授業改善アンケート

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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. ⮜