Blockbuster Film Post

Post about a blockbuster movie released since 1985. Please note when it was released, the number of screens, any potential product tie ins that you may remember and the amount of revenue generated adn the costs of making the movie. Please look at the links provided on the right for additional information about the box office for these wide release movies. What made this blockbuster a success or failure compared to other movies released at the same time.

Jaws and Star Wars are considered the originatore of the blockbuster/tentpole perspective of movies. Jaws was one of the first movies that was advertised for a long period of time (2 months or so) prior to it's release all throughout the nation. They built their hype slowly and then increased it's levle for the summer release. When it came out, it opened in virtually every movie market and was an instant success.

A tentpole movie is one that is released at a certain time when movie going tends to be greater, current dates include, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Labor Day. Studios traditionally like a four day holiday to generate additional opening box office results.

Independent Film Post

Choose an independent film from either the list of sundance winners and nominees, the films of roger corman, or from the list of independent film from the netflix web site. Please post your comments on this film by June 11th. Links are included on the right hand side.

Film Noir Post!

On Wednesday, we will be watching Chinatown, Roman Polanski's Film Noir from 1974. Your assignment is to post about an older Film Noir from the 1940's and 50's and compare the two forms of Film Noir. See the links for Film Noir for your choices.

Foreign Film Post

On Monday we will be watching Breathless, Jean-Luc Godard's influential 1960 film that helped launch the French New Wave. Your assignment is to watch a contemporary Foreign Film and compare it to a typical US Studio Film. This blog post is due on Wednesday June 3.

Movie Paper Assignment!

You will need to write a 5-6 page paper on a film of your choosing. You should justify your selection through either a famous director, star, critical acclaim, or technical achievment (awards & nominations). Please write a one paragraph description of the movie you are choosing and why. This paragraph is due on Monday June 1st.

Citizen Kane

Sight & Sound Magazine has been voting on the top movies since 1952 (every ten years). Here is a link to all of their top movies. As you can see, Citizen Kane has been #1 since the 1962 poll.


I've included Roger Ebert's review of Citizen Kane. It provides a good overview of the many technical achievements in Citizen Kane. If you have the time, watch the movie with his audio commentary. It's a great lesson in filmmaking.

After watching the film and reading the reviews, what are your thoughts on Citizen Kane.

Singin' In The Rain

Singin' in the Rain was voted #1 in the AFI poll for top Musical and #5 in the AFI Top 100 Poll in 2007. What are some of yoru reactions to this classic MGM musical

Nosferatu

Here are some links for those interested in reading more about F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0013442/
http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~emiller/
http://www.cesnur.org/2003/dracula/

Do any of you have a favorite version of Dracula?

Memorial Day Weekend!

Memorial Day weekend used to be the official kickoff to the summer movie season, but with weekend box office grosses assuming a disproportionate influence in recent years, studios began shifting their summer releases around to avoid competing directly with a rival's tentpole picture. Here is a link of the top movies opening on Memorial Day Weekend.
With the release of Star Trek and Wolverine, what remaining summer movie are you most in interested in watching? Which Summer Movie are you still waiting for?

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/weekends/md.htm

Western Movie Post

This Thursday we will be watching Stagecoach, directed by John Ford in 1939. This is the movie that turned John Wayne into a Movie Star from a B-Actor.

John Ford is one of the best directors of all time who won four Academy Awards for Directing.

The Western is one of the oldest Genres....The Great Train Robbery is the first narrative film, which you can watch on YouTube. The Western often portrays the conquest of the wilderness and the subordination of nature in the name of civiliasation or the confiscation of the territorial rights of the original inhabitants of the frontier. The Western depicts a society organized around codes of honor, rather than the law, in which persons have no social order larger than their immediate peers, family or perhaps themselves alone.

For your Western Movie Post assignment, compare Stagecoach with a Western made after 1966. What are the similarieties and differences between the two movies. Take a look at the links for category Western Links located to the right. This is due May 27th.