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50 Movies About Writers That Are Definitely Worth Your Time

From William Shakespeare to Toni Morrison to Joan Didion to J.R.R. Tolkien, it's no secret that folks who professionally put words on paper are endlessly fascinating individuals. Some writers find inspiration for their work from their own troubled lives and wild backgrounds. Others are simply born with imaginations the size of an aircraft carrier. However different they may be, authors, journalists, poets, and essayists all share the special ability of expressing themselves so well that they take up space in the minds of others.

With a gift so unique — and so fundamentally important to the movie industry — it's no wonder Hollywood loves making movies about writers. And it turns out, audiences truly enjoy watching the misadventures of the literarily inclined. However, movies about writers are all faced with the same problem: The actual act of writing is un-cinematic. There's nothing inherently that interesting about watching a person pound out sentences on a laptop or typewriter, even though the person doing the typing might be deeply interesting. Luckily, these great films have found unique and exciting ways of visualizing the writing process and the figures behind it, so read on to find out the best movies about writers (and don't worry, no one is just sitting behind a desk in any of these).

One of the best movies about a writer not surprisingly comes from the brain and fingertips of the meta movie master himself: Charlie Kaufman. Kaufman wrote the 2002 film "Adaptation," which tells a story about a fictional version of himself and his fictional twin brother, Donald. In "Adaptation," insecure and self-loathing screenwriter Charlie Kaufman ( Nicolas Cage ) suffers from writer's block, as he tries to adapt a book that seems impossible to translate to the screen. Meanwhile, his twin brother Donald (also Cage) decides that he wants to be a screenwriter too, and tries his hand at Charlie's life's work.

If a double performance from Cage isn't enough of a selling point, the fact that Kaufman wrote a movie about a screenwriter adapting a book should do the trick. In his hands, the story turns into a commentary on the Hollywood machine, the difference between reality and fiction, a semi-adaptation of Susan Orlean's real-life bestseller "The Orchid Thief," and an update of Sam Shepherd's classic stage comedy "True West."

Plus, it features a stacked supporting cast. Screen queen Meryl Streep delivers big time as author Susan Orlean, Chris Cooper serves as a perfect antagonist, and Brian Cox shows up to steal a few scenes as Robert McKee. Maggie Gyllenhaal and Tilda Swinton also appear in small roles. All of these actors bring a sense of quirky energy and make what could've been an overly heady movie into a fun ride. Viewers be warned though, anyone looking for a one-for-one recreation of "The Orchid Thief" should look elsewhere.

Midnight in Paris

Woody Allen's love letter to Paris in the 1920s is both a sweet high-concept comedy and an evaluation of the virtues of nostalgia. "Midnight in Paris" centers around Gil (Owen Wilson), a Hollywood script doctor, who dreams of writing a meaningful novel. While in Paris with his fiancée Inez (Rachel McAdams) and her parents, Gil discovers a car that takes him back to 1920s Paris at midnight. Gil goes on the trip of a lifetime, where he hangs out with literary and artistic greats like Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Cole Porter, Salvador Dalí, Gertrude Stein, and many, many more.

"Midnight in Paris" plays like an art and literature lover's dream, as these legendary writers and artists get the chance to engage with someone who already knows their reputations and masterworks, which leads to some hilarious jokes. The casting in this film is excellent, as Tom Hiddleston proves to be an inspired choice as a young F. Scott Fitzgerald, while Adrian Brody is hilarious as a rhinoceros-obsessed Dalí. Any fan looking to get lost in a whimsical story featuring some of the most influential names of the 20th century need look no further than "Midnight in Paris."

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

2018's "Can You Ever Forgive Me?" is based on the true story of professional biographer Lee Israel (via Time ). Struggling to write her next book and pay the rent, Israel (Melissa McCarthy) uses her gift for getting into the lives of other people and forges letters from all sorts of famous folks, which she sells for a high price. What ensues is a deep look inside a damaged and lonely person, who's often more comfortable embodying others rather than herself.

McCarthy — who's typically scene-stealing in comedic vehicles like "Bridesmaids" — plays against type here and brings a prickly exterior to almost every scene she's in. In her hands, Israel becomes a lovable hard drinker and sailor-mouthed depressive. But underneath the movie's pain and drama lies a quietly devastating look at an author whose talents went under-appreciated in her time. Nobody turns to fraud for fun and "Can You Ever Forgive Me?" makes a strong case that forgery really is Israel's last resort.

It also makes pains to not overly romanticize its protagonist's gifts. Even though expertly crafting false biographical correspondence is no easy feat, the audience is never explicitly rooting for Israel to get away with it. It's akin to watching a talented friend burn their skills on a fruitless enterprise and here, the viewer grows to admire Israel's work before wishing she put her efforts towards something else.

Ruby Sparks

Zoe Kazan wrote and stars in "Ruby Sparks," a film about a fictional manic pixie dream girl come to life. Author Calvin (Paul Dano) writes about a character named Ruby Sparks, and is startled to see that this person on his page suddenly appears in the form of a living, breathing Ruby Sparks (Kazan). Calvin soon discovers that his writing about Ruby holds sway over Ruby in the real world.

This high-concept plot explores heady themes like how women are objectified in fiction by male creators or what it means for an author to engage with their material once it leaves the page and enters the real world. While the movie is based around this complex metaphor, it never fails to entertain. Dano and Kazan are wonderful in the lead roles and the cast is rounded out by the likes of Antonio Banderas, Annette Benning, and Steve Coogan — who's funny enough to read a phone book.

The film got mostly positive reviews by critics, including Roger Ebert , who wrote that "the movie's intriguing in its fanciful way." Directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris of "Little Miss Sunshine" fame bring Kazan's script to life here, and anyone looking for a meta tale about writing will be sure to enjoy "Ruby Sparks."

Virginia Woolf is an author whose work seems like it would be difficult to adapt for the big screen due to her focus on interiority, or the way that characters think and feel, which is hard to show on-screen. Luckily for Woolf fans, 2003's "The Hours" — based on a book of the same name by Michael Cunningham — heavily vibes on Woolf's " waves " length. 

The movie tells the story of three women in three different time periods, who are all interconnected by Woolf's novel "Mrs. Dalloway." There's Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) trying to write in 1923, Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) trying to live in 1951, and Clarissa Vaughan (Meryl Streep) trying to throw a party in 2001.

Both the film and its source material owes a ton to Woolf's classic works like "A Room of One's Own" and "Mrs. Dalloway." In "The Hours," much like in Woolf's novels, each female protagonist puts on a face for the world (and men) around her, which hides all that she has going on underneath the surface.

All three actresses shine in "The Hours," as do supporting cast members like Richard Harris in a particularly tragic performance. For anyone unfamiliar with Woolf, "The Hours" is a fantastic and emotional ode to a woman who created art at a time that didn't understand her or want her to.

Bright Star

Academy Award-winning writer-director Jane Campion brought her signature light and considered touch to 2009's "Bright Star." The film depicts the romance between poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish).

Today, Keats is a well-known 19th century Romantic poet. However, in his own time, Keats felt he was a failure. His published work received mostly middling reviews and he died at 25 of tuberculosis. This context brings a tinge of sadness to the film since anybody familiar with the poet is aware of the tragic future outcome of his budding romance with Fanny.

Campion keeps a movie about a romantic rather subdued. Instead of making Keats' and Fanny's relationship into a loud ball of anachronistic erotic behavior, she spends time on the intimate moments the pair share together. The tiny beats of silence they share, the expression on Fanny's face when she receives a letter from Keats, and the moments where the pair read poetry all create a gorgeous portrait of young love. In other words, Campion captures the romance people are capable of when just being around one another is enough. However sad though it may be, this beautiful movie is quietly excellent and not to be missed.

Becoming Jane

Jane Austen received the Hollywood biopic treatment in 2007's "Becoming Jane." While the movie is not a particularly accurate account of Austen's ascendance to the literary hall of fame, it is a fun romp through Austen's past. In the film, Anne Hathaway plays the budding literary superstar, who's marked by equal intelligence and charm. As she makes her way through the world, she encounters suitors of all shapes and sizes, from all manner of backgrounds both privileged and unprivileged alike.

The movie is framed as "the inspiration" for Austen's "Pride and Prejudice." Any fan looking for a granular recreation of Austen's process or life in the Regency Era be warned — "Becoming Jane" is firmly a rom-com with biopic window dressing. Most of its plot revolves around Austen's relationship with Tom Lefroy (James McAvoy). While Lefroy existed in real life, scholars aren't certain he was ever romantically involved with the author (via The Jane Austen Centre ). However, the fiction weaves into the film is more fun than issue.

"Becoming Jane" may not reveal anything particularly noteworthy about Austen or her literary process. However, it does allow Hathaway to put enough charisma on screen to fill her own novel. So, like a fun read, "Becoming Jane," entices audiences and doesn't overstay its welcome.

Some movies about authors are played for grins, while others — like 2005's "Capote" — are played deadly serious. This biopic details the six years that Truman Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman) spends writing his magnum opus, "In Cold Blood," and the heavy toll that this work of investigating and writing about a heinous crime takes on Capote.

This book details the real-life murders of a family in Kansas, as well as the subsequent investigation into the killings, and the trial and executions of the men who committed them. In an interview with The New York Times , Capote discusses his revolutionary approach of writing this true story using the devices of fiction, which is widely credited as creating the non-fiction novel (via Brittanica.com ).

The late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman captures this dark material marvelously. He completely channels the author, and won his only Oscar for the performance. While many authors have led interesting lives, not many have worked on a story that fundamentally altered the course of their life, and "Capote" captures the destructive toll of creation marvelously.

Young Adult

In 2011's "Young Adult," Mavis Gary ( Charlize Theron ) is a former prom queen, who's now a stunted young adult fiction writer with a penchant for bitter put-downs and whiskey. Mavis returns to her hometown and embarks upon a doomed quest to win back her old high school flame, Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson). That Buddy is happily married with a pregnant wife doesn't deter Mavis one bit, who tries to reconnect with her old flame, all while connecting in surprising ways with Matt (Patton Oswalt), a bullied ex-classmate she barely remembers.

While "Young Adult" could have played like a depressing slice-of-life movie, in the hands of screenwriter Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman — who team up again after the wildly successful "Juno" — it subverts expectations to become something totally unique, which has as many laughs as dark moments.

Theron shines here, as she goes for broke and swerves between unbridled nastiness and vulnerability on a dime. She's matched only by stand-up comedian Patton Oswalt, who injects a fairly grim film with a much-needed sense of humanity and empathy. In fact, Oswalt's performance is so good that Roger Ebert described it as the "key to the film's success" in his review.

Almost Famous

2000's "Almost Famous" dramatizes the actual and envy-inducing early days of director Cameron Crowe's career in music journalism (via Rolling Stone ). In the movie, a teenager named William Miller (Patrick Fugit) gets hired by Rolling Stone editor Ben Fong-Torres (Terry Chen) to go on tour with a fictional band called Stillwater. Stillwater — with their long hair, sweet riffs, and infighting — acts an amalgamation of the legendary rock bands from the 1970s like Led Zeppelin and the Allman Brothers.

 The movie's secret sauce is its ability to express William's passion for writing. William, like his real-life counterpart Cameron Crowe, loves rock n' roll and Crowe is able to make this enthusiasm vibrate off the screen, so viewers can reach out and grab a fistful of William's lust for life and epic experiences. Plenty of movies deal with the troubled lives of writers and many make hay of the inspirations that lead to their most influential works. However, very few films explicitly show the audience what it feels like to care about something enough to write about it for a living and do so in such a warm, sweet way. If all of that didn't sell it, "Almost Famous" also features the most iconic use of Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" of all time. Seek this movie out wherever it can be found.

Stranger Than Fiction

"Stranger Than Fiction" is a somewhat odd movie. Its director Marc Forster was previously known for sad fare like "Monster's Ball," and it stars Will Ferrell in his first real dramatic role as IRS auditor Harold Crick. Crick lives life like any everyman. He works, he chats with friends, and he pines for romance — until this existence is suddenly interrupted by a disembodied voice narrating his life. Crick goes on a quest to find the source of this narrator, and soon discovers that he's the subject of the next novel by author Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson), who's known for killing off her protagonists. 

"Stranger Than Fiction" uses its meta concept to explore the relationship between love, art, and creation, and it tackles these heady topics in a palatable and off-beat way thanks to Ferrell's turn as Harold Crick. Given the surreal nature of the story, Ferrell's acting chops fit into the movie's heightened world. In a film that dives into absurdity from its opening moments, Ferrell reveals a unique ability to reverse his usual funny man shtick. Instead of handling routine moments with absurdity, he handles absurd moments subtly. While the movie is about Harold Crick, it also relies on the relationship between Crick and Eiffel, as two people who discover the unexpected ways they influence each other. It speaks to that on a micro level as well as on a macro one, as Eiffel confronts her abilities and power as a writer, which is done perfectly in Thompson's hands.

Barton Fink

The Coen Brothers' "Barton Fink ” is a lot of things. It's a movie about writer's block — famously written during the Coen Brothers' own writer's block (via Cinephilia Beyond ) — it's a showcase of John Turturro's and John Goodman's acting abilities, and it might even be an allegory for the life of the mind . However, the one thing it most definitely is, is a fantastic movie.

The story follows Turturro's Fink — a successful New York playwright concerned with the common man — when he moves to Los Angeles in 1941 to write for a major Hollywood studio. Fink is assigned to write a wrestling picture and he immediately comes down with a case of writer's block. Fink sets out to find inspiration, which inevitably leads to various bizarre only-in-a-Coen-Brothers-movie-moments.

For the unfamiliar, the Coen Brothers are riffing on a real-life frequent 20th-century practice of the literary-minded heading out to Los Angeles in search of big paychecks and fame. According to the A.V. Club , the Coen Brothers loosely based the character of Fink on the playwright-turned-screenwriter Clifford Odets. In fact, it was their discovery that Nobel Prize-winning icon William Faulkner wrote a wrestling movie — 1932's "Flesh" — that initially inspired "Barton Fink" (and the film's character of W.P. Mayhew). Faulkner and the Coen Brothers? This movie is a novel head's dream.

My Salinger Year

Joanna Rakoff's memoir "My Salinger Year ” gets the Hollywood treatment this 2021 adaptation. The movie follows Rakoff (Margaret Qualley), as she begins her writing career by becoming an assistant to literary agent Margaret Westberg. Margaret (Sigourney Weaver) is a stand-in for real life literary agent Phyllis Westberg (via Variety ). Things take an interesting turn for Rakoff, when she begins taking phone calls from one of Westberg's most famous clients: J.D. "Jerry" Salinger.

"My Salinger Year" unfolds like a coming-of-age story shot through with "The Devil Wears Prada" energy. Over the course of her time working for Westberg, Joanna finds romance, renewed self-confidence in her own work, and makes decisions about where she wants her own life to go. While it doesn't have the same caustic wit that made "The Devil Wears Prada" so popular, "My Salinger Year" is most definitely an interesting snapshot into a career path most folks may not know anything about. And for any movie fan with dreams of writing, the idea of getting paid to talk to Salinger is surely catnip. 

Rob Reiner adapted Stephen King's 1987 novel "Misery" into a classic horror movie of the same name in 1990. The film follows famous romance author Paul Sheldon (James Caan), who gets into a terrible car accident. He's saved by Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), a super fan who decides to hold her favorite author hostage. "Misery" mimics Kings real life in different ways, both superficially as it's a chilling nightmare about obsessive fans, and on a deeper level, as he's noted that it's an allegory for his cocaine addiction (via Rolling Stone ).

Bates brings so much demented menace to the role that she not only makes the film, but also won an Oscar for her performance, which is extra impressive considering how infrequently horror films get recognized by the Academy. Seriously, in Bates' hand, Annie Wilkes enters the pantheon of great movie villains alongside Heath Ledger's Joker, the shark from "Jaws," and Darth Vader. For fans of the horror genre or movies about writers, run, don't walk to see "Misery." However, viewers be warned — after watching "Misery," you'll never look at a sledgehammer the same way ever again.

If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Mary Shelley

Author Mary Shelley is remembered for her 1818 masterpiece "Frankenstein." While the chilling story of Dr. Frankenstein's attempt to play god and create life of his own is known to many, the details of its creator's life are likely not. So, in 2017, indie director Haifaa al-Mansour brought Shelley's miraculous and tragic life to the screen in the biopic "Mary Shelley."

The film follows a teenage Mary (Elle Fanning), who falls in love with famed Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (Douglas Booth). As she tries to navigate this relationship, Mary finds surprising inspiration for her "Frankenstein" during a night of telling ghost stories, and later struggles to get her book published.

Elle Fanning plays Shelley with the same vivaciousness she brings to her star performance as Catherine the Great on "The Great." Al-Mansour shoots the film like a romantic period piece, which makes this particular biopic unique. In reality, Mary Shelley lived through the Romantic art movement in Europe due to her relationship with Percy Shelley and friendship with Lord Byron, and her life itself is almost an inversion of a classic romance. Like typical romantic heroines, Shelley was a fiercely intelligent young woman of means, but her life did not wrap up in a neat happy ending. While she did fight her way through the period's sexist attitudes to publish arguably the greatest piece of horror fiction ever written, her life was also marked by various tragedies. "Mary Shelley" focuses on an influential moment of this authors life, and so communicates who Shelley was and her artistic achievements. For "Frankenstein" fans everywhere, it's a must see.

The Ghost Writer

In a time-honored Hollywood tradition, "The Ghost Writer" adapts another thriller by "Silence of the Lambs" author Robert Harris. Based on his novel "The Ghost," the movie follows an unnamed ghostwriter (Ewan McGregor), who's hired to complete the autobiography of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan). This being a Harris adaptation, it's not really a spoiler to say it's not long before the ghostwriter's assignment lands the working writer in a hot pile of intrigue.

While the movie's machinations don't move it much beyond standard political thriller fare, its cast most definitely does. McGregor is fantastic in the leading role, as is always and former James Bond Pierce Brosnan as the former PM Adam Lang, since the movie leverages Brosnan's singular charm like a weapon. All the things that made him attractive as 007 make him terrifying as a politician. The rest of the class includes some early work from the always wonderful Jon Bernthal and a superb cameo from Eli Wallach. Yes, Tuco from "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," shares a scene with Ewan McGregor. It's glorious.

Little Women

Greta Gerwig's 2019 "Little Women" is one of the great literary adaptations to hit the big screen. Besides the fact that it's based on one of the most beloved novels of all time (of the same name), it also features an incredible range of some of the most talented women in Hollywood.

"Little Women" the life and times of the four March sisters as they come of age, make career choices, get married, and grow up in the 19th century. Gerwig wisely decides to let the cast and Louisa May Alcott's wonderful source material do their thing. She also changes the novel's structure by moving between the "present" day (of 1868) and the past in flashbacks. However, originalists should have no fear. The flashbacks just add to the adaptation and ensure that the book's biggest moments all make it to the screen.

While "Little Women" focuses on all of the March sisters, it's Jo's story at heart, and she's played here by Saoirse Ronan. Jo is the writer of the bunch, whose imagination and creativity let her dream of a world beyond what she's told she can have. Ronan embodies Jo's free writer spirit to perfection, and her work is matched by Florence Pugh as bull-headed youngest sister Amy, Emma Watson as pragmatic eldest Meg, and Eliza Scanlen as kind-hearted Beth. The supporting cast includes Laura Dern as the girls' mother and Meryl Streep as their hilarious caustic aunt. Guided by writer-director Gerwig's confident and considerate hand, "Little Women" is a new classic in its own right.

Before Sunset

Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy star 2004's "Before Sunset," the second entry of Richard Linklater's "Before" trilogy. Each film in the trilogy depicts a romantic rendezvous between Hawke's Jesse and Delpy's Celine and each meeting is set exactly nine years apart (via Vanity Fair ). What sets this series apart is that Linklater filmed and released each movie in real-time. The first came out in 1995, the second in 2004, and the third in 2013, which gives the "Before" movies a truly authentic touch, as the characters and actors grow and age in real life.

In "Before Sunset," Jesse has just published a novel that recounts his initial meeting with Celine in "Before Sunrise." Jesse hasn't seen Celine since their meeting in the first movie and hopes the book will draw her out. It does and the pair spend "Before Sunset" rekindling their relationship, as they walk around Paris.

Jesse's novel not only ties in the events of the first film in an impactful way, but also gives the trilogy a literary bent. Linklater's "Before" trilogy can almost be viewed as a living, breathing novel set in three distinct time periods of its central characters' lives. Like the most famous romance stories — think Edith Wharton's "Age of Innocence" or Jane Austen's catalog — the "Before" trilogy is all about the ways that love both changes and holds constant over time.

Swimming Pool

"Isolated writer" movies, wherein an author goes somewhere remote to focus on working until things begin to go bump in the night, is a fantastic sub-genre and 2003's "Swimming Pool" is one of its best entries.

Author Sarah Morton (Charlotte Rampling) goes on a retreat to her publisher's remote French country home to work on her next novel. However, her peace and quiet is quickly upended when the young and enigmatic Julie (Ludivine Sagnier) shows up, claiming to be the publisher's daughter. The two women immediately butt heads, as a war of strong personalities kicks off in earnest. However, instead of turning into a clash of the generations comedy, "Swimming Pool" instead becomes a slow burn thriller.

The movie's tension is so thick, the audience can dish it out with an ice cream scooper. Every exchange between Julie and Sarah results in another layer of mystery to untangle. Every guest Julie brings by the house's pool seems to annoy and arouse Sarah's interest more and more. And every answer Sarah gets from the elusive Julie only leads to more questions. By the film's end audiences will be wringing their hands in paranoia. For fans of movies with equal parts mystery, eroticism, and writing, "Swimming Pool" is for you.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Terry Gilliam, former Monty Python member and director of oddball wonders like "Brazil" and "Time Bandits," takes audiences on a weekend getaway they won't soon forget in 1998's "Fear in Loathing in Las Vegas." Based on Hunter S. Thompson's book of the same name, the film follows writer Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp) and his attorney Dr. Gonzo (Benicio del Toro) on a trip to Las Vegas. Duke is supposed to be covering an annual motorcycle race, but he winds up taking a laundry list of drugs and tapping into "the savage heart of the American dream." 

As in the book, the movie's Duke is based on countercultural icon Hunter S. Thompson, who wrote the novel out of his own experiences in Las Vegas on two separate writing assignments for Rolling Stone . The book is wonderful in its own gross, hilarious, and acid-dipped way. The movie has some difficulty transferring that plot to the big screen, since the plot is pretty thin to begin with. 

However, Gilliam wisely does what he can to capture the book's energy by letting the writing speak for itself. He lifts Thompson's brilliant prose off the page and puts it on-screen in voice over, and Thompson himself is brilliantly captured by Johnny Depp, who even nails the author's unique staccato speaking style. For any movie fan who's heard the Thompson name but never read any of his work, check out "Fear and Loathing" for scenes that capture the best of his writing. 

Out of Africa

1985's "Out of Africa" is a movie from a bygone era when movie stars headlined films as opposed to franchises. In other words, "Out of Africa's" selling point was the white hot charisma of Robert Redford and Meryl Streep, not its place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There's nothing wrong with franchise movies, but it's hard to watch a movie like "Out of Africa" and not fall in love with its leads.

Loosely on Karen von Blixen's 1937 memoir of the same name (written under her pen name of Isak Dinesen), the film follows von Blixen (Streep), as she moves to a British colony in Africa in the early 20th century and begins a doomed romance with Denys Hatton (Redford). These experiences and more shape a story that she later turns into her memoir.

The movie plays like a highlight reel of adventure romance novels. The pair has differences when they first meet, eventually learn to get along, and then learn how to really get along. Without spoiling how any of these things occur, it's no spoiler to say Redford and Streep are absolutely magnetic together on screen. Both are acting legends in their own right and together, the pair gives off enough steam to power the Trans Pacific Railroad. While writing may not always be at the forefront of the film, it definitely foregrounds the type of fun often reserved for the best beach novels.

Shakespeare in Love

For anybody who likes their romantic comedy served with a side of literary history, look no further than "Shakespeare in Love." The movie — starring Joseph Fiennes as The Bard and Gwyneth Paltrow as his love interest Viola — fictionalizes a forbidden romance between Shakespeare and a high-born lady, which inspires his next play: "Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter." Or rather, inspires him to make some changes to it.

The movie is fun for a few reasons. The cast is clearly having a ball, Fiennes and Paltrow have fantastic chemistry, and Dame Judi Dench shows up as Queen Elizabeth I. Plus, "Shakespeare in Love" stays true to its namesake's talent by bundling low comedy, high comedy, and tragedy all into the same package. The movie was an enormous box office hit when it was released in 1998. It was a critical hit too, and won seven Oscars, including Best Picture (via IMDB ). Esteemed critic Roger Ebert gave the movie four stars when it first came out and he credited the film with presenting the reason so many people fall in love with theater.

Some basic knowledge of Shakespeare's works and history will definitely help a viewer pick up on some of the movie's in-jokes. However, Shakespeare essentially wrote for anyone who's ever suffered the trials and tribulations of this mortal coil, and "Shakespeare in Love" has the same broad appeal.

