Monday, January 30, 2017

ENG 102 Essay Examples


Ashleigh Adkins - Representation or Bust: Hollywood’s Struggle with Stigmatizing Mental Illnesses

James, Amaris. "Eat and Be Merry for Tomorrow It May Kill."

Cierra Willoughby: Saga and the Unending War (also example of Paragraph Diagram)

Charles Griffin: Living and Dying in the Valley

Gabrielle McCarty: Marketing Flesh

Beatriz Ramos Bouza: "A Revolution Within a Revolution."

Marc Jason Blunc - Derailing Snowpiercer: Descending Into the Boxcars of a Man-Made Hell

Caleb Kincaid: Rick and Morty on Personal Identity

Aaron Harlow - "School of Rock: An Illustration of Education and the American Dream"

Hailey Townsend: Walt's Will to Power

Gabe Goforth: Hunting for the Witch in Modern Society

Josh Sams: The Street Fighter Films

Whitney Williams: Mastery of Dolls

Ben Russell: The Art of Manipulation

Natalie Belfiglio: Blood in the Water

Melissa Adams: Bloody Diamonds

Douglas Allen Sutton: A Stone to Hug

Ryan Rivard: The Perdition of Madness

Ryan Rivard: Anchorman II - An Expose in Truth

Sarah Becknell: Whiplash - Perfection is Immolation

Jacob Wellman: Are We Fighting the Monsters We Created

Shella Lucas: Kennewick Man vs. The Ancient One

Katherine Merritt: The Other Holocaust

Tiffany Haggard: How to Make an American Quilt




Resources for January 31, 2017

Cassidy, Brendan, et al. "Silence; Top 5 Most Anticipated Films of 2017." InSession Film #205 (January 25, 2017)

Delgado, Mónica. "The Exquisite Quotidian: Jem Cohen." Keyframe (January 26, 2017) ["How MUSEUM HOURS turns art appreciation into moviemaking motive."]

Hancock, James and Martin Kessler. "20 Years of Resident Evil." Wrong Reel #226 (January 2017) ["Martin Kessler from Flixwise returns to review Paul W.S. Anderson’s new movie Resident Evil: The Final Chapter and to discuss the twenty year history of the Resident Evil franchise in both games and in movies."]

Klein, Naomi. The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Metropolitan Books, 2007. ["Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine advances a truly unnerving argument: historically, while people were reeling from natural disasters, wars and economic upheavals, savvy politicians and industry leaders nefariously implemented policies that would never have passed during less muddled times. As Klein demonstrates, this reprehensible game of bait-and-switch isn't just some relic from the bad old days. It's alive and well in contemporary society, and coming soon to a disaster area near you." - Kim Hughes]

Koski, Genevieve, Keith Phipps and Scott Tobias. "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg / La La Land (Part 1)." The Next Picture Show #57 (December 27, 2016) ["Damian Chazelle’s new big-screen musical LA LA LAND takes its cues from various singing-and-dancing cinematic predecessors, but its melancholy tone is directly descended from Jacques Demy’s classic 1964 musical THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG — a Next Picture Show favorite that we dig into in this first half. We talk over the effects of the film’s sung-through style and working-class setting, and try to pinpoint that certain je ne said quoi that makes UMBRELLAS so indelible."]

---. "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg / La La Land (Part 2)." The Next Picture Show #58 (December 29, 2016) ["Our melancholy-musical double feature heads from Cherbourg, France, to Los Angeles USA, to see how Damien Chazelle’s new “modern-throwback” musical LA LA LAND stacks up against Jacques Demy’s UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG. We talk over LA LA LAND’s nostalgic appeal and speculate about its staying power, then compare how the two films utilize their settings, love stories, and singing to different but complementary ends."]

Labuza, Peter and Keith Uhlich. "2016 Favorites (Part 1)." The Cinephiliacs (January 5, 2017) ["In times of crisis, sometimes the easy answer is to escape to the cinema. But the movies of 2016 did not necessarily bring escape, whether it was the mortgage crisis in Texas, homophobia in Miami, or misogyny in Montana. But in these cinematic works of art, some relief or euphoria can transform real life into something more bareable (or if you're Rob Zombie, even more screwed up). Keith Uhlich joins the podcast for his 5th time to countdown the favorites of 2016. Discussions range from the nature of experimental cinema, to the nature of historical fact, to what it means to go past idenity and into specificity. Plus, Peter and Keith list their favorites repertory discoveries of the year."]

---. "2016 Favorites (Part 2)." The Cinephiliacs (January 8, 2017) ["Often, we ask questions about what can cinema do. Perhaps the more important question, however, is to ask what should cinema do. As Keith Uhlich and Peter Labuza countdown their favorite media objects of 2016, this question plays out in a myriad of discussion. From the trascendence of genre to the nature of longform, to the act of describing to the disection of popular entertainment. And finally, the two enter a long debate about the nature of non-fiction and reality, as well as the very act of seeing death in cinema. What function should the camera perform, not just for us but the people who hold it? And is there something unique about art and its function in the surrounding world?"]

Orwell, George. "Reviews Mein Kampf: “He Envisages a Horrible Brainless Empire” (1940)." Open Culture (August 19, 2014)

Friday, January 27, 2017

Resources for January 27, 2017

Anderson, Barry, et al. "The Andrea Arnold Connection (2006 - 2016)." Illusion Travels by Streetcar #131 (January 4, 2017)

Bush, George W., et al. "The Two Georges: A Dramatic Reading of George Orwell's Classic Work 1984 & Pres. George W. Bush." Democracy Now (June 25, 2003) ["On the 100th birthday of author and journalist George Orwell, we spend the hour featuring excerpts from his classic work, "1984," the book that introduced the terms "Big Brother," "thought police," "newspeak" and "doublethink." We broadcast portions of excerpts of 1984 read by Charles Morgan and June Foray and produced by Paul Vangelisti over a quarter of a century ago for Pacifica Radio. We also feature clips from President Bush, Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Fox New’s Bill O’Relly, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Sen. Robert Byrd and broadcast footage of Donald Rumsfeld meeting with Saddam Hussein in 1983."]

