授業改善アンケート

If you didn't do the course survey yet, please do it. Thank you.

授業改善アンケート on Manaba. [Manaba ➔ My Page ➔ 授業改善アンケート ➔ 特別演習 II]

Ridley Scott

Ridley Scott (born 1937) is an English director and producer who has created many memorable films. His early movies, "Alien" (1979) and "Blade Runner" (1982) are considered science fiction classics. "Black Rain" (1989), a New York police vs Yakuza movie, is famous for its scenes of urban Osaka. "Thelma & Louise" (1991) created a new spin on the buddy film, with two charming female characters who get into trouble against a backdrop of stunning scenes of the American west. "Gladiator" (2000), set in the days of the Roman Empire, featured amazing battle scenes and an Academy Award winning performance by Russell Crowe. "Black Hawk Down" (2001), about a disastrous American military mission in Somalia, earned praise for its realistic war scenes. "Matchstick Men" (2003), an often overlooked gem, is a great con-man film starring Nicholas Cage. Scott's science fiction movie, "Prometheus" (2012), a prequel to "Alien," has been praised for its visual imagery and for some great performances, but has received mixed critical reviews. A recent movie, "The Martian," starring Matt Damon, was nominated for Best Picture at the 2015 Academy Awards. "Alien: Covenant" was released in 2017, as was "All the Money in the World."

Ridley Scott has been nominated for Academy Awards for Best Director three times, for "Thelma & Louise," "Gladiator" and "Black Hawk Down." Though he has not won the Best Director award, his film "Gladiator" won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Ridley Scott has directed over 20 movies over the last four decades and has worked with many of the great actors of our time. He is known for his impressive visual imagery, his strong female characters, and for his ability to succeed in various genres.

* "Black Rain" (1989), a movie partially filmed in Osaka, Japan, starred Yusaku Matsuda in his final acting role. He died of bladder cancer shortly after completing the film.
* Kate Capshaw, the actress who plays a nightclub hostess in "Black Rain" is the wife of director Steven Spielberg.
* Scott's recent (2017) movie, "All the Money in the World" is based on a true story about a kidnapping for money. When the movie was filmed, it starred actor Kevin Spacey as billionaire J. Paul Getty. However, after the film was almost complete, Spacey was named in a scandal, so they re-shot all of Spacey's scenes with actor Christopher Plummer. The trailer below will be a rare clip someday, because it shows the original actor, Spacey, not Plummer.
* "Thelma & Louise" (1991) is one of the greatest buddy movies of all time. It featured strong female characters who create chaos in ways that stretch our concept of gender roles. Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis were both nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in this film, though neither won. This film is also notable for featuring Brad Pitt in an early performance that helped turn him into a star. Scenes of the American west are spectacular, and the movie holds up well despite the passage of time.
* Academy Award winning actor, Russell Crowe, has starred in five of Ridley Scott's movies: "Gladiator," "A Good Year," "American Gangster,"  "Body of Lies" and "Robin Hood."
* Ridley Scott's younger brother, Tony Scott, was also a prominent director. He was well-known for directing "Top Gun," "True Romance," "Crimson Tide" and "The Taking of Pelham 123" among other famous movies. He committed suicide in 2012.

Many of Ridley Scott's movies are available in the Tsurumi University Library.

[My personal thoughts and recollections about Ridley Scott and his movies were supplemented with details, dates and numbers from Wikipedia. - Kevin]    

Ridley Scott biographies:
Wikipedia
IMDb
Biography.com

Links to trailers and clips of some of Ridley Scott's movies:
The Duellists (1977) - trailer; Scott's first feature film; starring Harvey Keitel
Alien (1979) - trailer; starring Sigourney Weaver
Blade Runner (1982) - trailer; starring Harrison Ford
Black Rain (1989) - trailer; starring Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia, Ken Takakura, Yusaku Matsuda
Thelma & Louise (1991) - trailer; starring Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Harvey Keitel and Brad Pitt
      Early Brad Pitt clip from "Thelma & Louise" - 'A Real Outlaw' (1991) / PDF ⮜
Gladiator (2000) - trailer; starring Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix
Black Hawk Down (2001) - trailer;starring Ewan McGregor, Josh Hartnett, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom
Matchstick Men (2003) - trailer; starring Nicholas Cage
American Gangster (2007) - trailer; starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crow
Robin Hood (2010) - trailer; starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett
Prometheus (2012) - trailer; starring Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Charlize Theron
The Counselor (2013) - trailer; starring Michael Fassbender, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem & Brad Pitt
Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014) - trailer; starring Christian Bale, Ben Kingsley, Sigourney Weaver
The Martian (2015) - trailer; starring Matt Damon
Alien: Covenant (2017) - trailer; a sequel to Prometheus and part of the Alien series
All the Money in the World (2017) - trailer; this trailer features the replaced actor, Kevin Spacey
The Last Duel (2021) - trailer; starring Matt Damon, Adam Driver and Ben Affleck / PDF ⮜
House of Gucci (2021) - trailer; starring Lady Gaga and Adam Driver