The late great Iris Murdoch remains one the greatest authors of the 20th century. Her writing ran headlong into every oddity that makes humans human, and she never looked away from the quirks of our better and worse angels. 

"Iris" follows Murdoch at different stages of her life, so here, Kate Winslet plays young Iris and Dame Judi Dench plays the elder Iris. For fans keeping score, that's two epic generational talents in the same movie. Iris' husband, writer and professor John Bayley, is portrayed by Hugh Bonneville and Jim Broadbent in his younger and older forms. 

Ultimately, this 2001 biopic about Murdoch's life and eventual battle with Alzheimer's couldn't hope to be as original as its subject , it's certainly worth the watch to learn more about the woman behind some of the best books of the last 100 years, and who saw the world a bit differently from others. Luckily, she shared it in ways that continue to shape writers and readers alike, and "Iris" captures Murdoch's essence and influence as best it can.

Sunset Boulevard

"Sunset Boulevard" is an all-time classic film. Set in 1950s Hollywood, the movie follows Joe Gillis (William Holden), a down-on-his-luck screenwriter, who's out of work and out of credit. Gillis hides from repo-men in what appears to be an abandoned palatial estate on Sunset Boulevard. However, he discovers the residence is actually home to reclusive actress Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). Desmond was a big star in the silent era and wants Holden to help her write a comeback movie.

"Sunset Boulevard" is a one-of-a-kind love letter to the Golden Age of Tinseltown. For starters, it was directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, who was arguably one of the best talents of the era (if not all eras) and wrote classics like "Ace in the Hole," "The Apartment," and "Some Like It Hot." The writing of the film is fantastic, as it examines Hollywood and screenwriting itself through a sharp and satirical lens. Its commentary on the film industry runs deep, as it looks at the studio system and in particular, the silent era. 

In some meta casting, the role of Norma Desmond is played by real-life silent starlet Gloria Swanson, whose film career was resurrected thanks to her Oscar-nominated turn in this stunning performance. The movie also features cameos from the likes of Cecille B. DeMille, Buster Keaton, and Erich von Stronheim. "Sunset Boulevard" is a truly iconic movie and shouldn't be missed.

Sylvia Plath gets brought to life in 2003's "Sylvia," which focuses on the life of one of the most influential American writers to ever put pen to paper. Sylvia (Gwyneth Paltrow) is studying at Cambridge, where she explores her writing and finds love in the form of the poet Ted Hughes (Daniel Craig). The two marry, but Sylvia struggles with depression and her writing career, all while taking care of her family.

Paltrow does a lot with a role that could have fallen into clichés by imbuing Plath with a warmth that makes her tragic suicide even more devastating, even though anybody familiar with Plath's story or work knows how it ends. "Sylvia" doesn't connect Plath's death directly to her work, but rather explores the deep sadness that she lived with her whole life, which informed her worldview. Come for more information about Plath herself, stay for Paltrow's performance, and leave with the knowledge that Plath still lives on in her beautiful grasp of language.

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The Lost Weekend

Writer-director Billy Wilder makes the list again with his 1945 adaptation Charles R. Jackson's novel of the same name, "The Lost Weekend." The movie follows the harrowing misadventures of alcoholic writer Don Birham (Ray Milland). Over the course of a single weekend, Birham begs, steals, and hits rock bottom in his search of another drink.

At the time, "The Lost Weekend" was one of the first stories to deal with the dark realities of alcoholism in American theaters (via FilmSite ). Thankfully, in Wilder's capable hands, the movie avoids diving into the exploitation deep end that is common in so many addiction narratives. Instead, Birham's addiction is treated with consideration and nuance and gets shown with warts and all.

Considering so many writers, including the author of "The Lost Weekend" (via The NY Times ), have contended with alcoholism and other addictions, it's refreshing to see a movie where the affliction is not romanticized. The Academy agreed as well. "The Lost Weekend" received Oscar wins for its director, screenplay, lead actor, and won the year's Best Picture award. While "The Lost Weekend," is by no means a light watch, it's certainly worth the weight of its heavy subject.

Miss Potter

For many, "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" is one the greatest children's books ever written and its imagery is recognizable the world over. In 2007, director Chris Noonan brought the story of the woman who created Peter Rabbit to the big screen with "Miss Potter." Beatrix Potter (Renée Zellweger) is an unconventional woman in the early 1900s: She is unmarried, and she dreams of writing a children's book based on her drawings of animals. Everything changes when she meets Norman (Ewan McGregor), a kind man who wants to publish her book, and with his help, Beatrix challenges a world that only sees women in the most limited light.

In the movie, Zellweger plays Beatrix Potter with a blend of quiet confidence and kind words. She is as sweet as Mary Poppins in the title role, but the movie's true creative stroke is the way it portrays Potter engaging with her creations, who spring to life on the page with lovely animated sequences. 

The brief inclusion of animation in a live action film goes a long way. It both reminds audiences of the impact of a story as seemingly simple as "The Tale of Peter Rabbit," and also illustrates just how powerful Potter's imagination really was. She had an incredible gift for storytelling, and "Miss Potter" shows how the sexist attitudes of her time almost prevented this gift from ever reaching the world. In the end, "Miss Potter" shows how belief — in oneself and in others — can be stronger than societal demands, and for anyone looking to get lost in pastoral Victorian England with a beloved author and her characters, "Miss Potter" is the film for you.

Spike Lee's "Malcolm X" tells the story of one of the most literally and figuratively revolutionary writers of all time. The movie follows Malcolm X (Denzel Washington) in a cradle-to-grave narrative, beginning with his childhood in Harlem as Malcolm Little and going into his prison time, in which he's reborn as Malcolm X.

The movie is a lot of things — entertaining, interesting, educational — but it's a showcase for Washington and Lee's indelible talents first and foremost. As the movie progresses deeper into Malcolm X's work and teachings for Black liberation and civil rights, Lee's direction gets more confidently stylized. The same goes for Washington's performance. It's almost as if the two men purposefully paced their originality on-screen to line up with the stages of Malcolm's life. 

While Malcolm X's only published work is his autobiography, his verse lives on through recordings and republished speeches. Unlike the majority of the other existing writers on this list, Malcolm didn't write fiction or craft stories. However, the impact of his work has arguably had the most to say about life in America, which is just one of many reasons why Spike Lee's "Malcom X" is an appointment viewing.

Saving Mr. Banks

"Saving Mr. Banks" recounts Walt Disney's efforts to woo author P.L. Travers to grant Disney the movie rights to her work. The work in question? The practically perfect-in-every-way "Mary Poppins." The movie's conflict revolves around Travers' (Emma Thompson) reluctance to let Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) turn her creation into a candy-coated Disney vehicle. The story is based on the real life production of "Mary Poppins." However, publications like Vulture  pointed out that this film excludes a number of things from the true story and in doing so, warps what happened. This makes sense considering Disney Studios released "Saving Mr. Banks," likely had to ensure the story fit their company's squeaky clean brand.

That said, "Saving Mr. Banks" is still a worthwhile watch for fans of Traver's books, the movie adaptation of "Mary Poppins," or both. It delves into the differences between her book and the movie, and it also explores Traver's childhood as an inspiration for the original. Most interestingly, however, "Saving Mr. Banks" depicts a story about an author losing control over the work they put out into the world. It may have too neat an ending for some folks' taste, but it's still an interesting question for a movie to address nonetheless.

Director Jim Jarmusch's "Paterson" is a love letter to folks who find beauty in things like taking the bus or having a beer at the same bar every night of the week, and is a must-watch for the poetically inclined. Paterson (Adam Driver) lives and drives a city bus in Paterson, New Jersey. Paterson is a kind and quirky man, who's also a wonderful poet. There's not much more to the plot than that: Poetry, routine, and the occasional disruption of that routine. 

While this may not sound like much of a story, Jarmusch is a master at communicating feelings. "Paterson" features lush sound design — like the distinct sound of a spoon hitting a cereal bowl in this scene — and marvelously composed shots that capture the granular details of each object in their frames. In other words, Jarmusch takes a movie about a poet and turns it into his own visual poetry.

"Paterson" is a beautiful movie to behold and its subtly meticulous crafting rewards multiple re-watches. Plus, the poetry in the film was written by established poet Ron Padgett (via PBS NewsHour ). It's an excellent showcase of the American author's work and lends the film a sense of authenticity that not many other movies about fictional artists have.

Set at the end of the 19th century, the 2018 biopic "Colette" charts the rise to prominence of the French female writing phenom Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (Keira Knightly), as well as her abusive relationship with her husband and publisher Henry Gauthier-Villars a.k.a. "Willy" (Dominic West).

For the unfamiliar, Colette penned a popular series of French novels about a teenager named Claudine, as she comes of age in France. The novels were largely based on Colette's own life and were enormously popular with young women upon release. However, Colette's husband took credit for her work and originally published the Claudine novel with his name on them (via TIME ). It's probably not too much of a spoiler to say that Colette and Willy eventually divorced.

How Colette eventually gets credit for her own novels is the driving conflict of the film — so we won't spoil that information here with more historical facts. Finding out how she did it in "Colette" is definitely worth any fan's time. Critic Nell Minnow writes for Roger Ebert that Knightley "gives one of her best performances as a girl with spirit and talent who becomes a woman with ferocity and a voice." Knightly and West ooze chemistry — even when they're furious with one another — and the whole movie is a sultry affair about an author, who lived the way she wanted and eventually got the credit for writing the way she wanted too. Cheers to you sister.

The Shining

Stanley Kubrick's 1980 classic "The Shining" is not only perhaps the best of the "isolated writer" movie sub genre, but for many, it's one of the best horror movies of all time . Based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King, "The Shining" sees failed writer Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) move his family into the remote Overlook Hotel for the winter. Torrance takes a job as the hotel's winter keeper as a means to find peace, quiet, and money, while he attempts to write his novel. This being a King story, things in the Overlook Hotel take a turn for the supernatural fairly quickly. This being a Kubrick movie, the scarier things take a turn for the striking as they appear on screen.

It's hard to stress the impact of "The Shining" enough. The 1970s were marked by grizzly low-budget exploitation horror films like "The Last House on the Left" and the iconic "Texas Chain Saw Massacre," and "The Shining" kicked off the new decade like a behemoth nobody asked for or understood. At the time of its release, the movie was widely critically dismissed and even Stephen King panned it (via IndieWire ). 

However, time has been kind to "The Shining." Today, the fingerprints of "The Shining" are everywhere. Its score, cinematography, and classic lines are endlessly honored, parodied, and copied in everything from contemporary horror movies to episodes of "The Simpsons. " In cultural currency, "The Shining's" credit is more than " fine " — it's a perfect 850.

The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society

"The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" is an early 20th century romantic drama with a dash of modern sensibilities and a great admiration for the power of book clubs. Based on Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows' book of the same name, the WWII-era film follows author Juliet Ashton (Lily James) on her writing assignment to the island of Guernsey. It's 1945 and Juliet travels to a small British Channel isle to investigate its book club, "The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society," which is rumored to have been founded under Nazi occupation. Once Juliet arrives, she discovers intrigue, book lovers, and the dashing Dawsey Adams (Michiel Huisman). 

While its plot is a tad predictable — Juliet is engaged before she embarks on her journey but that Mr. Adams is so handsome and charming that she may have to call her wedding off — the movie serves as a sweet love letter to literary fans. The story revels in the connection strangers find over their shared passion for great works of art. Anybody who's ever joined a book club or even an online fandom will appreciate "The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Society" for what it is: a familiar conversation for friends of the genre. Books don't always need to be big unwieldy challenging works; sometimes they just need to offer comfort to their readers. Luckily, Juliet and the rest of the "Potato Peel Society" offer comfort in spades.

Gary Oldman stars in a wonderful performance as the man who penned "Citizen Kane” in David Fincher's 2020 biopic "Mank." The movie centers around writer Herman Mankiewicz (Oldman) a.k.a. "Mank" and the drama surrounding the creation of arguably the best movie of all time . Most of this drama stems from the screenwriter himself. Mank is too smart for his own good. When he's not being over-served in bars, he's a hair's breath away from insulting whichever benefactor is bankrolling his good time. Whether it's titan of industry William Randolph Hearst (Charles Dance) or "Citizen Kane ” star and director Orson Welles (Tom Burke), nobody is safe from Mank's biting wit.

Director David Fincher also uses the movie to shine a light on an odd period of Hollywood history. The movie mirrors the structure of "Citizen Kane:" It unfolds in a series of moments (some fictionalized according to Vulture ), which Fincher argues likely impacted the final script that Mank handed over to Wells. In doing so, the movie dives into early 20th century American politics and the idea that Hollywood has acted as a political machine since its inception.

It's all very heady stuff. It's also all complicated by the feud between Welles and Mank over who really wrote which part of the screenplay. In fact, movie critic Pauline Kael first raised the issue in her 1971 essay " Raising Kane ." The debate around contribution to the screenplay has since continued, but one thing's for sure: "Mank" is a fantastic film about movies and the people who write them.

A Mouthful of Air

Based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Amy Koppelman — who also wrote and directed the film — "A Mouthful of Air" explores the realities of living with postpartum depression. Julie ( Amanda Seyfried ) is a new mom and children's book author, who attempts suicide. The movie then explores Julie's day-to-day life of trying to balance her depression against her various personal and professional responsibilities. 

Koppelman's various works have all dealt with mental health issues in different forms and her experience in depicting the topic in a thoughtful and multi-dimensional way shines through in "A Mouthful of Air." While the film's critical reception was mixed , critic Nick Schager pointed out that the movie's strongest element "is its refusal to propose a one-to-one explanation" for depression in his review for Variety . 

"A Mouthful of Air" tackles its tough subject with an abundance of empathy. It also features a strong central performance from Seyfried, whose inner feelings and conflicts are at odds with what the outside world sees: a woman who "has it all" and writes books that help readers confront their fears. "A Mouthful of Air" is not easy to get through. However, Koppelman's efforts resist exploitative tropes and create a story about understanding and the potential for healing.

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention LiLifeline by dialing 988 or by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.

My Brilliant Career

1979's "My Brilliant Career" is about an aspiring author named Sybylla Melvyn (Judy Davis) and highlights the not-so-glamorous part of the life of the aspiring writer in late 19th century Australia. Sybylla lives on a farm, where she dreams of being a writer, although her parents see this as just a flight of fancy. Unable to afford the cost of her care, they ship her off to live with her wealthy grandmother, where Sybylla experiences love, a world outside of what she knows, and the means of making her dreams come true.

What sets "My Brilliant Career" apart from similar stories of young adults confronted by the unrelenting reality of responsibility is its refusal to look away from Sybylla's faults. She's bright and creative, yes, but like everybody, she's flawed. It's a truly fantastic character portrait that's definitely worth a watch. Audiences at the time agreed too. "My Brilliant Career" won 6 Australian Film Institute awards in 1979 including Best Film and Best Actress for Judy Davis' performance.

Wonder Boys

Based on Michael Chabon's 1995 novel of the same name, 2000's "Wonder Boys" follows Professor Grady Tripp ( Michael Douglas ) over the course of a few eventful days. Tripp wrote a successful novel some time ago, but in the present, his wife has left him and he passes his time getting high and teaching creative writing. Tripp is stuck with writer's block, but a weekend with two of his students Hannah (Katie Holmes) and James (Tobey Maguire) helps him find the story that he needs to tell. 

When the movie was released, it was met with great reviews from critics. Roger Ebert gave the movie four stars and felt Michael Douglas gave a career stand-out performance as Tripp. Douglas is usually enough reason to see any movie, but "Wonder Boys" also features fantastic turns from then upcoming stars like Toby Maguire and Katie Holmes. Francis McDormand also brings her singular personality to the movie as Tripp's love interest, and there's even a wonderful part for Rip Torn as an aging and mysterious writer named "Q."

A movie that's made with as much care as "Wonder Boys" shouldn't go unnoticed. Most folks who've spent time in a creative writing class will enjoy the movie's specificity; movie fans who haven't will simply enjoy the ride.

The Kindergarten Teacher

"The Kindergarten Teacher” is a pitch-black look at the pain of feeling like you have something to say but don't have the talent to say it well. The 2018 movie is a remake of a 2014 Israeli film of the same name and centers on Lisa ( Maggie Gyllenhaal ), an aspiring poet-turned-kindergarten teacher. Lisa is not a particularly good poet, but one of her students shows promise as a writer. Following in a long line of misguided anti-heroes, Lisa goes to extreme lengths to attempt to foster her student's talent.

Not surprisingly, Gyllenhaal is fantastic in this role, which Rolling Stone movie critic Peter Travers called a "new career peak" for the actress, who "[compels] us to understand a woman who maybe doesn't understand herself." Viewers be warned: "The Kindergarten Teacher ” is capital "D" Dark. Not since Salieri in "Amadeus" has a character so singularly captured the despair of a person coming to terms with their artistic limitations. It's an unfair fact of life that everybody isn't a genius. However, after "The Kindergarten Teacher,” the audience might feel blessed that at least they're better at coping with that reality than Ms. Lisa.

The bachelor party movie is a time-honored tradition in Hollywood. Most generations have their definitive version and some outings in the sub-genre even include Tom Hanks . Meanwhile, other takes like "Sideways" are helmed by director Alexander Payne, who seems to thrive on stories about human behavior that most audiences wish didn't exist. 

Miles (Paul Giamatti) and Jack (Thomas Hayden Church) are two old college buddies, who set off to California's wine country for Jack's bachelor party. Miles is a broke divorced writer with a finished manuscript that he's afraid to let anyone read and a drinking problem. Jack is a small-time actor, who's marrying for money and looking for a few more illicit affairs before he gets married and his good looks fade away entirely. Neither man is happy and neither man is what you might call a good person. For example, Miles robs his mother to pay for the trip and Jack beds a wine server early on in the trip.

Admittedly, none of this sounds like a good time. However, Payne shines a light on average folks at their worst in a way that can make everybody laugh at just how low human beings can go. "Sideways," like the 2004 novel it was based on, is side-splittingly funny. It also has a ton to say about wine, relationships, and things that inspire people to take big swings, like finally dusting off that old manuscript and letting someone read it.

Julie & Julia

Hungry viewers beware, "Julie & Julia” puts a bevy of famous chef Julia Child's signature dishes on screen and will make anyone who watches come down with a searing case of hunger. Julie Powell (Amy Adams) is an aspiring author, who's feeling a bit directionless. So, Julie decides to make all 524 dishes from Child's cookbook "The Art of French Cooking" in a year and keep a blog of this massive effort. At the same time, the film follows Julia Child (Meryl Streep) in the years before she becomes a world-renowned chef, when she is just an American in Paris, who enrolls in French cooking school. The film cuts back and forth between Julie and Julia, as each woman faces her own seemingly endless well of challenges in pursuit of her goals of self-discovery, and sharing that self with the world.

Based on two true stories, "Julia & Julia" draws from Julia Child's autobiography "My Life in France," as well as Julie Powell's memoir "Julia & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously," which was the book that Powell published thanks to the popularity of her blog (via Variety ). Both Adams and Streep are marvelous actors in their own right, but it shouldn't be a surprise to hear "Julie & Julia" is very much Streep's vehicle. Her performance as Child plays like a loving tribute to a larger-than-life personality, who brought French cuisine to homes across the United States and world. This was the final film of writer-director Nora Ephron, and her assured hand plus the work of Streep and Adams all bring an infectious energy that is almost guaranteed to leave a smile on viewers' faces.

American Splendor

2003's "American Splendor" is all about the intersection of fact and fiction. The movie is based on a long-running comic series of the same name, which itself is based on the life of its author Harvey Pekar. The real-life Pekar narrates the film, while his on-screen counterpart is portrayed by Paul Giamatti.

While all of this may sound overly complex for a movie about a comic book writer, it's very in line with the spirit of "American Splendor." Unlike "Batman" or "X-Men" comics, Pekar is no superhero. In fact, his comics are very honest about what he is: a file clerk with a few ex-wives, who lives in Cleveland. This honesty is part of what makes his work so engaging. It also makes the movie a fairly unabashed look into the life and times of a very unique creator.

From the highs and lows of Pekar's moderate fame to his bout with cancer, "American Splendor" pulls no punches in covering its subject, which works considering its author never pulled any punches about himself either. The movie's style — a hybrid of documentary interviews with the real life Pekar and well-executed dramatic recreations with Giamatti as Pekar — place the film firmly in the indie category. However, its experimental style shouldn't be considered a barrier to entry. Much like its creator, "American Splendor" is shaggy and weird, but it's got a ton of heart.

2011's film adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's 2009 novel "The Help" was not only a smash hit with audiences , but also introduced a wide array of film viewers to the talents of Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer.

"The Help" is set during the early 1960s in the South, and kicks off in earnest when Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan (Emma Stone), a young aspiring writer, returns home from college. Since leaving home, Skeeter has discovered a new way of seeing things, and finds that she's deeply uncomfortable with the way that white families in her hometown treat their Black maids. Skeeter begins interviewing domestic workers Aibileen (Viola Davis) and Minny (Octavia Spencer) in an effort to tell their side of the story. Soon, Skeeter's work causes trouble among the racist white community, particularly once the maids begin to demand better treatment from their employers.

Both the movie and novel have been widely criticized for centering the voices of its white characters. Davis herself told The New York Times  in an interview that she regretted her role in the film because "it wasn't the voices of the maids that were heard." So, in respect to Ms. Davis, appreciate "The Help ” for making her and actress Octavia Spencer household names since they are both seriously fantastic in this movie, but don't come to "The Help" for a detailed or thoughtful exploration on race relations in America.

The Diving Bell & The Butterfly

"The Diving Bell & The Butterfly" is the incredible true story of one writer's ability to dictate his entire memoir through a series of blinks after suffering a stroke. Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathiew Amalric) is the French editor of the fashion magazine Elle. He's got a high-flying job, a loving family, and everything going for him until he suddenly has a stroke and wakes up to discover he has "locked-in syndrome." Jean-Dominque is almost entirely paralyzed, but his mental capacities remain as they were before, so he decides to write a book about his life.

Based on Bauby's 1997 memoir of the same name, "The Diving Bell & the Butterfly" deals with a subject matter that is often wildly moving and sometimes hopelessly upsetting. However, director Julian Schnabel deftly keeps the movie from falling into utter despair. It goes without saying, but anybody who can dictate an entire book just by blinking one eye to a speech therapist was born with an indomitable human spirit. It's this spirit and unbelievable energy that Schnabel, Amalric, and company bring to the screen. Come for the story's enrapturing hook and stay for a deep dive into a writer's soul.

Moulin Rouge!

Few people make movies like Baz Luhrmann. The director's more is more approach to filmmaking has produced visually striking movies like "The Great Gatsby” and "Romeo + Juliet," which are difficult to compare to much else and his 2001 musical "Moulin Rouge!" is no exception.

"Moulin Rouge!" follows Christian (Ewan McGregor), a young writer who sets off to find artistic fame and fortune with the Bohemian movement in turn of the century Paris. Christian doesn't find those things, but he does find an impassioned love affair at the Moulin Rouge with a theater singer and courtesan named Satine ( Nicole Kidman ). However, their love must be kept secret from the man who can save the Moulin Rouge from bankruptcy, but will only do so if he can have Satine all to himself.

This plot may sound clichéd, but Luhrmann's gift is to take clichés and infuse them with colors, movement, and set design so loud that any unoriginality is immediately drowned out by its fantastic surroundings. Plus, "Moulin Rouge!" is a jukebox musical. So, while there are a few original songs written for the movie, Luhrmann also repurposes anachronistic popular songs for this 1900 setting, like The Police's "Roxanne." The audience sees this world through naïve writer Christian's eyes, as he finally experiences love, a subject that he'd written about but never known for himself. Like the best airport romance novels, "Moulin Rouge!" turns the ridiculous into a great time. 

The End of the Tour

David Foster Wallace's seminal talent dominated the American literary field throughout the '90s. Chances are anybody who hasn't read his work has heard a portion of his famous "This is Water" speech  or perhaps has some ideas about the type of guy who lionizes Wallace, as Deirdre Coyle describes in "Men Explain David Foster Wallace to Me" for  Electric Lit . With all of that reputation preceding him, 2015's "The End of the Tour" is faced with the Herculean task of bringing Wallace from an idea into an intimate, human form.

Based on a true story, the movie is framed around a days-long interview in 1996 between Wallace (Jason Segel) and Rolling Stone contributor David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg). Lipsky accompanies Wallace on the last leg of his book tour for "Infinite Jest," and gets a surprising insight into the writer's life, at the moment when Wallace's life changes forever. 

In reality, Lipsky wrote about this time with Wallace for Rolling Stone , which Lipsky later turned into his memoir "Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself." The memoir is the basis for "The End of the Tour," which is about two strangers connecting. Both Segel and Eisenberg are fantastic in this movie that's entirely carried by their ongoing riveting conversation. The movie isn't without its faults, as writer and former friend of Wallace Glenn Kenny wrote for The Guardian that "it gets everything wrong" about the writer. While the movie's not perfect, it's an interesting attempt to portray a singular artist on screen.

