Archive - Film 101

Dust in the wind

#39 in the Film 101 series is 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre', a film that plays as a Greek tragedy about greed and an indictment of a particular…

Aug 20 •

Andrew E. Johnson

Introducing Crash Course

Listen now | Introducing a new adventure and expansion of the Film 101 project

Aug 18 •

Andrew E. Johnson

3:41

July 2025

Who needs a laugh?

The adults do. It's the adults. But Hollywood seems as confused as ever about how to serve an audience that has gone underserved for a decade or more.

Jul 15 •

Andrew E. Johnson

June 2025

In the year 2000 …

Ruminations on that New York Times list, and my own hastily assembled ballot of the 10 best movies of the 21st century.

Jun 27 •

Andrew E. Johnson

May 2025

On Memorial Day - or any other - film #38 in the series - ‘Saving Private Ryan’ - examines the debt owed to those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

May 26 •

Andrew E. Johnson

Cops and robbers

#37 in the Film 101 series is 'GoodFellas' - the mobbiest mob film that there is. It's a brilliant work that exposes the utter fraudulence at the heart…

May 10 •

Andrew E. Johnson

April 2025

‘Well, to tell you the truth, I lied a little’

#36 in the Film 101 series is ‘Chinatown’, a film about a mystery and how to process the truth behind that mystery.

Apr 18 •

Andrew E. Johnson

March 2025

January 2025

I Alone Can Fix It: The Franchise

How John Rambo encapsulates the bleak, dimwitted political movement now in power.

Jan 29 •

Andrew E. Johnson

An unserious man

#34 in our series is ‘North by Northwest’ - a film that is both peak Alfred Hitchcock and a self-parody of one of the greatest directors of all time…

Jan 21 •

Andrew E. Johnson

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