Much has been written about Paul Newman since his passing this past weekend. Many of the newspaper biographies I’ve read focused on his love of racing, his charity work, and his compassion. Some even suggested that he loved those other things more than acting. Well, this Top 10 list is about his enormous contribution to movies. Newman had the classic good looks of a movie star, but looked for more in a role than whatever the popular trend of the day was. Here are 10 movies that would not have been the same without him.

Right now we are treating our favorite people - YOU - to lots of giveaways. To win a DVD box set of Season Two of the Emmy award-winning Alec Baldwin/Tina Fey comedy “30 Rock,” just click here. To win passes to see the new Ed Harris/Viggo Mortensen Western “Appaloosa” starting Oct. 13, click here. To win passes to a special advance screening of Ridley Scott’s “Body of Lies” starring Leo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe, click here. Good luck!

It’s only the second book from “Fight Club” author Chuck Palahniuk to be adapted into a movie, but beyond sharing a couple themes with the Brad Pitt-Edward Norton film, it has little in common with it. Eric Melin and guest co-host Trevan McGee (from inkkc.com) review “Choke,” starring Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston, and Kelly MacDonald directly following a screening of the movie at the Screenland Theater. “Choke” follows a sex addict and historial interpreter who may just be the Messiah, so it’s got that going for it.

(To the tune of “Cold Gin” by KISS) - “It’s remake time again/You know it’ll always win!”

Akira Kurosawa’s “Rashomon” … “The Lone Ranger” … “Alice in Wonderland” … “Frankenstein” … “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” … plus, “American Psycho” the musical … Johnny Depp dips into the well … check it all out in the HCJ for today!

As the presidential election nears ever closer, political documentaries are also in full swing, and we’ve got the free movies to prove it. Michael Moore’s full-length movie about his 2004 race across the country to get out the young vote is called “Slacker Uprising,” and yesterday the Oscar-winning filmmaker made it available for free everywhere. To download or watch streaming, click here for details. Also, we’d like to give 50 lucky members of the Scene-Stealers Army in the KC area passes to see Bill Maher’s new documentary “Religulous” next week, before it is released in theaters. Click here for tix to the advance Kansas City screening!

Well, the user-submitted Top 10 Lists just keep right on coming! Today’s sequel-tastic Top 10 comes from sitegoer Andrew Reed, lately of Buenos Aires, and a blogger at Fighting the Youth. Sequels don’t always suck, and Andrew’s got a bone to pick with everyone who bags on these movies just because they weren’t as good as the first.  Check out his Top 10 Unfairly Maligned Sequels and let him know what you think. If you’ve got a Top 10 Tuesday idea that you’d like to get published on the site, just email Eric at info@scene-stealers.com.

If so, let’s thanks the stars, because Ricky Gervais (The original BBC “The Office,” HBO’s “Extras”) is curmudgeonly funny in “Ghost Town,” which co-stars Greg Kinnear and Tea Leoni. The director behind “Stir of Echoes” and “Secret Window” tries his hand at romantic comedy, and with the help of his very British leading man, succeeds in making one that strikes just the right balance. Eric’s review is here.

Jon Favreau talks “Iron Man” sequels …
Spidey 4 & 5 with Tobey …
New “Robocop” is not a sequel …
Liberace comes to life …
Singing “The Evil Dead” …
Robert Greenwald’s Brave New Films …
On the set of “Coraline” …
It’s all in today’s installment of the
Hollywood Clip Joint.
Dig?

It’s been a long time since “Fight Club,” but finally somebody besides David Fincher has the balls to adapt a book by Chuck Palahniuk. If you live in KC, here’s your chance to see Sam Rockwell and Anjelica Huston in “Choke,” a Sundance festival favorite about a sex addict who can’t feel anything. Also, there are still some tix left for the IMAX screening of “Eagle Eye.”

The collapse of Lehman Brothers helped yesterday become the worst day in the stock market in seven years. If you are like me, the ups and down of the stock market are about as real to you as Jabba the Hutt. Yes, I know the economy is in the toilet, but I still have to pay my bills like always and I’m pretty sure that aspect of life will never get any easier. Regardless, every now and then a movie comes along that can bring that high-stakes world to light. Leaving the scores of post-Depression, classic-era films out of this conversation, there aren’t a lot of modern era films that would top the NASDAQ, so here is my list of the Top 10 Modern Corporate Greed Movies.