Cayley, David, et al.  "How to Think About Science, Parts 1 - 24." Ideas (January 2, 2012) ["Modern societies have tended to take science for granted as a way of knowing, ordering and controlling the world. Everything was subject to science, but science itself largely escaped scrutiny. This situation has changed dramatically in recent years. Historians, sociologists, philosophers and sometimes scientists themselves have begun to ask fundamental questions about how the institution of science is structured and how it knows what it knows. David Cayley talks to some of the leading lights of this new field of study."]

Clark, Ashley, Violet Lucca and Amy Taubin. "Identity." Film Comment (January 17, 2017) ["Ideology and aesthetics have somehow come to be positioned opposite one another—in film criticism, should one be privileged over the other? This episode of The Film Comment Podcast discusses how race, ethnicity, and other markers of identity factor into film criticism and cinema generally. FC Digital Editor Violet Lucca unpacks the topic with Amy Taubin, Contributing Editor to FC and Artforum, and Ashley Clark, FC contributor and programmer, in a conversation that spans multiple decades of film history—from Taxi Driver to OJ: Made in America to Notting Hill to I Am Not Your Negro, to the canceled Michael Jackson episode of Urban Myths starring Joseph Fiennes."]

Dockrill, Pete. "NASA Just Made All the Scientific Research it Funds Available for Free." Science Alert (August 18, 2016)

"Pulp Fiction." How Is This Movie (January 9, 2017)

Rupe, Shade. "Guy Maddin's Lusty Ghosts: The Forbidden Room is haunted by the spirit of sexploitation from start to finish.'" Keyframe (September 28, 2016)

Thompson, Heather Ann. "Blood in the Water: An Author's Response." AAIHS (January 27, 2017) ["This is the final day of our roundtable on Heather Ann Thompson’s book, Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy. On Sunday, Michael Ezra introduced the roundtable and Kali Nicole Gross discussed how to approach trauma in historical writing. On Monday, Dan Berger described the book’s value within the historiography of the carceral state. On Tuesday, Danielle McGuire related Blood in the Water to a history of resistance. On Wednesday, Robert Chase placed the Attica Prison Uprising within a broader political movement. On Thursday, we featured posts from two historians, LaShawn Harris and Russell Rickford, who reflected on the legacy of the Attica Prison Uprising. In today’s final post, Dr. Thompson responds to the roundtable."]









Thursday, January 26, 2017

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Resources for January 25, 2017

Bordwell, David. "How La La Land is Made." Observations on Film Art (January 23, 2017)

Brubaker, Philip. "How Cool is Jim Jarmusch." Keyframe (January 22, 2017)

Dixon, Wheeler Winston. "The Most Important Film Book of 2014: Film Manifestos and Global Cinema Cultures." Film International (April 28, 2014)

Eno, Brian. "‘We’ve been in decline for 40 years – Trump is a chance to rethink.'" The Guardian (January 23, 2017)

French, Alex and Howie Kahn. "Livin' Thing: An Oral History of Boogie Nights." Grantland (ND)

Knappenberger, Brian. "Sundance 2017: Nobody Speak." Radio West (January 24, 2017) ["Director Brian Knappenberger’s documentary film Nobody Speak explores the court battle between online tabloid Gawker and pro wrestler Hulk Hogan as case study, among others, of how big money can use litigation to check the freedom of the press. It also asks what a thin-skinned billionaire in the executive branch could do to media outlets that anger him."]

Longworth, Karina. "Six Degrees of Joan Crawford: Bette Davis and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane." You Must Remember This (September 5, 2016)  ["Robert Aldrich’s What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? has done more to define later generation’s ideas about who Crawford was than perhaps any other movie that she was actually in. Unfortunately, most of those ideas center around Crawford’s supposed feud with co-star Bette Davis, which began as a marketing ploy and turned into something quasi-real -- or, at least as real as certain celebrity “feuds” of today."]
Mackenzie, Scott, ed. Film Manifestos and Global Cinema Cultures: A Critical Anthology. University of California Press, 2014.

Matthews, Andrew and Erik McClanahan. "Stranger Things and the Problems with Plotblocking." The Playlist (September 2, 2016) ["This episode is inspired by a recent essay called “Stranger Things” and the Problem of Plotblocking, written by indie filmmaker Andrew Matthews (“Zero Charisma“) for the site. The more TV shows use cinematic ideas and stories — either literally with a reboot or remake, or something more indirectly paying homage à la “Stranger Things” — it may appear these disparate mediums are merging interchangeably. But movies are still capable of doing much different things than TV, and vice versa. It’s without doubt an exciting time to love visual storytelling, but the more audiences by and large seem to prefer the ease of accessibility and comforts of watching TV at home, the more movies can seem less vital. And so, Andrew and I discuss the potential problems with stretching cinematic ideas into a longer format. We’re by no means here to knock on any beloved shows (we like them too!), but instead trying to explore how this could affect audience expectations and their viewing habits while also allowing content makers to overindulge themselves, if for no other reason than to fill a longer runtime."]

Pepe, Michael. "Eating, sleeping and watching movies in the shadow of what they do: Representing capitalism in post 2008 popular films." Jump Cut #57 (Fall 2016)


Monday, January 23, 2017

Resources for January 23, 2017

"Aziz Ansari Used His Saturday Night Live Monologue to Ask Trump to Denounce 'Casual White Supremacy.'” Slate (January 22, 2017)

Benton, Michael Dean. "Professor Michael Benton." VOICEbOX (January 21, 2017)

Cargill, Robert C. and Brian Salisbury. "One Junky Summer: The Hitcher." Junk Food Cinema (September 1, 2016)

Chellas, Semi. "Matthew Weiner, The Art of Screenwriting, No. 4." The Paris Review #208 (Spring 2014)

Clusiao, Christina and Saul Schwarz. "Sundance 2017: Trophy." Radio West (January 20, 2017) ["Filmmakers Shaul Shwarz and Christina Clusiau followed hunters, breeders, and conservationists to ask what we do to save the great species of the world from extinction. The high cost of trophy hunting trips to Africa often fund conservation efforts and communities, but critics say there’s a danger in treating animals like commodities. Schwarz and Clusiau join Doug to talk about that relationship between hunting and conservation."]

