Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Blood Simple

In case you are interested in reading the script for Blood Simple, it can be found here.

Roger Ebert's essay on the 15th anniversary of the film can be found here.

Ebert's original review of Blood Simple is here.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Blog Post #9--Film Noir

Having read Paul Schrader's Notes on Film Noir, please discuss Double Indemnity and your choice of another film noir that Schrader talks about. Discuss, in at least 3-4 well-developed paragraphs, the films' implicit meanings and how the directors portray these meanings cinematically. Be sure to use lots of visual examples (camera angles, shots, movement, editing, sequencing, lighting, mise en scene, etc.). Look at representation of the characters and issues. Ask yourself, Why? For example, Why did the director choose to light a scene a certain way?

In order to make this a manageable task, choose a 5-minute scene from each film and focus on that scene and how it relates to the film as a whole.

Remember, these exercises are preparing you for the Presentation assessment.

Be sure to read Schrader's essay and tie in some of what he says into your essay.

I'm looking forward to reading your essays. (Really, I am!)

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Movie on TV Alert

For those of you fans of Casablanca, it is on at 9pm on Monday, November 29, on TCM.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

For those of you who are Tim Burton fans, he'll be in Toronto next week:


Also, here's John's web site:


Be sure to thank him because he's volunteering his time so generously...

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Film Forum

As I mentioned in class today, the Film Forum in New York City is a great place to spend a few hours. If you go to NYC regularly, make your way to Chelsea and spend some time with some real cinema geeks!