To Do List:
1) Watch as many Ridley Scott trailers as possible
2) Watch as many James Cameron trailers as possible.
3) Do the 2 listening exercises (PDFs) for Brad Pitt clip from Thelma & Louise and The Last Duel above. ⮜ 

James Cameron

James Cameron (born 1954) is a Canadian movie director, screenwriter and producer. He is one of the most commercially successful movie directors of all time. His movies "Titanic" (1997) and "Avatar" (2009) were the #2 and #1 highest grossing movies ever, until this year, when "Avengers: Endgame" (directed by Joe & Anthony Russo) took over the #1 spot. He is known for his special effects and for his technologically advanced underwater filming. Cameron has won three Academy Awards, all for "Titanic." Cameron's movies often feature strong female characters.

Cameron co-wrote the script for the sci-fi film, "Terminator" (1984) and went on to direct it as well. The movie was a huge success and helped to land him the job of director for "Aliens" (1986), a sequel to the 1979 movie, "Alien," directed by Ridley Scott. Like "Terminator" before it, "Aliens" was a huge success and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning three.

After "Aliens" Cameron wrote and directed "The Abyss" (1989), another sci-fi movie, but one which required much filming to be done underwater. Cameron honed his underwater filming skills on this movie and developed techniques that would serve him well on his later film, "Titanic." "The Abyss" was not as big a hit as his other movies, but it's an under-appreciated gem.

After "The Abyss" Cameron directed "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" (1991) and "True Lies" (1994). These very successful movies further cemented Cameron's reputation as a master of special effects and a pioneer in CGI (computer generated imagery).

The 1997 movie "Titanic" was written, directed and co-produced by Cameron. It was an expensive film to produce, but it ended up being the highest grossing movie of all time, and stayed at #1 until Cameron's own movie "Avatar" took the top spot in 2009. "Titanic" was nominated for 14 Academy Awards, winning 11. Cameron himself won three of them, for Best Director, Best Picture and Best Film Editing.

"Avatar" (2009) was the world's most commercially successful film (until this year, 2019). It uses state-of-the-art CGI, and is a spectacular film to see in 3-D. Cameron has been working on four sequels to "Avatar," the first of which recently came out in 2022. There is now an "Avatar" attraction, called Pandora - The World of Avatar, which opened in 2017, at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Florida, U.S.A.

* The plot of "Avatar" is loosely based on the Pocahontas story.
* Arnold Schwarzenegger has appeared in three James Cameron movies, "Terminator," "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" and "True Lies." Actress Sigourney Weaver has also appeared in three: "Aliens," "Avatar" and the upcoming sequel "Avatar: the Way of Water."
* James Cameron was married (from 1989-1991) to movie director Kathryn Bigelow. She won the Academy Award for Best Director for "The Hurt Locker" in 2009, the same year that Cameron was nominated for Best Director of "Avatar."
* James Cameron was married (from 1997 to 1999) to Linda Hamilton, the lead actress in "Terminator" and "Terminator 2: Judgment Day." He is currently married to actress Suzy Amis (2000 to present), who appeared in "Titanic."
* There are scenes of the actual Titanic ship in the movie "Titanic." Cameron and his film crew made incredibly high risk submarine dives to film the actual ship for the movie.

Avatar: The Way of Water has finally been released! (2022)

Several of James Cameron's movies are available in the Tsurumi University Library.

[My personal thoughts and recollections about James Cameron and his movies were supplemented with details, dates and numbers from Wikipedia. - Kevin] 

James Cameron Biographies:
Wikipedia
IMDb
Biography.com

Links to trailers and clips of some of James Cameron's movies:
Terminator (1984) - trailer
Aliens (1986) - trailer
The Abyss (1989) - trailer
Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) - trailer
True Lies (1994) - trailer
Titanic (1997) -trailer
    Titanic - "I'm flying!" clip with Leorado DiCaprio and Kate Winslet
Avatar (2009) -trailer
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) trailer

Recommended Sites for English Learning

Videos

• ESLVideo.com
• Animated English
• Elllo.org
• VOA Learning English
• EnglishCentral (log-in required)

Grammar

• British Council / Grammar
• englisch-hilfen.de
• EnglishGrammar

Songs

• LingoClip

There are more links on Kevin's Lifelong English website.

授業改善アンケート

If you didn't do the course survey yet, please do it. Thank you.