An Angel at My Table

Internationally renowned New Zealand author Janet Frame takes center stage in Jane Campion's 1991 biopic "An Angel at My Table." The film draws from the author's three autobiographies for its story: "To the Is-Land," "An Angel at My Table," and "The Envoy from Mirror City." Each book takes place in a different stage in the author's life and the movie follows suit with Alexia Keogh, Karen Fergusson, and Kerry Fox playing Frame in her childhood, teenage, and adult years. "An Angel at My Table" begins with Frame's childhood growing up in an impoverished household. In adolescence, she gets institutionalized for a misdiagnosis of schizophrenia, and finally finds fame on the page in adulthood.

With such a bevy of rich material to pull from, it's no surprise this movie is fantastic. It also doesn't hurt that it's directed by Oscar-winning director Jane Campion, whose characteristic empathy for her subjects radiates through "An Angel at My Table." In Roger Ebert's review, he says the movie gives "great attention to human detail." As usual, Mr. Ebert is dead-on. Campion does away with typical biopic clichés by simply focusing on the movie's one-of-a-kind protagonist and tell Frame's life story, which combines horror, perseverance, and brilliance.

In a Lonely Place

Humphrey Bogart does his noir thing in the 1950 classic "In a Lonely Place." Dixon "Dix" Steele (Bogart) tries to clear his name in a murder investigation, but it turns out, he has more problems than just being a murder suspect. He's a screenwriter who hasn't sold anything in a few years, his experience in WWII has left him prone to flights of rage, and he's not sure if his best girl actually wants to go through with their engagement.

Saying anything else ruins what makes film noir so special: the twists and turns. However, it's no spoiler to say that this is a classic of the genre. The movie is based on a novel of the same title by Dorothy B. Hughes. It was directed by studio system stalwart Nicholas Ray. Bogart's love interest and co-star in "In A Lonely Place" is played by Gloria Grahame Hallward, who brings a fantastic sense of "been there, done that" energy on screen that makes the movie that much more interesting. While this may be the oldest film on the list, it's not to be missed. They really, truly don't make 'em like this anymore.

"Spotlight" is named after the investigative team at The Boston Globe, and masterfully follows the newspaper's real 2002 investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse and systemic cover-ups within the Boston Catholic Church. This work won a Pulitzer Prize for The Boston Globe and set off a reckoning within the Catholic Church.

The movie — featuring a cast that includes Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Stanley Tucci, and Liev Schrieber — is a masterclass in focusing on details. Director Tom McCarthy zeroes on the minutiae of investigative journalism. It captures everything from pouring over personnel files to interviewing victims to waiting for records to be made public to beating down doors to get answers. The actors are all fantastic from top to bottom and everybody gets a moment to shine.

While the movie is not entirely without moments of very loud, very righteous indignation, for the most part, it trades fireworks for the facts of the real investigation. It's a wise choice that highlights the impact that hard-nosed local journalism can still have on the world at large, which is partly what makes it one of the greatest movies about journalists ever. For many, it's the 21st century's "All the President's Men." If all that wasn't enough to convince anybody to check it out, it also won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay in 2016.

Elisabeth Moss gives a powerhouse performance in "Shirley," which adapts Susan Scarf Merrell's 2014 novel of the same. Like the book, the movie tells a fictionalized story about famed horror author Shirley Jackson. For the unfamiliar, Jackson's works include the novel "The Haunting of Hill House" and the short story "The Lottery." Her writing is terrifying and claustrophobic in equal measure. Jackson was a master at saying the quiet part out loud and could turn social anxiety into a reason to hide under the bed.

The movie follows a fictional couple, who move in with Jackson (Elisabeth Moss) and her husband Stanley Edgar Hyman (Michael Stuhlbarg), and are quickly brought into the strange and surprising world of Shirley Jackson. This framing of the story around outsiders who are brought into Jackson's home allows the audience to see various sides of the writer and her precarious approach to life. It also gives Moss the opportunity to put on an absolute show. Moss is never not fantastic but this role of Shirley Jackson gives her the opportunity to be mean, wounded, drunk, empathetic, brilliant, and anxious, all within the same scene. It should be in the conversation for some of her best work. Moss stans and horror fans, do yourselves a favor by putting "Shirley" on the top of your queue.

10 Movies That Inspire To Write

Writing is great, but unfortunately, you cannot have endless inspiration. Very often, even the best and most popular authors lack inspiration. You just have no thoughts and no lust for writing. It is good if you write for yourself and no one depends on you, and you do not depend on anyone. However, if you are a student who needs to create an essay urgently, you cannot wait to be inspired.

Who can inspire me to write? This is the question many students and freelancers usually ask. If you have a terrible writer’s block, you can consider custom essay writing services that may help you cope with the lack of inspiration however there are other ways.

Some students need to describe or review specific movies in essays, while others are looking for inspiring movies to write their essays on. Whatever you are struggling with, check the following selection of inspiring movies that will make you one of the more creative writers in your circles (or in your college).

1. Julie and Julia

Julie and Julia is a real-life story about a blogger directed in 2009. If you have not seen this movie yet, you definitely should. Julie is a blogger who cooks based on recipes of Julia Child and writes about them.

The history of Julia Child is highlighted very well in this film. Though everything seems quite banal at the beginning, the plot turns around unexpectedly. The movie is very interesting since it connects two stories from different times. The two main characters of the story never meet, and neither they have never met in real life.

Do check out this story of a blogger, her struggles, and the ways she copes with them.

Misery was directed in 1990 based on one of the best-selling novels of Stephen King written in 1987. As one can guess, this is not a comedy but rather an irony. The film grabs the attention of many writers as the plot is centered on a best-selling novelist.

This is the only movie based on King’s novels has won an Academy Award. If you are a fan of psychological horrors , this movie is for you. You will find it scary, exciting and yet very inspiring. The movie makes writers think hard about their goals and priorities.

3. Almost Famous

The story of a sheltered writer who is just 15 years old who is working on his freelance assignment for the Rolling Stone magazine. The plot grabs your attention from the very first minute. You will love the characters and the very realistic plot.

The story is semi-autobiographical, and this makes it even more captivating. The main character’s love for rock music is central to the film. The struggle character for inspiration and writing is something very noticeable and analysis worthy.

4. Shakespeare in Love

One of the best stories about writers that will make you feel the spirit of England 400 years ago. It’s a light romantic comedy you’ll enjoy.

If you are a Shakespearean fan, the movie is for you. Even if you simply adore great historical movies, you will undoubtedly enjoy the film as well. The atmosphere is extremely accurate. There are plenty of themes to be observed and analyzed in this movie.

The film presents an interesting angle on how Romeo and Juliet was written. We get to witness how Shakespeare struggles and how suddenly he finds his inspiration. Who else, if not this greatest writer, can be the best example for modern writers?

5. You’ve Got Mail

If you are a writer or just a student who needs good movies to write about, the movie You’ve Got Mail is just the thing for you. It is both exciting to write your own piece of literature and just an amazing story to review in your essay or movie review.

The plot is focused on the book industry. Today, you have the luxury to use the Internet to help you write and find great ideas. However, this story takes place in times when the Internet was just appearing as a way of communication.

Two people who are nearly enemies in real life are the closest people online since they do not know each other. Their communication was anonymous. It is very inspiring because it shows how important and really romantic letter writing is.

6. Moonlight

The movie was directed in 2016. It is one of the best films to inspire writers , although the plot is far from writers’ routine. However, the story resonates with its viewers. The plot consists of three stages of life of one boy as he goes from being a teen to an adult.

Maybe you will not learn how to write from this movie, but you will get other inspirations and ideas for your assignments. Be aware of the choices of palette and tone in your stories.

7. Dead Poets Society

This movie is for you if you do not like literature yet. An English teacher will show you the beauty of literature and writing through his non-standard methods. If you still have no idea why language and literature are so exciting and brilliant, learn some tips and get inspired by watching this movie.

You will learn how literature can impact everyone’s soul. This story would be perfect for teachers, actually. However, if you are a student, you should watch it as well without any doubt. Writers will find it even more special.

8. Becoming Astrid (Swedish: Unga Astrid)

This is a biographical drama directed in 2018 about the life of Swedish writer, Astrid Lindgren. Not many people have seen it since the movie was produced in Denmark and Sweden.

Astrid Lindgren is an author whose books are known to nearly every child in the world. Astrid Lindgren receives letters from kids from all corners of the globe. While working in a local newspaper, an 18-year-old girl falls in love with a chief editor who is 30 years older than her.

Astrid gets pregnant and goes to Denmark to give birth to her son Lars. Unfortunately, she must leave her son with a Danish family for a while until he is several years old. This is a true story of a writer who is admired all over the world.

Learn about the true struggles of people in those difficult times and see how, no matter what, they found inspiration to write and still enjoy life.

9. The Ghost Writer

The Ghost Writer is a well-known political thriller, the main character of which writes memoirs for a retired Prime Minister. He doesn’t assume the work can be hard and thinks everything will be easy. However, later on, the writer realizes how much he risks his own life since the information he manages to find out should have never been known to him.

10. The Words

An amazingly inspiring movie about a writer who can’t find the inspiration and fails to submit the book on time. Suddenly, he finds a manuscript that seems quite interesting to him. Due to the lack of inspiration, the writer decides to submit it as his own. It turned out to be a big success, and he becomes extremely popular.

However, one day, his life turns into a nightmare when an unknown man says he knows the book he published was not written by him. If you are a student or author who is looking for inspiration online or from other sources, be careful of plagiarism.

The movie is a great reminder that we have to cite the sources properly no matter what we are writing. Even if you find brilliant words, remember they are written by someone else.

Barry is a technologist who helps start-ups build successful products. His love for movies and production has led him to write his well-received film explanation and analysis articles to help everyone appreciate the films better. He’s regularly available for a chat conversation on his website and consults on storyboarding from time to time. Click to browse all his film articles

17 Essential Movies For An Introduction To Essay Films

Put most concisely by Timothy Corrigan in his book on the film: ‘from its literary origins to its cinematic revisions, the istic describes the many-layered activities of a personal point of view as a public experience’.

Perhaps a close cousin to documentary, the film is at its core a personal mode of filmmaking. Structured in a breadth of forms, a partial definition could be said to be part fact, part fiction with an intense intimacy (but none of these are necessarily paramount).

Stemming from the literary as a form of personal expression borne from in-depth explorations of its chosen topic, the film can be agitprop, exploratory, or diaristic and generally rejects narrative progression and concretised conclusions in favour of a thematic ambivalence. Due to its nature as inherently personal, the term itself is as vague and expansive as the broad collective of films it purports to represent.

To borrow Aldous Huxley’s definition, the is a device for saying almost everything about almost anything. In built then is an inherent expansiveness that informs a great ambition in the form itself, but as Huxley acknowledges it can only say almost anything; whether extolling the need for a socialist state (Man with a Movie Camera), deconstructing the power and status of the image itself (Histoire(s) du Cinema, Images of the World and the Inscription of War, Los Angeles Plays Itself) or providing a means to consider ones of past (Walden, News from home, Blue), the film is only the form of expression, which unlike any other taxonomic term suggests almost nothing about the film itself other than its desire to explore.

Below is an 17 film introduction to the film that cannot be pinned down and continue to remake and remodel itself as freely as it sheds connections between any of the films within its own canon.

1. Man with a Movie Camera (1929) dir. Dziga Vertov

An exercise in technical experimentation, Man with a Movie Camera is the pioneering, not to mention most lauded, of Vertov’s filmic polemics: espousing not only a new, necessary way of life, but a means of living that is created through cinema.

Shot by Maurice Kaufman, brother of Vertov, the film is a portrait of a city across 24 hours via bold experimentation based on Vertov’s staunchly Marxist ideologies. Its propagandist structure does not however belie its beauty.

Through masterful technique it became the defining film of 1920’s Soviet Union (perhaps on a par with Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin). Its propagation of film as the means through which life is realised, that the camera is now an unequivocal feature of modernity and too a powerful political tool, creates a filmic love letter to industrialisation and the humanist elements of physical labour.

In opposition to Eisenstein, Vertov is a master of his own brand of idiosyncratic montage which, with its sublime manipulative technique combined with realist images, rejects the opiate affects of traditional narrative cinema, attempting to create instead a cinematic language in which the camera becomes the pen of the 20th century.

2. A Propos de Nice (1930) dir. Jean Vigo

Shot by Boris Kaufman, brother of Dziga Vertov (Man with a Movie Camera), A Propos de Nice is a satirical portrait of life in 1920’s Nice. The leisurely upper classes of French society are the subjects of a portrayal the blind escapism and ignorance created by modernity.

Vigo thus contrasts the bourgeois culture of relaxation with the daily grind of the poor in society. The parodic form of the travelogue as anthropological study is employed as a means of document increasing social and economic disparities which Vigo sought to present as necessitating a revolutionary stance (the likes of which cinematographer Kaufman glean from his brother’s agit-prop, propagandist Kino-Pravda series).

Engrained in the very structure of modern society is, for Vigo, deep social inequality; life in this case masks its own inequalities through ignorance and selfishness. Images of women energetically dancing are reduced to slow modern and thus arises from them the absurdity of inherent inequalities.

Like a Jay Gatsby party, the excitement and laughter only serves to mask a profound emptiness whose own ridiculousness is an unacknowledged form of societal freakshow, which only those on the outside can perceive.

3. 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967) dir. Jean-Luc Godard

In a year of 3 Godard diatribes against neo-capitalism, 2 or 3 Thing I Know About Her is the most contemplative; if La Chinoise a document of the soon to be riotous students, 2 or 3 is the suburban families watching the events unfold on their television screens.

Fraught with concern for the disintegration of lexical meaning, Godard’s collage of modern life follows the existentially empty Julitte Jeanson, a bourgeise housewife-come-prostitute, as she contemplates her preconceived societal role and the deadened collective consciousness of everyone whom Godard’s camera encounters.

If language is the house one lives in, as Juliette informs her son, then the house is subject to the blind whims of suited right wing repo men.

The portrait of Juliette is a composite sketch of the modern citizen, replaceable, replicable to the extent that Godard introduces Juliette first as Marina Vlady, the actress who plays her, before acknowledging her as a fictional creation; a less subtle evocation of the resignation to role playing in post-war France, watching death in Vietnam while decided whether or not to go and wash the car.

4. Walden; Diaries, Notes, and Sketches (1969) dir. Jonas Mekas

Walden is the film in its most diaristic form. Essentially a suitably handsome extended home video, Mekas’s film, shot from 1964-1969, features a series of chronologically edited video diaries that span from eating Chinese food with John Lennon, footage from the Velvet Underground’s first performance, or just the filmmaker eating a croissant in Marseille.

Given the length, the film could be criticised as an epic exercise in self-gratification (the filmic equivalent of continuous name dropping), or simultaneously as an invitation into the expansive but hermetic world of the New York art scene in the late 60’s, of which Mekas’ himself was a central fixture.

As with Akerman’s News From Home, it is the film’s internal focus, an exposure of the personal, wherein its interest lies. Mekas’ ability to construct a montage that appears at ease with itself in all its fragmentation, relying on meticulous in-camera precision, creates a sea images which with each wave comes harmony and contrast. Walden emerges then as an unpretentious acknowledgment of the inextricability of experience and image, finding within it celebrations of life’s variety and extended harmonies.

5. F for Fake (1973) dir. Orson Welles

Welles’s final film is an explosive and intelligent scrutinisation of the filmmaking process and the concept of authenticity in art. Centrally presenting Elmyr de Hory’s career as an art forger, F for Fake transcends basic narrative or documentary expositions to instead philosophise on the ontology of authorship.

Increasingly Welles rejects infallibility in favour of a profound ambivalence that is read across the careers of various forgers to eventually become, as is naturally the case for such a sublime example of the film, a personal contemplation of his own career and his self-definition as a perpetual sceptic.

Through rhythmic montage editing and questioning of the structure and the power of the image itself, F for Fake eulogizes the image as a consistently fallible, or deconstructible form, and in true Wellesian style, given it is the form that its director made his career,cannot help but find humour within.

6. Le Fond de l’air est rouge/A Grin Without a Cat (1977) dir. Chris Marker

Widely acknowledged as the master of the film, Le fond de l’air est rouge is a personal rumination of discontent on the progression and dissolution of left-wing politics from Vietnam up until the films release in 1977.

10 years after the Marker conceived Loin du Vietnam, a protest film against the Vietnam war structured in segments from a wealth of French Filmmakers including Godard, Resnais, Lelouch, Varda and Klein, the film is markedly more melancholic, plagued by a scepticism highlighted in the French title (directly translated as the essence of the air is red) that implies the socialist sentiment only ever existed in the air.

Opening with shots from Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin (1925), Marker’s mastery of the appropriated image emerges. The film’s first four minutes are perhaps the finest montage sequence of post-war cinema, commending the bravery of those who fought for the socialist ideal but ultimately acknowledging the inevitability of its failure at the hands of right wing opposition, whose growth in power Marker sees as masked by the outward protests of the left.

Behind closed doors centre right solidarity, particularly in Marker’s native France, was only increased in the face of a scattered, disorganised and self-destructive shouts for power from the left.

Marker’s film is archival re-appropriation at its most controlled, his erudition and poetic narration reinforcing the notion of history itself as recreated and retold by individuals, always having an agenda.

7. News From Home (1977) dir. Chantal Akerman

Borne from the influence of the structuralist filmmakers Akerman encountered in New York (see Michael Snow, Stan Brakhage and Hollis Frampton), News from Home is a portrait of a city as seen through the eyes of a foreigner, as she attempts to come to terms with her new surroundings and the contrast to the life she left in Brussels (constantly referenced in the letters from her mother that are used to narrate the film).

Akerman films New York with the intricate eye of someone completely out of their depth, attempting to survive in a city they hardly know, emphasised by the concern of the letters from her mother. News from Home is a contemplation of the inescapability of the past and how it informs the present viewed from a perspective of awe, confusion and intense deliberation.

Akerman’s stares at New York as if to glean some meaning from its landscape as the letters from her mother cannot help make her feel at once a child and to the unchartered explorer entering a new terrain with bravado and wonder.

8. Koyaanisqatsi (1982) dir. Godfrey Reggio

Koyaanisqatsi, meaning life out of balance, is a poetic ode to absurdity constructed through cinematographic deconstructions of time and space. By slowing down images or speeding them up via time-lapse techniques, Reggio presents the fog of modernity as a means to highlight the absurdity of purported meanings, whether it is mass production of hot dogs or humanities destructive capabilities life lived blindly, perceived without questioning, is insignificant.

The film’s rejection of language forces full focus onto the status and power of imagery, especially when contorted, to suppose passivity and acceptance as a way of life, unsurprisingly drawing influence, like Thom Andersen’s Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003) from Guy Debord’s Society of the Spectacle, going as far as to acknowledge him in the credits along with fellow critics of mass communications, big society and the power of technology, Jacques Ellul, Ivan Illich and Leopold Kohr.

As with Godard’s concern for the disintegration of language into base semiotic signifiers, evocative of nothing but materials and the literal, Koyaanisqatsi presents ‘a state of life that calls for another way a living’; a visually stunning but essentially aggressive denouncement of advanced capitalism, its pretence to knowledge and its ability to create an omnipresent complacency that drapes life in a visually pleasing veil, underneath which lies a profound nothingness.

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The 13 Best Movies About Writers — IndieWire Critics Survey

David ehrlich.

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Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?”, can be found at the end of this post.)

“ Tolkien ” and “ All Is True ” are opening this weekend, and both films illustrate how difficult it can be to capture the writing process on screen.

This week’s question: What is the best movie about the writing process (or about a writer)?

Mae Abdulbaki ( @MaeAbdu ),  The Young Folks ,  Movies with Mae

“ Shakespeare in Love ” probably doesn’t come to mind for most, but it is a great example of the ups and downs of writing. It strangely nails the writing process, while also tackling the business of theater. Simply put, “Shakespeare in Love” follows the journey of William Shakespeare’s writing of his famous play, “Romeo and Juliet.” The film strikes a balance between Shakespeare’s struggles with writer’s block and the maddening passion to write that comes after inspiration strikes: An inspiration that is both tragically brief and all-encompassing.

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At various intervals, the film portrays the thrill of finding a muse and the utter devastation that comes with writer’s block and the inability to put words to a page. The writing process is so often hard to convey, but “Shakespeare in Love,” though a bit melodramatic in some of its portrayal, makes it so we’re in tune with the frenzied and somewhat chaotic energy of Joseph Fiennes’ Shakespeare, while also able to feel his despair when he can’t get anything done. Meeting deadlines makes him stressed, finding a good pen (or quill) to write with even more so. Finishing a monologue? Forget it.

Enter Viola, an aristocratic woman who wants to play a role in the play, but can’t (old school sexism at its finest). Naturally, Shakespeare falls in love with her and she becomes his muse. Shakespeare’s focus on Viola as a muse for his play pushes him to finish writing “Romeo and Juliet,” but, as is the case with any writer, his reliance on a muse proves to be just as fleeting as their passionate affair.

Richard Brody (@tnyfrontrow), The New Yorker

Sara Clements (@ mildredsfierce ),  Reel Honey

The film that comes to mind immediately when discussing the portrayal of the writing process on screen is “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” It’s not a story that depicts a successful attempt at writing, but rather, what happens when you are wrought with commercial failure, writer’s block, and the discouragement that comes when no one wants to read what you’re passionate about. Lee Israel was a biographer who was forced to sell her personal possessions, and in a desperate attempt to make money, she began creating forgeries of letters written by famous figures. Her financial troubles and struggle with alcoholism came from low sales of her Estee Lauder biography and being unable to receive an advance on her biography of Fanny Brice. It’s a story that all writers can relate to in some respect. We can work passionately on a piece that will barely get any views (or freelance dollars), and pitch ideas that we’re passionate about that editors don’t see value in. It’s disheartening, and while not many of us would go to the desperate lengths that Israel did, the self-doubt is universal.

Candice Frederick ( @ReelTalker ), The Wrap, Vulture, Teen Vogue, Writing Portfolio

Stephen King has always had a knack for highlighting the often tedious, solitary, and maddening writing process (who could ever forget “The Shining”?). But out of all of his crazed writer stories that have come to the big screen, none have more thoroughly conveyed writer’s anxiety more interestingly than the Rob Reiner-directed “Misery.” Paul (James Caan) is already a successful novelist but he’s primarily known for his “Misery” romance series. So, he wants to stretch himself as an artist and connect with other audiences by penning a new set of stories outside the genre. Because that can be as much terrifying as it is invigorating, the mind of King (as adapted by screenwriter William Goldman) fathoms a deterrent in frightening human form named Annie (Kathy Bates), a lunatic fan who terrorizes Paul into preserving her all-time favorite “Misery” series and therefore intimidating him into staying in his lane. Of course, crazed fans do exist, but what makes this narrative so compelling is how it captures the very real fear of growing outside your comfort zone. And for an accomplished writer who depends on an adoring audience to make a living, as Paul does, that can be the most horrifying thing of all.

Luke Hicks ( @lou_kicks ),  Film School Rejects/One Perfect Shot ,  Birth.Movies.Death.

Charlie Kaufman is one of the best screenwriters on the planet, so it should come as no surprise that he’s written one of the greatest films about writing. “ Adaptation .” (2002) is as enigmatic as films get. The Spike Jonze-directed picture is a meta-narrative based on Charlie Kaufman’s real-life failed attempts to adapt Susan Orlean’s “The Orchid Thief,” which in turn became the screenplay for “Adaptation.” Nicolas Cage plays a Charlie Kaufman with severe writer’s block (and fictionalized twin brother, Donald Kaufman). Its inlaid complexities are marvelously entertaining and contemplative, but it also stands out as a crippling portrait of what it feels like to be truly uninspired in a career field that requires you to bleed inspired creation on a weekly, if not daily, basis. Among other things, it functions as a hall of mirrors for any tormented writer to wander through.

It landed in the middle of Kaufman’s 5-year Hollywood streak from 1999-2004, bookended by “Being John Malkovich” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” Meryl Streep (as Susan Orlean), Chris Cooper, and Cage all got Oscar nominations for their roles–Cooper taking his home–and Kaufman got a nod for Best Adapted Screenplay. Note: I recognize this is a stacked subcategory of film history. I’d love to pick another one of Kaufman’s in “Synecdoche, New York.” But before you get mad at me for not picking “Capote,” “Midnight in Paris,” “Barton Fink,” “Wonder Boys,” “American Splendor,” “20,000 Days on Earth,” “Non-Fiction”, or any of the other terrific options, know that I’m backed by the almighty Streep who said “Adaptation.” was “the best script” she’d ever read. And god knows how many mountains of scripts she’s read through.

Jen Johans (@FilmIntuition), FilmIntuition.com

From its opening sequence where insomniac Tobey Maguire — who figures out his stories at night when he can’t sleep — gets eviscerated by his classmates in creative writing class to Grady Tripp’s inability to stop writing his novel, Curtis Hanson’s “Wonder Boys” gets everything right.

Based on the book by Michael Chabon and brilliantly adapted by Steve Kloves, the film celebrates artistic camaraderie and the way that writers eavesdrop, observe, and create stories based on strangers, while also poking fun at the academic and professional jealousy that goes with the territory.

A writer’s movie where descriptive dialogue says as much about the characters speaking as the people they are talking about, “Wonder Boys” is one of my all-time favorite films.

