealous, some are appalled. (The ever-game Anne Hathaway gets to play the woman who endures this judgment-fest—a role that is probably not much of a stretch.) Most discomfited of all is her slimy ex, now left by his young lover and with nothing but his glassy lair to snuggle up in at night.

While the movie is crystal clear that Solène is in need of nothing, she does in the end get everything. Her superpowers—authenticity, talent, loyalty, kindness—allow her to wreak revenge on her foe and emerge from her period of struggle having it all and more—an unleashed libido, a booming career, the admiration of her child, and lots and lots of steamy sex with the world's most desired man. Who's also, the viewer is informed, a feminist.

Of course, the duo hit some age- and fame- and schedule- and mean-girl-related roadblocks and have to go their separate ways for a while. Years later, however, they meet again, and the viewer can tell they have both matured; she no longer has bangs and he has a solo career. Maybe this time it will work. Good things, the movie notes, come with age. Or so a 40-plus-year-old woman can dream.

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Going to the Movies

Despite the fact that the Internet made movies much more accessible than before, watching movies at the cinema is still preferred by many people today. Movie theaters are the only place to watch movies on the day of release, and many people see going to the movies as a unique form of entertainment and enjoy the atmosphere of movie theaters.

Although many streaming services exist today that let their users watch movies from the comfort of their homes, releasing a new film in both movie theaters and through streaming services simultaneously is rare and usually results in a boycott from theater chains (Moran par. 1). Because of that fact, you cannot watch a movie premiere on Netflix, and movie theaters are still the only place to watch most movies on the day of release. Usually, a new movie is released on Blu-Ray and through on-demand only months after its first opening in cinema, and typically, if you are passionate about a particular movie, you cannot wait that long.

Movie theaters have a special atmosphere that makes watching movies a unique experience. Cinemas have giant screens that would not fit into your home and offer quality surround sound which makes watching a movie a truly immersive experience. Only the most expensive home theaters come anywhere close. Many movies nowadays are released in 3d to provide the most immersion, and not everyone has a 3d TV at home, let alone a really large one, which is why these movies are more likely to be seen in movie theaters. Moreover, the directors intend their movies to be seen in a darkened theater where no one can interrupt you. The atmosphere of a movie theater makes you feel like you are a part of the story.

Many people see going to the movies as a form of pure entertainment. Watching a movie at home can get boring. They go to the movies with their dates or to socialize with friends who are likely just as obsessive about that movie as they are. Watching a movie opening with other like-minded fans makes it a special experience.

In addition, movie theaters became much more sophisticated in the recent years from the technology standpoint, with such theaters as IMAX showing movies on a very large screen that covers the entire field of view of a movie goer, use a high-resolution film stock that captures much more detail as well as a very powerful top-notch sound system. More and more cinemas offer different food and drink options in addition to traditional items like popcorn and nachos and some even offer meals with the movie. Some cinemas experiment with kinetic seats that provide feedback for what is happening on screen. These factors make going to the movies even more of an enjoyable activity.

The movie’s success is judged by how much money the movie makes in theaters. If the movie release is not met with enthusiasm from movie-goers, it is unlikely that this movie will see a sequel or become a part of a larger franchise. The movies of this particular genre are also less likely to be produced in the future. This tendency explains why people who want to support a particular movie go to the cinema, some of them multiple times. By supporting the movies that you like, you support the director, the actors, and the whole crew, and help shape the future of the cinema. You are telling the production company that you want to see more of these movies made and are ready to pay for it.

Although many people enjoy going to the movies, some people argue that the dwindling attendance rates recently suffered by movie theaters mean that cinema is dying (Lee par. 1). More people prefer to stay at home and stream movies instead of going to the cinema or go out for other forms of entertainment. One of the reasons those people give is that they are annoyed by other people who are loudly speaking, kick other people’s seats or do not turn off their phones in the movie theater. We have all seen examples of such disruptive behavior in movie theaters.