El Goro and Johnnie Wolfstein. "The Night of the Hunter (1955) and Cape Fear (1962)." Talk Without Rhythm #354 (January 22, 2017)

Liang, Sean, Chris Stachiw and Zach Wickwire. "Godzilla (1954)." Kulturekast (September 1, 2016) ["Chris and Sean are joined by writer Zach Wickwire to kick-off Kaiju Movie Month with the progenitor of all Kaiju movies, Godzilla (1954). The film follows the titular monster as he wrecks havoc on the innocent people of Japan after being created by the US during the second World War."]

Luhrmann, Baz. "The Get Down." The Treatment (August 31, 2016) [""You need to learn the rules to break them!" Baz Lurhmann recalls breaking a few rules on the way to something larger than himself while growing up in the small Australian town of Herons Creek. His films Romeo + Juliet and The Great Gatsby display this very rule-bending directorial creativity which carries through to his Netflix series The Get Down – a musical drama set in 1970's South Bronx. He joins Elvis to share his thoughts on being drawn to the struggle between youth and the incumbent generation in his storytelling and discusses passing on the opportunity to direct Harry Potter."]

Popova, Maria. "Cartographer of Meaning in a Digital Age." On Being (January 5, 2017) ["She has called Brain Pickings, her invention and labor of love, a “human-powered discovery engine for interestingness.” What Maria Popova really delivers, to hundreds of thousands of people each day, is wisdom of the old-fashioned sort, presented in new-fashioned digital ways. She cross-pollinates — between philosophy and design, physics and poetry, the intellectual and the experiential. We explore her gleanings on what it means to lead a good life — intellectually, creatively, and spiritually."]






The Nice Guys (UK/USA: Shane Black, 2016)




The Nice Guys (UK/USA: Shane Black, 2016: 116 mins)

Appen, Jon Von and Erik McClanahan. "The Nice Guys/Shane Black." Adjust Your Tracking #131 (May 25, 2016)

Black, Shane. "The Nice Guys." The Treatment (May 4, 2016)

Kermode, Mark. "The Nice Guys: Sleeze and Slapstick in 70s LA." The Guardian (June 5, 2016)

Koski, Genevieve, et al. "L.A. Confidential/The Nice Guys (Pt. 2)." The Next Picture Show #30 (June 2, 2016)

Metz, Walter. "The Nice Guys (2016)." Walter's World (June 2, 2016)

The Nice Guys Critics Round Up (Ongoing Archive)

Orr, Christopher. "The Nice Guys: An Intoxicating Comic Noir." The Atlantic (May 20, 2016)

Puschak, Evan. "Movie Violence Done Right." (Posted on Youtube: August 10, 2016)

Reyes, Anton. "Shane Black is the Perfect Age for This Shit." Audiences Everywhere (May 19, 2016)

Shreve, David. "The Nice Guys Has a Hearty Laugh at Generational Condescension." Audiences Everywhere (May 20, 2016)

Tallerico, Brian. "The Nice Guys." Roger Ebert (May 20, 2016)

Willems, Patrick H. "Shane Black & the Christmas Action Movie." (Posted on Youtube: December 14, 2016)

















Friday, January 20, 2017

Resources for January 21, 2017

Auiler, Dan, et al. "Vertigo." The Projection Booth #286 (August 30, 2016) ["Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo is a tale of obsession which has sparked an obsession in many of its viewers.Jimmy Stewart stars as John "Scottie" Ferguson, a disgraced detective who's hired by an old friend to follow his wife, Madeline (Kim Novak), who seems to have become possessed by a spirit from San Francisco's past. Professors Tania Modleski and Susan White (no relation) join Mike to discuss the film which was ranked as the best film in the world in a 2012 Sight & Sound poll. Authors Patrick McGilligan (Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light) and Dan Auiler (Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic)."]

Cassidy, Brendan, J.D. Duran and Brian Tallerico. "Hidden Figures, Top 3 Best Shot Films of 2016." InSession Film #202 (January 2016)

Chazelle, Damien and Ryan Gosling. "La La Land." The Treatment (January 18, 2017)

Gladstone, Brooke. "On the Media: Busted, America's Poverty Myths." Radiolab (January 18, 2017) ["On the Media’s Brooke Gladstone tells Jad and Robert about a mammoth project they launched to take a critical look at the tales we tell ourselves when we talk about poverty. In a 5-part series called "Busted: America’s Poverty Myths,” On the Media picked apart numerous oft-repeated narratives about what it's like to be poor in America. From Ben Franklin to a brutal eviction, Brooke gives us just a little taste of what she learned and shares a couple stories of the struggle to get ahead, or even just get by."]

Goodman, Daniel Ross. "The Greatest Beauty: The Imaginary Journey of Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty (La grande bellezza), 2013." Bright Lights Film Journal (April 24, 2014)

Goss, Brian Michael. "“Things Like This Don’t Just Happen”: Ideology and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Hard EightBoogie Nights, and Magnolia." Journal of Communication Inquiry 26:2 (April 2002): 171-192

Kleinhans, Chuck. "Ideology Exposed - An Introduction." Jump Cut #57 (Fall 2016)











Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Resources for January 17, 2017

Blakeslee, David, et al. "Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night." Criterion Cast #175 (August 29, 2016) ["After fifteen films that received mostly local acclaim, the 1955 comedy Smiles of a Summer Night (Sommarnattens leende) at last ushered in an international audience for Ingmar Bergman. In turn-of-the-century Sweden, four men and four women attempt to navigate the laws of attraction. During a weekend in the country, the women collude to force the men’s hands in matters of the heart, exposing their pretensions and insecurities along the way. Chock-full of flirtatious propositions and sharp witticisms delivered by such Swedish screen legends as Gunnar Björnstrand and Harriet Andersson, Smiles of a Summer Night is one of cinema’s great erotic comedies."]