Monique Jones ( @moniqueblognet ),  Just Add Color ,  Mediaversity Reviews ,  SlashFilm

“Barton Fink” is one of those movies that’s always stuck with me, partially because I watched it during a 10th grade English class even though the film had nothing to do with the curriculum we were supposed to be studying. That in itself is a long story. But the other reason it stuck with me is because it manages to capture how lonely and, frankly, disturbing the process of writing can be.

Granted, the film involves a lot of other fantastical elements, such as John Goodman screaming about “the life of the mind” and the mysterious painting on Barton’s hotel wall, depicting a woman sitting on a beach, actually coming to life. But those elements come together to show just how trippy the mind can become when it’s stuck in its own world for hours on end. Maybe having existential thoughtscapes at least twice a day while writing is a sign I should seek some counseling, but I also think it’s a symptom of the creative having a battle within themselves to put out the best work they possibly can.

This existential mentality is a bigger part of perfectionism than I think people realize, and Barton certainly seemed to be faced with some of that angst as he tried to crank out the best film ever. Even when Barton tried to escape all he endured and go to the beach, the weirdness followed him in the form of the mysterious woman from the painting actually being on the beach with him. The creative life is one that’s often glamorized, and indeed, it is fun to be able to make something out of nothing. But sometimes the creative energy that’s within talented people can become a scary entity all its own because of our ability to draw inspiration from any and everything. Eventually, it can start to seem like ghosts from your mind are everywhere.

Joey Keogh ( @JoeyLDG ). Contributing Editor of  Wicked Horror , freelance for  Birth.Movies.Death ,  Vague Visages ,  The List

Writing is a difficult activity to capture on film in the same way hacking is, because the often frustrating process of sitting in front of a computer screen (or, back in the good ol’ days, a typewriter) for hours on end isn’t exactly the most exciting visual for an audience. “The Disaster Artist” captured the incomparable artiste Tommy Wiseau’s writing process, as he struggled to make “The Room” a reality, by showing actor James Franco strolling around empty rooms, eating noodles, and whining out loud about how hard it was, essentially putting the difficulties of his creative process on-screen by having the character literally verbalizing them and acting them out. The great journalism movies like “All The Presidents Men” or “Zodiac” tend to capture the process by showing stressed-out men in wrinkled shirts storming around newsrooms looking for “the scoop” like their lives depend on it, usually while chain-smoking or dragging a land-line telephone behind them — their guy might call any second, after all.

More recently, Best Picture winner “Spotlight” more accurately captured the modern mundanity of the newsroom, with all its requisite roadblocks from editors and various higher-ups, its team of investigative journalists foregoing meals or precious time with loved ones in order to crack a very important story. Even when it seemed like they’d done it, the boss was careful to ensure everything was checked with a fine toothcomb before giving the all-clear to publish. One of the movie’s most peculiar moments sees Mark Ruffalo vying for his Oscar (he would lose to another Mark, Mark Rylance, for  Bridge of Spies ) with a melodramatic speech about how important their work is and how it has to go to print  now . Although it’s a jarring moment in an otherwise low-key study of hard work paying off, Ruffalo’s character’s freak-out helps to visualize the internal struggle most writers go through when trying to either put words to paper or to get others to care about those words once they’re done.

Writing is a frustrating, isolating process that pays off, eventually, when other people care about what has been written. “Spotlight” shows the often lengthy process to getting those words read, the frustrations of making others care why they matter, and the final release once the whole thing is done. It also shows, rather cleverly, the aftermath, when the newsroom phones are hopping and the whole cycle begins over again. That’s arguably the most frustrating part of being a writer; the work is never really done. At least, not if we’re lucky.

Yasmin Kleinbart ( @ladysmallbeard ), The Young Folks

When I first watched Spike Jonze’s “Adaptation” in an Intro to Film Class, I was reminded of one person: myself. As an aspiring writer, I’ve always found the writing process excruciating, especially the feedback stage. You may have your vision of how the story will play out, but it may not sync with the big cheese’s view.

In “Adaptation,” Charlie Kaufman lays out the writing process like a Greek tragedy; A fictionalized version of himself (played by the wonderfully versatile Nicholas Cage) is on the set of “Being John Malkovich” being praised by studio execs while his head is being filled up with self-loathing. Cage’s Charlie is dedicated to the traditional practices of the craft and thinks that adding in sex, drugs, & guns is selling out the masses. His twin brother, Donald (also played by Cage), is quite the opposite and lives for genre tropes.

When Charlie is given the daunting task of adapting Susan Orleans’ nonfiction book, “The Orchid Thief,” to the big screen, he wants to stay as faithful to the story as possible and stay far away from any gimmicks. However, as we know from the wacky third act,  it doesn’t go exactly the way he imagined.

To call Charlie Kaufman an enigma would be an understatement; In all four of his movies, he invites the viewer inside his mind and exposes his insecurities. “Adaptation” gives such an intimate look inside a writer’s head that it’s hard not to get a feeling of Impostor’s Syndrome after watching.

Joanna Langfield (@Joannalangfield),  The Movie Minute

Is it the single best movie about the writing process? Maybe not, but “Adaptation” will always have a soft place in my heart. Charlie Kaufman’s swirling story is a semi-autobiographical take on the screenplay adaptation process of Susan Orlean’s “The Orchid Thief”.  Nicolas Cage stars as the twin Kaufman brothers, a conceit which, of course, allows for all sorts of confidence and talent zigzags. Incorporating scenes from the book itself, starring a fine Meryl Streep and outstanding Chris Cooper, adds its own layer of professional grey areas. Every writer has a process, one that probably does and should change with each project. Here, we see three, very different versions of what a writer can go through in trying to create. Their tortures are our exhilarating entertainment.

All that being said, one of the great treats of my career was getting to interview one of the most creative writers of our day, Tom Stoppard. He told me his gigs as a script doctor were his favorite. Why? Because he didn’t have to think of anything like a plot or character, he just got to patch things up, he explained with a big happy glint in his eye.

Anne McCarthy ( @annemitchmcc ),  Teen Vogue ,  Ms. Magazine ,  Bonjour Paris

While “Almost Famous” is not a movie about the writing process, per se, it is one which so well captures the feeling of “other-ness” and “on the outside looking in” experienced by most writers. William Miller (Patrick Fugit) goes on the road with a rock band to write a cover story about them for Rolling Stone magazine. In the process, he wrestles with telling the truth and telling the story the band wants to be written about them. As it is said: the truth is the easiest thing to remember. As it is not always said: the truth is also (usually) the more difficult thing to say – and write.

Mike McGranaghan ( @AisleSeat ), The Aisle Seat  / Screen Rant

For me, the most accurate representation of what it’s like to be a writer can be found in the vastly underrated 1988 Chevy Chase comedy “Funny Farm.” He plays a New York City sports writer who quits his job and moves to a quaint little town in Vermont to write the proverbial Great American Novel. The writing process is repeatedly derailed by various things that distract him (which any writer can relate to), writer’s block hits (ditto), his wife hates his finished work (she’s the internet before there was an internet), and he eventually has to realize that it’s okay to stick with what you’re good at, even if it doesn’t change the world.

Incidentally, Chevy Chase gives one of his best performances in one of his best films. Why this movie isn’t considered a comedy classic is a mystery for the ages. Go see it if you never have!

Christopher Llewellyn Reed ( @chrisreedfilm ),  Hammer to Nail ,  Film Festival Today

This is an easy one, as I have only ever seen one film that accurately recreates the writing process, at least as I have experienced it, and that is director Margarethe von Trotta’s 2012 “Hannah Arendt,” starring the great Barbara Sukowa as the titular intellectual. Much of what we see Arendt do as she works on her seminal 1963 book “Eichmann in Jerusalem” is sit and stare, thinking. Yes, she does write, whether by pen and/or typewriter, but she mostly thinks (and somehow, believe it or not, this is represented in a way that is cinematically dynamic). And that’s what writing so often is: thinking. There are bursts of creativity, but mostly it’s about formulating ideas, gathering them, perhaps even procrastinating by doing other things. A movie about me writing would involve quite a lot of multitasking until the big moment where I can focus on the main task at hand. Or, like Arendt in this biopic (not that I compare myself to her in any way), I lie down, sit, pace and stare at the ceiling, out the window, etc. Or I play with my dog. But 75% of my writing time, at least, is spent not writing. So thank you, Margarethe von Trotta, for making this film that gets it just write/right.

Joshua Rothkopf ( @joshrothkopf ),  Time Out New York

Every writer, to some degree, worries about being discovered as a fraud. It’s a lifestyle that can feel dangerously vaporous. For dramatizing that anxiety—and for creating the scariest prop in movies out of a stack of paper—”The Shining” is, far and away, the truest depiction of what it means to be a writer, at the darkest times we all know. So much is conveyed in  this one montage at the typewriter : Writing becomes nothing more than deploying the same dumb sentence in artful ways—stanzas, paragraphs, poems, thick slabs of repetition. Months and months of “work” (and no play) have been wasted. Cut to Shelley Duvall’s face, and her entire identity as someone married to a writer begins to crumble. It’s the whole reason they’re at the Overlook in the first place, so he can finish his book. The death blow comes when Nicholson gleefully asks, “How do you like it?” There, he’s fully revealed as a monster. He’s either weirdly happy to be exposed as a failure, the jig finally up, or thrilled to be sliding into total self-destruction. And just before he says it, he lingers, watching her. Savoring the moment. It’s Jack saying goodbye to himself. That’s the nightmare.

Andrea Thompson (@ areelofonesown), The Young Folks, The Chicago Reader, Film Girl Film

Like most great movies, “Ruby Sparks” is about so much more than the topic under discussion, which is the writing process. Paul Dano is Calvin, another writer who has found himself unable to write years after his first novel was published to critical and commercial acclaim. Until that is, he has a dream about a girl (and the fact that she is a girl is very much the point) which finally inspires him to start writing again. He starts falling in love with his creation, whom he names Ruby Sparks (Zoe Kazan), only to one day find Ruby has not only magically appeared in his apartment, but believes them to already be in a relationship.

Written by Kazan herself, “Ruby Sparks” is about how the writing process itself can warp our perspective and relationships. After Calvin finds he can still control Ruby through his writing, his insecurity drives him to keep Ruby in his life by any means he can, culminating in one of the most emotionally devastating finales I’ve ever seen on-screen. It remains a powerful indictment of how many men casually create stories and roles for women can take on a life of its own, with horrific consequences for those who are unable or unwilling to fulfill them.

Q: What is the best movie currently playing in theaters?

A: “fast color”, most popular, you may also like.

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14 Good Movies About Writers Every Writer Should See

Have you seen any good movies about writers recently?

I just happened to get a chance to watch one a few weeks ago (listed first below). I had seen it before, but it was a long time ago and I didn’t remember a lot of it. It impressed me again, particularly in terms of how it captured a writer’s point of view.

If you haven’t seen a movie about writers recently, I suggest you schedule a time when you can. There’s something about watching a character say the things we all often think that can be really satisfying. It lets us know that we’re not alone.

It can also be eye-opening to see another writer’s process, and how they overcome their struggles, even if they are fictional.

Below, I’ve listed 14 of the best movies about writers I’ve seen over the years. I’m sure there are some I haven’t seen. If you know of a good one that’s not on this list, please do add it to the comments!

14 Good Movies About Writers

1. the words.

This is the one I saw recently. It’s well-acted and holds your interest, plus I love the ending. It leaves you asking, “Which would I choose?”

Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Irons, Dennis Quaid, Zoe Saldana

When wannabe-writer Rory (Bradley Cooper) finds an old manuscript tucked away in a bag, he decides to pass the work off as his own. The book, called “The Window Tears,” brings Rory great acclaim, until the real author (Jeremy Irons) shows up and threatens to destroy Rory’s reputation. Cut to Clayton Hammond (Dennis Quaid), a writer whose popular novel “The Words” seems to mirror Rory’s story, leading to speculation that the tome is Hammond’s thinly veiled autobiography.

Good Movies About Writers 2: Midnight in Paris

I remember this as a purely delightful movie. I mean, how fun to travel back in time and meet the writers you’ve long admired?

Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody

Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) is a screenwriter and aspiring novelist. Vacationing in Paris with his fiancee (Rachel McAdams), he has taken to touring the city alone. On one such late-night excursion, Gil encounters a group of strange — yet familiar — revelers, who sweep him along, apparently back in time, for a night with some of the Jazz Age’s icons of art and literature. The more time Gil spends with these cultural heroes of the past, the more dissatisfied he becomes with the present.

3. Adaptation

There are certain scenes in this movie I could watch over and over again and still laugh out loud. Only a writer is likely to get the funny references!

Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper

Nicolas Cage is Charlie Kaufman, a confused L.A. screenwriter overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy, sexual frustration, self-loathing, and by the screenwriting ambitions of his freeloading twin brother Donald (Nicolas Cage). While struggling to adapt “The Orchid Thief,” by Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep), Kaufman’s life spins from pathetic to bizarre. The lives of Kaufman, Orlean’s book, become strangely intertwined as each one’s search for passion collides with the others’.

Good Movies About Writers 4: Dead Poets Society

This movie has a special place in my heart for a couple of reasons. First, it’s starring Robin Williams, and I’m a big fan. Second, the first boss that ever hired me as a writer gave it to me as a parting gift before he left the company. It was a sign of his faith in me as a writer, which I treasured at the time as I was just starting out.

Robin Williams, Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard

A new English teacher, John Keating (Robin Williams), is introduced to an all-boys preparatory school that is known for its ancient traditions and high standards. He uses unorthodox methods to reach out to his students, who face enormous pressures from their parents and the school. With Keating’s help, students Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard), Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke), and others learn to break out of their shells, pursue their dreams and seize the day.

5. Finding Neverland

This is the movie that made me fall in love with actor Freddie Highmore. There was one scene where his mother expresses her confidence in him as a budding creator that is extremely touching and speaks right to a writer’s heart.

Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Freddie Highmore

This charming account of a period in the life of author J.M. Barrie (Johnny Depp) reveals the real relationships and events that served as the basis for the author’s most iconic work, “Peter Pan.” After Barrie develops a platonic relationship with the widowed Sylvia (Kate Winslet) and her four sons, he is inspired to write a play about a group of children who don’t want to grow up. The work proves a hit and winds up bringing Barrie and the children together in a way he had never expected.

Good Movies About Writers 6: Limitless

I wrote a blog after seeing this movie because it sparked so much reflection. How much more could we accomplish if we stopped believing in our limits?

Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, Robert DeNiro

Facing unemployment and his girlfriend’s rejection, writer Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) is sure that he has no future. That all changes when an old friend gives him a drug that produces enhanced mental acuity. Stoked on the untested chemical, Eddie rises to the top of the financial world and attracts the attention of a tycoon (Robert De Niro) who intends to use him to make a fortune. But terrible side-effects and a dwindling supply threaten to collapse Eddie’s house of cards.

7. Miss Potter

There aren’t many movies about female writers, and this one is as delightful as Miss Potter seemed to be herself. The creator of Peter Rabbit managed to keep her inner child awake and alive throughout her entire life. Plus her advocacy for her work can be inspiring for us all.

Renée Zellweger, Ewan McGregor, Emily Watson

Based on the life of early 20th-century author Beatrix Potter, creator of Peter Rabbit. As a young woman, Potter rails against her parents’ wishes for her to marry and settle down. Instead, she continues to write about and draw the animals she has adored since childhood. Her early attempts to find a publisher for her children’s stories are unsuccessful, but an offer from a small firm will turn her into a literary phenomenon.

Good Movies About Writers 8: Trumbo

In my hometown, there is a wonderful bronze sculpture of Trumbo in his bathtub writing. I saw the sculpture before I saw the movie. The movie clarified the sculpture for me—now it makes sense!

Bryan Cranston, Helen Mirren, Diane Lane

Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) is a talented screenwriter. However, his active membership in the Communist Party draws the contempt of anti-Soviet entertainment industry figures, such as columnist Hedda Hopper (Dame Helen Mirren) and John Wayne (David James Elliott). Trumbo is one of ten screenwriters subpoenaed to testify before the United States Congress regarding Communist propaganda in Hollywood movies. In 1950, he served eleven months in prison where he met J. Parnell Thomas (James DuMont), who was convicted of tax evasion.

Philip Seymour Hoffman was brilliant in this role as Truman Capote. What a shame we lost him so young. Through his role, he showed how involved we writers can become with our subjects/characters.

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Mark Pellegrino

Reading of the murder of a Kansas family, New York City novelist Truman Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman) decides to cover the story himself, and travels to the small town with his childhood friend, aspiring novelist Harper Lee (Catherine Keener). When Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.) and Dick Hickock (Mark Pellegrino) are arrested and charged, Capote forms an emotional bond with Smith during his jailhouse interviews despite the young criminal’s apparent guilt.

Good Movies About Writers 10: Misery

I have to admit—I always look away during the scene where Kathy Bates decides to “punish” the writer she’s captured in her cabin. No list of good movies about writers would be complete, though, without this gem from Steven King.

James Caan, Kathy Bates

After a serious car crash, novelist Paul Sheldon (James Caan) is rescued by former nurse Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), who claims to be his biggest fan. Annie brings him to her remote cabin to recover, where her obsession takes a dark turn when she discovers Sheldon is killing off her favorite character from his novels. As Sheldon devises plans for escape, Annie grows increasingly controlling, even violent, as she forces the author to shape his writing to suit her twisted fantasies.

11. Finding Forrester

This one was a little saccharine for me in places, but hey—Sean Connery! And he has some great lines that writers will appreciate.

Sean Connery, Rob Brown, F. Murray Abraham

A unique relationship develops between an eccentric, reclusive novelist and a young, amazingly gifted scholar-athlete. After the novelist discovers that the young athlete is also an excellent writer and secretly takes him on as his protégé, they develop an unlikely friendship. As they learn more about each other, they learn more about themselves, and ultimately, with the help of his new mentor, the basketball star must choose the right path.

Good Movies About Writers 12: Genius

I saw this one just a couple of years ago. It is newer than most of the rest of these, coming out in 2016. I’m a big Colin Firth fan, and to see him playing the role of Maxwell Perkins in a story about Thomas Wolfe was too much to pass up. If any of you are editors, you’ll love this tribute to what a good editor can do for a writer!

Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Laura Linney

One day in 1929, a wildly developing book manuscript lands on the table of renowned editor Maxwell Perkins’ desk. He realizes that Thomas Wolfe, the author behind the script, is a dazzling talent and develops a close friendship with him.

13. The Ghost Writer

This one gets a little squirrely toward the end, as far as the plot goes, but it’s entertaining. Plus it was great to see a movie about a ghostwriter! The only one I’ve come across?

Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams

When a successful ghostwriter, the Ghost (Ewan McGregor), agrees to finish the memoirs of Adam Long (Pierce Brosnan), England’s former prime minister, his publisher assures him it’s the chance of a lifetime. Instead, he begins to uncover evidence that suggests his late predecessor knew a dark secret about Lang and may have been murdered to prevent it from coming to light.

Good Movies About Writers 14: The Secret Window

It’s amazing looking at this list how many A-list actors show up in movies about writers, and how many show up more than once, like Johnny Depp. Here, he plays a writer who escapes to a cabin to write—something we all long to do at one point or another! Unfortunately, as so often happens in cabins in the woods, things don’t go well!

Johnny Depp, Maria Bello, John Turturro

While in the process of an ugly divorce from his wife (Maria Bello), writer Mort Rainey (Johnny Depp) relocates to his remote cabin in upstate New York for solitude. Attempting to recover his mental health, Rainey has the misfortune of being found by John Shooter (John Turturro), a farmer who claims Rainey plagiarized his work. At first, Rainey ignores the accusations, but Shooter has no intention of quietly disappearing. Soon, Shooter becomes increasingly vicious in his quest for retribution.

These are great movie recs! I will add STRANGER THAN FICTION (2006) to the list—Emma Thompson, a blocked writer, is writing a novel which stars Will Ferrell’s character—but of course, he doesn’t realize he’s just a character in a book. It’s marvelous! Also stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and Dustin Hoffman.

Oh yes, I remember that one! Good addition, Claire. :O)

I second the recommendation for As Good As It Gets!

Dead Poets Society and Adaptation were very good, too. I’m glad you included them.

Duly noted! Thanks, Lydia. :O)

I’ve only seen a few of these; really enjoyed Miss Potter. Thank you for the fresh suggestions!

Wasn’t that a good one? Thanks, Pauline. Enjoy! :O)

Such a fun post today! Let me add AS GOOD AS IT GETS starring Jack Nicholson, THE WIFE starring Glenn Close, and WONDER BOYS starring Michael Douglas.

Oh I’ve seen “As Good As It Gets,” but had forgotten he was an author in that one! He’s another one (Jack Nicholson) that played an author a few times. And yes, “The Wife.” Another good one. Love Glenn Close. “The Wonder Boys” I haven’t seen. Thanks for adding these, Karen!

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College Nut

The Art of Writing College Essays Inspired by Movies

Why movies are a great inspiration for college essays.

Movies have the power to move us emotionally and intellectually. They can make us laugh, cry, and even change our perspectives on life. As such, movies are a great source of inspiration for college essays. Not only do they provide an opportunity to showcase your creativity, but they also allow you to convey your thoughts and ideas in a unique and memorable way.

How Movies Can Help You Choose a Topic

One of the biggest challenges of writing a college essay is choosing a topic. You want to write about something that is meaningful to you, but you also want to impress the admissions committee. Movies can help you with this by providing a wide range of subjects to explore. For example, if you are passionate about social justice, you could write about the themes of discrimination and inequality in the movie “The Help.” Or, if you are interested in science, you could write about the ethics of cloning in the movie “Jurassic Park.”

How to Incorporate Movie References in Your Essay

Once you have chosen a movie to draw inspiration from, the next step is to incorporate it into your essay in a meaningful way. One way to do this is by using quotes or references from the movie to support your argument. For example, if you are writing about the importance of perseverance, you could use the quote from “Rocky Balboa” where he says, “It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.”

How Movies Can Help You Stand Out

One of the main goals of a college essay is to stand out from the crowd. Movies can help you achieve this by providing a unique lens through which to view your experiences and ideas. For example, instead of writing a generic essay about your summer vacation, you could write about how watching the sunset in “The Notebook” inspired you to pursue a career in environmental conservation.

How to Use the Structure of Movies in Your Essay

Another way to draw inspiration from movies is to use their narrative structure in your essay. Just like movies have a beginning, middle, and end, your essay should also have a clear structure. You could use the three-act structure of movies to organize your thoughts and ideas. The first act could introduce your topic and thesis statement, the second act could provide supporting evidence and arguments, and the third act could conclude with a powerful message or call to action.

Tips for Writing an Effective College Essay Inspired by Movies

1. choose a movie that resonates with you.

The key to writing a great college essay is to choose a topic that is meaningful to you. When selecting a movie to draw inspiration from, choose one that resonates with you on a personal level. This will make it easier for you to connect with the material and write a compelling essay.

2. Use Your Own Voice

Another important aspect of writing a college essay is to use your own voice. Don’t try to sound like someone else or use big words that you don’t understand. Be yourself and write in a way that feels natural to you. This will make your essay more authentic and memorable.

3. Show, Don’t Tell

One of the biggest mistakes that students make when writing college essays is telling rather than showing. Instead of simply stating that you are passionate about a certain topic, show it through a personal anecdote or example. This will make your essay more engaging and persuasive.

4. Edit and Revise

Writing a great college essay takes time and effort. Don’t be afraid to revise and edit your essay multiple times. Have someone else read it and provide feedback. This will help you catch any mistakes or inconsistencies in your writing.

5. Be Honest and Vulnerable

Finally, don’t be afraid to be honest and vulnerable in your essay. Admissions committees want to see the real you, not a perfect version of yourself. Share your fears, doubts, and struggles. This will make your essay more relatable and memorable.

In conclusion, movies can be a great source of inspiration for college essays. They provide a unique lens through which to view your experiences and ideas. Use them wisely and incorporate them into your writing in a meaningful way. Remember to be yourself, show, don’t tell, and be honest and vulnerable in your writing.

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The 7 Best Movies About Writers and Authors, Ranked

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Writing is one of the oldest mediums for the expression and recording of ideas, feelings, and lived experiences.

Cinema is first and foremost a visual art, but it will always have an inherent connection to writing and literature—that makes it the perfect art form for reflecting on the act of writing.

There have been so many great films featuring the subject of writing. They look at writing as a beautiful process, they examine the mystical quality of putting pen to paper, they explore the highs, lows, glory, and madness that can come with being someone who writes.

Here are some of the best movies about writers, authors, and writing, that really capture the effects of the written word.

7. Dead Poets Society (1989)

Directed by Peter Weir

Starring Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke

Comedy, Drama (2h 8m)

8.1 on IMDb — 84% on RT

This is the only film on this list that's specifically about poetry, and oh boy, does Peter Weir's iconic Dead Poets Society love poetry!

With Robin Williams in the titular role, he teaches the uptight boys of a rigid school system how to rebel and seize the day.

Sure, he assures them that law, medicine, and business are all important, but he also injects them with a desperately needed shot of romance: "But poetry, beauty, romance, love—these are what we stay alive for."