授業改善アンケート on Manaba. [Manaba ➔ My Page ➔ 授業改善アンケート ➔ 特別演習 II]

Week 13 - Tim Burton

Tim Burton (born 1958) is an American movie director, producer and screenwriter. His movies are often a combination of horror, fantasy and a bit of comedy. Burton's movies always have an amazing visual appeal. Many of his films feature the acting or voice acting of Johnny Depp, his good friend, and Helena Bonham Carter, his partner (*but they broke up in 2014). Two of his animated movies, "Corpse Bride" (2006) and "Frankenweenie" (2013) have been nominated for Best Animated Feature Film in the Academy Awards.

* Tim Burton movies starring Johnny Depp include "Edward Scissorhands" (1990), "Ed Wood" (1994), "Sleepy Hollow" (1999), "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (2005), "Corpse Bride" (voice actor; 2005), "Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (2007), "Alice in Wonderland" (2010), "Dark Shadows" (2012) and "Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016)."

Many of Tim Burton's movies are available in the Tsurumi University Library.

[My personal thoughts and recollections about Tim Burton and his movies were supplemented with details, dates and numbers from Wikipedia. - Kevin]   

Tim Burton biographies:
Wikipedia
IMDb
Biography.com

Links to trailers and clips of some of Tim Burton's movies:
Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) - trailer
    Pee-wee's Big Aventure; dancing to "Tequila" - clip
Beetlejuice (1988) - trailer
Batman (1989) - trailer; starring Jack Nicholson as 'The Joker'
Edward Scissorhands (1990) - trailer
Ed Wood (1994) - trailer
Mars Attacks! (1996) - trailer
Sleepy Hollow (1999) - trailer
Planet of the Apes (2001) - trailer
Big Fish (2003) - trailer
Corpse Bride (2005) - trailer
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) - trailer
Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) - trailer
Alice in Wonderland (2010) - trailer
Dark Shadows (2012) - trailer
Frankenweenie (2012) - trailer
Big Eyes (2014) - trailer
Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016) - trailer
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016) - trailer
Dumbo (2019) - trailer

Tim Burton is now working on a Netflix TV series called Wednesday, about a character in the Addams Family. The series will appear in 2022.

Top 10 Tim Burton Movies (WatchMojo.com)  ⮜
Top 10 Johnny Depp Performances (WatchMojo.com)

Watch as many of the trailers or clips above as possible.

EdPuzzle - Beetlejuice clip

When you have a free moment today, please do the course survey (授業改善アンケート) on Manaba. [Manaba ➔ My Page ➔ 授業改善アンケート ➔ 特別演習 II]

To Do List:
1) Watch as many Tim Burton clips and trailers as possible.
2) Do Top 10 Tim Burton Movies
3) Do the EdPuzzle - Beetlejuice clip
4) Correct sentence mistakes with Kevin
5) Write a blog comment about another director that we talked about (Burton, Miyazaki, Jackson, Coppola, Scorsese, Allen, Coen Brothers, Eastwood). You can choose.
6) Course Survey on Manaba  

Graduation Seminar 2023

It's time to choose your Graduation Seminar for 2023. Communication major students should choose from A, B or C below. If you want to take another teacher's seminar, you should talk to that teacher directly. Suzuki-sensei always has many students, so he will probably not accept any Communication students (but you can still ask him). It would be difficult to change.

If you want a hard copy, I can give you one. - Kevin

Peter Jackson

Peter Jackson (born 1961) is a director, producer and screenwriter from New Zealand. He is most famous for his movie version of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the much-loved fantasy novels by J. R. R. Tolkien. His version of The Hobbit, another fantasy novel by Tolkien, and the prequel to The Lord of the Rings, played in theaters in recent years (2012-2014). Jackson's fantasy films always feature outstanding special effects, costumes and makeup. His filming of the beautiful New Zealand mountains and countryside is one of his trademarks.

Peter Jackson has been nominated for 9 Academy Awards, winning three. He won Best Director, Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay for "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King." 

* Peter Jackson was a big fan of the original "King Kong" movie. He made a remake of "King Kong" in 2005, starring Jack Black and Naomi Watts. The movie was a critical and financial success.
* Peter Jackson was producer of the (somewhat) low budget science fiction movie "District 9." The movie was a critical success and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.
* The Lord of the Rings trilogy is considered great. The Hobbit, while it has some great moments, is not considered as good as The Lord of the Rings, as the story deviates quite a bit from the actual novel. Also, the novel is only one volume, while Jackson chose to make three movies of The Hobbit to increase profits.

