Murray Burnett and Joan Alison's stage play Everybody Comes to Rick's was written prior to the United States' entry into World War II as a staunchly anti-Nazi and pro-French Resistance piece. After failing to find a Broadway producer, however, the duo sold the rights to the unproduced play to Warner Bros. The studio started developing the story as a film titled Casablanca. Nowadays, the name elicits nothing but respect among even the least seasoned of cinephiles. But back during the movie's production, virtually everyone involved very famously believed that what they were making was just another run-of-the-mill wartime picture at best, and a B-level studio picture at worst. Instead, the film would end up winning three Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Perhaps even more importantly, though, it has come to be remembered as one of the biggest Hollywood classics in the history of cinema. Casablanca is now praised as a landmark of the romance, war, and drama genres, proving just how remarkably close cinema can come to true perfection.

Over the course of the 2020s so far, cinema has given us plenty of excellent characters. Well-written, performed by some of the biggest stars in the industry, and wildly effective at whatever the story of their films requires them to do, these characters will likely go down in history as some of the best and most iconic of 21st-century cinema. Only a few of them, however, will be able to transcend that kind of category.

There are some science fiction movies that demand to be watched more than once. Fewer, yet even more precious, are the sci-fi films that allow viewers to revisit them multiple times without ever getting bored. Whether it's because of their mind-bending twists, their highly detailed narratives, or simply because of how incredibly entertaining they are, these sci-fi classics aren't just timeless: they genuinely get better with every rewatch.

First impressions always matter, and movies are no exception. An opening scene doesn't necessarily make or break a film, but a great opening certainly helps audiences go into the rest of the movie with an already-formed positive impression of the movie they're watching. Sometimes, you can tell from the very first few minutes of a film that what you're about to experience is a cinematic masterpiece.

An action movie can only be as good as its climax. This is a genre that's all about building up a constantly growing feeling of thrill and excitement, and it's at the pinnacle of its narrative that it should engage viewers the most. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is no exception. Thankfully, the highest-grossing film franchise in history has had several climaxes that have gone down in history as some of the most unforgettable of the entire superhero genre.