While it may border on saccharine at times, and while some of the "romantic" idealism hasn't aged so well, Dead Poets Society is one of the best films about writing and poetry ever made.

With Robin Williams as our literary guide, it's easy to fall in love with the words of this classic film for romantics.

6. The Shining (1980)

Directed by Stanley Kubrick

Starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd

Drama, Horror (2h 26m)

8.4 on IMDb — 82% on RT

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Anyone who's ever had to crunch out an essay for school has felt a little bit like Jack Torrance.

The Shining is about many things, but in particular, it's about a struggling writer who allows his demons to get the best of him. Stephen King (author of the original story) even said it's a semi-autobiographical look at how alcoholism almost ruined his life and career as a writer.

While that aspect is explored more deeply in the book than in the movie, Jack's difficulty with the writing process still causes a great deal of discontentment and frustration, which gradually deteriorates into full-blown insanity that ruins him and his family.

5. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

Directed by Terry Gilliam

Starring Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro, Tobey Maguire

Adventure, Comedy, Drama (1h 58m)

7.5 on IMDb — 50% on RT

One of the most famous journalists of all time, Hunter S. Thompson was a pioneering force in the gonzo journalism movement. Adapted from his book of the same name, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a semi-autobiographical tale about his various drug-induced exploits.

The film's plot is as all over the place as its characters, but it loosely follows Raoul Duke as he searches for the American Dream in Las Vegas for an article. However, psychoactive substances distract him and his associate, leading to a tale dripping with debauchery.

Expertly played by Thompson's real-life friend Johnny Depp, the film is a one-of-a-kind look at this man's writing process.

4. Midnight in Paris (2011)

Directed by Woody Allen

Starring Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates

Comedy, Fantasy, Romance (1h 34m)

7.7 on IMDb — 93% on RT

While Dead Poets Society focuses on the best of romantic poets, Midnight in Paris similarly takes a look at the best authors of a bygone era.

Gil Pender is a screenwriter who takes a trip to Paris with his fiancée. However, after a rather unpleasant day spent with his wife-to-be's friends, he takes a lone walk through the streets of Paris.

While wandering, he mysteriously travels back in time and comes across the best writers of a generation: Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein. Salvador Dali even makes an appearance as well, but it's mainly about these legendary writers from the past.

Midnight in Paris is a stark examination of the negative effects of "Golden Age Syndrome," and it's one of Woody Allen's best films.

3. Adaptation (2002)

Directed by Spike Jonze

Starring Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper

Comedy, Drama (1h 55m)

7.7 on IMDb — 91% on RT

Charlie Kaufman is one of the most unique writers working in Hollywood today, whose works are cerebral, bizarre, and at times totally inscrutable. (If you've seen his films like Being John Malkovich or Synecdoche, New York , then you know all of this first-hand.)

With Adaptation , the creator becomes the subject: Charlie Kaufman writes a story about Charlie Kaufman's writing process.

The entire film is a commentary on what it means to write, the various twists and turns that a film takes along the way, all while taking subtle jabs at Hollywood's writing formulas and script gurus.

Perhaps the cleverest one on this list, Kaufman teamed up with Spike Jonze to create an immensely meta film. It takes several watches to get all of the in-jokes that Jonze and Kaufman make.

2. Barton Fink (1991)

Directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Starring John Turturro, John Goodman, Judy Davis

Comedy, Drama, Thriller (1h 56m)

7.6 on IMDb — 89% on RT

Leave it to the Coen brothers—a most magnificent writing duo—to make one of the best films about writing ever made.

Played by John Turturro, Barton Fink is a playwright from New York who decides that his voice is the best voice to represent the downtrodden, blue-collar workers of America.

However, he seems to have difficulty writing in the same conditions that those very downtrodden, blue-collar workers are often subjected to.

Barton Fink takes several unpredictable turns (like most movies by the Coen brothers), but the struggles of creativity and the writing process are at the heart of this story. Along with that, the film also analyzes the experience of writer's block in its most supernatural form.

With a bizarre ending that you probably won't see coming, Barton Fink is a story that has led to many different interpretations.

1. Finding Forrester (2000)

Directed by Gus Van Sant

Starring Sean Connery, Rob Brown, F. Murray Abraham

Drama (2h 16m)

7.3 on IMDb — 74% on RT

Gus Van Sant touched our hearts with Good Will Hunting in 1997. Three years later, he did it again with Finding Forrester .

In many ways, this film is like a spiritual successor to Good Will Hunting , with both films centered on a troubled youth who demonstrates genius in a specialized area, coupled with a fabulous capacity for recall, but weighed down by a certain contempt for authority.

Similarities aside, Good Will Hunting and Finding Forrester are very different films in terms of tone and theme.

Finding Forrester focuses on a young man named Jamal, who stumbles into the apartment of an iconic, reclusive author while looking for his basketball. After a few hiccups, their relationship blossoms into one of Forrester acting as Jamal's writing mentor.

This mentorship shifts into a deep and meaningful friendship as Jamal comes to realize that his instructor needs help of his own.

Finding Forrester isn't just a film about writing; it's about life. And, to its credit, it approaches its themes—of class, privilege, loneliness, isolation—with much more nuance than the likes of, say, Dead Poets Society .

And the grand story unfolds between two men who just love writing.

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Top 10 Movies Every Aspiring Writer Should See

From "Freedom Writers' to 'The Dead Poets Society,' these films are sure to be enjoyed by all of you aspiring writers out there.

There are a lot of movies surrounding hobbies. There are plenty of movies about kung fu, dancing, singing, and a lot of sports movies. Sometimes it's to the point where it feels the same topics are explored over and over again. Besides the fact that there are plenty of other hobbies out there.

RELATED: 10 Movies Based on Books That Didn't Quite Get the Point

One that has seen traction in recent years is writing. Due to the internet, both creative and professional writers alike can post their content pretty much anywhere on sites such as WattPad, or they can create their own blogs. If you're one of those individuals with a knack for putting words onto paper, there are a handful of incredible movies that you should probably watch.

'Freedom Writers' (2007)

Freedom Writers is the incredible true story of a high school English teacher who connects to her students in a way like no other. Erin Grunwell ( Hilary Swank ) is transferred to a school in a low-income area. Many of her students come from impoverished families and have quite a few problems as a result. But Grunwell refuses to give up on them.

She buys the students a collection of journals, asking them to fill them out every day. The students write about their home issues and personal struggles. Grunwell then realizes that her students have the same level of promise as any other student, they just haven't been given any real opportunities. She then helps them unlock their own potential, and through the power of journal writing, they are able to turn their lives around for the better.

'Finding Forrester' (2000)

Finding Forrester stars Sir Sean Connery as reclusive author William Forrester, who takes a young boy named Jamal Wallace ( Rob Brown ) under his wing. Jamal shows skill in academia, but he never applies himself, preferring to play basketball. Wallace sneaks into Forrester's home one afternoon as a dare but leaves his backpack behind. The next day, he finds his schoolwork in his backpack edited by Forrester.

From then on, Forrester becomes Wallace's tutor, creative writing mentor, and best friend. They compose stories and essays together, which gets Wallace a scholarship to a prestigious Ivy League school. Not only that, but Wallace rekindles Forrester's desire to live and teach, as Forrester has no children of his own, and no one to pass on his knowledge to.

'Dead Poets Society' (1989)

Dead Poets Society takes place in the 1950s at an all-male boarding school. The students there receive a new teacher named John Keating, played by Robin Williams . Keating shocks the boys when they notice he has an unorthodox method of teaching, which goes against the strict regulations set in place by the school's administration.

Keating nurtures his students' creativity and reintroduces the Dead Poets' Society, a long-lost club of students at the school who would read poetry in secret. After inspiring the students and introducing them to the art of poetry, many begin to compose poems themselves. Though Keating's methods are frowned upon by the school's headmaster, the effect that creative writing has on his students is astounding and shows just how powerful the art form is.

'Tolkien' (2019)

Tolkien is a biopic about renowned fantasy author J. R. R. Tolkien ( Nicholas Hoult ), who wrote the expansive universe of The Lord of the Rings . The movie shows how Tolkien was inspired to write his groundbreaking saga, and what personal experiences can be found in between the lines of prose .

Tolkien fought in World War I, which would prove to be the basis for the War of the Ring present in his works. It serves as proof that inspiration for creative works really can come from anywhere, even from the ugliest pits of despair and death. Though, the movie doesn't feature much actual writing until the end, where Tolkien can be seen writing the infamous opening line of The Hobbit .

'Finding Neverland' (2004)

Finding Neverland is another biopic similar to Tolkien , this time about playwright and author J. M. Barrie ( Johnny Depp ). Barrie is famous for writing Peter Pan , first as a play, and then as a novel seven years later. The book, of course, is one of the most popular stories to this day, and has spawned a number of film adaptations of its own. Most notable of these is the upcoming live-action Disney film .

The characters in the novel, as it turns out, are based on real people that Barrie knew in his personal life, and even had the same names. For example, the characters of George ( Nick Roud ) and Michael ( Luke Spill ) were very real children that Barrie helped raise alongside a widowed woman. It's another film that shows that stories can come from pretty much anywhere if you look hard enough.

'Misery' (1990)

Misery is a horror movie based on a book by renowned horror author Stephen King . It features a fictional author named Paul ( James Caan ), who writes a series of Victorian novels. He is hurt in a tragic accident and winds up in the hospital. Annie ( Kathy Bates ), the nurse who treats him happens to be his biggest fan.

Out of gratitude, Paul lets Annie read his upcoming manuscript, but she is outraged to discover that her favorite character is going to die in the next book. Annie proceeds to hold Paul captive and forces him to rewrite the manuscript in a way where the character can be kept alive. Though, it shouldn't discourage any aspiring writers, because situations like the one in the movie are extremely unlikely. But there is a valuable message in there that no matter what you do, you can't please everyone with your written work, so don't be too bummed out by criticism. After all, it could always be a lot worse.

'Ruby Sparks' (2012)

Ruby Sparks stars Paul Dano as Calvin, a troubled author who is visited by a woman named Ruby Sparks ( Zoe Kazan ) in his dreams. Calvin is infatuated with Ruby, and decides to write a passage about her before he heads off to bed. When he wakes up, he finds that Ruby has come to life and the two fall in love.

Though it's debatable whether Ruby was ever real or not by the end of it, one message is certain: your characters are only as real as you make them. Though those around Calvin find his relationship strange, Ruby is real enough for Calvin, and that's all that matters.

'Adaptation' (2002)

Adaptation is a self-aware movie about the struggle of adapting written work into a Hollywood movie. Funny enough, the movie is, in itself, based on a novel . This film stars Nicolas Cage as Charlie Kaufman, a screenwriter tasked with adapting Susan Orlean 's non-fiction book The Orchid Thief for Hollywood. Charlie finds himself battling with his inner critic as he wants to adapt the movie in a near-impossible way that will leave it one hundred percent true to the source material. This results in him developing the nemesis of any creative writer: writer's block.

Charlie happens to have a twin brother named Donald (also played by Cage), who is also into screenwriting, and through their brilliant minds begin to formulate a plan that ends with satisfied audiences and satisfied producers. The movie shows what it's like inside the world of screenwriting, and how difficult it can be to try and please as many people as possible without straying too far outside the lines.

'Sunset Boulevard' (1950)

Sunset Boulevard is a film noir that is heavily critical of Hollywood, and the screenwriting industry in particular. Featuring the directing talent of Billy Wilder , the movie stars William Holden as Joe Gillis, a Hollywood screenwriter who is facing financial trouble after a streak of box office bombs.

He befriends a washed-up actress named Norma ( Gloria Swanson ), who hires him to edit her own script for a movie that will mark her return to the big screen. The film serves as something of a warning, because while the screenwriting industry can be fun, it's difficult to get into, as it's highly competitive.

'The Ghost Writer' (2010)

If you're not familiar with the term, a ghostwriter is someone who is paid to write something for a client without receiving any credit. A lot of autobiographies use ghostwriters, despite the claim that they were written by the person whom the book is about. This film stars Ewan MacGregor as the Ghost, a ghostwriter who is assigned to finish an autobiography on fictional British Prime Minister Adam Lang ( Pierce Brosnan ), which isn't as easy as it sounds.

The Ghost winds up caught in a web of conspiracies surrounding the head of state, which makes his job much more difficult and dangerous than it should be. However, he still manages to finish the autobiography and launch the book against all odds. Though being uncredited for your work may seem an awful thing to some, in this case, it saves the Ghost's skin, as he is able to use the information found during his research to uncover the truth, and nobody will come hunting for him since he "wasn't involved."

KEEP READING: Best Examples of The Obsessed Artist Trope in Film

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Top 80 Movies about Writers

Including ScreenWriters

• Movies or TV
• IMDb Rating
• In Theaters
• Release Year

1. Contempt (1963)

Not Rated | 102 min | Drama, Romance

A French writer's marriage deteriorates while working on Fritz Lang 's version of "The Odyssey", as his wife accuses him of using her to court favor with the film's brash American producer.

Director: Jean-Luc Godard | Stars: Brigitte Bardot , Jack Palance , Michel Piccoli , Giorgia Moll

Votes: 35,993 | Gross: $0.04M

2. Sunset Blvd. (1950)

Passed | 110 min | Drama, Film-Noir

A screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return.

Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: William Holden , Gloria Swanson , Erich von Stroheim , Nancy Olson

Votes: 236,162

3. The Lives of Others (2006)

R | 137 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller

In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.

Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck | Stars: Ulrich Mühe , Martina Gedeck , Sebastian Koch , Ulrich Tukur

Votes: 409,658 | Gross: $11.29M

4. La Notte (1961)

Not Rated | 122 min | Drama

A day in the life of an unfaithful married couple and their steadily deteriorating relationship.

Director: Michelangelo Antonioni | Stars: Jeanne Moreau , Marcello Mastroianni , Monica Vitti , Bernhard Wicki

Votes: 23,996 | Gross: $0.04M

5. The Shining (1980)

R | 146 min | Drama, Horror

A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.

Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Jack Nicholson , Shelley Duvall , Danny Lloyd , Scatman Crothers

Votes: 1,104,832 | Gross: $44.02M

6. The Player (1992)

R | 124 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama

A Hollywood studio executive is being sent death threats by a writer whose script he rejected, but which one?

Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Tim Robbins , Greta Scacchi , Fred Ward , Whoopi Goldberg

Votes: 65,696 | Gross: $21.71M

7. Leave Her to Heaven (1945)

Passed | 110 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Romance

A writer falls in love with a young socialite and they're soon married, but her obsessive love for him threatens to be the undoing of them both as well as everyone around them.

Director: John M. Stahl | Stars: Gene Tierney , Cornel Wilde , Jeanne Crain , Vincent Price

Votes: 14,746

8. Misery (1990)

R | 107 min | Drama, Thriller

After a famous author is rescued from a car crash by a fan of his novels, he comes to realize that the care he is receiving is only the beginning of a nightmare of captivity and abuse.

Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: James Caan , Kathy Bates , Richard Farnsworth , Frances Sternhagen

Votes: 235,178 | Gross: $61.28M

9. Barton Fink (1991)

R | 116 min | Comedy, Drama, Thriller

A renowned New York playwright is enticed to California to write for the movies and discovers the hellish truth of Hollywood.

Directors: Joel Coen , Ethan Coen | Stars: John Turturro , John Goodman , Judy Davis , Michael Lerner

Votes: 128,835 | Gross: $6.15M

10. A Pure Formality (1994)

PG-13 | 108 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

Onoff is a famous writer who hasn't published any new books for quite some time and has become a recluse. When he is picked up by the police one stormy night, without any identification, ... See full summary  »

Director: Giuseppe Tornatore | Stars: Gérard Depardieu , Roman Polanski , Sergio Rubini , Nicola Di Pinto

Votes: 12,549 | Gross: $0.20M

11. Chinese Coffee (2000)

R | 99 min | Drama

Harry and Jake, two unsuccessful writers, spend a cathartic evening arguing about money, aesthetics, their friendship, and Harry's new manuscript.

Director: Al Pacino | Stars: Al Pacino , Jerry Orbach , Susan Floyd , Ellen McElduff

Votes: 4,627

12. Claire's Knee (1970)

GP | 105 min | Drama, Romance

On lakeside summer holiday, a conflicted older man is dared to have a flirt with two beautiful teenage half-sisters despite his betrothal to a diplomat's daughter and the fact that the girls have boyfriends.

Director: Éric Rohmer | Stars: Jean-Claude Brialy , Aurora Cornu , Béatrice Romand , Laurence de Monaghan

Votes: 12,478 | Gross: $0.04M

13. House by the River (1950)

Approved | 83 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

A deranged writer murders a maid after she resists his advances. The writer engages his brother's help in hiding the body, causing unexpected problems for both of them.

Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Louis Hayward , Lee Bowman , Jane Wyatt , Dorothy Patrick

Votes: 4,149

14. Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont (2005)

Not Rated | 108 min | Comedy, Drama

All but abandoned by her family in a London retirement hotel, an elderly woman strikes up a curious friendship with a young writer.

Director: Dan Ireland | Stars: Joan Plowright , Rupert Friend , Zoë Tapper , Robert Lang

Votes: 4,221 | Gross: $0.07M

15. Following (1998)

R | 69 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller

A young writer who follows strangers for material meets a thief who takes him under his wing.

Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Jeremy Theobald , Alex Haw , Lucy Russell , John Nolan

Votes: 101,588 | Gross: $0.05M

16. Prick Up Your Ears (1987)

R | 105 min | Biography, Drama

Biographer John Lahr is writing a book about playwright Joe Orton. Joe and Kenneth meet at drama school and live together for ten years as lovers and collaborators. Both want to be writers, but only one of them is successful.

Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Gary Oldman , Alfred Molina , Vanessa Redgrave , Wallace Shawn

Votes: 6,531 | Gross: $1.65M

17. Love Streams (1984)

PG-13 | 141 min | Drama

Two closely bound, emotionally wounded souls reunite after years apart.

Director: John Cassavetes | Stars: Gena Rowlands , John Cassavetes , Diahnne Abbott , Seymour Cassel

Votes: 6,622

18. With a Friend Like Harry... (2000)

R | 117 min | Comedy, Drama, Mystery

Harry knew Michel in high school; they meet again by accident, Harry inserts himself in Michel's life... and things take a sinister turn.

Director: Dominik Moll | Stars: Laurent Lucas , Sergi López , Mathilde Seigner , Sophie Guillemin

Votes: 11,949 | Gross: $3.82M

19. Certified Copy (2010)

Not Rated | 106 min | Drama, Romance

In Tuscany to promote his latest book, a middle-aged British writer meets a French woman who leads him to the village of Lucignano. While there, a chance question reveals something deeper.

Director: Abbas Kiarostami | Stars: Juliette Binoche , William Shimell , Jean-Claude Carrière , Agathe Natanson

Votes: 26,857 | Gross: $1.34M

20. Stuck in Love. (2012)

R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

An acclaimed writer, his ex-wife, and their teenaged children come to terms with the complexities of love in all its forms over the course of one tumultuous year.

Director: Josh Boone | Stars: Greg Kinnear , Jennifer Connelly , Lily Collins , Nat Wolff

Votes: 91,923 | Gross: $0.08M

21. Providence (1977)

R | 104 min | Drama

A dying writer bases his last book on his own perception of his family.

Director: Alain Resnais | Stars: Dirk Bogarde , Ellen Burstyn , John Gielgud , David Warner

Votes: 3,506

22. Deconstructing Harry (1997)

R | 96 min | Comedy

Suffering from writer's block and eagerly awaiting his writing award, Harry Block remembers events from his past and scenes from his best-selling books as characters, real and fictional, come back to haunt him.

Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen , Judy Davis , Julia Louis-Dreyfus , Stephanie Roth Haberle

Votes: 47,774 | Gross: $10.69M

23. Sex and Lucía (2001)

R | 128 min | Drama, Romance

Various lives converge on an isolated island, all connected by an author whose novel has become inextricably entwined with his own life.

Director: Julio Medem | Stars: Paz Vega , Tristán Ulloa , Najwa Nimri , Elena Anaya

Votes: 38,693 | Gross: $1.49M

24. Wonder Boys (2000)

R | 107 min | Comedy, Drama

An English Professor tries to deal with his wife leaving him, the arrival of his editor who has been waiting for his book for seven years, and the various problems that his friends and associates involve him in.

Director: Curtis Hanson | Stars: Michael Douglas , Tobey Maguire , Frances McDormand , Robert Downey Jr.

Votes: 66,561 | Gross: $19.39M

25. After the Storm (2016)

Not Rated | 118 min | Comedy, Drama

After the death of his father, a private detective struggles to find child support money and reconnect with his son and ex-wife.

Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu | Stars: Hiroshi Abe , Yôko Maki , Satomi Kobayashi , Lily Franky

Votes: 12,730 | Gross: $0.27M

26. Reprise (2006)

R | 105 min | Drama

Fueled by literary aspirations and youthful exuberance, two competitive friends endure the pangs of love, depression, and burgeoning careers.

Director: Joachim Trier | Stars: Anders Danielsen Lie , Espen Klouman Høiner , Viktoria Winge , Odd-Magnus Williamson

Votes: 15,602 | Gross: $0.55M

27. Another Woman (1988)

PG | 81 min | Drama

Facing a mid-life crisis, a woman rents an apartment next to a psychiatrist's office to write a new book, only to become drawn to the plight of a pregnant woman seeking that doctor's help.

Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Gena Rowlands , Mia Farrow , Ian Holm , Blythe Danner

Votes: 15,032 | Gross: $1.56M

28. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)

GP | 96 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller

An American expatriate in Rome attempts to unmask a serial killer he witnessed in the act of an attempted murder - and is now hunting him and his girlfriend.

Director: Dario Argento | Stars: Tony Musante , Suzy Kendall , Enrico Maria Salerno , Eva Renzi

Votes: 24,036 | Gross: $0.42M

29. In a Lonely Place (1950)

Not Rated | 94 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery

A potentially violent screenwriter is a murder suspect until his lovely neighbor clears him. However, she soon starts to have her doubts.

Director: Nicholas Ray | Stars: Humphrey Bogart , Gloria Grahame , Frank Lovejoy , Carl Benton Reid

Votes: 35,175

30. The Squid and the Whale (2005)

R | 81 min | Comedy, Drama

Follows two young boys dealing with their parents' divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980s.

Director: Noah Baumbach | Stars: Owen Kline , Jeff Daniels , Laura Linney , Jesse Eisenberg

Votes: 90,343 | Gross: $7.36M

31. Finding Forrester (2000)

PG-13 | 136 min | Drama

Forrester, the author of a famous book, decides to help Jamal, a 16-year-old student, discover his writing prowess by mentoring him and enrolling him into a prestigious private school.

Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Sean Connery , Rob Brown , F. Murray Abraham , Anna Paquin

Votes: 89,522 | Gross: $66.40M

32. Capote (2005)

R | 114 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

In 1959, Truman Capote learns of the murder of a Kansas family and decides to write a book about the case. While researching for his novel In Cold Blood, Capote forms a relationship with one of the killers, Perry Smith, who is on death row.

Director: Bennett Miller | Stars: Philip Seymour Hoffman , Clifton Collins Jr. , Catherine Keener , Allie Mickelson

Votes: 140,646 | Gross: $28.75M

33. The Great Beauty (2013)

Not Rated | 141 min | Drama

Jep Gambardella has seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades, but after his 65th birthday and a shock from the past, Jep looks past the nightclubs and parties to find a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty.

Director: Paolo Sorrentino | Stars: Toni Servillo , Carlo Verdone , Sabrina Ferilli , Carlo Buccirosso

Votes: 97,307 | Gross: $2.85M

34. After the Storm (2016)

35. ballade vir 'n enkeling (2015).

139 min | Mystery

After a prolific South African writer disappears, a journalist is motivated by ambition to uncover the writer's secret history.

Director: Quentin Krog | Stars: DonnaLee Roberts , Armand Aucamp , Rolanda Marais , Jacques Bessenger

36. Numb (I) (2007)

R | 93 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

A chronically-depressed screenwriter desperately tries to cure his condition when he meets the girl of his dreams.

Director: Harris Goldberg | Stars: Matthew Perry , Lynn Collins , Kevin Pollak , Bob Gunton

Votes: 8,772

37. Starting Out in the Evening (2007)

PG-13 | 111 min | Drama, Romance

An ambitious graduate student convinces a writer that her thesis can resurrect his career.

Director: Andrew Wagner | Stars: Frank Langella , Lauren Ambrose , Patti Perkins , Lili Taylor

Votes: 3,345 | Gross: $0.90M

38. The Mighty Angel (2014)

110 min | Drama

Jerzy is a celebrity writer and a chronic alcoholic who camouflages his drinking problem with his wits and charm. As a frequent visitor of the rehab center, he meets fellow addicts from all walks of life and social backgrounds.

Director: Wojciech Smarzowski | Stars: Robert Wieckiewicz , Julia Kijowska , Adam Woronowicz , Jacek Braciak

Votes: 3,124

39. Sideways (2004)

R | 127 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

Two men reaching middle age with not much to show but disappointment embark on a week-long road trip through California's wine country, just as one is about to take a trip down the aisle.