[My personal thoughts and recollections about Peter Jackson and his movies were supplemented with details, dates and numbers from Wikipedia. - Kevin]   

Peter Jackson biographies:
Wikipedia
IMDb
Biography.com

Links to trailers for some of Peter Jackson's movies:
 Heavenly Creatures (1994) - trailer
 King Kong (2005) - trailer
The Lord of the Rings 
   LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) - trailer
   LOTR: The Two Towers (2002) - trailer
   LOTR: Return of the King (2002) - trailer
The Hobbit
   The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) - trailer
   The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) - trailer
   The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) - trailer  / PDF ⮜
The Beatles: Get Back (2021) - Beatles documentary series trailer streaming now

Try this multiple choice quiz on the 14 directors we've studied so far.

Loading Fourteen Movie Directors

Hayao Miyazaki

Hayao Miyazaki (born 1941) is a Japanese director, screenwriter, producer and animator. His animated full-length feature films have achieved great success around the world. He is the founder of Studio Ghibli, which creates many popular and critically acclaimed animated films. Miyazaki's most successful feature film was "Spirited Away" (2001; 千と千尋の神隠し "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi"). This film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film in 2002, beating "Lilo & Stitch" and "Ice Age." His most recent film, "The Wind Rises" (2013; 風立ちぬ "Kaze Tachinu") was said to be be his last full-length film. However, in November 2016, it was reported that he would come out of retirement to work on another film. The new film will be called How Do You Live? and its release date has not yet been announced.

Miyazaki has been compared to Disney, but his feature films are very un-Disneylike in many ways. Miyazaki's films rarely have a villain in the Disney sense, and the characters often have a kind of ambiguity in their motivations. The stories often lack a traditional story arc, with a more meandering feel and a more leisurely pace. For people raised on Disney movies, this can be either disconcerting or refreshing.

When Miyazaki's movies come out, they are often the highest-grossing films of the year in Japan, and they are almost always candidates for awards, both in Japan and internationally.

* Miyazaki movies are widely admired for their beautiful and detailed hand-drawn and hand-painted artwork. Ghibli movies rarely use computer generated imagery. Backgrounds are often beautiful country landscapes or quaint village streets. Characters that fly, sometimes in aircraft, sometimes under their own power, are often seen in the films.
* When "Spirited Away" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film in 2002, Miyazaki did not attend the awards ceremony in protest of the American bombing of Iraq.

[My personal thoughts and recollections about Hayao Miyazaki and his movies were supplemented with details, dates and numbers from Wikipedia. - Kevin]  

Links to Miyazaki biographies:
Wikipedia
IMDb

Links to some Miyazaki movie trailers:
My Neighbor Totoro (1988) - trailer with English subtitles
Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) - English trailer 
Princess Mononoke (1997) - English trailer 
Spirited Away (2001) - English trailer
    Making of Spirited Away; Part 1  / PDF  ⮜
Howl's Moving Castle (2004) - English trailer 
Ponyo (2008) - English trailer 
The Wind Rises (2013) - trailer with English subtitles
Triple Feature - Nausicaa, Porco Rosso, The Cat Returns - English trailer

To Do List

1) Watch as many trailers and clips from Miyazaki and Jackson as you can.
2) Do The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies listening exercise (PDF) below. It's short!  ⮜

3) Do the Making of Spirited Away, Part 1 listening exercise (PDF) above.  ⮜
4) Do the online grammar exercise (passive) linked in the blog post below.

Some writing problems in movie reviews

Let's review examples of 'active' and 'passive' sentences.

The fish ate.  魚は食べました。active
The fish ate food.  魚は餌を食べました。active

The fish was eaten.  魚は食べられました。passive
The fish was eaten by me.  魚は私に食べられました。passive

Compare:
The fish ate.  魚は食べました。 vs  The fish was eaten.  魚は食べられました。

It's a big difference!

Let's think about the following sentences:

Kevin released the baby sea turtles into the ocean.
ケビンはウミガメの赤ちゃんを海に放しました。

The production company released Jaws in 1975.
制作会社は1975年に「ジョーズ」を公開しました。

Jaws was released in 1975.
「ジョーズ」は1975年に公開されました。

Your sentences ...

Titanic released 1997.

It released at 2019.

This movie released by 2013.

It released in 2002.

It released at 2019.

This movie released in 2019.

This movie released 2018 in Japan.

😄 But ...

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was released in 2005. (Reo)

The Butterfly Effect was released in 2004. (Ryoga)

Frozen was released in 2013 in the USA. (Rinka)

Doctor Strange was released in 2016. (Ren)

It was released in 2003. (Hayate)

It was released in 2007. (Kosei)

It directed by Scott Derrickson.

It was direction by Eric Bress.

After that, Willy Wonka is create the Chocolate Company.

Emma Watson is get awards about Academy Award for Best Actor.

The story is Harry Potter and friends are find the deathly box together.