Broeren, Joost and Sander Spies. "Cutting the Edge: Freedom in Framing." Filmkrant (Posted on Vimeo: 2016)

Camia, Giovanni Marchini. "How to Teach Cinema." Keyframe (January 14, 2017) ["Because our children are being stabbed through their souls by insipid tentpoles."]

Francis, Marc. "Splitting the difference: On the queer-feminist divide in Scarlett Johansson’s recent body politics." Jump Cut #57 (Fall 2016)

Gordon-Reed, Annette. "The Captive Aliens Who Remain Our Shame." The New York Review of Books (January 19, 2017)

Harper, Dan. "The Taste of Greasepaint: On Bergman’s Sawdust and Tinsel and Ozu’s Floating Weeds." Bright Lights Film Journal (April 24, 2014) ["The Bergman film is much darker, and examines – with sadistic, Strindbergian zeal – the cruelties that men and women inflict on one other when love is distorted by power. The Ozu film is deceptively comic, and looks at how utterly lost men and women become when their families disintegrate. But the odd resemblance between the films remains intriguing."]

Longworth, Karina. "Six Degrees of Joan Crawford: The Middle Years (Mildred Pierce to Johnny Guitar)." You Must Remember This (August 29, 2016) ["Joan Crawford struggled through what she called her “middle years,” the period during her 40s before she remade herself from aging, slumping MGM deadweight into a fleet, journeywoman powerhouse who starred in some of the most interesting films about adult womanhood of the 1940s and 1950s. That revival began with Mildred Pierce (for which Crawford won her only Oscar), and included a number of films, such as Daisy Kenyon and Johnny Guitar, directed by men who would later be upheld as auteurs, subversively making personal art within the commercial industry of Hollywood."]

McCrary, Micah. "“My Story Doesn’t Begin When I Was Born”: Micah McCrary Interviews José Orduña." Los Angeles Review of Books (January 14, 2017)

Young, Alexandra Leigh. "The Girl Who Didn't Exist." Radiolab (August 29, 2016) ["Alecia Faith Pennington was born at home, homeschooled, and never visited a dentist or a hospital. By both chance and design she is completely invisible in the eyes of the state. We follow Faith as she struggles to free herself from one restrictive world only to find that she is trapped in another. In her journey to prove her American citizenship she attempts to answer the age-old question: who am I?"]





ENG 282 Letterboxd Profiles: Spring 2017

------------------------------------------

Mandie Garcia (8) [Ex Machina; Hunger; A Separation; Embrace the Serpent; 20th Century Women; Shortbus; Trainspotting; The Neon Demon]

Hannah Bowman (9) [Ex Machina; The Forbidden Room; Embrace of the Serpent; Lourdes;  20th Century Women]  Extra Credit: Of Freaks and Men; Vampyr; 3 films; Get Out

David Abraham (7) [Ex Machina; Hunger; The Forbidden Room; A Separation; Embrace of the Serpent; Lourdes] Extra Credit: 3 films

Ryan Rivard (11) [Ex Machina; Hunger; The Forbidden Room; Embrace of the Serpent; Lourdes; 20th Century Women; Force Majeure; Shortbus; The Lobster; Trainspotting; The Neon Demon; Children of Men] Extra Credit: 3 films; Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Elizabeth Johnson (12) [Ex Machina; Hunger; A Separation; The Forbidden Room; Embrace of the Serpent; Lourdes; 20th Century Women; Force Majeure; Shortbus; Trainspotting; The Neon Demon] Extra Credit: Cosmos

Brittany Morton (8) [Ex Machina; Hunger; A Separation; Embrace the Serpent; Lourdes; 20th Century Women; Force Majeure] Extra Credit: I, Daniel Blake

Christopher Coleman (5) [Forbidden Room; A Separation; Shortbus] Extra credit I Am Not Your Negro; Elle

Jared Lee (5) [Ex Machina; Hunger; A Separation; Children of Men] Extra Credit: 3 films

Tybri Jackson (4) [Ex Machina; Hunger; The Forbidden Room; A Separation]

Hailey Townsend (2) [Ex Machina] Extra Credit: 3 films

Logan Ballard (0)

Joshua Clifton (9) [Ex Machina; Hunger; The Forbidden Room; The Separation; Embrace the Serpent; 20th Century Women; Lourdes; Force Majeure] Extra Credit: 3 films

Chloe Kokinda (1) [Ex Machina]







Recommended Responses:

Elizabeth Johnson - The Neon Demon: Beauty and the Beast

Mandie Garcia -- The Neon Demon: Beauty isn't Everything, it is the Only Thing"

Elizabeth Johnson - Shortbus: The Struggles and Glories of Sexuality

Ryan Rivard - Hedwig and the Angry Inch: A Gender Performance?

Mandia Garcia - Shortbus: Blinded by Stigma

Christopher Coleman - Shortbus: All Aboard

Ryan Rivard "Shortbus: I, Prisoner"

Ryan Rivard: Force Majeure

Mandie Garcia - 20th Century Women: "Can't things just be pretty?"

Chloe Kokinda: Ex Machina

Ryan Rivard - 20th Century Women: Melancholy Dreams

Ryan Rivard: Faith and Hope - Religious Commodities

Hannah Bowman - 20th Century Women: Flaunting Feminism

Joshua Clifton - "A Separation: The Human Condition"

Jared Lee - A Separation: Cultures Divide Us, Being Human Unites Us

Ryan Rivard - Dante's Imperialistic Journey: Embrace of the Serpent

Hannah Bowman - Divine Delusions: The Forbidden Room

Mandie Garcia - A Separation: Same Struggles, Different Countries

Joshua Clifton - The Forbidden Room: A Journey to Anywhere

Jared Lee - Ex Machina: The Rebellion of Consciousness

Elizabeth Johnson on Hunger

Ryan Rivard: The Forbidden Room - Waterfall

Reyan Rivard: Hunger - The Strategy of Punishment

Mandie Garcia on Hunger

Hannah Bowman: Ex Machina

David Abraham: Ex Machina












Saturday, January 14, 2017

ENG 282: Spring 2017 Resources

The 21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films They Shoot Pictures Don't They (Ongoing Archive)