Director: Alexander Payne | Stars: Paul Giamatti , Thomas Haden Church , Virginia Madsen , Sandra Oh

Votes: 204,059 | Gross: $71.50M

40. An Angel at My Table (1990)

R | 158 min | Biography, Drama

Janet Frame was a brilliant child who, as a teen, was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia. Explore Janet's discovery of the world and her life in Europe as her books are published to acclaim.

Director: Jane Campion | Stars: Kerry Fox , Alexia Keogh , Karen Fergusson , Iris Churn

Votes: 8,671 | Gross: $1.05M

41. Shadows in the Sun (2005)

Not Rated | 100 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

An aspiring young writer (Jackson) tracks a literary titan (Keitel) suffering from writers block to his refuge in rural Italy and learns about life and love from the irascible genius and his daughters.

Director: Brad Mirman | Stars: Harvey Keitel , Claire Forlani , Giancarlo Giannini , Joshua Jackson

Votes: 4,665

42. The Ghost Writer (2010)

PG-13 | 128 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

A ghost writer, hired to complete the memoirs of a former British Prime Minister, uncovers secrets that put his own life in jeopardy.

Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Ewan McGregor , Pierce Brosnan , Olivia Williams , Jon Bernthal

Votes: 170,732 | Gross: $15.54M

43. Hunger (1966)

Not Rated | 112 min | Biography, Drama

In 1890, Pontus, the starving writer, wanders the streets of Christiania, in search of love and a chance to get his work published. All he meets is defeat and suffering while his sense of ... See full summary  »

Director: Henning Carlsen | Stars: Per Oscarsson , Gunnel Lindblom , Birgitte Federspiel , Knud Rex

Votes: 3,368

44. Beautiful Kate (2009)

R | 100 min | Drama, Mystery

A writer reawakens his childhood trauma from the past when he returns home, at the request of his estranged sister, to grieve their father's impending death.

Director: Rachel Ward | Stars: Ben Mendelsohn , Sophie Lowe , Maeve Dermody , Rachel Griffiths

Votes: 4,079

45. Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972)

Not Rated | 97 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery

A series of murders are committed near the estate of a degenerate author and his mistreated wife.

Director: Sergio Martino | Stars: Edwige Fenech , Anita Strindberg , Luigi Pistilli , Ivan Rassimov

Votes: 4,680

46. Tetro (2009)

R | 127 min | Drama

Bennie travels to Buenos Aires to find his long-missing older brother, a once-promising writer who is now a remnant of his former self. Bennie's discovery of his brother's near-finished play might hold the answer to understanding their shared past and renewing their bond.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Vincent Gallo , Alden Ehrenreich , Maribel Verdú , Silvia Pérez

Votes: 13,627 | Gross: $0.52M

47. Midnight in Paris (2011)

PG-13 | 94 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance

While on a trip to Paris with his fiancée's family, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s every day at midnight.

Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Owen Wilson , Rachel McAdams , Kathy Bates , Kurt Fuller

Votes: 449,509 | Gross: $56.82M

48. The End of the Tour (2015)

R | 106 min | Biography, Drama

The story of the five-day interview between Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky and acclaimed novelist David Foster Wallace, which took place right after the 1996 publication of Wallace's groundbreaking epic novel, 'Infinite Jest.'

Director: James Ponsoldt | Stars: Jason Segel , Jesse Eisenberg , Anna Chlumsky , Mamie Gummer

Votes: 32,558 | Gross: $2.99M

49. Testament of Youth (2014)

PG-13 | 129 min | Biography, Drama, History

A British woman recalls coming of age during World War I - a story of young love, the futility of war, and how to make sense of the darkest times.

Director: James Kent | Stars: Alicia Vikander , Kit Harington , Taron Egerton , Dominic West

Votes: 30,483 | Gross: $1.82M

50. Swimming Pool (2003)

R | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

A British mystery author visits her publisher's home in the South of France, where her interaction with his unusual daughter sets off some touchy dynamics.

Director: François Ozon | Stars: Charlotte Rampling , Charles Dance , Ludivine Sagnier , Jean-Marie Lamour

Votes: 48,311 | Gross: $10.11M

51. American Splendor (2003)

R | 101 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama

An original mix of fiction and reality illuminates the life of comic book hero everyman Harvey Pekar .

Directors: Shari Springer Berman , Robert Pulcini | Stars: Paul Giamatti , Shari Springer Berman , Harvey Pekar , Chris Ambrose

Votes: 52,302 | Gross: $6.00M

52. Crime Wave (1985)

80 min | Adventure, Comedy

A young director intent on making "the greatest color crime movie ever" can't seem to finish his script--he has a beginning and an end, but he can't quite figure out the middle. The ... See full summary  »

Director: John Paizs | Stars: Eva Kovacs , John Paizs , Darrell Baran , Jeffrey Owen Madden

54. The Pumpkin Eater (1964)

Not Rated | 118 min | Drama

Beautiful Mother of five Jo leaves the banality of her marriage to second husband Giles to wed her passionate screenwriter lover, Jake Armitage. As suspicions of Husband Jake's philandering grows, Jo's sanity spirals.

Director: Jack Clayton | Stars: Anne Bancroft , Peter Finch , James Mason , Janine Gray

Votes: 2,836

55. 20,000 Days on Earth (2014)

Not Rated | 97 min | Documentary, Drama, Music

Writer and musician Nick Cave marks his 20,000th day on the planet Earth.

Directors: Iain Forsyth , Jane Pollard | Stars: Nick Cave , Susie Bick , Warren Ellis , Darian Leader

Votes: 11,966 | Gross: $0.28M

56. Broken Embraces (2009)

R | 127 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller

Harry Caine, a blind writer, reaches this moment in time when he has to heal his wounds from 14 years back. He was then still known by his real name, Mateo Blanco, and directing his last movie.

Director: Pedro Almodóvar | Stars: Penélope Cruz , Lluís Homar , Blanca Portillo , José Luis Gómez

Votes: 42,658 | Gross: $5.01M

57. Eternity and a Day (1998)

Unrated | 137 min | Drama

Famous writer Alexander is very ill and has little time left to live. He meets a little boy on the street, who is an illegal immigrant from Albania, and goes on a journey with him to take the boy home.

Director: Theodoros Angelopoulos | Stars: Bruno Ganz , Isabelle Renauld , Fabrizio Bentivoglio , Ahilleas Skevis

Votes: 14,395 | Gross: $0.11M

58. The Pillow Book (1995)

Not Rated | 126 min | Drama

A woman with a body-writing fetish seeks to find a combined lover and calligrapher.

Director: Peter Greenaway | Stars: Vivian Wu , Ewan McGregor , Yoshi Oida , Ken Ogata

Votes: 13,633 | Gross: $2.29M

59. The World According to Garp (1982)

R | 136 min | Comedy, Drama

A struggling young writer finds his life and work dominated by his unfaithful wife and his radical feminist mother, whose best-selling manifesto turns her into a cultural icon.

Director: George Roy Hill | Stars: Robin Williams , Mary Beth Hurt , Glenn Close , John Lithgow

Votes: 29,049 | Gross: $29.71M

60. Wrong Move (1975)

Not Rated | 103 min | Drama

A writer goes on a road trip across West Germany with a group of eclectic people he meets along the way.

Director: Wim Wenders | Stars: Rüdiger Vogler , Hanna Schygulla , Hans Christian Blech , Nastassja Kinski

Votes: 3,893

63. Vincent, François, Paul and the Others (1974)

Three friends face mid-life crises. Paul is a writer who's blocked. François has lost his ideals and practices medicine for the money. The charming Vincent faces bankruptcy and his wife, from whom he's separated, wants a divorce.

Director: Claude Sautet | Stars: Yves Montand , Michel Piccoli , Serge Reggiani , Gérard Depardieu

Votes: 2,683

64. Raven's End (1963)

Not Rated | 101 min | Drama

An aspiring young writer lives in a bleak working class block in the late 1930s.

Director: Bo Widerberg | Stars: Thommy Berggren , Keve Hjelm , Emy Storm , Ingvar Hirdwall

Votes: 1,734

65. Letters to Elena (2011)

PG | 97 min | Drama

Young Emilio and and his stepfather deliver mail as well as read and write letters for most of the illiterate villagers. Emilio changes some letters to optimistic stories from sad stories. Emilio then falls for a young girl named Elena.

Director: Llorent Barajas | Stars: Carmen Salinas , Irma Dorantes , Javier López , Jose Eduardo

Votes: 131 | Gross: $0.01M

66. La discrète (1990)

94 min | Drama, Romance

There is an author who has been dumped by his girlfriend and has no inspiration for a next novel. In an attempt to find a solution to both crises, he, along with his publisher friend, ... See full summary  »

Director: Christian Vincent | Stars: Fabrice Luchini , Judith Henry , Maurice Garrel , Marie Bunel

Votes: 1,064 | Gross: $0.23M

67. Listen Up Philip (2014)

When a self-obsessed novelist (Jason Schwartzman) has problems with his novel and his girlfriend (Elisabeth Moss), he seeks refuge in his mentor's cottage where the peace and quiet allow him to focus on his favorite subject - himself.

Director: Alex Ross Perry | Stars: Jason Schwartzman , Elisabeth Moss , Jonathan Pryce , Krysten Ritter

Votes: 6,967 | Gross: $0.14M

68. The Man from Elysian Fields (2001)

R | 106 min | Drama, Romance

A failed novelist's inability to pay the bills strains relations with his wife and leads him to work at an escort service where he becomes entwined with a wealthy woman whose husband is a successful writer.

Director: George Hickenlooper | Stars: Andy Garcia , Mick Jagger , Julianna Margulies , Olivia Williams

Votes: 4,470 | Gross: $1.43M

69. Knight of Cups (2015)

R | 118 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance

A writer indulging in all that Los Angeles and Las Vegas have to offer, undertakes a search for love and self via a series of adventures with six different women.

Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: Christian Bale , Cate Blanchett , Natalie Portman , Brian Dennehy

Votes: 29,393 | Gross: $0.56M

70. Castle of Blood (1964)

Not Rated | 87 min | Horror

A journalist takes a bet that he can spend the night in a haunted castle on All Hallow's Eve. During his stay, he bears witness to the castle's gruesome past coming to life before him, and falls in love with a beautiful female ghost.

Directors: Antonio Margheriti , Sergio Corbucci | Stars: Barbara Steele , Georges Rivière , Margrete Robsahm , Arturo Dominici

Votes: 2,764

71. Anton Chekhov 1890 (2015)

96 min | Biography, Drama, History

In 1890,Russian writer Anton Chekov writes short stories in newspapers to feed his family. He achieves success in the form of Pushkin prize. However, he decides to meet convicts at Sakhalin when one of this brothers die due to tuberculosis.

Director: René Féret | Stars: Nicolas Giraud , Lolita Chammah , Robinson Stévenin , Jacques Bonnaffé

72. Zorba the Greek (1964)

Not Rated | 142 min | Comedy, Drama

An uptight English writer travelling to Crete, on a matter of business, finds his life changed forever when he meets the gregarious Alexis Zorba.

Director: Michael Cacoyannis | Stars: Anthony Quinn , Alan Bates , Irene Papas , Lila Kedrova

Votes: 24,087

73. With Beauty and Sorrow (1965)

106 min | Drama, Romance

Long before the events of the movie Ôki, who was approaching middle age, had a relation to 16-year-old Otoko. She got pregnant, but the child was stillborn. Their relation stopped at the ... See full summary  »

Director: Masahiro Shinoda | Stars: Kaoru Yachigusa , Mariko Kaga , Sô Yamamura , Kei Yamamoto

74. In the Mouth of Madness (1994)

R | 95 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror

An insurance investigator begins discovering that the impact a horror writer's books have on his fans is more than inspirational.

Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Sam Neill , Jürgen Prochnow , Julie Carmen , David Warner

Votes: 79,215 | Gross: $8.95M

75. Strange Crime (2004)

105 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance

A mysterious writer is involved in a love affair with his stepson's wife, leading to a web of intrigue and desire.

Director: Roberto Andò | Stars: Daniel Auteuil , Anna Mouglalis , Greta Scacchi , Giorgio Lupano

76. The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)

Passed | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Mystery writer Cornelius Leyden becomes intrigued after the murdered body of a vicious career criminal washes up in the Bosphorus.

Director: Jean Negulesco | Stars: Peter Lorre , Sydney Greenstreet , Zachary Scott , Faye Emerson

Votes: 3,958

77. Best Seller (1987)

R | 95 min | Action, Crime, Drama

A hitman approaches a writer to help him create his next best seller, but the violent world he was a part of has other plans.

Director: John Flynn | Stars: James Woods , Brian Dennehy , Victoria Tennant , Allison Balson

Votes: 6,244 | Gross: $4.28M

78. Trumbo (2015)

R | 124 min | Biography, Drama

In 1947, Dalton Trumbo was Hollywood's top screenwriter, until he and other artists were jailed and blacklisted for their political beliefs.

Director: Jay Roach | Stars: Bryan Cranston , Diane Lane , Helen Mirren , Louis C.K.

Votes: 84,734 | Gross: $7.86M

79. The Dying Gaul (I) (2005)

R | 92 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller

A grief-stricken screenwriter unknowingly enters a three-way relationship with a woman and her film executive husband - to chilling results.

Director: Craig Lucas | Stars: Peter Sarsgaard , Campbell Scott , Patricia Clarkson , Ryan Miller

Votes: 2,481 | Gross: $0.34M

80. The End of Summer (2013)

114 min | Biography, Drama, Romance

Tomoko is sick and tired of her relationship with unpopular talented writer Shingo, who is married and has children. Tomoko then enters into a sexual relationship with younger man Ryota, but Tomoko is still not satisfied.

Director: Kazuyoshi Kumakiri | Stars: Hikari Mitsushima , Kaoru Kobayashi , Gô Ayano

81. Hamsun (1996)

Not Rated | 159 min | Biography, Drama, War

Norwegian Nobel Laureate Knut Hamsun's controversial support for the Nazi regime during World War II and its consequences for the Hamsun family after the war.

Director: Jan Troell | Stars: Max von Sydow , Ghita Nørby , Anette Hoff , Gard B. Eidsvold

Votes: 1,715

82. Russian Dolls (2005)

Not Rated | 125 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

Five years after their summer together in Barcelona, Xavier, William, Wendy, Martine and Isabelle reunite.

Director: Cédric Klapisch | Stars: Romain Duris , Kelly Reilly , Audrey Tautou , Cécile de France

Votes: 21,304 | Gross: $0.32M

83. In the Mouth of Madness (1994)

84. the vanished elephant (2014).

Not Rated | 109 min | Mystery, Thriller

Edo Celeste is a renowned crime novelist, who is writing the final book in the series about his alter ego, detective Felipe Aranda. Edo is obsessed with the disappearance of his fiancee ... See full summary  »

Director: Javier Fuentes-León | Stars: Salvador del Solar , Angie Cepeda , Lucho Cáceres , Vanessa Saba

85. Roma (2004)

Not Rated | 155 min | Drama

Joaquín Góñez, a novelist in his sixties recalls his emotions, his wild years in Buenos Aires, the memories of old friends, the meaning of loyalty and the intimate relationship with his mother, Roma.

Director: Adolfo Aristarain | Stars: Juan Diego Botto , Susú Pecoraro , José Sacristán , Vando Villamil

Votes: 1,341

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Five great movies that give us excellent essay subjects

Great movies are outstanding works of art. Mastered and the start of the last century, the visual arts have come to shape the modern world.

Humans are primarily visual creatures and few things will ever be as stimulating as actually looking at a scene, instead of reading about it in a book. However, it is not good to only rely on visual impact.

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Modern movies are either popcorn flicks filled with special effects or overly-preachy sermon-session exposing the director’s pet cause. A balance must be found between the two, and older movies tended to be good at that sort of thing.

You could enjoy the action and set pieces, but there also was an underlying philosophy and thought process. Those were good movies to write essays on, especially if you were in film or art school.

Let’s take a look at the top 5 movies that lend themselves well to essay writing. I will exemplify the central theme and how it can be analyzed in an essay. And by the way, if you’re stressing out writing an essay on your own, check out the EssaPro service. These guys are best at writing any type of essay, so contact them whenever you need help. Look at essaypro review to ensure the quality of their work.

1.  The Lord of the Rings

It is possible to write a highly philosophical essay based on this trilogy.

“The ends justify the means”, or “You have to crack some eggs if you want to make an omelet”. This is the philosophy of every bad person that ever lived. Every evil dictator, every mass killer thought that he could make the world into a paradise if he could just get the bad people out of the way first.

The power to rule, the power to act, and the power to persuade will corrupt even those who wish to save the world. This is the central theme of the Lord of the Rings. A writer for college essays has to understand that the ring represents the platonic concept of power itself.

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And no matter who uses it, they will end up corrupted. This is why the only person who can be trusted (for a very short time) with the ring is a creature with almost no influence or sway: a hobbit.

Also, to address a popular internet and pop culture meme: this is why they did not use the giant Eagles to just fly to Mordor. The Eagles, like Gandalf himself, are minor deities. If they were to get corrupted by the Ring, they would have become unstoppable. Meanwhile, if a mere hobbit is corrupted, we get Gollum.

2.  Fight Club

“You can drive nature out with a pitchfork, but eventually, She will come back with a vengeance”.

This is the central theme of Fight Club. Of course, it is hidden beneath a thick crust of sex, intrigue, and violence. Out of all the essay movies, this one is by far, the most relevant.

Modern society was constructed for humans, but with surprisingly little regard for human nature. We are so good at understanding how animals behave, and how their instincts clash and mesh with the world. But for some reason, we are blind to this reality when it comes to us.

The modern world was built by masculinity, but it seems to despise and hate the very thing that created it.

Traditional masculine behavior is severely frowned upon in the media and our institutions. Men are a little rougher by nature, they have a drive for adventure and purpose. This is why they get addicted to video games so easily, as the medium simulates those masculine pursuits.

Fight Club is a movie similar to The Matrix, in the sense that it depicts an escape from a comfortable yet dehumanizing artificial life. People weren’t made to serve as quiet corporate drones for an elite that disregards them.

Children of divorce, of silent despair, flock to Fight Club. They are fatherless, lost, and want to feel a part of something and escape their boring reality.

Speaking of the Matrix:

3.  The Matrix

“Why do my eyes hurt?”

“Because that’s the first time that you ever used them”

The Matrix, just like Fight Club, is outright cool. Yet, underneath the slow-mo bullet dodging, there is a story about waking up from a comfortable lie to cold, harsh reality. The Matrix shows a similar understanding to Huxley’s Brave New World novel.

The tyrannies of the future will realize that simple brutality is never enough. Instead, people will be treated like farm animals. They are afforded an artificial reality filled with comfort and simple pleasure. This dystopia has a far longer lifespan than a society with gulags and labor camps.

The sequels got bad because they broke the “show, don’t tell” rule, but the trilogy still provides great fodder for essays.

4.  Batman Begins

Most people pay attention to the second movie in the Dark Knight trilogy and often forget that the first movie is also excellent.

If I were to write a trustmypaper essay on the topic, I would focus on the main philosophical conflict that underlies the event. What do you do with a fallen city and a corrupt society?

Do you try to destroy everything like in the case of cancer, leaving room for something new to grow? That is the villain’s main way of thinking.

Or, do you attempt to salvage what is there, using symbols and actions to give people hope? What is the line between redemption and something that is unsalvageable? You could write a thick book around these themes.

5.  Star Wars

Back in the ’70s, American society was in a crisis. There was political violence, division, a shaky economy, and fading moral values. Nobody was optimistic, and every hero on-screen was at least an anti-hero.

The world felt dirty, worn out, and tired of its own existance, and the media reflected those feelings. Movies like Taxi Driver represented the zeitgeist well.

Enter Star Wars, a movie that was out of place. Instead of gritty and dirty reality, it had a classic optimistic message. The good guys and the bad guys were clearly defined, making the movie seem more like a fairy tale.

And to a certain extent, it was a fairytale. It represented Hollywood hitting the “reset” button and going back to the oldest story structure in human history: the hero’s journey. Even though it was Sci-Fi, we had ancient archetypes like knights, the wise old mentor, the fallen hero, an evil wizard behind the scenes, and a bright-eyed youth hungry for adventure.

In addition, Sci-Fi before Star Wars looked fake, like a movie set. Everything was made out of shiny plastic and covered in tin foil. SW’s world had dirt, chipped equipment, and worn-out paint. The locations and items looked used like someone was actually living their daily lives in this Universe.

Modern Hollywood is getting things wrong. Either movies are preachy and Oscar-worthy but nobody watches them, or they are mindless popcorn flicks. The best movies are both. They are entertaining, but also they have intellectual undertones.

These movies are great for analyzing, as you would write an essay for a good book.

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8 Good Movies to Write Essays On

Posted on december 7th, 2023.

Movies are able to whisk us away into new environments, stir feelings, and make us think critically. You may be required as a student to write a review on a film, discussing its thematic elements, characters, or filmmaking techniques. The movies you select to write papers about are important because they will be instrumental in determining how far and how insightful your analysis is. In this article, we discuss some great films that have lots of resources suitable for a learner to write a film analysis on. In this sense, each of them will certainly provide you with fascinating plots, striking themes, and complex storytelling techniques to help you uncover the whole magic of cinema.

“Citizen Kane” (1941), directed by Orson Welles

“Citizen Kane” is considered among the best movies to write essays on, as it is technically and artistically flawless. This is a movie which was directed by the legendary Orson Welles and it deals with the story of an influential newspaper magnate called Charles Foster Kane. Power, riches, and the mysterious nature of truth are themes explored by this film. Its cinematography is cutting edge, using devices such as deep focus and creative camerawork that one can consider for how they affect the storyline and characterization. Moreover, “Citizen Kane” is a nonlinear narrative that can employ flashbacks and subjective storytelling.

“Blade Runner” (1982), directed by Ridley Scott

“Blade Runner” has since become an incredibly famous sci-fi movie challenging fundamental issues surrounding what it means to be human or machine and whether AI can lead to ethical decisions in our society. This is a futuristic, visually appealing dystopia, directed by Ridley Scott, featuring Harrison Ford in the role of the blade runner, who tracks and kills rogue replicants-robots. Existentialism, consciousness, and what makes a person human are among the themes considered in this film. The film “Blade Runner” is a great sample for deep analyses concerning its narrative, cinematography, and themes due to its atmospheric setting and philosophical tone.

“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004), directed by Michel Gondry

“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” is a romantic drama directed by Michel Gondry that challenges the audience to think about memory, love, and humanity in deeper dimensions. In the movie, Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) undergo an experiment that wipes off their respective recollections of one another. The complexity of the non-linear plotline is further complemented by innovative visual effects, which provide rich avenues for easy movies analyzing the essence of memories, the vulnerability of relationships, and the implications of trying to delete painful memories. The other consideration is the use of symbolism and extraordinary visual style that offers numerous openings for artistic examination.

“Get Out” (2017), directed by Jordan Peele

“Get Out” is one of the modern horror films that combines the standard genre requirements with social criticism. In this movie by Jordan Peele, Chris is an African-American guy who visits his white girlfriend’s family and ends up in trouble. It touches on topics such as racism, self-identity, culture, and cannibalism and creates an array of possibilities to analyze its social and political impacts. By examining the symbols, foreshadowing, and visual narrative utilized, it is possible to unearth the deeper significance of this film and the director’s intent.

“The Shawshank Redemption” (1994), directed by Frank Darabont

“The Shawshank Redemption” is a potent drama adapted from a Stephen King novella. Frank Darabont directs the movie, which narrates the biography of Andy Dufrense, a banker sentenced to life in Shawshank State Penitentiary for a crime he did not commit. It reflects a message of hope, true friendship, forgiveness, and the never-ending strength of human beings. “The Shawshank Redemption” is a film whose well-developed characters, poignant dialogue, and expertly created storytelling make it a rich source of analysis as high school students can discuss its narrative structure, character arc, as well as commentary on the prison system.

“Inception” (2010), directed by Christopher Nolan

“Inception” is a sci-fi thriller directed by Christopher Nolan. The movie revolves around a character named Dom Cobb, portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio, who heads a group of criminals who penetrate the dream world and extract sensitive data. “Inception”’ deals with reality, dreams, and how powerful a sub-conscious mind is. The movie’s complicated plot structure and multiple levels of narration offer plenty of opportunities for discussion to students. Among them are the investigation of the philosophy behind the movie, issues of memory, as well as the question of perception.

“Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006), directed by Guillermo del Toro

“Pan’s Labyrinth” refers to a visually breathtaking dark fantasy film by Guillermo Del Toro shot in post-civil war Spain. In the film, the real world is contrasted against the mythical labyrinth, and this is evident in the storyline where the leading character, Ofelia, runs away into a fictional realm that helps her deal with the difficulties she experiences in real society. “Pan’s Labyrinth” explores escapism, the power of imagination, and the nature of war. The film’s spectacular visuals, symbols, and contrast between the fictional world and reality are tools of analysis in which a college student can assess the filmmaker’s visual style, narrative structure, and sociopolitical context.