Jack and Rose is meet on the sea.

This movie is use CG.

I feeling this movie is grow up with me.

This movie is long time for 3 hours, but I was interesting.

I was interesting this movie. After watch movie is surprised.

I was surprising!

I impression this seen.

I impressed the movie technology.

It makes us happy and exciting.

Elsa have magic power.

He help people and battle enemy.

When I’m child like a son of Kevin, I saw the movie.

It was things that real world is nothing.

The movie is deeply thinking in their life.

But no awards.

Them sound is very scary.

Do this online grammar exercise and check your answers. If you make a mistake, do it again. ⮜

Week 11 - Francis Ford Coppola

There will be a quiz today about your movie review.

Francis Ford Coppola (born 1939) is included here mainly for his directing of three iconic movies of the 1970s, "The Godfather" (1972, "The Godfather Part II" (1974) and "Apocalypse Now" (1979). Although he has directed and produced other movies, these three are the ones that make him a legend in movie history. Besides being a great director, Coppola is also famous for his screenwriting.

Coppola first became known to the public for his screenwriting for the movie "Patton" (1970). He did not direct this famous biopic set in World War II, but his writing won him his first Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Coppola really shot to fame with the release of "The Godfather" (1972), which Coppola screenwrote and directed. The movie is based on the best-selling book by Mario Puzo about a mafia family. Coppola was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director, though he did not win. He did win the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and the movie won for Best Picture. The lead actor in the movie, Marlon Brando, won the Academy Award for Best Actor. In all, the movie was nominated for 9 Academy Awards, winning three. "The Godfather" is often ranked by movie critics as one of the best movies of all time. Many lines from this movie are famous and quoted in popular culture, and many movies and TV shows have tried to imitate various aspects of this movie.

"The Godfather Part II" (1974) is a sequel to "The Godfather." Usually, sequels are inferior to the original, but in this case, the second movie turned out to be as good as, or better than, the original. "The Godfather Part II" was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, winning six, including Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Picture. The two Godfather movies established Coppola as the best director of the 70s. These movies also turned actor Al Pacino into a movie legend.

Slideshow about some main characters in The Godfather I & II

Coppola's third great movie of the 70s was the anti-war movie, "Apocalypse Now" (1979). Coppola wrote the screenplay (with John Millius) to be a modern, loose adaptation of the Joseph Conrad novella, Heart of Darkness. He directed and produced this movie, which had many serious problems and almost didn't get completed. Two famous actors from "The Godfather," Marlon Brando and Robert Duvall, had iconic parts in this movie. After many delays, the movie finally came out in 1979. It was nominated for 8 Academy Awards, including for Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

The three Francis Ford Coppola movies above are available in the Tsurumi University Library. 

One of Coppola's less famous movies is a kind of romantic comedy, "Peggy Sue Got Married" (1986). This movie stars Nicholas Cage and Kathleen Turner. It was nominated for three Academy Awards. This is a fun movie, and very different from the others above. It's a good movie, and was made when Nicholas Cage was a young rising star.

* Several members of Coppola's family are famous in the movie business. His nephew, Nicolas Cage, is an Academy Award-winning actor ("Leaving Las Vegas" (1995)). His sister, Talia Shire, appeared as an actress in "The Godfather" series and in the "Rocky" series. His daughter, Sophia Coppola, is a respected movie director ("Lost in Translation" (2003), "Marie Antoinette" (2006), "The Bling Ring" (2013)).
* The theme from "The Godfather" is one of the most widely recognized theme songs in modern movies. The actual title is "Speak Softly Love."

[My personal thoughts and recollections about Francis Ford Coppola and his movies were supplemented with details, dates and numbers from Wikipedia. - Kevin] 

Francis Ford Coppola biographies:
Wikipedia
IMDb
Biography.com

Trailers and clips from several of Coppola's movies:
The Godfather (1972) - trailer
   Michael explains how his father helped Johnny Fontaine - clip
   "Speak Softly Love" - theme song from "The Godfather" 

   Michael does business with Moe Greene and scolds Fredo - clip
The Godfather Part II (1974) - trailer

   The murder of Don Fanucci - clip; Robert DeNiro as the young Don Corleone
Apocalypse Now (1979) - trailer
   I love the smell of napalm in the morning. - clip 
Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) - trailer, featuring Nicholas Cage

EdPuzzle - The Godfather Part II scene; Michael and Kay fight over the children

 

Class work for today (Dec. 1):
Fill in the PDF handout while watching this WatchMojo video clip about the best movies to win Best Picture Academy Awards. You will also need this Wikipedia list of movies that have won Academy Awards for Best Picture. Click on the movie link to find the director's name.