Archives of Individual Films

BCTC LibGuides: Film Studies

Benton, Michael. Recommended Films from the 1930s to the Present Dialogic Cinephilia (Ongoing Archive)

Bluegrass Film Society (BFS screenings for extra credit and response opportunity)

Critics Round Up (Website)

Dirks, Tim. Film Genres: Origins and Types Film Site (Collection of Archives/Posts)
Lenos, Melissa and Michael Ryan.  An Introduction to Film Analysis: Technique and Meaning in Narrative Film. Bloomsbury Academic, 2015. [Course book]

Letterboxd [If you choose to write response to a film we have screened in class, you have until the end of the following Tuesday (midnight) to write and post it.  This is to keep you from trying to write all your posts at the end-of-the-semester.  You, of course, can write responses on the films that are a part of the BFS film series and I will provide an ongoing list of films in local theaters that are available for responses.  You are limited to no more than two responses a week (once again I do not want you trying to cram a whole bunch of rushed responses at the end-of-the-semester).]

Rotten Tomatoes (Website)

The Stories We Tell: Quote File Dialogic Cinephilia (Ongoing Archive)

Video Essays Dialogic Cinephilia (Ongoing Archive)


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Course films:

Ex Machina (UK: Alex Garland, 2015: 108 mins)

Hunger (UK/Ireland: Steve McQueen, 2008: 96 mins)

The Forbidden Room (Canada: Evan Johnson and Guy Maddin, 2015: 130 mins)

A Separation (Iran: Asghar Farhadi, 2011)

Embrace of the Serpent (Colombia/Venezuela/Argentina: Ciro Guerra, 2015: 125 mins)

Lourdes  (Austria/France/Germany: Jessica Hausner, 2009)

20th Century Women (USA: Mike Mills, 2016)

Force Majeure  (Sweden/France/Denmark/Norway: Ruben Östlund, 2014: 118 mins)





Optional films in local theaters and the Bluegrass Film Society (response opportunities):


Bluegrass Film Society: Spring 2017 Schedule (click on links for location/date/time)


Fandango (Put your zip in the search engine and it will show you what is playing in theaters near you)


Arrival (USA: Denis Villeneuve, 2016)

Doctor Strange (USA: Scott Derrickson, 2016)

The Edge of Seventeen (USA: Kelly Fremon Craig, 2016)

Elle (France/Germany/Belgium: Paul Verhoeven, 2016) - opens 2/24 at the Kentucky Theater

Fences (USA: Denzel Washington, 2016)

Get Out (USA: Jordan Peele, 2017)

Hidden Figures (USA: Theodore Melfi, 2016)

I Am Not Your Negro (France/USA: Raoul Peck, 2016) - opens 2/24 at the KY Theater

Khaidi No. 150 (India: Vinayak V.V., 2017)

La La Land (USA: Damien Chazelle, 2016)

The Lego Batman Movie (Denmark/USA: Chris McKay, 2017)

Lion (Australia/USA/UK: Garth Davis, 2016)

Loving (UK/USA: Jeff Nichols, 2016)

Manchester by the Sea (USA: Kenneth Lonergan, 2016)

Moonlight (USA: Barry Jenkins, 2016)

Nocturnal Animals (USA: Tom Ford, 2016)

Raees (India: Rahul Dholakia, 2016)

Silence (Mexico/Taiwan/USA: Martin Scorsese, 2016)

Split (USA: M. Night Shymalan, 2016)


Films you can respond to that are on DVD/streaming and that relate to our course films (I will put related subject/film at the end of the film):

The Gospel of St. Matthew (Italy/France: Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1964) - Religion

The Last Temptation of Christ (USA/Canada: Martin Scorsese, 1988) - Religion

Moolaade (Senegal/Burkina Faso/Morocco/Tunisia/Cameroon/France: Ousmane Sembene, 2004) - Religion

Vision (Germany/France: Margarethe von Trotta, 2009) - Religion








Friday, January 13, 2017

Mommy (Canada: Xavier Dolan, 2014)




Mommy (Canada: Xavier Dolan, 2014: 139 mins)

Bradshaw, Peter. "Mommy - Outrageous and Brilliant, a Daytime Soap from Hell." The Guardian (March 19, 2015)

Broeren, Joost and Sander Spies. "Cutting the Edge: Freedom in Framing." Filmkrant (Posted on Vimeo: 2016)

Dolan, Xavier. "Mommy." The Close-Up (2015)

Film Master Jack. "Mommy (2014)." Letterboxd (January 1, 2018)

Galibert-Laîné, Chloé. "Why Framing Matters in Movies." Fandor (Posted on Youtube: December 30, 2015)

Heron, Christopher. "Xavier Dolan: Exercices de style." The Seventh Art (ND)

Kenny, Glen. "Mommy." Roger Ebert (January 23, 2015)

Kiang, Jessica. "Xavier Dolan’s F’d-Up, Profane And Amazingly Alive Mommy." IndieWire (March 21, 2014)

Kohn, Eric. "Cannes Review: Is Xavier Dolan's Mommy His Best Film." IndieWire (May 21, 2014)

Mommy Critics Round Up (Ongoing Archive)

Nayman, Adam. "Imaginary Love: Xavier Dolan's Mommy." Cinema Scope #60 (2014)

Rosso, Jason Di. "Mommy." Final Cut (April 10, 2015)

Salah, Jaylan. "Xavier Dolan and Revolutionizing Sexuality on the Big Screen: A Feminist Critical Analysis of Xavier Dolan’s Cinema." Synchronized Chaos (February 1, 2016) 

The Seventh Art. "Xavier Dolan." (Posted on Youtube: January 5, 2015)




















Resources for January 13, 2017

Bukatman, Scott. "Some Came Running." The Cinephiliacs #84 (August 28, 2016) ["Criticism is often described as an act of interpretation—explaining how or why a film works. But the act of cinema at its most basic level is an experience of image, sound, bodies, gestures, materiality, and everything in between. Stanford Professor Scott Bukatman has explored that experiential level of art in all of its forms from high to low. Scott and Peter cross boundaries of genre and time to discuss post-modern science fiction and its most abstract moments, performative bodies that explained our new technological moment, and even gravitational expectations in the new digital landscape. They also discuss cinema's closest (and often problematic) cousin, the comic book, alongside Scott's new exploration of Hellboy and how the act of reading itself can (and should) be reconsidered in the act of discussing a text. Finally, the two dive deep on Vincent Minnelli's Some Came Running, and truly ask what is it that makes a performance, especially in a melodrama in which the art of acting is key to everything."]

