Alfred Hitchcock made over 50 films in six decades and had a reputation for transforming the genre of suspense and for being a difficult man to work with. We’ll explore his highlights, some hidden gems, and look at the legacy of his work still alive today over forty years after his death.

The Beatles were an undeniable force in pop music when they burst onto American radio in 1964. But would they have had the cultural reach and longevity without film and television? From The Ed Sullivan Show to A Hard Day’s Night and Help! up to The Beatles Anthology and Get Back, the Beatles have always used the moving image to shape their image and legacy. And that’s not even counting movies about them! We’ll say yeah yeah yeah to all of it and explore the way film and television helped created the Beatles legend.

James Dean, who died seventy years ago in September, left behind three classic films and a reputation for coolness that has long outlived his 24 years. What can we say about the influence he had on acting and culture, and what do East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause, and Giant still have to say to us?

From Little Caesar in 1931 to a Sopranos prequel in 2021, we can’t get enough of a certain type of criminal. What are the origins of the gangster film and why do we like them so much? We’ll look at highlights and also talk about what a gangster movie looks like around the world.

The first commercial film to use sound, 1927’s The Jazz Singer, was in a sense a musical. Why did movies sing almost before they could talk, and what have movie musicals meant to pop culture over the past hundred years? Are they merely escapist fluff, or can they offer commentary along the way?

“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” But what does that mean when it comes to what may be the most prolific fictional character on screen? From 1908 to 2025, Holmes has been appeared on screens big and small over 250 times. The character affords a wide variety of interpretations and has been popular with some of the best performers of our times. Grab the nearest deerstalker hat, a briar pipe, and your best knowledge of deduction as we uncover “What is the truth of Sherlock Holmes?”

Teenagers as a modern concept arose around the same time as rock and roll and the drive in movie. We’ll look at how Hollywood capitalized on a teen sensation, who was watching and appearing in movies like Rock Around the Clock, and how rock and roll has been later addressed and assessed in biopics and nostalgia films.

From Tugboat Annie to Sleepless in Seattle to Fifty Shades of Grey, Seattle has a long history as a place to set a story, film a story, or even both! We’ll talk about the legacy Seattle has left on film, what it says about our city, what it leaves out, and share our favorites. Whether you’re a Fabulous Baker Boy, McQ, Elvis, or Lloyd Dobbler standing outside with a boombox, there’s something to discover about Seattle through the lens of how the rest of the world sees us.

What do Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, David Lynch, George Romero, and Martin Scorsese have in common? They were all part of the New Hollywood “movement” which had come up in film schools and raised on classic Hollywood cinema. We’ll look at the major players in this era and how, exactly, they changed Hollywood forever.

Starting with the original series in 1966, and continuing up to today’s Strange New Worlds, Star Trek on television and in cinema has shown us a future where we solve our earthly differences, meet and work with other species, and explore the stars. In this talk we’ll catch up on the series you might have missed and talk about the type of future they envision for us. How likely is that future, and what is science fiction’s role in showing us both the good and the bad possibilities? We’ll also talk about some of our favorite characters, moments, and scientific and cultural contributions directly related to this franchise which will turn 60 next year! 

Time travel has been a literary device since at least 1733, but film took the concept and ran with it. Why are movies so enamored of time travel as a plot device, what are some of the most popular time travel movies, and what do they tell us about the times we live in?