This behavior is very annoying, and movie theaters are the ones responsible for managing it. Movie theaters managers have to work hard to provide the best customer experience possible. One way to tackle this issue is to enforce strict attendance rules, and there are examples of thriving movie theaters that enforce very strict rules, such as Alamo Drafthouse. For example, they only allow those under 18 when they are accompanied by an adult, and immediately eject those who talk or text during the movie. Young children are not allowed to be in the theater at all. It is no surprise that Alamo Drafthouse generates more revenue per movie screen than other theater chains (Lee par. 30).

These are many reasons why people go to the movies nowadays. Going to the movies became a social experience and the improvement in technology made it a unique form of entertainment.

Works Cited

Lee, Joel. Cinema Is Dying: How Movie Theaters Can Ensure Their Survival , 2015.

Moran, Sarah. Could Netflix Kill the Movie Theater Industry? , 2014.

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Here's How to Watch the 'After' Movies in Order (Chronologically and by Release Date)

Catch up with Tessa and Hardin's romance.

Love doesn’t always come with a happily ever after. Based on the best-selling novel by Anna Todd , the After film series follows the studious and innocent Tessa Young ( Josephine Langford ) and the dangerously rebellious Hardin Scott ( Hero Fiennes Tiffin ) as they find themselves in a passionate yet tumultuous relationship. Now a hit sensation, the After series explores what it takes to keep the fire alive in a relationship. New to the After series? Here’s how you should watch the films in order.

Editor's Note: This piece was updated on November 6, 2023.

'After' Movies in Order of Release

• After - April 12, 2019
• After We Collided - October 23, 2020
• After We Fell - September 30, 2021
• After Ever Happy - September 7, 2022
• After Everything - September 13, 2023

'After' Movies in Chronological Order

After (2019).

After introduces Tessa Young, a high school graduate who’s just about to start her first day at Washington Central University as an undeclared economics major. On the day of her move-in, she’s accompanied by her caring yet rather controlling mother, Carol Young, and her high school sweetheart Noah Porter. Upon her arrival, Tessa is greeted by Steph Jones, Tessa’s roommate, and her girlfriend, Tristan. Unlike the studious Tessa, Steph and Tristan are all about the party scene. Nevertheless, Tessa gets along with her new friends and settles down at her dorm. Steph invites Tessa to a party at a frat house, to which she reluctantly agrees. There, Tessa gets to know the rest of Steph and Tristan’s clique, which just so happens to include Hardin Scott, a mysterious boy she met in her dorm room. The group suggests playing Truth or Dare, and Tessa is dared to lock lips with Hardin. She bluntly refuses and escapes the party, accidentally wandering around Hardin’s house. Hardin suddenly enters and the two share a lingering moment before Tessa snaps out of it and leaves.

For the next couple of days, Hardin persuades Tessa to come with him to a lake house. Before they know it, the two start flirting with each other and eventually kiss in the water. But the passion doesn’t last long, and later on, in the movie, it’s become apparent that Hardin is adamant about the idea of dating. Heartbroken, she continues to ignore Hardin, but her heart softens after Hardin gets himself into an emotional outburst at home. Despite her friends’ warnings to take things slow with Hardin, Tessa doesn’t listen to them and continues a seemingly perfect dating life with him. Everyone is always telling her that Hardin is up to something. Although she ignores them at first, Hardin, under the pressure of his friends, finally confesses to Tessa that Hardin is dared to make Tessa make fall in love with him and break her heart in the end. Tessa realizes that her relationship with Hardin is just one big lie.

After spending some time at home, she returns to university and applies for an internship at Vance Publishing. She spends more time in her classes. On the day of her English paper essay submission, her professor puts her aside and gives her an essay Hardin submitted, which sounds like it’s meant for Tessa. After class is dismissed, Tessa and Landon sit on the campus lawn. She reads the essay, which happens to be a letter from Hardin professing his feelings for her.