Douglas, Timothy and Sandra Shannon. "August Wilson and Fences." Radio West (January 11, 2017) ["August Wilson, one of the great American playwrights … period. That doesn’t need the qualifier that he was a black playwright. But his plays were about the black experience in this country, and one of his masterpieces was Fences. Denzel Washington’s film version is now in theaters, and the stage version has just opened at Pioneer Theatre Company. We’re taking the opportunity to talk about the heart breaking beauty of August Wilson’s work."]

Gorman, Steve. "U.S. Lists a Bumble Bee Species as Endangered for First Time." Scientific American (January 11, 2017)

Johnson, Steve. "Hollywood Daedalus: The Robert Wise of Audrey Rose." Bright Lights Film Journal (April 25, 2014)

Messina, Chris. "Live By Night." The Treatment (January 11, 2017) ["As an acting fan, Chris Messina is especially fond of actor/directors. He reunites with director Ben Affleck in Live by Night, channeling Goodfellas while playing prohibition era gangster Dion Bartolo. Messina reflects on Ben Affleck's ability to quickly transition from actor to director when filming a scene and the way casting sets the foundation of acting quality within a film."]

Nimoy, Adam. "For the Love of Spock." The Geek's Guide to the Galaxy (August 16, 2016)

Raboteau, Albert. "Fannie Lou Hamer and Thomas Merton." Against the Grain (January 11, 2017)
["Fannie Lou Hamer and Thomas Merton were both, as Albert Raboteau puts it, religious radicals. Hamer became an outspoken advocate for racial and social justice; she risked her life to secure voting rights and political equality for African Americans. Thomas Merton was a Catholic contemplative who spoke out forcefully against racism, militarism, and rampant consumerism. Albert Raboteau, American Prophets: Seven Religious Radicals and Their Struggle for Social and Political Justice Princeton University Press, 2016."]

Riesman, Abraham. "The Vulture Transcript: Alfonso Cuarón on Children of Men." Vulture (January 6, 2017)

Rosen, Jay. "Plagiarism charges against Monica Crowley put her publishing house on stage." Press Think (January 7, 2017)

Stevens, Brad. "Emotion Pictures; Story may be the least important thing in Hou Hsiao-hsien's Millennium Mambo." Keyframe (January 11, 2017)


Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Resources for January 11, 2016

Abbott, Lisa and Richard Becker. "Protests Erupt in Kentucky After GOP Supermajority Passes Extreme Anti-Choice, Anti-Union Bills." Democracy Now (January 9, 2017) ["In Kentucky, hundreds of demonstrators packed into the Capitol building Saturday to protest the state Legislature’s passage of a slew of controversial bills, including an anti-union "right-to-work" law and extreme anti-choice legislation that bans abortions after 20 weeks and requires a woman to have an ultrasound before having an abortion. The surprise emergency legislative session Saturday came after Republicans seized a supermajority in the House of Representatives, giving the Republicans control of the House, the Senate and the governorship for the first time in Kentucky state history. On Saturday, the Legislature also repealed a law that had guaranteed higher wages for workers on publicly financed construction projects. We go to Louisville, Kentucky, for an update from Richard Becker, a union organizer with Service Employees International Union, and we speak with Lisa Abbott, a community organizer with Kentuckians for the Commonwealth."]

Bell, Nicholas and Erik McClanahan. "Female Prisoner Scorpion." The Playlist (August 26, 2016)

Betancourt, Michael. "Pablo Ferro’s Title Montage for Bullitt (1968): The Criminality Beneath the Surface of Civil Society." Bright Lights Film Journal (April 29, 2014)

Conrath, Ryan. "Interview: Editor Joe Walker on 12 Years a Slave, Hunger, Shame, and More." Bright Lights Film Journal (April 30, 2014)

Laczkowski, Jim and Sergio Mims. "Nicholas Ray." Director's Club #115 (August 27, 2014)

Schnelbach, Leah. "Looking Back at Princess Mononoke after 20 Years." Tor (January 9, 2017)

Talbot, Margaret. "The Attorney Fighting Revenge Porn." The New Yorker (December 5, 2016) ["Carrie Goldberg is a pioneer in the field of sexual privacy, using the law to defend victims of hacking, leaking, and other online assaults."]

Warne, Jude. "Authenticity in Many Forms: 20th Century Women." Film International (January 4, 2017)






The Nativist from Milad Tangshir on Vimeo.



ENG 102: Spring 2017 Resources


"7 Google Tips to Search Like a Boss." Teach Thought (October 10, 2013)

Archives of Individual Films Dialogic Cinephilia (Ongoing Archive)

Archives of the Films, By Decade, That Do Not Have an Individual Post Dialogic Cinephilia (Ongoing Archive)

BCTC Lib Guides

Benton, Michael. Letterboxd Profile (Ongoing film viewing diary)

Dialogic Cinephilia (Website)

ENG 102: Books and Writers

ENG 102: Essay 2 - Ethical Reasoning

ENG 102 Essay Examples

Friedlander, John. "Abstract, Concrete, General and Specific Terms." Guide to Grammar & Writing (ND)

Grammarist (Website)

The Stories We Tell: Quote File Dialogic Cinephilia (Ongoing Archive)

Video Essays Dialogic Cinephilia (Ongoing Archive)

Words and Phrases Grammarist (Ongoing Archive)

Wordy Phrases Grammarist (Ongoing Archive)




Monday, January 9, 2017

The Manchurian Candidate (USA: John Frankenheimer, 1962)




The Manchurian Candidate (USA: John Frankenheimer, 1962: 126 mins)

Bowie, Stephen. "Great Directors: John Frankenheimer." Senses of Cinema (November 2006)