To Do List

1) Watch many Coppola trailers and clips

2) EdPuzzle - The Godfather Part II

3) WatchMojo Top 10 Movies to Win Best Picture Academy Awards; video and PDF worksheet 
4) Movie Review Quiz

 

Week 10 - Woody Allen

Woody Allen (born 1935) is included in this blog site because he's a famous and outstanding director, but he's actually multitalented, as he's also a screenwriter, actor, comedian, author and musician. Woody Allen's movies are usually considered comedies, but they are "smart" comedies that rely more on subtle verbal humor than on funny images or ridiculous scenes. They often deal with serious themes, especially the relationships between men and women. If you see a Woody Allen movie, you must be prepared for a lot of dialog. Very little actually "happens" in a Woody Allen movie. The entire movie is only the words that characters say to each other and the ironies and contradictions that are found in the lives of people interacting with one another.

In Allen's early movies, he often appeared as the lead actor. He was not a typical movie hero, as he was small, thin, homely, and weak looking. His character was often insecure, as he worried aloud about his relationships with women. Interestingly, in his movies, he was often paired with young, beautiful leading ladies. In Allen's recent movies, he seldom appears as the lead character. On the other hand, his lead male actors can often be imagined as a younger substitute for Allen. An example would be the character played by Owen Wilson in Midnight in Paris (2011).

Woody Allen has been nominated for Academy Awards 24 times, winning 4, including Best Director for Annie Hall (1978). He has been nominated for his screenwriting more times than any other screenwriter. Interestingly, he never attends the Academy Awards presentations, and never collects his awards.

Although Allen is popular all over the world, he is especially appreciated in Europe, where his intelligent comedies seem to connect well with European sensibilities. Some of his most recent movies, Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), Midnight in Paris (2011), and Magic in the Moonlight are set in Europe. The majority of his movies, however, are set in New York City, where Allen lives.

* Woody Allen plays clarinet in a professional jazz band every Monday evening in New York City. 
* Allen created a scandal when he began a relationship with the daughter (Soon-yi Previn) of his long-time girlfriend, Mia Farrow. Allen was 56 and Soon-yi was 19 when the relationship began. The two have now been married for 25 years and have two adopted children.
* Actress Diane Keaton, who appeared in several of Allen's movies, started a women's fashion trend with the clothes she wore in the movie Annie Hall (1978). The trend was to wear masculine-looking clothes with a vest and a necktie.

Several of Woody Allen's movies are available in the Tsurumi University Library.

[My personal thoughts and recollections about Woody Allen and his movies were supplemented with details, dates and numbers from Wikipedia. - Kevin]

Woody Allen biographies:
Wikipedia
IMDb
Biography.com

Links to trailers and clips from a few of Woody Allen's movies:
[Note: Woody Allen has made over 60 movies; the movies below (with the exception of Annie Hall) are from his recent releases.] 
Annie Hall (1978) - trailer
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) - trailer
Midnight in Paris (2011) - trailer 
Blue Jasmine (2013) - trailer
Magic in the Moonlight (2014) - trailer / PDF exercise   ⮜
Irrational Man (2015) - trailer; starring Emma Stone, Joaquin Phoenix
Wonder Wheel (2017) - trailer; starring Justin Timberlake and Kate Winslet 
A Rainy Day in New York (2019)

Make Beliefs Comix
Here's a comic I made with Make Beliefs Comix, an online comic building site. The scene is from 'Annie Hall,' Woody Allen's most famous movie. Here's the original scene from the movie.

Here's another comic from the same movie, but after the character, Alvy, has become an adult. And here's the original movie clip (at 1:40 in this scene).

EdPuzzle - Annie Hall

To Do List

1) Watch some Woody Allen trailers and clips.

2) Do the Magic in the Moonlight listening exercise (PDF) above.   ⮜

3) Do the Annie Hall EdPuzzle.

4) Fix any problems with your movie review blog post.
5) Do the Word Families grammar exercise (form below)

6) Be aware: there will be a quiz next week (Dec. 1). Don't be absent.

About your Movie Review Blog Post ...

• Is it complete?
• Did you capitalize the title?
• Is the title in italics in the content of your review?
• If your movie is part of a series, which number is it? For example, "It's the third movie in the ___ series."
• Is the spacing perfect? (One line space between paragraphs; no space before the first word; one space after a period or comma.)
• Are all words spelled correctly?
  
  

⭐⭐⭐ Make your Movie Review Blog Post perfect. Be sure you understand all parts of the movie review. There will be a quiz on your blog post next week! (Dec. 1). Don't be absent! ⭐⭐⭐

---

What comes next?   I have a ____ .  (noun? verb? adjective? adverb?)

