Fall Week 1 - Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg (born in 1946) is the most famous and successful movie director alive today. Almost everyone has seen some of Spielberg's famous movies. He pioneered the "blockbuster" movie, a movie that breaks box office records while also creating a market for massive amounts of spinoff goods. His movies "Jaws", "E.T." and "Jurassic Park" were all blockbusters. He has won the Academy Award for Best Director twice, for "Schindler's List" (1993) and "Saving Private Ryan" (1998). These two movies also won Academy Awards for Best Picture. Steven Spielberg is a co-founder of the DreamWorks movie studio.

* Spielberg's movies are famous for product placement, or embedded marketing. For example, "Jurassic Park" marketed Ford cars, and "E.T." famously marketed Reese's Pieces (a peanut butter candy) when M&Ms (Mars Inc.) turned Spielberg down as a sponsor. Hershey, the makers of Reese's Pieces, paid Spielberg $1 million to use their product. The decision was a good one, as the movie and the candy became a big hit. Spielberg was named twice in the Cracked article, "The 10 Most Shameless Product Placements in Movie History."

* Spielberg was an English Major in college, as his university didn't have a film department.

* Spielberg says that when he was a kid, he saw the old classic movie King Kong. The movie was an inspiration for him to make "Jurassic Park," which is a kind of modern day King Kong or Godzilla movie.

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

Steven Spielberg Biographies:
Wikipedia
IMDb
Biography.com

Spielberg Filmography

Links to trailers and clips of some of Steven Spielberg's movies:
Top 10 Steven Spielberg Movies
Jaws (1975) - trailer
"Jaws" theme song
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) - trailer: starring Harrison Ford
E.T. the Extra Terrestrial (1982) - trailer
Reese's Pieces product placement in "E.T. the Extra Terrestrial" (1982)
Hook (1991) - trailer; starring Robin Williams (R.I.P. Aug. 11, 2014)
Jurassic Park (1993) - trailer; starring Richard Attenborough (R.I.P. Aug. 24, 2014)
Schindler's List (1993) - trailer: starring Liam Neeson
Saving Private Ryan (1998) - trailer: starring Tom Hanks
Scenes from "A.I. Artificial Intelligence" (2001)
Minority Report (2002) - trailer: starring Tom Cruise
Catch Me If You Can (2002) - trailer : starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks
War of the Worlds (2004) - trailer: starring Tom Cruise
Munich (2005) - trailer
The Adventures of Tintin (2011) - trailer
War Horse (2011) - trailer
Lincoln (2012) - trailer
Bridge of Spies (2015) - trailer: starring Tom Hanks
The BFG (2016) - trailer

The Post (2017) - trailer: starring Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep
Ready Player One (2018) - trailer

West Side Story (2020) - trailer and TV spot - re-make of a classic musical about gangs

Watch three or more clips of Steven Spielberg's movies (or watch a whole movie on a streaming service at home!)

Jurassic Park listening exercise PDF 🠈

Schindler's List listening exercise PDF 🠈

🠊 Jurassic Park (1993) brachiosaur scene for Kevin's listening handout
🠊 Schindler's List (1993) hinges scene for Kevin's listening handout

EdPuzzle - E.T. the Extra Terrestrial

Kevin will give you a copy of Tsurumi Review 52 in class.

To Do List

1) Understand the writing goals for the fall semester
2) Understand what a director does.

3) Know the director Steven Spielberg

4) Know the meaning of "blockbuster" and "product placement"

5) Watch as many Spielberg trailers as possible (minimum 3)

6) Do the Jurassic Park listening exercise

7) Do the Schindler's List listening exercise

8) Do the E.T. EdPuzzle above

9) Write a blog post about Steven Spielberg and his movies

10) Make corrections to your spring blogs

11) Look at Tsurumi Review 52 to see what a graduation report may look like.

Writing goals for Fall 2022

Next year you will write a 2,500+ word report in English for Graduation Seminar. You need to improve your English writing now!

1. Capitalize correctly, including titles.
2. There is one space after a period or comma.
3. Don't make unnecessary spaces in your writing.
4. Your writing should be in paragraphs.
5. Use Spell Check!
6. Every sentence has a subject and a verb. (すべての文には主語と動詞があります。)
7. Verbs must agree with subjects. For example: I have ...; She has ...
8. Make your own sentences; don't copy or use translation software.
9. Make corrections to your blog asap if there is a mistake.

Please understand these rules. Kevin will talk about them often.

1. Capitalize correctly, including titles.

This is not capitalized. 😞

This is capitalized. Nice! 😀

This sentence makes no sense without capital letters. 😕

The title is capitalized and in italics. Now it makes sense! 😄

2. There is one space after a period or comma.

Make a space after every period! 😠

There are spaces after the periods. Also, the title is in italics. 😃

3. Don't make unnecessary spaces in your writing.

The top paragraph has a space before "My". We don't need it.

4. Your writing should be in paragraphs.

Don't type the "Enter" key after each sentence! 😠

After a period, make a space and keep typing! This is a paragraph! 😀

5. Use Spell Check!

Can you see the red lines? Those are misspelled words!

