Way back in the day LAist got crappy grades in high school so we had to do a few years over at Santa Monica College. One of our favorite classes was Cinema because due to the proximity of Hollywood, pretty much all of our Cinema teachers were former industry insiders or historians who knew about everything. We ate up those classes with a spoon and couldn't believe we were getting college credit for learning about all of the classic films in history.

SMC was reading our mind when they put together their Political Film Series. Not only is it in the same building where we got to see and dissect Hitchcock, Eisenstein, and Capra, but they're all great films, and best of all, the entire series is free.

Beginning this evening at 6:30pm, hosts Hosts Alan Buckley and Josh Kanin will screen and then discuss several movies. Tonight the Mark Wahlberg - George Clooney - Ice Cube - Spike
Jonze film about the Gulf War, "Three Kings" will get the once-over. Brilliantly photographed and delivered, LAist applauds SMC, not just for this great series, but for having the courage to include this film into the pack of other greats that include "The Candidate", "Do The Right Thing" and "Dr. Strangelove".

Full list of all the films and detals here. Trailer of "Three Kings" after the jump.