Watch on Netflix

After We Collided

After We Collided starts off with Hardin dreaming of Tessa, only to wake up all alone in his car, upset that Tessa hasn’t been replying to his texts. As he exits his car, a homeless man who is desperately looking for someone abruptly approaches him, prompting Hardin to shoo him away. Meanwhile, at Vance Publishing, Tessa begins her first day as a bright intern. However, things go down south after an awkward encounter with her new co-worker, Trevor Matthews. Tessa is immediately welcomed by secretary Kimberly (who is revealed to be Vance’s romantic interest), and Christian Vance, the founder of Vance Publishing.

One night, Tessa attends a nightclub with her co-workers to pique a potential investor's interest. However, after too many drinks, things got hot and heavy. From dancing with strangers to one accidental kiss, Tessa, in her drunken stupor, calls Hardin and gloats about how much she’s having now. Trevor suddenly finds her and the two return to their hotel room. Tessa accidentally spills her wine onto Trevor’s clothes and asks him to undress, so she can wash off the stains. All of a sudden, Hardin storms into the room, angry at a half-naked Trevor and cursing him out of the room. The pair’s rage doesn’t last long, and eventually, the two sleep with each other.

But their peaceful reunion doesn’t last long. Tessa soon comes to terms with the complicated mess that is in her work life and comes to terms with her true feelings for Hardin. Things get even more complex with Hardin’s family coming into the mix, with his mother Trish Daniels suddenly visiting him in the States and befriending Tessa. Tessa also goes on a venture searching for her long-lost father, who appears in the ending in the most surprising way possible.

After We Fell

In After We Fell , Tessa and Hardin are now happily living together, but deep down, they’re still incredibly insecure about themselves. Tessa receives an offer to work for Vance Publishing at their Seattle office. While she’s excited about the opportunity, Hardin doesn’t share the same sentiment. He’s afraid that their long-distance relationship wouldn’t work and more trouble ensues. Also, it doesn’t help that Hardin initially wants to bring Tessa to London after graduation.

Despite this, Tessa takes up the opportunity to move to Seattle. The jealousy-ridden Hardin becomes incredibly jealous, especially since she’ll be in the same city as Trevor. Meanwhile, Tessa has other struggles to tend to; she’s trying to reconnect with her estranged father, whom she has not seen for nine years. Hardin, originally reluctant about Tessa meeting her father for fear of getting hurt, finds himself bonding with the man as they bond about their alcoholism.

Everything seems smooth sailing until Hardin takes Tessa to London for his mother’s wedding. He is hesitant at first because he’s scared that Tessa will judge his past and origins. With Vance’s encouragement, Hardin invites Tessa to his mother’s wedding. Things appear fine, but the happiness is short-lived. The night before his mother’s wedding, Hardin accidentally encounters Vance having sex with his mom. Kimberly finds out about Vance’s cheating ways and is furious with him. Things take for the worse when Vance reveals to Hardin a long-lost secret.

After Ever Happy

When Hardin discovers his family's dark secret, he plunges into a pit of despair from which he is unable to escape. Tessa is fed up with trying to rescue Hardin from his misery only to find out that Hardin is the only one who can do it. To Hardin's dismay, Tessa eventually suggests that they take a break from each other. Hardin is furious at the idea, but eventually, they part ways and spend time figuring out what they truly want in life. As they cross with each other again in the future, they have the opportunity to rekindle their relationship or repeat their same old mistakes again. Is passion alone enough to keep their relationship strong? Or is this the end for Tessa and Hardin?

After Everything

After Everything shows the aftermath of Hardin's break-up with Tessa and his deteriorating mental state as he struggles to cope with not being with Tessa anymore. He's also struggling with his work, suffering from a bad case of writer's block. Hardin decides to travel to Lisbon, Portugal, in order to make amends with Natalie, but unfortunately isn't so welcome. As his journey progresses, Hardin once again crosses paths with Tessa, but only time will tell if the former couple will rekindle their flame.