Cobb, Paul, Mark Hurne and Aaron West. "The Manchurian Candidate." Criterion Close-Up #38 (May 28, 2016)

D'Angelo, Mike. "The Manchurian Candidate (1962)." A.V. Club (October 12, 2009)

Ebert, Roger. "Great Movie: The Manchurian Candidate." Chicago Sun-Times (December 7, 2003)

Eggert, Brian. "The Manchurian Candidate (1962)." Deep Focus (July 4, 2013)

French, Phillip. "The Manchurian Candidate review – Philip French on John Frankenheimer’s near-perfect conspiracy thriller." The Guardian (March 8, 2015)

Hampton, Howard. "The Manchurian Candidate: Dread Center." Current (March 15, 2016)

Lansbury, Angela. "On the Importance of the Imagination." Current (March 17, 2016)

LoBrutto, Vincent. "The Political Thriller: The Manchurian Candidate." Becoming Film Literate: The Art and Craft of Motion Pictures. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2005: 183-189. [BCTC Library: PN1994 L595 2005]

The Manchurian Candidate Critics Round Up (Ongoing Archive)

Menand, Louis. "Brainwashed: Where The Manchurian Candidate Came From." The New Yorker (September 15, 2003)

Ratcliff, Travis Lee. "The Legacy of Paranoid Thrillers." (Posted on Vimeo: June 2017) ["Paranoid thrillers are constant in cinema's history, but at any given moment they reflect our specific anxieties back to us and reveal how we feel about our institutions. Here, I explore how paranoid thrillers crystalized as a genre in American cinema and examine the possibility of a contemporary renaissance in conspiracy fiction."]

Weston, Hillary. "Talking with Evans Frankenheimer about The Manchurian Candidate." Current (April 14, 2016)











Resources for January 9, 2017

Branch, Ashanti, et al. "Man Up." To the Best of Our Knowledge (January 8, 2017) ["Be strong, be tough, don’t cry – boys are bombarded with messages about being a man and the “male code” beginning around five or six years old. By high school, it’s second nature. But it can also be toxic. Because boys in America today aren’t doing so well. Compared to girls, they’re more likely to get diagnosed with a behavior disorder, drop out of school, binge drink, commit a violent crime, even kill themselves. So is that what it means to “man up”? "]

El Goro. "Le Samourai (1967) and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)." Talk Without Rhythm (January 1, 2017) ["two flicks featuring western interpretations of the Samurai code of Bushido"]

Hart, David and Chris Maynard. "Evil Dead (2013) and Acute Withdrawal." Pop Culture Case Study #167 (August 25, 2016) ["... Dave talks about acute withdrawal from drugs, particularly focusing on opioid dependence. We tie this topic in with Fede Alvarez's 2013 film, EVIL DEAD. This is just in time for his latest release, DON'T BREATHE. Dave is joined by Chris Maynard of Following Films to talk about a number of topics, including drug addiction, horror movies, remakes, and overdoing the gore!"]

Howard, Brian and Rich Moore. "Zootopia." The Treatment (December 28, 2016) ["Directors Byron Howard and Rich Moore have taken a socially relevant approach with the newest Walt Disney Studios animated feature Zootopia. In the film, rabbit Judy Hopps tries to break out of her animal stereotype when she realizes it's not so easy to escape nature. Today, Howard and Moore discuss researching societal biases and racial stigmas to create the metropolitan city of Zootopia, as well as reflecting on the technological limitations in animation in recent years versus the impressive capabilities of today."]

Kaufmann, Anthony. "It's Happening Here: Trump's America and Totalitarian Dystopias." Keyframe (November 17, 2016)

Older, Malka. "Infomocracy." Midnight in Karachi #60 (August 25, 2016)

Pollard, Sam, et al. "The Handsome Family / Sam Pollard." WTF (December 1, 2016) ["Gothic folk duo The Handsome Family meet up with Marc while he's in Albuquerque to talk about American roots music, carnival sideshows, meeting your heroes, and dealing with bipolarity. But first, documentary filmmaker Sam Pollard joins Marc in the garage to talk about his new film Two Trains Runnin', a look at the summer of 1964, as history converged in unexpected ways."]

Zaborski, Artur. "War Zones are Like Corporations." Keyframe (November 17, 2016) ["Sonia Kennebeck talks about her disturbing new drone-warfare doc, NATIONAL BIRD."]





Two Trains Runnin' trailer from Avalon Films on Vimeo.



Saturday, January 7, 2017

Resources for January 7, 2017


Arroyo, Joseph, Neil Fox and Dario Llinares. "Broken Embraces." The Cinematologists #29b (August 24, 2016)

Bromley, Patrick, et al. "Special Report: The Thing." The Projection Booth (December 23, 2016)
["Initially lambasted by critics, John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) was a brilliant adaptation of John W. Campbell's novella Who Goes There?. The film tells the story of a dozen men in Antarctica who are infiltrated by an alien shapeshifter. Interviews include authors John Kenneth Muir (The Films of John Carpenter), Jez Conolly (Devil’s Advocates: The Thing), actors Joel Polis (Fuchs), Thomas G. Waites (Windows), and cinematographer Dean Cundey."]

Cargill, Robert C. and Brian Salisbury. "One Junky Summer: The Fly." Junk Food Cinema (August 24, 2016)

Herzog, Amy. "Star Vehicle: Labor and Corporeal Traffic in Under the Skin." Jump Cut #57 (Fall 2016)

Hurne, Mark and Aaron West. "Downhill Racer and the Olympics." Criterion Close-Up #47 (August 25, 2016) ["Mark and Aaron celebrate the Summer Olympics by exploring Downhill Racer, an independent film about the Winter Olympics. We draw parallels to what is portrayed in the Michael Ritchie with the actual sporting events that take place today, including the thrills of victory and the agony of defeat. We discuss the groundbreaking cinematography, the nature of winning in an individual sport and the the enduring legacy of Sundance that began with this film."]

