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.

Week 7 - The top directors working in Hollywood today

Movie Review Writing Part II is due today! (Oct. 27)

So many directors, so little time!

New movies come out every month, and there are many great directors we won't have time to discuss. Some of them appear on this list of the top directors working in Hollywood today. Many of these names may be unknown to you, but you will probably see their movies at the cinema or when they are presented with an Academy Award. In this class, we have already looked at Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino who appear on this list. We will also learn about Martin Scorsese (next week!), the Coen Brothers, and Peter Jackson. Let's check out some of the lesser-known names on the list, and then we'll focus on one of them, Karthryn Bigelow, the only woman director we'll study this year.   Another list of directors

• Ben Affleck - Argo (2012), Gone Baby Gone (2007)
• Ang Lee - Brokeback Mountain (2005), Life of Pi (2012), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2016) Gemini Man (2019)
• David O Russell - Silver Linings Playbook (2012), American Hustle (2013), The Fighter (2010) Joy (2015) 
• Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Birdman (2014), Babel (2006), The Revenant (2016)
• Steve McQueen - 12 Years a Slave (2013), Widows (2018)
• Alfonso Cuaron - Children of Men (2006) Gravity (2013), Roma (2018)
• David Fincher - Se7en (1995), Fight Club (1999), The Social Network (2010), Gone Girl (2014), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
• Richard Linklater - Boyhood (2014), Last Flag Flying (2017), Where'd You Go, Bernadette (2019)   Boyhood PDF  ⤆
• Spike Lee - Do the Right Thing (1989), Malcom X (1992), Summer of Sam (1999), BlacKkKlansman (2018)
• Wes Anderson - Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Isle of Dogs (2018) The French Dispatch (2020)

The two directors below are not "Hollywood Directors." However, they are great and well-known, and frequently appear on stage at awards time. 

• Danny Boyle - Trainspotting (1996), Slumdog Millionaire (2008), Steve Jobs (2015) Battle of the Sexes (2017), Yesterday (2019)
• Tom Hooper - The King's Speech (2010), Les Miserables (2012), The Danish Girl (2015), Cats (2019)

Blog Post: Choose one of the directors above. The director's name will be your title. Watch all the trailers for that director. Make a blog post that reads ... 

I chose the director ( ... name ...) and I watched the trailer for (... movie title ...). I want to watch the whole movie because ... .
     or
I chose the director ( ... name ...) and I watched the trailer for (... movie title ...) and (... movie title ...). My impression of the trailers is ... .
     or
I saw the whole movie (... movie title ...) by (... director's name ...) at the cinema (or on video or streaming TV). My impression of the movie is ... .

Spotlight on Kathryn Bigelow
Kathryn Bigelow (born 1951) has directed about a dozen movies, but it was her two war movies that made her reputation as a great contemporary director. "The Hurt Locker" (2008), was nominated for nine Academy Awards, winning six, including Best Director, Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. "The Hurt Locker" is a very tense film about a group of soldiers in Iraq whose job is to disarm explosives. The movie is admired for its realism and for its accurate portrayal of the war in Iraq.

Bigelow's next movie was "Zero Dark Thirty" (2012), about the hunt for Bin Laden by the C.I.A.  It was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one, for Best Sound Editing. Some people found the movie controversial due to its depiction of torture and the implication that torture was helpful in finding Bin Laden. However, the movie strikes a nice balance between being suspenseful and telling a reasonably accurate story about events in Afghanistan and Pakistan leading up to the capture of Bin Laden in 2011.

Bigelow's most recent movie was "Detroit" (2017). About riots in Detroit in 1967, this movie received critical praise, but it did not do well at the box office.

Bigelow was the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director. (Now there are three women who have won.)

* Kathryn Bigelow was married to director James Cameron from 1989 to 1991. They were both nominated for Best Director in 2010. Bigelow won for "The Hurt Locker."(Cameron's movie was "Avatar.")

"The Hurt Locker" and "Zero Dark Thirty" are available on DVD in the Tsurumi University Library.

[My personal thoughts and recollections about Kathryn Bigelow and her movies were supplemented with details, dates and numbers from Wikipedia. - Kevin]

Kathryn Bigelow Biographies:
Wikipedia
IMDb
Biography.com

Links to trailers and clips to some of Kathryn Bigelow's movies:
Point Break (1991) - trailer; a thriller about a cop who goes undercover as a surfer; starring Keanu Reeves
Strange Days (1995) - trailer; a science fiction thriller written by James Cameron
The Weight of Water (2000) - trailer; starring Sean Penn
The Hurt Locker (2008) - trailer; a realistic war movie; starring Jeremy Renner
The Hurt Locker (2008) - "Drop the phone!" clip 
Zero Dark Thirty (2012) - trailer; a realistic war/C.I.A. movie; starring Jessica Chastain   Zero Dark Thirty PDF  ⤆
Detroit (2017) - trailer; true crime drama related to the 1967 riots in Detroit

Please look at these two sentences:
English is taught at Tsurumi University. / English was taught at Tsurumi University.