“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” (2014), directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu

“Birdman” is a special black comedy-drama created by director Alejandro González Iñarritu. The movie follows Riggan Thomson, an aging actor in decline who tries to jump-start his career by producing a Broadway play. “Birdman” depicts a quest for identity, confronts the idea of an unhealthy ego, and probes into what constitutes artistic expression. This movie’s unique facet is that it gives the impression of a non-stop single shot, which one may scrutinize for technical and narration reasons. Aside from that, the movie’s analysis of the entertainment industry as well as how it portrays the borders between fact and fiction, are also excellent topics for an English essay. Alternatively, you can engage academic writers from reliable write my essay services at CustomWritings if you do not have viable topics for your paper.

Wrapping up

A movie can be able to mesmerize, amuse, as well as stir your emotions. While writing an essay based on a movie, it is important to select a movie with enough material for discussion and analysis. “Citizen Kane,” “Blade Runner,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “Get Out,” which were covered in the article, are really good examples for exploring themes, characters, and other cinematographic elements. The films available in this article will inspire different interests, such as classic storytelling, philosophical thinking, and social commentaries. These are the perfect resources for your analytical essays! Therefore, get a bowl of popcorn, crank up your imagination, and begin a delightful tour in cinema exploration that will make you discover good movies to write essays on.

Essays About Films: Top 5 Examples and 10 Prompts

Get ready to binge-watch some of the best films of all time and write essays about films with our essay examples and prompts. 

Films are an exciting part of the entertainment industry. From romance to science fiction, there is a film genre for everyone. Films are a welcome escape from reality, providing a few hours of immersive entertainment that anyone can enjoy. Not only are films masterful works of art, but they are also great sources of employment for many. As a work of intellectual property, films can promote job creation and drive economic growth while advancing a country’s cultural esteem. With such a vast library of films available to us, many topics of discussion are available for your next essay.

5 Intriguing Film Essays

1. scream therapy: the mental health benefits of horror movies by michael varrati, 2. reel truth: is film school worth it by jon gann, 3. why parasite’s success is forcing a reckoning in japan’s film industry by eric margolis, 4. streaming services want to fill the family movie void by nicole sperling, 5. church, critics say new movie on marcos family distorts philippine history by camille elemia, 10 engaging writing prompts on essays about films, 1. the best film that influenced me, 2. the evolution of animated films, 3. women in modern films, 4. creating short films, 5. diversity in films, 6. film critique of my favorite film, 7. how covid-19 changed the film industry, 8. promoting independent films , 9. importance of marketing strategies in films’ success, 10. how to combat film piracy.

“Galvanized by the genre’s ability to promote empathy and face down the ineffable monsters of our daily lives, Barkan’s exploration of how others use horror to heal and grow speaks to the wider impact of our engagement with these movies that are so often dismissed as having little moral value.”

Initially criticized for enabling sadistic tendencies, horror films are now proven to provide a relieving experience and psychological ease to their audience. Numerous theories about the mental health benefits of watching horror films have emerged. But beyond these profound reasons, horror films could be a great source of thrilling fun. You might also be interested in these essays about The Great Gatsby .

 “These programs are great at selling the dream of filmmaking, but rarely the realities of the business, so students graduate with few real-world skills, connections, or storytelling ability. Unable to get a job out of school, newly minted “filmmakers” go back into the system for a higher graduate degree… The cycle is self-perpetuating, and rarely benefits anyone, except the institution’s bottom line.”

One has to weigh several personal and external factors in determining whether a full degree would be worth the leap and their pockets. Directors spill the beans on their thoughts and experiences with film school to help the lost find their way. 

“Japanese cinema was trending on Japanese Twitter right after the Oscars, with cinephiles and film directors alike airing grievances about a film industry that is deeply flawed despite ample talent and a global appetite for Japanese goods.”

The Japanese lamented their lackluster film industry and waning cultural influence worldwide as the first Korean film took home the Oscars. Reminiscing its golden years of film in the mid-20th century, Japan is stricken with nostalgia. But for the industry to see a renaissance, Japan has to end exploitative labor conditions for creators and censorship.

“The decline today is due to a combination of factors: a hangover from the pandemic, efforts by studios like Disney and Paramount to bolster their own streaming services with fresh content and the risks of greenlighting family films that aren’t based on well-known intellectual property.”

The latest trend in the race to rule film streaming compensates for the lack of family movies in theaters. Giant video-on-demand platforms have started rolling their production and investments into the genre plans for animation and even expensive live-action.

“The film… has amplified existing online narratives that portray the elder Marcos’ presidency as the “golden era” of the Philippines rather than as the darkest chapter of the Southeast Asian country’s recent history, as critics allege.”

A film in the Philippines draws crowds and criticisms for revising facts in one of the country’s most painful periods. But, overall, the movie paints a positive image of the dictator’s family, whose two-decade reign was marked by murders and an economic crisis that was among the worst to hit the country.

Beyond being a source of entertainment, films have the power to shape how we lead our lives and view the world. In this essay, talk about the film that etched an indelible mark on you. First, provide a summary and specify what drew you to the story or its storytelling. Next, narrate the scenes that moved you the most. Finally, explain how you relate to this film and if you would have wanted a similar or different ending to your story and personal life. 

Animated films used to be a treat mainly for children. But now, their allure cuts across generations. For your essay, look into the history of animated films. Find out which countries are the biggest influencers in animated films and how they have fostered these intellectual properties to thrive in global markets. Research how the global direction of animation is heading, both in theatrical releases and streaming, and what animation fans can expect in the next few months.

Have the roles of women progressed in modern films? Or do they remain to be damsels in distress saved by a prince? Watch recent popular films, explain how they depict women, and answer these questions in your essay. Take note of apparent stereotypes and the depth of their character. Compare how they differ from the most popular films in the 90s. You can also compare original films and remakes and focus on the changes in women characters.  

Short films are great starting points for budding directors. They could require much less financing than those in theater releases and still deliver satisfactory quality content. For this essay, brief the readers through the stages of short film production — writing the script, choosing the cast, production, marketing, and so on. To go the extra mile in your essay, interview award-winning short filmmakers to gain tips on how they best optimize their limited budget and still bag an award.  

Has the film industry promoted diversity and inclusivity in its cast selection? Explore recent diverse films and analyze whether they have captured the true meaning of diversity. One example is when people from underrepresented backgrounds take on the leading roles, not just the story’s sidekicks. You can also build on this research by the Center for Scholars and Storytellers to show the revenue challenges non-diverse films face at the box office.

Watch your favorite film and write a critique by expressing opinions on various aspects of the film. For example, you can have comments on the plot, execution, effects, cinematography, actors, and dialogue. Take time to relay your observations and analysis, as these will be the foundations that will determine the strength or weakness of your comments. 

As it has impacted many of us, COVID-19 accelerated how we watch films. Explore the exodus to streaming during the pandemic and how theater operators cope with this shift. In addition, you can look into how the competition among content producers has shifted and intensified. 

Independent films can be a hidden treasure, but it could be difficult to sell them, given how niche their concepts can be. So, find out the best strategies that have worked wonders for now successful independent filmmakers. Specifically, learn how they marketed their content online and in film festivals. Then, find out what forms of support the government is extending to high-caliber independent filmmakers and what could be done to help them thrive.

The biggest mistake made by filmmakers and producers is not marketing their films when marketing is the best way to reach a bigger audience and gain profits to make more films. This essay should provide readers with the best practices filmmakers can adopt when marketing a film. For example, directors, producers, and actors should aggressively attend events for promotion. Developing viral movie campaigns also provide a big boost to exposure. 

As more films are released digitally, filmmakers must better protect their intellectual property. First, write about the needed measures before the film release, such as adopting a digital rights management strategy. Next, lay down what production companies need to do to deter piracy activities immediately. Some good responses include working closely with enforcement authorities.

Don’t forget to proofread your essay with Grammarly , the best grammar checker. 

For more related topic ideas, you can also check our guide for writing essays about cinema .

Yna Lim is a communications specialist currently focused on policy advocacy. In her eight years of writing, she has been exposed to a variety of topics, including cryptocurrency, web hosting, agriculture, marketing, intellectual property, data privacy and international trade. A former journalist in one of the top business papers in the Philippines, Yna is currently pursuing her master's degree in economics and business.

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Step By Step Guide to Writing an Essay on Film

By Film Threat Staff | December 29, 2021

Writing an essay about a film sounds like a fun assignment to do. As part of the assignment, you get to watch the movie and write an analytical essay about your impressions. However, you will soon find that you’re staring at an empty sheet of paper or computer screen with no idea what to write, how to start writing your essay, or the essential points that need to be covered and analyzed. As an  essay writing service proves, watching the movie countless times isn’t all there is to write a film analysis essay. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you with an essay service :

1. Watch the Movie

This is the obvious starting point, but surprisingly many students skip this step. It doesn’t matter if you’ve watched the movie twice before. If you’re asked to write an essay about it, you need to watch it again. Watching the film again allows you to pay more attention to specific elements to help you write an in-depth analysis about it.  

Watching the movie is crucial because it helps you not specific parts of the movie that can be used as illustrations and examples in your essay. You’re also going to explore and analyze the movie theme within your structured plan. Some of the critical elements that you have to look out for while watching the movie that may be crucial for your essay are:

• Key plot moments
• Editing style
• Stylistic elements
• Scenario execution
• Musical elements

2. Introduction

Your introduction will contain essential information about the film, such as the title, release date, director’s name, etc. This familiarizes the reader with the movie’s primary background information. In addition, researching the filmmaker may be crucial for your essay because it may help you discover valuable insights for your film analysis.

The introduction should also mention the movie’s central theme and explain why you think it was made that way.

Do not forget to include your thesis statement, which explains your focus on the movie.

3. Write a Summary

According to an  essay writing service  providing students   help with essays , a movie summary comes after the introduction. It includes the film’s basic premise, but it doesn’t have to reveal too many details about the film. It’s a summary, after all. Write the summary like your readers have not heard about the movie before, so you can mention the most basic plots but assume you have minimal time so you won’t be going into great details.

4. Write Your Analysis

This is the central part of the essay in which you analyze the movie critically and state your impressions about the film. Ensure to support your claims with relevant materials from the movie.

There are also several creative elements in a movie that are connected to make the film a whole. You must pay attention to these elements while watching the movie and analyze them in this part of the essay.

In this, you are looking out for the dialogs, character development, completion of scenes, and logical event sequences in the film to analyze.

Ensure you try to understand the logic behind events in the film and the actor’s motives to explain the scenario better.

The responsibility of different parts of the movie, such as plan selection and scenario execution, falls on the director. So, your analysis here focuses on how the director realized the script compared to his other movies. Understanding the director’s style of directing may be crucial to coming up with a conclusion relevant to your analysis and thesis.

The casting of a film is a significant element to consider in your essay. Without a great actor, the scriptwriter and director can’t bring their ideas to life. So, watch the actor’s acting and determine if they portrayed the character effectively and if their acting aligns with the film’s main idea.

• Musical element

A movie’s musical element enhances some of the sceneries or actions in the film and sets the mood. It has a massive impact on the movie, so it’s an essential element to analyze in your essay.

• Visual elements

This includes special effects, make-up, costumes, etc., which significantly impact the film. These elements must reflect the film’s atmosphere. It is even more crucial for historical movies since it has to be specific about an era.

Ensure to analyze elements relevant to your thesis statement, so you don’t drift from your main point.

5. Conclusion

In concluding your essay, you have to summarize the primary concepts more convincingly to support your analysis. Finally, you may include a CTA for readers to watch or avoid the movie.

These are the crucial steps to take when writing an essay about a film . Knowing this beforehand prevents you from struggling to start writing after watching the movie.

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It’s really amazing instructions! I have got the great knowledge.

[…] now and then. Unfortunately, not all of us can afford to get cinema tickets to do so.  Some…Writing an essay about a film sounds like a fun assignment to do. As part of the assignment, you get…Since a few decades the film and entertainment sector have undergone some drastic transformation. […]

I can’t list the number of essays that don’t follow this format in the least. But then I find most reviews of movies terrible and most people who purport themselves to be writers as people who need to spend more time drafting and editing before publishing.

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Film: HOW TO WRITE ESSAYS THAT UNCOVER THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL IMPACT OF MOVIES

by Aveline MacQuoid on July 2, 2023

in Extras , Film

Movies have long captivated audiences with their ability to transport us to different worlds, evoke emotions, and provoke thought. Beyond mere entertainment, movies hold a significant role in shaping and reflecting the social and cultural landscape of our society. They have the power to shed light on pressing social issues, challenge norms, and influence our collective consciousness. As students and scholars, we have the unique opportunity to delve into the social and cultural impact of movies through insightful essays. In this article, we will explore the art of writing essays that uncover the profound influence of movies on society, and provide valuable guidance on how to effectively analyze their impact.

In today’s digital age, where a vast array of online resources and services are readily available, it is essential to approach essay writing with precision and depth. Just as we seek assistance from reputable sources like Ukwritings dissertation service for comprehensive dissertation support, we can apply a similar approach to crafting essays that delve into the social and cultural impact of movies. By examining the intricate threads of storytelling, representation, and audience reception, we can uncover the layers of meaning and significance that movies bring to our collective consciousness.

The purpose of this article is to offer practical guidance on how to write essays that delve into the social and cultural impact of movies. We will explore various key aspects, such as analyzing themes and messages, examining representation and diversity, and assessing audience reception and influence. By honing our critical thinking skills and sharpening our analytical lenses, we can delve into the rich tapestry of social and cultural issues that movies explore. Together, let us embark on a journey of discovery, unlocking the profound insights that movies offer and capturing their enduring impact on our world.

Analyzing Themes and Messages

Movies have a remarkable ability to convey powerful themes and messages that resonate with audiences on a deep level. When writing essays that uncover the social and cultural impact of movies, it is crucial to delve into the underlying themes and messages they convey. By critically analyzing these elements, we can gain profound insights into the intricate relationship between movies and society. Identifying the themes and messages allows us to explore how movies address social issues, challenge cultural norms, and even provide a lens into historical events. For example, movies for students like “Dead Poets Society” not only explore the power of literature and the pursuit of individuality but also shed light on the rigid educational systems and societal expectations that shape young minds.

As we analyze the themes and messages of movies, it is important to examine the social issues and cultural aspects they tackle. Movies have the power to create awareness and initiate conversations about pressing societal concerns. They serve as a mirror that reflects the triumphs, struggles, and complexities of our world. For instance, movies like “ Black Panther ” have sparked discussions about representation, identity, and social justice. By exploring the themes and messages within such movies, we can gain a deeper understanding of the social dynamics at play and the impact they have on our collective consciousness. It is through these thought-provoking analyses that we can uncover the layers of meaning and appreciate the significant social and cultural influence that movies hold.

Examining Representation and Diversity

In recent years, there has been a growing emphasis on representation and diversity in movies. The portrayal of diverse characters and experiences plays a crucial role in shaping our understanding of the world around us. When writing essays that uncover the social and cultural impact of movies, it is essential to examine how movies tackle representation and diversity. Movies have the power to challenge stereotypes, break down barriers, and promote inclusivity. By exploring the diverse range of characters and narratives depicted on screen, we can gain insights into the lived experiences of marginalized communities and appreciate the importance of authentic representation. For example, movies like “Moonlight” and “Crazy Rich Asians” have been hailed for their groundbreaking portrayal of underrepresented communities, shedding light on their stories, struggles, and triumphs.

Examining representation in movies goes beyond mere on-screen visibility. It involves critically analyzing the depth, complexity, and authenticity of the portrayals. Movies have the potential to shape public opinion, challenge biases, and contribute to social change. When movies present diverse perspectives and challenge prevailing narratives, they open up opportunities for dialogue and understanding. By exploring how movies navigate representation and diversity, we can gain a deeper understanding of the social dynamics at play and their impact on viewers’ perceptions. It is through these critical examinations that we can appreciate the transformative power of movies in shaping social and cultural landscapes.

Assessing Audience Reception and Influence

When it comes to writing essays that uncover the social and cultural impact of movies, it is crucial to assess the audience reception and influence of these films. Movies have a significant impact on audience perceptions, beliefs, and behaviors. They can evoke emotional responses, spark conversations, and shape cultural trends. By examining how movies resonate with audiences, we can gain insights into their societal and cultural influence. For example, movies like “Black Panther” not only captivated audiences worldwide but also had a profound impact on discussions surrounding representation and diversity in the film industry, inspiring and empowering marginalized communities.

Understanding audience reception goes beyond box office numbers or critical reviews. It involves considering the social and cultural context in which movies are viewed and how they resonate with different communities. Movies have the power to reflect and reinforce existing cultural values, as well as challenge and subvert them. By analyzing audience reactions and engaging with diverse perspectives, we can uncover the nuanced ways in which movies influence our collective consciousness. By assessing the audience reception and influence of movies, we can gain a comprehensive understanding of their social and cultural impact, allowing us to write insightful essays that explore the profound effects they have on society.

In conclusion, writing essays that uncover the social and cultural impact of movies is a valuable endeavor that allows us to delve deeper into the profound influence of this powerful medium. By analyzing themes, examining representation and diversity, and assessing audience reception and influence, we can unlock a wealth of insights and understanding about the movies that shape and reflect our society.

It is important to approach this task with critical thinking and a keen eye for detail. By exploring the underlying messages and themes portrayed in movies, we can uncover their significance in addressing social issues and cultural norms. Additionally, examining the representation and diversity depicted on screen helps us understand the impact of movies in challenging stereotypes and promoting inclusivity.

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Against All Odds, John Green and Hannah Marks Made a Movie of Turtles All the Way Down

By Joy Press

John Green had major doubts that his 2017 novel, Turtles All the Way Down, could work as a movie. It takes place inside the mind of a teenage girl named Aza with severe OCD, inspired by Green’s own experiences with the illness. “It’s so deeply enmeshed in this one girl’s brain that the plot basically keeps getting interrupted by her brain!” Green says cheerfully over Zoom. “I thought that posed a huge challenge to a filmmaker.” He was first approached about optioning it the day the book came out. After all, it was his first since his best-selling novel The Fault in Our Stars , which was also adapted into a hit movie. But Green was deeply reluctant to move forward with the project—until he met Hannah Marks.

Marks was just 23 when she first pitched her ideas for a Turtles All the Way Down movie. A former child actor, she would go on to direct the movies After Everything and Don’t Make Me Go . But at the time, she mostly won over Green and the producers with her vision for Turtles. “She’d put together this two-minute video that captured how she wanted to portray [Aza’s] thought spirals,” Green recalls. “It made me feel the thing. That’s how I feel about the movie too. She found a way to capture the richness and fullness of this person’s life and their relationships, but at the same time how the illness pulls you out of that, and makes every aspect of that so challenging. She really had a visual language for it from the very beginning.”

A huge John Green fan, Marks (now 31) was stunned when she got the gig. “It was crazy. I was like, Are you guys sure? ” She had no idea that it would take seven years for the project—originally intended as a theatrical film—to make it to Max, where it will premiere May 2. But her strong feelings about the book kept her going. “I had never read something that felt so honest and raw about OCD or anxiety,” she says. “I have very similar issues to Aza, so I connected with her deeply.”

Turtles is a coming-of-age tale with romance, mystery, and female friendship woven through it. But OCD pulses at its core, and it was essential to nail that element. Marks and Green were both aware of the way OCD had sometimes been portrayed onscreen, as either a quirky superpower or freakish behavior. “My experience of OCD is that you’ll do whatever you need to do to make the obsessive thought spiral stop, because it’s extremely painful,” Green says. “And so the compulsive behaviors are not freakish—they make a lot of internal sense when you’re trying to confront intense pain.” Once Isabela Merced was cast as Aza, he felt convinced that she could bring a sense of richness to her world.

Green was on set most days, and Marks says she consulted with him regularly on everything from the size of the callus Aza compulsively picks at to the dialogue for her thought spirals. Marks says she had done a lot of advance emotional preparation for tougher scenes so she could come to set and be professional. “But I know that was definitely tough on John,” she says, “coming in and seeing something he wrote come to life.” Green says the worst part was watching Merced have to enact things that he experiences as torture. “I worried about her, and there were a couple times when I wanted to stop,” he recalls. “But she would reassure me that she was okay.”

One scene, in which Aza’s best friend, Daisy (played by the effervescent, mononymous Cree ), accuses her of being self-centered and best taken in small doses, especially resonates for Green. “I’ve had conversations with my closest friends where they said versions of it over the years, mostly when I was a lot younger,” he says. “I know what they mean, and yet it’s really hurtful. That’s something I thought about a lot in my own life. You know that line on Tiktok, ‘Is it me? Am I the drama?’” But Green makes clear that he doesn’t see Aza as a bad friend. “I think she’s ill. That’s why it’s really important that the story doesn’t end there.”

Screenwriters Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker changed elements of the book to externalize the action, creating a whole new professor character ( J. Smith-Cameron ) whose online lectures on free will provide inspiration for Aza. “That’s ultimately Aza’s question: Am I making these choices, or are these choices making me?” Green says. “One of the things that I really love about working with Hannah is that she took those questions really seriously, and explored them visually.”

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By Julie Miller

Marks says that she fought to stay faithful to the book and drop in every Easter egg possible, “whereas John was actually less precious than I was. So I was really approaching it as this as a fangirl of his, like, we have to include every detail! And he felt like, no, it’s okay, we’re making a movie.”

One thing was not negotiable: Marks was determined to include a cameo of Green. His appearances had been cut from previous adaptations of his books because, he says with a grin, “I'm such a bad actor! Distractingly bad.” Although there was some talk of making him Aza and Daisy’s boss at the Chuck E. Cheese–style kids’ game center they work at, he eventually was cast as a gym teacher.

“I used it as an opportunity to troll him,” Marks says gleefully. “He got more takes than anybody in the movie, and I kept making him do squats and just absolutely ridiculous things to test his trust for me.” When it came time for his bit of dialogue, though, Green panicked. “I’m just frozen, absolutely frozen. I have no idea what’s happening. And after, like, 30 seconds, I finally say, ‘Line?’ because I’ve forgotten my one line.”

Marks also gave herself a small role, playing a waiter who regularly serves the girls. “She’s an exhausted waitress in John’s book, so I thought that was the one place I really could commit myself, because I was already exhausted,” the director says with a smile. As an actor, she’s appeared in dozens of movies and shows, including Criminal Minds, The Runaways, The Amazing Spider-Man, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, and Weeds. On the latter, her character engaged in some pretty adult behavior—which may be why Marks’s mother originally turned down the part for her 13- or 14-year-old daughter. “I called my manager behind her back and said, ‘I’m going to do it anyways,’” she admits. “I didn’t even understand a lot of my more sexual dialogue at the time.”

Although she’s interested in the conversation over child actors that has recently re-erupted thanks to the docuseries Quiet on Set , Marks says she had to stop watching that series five minutes in. “I just don’t think I can go there,” she says. “I definitely look back on experiences that I had growing up in this business, and I know things would be different today. I don’t think I was even aware that HR existed.” She hates that anyone can easily google pictures of her going through puberty, but she also sees an upside to her youthful experience. “The fact that I started so young is probably why I’m able to be here right now and be a director. Being on sets was such a big part of my childhood; I got to learn a lot really fast, at that age when you’re such a sponge.”

Marks began considering a career as a screenwriter and director in her teens. “I was always a working child actor, but I was never famous, so I found myself getting kind of bitter and jaded at a young age. And I didn’t want to be ” she says. “Some of the people that played my mom on shows, I felt like they weren’t happy, and I saw that as my future.” Marks currently has multiple projects on the go, including Razzlekhan, a movie she’s writing and directing based on the true story of a “bonkers” cryptocurrency heist. She’s excited to be working on a story about people in their 20s and 30s. “I want to grow with my characters,” she says, “and not get pigeonholed into only telling teenage girls stories, even though I love them.”

As for Green, he’s been consumed by nonfiction since Turtles All the Way Down. In 2021 he published The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet. More recently he’s become a tuberculosis advocate, with his family pledging millions toward funding to test and treat the disease. After immersing himself in research, he says he has written a book about TB that will come out next year. “My editor has it right now,” Green says. “It’s half about historical human responses to this deadliest infection we’ve ever had, and half about one contemporary kid’s challenge of navigating the TB care system in the 21st century.”

What will he do after that? “I think I’ll return to writing novels,” he says hesitantly. “Maybe. I hope? I’m trying.”

I ask Green about a comment he’d made on X about a photo of him surrounded by Marks and the cast of Turtles. “I love this picture because it looks like the poster for a sitcom about four cool young people and their weird dad,” he wrote. Does it feel awkward writing about young people as he gets ever older?

After pointing out that he never really felt like a teenager even when he was one (“I always felt like I was observing them from a distance, almost anthropologically”), Green answers by way of story about his struggle to find an ending for Turtles All the Way Down. Alone in a cabin, he called his wife for help. She suggested he flash-forward to Aza’s future. “There’s one thing that you classically don’t do in a YA novel, which is to have a time jump, because it’s like looking back on adolescence, not in it,” Green explains. Gripped by desperation, he decided to break the rules and try it.