Nero, Dominick. "Why Do Action Heroines Do This? A signature fight move, as dubious as it is ubiquitous." Keyframe (January 5, 2017)

Olson, Dan. "The Art of Editing and Suicide Squad." Folding Ideas (Posted on Youtube: December 31, 2016)

Pattison, Michael. "A Journey to Nosferatu's Origins." Keyframe (April 29, 2014)

Williams, Terry Tempest. "The Hour of the Land." Radio West (June 1, 2016) ["... writer and naturalist Terry Tempest Williams joins Doug to discuss her latest book, The Hour of Land. It’s a paean to America’s natural parks. The parks are, Williams says, fundamental to our national identity, despite our complicated relationship with them. To mark the centennial of the National Parks Service, Williams visited 12 national parks. She wanted to better understand their relevance in the 21st century. She also wondered if they might serve to help unite our fractured country."]





Friday, January 6, 2017

Resources for January 6, 2016

"Annette Bening." WTF #769 (December 18, 2016) ["Annette Bening attributes her longevity in acting to stopping when she wanted. She talks with Marc about being able to put the brakes on her career when dealing with the responsibilities of parenting. They also talk about privacy, winning (or not winning) awards, Warren Beatty, and the many influential people Annette worked with who are no longer with us, including Garry Shandling, Mike Nichols, John Candy, and Robin Williams."]

Buder, Emily. "The 14 Most Unforgettable Scenes in 2016 Movies." No Film School (January 6, 2017)

Gores, Jared and Joe Pudas. "Rogue One." Reel Fanatics #445 (December 30, 2016)

Greenwald, Glenn. "WashPost Is Richly Rewarded for False News About Russia Threat While Public Is Deceived." The Intercept (January 4, 2017)

Jennings, Tom and Mike White. "Pickup on South Street." Masters of Cinema Cast #56 (December 28, 2016) ["Samuel Fuller's sensational film noir casts a steely eye at America in the dawn of the Cold War, and brings 1950s New York City alive on the screen in a manner rarely equaled in the annals of film. In one of his greatest roles, Richard Widmark plays Skip McCoy, a seasoned pickpocket who unknowingly filches some radioactive loot: microfilm of top-secret government documents. Soon after, Skip finds himself mixed up with federal agents, Commie agents, and a professional stool pigeon by the name of Moe (played by Thelma Ritter in her finest role this side of Rear Window). With its complex ideology, outrageous dialogue, and electric action sequences, Pickup on South Street crackles in a way that only a Sam Fuller movie can, and is widely considered one of the director's finest achievements."]

Richardson, Vanessa and Carter Roy. "Edward Teach 'Blackbeard.'" Remarkable Lives. Tragic Deaths. (January 3, 2017) ["Edward Teach or Edward Thatch, better known as Blackbeard, was a legendary pirate whose fearsome image has been romanticized since his death. Most likely born in Bristol, England, he plundered ships traveling to and from the American colonies as well as ships in the Caribbean. Although his reign of terror only lasted two years, he has become the inspiration for countless movies and books."]

Tragos, Tracy Droz. "Abortion: Stories Women Tell." Film School (August 11, 2016)  ["In 1973 the U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade recognized the right of every woman in the United States to have an abortion. Since 2011, over half the states in the nation have significantly restricted access to abortions. In 2016, abortion remains one of the most divisive issues in America, especially in Missouri, where only one abortion clinic remains open, patients and their doctors must navigate a 72-hour waiting period, and each year sees more restrictions. Awarding-winning director and Missouri native Tracy Droz Tragossheds new light on the contentious issue with a focus not on the debate, but rather on the women themselves – those struggling with unplanned pregnancies, the providers who show up at clinics to give medical care, as well as the activists on both sides of the issue hoping to sway decisions and lives. Tragos’ illuminating documentary Abortion: Stories Women Tell offers an intimate window into the lives of these women through their personal stories. Some are heartbreaking and tender some are bleak and frightening; some women, on both sides of the issue, find the choice easy to make due to their own circumstances and beliefs, while others simply inform us of the strength and capacity of women to overcome and persevere through complicated and unexpected circumstances. Director and producer Tracy Droz Tragos joins us for a conversation on one of the most contentious and intractable issues facing women and her beautifully balanced, heart wrenching and moving documentary."]

"When push comes to shove." The Grammarist (January 3, 2016)





Monday, January 2, 2017

Resources for January 3, 2016

Bordwell, David. "Fantasy, flashbacks, and what-ifs: 2016 pays off the past." Observations on Film Art (January 2, 2017)

Gorfinkel, Elena. "Sex, Sensation and Non-Human Interiority in Under the Skin." Jump Cut #57 (Fall 2016)

Greenwald, Glenn. "Russia Hysteria Infects WashPost Again: False Story About Hacking U.S. Electric Grid." The Intercept (December 31, 2016)

Hancock, James and Marcus Pinn. "The Best of 2016." Wrong Reel #217 (December 2016)

Kempenaar, Adam, et al. "Top Ten Films of 2016 (Pt. 1)." Filmspotting #616 (December 21, 2016)

---. "Top Ten Films of 2016 (Pt. 2)." Filmspotting #617 (December 21, 2016)

Kohagen, Axel, Geoff Todd and Mike White. "The Lone Wolf and Cub Saga." The Projection Booth #303 (December 31, 2016) ["The Lone Wolf & Cub Films (also known as the Babycart Films, the Kozure Okami Films, the Shogun Assassin series and more) are six movies released from 1972-1974 starring Tomisaburo Wakayama as Ogami Itto, the Shogun's decapitator. After he's framed by the villainous Yagyu clan, he travels the countryside with his young son in a tricked-out baby cart as an assassin and son for hire. Adapted from the manga by author Kazuo Koike, the films are both gorgeously contemplative and gory bloodbaths. Geoff Todd and Axel Kohagen join Mike to discuss the original manga, the television adaptations, the 1989 follow-up film, the 1992 reboot, and a handful of influences that the films have had on American popular culture."]

Mills, Mike. "On Filmmaking." The Close-Up (December 29, 2016)

Minto, Robert. "A Smuggling Operation: John Berger's Theory of Art." Los Angeles Review of Books (January 2, 2017)