All students should do this form:
Simple Present Passive vs Active Sentences

To Do List

1) Blog post as explained above

2) Boyhood PDF*

3) Zero Dark Thirty* PDF

4) Finish Passive vs Active Exercise from last week

5) Do 'Simple Present Passive vs Active Sentences' form above

6) Show me your Writing Part II
7) Movie Writing Part III: Write your comments and opinions about the movie in a paragraph. 

* Boyhood is a movie by Richard Linklater (top list). Zero Dark Thirty was directed by Kathryn Bigelow. ⤆

Week 6 - Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood (born 1930) first became famous as an actor in the American TV cowboy series "Rawhide" (1959-1966) and in various spaghetti westerns. His violent police series "Dirty Harry" established him as a popular anti-hero of violent crime movies.

His first turn at directing was for the psychological thriller, "Play Misty for Me" (1971), in which he also starred. While the movie is not considered one of his greatest, it was highly praised and showed Eastwood's directing potential.

In recent years, Eastwood continues to act, but he gets the most attention for his movie directing. Several of the movies he directed have received the highest praise and awards. For the western movie "Unforgiven" (1992), Eastwood both starred and directed. This movie won the Academy Award for Best Picture and Eastwood received the award for Best Director. This movie was remade as a Japanese jidaigeki in 2013 (but not by Eastwood).

Eastwood again won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director with his boxing movie, "Million Dollar Baby" (2004), in which he also starred. Other excellent and critically acclaimed movies directed by Clint Eastwood are "The Bridges of Madison County" (1995), "Mystic River" (2003), "Flags of Our Fathers" (2006), "Letters from Iwo Jima" (2006), "Changeling" (2008), "Gran Torino" (2008), and "Invictus" (2009). A musical directed by Eastwood, "Jersey Boys" (based on the Broadway musical), came out in 2014, followed by "American Sniper" in the same year. In 2016, we saw "Sully" (2016), starring Tom Hanks. It was based on the true story of an emergency plane landing on the Hudson River, which happened in 2009. In 2019, Eastwood's film, "Richard Jewell", was released.

* Despite Eastwood's long acting career, he has never won an Academy Award for his acting, although he has been nominated twice (Unforgiven, 1992; Million Dollar Baby, 2004). He has been nominated for Best Director by the Academy Awards four times, winning twice.
* Eastwood was mayor of the town of Carmel, California, from 1986-1988.
* Eastwood is also an accomplished musician. He composed much of the music for the soundtracks to many of his movies.
* "Letters from Iwo Jma" (硫黄島からの手紙, 2006), is almost entirely in Japanese. It shows the battle for a strategic island in the Pacific during World War II from the point of view of the Japanese. Another movie, "Flags of Our Fathers" (2006), shows the same battle from the point of view of the Americans.

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

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

Clint Eastwood Biographies:
Wikipedia
IMDb
Biography.com

My Bag clip, from 'Million Dollar Baby' listening exercise for PDF handout.

Links to trailers & clips from some of Clint Eastwood's movies:
Play Misty for Me (1971) - psychological thriller; trailer
Pale Rider (1985) - western; axe handle fight scene
Mystic River (2003) - drama; trailer
Million Dollar Baby (2004) - boxing drama; trailer; also short boxing clip
Flags of Our Fathers (2006) - war; trailer
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) - war; trailer; starring Ken Watanabe & Kazunari Ninomiya
Changeling (2008) - true historical drama; trailer; starring Angelina Jolie
Gran Torino (2008) - drama; trailer
Scene from Gran Torino (2008)
Invictus (2009) - true drama; South African history; trailer; starring Morgan Freeman & Matt Damon
J. Edgar (2011) - true biopic of J. Edgar Hoover, former FBI director; starring DiCaprio; trailer
Jersey Boys (2014) - musical about the American band, The Four Seasons; trailer
American Sniper (2014) - war movie about a soldier in Iraq; based on a true story; trailer
Sully (2016) - trailer; starring Tom Hanks
The 15:17 to Paris (2018) - trailer
The Mule (2018) - trailer
Richard Jewell - 2019 trailer; based on a true story
Cry Macho (2021) - trailer (Eastwood is now 91 and still acting and directing!

Gran Torino (2008)

Gran Torino - Gang Recruitment clip
Gran Torino - Get off my lawn clip

Two versions of "Unforgiven" (Japanese version not directed by Clint Eastwood)
Unforgiven (1992) - western; directed by Clint Eastwood
Unforgiven [許されざる者] (2013) - jidaigeki; Japanese remake; directed by Lee Sang-il

Morgan Freeman has starred in 3 movies directed by Clint Eastwood, and they all appear in this list of Top 10 Morgan Freeman Performances.