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No Jerry Seinfeld, the ‘extreme left’ hasn’t killed comedy

The comedian’s claim that wokeness is the reason why comedy is no longer as funny is lazy – and inaccurate

J erry Seinfeld is currently at saturation point, promoting his new Pop Tarts movie Unfrosted . Still a canny operator, however, Seinfeld understands that the last thing anyone in the world wants to hear about is his new Pop Tarts movie. After all, there is realistically only so much available media interest in a streaming period comedy film about a breakfast product. And so Unfrosted has taken something of a backseat to a much more newsworthy proposition: Jerry Seinfeld mouthing off for clicks.

Until now, Seinfeld’s targets have included the film industry (the people he worked with “don’t have any idea that the movie business is over”) and his disdain for dabblers (“There’s nothing I revile quite as much as a dilettante”), despite being a man who has just directed his first film at the age of 70. True, he has also tried talking about things he actually enjoys, like his love of watching surfing videos on YouTube, but that isn’t really what gets the clicks these days. And so, with some inevitability, Jerry Seinfeld has pulled out the big guns and declared that the left is destroying comedy.

Speaking on the New Yorker’s Radio Hour , Seinfeld said: “Nothing really affects comedy. People always need it. They need it so badly and they don’t get it. It used to be that you’d go home at the end of the day, most people would go ‘Oh, Cheers is on. Oh, M*A*S*H is on. Oh, Mary Tyler Moore is on. All in the Family is on.’ You just expected [there will] be some funny stuff we can watch on TV tonight. Well guess what? Where is it? Where is it?”

Which isn’t entirely true – Curb Your Enthusiasm just wrapped up its 25-year-run with a universally beloved episode that Jerry Seinfeld was actually in – but it’s broadly valid. Despite the glut of streaming services that now run in addition to the major networks, a smaller and smaller percentage of their output is comedic in nature. One answer might be that people are turning online for faster, funnier, cheaper comedy that appeals directly to their tastes. But Jerry Seinfeld has other ideas.

“This is the result of the extreme left and PC crap and people worrying so much about offending other people,” he explained, going on to state: “When you write a script, and it goes into four or five different hands, committees, groups – ‘Here’s our thought about this joke’ – well, that’s the end of your comedy.”

The problem seems to be that too many people delight in performative outrage these days, and a well-intentioned joke might end up being taken out of context and being escalated to a cancelation-level event. Luckily, the extreme left wasn’t a thing back in Seinfeld’s day, which is why something as famously edgy as – let’s see – Cheers was able to stay on air for as long as it did.

On the surface, this is an incredibly dreary thing to say, not least because it doesn’t fit Seinfeld as a performer at all. It’s hard to complain that you’re not allowed to offend anybody any more when your stock in trade is deliberately inoffensive comedy. Jerry Seinfeld is a man who has just made a film about some pastry. Unless all the clips and trailers have done a particularly good job of hiding a scene in which one character looks straight to camera and declares that all trans people are an affront to God, Unfrosted probably isn’t going to appall the delicate sensibilities of very many people at all.

This is a man, remember, who is proud of his family friendly image. The 2011 HBO special Talking Funny has aged incredibly badly – it’s a roundtable discussion of comedy that features both Louis CK and Ricky Gervais – but Seinfeld’s contributions hold up. During his discussion, he defends his decision never to swear onstage, insinuating that it’s an easy way to get laughs. It’s a subject he followed up on a few years later, telling the Guardian: “A person who can defend themselves with a gun is just not very interesting. But a person who defends themselves through aikido or tai chi? Very interesting.”

And let’s not forget that, when Seinfeld’s co-star Michael Richards ended his career with a racist rant onstage, Jerry Seinfeld not only brought him on Letterman to explain himself, but treated the incident with such grave intent that at one point he sincerely ordered the studio audience to stop laughing, telling them: “It’s not funny.”

So there have always been gatekeepers to what is and isn’t funny. Indeed, in his own work Jerry Seinfeld has been one of the staunchest gatekeepers of all. Perhaps the problem here isn’t that the extreme left has a stranglehold on comedy. Perhaps it’s just that Jerry Seinfeld is getting old.

