I wrote this all of the top of my head. I could have made half of this up. I probably didn't though.
Takes place in San Francisco, opening shots were likely stock footage from earlier and mostly filmed on sound stages in LA. Seminal Bogart film, it launched the career of Bogart and its director John Huston (plays the father figure in 8: Chinatown). They were known to get absolutely hammered every night after filming. Throughout their career (they made many movies together, all good). They more or less created the noir genre with this film, known for its heavy use of shadows. Bogart in this movie is the ultimate tough guy, impervious to dames, able to take a punch and give one right back. Very obviously the influence for Blade Runner, both Gosling and Harrison Ford in the original. Love interest Mary Astor is the inspiration for Rachael (Sean Young) in Blade Runner. Also big inspiration for last season of Archer. Sydney Greenstreet, Bogart, and Peter Lorre all reunited later for Casablanca. Sydney Greenstreet, aka the Fat Man, and Peter Lorre, aka Little Boy, were the namesakes for the atomic bombs used in World War II.
Note: Casablanca not on this list because you already told me you saw it
Truly is the greatest movie of all time. Orson Welles was 25 and he co-wrote (he glossed over the co part later in life), directed, produced, and starred in this masterpiece. Largely based on the life of newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, the concept of being taken to be raised elsewhere as a boy comes from Orson's own childhood. However, the term "Rosebud" was the nickname Hearst had for a specific part of his mistress anatomy, his mistress being Hollywood actress Marion Davies. Hearst really did build a castle like Xanadu; Hearst Castle is down in San Simeon and it's ... ostentatious. Of note, the flashback storytelling was a relatively novel concept, along with many of the fades and cuts (filmmaking was new then). Welles really did break his hand tearing about the room at one point. The montage of the table getting wider and wider to symbolize the marriage. My favorite line from the movie happens to be when Joseph Cotten (Kane's best friend) is trying to give Kane his review of his girlfriend's opera performance and he says "dramatic crimiticism". I just love the way that rolls of the tongue.
This movie is a powerhouse performance by Daniel Day Lewis. Incredible score from Johnny Greenwood, guitarist of Radiohead. Paul Dano was originally supposed to only play the brother that leaves, but rumor has it that DDL scared the actor intented to play the preacher brother so badly, Paul Dano ended up playing both. Based on the novel "Oil" by Upton Sinclair. Incredibly quotable movie: "Bastard in a basket" "I drink your milkshake" There really was a court case where the concept of the milk shake idea originates from. It relates to a president (Warren G Harding) allowing businessmen to drill for oil in national parks. It is known as the Tea Pot Dome scandal. Not at all relevant in today's world, right? One of the best endings to any movie, ever (honorable mention in this moment for Some Like It Hot)
Both movies on this list. Easy to talk about all day. Of note: Oranges as a premonition of death, this torch was carried on in the Sopranos as well. The decision to intercut the baptism with Michael's takeover was a decision by the editor. The writer/director launched his career on this movie, Bay Area based filmmaker Frances Ford Coppola. He hung out in North Beach at Cafe Trieste writing the first movie. Marlon Brando had the idea to put the cotton in his mouth. He was at the lowest point of his career, had finally put on too much weight that wasn't coming off, and did this movie for peanuts. It made him a super star again. Very hard to work with. He didn't show up to filming so he never appears at the end of Part II; hence the scene being constructed in that way. Hyman Roth is based on Jewish gangster Meyer Lansky, rumored to have called the actor playing him to congratulate him on his performance. Meyer Lansky ran the New York mob, funded Bugsy Siegel in his building of the Flamingo to conceive of modern day Vegas (and later ordered the hit on childhood friend Siegel).
Honestly I think this is the best musical ever. It happens to be about a turning point in film history, when talking pictures were invented. The first talking picture, by the way, is about a Jewish man who does not want to be a cantor (leads Jewish congretation in prayer) like his father, but instead wants to go to New York to be a black face performer. "Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain't heard nothin' yet". Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer (1927). The movie is offensive. This is the good version of that concept. Donald O'Connor's backflips were my favorite as a kid. The songs are infectious. Gene Kelly was rumored to be so demanding and perfectionist he made Debbie Reynolds (mother of Princess Leia/Carrie Fisher) cry.