Watch as many Clint Eastwood trailers or clips as possible.

Movie Writing Assignment

Do Part II on the handout from last week. Introduce the story a little. Tell the situation the characters face and how they begin to deal with it. Don’t tell the ending and don’t write any spoilers (like which character dies).

If you want to chance the movie you will write about, it's OK, but you have to re-do Part I.

To Do List

1) Watch as many Eastwood trailers and clips as possible

2) Do the My Bag listening
3) Active and Passive exercise

4) Do the Movie Review Writing assignment, Part II. This is due next week (Oct. 27)!

____

Passive vs Active

Present

People say this class is difficult. (active)

This class is said to be difficult by many people. (passive)

Many people eat pancakes at breakfast. (active)

Pancakes are usually eaten at breakfast. (passive)

Past

I finished my homework in 10 minutes. (active)

My homework was finished in 10 minutes. (passive)

Everyone had fun. (active)

Fun was had by all. (passive)

In general, it's better to use active case, but sometimes, you need variation in your writing. Passive case is also useful sometimes for making the subject more vague.

Example of evading responsibility by using the passive case

I made a mistake. (active)

A mistake was made. (passive)

Passive vs Active Exercise

Week 5 - Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino has not made as many movies as some of the directors we've studied. However, he has become one of the most influential people in the movie business. He is mainly praised for his creative screenwriting, especially his knack for clever dialog. He first became known when he wrote and directed the independent movie, Reservoir Dogs (1992), now a cult favorite. His masterpiece, Pulp Fiction, which he also wrote and directed, came out in 1994, and it was a huge critical hit. It was nominated for 7 Academy Awards, winning one, for 'Best Original Screenplay.' It established Uma Thurman as a movie star, boosted the career of Samuel L. Jackson, and was a big comeback movie for actor John Travolta. In the years following, Tarantino wrote and directed Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill (2003/2004), Inglourious Basterds (2009), Django Unchained (2012) and The Hateful Eight (2016). Quentin Tarantinos movies are known for their homage to directors and B-movies from the past, especially Kung Fu movies and Blaxploitation films, which have inspired Tarantino's use of over-the-top violence. His movies always have great pop music soundtracks. His most recent movie is the widely acclaimed Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), which won two Academy Awards and a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy..

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

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

Quentin Tarantino Biographies:
Wikipedia
IMDb
Biography.com

Before you watch the Pulp Fiction (Big Kahuna Burger) scene, please read:

Scenes from Pulp Fiction for handout to be done in class (the two links are for one scene): PDF Handout
1) Pulp Fiction - Big Kahuna Burger
2) Pulp Fiction 1994 Best Scene
Turn volume up; the clips are difficult to hear.

Links to trailers and clips from some of Quentin Tarantino's movies
Reservoir Dogs (1992) - trailer
Pulp Fiction (1994) - trailer
Pulp Fiction (1994) - dance scene
Jackie Brown (1997) - trailer
Kill Bill (2003, 2004) - Gogo Yubari weapons scene (with Chiaki Kuriyama)
Inglourious Basterds (2009) - trailer
Django Unchained (2012) - trailer
Django Unchained (2012) - The Brittle Brothers scene
The Hateful Eight (2016) - trailer
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) - trailer

Samuel L. Jackson appears in two of Quentin Tarantino's movies in this clip of the "Top 10 Samuel L. Jackson Performances" (also one from Spielberg!).

All 9 Quentin Tarantino films ranked!

EdPuzzle

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood; DiCaprio scene

Causative Verbs Practice (optional)

To Do List:

1) Watch as many Tarantino trailers and clips as you can.

2) Do the handout for Pulp Fiction
3( Do the EdPuzzle; Once Upon a Time in Hollywood scene

4) Causative Verbs Practice (optional)
5) Fill out the handout (part 1) re. the movie you choose (assigned last week).

Movie Writing Part I PDF: Due Oct. 20 (Part 1 only!)

Three steps to writing a movie review ...

1) Write a paragraph with information about the movie. What is the title?* When was it released? Who was the director (映画監督). Who are the main actors? Did the movie win some awards, such as Academy Awards or Golden Globes? What were the box office results?

* Look up the actual English title. If the movie is Japanese, write the Japanese title and also translate it. Use the official English title if there is one.

2) Write a paragraph that introduces the story a little. Don't tell the whole story and don't give a lot of details. Just tell us enough so we can decide if we want to watch it or not. And no spoilers, please!

3) Write your comments and opinions about the movie in a paragraph. This is the most important part of the movie review.