Final Exam for Film Class

1. Please learn (or review) these words for the final exam: misanthrope, pun, Christian, bird's eye view, soul, uptight, chronological order, heirloom, peel, grapefruit, cameo, match cut, gangster, janitor, orphan, diner, script, plot, conclusion, briefcase, pulp, chopper, fiction, couple, sentences, paragraph, explain, trusting, title, sword, shorts, basement, theme, conclude, characters

2. I am away this week; therefore, I will give all the students an extra week to hand in homework. The homework deadline is June 10. We will look at all of the grades before we start the final exam. You can check then to see if you are missing any homework assignments. 

The Final Exam Is in Two Weeks

 

Homework: Write a paragraph about Robin Williams. What is your favorite movie with him? Biography, etc. Remember that I believe a paragraph is five or more sentences.

Gus van Sant directed this music videos (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

 

 The final is in two weeks. I will tell you what to study. The test will be like the midterm.

I will give back all the homework next week. I will also show the record. Remember you only have to do three homework assignments for this class. I give you one for free. If you want to do more homework, I will pick the three highest grades. The cutoff for handing in homework is the final exam.

He would send letters that exploded. They had bombs inside.

My favorite movie from the 1990s is Trainspotting. But it’s Scottish and this is American culture.

Think about paying homage again.

1.      Bird’s eye view shot. They mention the Sistine Chapel.

2.      Element of music videos.

3.      Title “Good Will Hunting.”

Pun: when a title has two meanings

a.      Will Hunting

b.     Good will: nice feeling for other people

c.      Good Will hunting: he is looking for who he is

Next genre: western (cowboy) I am interested in the idea of a misanthrope. Usually a smart person who naturally hates other people

Directors and writers are Jewish

Coen brothers. In the 1930s, the favorite genre was western, and they loved the singing cowboy

Cameo: when a famous person is in a movie for a short time

 

Oliver Twist was an Orphan

There are seven scenes in Pulp Fiction. The scenes are not in chronological order. Write one sentence to describe each scene. Put the scenes into chronological order. The first scene is Butch, the boxer, receiving a watch. You have to do three homework assignments. 

John Travolta in the late seventies. He plays Vince in Pulp Fiction. 

Ringo was the drummer in the Beatles.

Pay homage to: respect a great movie

When John Travolta was young, he did a lot of dancing.

Do different themes and directors.

Gus van Sant directed Good Will Hunting. He is a gay director who started out making music videos. To make music videos, you need a lot of style in your film.

There was janitor who worked at the University of Toronto in the 1940s. He only went to grade ten. Then he dropped out of school to be a cowboy.

When he worked at the university cleaning at night, he saw the research for radar.  Later, he invented radar. They tested him. His IQ was 197.

Matt Damon wrote the plot for this movie. I think he knew the story. He won the Oscar for writing this plot. Robin Williams won for best supporting actor. He committed suicide in 2014.

The genre is coming of age. Change from a child into an adult.

Why is the director interested in the bird’s eye view camera angle or shot?

Pay homage to

How do you like them apples? Wow. Great.

Watch for the music video influence in this movie

Match cut: similar camera shots to move to different places of new scenes                                                                                      

Justice v. Revenge in The Magnificent Seven

 Homework: Write about the difference between justice and revenge in The Magnificent Seven. Give an example of each in the movie.

I will give more homework assignments. In total, you must do three. I will give you a free 25/25 for the fourth.

The one guy played by Ethan Hawke has P.T.S.D. It is a kind of mental problem or craziness old soldiers get from fighting in too many wars.

Justice v. revenge.

Indians ride bareback. That means without a saddle.

The Magnificent Seven. Seven specialists or assassins.

There is a religious meaning here. The number 7 is often lucky for Christians. It is the most famous lucky number in the West.

In the Bible, God created or made the world / earth in seven days.

Pulp fiction:

1.              Fiction means a story that is not true

2.              Pulp is the meat or flesh in the orange that people often throw in the garbage

Pulp Fiction was a useless, pointless book that people used to read when they wanted to rest and NOT think

The director is Tarantino. The movie opens in a diner (hamburger restaurant). Tarantino used write the scripts (stories) for his movies in this diner. It closed during COVID.

He makes a cameo. Cameo is when a famous person goes in a movie for a short time.

The movie is NOT in chronological order: first, second, third, fourth. The story does NOT start at the beginning. It starts at the ending. Why does the director make a movie that is not first, second, third, after, finally.