This is obvious. It's the perfect telling of the hero's journey. If you are not familiar with the monomyth, you should look into Joseph Campbell. He's a college professor who studied mythology around the world and distilled it to simple, shared concepts that are referred to as the hero's journey, or the monomyth. George Lucas essentially used it as a guide for writing the entire original trilogy. That's why so many movies seem to copy Star Wars, because Star Wars is just a great telling of maybe the most effective type of story ever. Honestly, I think Episode V is the best of the original trilogy, because Lucas stepped back to oversee and produce and let Lawrence Kasdan (who returned for Episode 7/8 and the new Han Solo movie) step in to direct. But Episode IV has a certain joy to it "Don't get cocky kid" that isn't in the other ones.
Charlie Chaplin is amazing. Not only did he write, direct, and star in his movies, but he also produced them. In the 1920's that meant he literally funded his own studio, United Artists, with a few other major Hollywood stars at the time (something like Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, DW Griffith as well) and that meant he paid for his own movies out of his own pocket. City Lights debuted in 1936. The Jazz Singer debuted in 1927, and sound was standard by 1929. Chaplin also had to rent out his own theater to premiere the movie because no one wanted to show a silent movie in 1936. It's one of my favorite love stories ever. Also of note, the boxing scene is maybe my favorite Chaplin bit ever.
Roman Polanski. Given the #metoo campaign, I almost removed this. Jack Nicholson and Polanski are still friends. Nicholson picked up Polanski's Oscar on stage when he won in 1999 for The Pianist. This is beginning of neo-noir, noir had fallen out of favor and this was the first successful color noir film, more than 10 years after the genre faded. The ended was rewritten after Charles Manson broke into Polanski's home while he was away and murdered his pregnant wife with his cabal. John Huston plays the father, director of Maltese Falcon, a rare acting performance from him. "Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown"
The Marx brothers were my favorite growing up. I'd watch these movies over and over and over again. Especially Harpo. They are about an hour each, and Harpo will end up being your favorite, but try and keep up with Groucho, he's got some lines in there you may miss the first time but are worth a second viewing. The way they rip on Margaret Dumont (the rich lady) was a recurring gag, she was in the best of their movies. She was always at least one or two jokes behind Groucho, and you can tell in the performance when you watch her. That's not acting, she's the straight man, in real life too.
This is current events right now. Think of this as research. Also, Stanley Kubrick is maybe the greatest director of all time, and this is one of the greatest comedies of all time, and black comedies. I also think it's a thriller and a horror, given how real it is. Opening shots of the planes refueling are absolutely sexual. Merkin Mifflin as the president (merkin is a pubic wig, that is also intentional). Peter Sellers plays Dr. Strangelove, the british officer, and the president. He was also supposed to be the pilot, but couldn't get the accent right. Slim Pickens was actually given an altered script so that he believed it was a serious movie. He genuinely played it straight. If you listen carefully in the cockpit, the young African American man is the film debut of Darth Vader, James Earl Jones. The movie was altered somewhat due to current events. The original ending had a pie fight in the War Room, with George C. Scott yelling the President has been hit, when he takes a pie to the face. After Kennedy's assassination during filming, the new ending was written. George C. Scott is a revelation. He is the only actor to genuinely turn down an Oscar (Best Actor for Patton, he just didn't want it). He did comedy as well as drama. Ending scene with the bomb is one of the most famous images in film. "Gentleman, there's no fighting in the War Room!" Basically every time someone says war room at work, I like to think it's because they are being as effective as the people in this War Room. ("You can't let him in, he'll see our big board!")
Usually, people pick North by Northwest. And that may be a slightly better movie. But this movie is beautiful. Grace Kelly is absolutely gorgeous and has one of Cary Grant's last roles as a suave leading man, just over the hill. The views of Monaco (or French Riviera) are incredible, and leads are charming and electric. Probably my favorite Hitchcock film (without getting obscure). Great mystery in the middle and has the wronged man theme that Hitchcock loves so much (present in most of his movies). Also has a blonde bombshell, in this case his favorite blonde bombshell, Grace Kelly, before she retired to become a princess, something he never forgave her for. He genuinely cast attractive blonde women in all of his color blockbusters, something people have been studying for decades.
My favorite film of all time.