6. Every sentence has a subject and a verb. (すべての文には主語と動詞があります。)

• Directed by Steven Spielberg who made Jaws. 😒
• This movie was directed by Steven Spielberg who made Jaws. 😀

The first sentence above has no subject.

Movie Seminar Fall Schedule 2022

How was your summer?

1.    Sept. 15           Steven Spielberg

2.    Sept. 22           Alfred Hitchcock

3.    Sept. 29           Stanley Kubrick     

4.    Oct. 6               Christopher Nolan

5.    Oct. 13             Quentin Tarantino

6.    Oct. 20             Clint Eastwood; fire drill?

7.    Oct. 27             Up-and-coming Directors; TBA

✪ Holiday! – Nov. 3; No classes! (Culture Day)

8.    Nov. 10            Martin Scorsese

9.    Nov. 17            The Coen Brothers

10.    Nov. 24          Woody Allen

11.    Dec. 1            Francis Ford Coppola; movie review quiz

12.    Dec. 8            Hayao Miyazaki & Peter Jackson

13.    Dec. 15          Tim Burton

14.    Dec. 22          Ridley Scott & James Cameron

✪ Winter Break – Dec. 29, Jan. 5 (no classes); You’re free! Watch a movie!

15.    Jan. 12          Coming Soon! TBA           

 ↩ = homework due; You CANNOT be absent from this class!

Grading Policy 2022

Have a great summer!

The first meeting of MovieZemi will be Sept. 15 (Thurs), Room 301. Please complete your blog posts, including War movies, Romance and Action.

See your spring semester point rankings below!

Have a great summer!

MovieZemi Point Rankings - Spring 2022

Blog posts are important too, but I can't rank them in the same way. Sorry.

Class #15 - War Movies

Characteristics of War Movies

Saving Private Ryan - Omaha Beach Scene (1998)
Saving Private Ryan is a movie set during World War II, and stars Tom Hanks and Matt Damon. It was directed by Steven Spielberg. The opening scene of the Americans landing on the beach in Normandy, France is considered one of the most realistic depictions of battle in film.

Pearl Harbor - Japanese Attack Scene (2001)
This movie is one of the worst war movies ever, but the opening attack scene has some interesting moments. For many Americans, this is how they see the start of WWII in the Pacific.

Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) - clip
Directed by Clint Eastwood, this American movie is mostly in Japanese and features famous Japanese actors, such as Ken Watanabe and Kazunari Ninomiya. It's about the Battle of Iwo Jima, near the end of WWII.

Some other war movies:
Fury (2014) trailer; starring Brad Pitt and Shia LaBeouf. About tank battles in Germany during World War II.
American Sniper (2014) - trailer; directed by Clint Eastwood; starring Bradley Cooper. Based on a true story.
Hacksaw Ridge (2016) - trailer; starring Andrew Garfield. About a soldier who refused to kill.
Dunkirk (2017) - trailer; directed by Christpher Nolan. Historical war movie about the Dunkirk evacuation.

1917 (2019) - trailer; directed by Sam Mendes, about World War I in Frrance.

You will do this in class:
Worksheet PDF: Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) trailer

Also ...
Top 10 Most Realistic War Movies According to Military Veterans
Top 10 Greatest War Movies of All Time (WatchMojo)

Have you ever seen a movie about war? What movie? How did you feel? Write a blog post on your blog about one (or more) of the clips or trailers above.

joinmyquiz.com

To Do:

1. Watch trailers
2. Tora! Tora! Tora! worksheet
3. Blog Post about war movies. Please write something thoughtful and good!
4. One more thing! Kevin will explain in class. (You'll need to find メモ帳 in your accessories アクセサリー folder.) You will need to send an attachment (添付ファイル) to Kevin.

About blog posts ...

• They are important.
• You must write every week.
• Try to make your blog posts consistent.
• The title of a movie must be mentioned.
• No Japanese in the images, please. (Except Japanese movies)
• You should not copy from other websites.
• You should not use translation software.
• You must make revisions when Kevin asks you to.

Have a nice summer!

Next class is Sept. 15.

Class #14 - Dramas

Characteristics of the Drama genre:

• The most popular and versatile genre
• versatile = 用途の広い、多目的な、多用途の、万能の、融通が利く
• Emphasis on the story (plot)
• plot =  筋、構想
• Main characters are well-developed
• There is usually a conflict that must be resolved during the movie
• Dramas sometimes have a sad or tragic ending
• "Best Picture" nominations at the Academy Awards are usually dramas

Some great dramatic actors you should know: Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep & Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks in Carly Rae Jepson's 2015 music video for " I Really Like You"

Clips from some great dramas!