Word Families

adjective	adverb	verb	noun
free	freely	free (freed)	freedom
calm	calmly	calm (calmed)	calm, calmness
quiet	quietly	quiet (quieted)	quiet, quietness
perfect	perfectly	perfect (perfected)	perfection
deep	deeply	deepen (deepened)	depth
creative	creatively	create (created)	creation
decisive	decisively	decide (decided)	decision
lost		lose (lost)	loss
special	specially (especially)	specialize (specialized)	specialty
influential	influentially	influence (influenced)	influence

He’s a free man.       He spoke freely.      He freed the birds from the cage.    I like my freedom.

She’s a calm person.   She spoke calmly.  She calmed the crying baby.   I am enjoying the calm.

Word Families Grammar Exercise

Week 9 - The Coen Brothers

Ethan (left) & Joel (right)

The Coen brothers are Joel (born 1954) and Ethan (born 1957) Coen. They are a screen writing team and a movie directing duo. When their movies come out, there is always a big media buzz. Their screenplays are often funny and bizarre and occasionally violent. A Coen Brothers' movie is almost certainly a candidate for one or more Academy Awards. "No Country for Old Men" (2007) was nominated for 8 Academy Awards, winning four, including for Best Director and Best Picture. The Western "True Grit" (2010) was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, winning none. Their early movie "Fargo" (1996) is the one that made their names known to the world. It was nominated for 7 Academy Awards, winning two. It is difficult to describe most Coen Brothers' movies, as they don't easily fall into a genre, with the exception of the Western, "True Grit."

* Actress Frances McDormand often appears in Coen Brothers' movies. She is the wife of Joel Coen. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1996 for her role as a pregnant policewoman in "Fargo." She won a second Academy Award for her role in "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" in 2018.
* Famous actors that often appear in Coen brothers' movies are Steve Buscemi, Jeff Bridges, George Clooney, John Goodman, Josh Brolin, Matt Damon and John Turturro. When they appear in a Coen brothers' movie, you can be sure the character will be a memorable one.
* The comedy "The Big Lebowski" is a unique and strange movie that grows on you over time. It was not a popular movie when it came out in 1998. However, people who watch it again and again have grown to love it for the strange and enjoyable characters. It is now a cult favorite, and the characters created by Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi and John Turturro have become movie legends and internet memes.
* Joel & Ethan Coen are listed as co-writers of two recent important movies, "Unbroken," a movie directed by Angelina Jolie about a former Olympic athlete who was a prisoner of war in Japan, and "Bridge of Spies," a spy thriller directed by Steven Spielberg and recently released.

Several of the Coen Brothers' movies are available in the Tsurumi University Library.

[My personal thoughts and recollections about the Coen Brothers and their movies were supplemented with details, dates and numbers from Wikipedia. - Kevin]

Coen Brothers Biographies:
Wikipedia
IMDb - Joel Coen
IMDb - Ethan Coen
Biography.com - Joel Coen
Biography.com - Ethan Coen

Links to trailers and clips from some Coen brothers movies:
Raising Arizona (1987) - trailer; comedy
Fargo (1996) - trailer; drama
The Big Lebowski (1998) - trailer; comedy; now a cult favorite
      The Big Lebowski - clip; "Where's the money?" scene
      The Big Lebowski - clip; "Mark it zero!" insane bowling scene
      The Big Lebowski - clip; Jesus bowling scene
No Country for Old Men (2007) - trailer; thriller
Burn After Reading (2008) - trailer; comedy
True Grit (2010) - trailer; western
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) - trailer; drama (with Justin Timberlake)
Hail, Caesar! (2016) - trailer; comedy
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) - trailer; starring James Franco, Liam Neeson

Also ...
Suburbicon (2017) (writing credit only; directed by George Clooney)

Top 10 Coen Brothers Movies - WatchMojo

Handout: True Grit (2010) and No Country for Old Men (2007)

To Do:
Make corrections to your movie review and post it on your blog. Your movie review should be posted and perfect before next week!

___

0   The Godfather was released in 1972.  [Notice: The Godfather is the title.]

X   The Jaws was released in 1975.      [This is incorrect! The title is Jaws.]

0   Jaws was released in 1975.   [Use italics to show the title.]

Week 8 - Martin Scorsese

Movie Writing Part III is due today (Nov. 10): You were supposed to write your comments and opinions about your movie in a paragraph. 

Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese (born 1942) is one of the truly great movie directors. Many of his movies are modern classics with iconic acting and scenes. His early movies often featured the acting of Robert De Niro, while his more recent movies frequently star Leonardo DiCaprio. Many of Scorsese's movies deal with crime and gangsters.