• Jerry Seinfeld
• Comedy (Culture)
• Comedy (Stage)

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Screen Rant

Chief of station's aaron eckhart on his love of spy movies & performing own fight sequences.

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Every Movie Coming To Theaters In May 2024

Raegan revord looks back at her time on young sheldon & gives series finale tease, 9-1-1 star kenneth choi talks maddie and chimney's wedding & the 118's reaction to buck-tommy romance.

• Aaron Eckhart returns to action as CIA veteran Ben Malloy in Chief of Station , showcasing his love for the spy genre and intense fight scenes.
• Eckhart worked closely with director Jesse V. Johnson to develop Ben's backstory, adding depth to his character in the fast-paced thriller.
• The film features a talented ensemble cast including Olga Kurylenko and Alex Pettyfer, with Eckhart praising their professionalism and dedication.

Aaron Eckhart is back in the action sphere with Chief of Station . Though better known to some for his more dramatic fare in the likes of Thank You For Smoking , Sully and Bleed For This , the Golden Globe nominee has been steadily building his resume in the world of action-thrillers, ranging from his acclaimed turn as Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight to co-starring in the first two Fallen movies with Gerard Butler and 2023's Rumble Through the Dark .

In Chief of Station , Eckhart stars as Ben Malloy, a veteran CIA station chief whose life is thrown into upheaval when his wife is killed in an apparent accidental explosion at a restaurant. After retiring and trying to rebuild his relationship with his on-the-rise tech guru son Nick, Ben learns his wife's death was actually an assassination, and he must go back into the world of espionage he left behind in the hopes of getting closure and bringing the people responsible to justice.

May 2024 will bring an action comedy movie starring Ryan Gosling, a new Planet of the Apes movie, a Mad Max prequel, and a good dose of horror.

Alongside Eckhart, the ensemble Chief of Station cast includes Black Widow 's Olga Kurylenko , I Am Number Four 's Alex Pettyfer, Chris Petrovski, Laëtia Eïdo, Nick Moran and Nobody 's Daniel Bernhardt. The movie hails from stunt coordinator-turned-director Jesse V. Johnson, best known for his works on the likes of the Scott Adkins-led Savage Dog , the Tony Jaa-starring Triple Threat and, more recently, Boudica: The Queen of War .

In honor of the movie's release, Screen Rant interviewed Aaron Eckhart to discuss Chief of Station , his love of the spy genre, diving into performing his own fight sequences, getting to work alongside Daniel Bernhardt and his upcoming reunion with Johnson.

Eckhart Was Intrigued By Playing A Pro With " A Personal Stake "

While the movie is an action thriller at its core, Eckhart found the nature of Ben being a " veteran spy chief who's controlling events " all while having a " personal stake " in the situation intriguing. Combined with his love of doing action and " the spy game ", the Golden Globe nominee found a lot to love about the role:

Aaron Eckhart: I love that as I get older, I'm still moving, I'm still kicking, I'm still alive. I like to do action, I like to run around, and I like the clandestine aspect of the movie. The idea of an older, veteran spy chief who's coordinating events, who has a personal stake in the outcome of events. I like the fact of being a leader, and coordinating and controlling others. And I like the spy game, I've always loved spy movies from the '70s, and always wanted to participate in that. And I'm lucky that I get to do a couple. Of course, there's always the former is being a professional, and that's the highest compliment anybody can, in my profession — and I'm sure in yours — give is being a professional. At the end of the day, you've got to be a pro. And what does a pro mean? A pro means you put everything aside, and you do your job to the best of your ability, and you get the job done, that's being a pro. No matter what life throws at you, no matter what the day throws at you. And in filmmaking —as I'm sure in your profession — you never know what's gonna happen, you have things, unsuspecting circumstances that present themselves where, at the end of the day, you go, "I could have lost it there, but I didn't, because I have years of experience as a professional." So I like that aspect of it. I'm always looking at people in different professions and say, "Is that guy a pro? That guy's a pro, look at that guy, he's a pro, how did he deal with that situation?" However, in this particular instance, you're going back to a place where you're dealing with the guilt and the loss of a loved one. You're dealing with your son, so it's family, and nothing's more personal than family. You can never redeem yourself in this instance, because the guilt will always be there. You lost your wife, and your son lost his mother, however, you can try to put the pieces back together.