Fight Club (1999) - the "Eight Rules of Fight Club" video starts at 1:26 minute mark

Forrest Gump (1994) - clip; Forrest Gump worksheet PDF
The Shawshank Redemption (1994) - trailer; Shawshank worksheet PDF


A 2016 drama movie list: Top 100 Drama Movies of All Time
1) Click on the link above.
2) Scroll to the bottom.
3) Choose one movie from the top 25.
4) Find a trailer or clip for that movie on YouTube and watch it.
5) Write a blog post about the trailer/clip you watched. You may also comment about one of the 3 dramas linked above (Forrest Gump, Shawshank, Fight Club).

EdPuzzle - The Devil Wears Prada clip

To Do List

1) Watch the 3 drama clips above

2) Do the Fight Club exercise; "Eight Rules of Fight Club"

3) Do the worksheets for Forrest Gump and The Shawshank Redemption
4) Do the EdPuzzle - The Devil Wears Prada clip

5) Make a drama blog post as explained above

6) Fix or complete your movie blog

Just checking, but who does this EdPuzzle account belong to?

• けあるん, TV

One more class! July 21

Class #13 - Westerns

First ...

• Did you make a blog post about a sub-genre?

Features of the Western movie genre
Western movies often tell stories of America’s westward expansion of the 1800s. That makes them a sub-genre of Historical Movies. (Some Westerns, however, are set in modern times.) Most commonly, Westerns feature cowboys and gunfights. Also seen in many Westerns are:

• horses, Indians, Mexican people, Spanish place names, cattle, ranches, stagecoaches, trains, saloons, saloon girls, sheriffs, outlaws, wanted posters, revolvers, rifles, deserts, canyons, cowboy hats, bandanas, cowboy boots

The soundtrack of Western movies may feature Mexican music or some variation of country, bluegrass or folk music. Here are links to some well-known western theme songs:

• Bonanza (1959-1973) - American TV western drama
• The Magnificent Seven (1960)
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

Japanese Connection
A comparison can be made between Japan’s jidaigeki and the Western genre. While the cultures and settings are very different, they both show their societies in a former time, with the costumes of their respective eras, and often violent situations where people take the law into their own hands. The weapon of choice of the ronin is the sword, while the characteristic weapon of the cowboy is the 6-shot revolver.

Japan’s most famous and respected movie director of all time is Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998). Some of his most well-known movies were jidaigeki, including “Seven Samurai” (1954) and “Yojimbo” (1961). Both of these were remade into Westerns – “The Magnificent Seven” (1960) and “A Fistful of Dollars” (1964).

Compare for yourself:
Seven Samurai (1954) - swordfight clip
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) - final gunfight scene; from about the 4:30 minute mark

The Unforgiven (1992) - trailer; starring Clint Eastwood & Morgan Freeman
Yurusarezaru Mono (許されざる者, 2013) - trailer; starring Ken Watanabe

Yojimbo & A Fistfull of Dollars - How the Western was changed forever

And finally ...
A mix of both Western and Samurai; Sukiyaki Western Django  (2007), directed by Takashi Miike.

Spaghetti Westerns
Spaghetti Westerns were Western movies filmed in Italy or Spain during the 1960s, especially those by Italian director, Sergio Leone. At first, Spaghetti Westerns were derided by Americans as inauthentic, but gradually, their unique style and European sensibility won many fans to the genre.

A person who got his start as a movie actor in Spaghetti Westerns was Clint Eastwood, who starred in the Dollars Trilogy; “A Fistful of Dollars” (1964), “For A Few Dollars More” (1965), “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966). His characteristic hat, cigar and poncho created an image of the Spaghetti Western cowboy.

Few Academy Awards
While Westerns have been a popular movie genre (though not so much lately), they are rarely nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, and only three Westerns have won the top prize. The three Best Picture winners were:

• Cimarron (1931)
• Dances With Wolves (1990)
• Unforgiven (1992)

A few notable Westerns that were nominated for Best Picture, but did not win, were:

• Stagecoach (1939) - horse chase scene
• High Noon (1952) - trailer
• Giant (1956) - trailer
• The Alamo (1960) - trailer
• How the West Was Won (1963)
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
• Brokeback Mountain (2005)
• True Grit (2010)

Kevin’s personal favorite Western: “Little Big Man” (clip; 1970) starring Dustin Hoffman.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) - Coen Brothers, western-comedy movie clip / Handout PDF

Top 10 Western Movie Heroes (WatchMojo) PDF

In class or at home, write a blog post on your blog below about Westerns. Try to comment on the connection between Japanese jidaigeki and Westerns. What is similar? What is different?

Review Game for all genres to date.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Please help me identify these EdPuzzle nicknames ...

• 田, 宮
• ジョー, G
• けあるん, TV
• けーたろー, 中村
• 遠野, 月彩

_________

🔥 Hot Seat 🔥 today:  Yuto, Ryoga, Riki, Kaito F.

_________

Past Tense Verbs Practice Form

_________

To Do List
1) Watch Western video trailers and make a blog post. In particular, compare Westerns to Japanese jidaigeki.
2) Watch Ballad of Buster Scruggs clip and do PDF; take photo and send to Kevin
3) Top 10 Western Movie Heroes PDF / WatchMojo
4) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - EdPuzzle
5) Movie Genres review game
6) Past Tense Verbs Practice Form