This leads to the formation of the despicable right-wing terrorist hate group, the Klu Klux Klan. Packing a structured story into its runtime, which followed a group of astronomers who travel to the moon in a cannon-propelled capsule, Méliès’ film took cinema to brand new heights of potential. Through new and progressive ideas concerning writing, editing, filming and marketing, the medium of film is an ever-growing and ever-changing experience. Directors, actors, editors and score composers all come together in a collective artistic process that can shape how films are made, exposited and perceived by culture, with some notable films changing cinema for good.
The Summer Monster Movie
Led by its titular set piece, the film lived on as a historical and artistic influence in Hollywood. The original blockbuster, Jaws ushered in the era of monstrous hits that would dominate at the box office and send all other movies cowering to the sticky floors of the local art-house cinema. With Spielberg’s still-perfect mix of heartfelt sentiment, alluring characters, and suspense to end all suspense, Jaws’ winning formula made everything that came after it look dull in the salty mist of retrospect. Sure, Dawn is a tentpole film that was technically the 8th in the franchise, and one could say the brand-recognition alone allowed for director Matt Reeves to create something special without the studio worrying too much.
Battle of the Sexes (
Another better or worse film, The Blair Witch Project came out of nowhere and shattered everyone’s expectations about everything. It practically invented found footage – and though it wouldn’t become commonplace (and exhausting so) until Paranormal Activity a decade later – it gave audiences something thrilling and unexpected, and it’s still the gold standard to this day. The Wizard of Oz is one of the most iconic and successful book adaptations captured on film, with Victor Fleming and MGM studios re-telling of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 children’s fantasy novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The film stars the treasure that is Judy Garland movie guide as Dorothy Gale, a farm girl from Kansas who winds up in the colourful yet unorthodox land of Oz, with only the help of a wizard being her one route home. Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Billie Burke, and Margaret Hamilton also star in this timeless and globally known classic.
Dunkirk showcased Nolan’s masterful use of sound design and editing techniques to create an immersive war experience unlike any other seen before in cinema history. By telling three interwoven stories across land, sea, and air during World War II from different perspectives—each playing out over varying lengths of time—Nolan crafted tension like never before experienced by viewers during war films. This approach shifted how war stories were told on screen emphasizing realism over traditional heroism. Nudity has been a part of cinema since its inception, but for a long time, filmmakers had to wrestle with restrictive morality-based policies such as the Hays Code. In the 1960s, however, movies were beginning to challenge those restrictions on sex and nudity.
Carl Theodor Dreyer's essential historical drama makes as clear a case as any film does for the distinct power of silent cinema, with Renée Jeanne Falconetti offering one of the medium's most profound performances. Interrogated by the French clerical court relentlessly about her belief in her own mission from God, Joan remains steadfast even as it seems that the very architecture around her is closing in to damn her. In the end, whether she's right or wrong, it feels as though Joan's defiant face is the only authentic thing in her increasingly confined world, and her status as a martyr to women in western religion is made secure. You can stream The Passion of Joan of Arc on Max, Tubi, and The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video. Before watching Anora, I’d imagined that if work conditions improved for sex workers, they would be treated humanely. But Anora showed me—or perhaps reminded me—that society’s contempt for women in this industry is profound, and that better policies, important as they are, might never change that.
More interestingly, the stained-glass knight character was animated by no other than John Lasseter, who would go on to found Pixar and create memorable characters such as Woody and Buzz Lightyear before the company was acquired by Disney. With its campy plot and nearly hour-long running time, Deep Throat made pornography more mainstream. Going out to see the movie was considered a fashionable date activity, and the sight of normal-looking couples heading into normal-looking theaters to see a pornographic movie made pornography more acceptable. The motion capture suit has spawned a thousand movies where actors wear funny suits, and given Andy Serkis an entire career in films where no one ever sees his face.
Additionally, advancements in CGI (computer-generated imagery) have opened up new realms of possibility for visual effects, enabling filmmakers to bring fantastical worlds and creatures to life with unprecedented realism. Movies like “Avatar” (2009) exemplify how technology can enhance storytelling by creating immersive experiences that transport audiences to other worlds. As technology continues to evolve, it will undoubtedly shape the future of cinema in ways we can only begin to imagine.
She and her art gave voice to a budding Mexican nationalist movement, and her life serves as a reminder that art can move nations at least as powerfully as traditional politics. Salma Hayek stars in this ultra-stylish adaptation from director Julie Taymor, one that earned multiple Academy Award nominations. While death is the starting point, the movie focuses on the messy and strident vibrancy of Johnson's life and work, and speaks to the challenges and sacrifices for the progress that's been made (and sometimes un-made) in LGBTQIA+ equality. Though only reluctantly caught up in the struggle, Maud gradually becomes radicalized when she witnesses the cost that other women are paying for their activism. Helena Bonham Carter, Brendan Gleeson, and Ben Whishaw make up some of the rest of the impressive cast. Portrait Of A Lady On Fire tells the remarkable story of two women in nineteenth-century France whose uninhibited infatuation with each other is externally manacled by circumstance and generational attitudes towards same-sex relationships.
On the most basic level, it’s notable for being the first full-length movie. The success of the three-hour film showed that movies could be more than just simple clips and instead tell an expansive story. Unfortunately, the story Griffith chose to tell is horrifically racist. The technique is pretty disturbing, which is probably why it was used recently in the suspense/horror movie, The Quiet Place.
The Story of the Kelly Gang (Charles Tait,
It also helped to soften the rating policies followed by the MPAA, who reluctantly acknowledged that a movie with such widespread appeal and a plethora of Oscar nominations couldn’t be considered obscene. Contrary to persistent rumors, Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was not the first animated feature, major or otherwise. However, it was the first animated feature film produced in both English and Technicolor, and it represented an intense level of risk for Walt Disney. At the time, many people, including his wife, assumed that audiences had neither the time nor the patience to sit through a cartoon movie. Using cheap cameras, no script, ropey actors and a whole lot of nerve, the filmmakers, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, changed the movie industry. The internet is littered with scores of "Best of…" movie lists; we even have a few.
Being the visionary that he was, Stewart had his salary tied to the gross of the film. Sure, we owe all our modern blockbusters – from Avengers to Transformers – to Jaws, but in reality most blockbusters are pale imitations of the pacing and character work that made Jaws such a force to be reckoned with. Though Jaws will always be the movie that legitimately kept people out of the water, its greater legacy will be that it spawned a new type of movie, and has left Hollywood trying to catch up ever since.
The technique had been used in novels for years, but the first example in film is thought to have been Cannibal Holocaust, a movie that is literally as bad as it sounds. The Blair Witch Project was made for $10 and a nickel that the director found down the back of the sofa. Director M. Night Shyamalan is known for his incredible filmography, from the critically panned After Earth to the acclaimed Unbreakable. Every generation has its favorite version of Spider-Man; whether its 1967 poorly drawn cartoon Spider-Man, 1994 scarily muscular cartoon Spider-Man, or 2008 weirdly too-anime but nonetheless brilliant Spectacular Spider-Man.