Scorsese has been nominated for the Best Director Academy Award 9 times, and won once for The Departed (2006).  A recent film,  The Irishman (2019) was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), was nominated for 5 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Another recent film, Hugo (2011) was Scorsese's first attempt at big budget 3-D digital effects, and it was widely acclaimed. It was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, winning 6.

Scorsese is also known for his music documentaries, and he has made films about The Band (The Last Waltz; 1978), blues music (The Blues; 2003), Bob Dylan (No Direction Home; 2005) and George Harrison (Living in the Material World; 2011).

* Scorsese grew up in Little Italy in Manhattan. His understanding of Italian-Americans and urban life has contributed to realism in his films.
* One of his trademarks is the long tracking shot, such as the one in "Goodfellas," where the camera moves through a long, complex choreographed sequence without cuts in the action.
* Martin Scorsese was assistant director of the great music documentary, "Woodstock" (1970).
* Raging Bull (1980), starring Robert De Niro, is considered to be one of the greatest movies of all time. It is based on the true story of pro-boxer, Jake LaMotta, and it earned a Best Actor Academy Award for De Niro.
* Scorsese directed the Michael Jackson MTV video, "Bad" (1987).
* Steven Spielberg offered the director's job to Scorsese for "Schindler's List," but Scorsese declined.
* Leonardo DiCaprio credits Scorsese with making him a better actor.
* Scorcese has been active in recent years as a movie and TV producer. He was the executive producer of the recent exciting TV historical crime series, Boardwalk Empire (2010-2014). Boardwalk Empire trailer
* Recently, we saw Scorsese's historical movie set in Japan: Silence (2016), starring Liam Neeson. It's about two Catholic priests who come to Japan in the 1600s to try and spread Christianity.
* The Irishman - on Netflix in 2019. It stars Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and other famous actors.

Many of Scorsese's movies are available in the Tsurumi University Library.

[My personal thoughts and recollections about Martin Scorsese and his movies were supplemented with details, dates and numbers from Wikipedia. - Kevin]

Martin Scorsese Biographies:
Wikipedia
IMDb
Biography.com

Click on the slide below and check out the photos from famous movies directed by Martin Scorsese that starred Robert De Niro (early Scorsese) and Leonardo DiCaprio (recent Scorsese).

Scorsese movies that star Robert De Niro:
Mean Streets (1973) - clips of a very young Robert De Niro
Taxi Driver (1976) - trailer
Raging Bull (1980) - trailer
Goodfellas (1990) - trailer
Goodfellas (1990) - long tracking shot
Movie critics Siskel & Ebert talk about Martin Scorsese and his movie "Goodfellas"
Casino (1995) - trailer
The Irishman (2019) - trailer

Scorsese movies that star Leonardo DiCaprio:
Gangs of New York (2002) - trailer; also stars Daniel Day-Lewis & Liam Neeson
The Aviator (2004) - trailer
The Departed (2006) - trailer; also stars Jack Nicholson & Matt Damon
Shutter Island (2010) - trailer
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) - trailer

Digital movie; made in 3-D
Hugo (2012) - trailer
Hugo (2012) - beautiful opening scene

Also ...
Silence (2016) - set in Japan! Starring Liam Neeson, Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Tadanobu Asano

Coming soon!
Killers of the Flower Moon (TBA; maybe 2023) - no trailer; starring De Niro & DiCaprio!

Music documentaries by Martin Scorsese
The Last Waltz (1978) - trailer (about The Band and other famous artists)
The Blues (2003) - trailer
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005) - trailer
Living in the Material World: George Harrison (2011) - trailer

Rolling Thunder Review (2019) - trailer (about a Bob Dylan tour)

New York Stories: A complete ranking of Martin Scorsese's films, by ScreenCrush (article)

Watch as many of the Martin Scorsese clips or trailers above as you can.

Goodfellas & Shutter Island Handout PDF  /  Goodfellas  /  Shutter Island   ⤂
Do the PDF handout or write answers on paper. Keep it for next week.

Try this multiple choice quiz on the 8 directors we've studied so far.

Loading Eight Movie Directors

Movie Writing Assignment

You should have 3 sections completed now: 1) information 2) story 3) opinion

Show Kevin your paper in class.

Now, let's change the first section (information) into a paragraph.

Example:

The Godfather was released in 1972. It was directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starred Marlon Brando, Al Pacino and Diane Keaton. It won the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, and Marlon Brando won the Best Actor Award. The Godfather was the highest grossing film of 1972. It grossed over $135 million and was the highest grossing film ever until Jaws came out in 1975.

Post your completed movie review on your blog; due in two weeks Nov. 24. You can wait until I return your papers to post this.

* Just post the title and the three paragraphs with a space between the paragraphs. You don't need my sentences like "Information about the movie" etc. Just post your writing. Add images to make it better.