Eckhart Had Many Conversations With Johnson About Ben's Backstory

With the movie spending the majority of its 98-minute runtime keeping the pace nice and fast as Ben tracks down his wife's killer, some of the backstory for his and other characters finds itself only slowly meted out, leaving much to the imagination. Despite this, Eckhart still took the time to have meaningful conversations with Johnson to expand on his backstory, with the star praising his director for his care of both his characters and actors:

Aaron Eckhart: Yeah, I did. Every morning, Jesse would come into my trailer, and we would talk about the scene and the day and get it really right in our minds. That's very important to Jesse, and Jesse hires great actors, too. Alex and Olga, and everybody. Alex is just a fantastic actor, he's prepared, and he knows what he's doing. He's strong, he can fight, and he's got a great presence. He's a good-looking guy. And Olga's the same, you know, a pro. And everybody was working for Jesse and working for the movie, which is very important, so we're all on the same page. But Jesse was concerned about the backstory, he was concerned about the depth of the character and where he's coming from. [Chuckles] That was what we'd do every single morning, he'd come in, he'd go, "Okay, this is where we are, this is what the character, blah, blah, blah." We would talk about it. However, I will say — and I'm working again with Jesse on my next movie — is that, as a good director, you always takes input and apply that input into the scene, so it's really a communal effort in all the characters.

Chief of Station Had A " Great Stunt Team " For Eckhart To Work With

As he continues to expand his work in the action genre, Eckhart has found himself relishing the opportunities to work with the stunt teams of his movies to perform his action sequences, with Chief of Station pitting him against frequent stuntman-actor Daniel Bernhardt. Eckhart had particular praise for the Nobody star , expressing how his love for the craft frequently gave him a sense of renewed energy on the set:

Aaron Eckhart: Well, we had a great stunt team. We didn't have a lot of time, but we had a great stunt team. It's all about trust. Fighting, especially actor-on-actor, because not every actor is as skilled as another, and I always say to young actors, there's three things you got to do, you got to learn. Because you can't learn them on the day and look good. One is ride a horse, the other one's throw a punch, and — I forgot the third one, it was such a good build up. [Laughs] Anyway, so Alex knows how to fight, so that was great. He was willing, and he knows how to take a punch, and he knows how hard to go and how not hard to go, so we had a great time. For example, the fight in the boat, we choreographed it that morning, so we learned the fight that morning, and we just worked on it through the day, and then we shot it last. So, we knew the fight, it was challenging in that way in the time. However, in terms of trusting your partner, the level was very high. So, you could throw the punches, you could take the punches, you knew what they were going to do, you could see him coming. And when that happens, then you know anything's possible, and so we were lucky in that way. Listen, this guy loves it, what he does. He loves to act, I wish I had his enthusiasm. [Laughs] The guy loves it, he cannot get enough of it, both the acting and the fighting. So, when you have a guy like that, who's highly skilled, who just loves what he does, and he loves the process, he loves filmmaking. I would look at him, and he's smiling, I'd go, "What are you smiling at?" He'd just go, "I just love this crap. I just love it." He's infectious that way. I'm glad you appreciate him, because he ups the movie, man.

About Chief of Station

Former CIA European Station Chief Ben’s world comes crumbling down after his wife, a former operative, dies in a terrible accident. After receiving cryptic intel that his wife’s death might not have been an accident, Ben heads back into the shadowy underworld of Eastern Europe, teaming up with a former adversary to unravel a conspiracy that challenges everything he thought he knew about his wife, and the agency he worked at for more than 20 years.

Check out our other Chief of Station interview with Olga Kurylenko .

Chief of Station is now in select theaters and on VOD.

Chief of Station (2024)