“Maybe that’s you acknowledging that there’s this distance between you and the reader now, or even that there’s this distance between you and the self you were when you wrote Looking for Alaska or The Fault in Our Stars, ” he thought to himself. “Once I did the time jump, I realized I could be kind to that character in a way that she couldn’t be kind to herself in the moment.” It was also a note to self: “I was going back and saying to myself: You’re so sick, and I’m so sorry, more than anything. I’m so sorry, and you’re going to get through this.” I try to covertly wipe my moist eyes as one of the world’s most beloved YA authors continues. “I remember thinking as I was writing that, like, Does that mean this is it? And maybe it did.”

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RICK AND MORTY Creator Dan Harmon Is Writing ONE PUNCH MAN Movie

I narguably, it was director Justin Lin who turned the Fast and Furious franchise into the juggernaut it is. He directed entries three, four, five, six, and nine. But after departing the upcoming tenth installment a week into filming, no one was sure what Lin would do next. Until now! According to Deadline , Sony has tapped Lin to bring manga and anime powerhouse One Punch Man to the big screen. Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner, who wrote Venom and Jumanji: The Next Level , will write the screenplay for this One Punch Man movie adaptation, and Avi Arad (who produces a million things, including the Spider-Man movies) will produce.

Lin’s movie will also include a familiar name on the writing front. According to The Hollywood Reporter , Rick and Morty creator Dan Harmon and writer Heather Anne Campbell are currently writing the One Punch Man live-action movie. This totally makes sense considering the tone and general weirdness of both properties.

One Punch Man debuted in 2009 from mangaka ONE and quickly shot to prominence in the manga community. An anime series followed in 2015 and became a behemoth around the world. It follows a regular guy named Saitama who becomes the most powerful superhero of all time. The problem is, his power is that he can defeat any foe with only one punch. He gets immediately bored with no one able to even give him a challenge. The story parodies superhero and Shonen media alike, indulging in all the excess and ridiculousness of both.

Lin is not a stranger to bringing a beloved franchise to the screen. In addition to Fast and Furious (which wasn’t really anything until he took over), Lin also directed the criminally underseen Star Trek Beyond . Easily the best of the Kelvin Timeline Trek movies; it had the unfortunate problem of coming out after Into Darkness . He has also directed episodic television, including True Detective and Community . Lin certainly has the chops to bring the enormous battles and hilarious awkwardness to live action. Here’s hoping Sony has learned the lesson from other recent western manga adaptations that have been…well, bad.

No word on a release date or anything else as of yet for this One Punch Man movie adaptation. But we shall keep you all up to speed.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here . Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd .

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Alex Garland Answers the Question: Why Make a Film About Civil War Today?

Even before his drama was released, the writer-director faced controversy over his vision of a divided America with Texas and California as allies.

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By Christopher Kuo

One of the most haunting moments in Alex Garland’s new drama “Civil War” comes in the form of a question.

A soldier, fingering the trigger of his assault rifle, confronts a group of terrified journalists: “What kind of American are you?” he asks.

That question, and its underlying impulse to divide and demonize, is at the heart of why Garland made a much-anticipated and already much-debated film about the implosion of the United States. “Civil War,” opening Friday, warns against the dangers of extreme partisanship, Garland said in a recent interview — the horrors that can happen when American citizens, or any other group of people, turn on themselves.

“I think civil war is just an extension of a situation,” said Garland, the 53-year-old British director behind “Ex Machina” and “Men.” “That situation is polarization and the lack of limiting forces on polarization.”

In the film, America’s divisions have erupted into chaos. Fleets of helicopters patrol the skies and explosions rock major cities as the secessionist Western Forces, including those from Texas and California, advance on the president, a three-term authoritarian who has disbanded the F.B.I. and launched airstrikes on fellow Americans.

If polarization is one of the poisons causing this outbreak, Garland sees the work of a free, independent press as one of the antidotes. His film envisions the Fourth Estate as a check on extremism and authoritarianism.

“Something terrible, it seems to me, has been happening to the press,” said Garland, whose father was a political cartoonist and who grew up chatting with journalists at the dinner table. “I wanted to put the press as the heroes,” he added.

The heroes, in this case, include the grizzled war photographer Lee Smith (Kirsten Dunst); an aspiring photojournalist, Jessie Cullen (Cailee Spaeny); as well as journalists played by Wagner Moura and Stephen McKinley Henderson. As they travel to Washington, D.C., to interview the president, the film shows war-torn America through their camera lenses.

At first, Jessie recoils at the atrocities she sees, but under Lee’s tutelage, she evolves into the kind of journalist Garland admires: someone who can record death and destruction without interfering or casting judgment. But is her transformation courageous or dehumanizing? How many monstrosities can one passively observe without also becoming a monster?

‘Civil War’ | Anatomy of a Scene

The writer and director alex garland narrates a sequence from his film..

“My name is Alex Garland and I’m the writer director of ‘Civil War’. So this particular clip is roughly around the halfway point of the movie and it’s these four journalists and they’re trying to get, in a very circuitous route, from New York to DC, and encountering various obstacles on the way. And this is one of those obstacles. What they find themselves stuck in is a battle between two snipers. And they are close to one of the snipers and the other sniper is somewhere unseen, but presumably in a large house that sits over a field and a hill. It’s a surrealist exchange and it’s surrounded by some very surrealist imagery, which is they’re, in broad daylight in broad sunshine, there’s no indication that we’re anywhere near winter in the filming. In fact, you can kind of tell it’s summer. But they’re surrounded by Christmas decorations. And in some ways, the Christmas decorations speak of a country, which is in disrepair, however silly it sounds. If you haven’t put away your Christmas decorations, clearly something isn’t going right.” “What’s going on?” “Someone in that house, they’re stuck. We’re stuck.” “And there’s a bit of imagery. It felt like it hit the right note. But the interesting thing about that imagery was that it was not production designed. We didn’t create it. We actually literally found it. We were driving along and we saw all of these Christmas decorations, basically exactly as they are in the film. They were about 100 yards away, just piled up by the side of the road. And it turned out, it was a guy who’d put on a winter wonderland festival. People had not dug his winter wonderland festival, and he’d gone bankrupt. And he had decided just to leave everything just strewn around on a farmer’s field, who was then absolutely furious. So in a way, there’s a loose parallel, which is the same implication that exists within the film exists within real life.” “You don’t understand a word I say. Yo. What’s over there in that house?” “Someone shooting.” “It’s to do with the fact that when things get extreme, the reasons why things got extreme no longer become relevant and the knife edge of the problem is all that really remains relevant. So it doesn’t actually matter, as it were, in this context, what side they’re fighting for or what the other person’s fighting for. It’s just reduced to a survival.”

Cerebral and philosophical, hyper-attuned to nuance, Garland seems to relish these complexities. An interview with him, in a room in A24’s New York office, at times felt like a crash course in political science, covering his fears about the rise of fascism to explanations for the decline of liberal democracy — and his reasons for having Texas and California join forces in the film. Here are edited excerpts from the conversation.

Take me back to the time you were writing this film in 2020. What inspired this film?

If you think back to 2020, the discourse was almost identical to today. The strange thing is that so little has changed. Where there is change, some of the change is for the worse. Overall I’d say this film is about checks and balances: polarization, division, the way populist politics leads toward extremism, where extremism itself will end up and where the press is in all of that. One of the things that really preoccupied me four years ago was it was perfectly obvious there were really good journalists doing good work. But the thing that interested me, and this has been happening for a while, is how little traction they had. If it’s a film about checks and balances, one of the biggest checks and balances you have on government is the press. But the press needs to be trusted for that to work. They’ve been undermined and demonized partly by external forces and internal forces.

You’re saying the press is meant to be a check on polarization?

It’s not meant to be, it is. That is its function. When I say external forces and internal forces undermining journalism, an external force might be the context of social media, all these other voices and the power these voices have. You could also have an external force in the form of an influential politician undermining media. But an internal force could be if large and important news organizations deliberately lean toward bias. And you start preaching to a choir, because that’s what the choir wants to hear. Then all of the surrounding choirs cease to trust.

So this film could be seen as a defense of objectivity in journalism?

The film is presenting old-fashioned reporters, as opposed to extremely biased journalists who are essentially producing propaganda. They’re old-fashioned reporters, and the film tries itself to function like those reporters. One of the journalists is very young, but they’re using a 35-millimeter camera, which is the means of photojournalism from an era where the societal function of media was more fully understood and embraced.

I said to someone who works in the film industry, “I want to make a film about journalists where journalists are the heroes.” They said, “Don’t do that, everyone hates journalists.” That has a really deep problem contained within it. Saying you hate journalists is like saying you hate doctors. You need doctors. It’s not really a question of you like or don’t like journalists, you need them, because they are the check and balance on government.

The film also portrays some of the adverse effects of war reporting on the journalists themselves.

One of the strange transactions that existed for journalists, but particularly for war photographers and war correspondents is that as individuals they have to pay a price. Because there is a price to be paid for doing that thing. What is the function of a photographer in news? It’s to get an image that encapsulates a moment. I would say that journalist in the film has arrived at doing their job beautifully, at personal cost.

Why did you put Texas and California together in an alliance?

Two reasons. One is just to avoid a quick lazy read. Just take that off the table, you can’t have it. But there’s a bigger reason. I’m provoking the question, why are they together? Is it because I’m British and I’m so stupid I don’t realize they’re in two politically different spaces? I do realize their differences. But what would be so important as a threat that the polarized politics between Texas and California was suddenly seen as less important than the threat?

As soon as the trailer released, people said there are no terms under which these two states could join. Which in itself is a very clear representation of the insanity of polarized politics. There are many things Texas and California do agree on. I could draw lines between all these dots, but I don’t do that. The film is attempting to act like old-fashioned reporters, to not be biased. If you report on an assassination, are you refusing to make judgment on the assassination? No, you’re just reporting.

Why did you deliberately leave out so many details about the civil war in the film, about the politics of the two sides, and why is this not explicitly a conflict between liberal and conservatives?

Then it would be an issue that only related to this country, but it’s not. You can see it right now playing out in Israel. You can see it happening in Asia, in South America, Europe; you can see it in my own country. Now, if one is talking about polarization, extremism, the Fourth Estate, all of those things, would it be wise to make a Republican-Democrat conversation that immediately shuts down the other half? Would it even be true? It can’t be entirely true, because otherwise it wouldn’t apply to all these other countries. Now, I understand why people want it to be like that for exactly the reason that some of these news organizations have been so successful, which is that if you preach to the choir, the choir digs it.

I’ve heard reports that you are planning to pause directing. Are they true?

I’m not retiring. I’m working as a screenwriter, and screenwriters are still involved in film production. They’re different roles and directing comes with certain duties and obligations. I was just interested in a particular form of collaboration that comes as a result of working with another director rather than being the director itself.

Christopher Kuo covers arts and culture as a member of the 2023-24 Times Fellowship class. More about Christopher Kuo

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Rick And Morty's Dan Harmon Is Writing A One-Punch Man Movie

Dan Harmon and his Rick and Morty colleague, Heather Anne Campbell, are taking a crack at the One-Punch Man script.

By Blair Marnell on April 16, 2024 at 6:11AM PDT

In 2020, Sony lined up Venom scribes Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner to co-write the live-action One-Punch Man movie . There hasn't been much movement on the project since then, but The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that two other writers are now on working on the One-Punch Man script: Dan Harmon and Heather Anne Campbell.

Harmon is the co-creator of Rick and Morty and Strange Planet, as well as the creator of Community and Krapopolis. Harmon also provided some uncredited additions to the script for Marvel's Doctor Strange. Campbell is a writer and co-executive producer on Rick and Morty, whose previous credits include Saturday Night Live and the 2019 revival of The Twilight Zone.

One-Punch Man debuted as manga in 2009 by ONE and artist Yusuke Murata. The manga and the subsequent 2015 anime adaptation follows Saitama, the most powerful superhero in the world. He can literally defeat almost anyone by landing a single punch. But Saitama longs for a real challenge to his exceptional strength, and boredom appears to be his greatest enemy.

According to THR, Justin Lin is still attached to direct One-Punch Man, but he won't be getting behind the camera for it anytime soon. Lin's next film, Last Days, will begin shooting at the end of this month. And he recently signed to direct Amazon MGM Studios' crime thriller, Stakehorse.

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Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead review: The kids still rule in this breezy remake

A cultural twist brings a new perspective to an old ip, and proves there's still some life left in this crazy concept.

As you may have surmised from the title, Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead is a remake of the popular 1991 film of the same name. The original starred Christina Applegate, coasting on her sitcom fame as the dumb blonde daughter on the popular Fox show Married… With Children , as Sue Ellen Crandell, a 17-year-old girl whose summer is upended by her mother’s travel plans and the unexpected responsibilities thrust on her by the circumstances outlined in the title. The movie was only a minor hit when it was in theaters, but over time it caught on as a favorite video-store rental and cable-channel staple. Even if you weren’t a big fan of Applegate, Married… With Children, or the movie at the time (I wasn’t), it was hard to miss for a while. I still regularly quote one of the movie’s lines, but more on that later.

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It’s a universal truth that remakes are generally unnecessary, but as long as they keep making money, studios will keep feeding them to us. If these IP cash grabs are inevitable, the least they could do is provide something new—a fresh perspective on the original, perhaps, or interesting casting. Let’s be real—no one is checking out the new movie based on The Fall Guy for the story. None of the actors (with the exception of Nicole Richie) in this new version of Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead are familiar names, so that’s not the draw here. It does have a few interesting twists, though, and a story that’s almost entertaining enough to justify its existence.

Different generations are bound to come at this material from different angles. That divide plays out in the film’s depiction of the tension between the joy of childhood freedom and the perils of adult responsibility. Nostalgia is an appeal for older viewers here, but the story may hit a bit differently now. The plot is pretty much the same, with some tweaks and updates to modernize it. It eases through the hilarity and misfortune that befall the Crandell children due to fashion industry jobs, fake identity crises, and mounting credit card debt. Their house is even the same as in the original movie.

The new version does raise the stakes in a few significant ways, though. The first and most obvious adaptive choice is the shift to an almost entirely Black cast. In the original film, Sue Ellen’s biggest worry after her babysitter dies is that her mom will come home and end a summer of fun. Here, following the death of the babysitter Mrs. Sturak (June Squibb), the danger is that Tanya (the Sue Ellen of this remake, played by Bel Air ’s Simone Joy Jones) and her younger siblings—death-obsessed Melissa (Ayaamii Sledge), naive Zack (Carter Young), and the pointedly unserious Kenny (Donielle T. Hansley Jr.)—will have to deal with CPS and the possibility of their mother (Patricia “Ms. Pat” Williams) getting fired and losing custody of them. And that’s the best-case scenario.

The worst-case scenario is they’ll be accused of killing Mrs. Sturak and jailed or shot by the police. This fear hovers over them for the entire film. Even though they’re only kids, they’re convinced they’ll never be given the benefit of the doubt because they’re Black. Their mother confirms this fear when she returns—early and unexpectedly, as per the genre. A police officer does come to the house after Zack prematurely dials and hangs up on 911. Kenny successfully convinces the cop to leave and then gives Tanya a hard time for forgetting “The Talk” their dad gave them on how to speak to white police officers if they don’t want to get hurt. This is a comedy, so it’s handled light-heartedly, but nevertheless, though the house is beautiful, and the neighborhood is great, the threat still feels very real.

The Crandell family’s circumstances are also very different than in the original film. In the old story, the flighty mom uses the money for her daughter’s European trip for a romantic vacation in Australia. Now, Tanya’s widowed mother is forced to use the money for a relaxation retreat her company has ordered her to attend if she wants to stay employed. If she’s forced to come back for them, she will not get the help and rest she needs, and she’ll also lose her job. Other elements have been adjusted to stay current with the times. Still, there’s no getting past the implausibility of the central premise, which pushed the bounds of believability even back in the ’90s. The plausibility contortions required to make it work in 2024 are even more challenging.

A little bit of context here: actors Christina Applegate, Patricia Williams, and I are all Generation X, a generation well known for minimal adult supervision in our childhood years and the somewhat random behavior of our single parents. In 1991, it wouldn’t be surprising if a parent decided to leave for the summer out of the blue (though hiring a live-in babysitter we’d never met, spoken to, or heard of would raise some eyebrows).

Thirty-three years later, it’s completely ridiculous. Would a Gen X mother hire an old woman she’s just met to look after her precious participation-trophy-awarded, over-protected, summer sports-league-playing, non-peanut-butter-eating children for two months? Very unlikely. Even less likely would be a Black Gen X mother hiring an old white woman to look after her Black children for two months, unsupervised, with no calls, check-ins, or texts. She wouldn’t, because she would fear exactly what happens in the movie—Mrs. Sturak fires a gun in the air 10 seconds after their mother leaves, proclaiming, “I’ve watched Madea , and I know how to handle you little n-words!” followed quickly by some triggering and racially charged discipline.

The tone of Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead is very similar to other Black cast comedy remakes like What A Man Wants and Little , which bring the emotional awareness and context that the original movies ( What A Woman Wants and Big , respectively) lacked. Tanya has become the second parent by default, which is why she’s looking forward to traveling with her friends and escaping. Kenny used to have ambition and purpose; now, he smokes pot and makes skateboarding videos all day. Melissa’s screensaver is a pair of feet toe-tagged on a morgue table. Zack is practically a ghost floating from room to room. Living and working together to protect the family over the summer allows them to grow and heal. This is by no means a “deep” movie, but it is a more thoughtful one.

Emmy-nominated screenplay writer Chuck Hayward ( Dear White People , Ted Lesso ) and director Wade Allain-Marcus ( Grown-ish , Insecure ) bring some impressive cultural and emotional nuances to the story. They use their experience writing and depicting different aspects of Black upper-middle-class life to actually give us a new take on an otherwise rote teenage coming-of-age comedy. Unsurprisingly, given the backgrounds of the filmmakers, Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead moves at the pace of a good sitcom. Hansely’s delivery of the classic line from the original movie, “The dishes are done!” caused a minute-long laughing fit. And, yes, that’s the line I still use when I finish an unwanted task in the fastest, albeit laziest, way possible.

The sibling chemistry between Hansley and Jones, in particular, is off the charts, as they alternately berate and cheer each other on. Both of them have great timing and make the most of the dialogue they’re given. Nicole Richie’s light, bouncy performance as Tanya’s boss, Rose, is also a welcome surprise. None of the characters come off as flat, really; everyone has a personality, an individual story, and emotional growth. For example, Tanya’s bitchy co-worker Caroline (Iantha Richardson) is angry that Tanya seemingly walked off the street and into the job Caroline wanted. She has the guts to ask Rose why and is taken aback when both Rose and Caroline’s self-proclaimed “Gay Office Husband,” Bruce (Gus Kenworthy), tells her that even though she is very competent, she is also very unpleasant to be around. Bruce encourages her to help Tanya help Rose, which makes Caroline feel better. Until Tanya’s immaturity backfires on her.

As a whole, the remake of Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead is a funny, relatable upgrade. With a zippy runtime of 99 minutes and plenty of laughs throughout, it’s not much of a commitment and certainly worth checking out, whether or not you’re a fan of the original.

Nicola Peltz Beckham, a billionaire's daughter, made an indie film where she plays a poor stripper. It didn't go well.

• Nicola Peltz Beckham wrote, directed, and stars in the indie film "Lola" about a teen living in poverty.
• The movie is being slammed by critics, with one calling it exploitative and "poverty porn."
• Peltz Beckham is the daughter of billionaire Nelson Peltz and is married to Brooklyn Beckham.

Nicola Peltz Beckham's directorial debut about a teen struggling to make ends meet in middle America is getting lambasted by critics.

"Lola," released in limited theaters on February 9, is written and directed by Peltz Beckham, who plays the titular character.

The coming-of-age indie film centers on a 19-year-old girl named Lola James who works at a drugstore and a strip club in hopes of saving up enough money to get her and her younger brother Arlo (Luke David Blumm) out of the home they share with their toxic mom.

Peltz Beckham's own upbringing is a far cry from Lola's. She's the daughter of businessman Nelson Peltz , whose estimated net worth is $1.5 billion. She's also married to Brooklyn Beckham, David and Victoria Beckham's eldest child. The couple wed in a lavish oceanfront wedding in Palm Beach in 2022 that reportedly cost $3 million and featured 500 guests including celebrities like Venus and Serena Williams.

Peltz Beckham, who's been acting since she was 12 , is best known for her roles in "Transformers: Age of Extinction" and "Bates Motel." She previously told WWD that she wrote the initial script six years ago when she was 23 over the course of three days. The character Arlo is inspired by her godson, and Lola's best friend Babina (Raven Goodwin) is based on Peltz Beckham's real-life friend Angela. Her brother Will Peltz has a role as a member of a Narcotics Anonymous group, while she revealed that her husband Brooklyn was cut from the movie because he botched his only line and kept staring directly at the camera.

Although "Lola" was released two months ago, the movie has become a topic of renewed discussion following a scathing review published by The Guardian on Friday that referred to it as a "vanity project."

In the review, writer Kady Ruth Ashcraft said that the film is inundated with "underbaked, oftentimes harmful tropes — the supportive Black best friend, a queer child meeting an unceremonious death, the virginal stripper saved by motherhood, a hypocritical Christian drunk."

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Ashcraft added that the movie feels exploitative of sex work and queer suffering.

"Peltz Beckham did achieve something with Lola: it's called 'poverty porn,' and in film, that means the exploitation of the conditions of poverty for entertainment and artistic recognition," Ashcraft wrote.

The criticism is even sharper when the heavy subject material is conceptualized and helmed by someone of a vastly different class.

"What makes Lola such a flagrant example of poverty porn is just how careless the project feels in the context of Peltz Beckham's exceptionally lavish life," Ashcraft wrote.

Ashcraft wasn't the only critic to call out the film.

"It's not a law that directors making slice-of-life flicks must be personally familiar with the material they are depicting, but before even watching 'Lola,' the disconnect between the dead-end world the film takes place in and Peltz Beckham's background stands out as jarring," Andrew Burton wrote for Spectrum Culture . "One can't help but feel that the project is doomed from the get-go because it is conceptually untenable."

Ayeen Forootan of In Review Online described "Lola" as a "poorly scripted and stereotypically melodramatic story," but praised the visual design of the film.

Peltz Beckham acknowledged the disconnect between her life and that of her character during her WWD interview, saying that she "did not grow up like Lola at all," but she still wanted to write a story from a perspective different from her own.

Business Insider reached out to Peltz Beckham and the film's distributor Vertical Entertainment, but did not receive a response.

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Austin Kleon

• A chat with Stephanie Zacharek and Dwight Garner

Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Stephanie Zacharek is the film critic at Time , and Dwight Garner is a book critic for The New York Times.  They’re two of my favorite writers to read, so when I found out they were friends, I thought it would be fun to interview them together for the newsletter. 

We had a good time talking about honesty in criticism, having a sense of humor, the writing process, our favorite books and movies, how to develop your personal taste, and much more.

You can watch the video or read the transcript in today’s newsletter . (You can also click the podcast options in the sidebar and listen to it.)

A few highlights, below…

Dwight on the importance of a sense of humor: 

I agree with the great Australian-British critic Clive James, who said that a sense of humor is, I think he put it, “common sense, dancing.” Which I just love. You don’t trust someone without a sense of humor. Donald Trump — no sense of humor! You meet someone without one and… 9 times out of 10 I don’t trust or like writers who have no sense of humor. Every once in a while you get a Dostoevsky, who, you know, has his moments. Sheer power can win out. But I increasingly like to be made to smile when I’m reading. To me, that’s a sign of a first rate intellect. Critics want to deliver pleasure, right? All writers do. And humor is just part of that pleasure. Pleasure is an elevated thing to deliver, if you’re doing it right.

Stephanie on her favorite movie, The Lady Eve : 

It’s funny, sometimes you go to a dinner party, and people are like, “Oh, you’re a movie critic, so what’s your favorite movie?” And other critics that I know, it’s like, “Oh, my God, I hate that question.” But I love that question! Because I always have a ready answer. And my answer is: The Lady Eve by Preston Sturges, which is a comedy. A lot of people might think, oh, no, I have to choose a really serious movie as my favorite movie. But The Lady Eve , not only is it funny and great in so many ways with fantastic performances by Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda, but it’s actually about something very serious. This idea of looking at someone and thinking that you’re in love with that person and not seeing exactly what’s in front of you.

And Dwight on his commonplace book (which he turned into Garner’s Quotations ):

I’ve kept it for so long now, it’s been transferred from print to various laptops. I sort of keep it obsessively. Everything I read, I end up writing things down from. I know, generally, I don’t like a book, if I end up putting nothing from it into my commonplace book. Not to every writer has to be pithy and perfect, but if I read a book, and I don’t want to put a single thing from it? And I keep all kinds of categories, I can open up to flying, social class, violence, war, sex, drugs, conversation, theater, music. I’m just obsessive about it… It’s [in] Microsoft Word. And the files are so large that they get hung up and the beachball spins… They’re broken up. I’ve broken up Food, because Food is so big. I’ve broken up Drink, because Drink is so big. I’ve broken up Writing because writing breaks down into so many aspects of writing to talk about, right? But even the A-M and M-Z are just large and unwieldy. And I don’t know, it’s a boring topic, but… I take great pleasure in it!

I highly recommend reading or watching the whole thing here .

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