The briefcase is glowing or shining. What is in the briefcase?

666 Is the number of the beast in the Bible. The beast is the devil or Satan.

Foreshadowing: hint about later in the movie

Why is the movie’s time out of order: It is not 1,2,3,4. It is not chronological. The watch is always in order for time. So the watch is fighting the story, which is out of order. Why?

That’s pride f&*^ing with. F(*& pride.

Ignore pride. Pride will not help you.

Did the soul come out of the back of his head? Is the soul the think glowing in the briefcase.

You can sell your soul to the Devil. He will give you anything (money, fame, intelligence) but in the end, the Devil gets to have your soul. This is an old myth. It’s

quite popular in black or African stories.

Pay homage to: copying a scene from a famous movie to show respect

A Clockwork Orange

Square means not cool

 

 

 

 

Mid Term Exam for Film and Culture

These are the words/phrases you must memorize for the Mid Term Test on Tuesday (April 15): western, leprechaun, picaresque, pay homage to, jukebox, scent, autistic, genre, misogyny, revenge, justice, twist of fate, is, eat, mythical, Oedipus Rex, to scalp (v.), society, character (in a story), snitch, jukebox, documentary, paragraph, sentence, colonel, respectful, amazing, Irish, plot, burn down

 

Ethan Hawke and Denzel Washington starred in Training Day too, another film by the director of The Magnificent Seven

Western: means America or Europe

western: cowboy movie in the wild west

That’s the next genre.

To live in a civil society, we need justice.

In a civil society, people are nice to or respect people they do NOT know

People think revenge is the same as justice.

The director is African American. In history, black people had less justice than white people.

The Magnificent Seven. It is based on famous Japanese movie called The Seven Samurai. Kurosawa.

In 1849, gold was found in the wild west. People from all over the world came to look for it. In the 1850s, most of the people in Ireland moved to America.

Leprechaun: little magical guy in Irish stories

In the old cowboy movies before there was sound, they would show cowboys riding on the horizon far off to tell the audience time had passe

K-Mart Sucks

 

Dustin Hoffman / Tom Cruise

Is Charlie (played by Tom Cruise) a dynamic character or a static character?

Dynamic: changes by the end of the movie

Static: does not change or learn anything

The theme of the movie is autism: learning disability or rather a problem dealing with social issues. Social situations / society confuses autistic people.

Picaresque is a genre where the protagonist (hero) must travel. Usually, the trip is to escape. It is not planned a planned trip. The protagonist (hero) usually does not have much money and meets lots of adventures along the way.

Look at what Charlie is holding. It is medicine for his bad stomach, because he has a nervous and angry personality.

K-Mart sells cheap, low-quality things like Wallmart. A lot of what you buy breaks quickly and is not a brand name.

Raymond thinks “Who’s on first?”  1B from baseball.

Actually, Who is the last name (surname) of the player playing first base (1B).

For example, John Who is playing first base.

He does not understand jokes.

That is a jukebox. We put coins into the jukebox and will play the songs we choose.

Pawn Shop: give the store something valuable and they lend you money. To get the valuable thing back, you have to pay more money

Prostitute: hooker (sells her body for sex)

 

 

Who's on First?

 

Snitch: to tell the teacher your classmate did something bad

Noun or verb

He snitched on his classmate; therefore, he is a snitch.

I would take a flamethrower to this place. Al Pacino said that.

Is Al Pacino’s character a static character or dynamic character?

Pay homage to: copy a famous movie scene in your own movie to show respect

This is another Tarantino. It has Al Pacino, who is thirty years older.

Scent of a woman: 1993

Parody: copy a drama (serious movie) but to turn it into a comedy

Bill Hader playing (acting as) Al Pacino playing (acting as) Charlie Brown.

The parody also has Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

Before, a long time ago, autism was believed to be the same as being retarded.

Retarded is rude. We should mentally disabled.

Autistic people are very good at remembering things and math. They aren’t able to deal with people or the society, or take care of themselves.

Rain Man is 1988. Dustin Hoffman won the Oscar/Academy award for his performance in this movie.

Monday, March 17, 2025

Class Notes and What to Do if you Missed Last Week's Writing Class

If you missed the class last week, do this:

1Answer the nine questions below using your own information.

      Follow the rules called “How we will write” below.

3Get a piece of writing paper from Patrick next class.

r   Write  your story.

5.                    This is worth 10% of your final exam.

6.                    Remember that attendance is worth 10% of your final exam too. Every class you miss, I deduct 2% from your final grade.