Genre: Movies
Writing about film — the works, makers, and craft of cinema, from blockbusters to the obscure.
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The Greatest Road Movies
Twenty road movies covering every register of the genre — from Easy Rider's counterculture elegy to The Straight Story's 240-mile lawnmower journey to Mad Max: Fury Road's two-hour chase. The road does not take you to a destination. It takes you to yourself — or reveals that you were never going to change no matter how many miles you put behind you. -
Films With the Best Dialogue
Twenty films whose dialogue does more than convey information — from Glengarry Glen Ross's desperation as verbal music to Margin Call's technical language as human revelation. Four tests every line of dialogue must pass, with craft lessons fiction writers can apply immediately. -
Films With the Best Endings
Twenty films whose final scenes complete rather than merely resolve — from Chinatown's only possible outcome to Blade Runner's tears in rain. Six types of great endings analyzed for what they do and how, with craft lessons for writers on the difference between resolution and completion. -
Greatest Serial Killer Films and TV Episodes
Twenty films and TV episodes that use the serial killer as a lens for examining the world rather than as spectacle — from Silence of the Lambs to Mindhunter. What separates the serious from the exploitative, and what fiction writers can learn from both. -
Films With the Best Opening Scenes
Twenty films whose opening scenes deliver the story's essential argument before the plot requires it — from The Godfather's darkened study to No Country's elegiac voiceover. Six techniques every fiction writer can steal for their own first page.