Meri Bassai, 5 April 2016, Full Episode 474

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As you browse through our Movies section, you will discover essays addressing films of all genres, from film's earliest days to the present. If you are writing about a movie, turn to this section to locate writing samples to help you generate ideas for your own essay and to serve as a frame of reference.

Find writing that analyzes classics like "Casablanca." Did "Casablanca" make Humphrey Bogart's career, or did Humphrey Bogart make "Casablanca" the classic that it is? Read examinations of troubling and psychologically complex films, such as "American Beauty." What kinds of societal statements is it making? What is it about the film "Braveheart" that struck a cord in the American psyche, prompting it to still be quoted widely today?

In this section, you will encounter essays that dissect the themes of popular films like "Fight Club" and "Pulp Fiction." What made "Pulp Fiction" so novel for its time? How did it, in many ways, influence films that came after it? Discover writing that explores the films of a particular actor or actress. Is Julia Roberts better suited to more intellectual, understated roles like that in "Mona Lisa Smile," or to grittier, tougher roles like her part in "Erin Brockovich?" Is Anthony Hopkins best as a serious, literary actor, or are his best roles those in "Hannibal" and "The Silence of the Lambs?"

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