hii

hiii

Get your own Droidmaker!

Dear Everyone,

I've just found out about a book that was made available online in PDF for free. It tells about the authors findings and thoughts on George Lucas's filmmaking, Industrial Light & Magic, Star Wars, Pixar, and more. "I hope you'll enjoy it - Droidmaker is really the only work of its kind - and I hope you'll feel free to share it with like-minded Star Wars/George Lucas fans, computer graphics folks, videogamers, movie geeks, and technophiles."

You can download the book from the author's blog: http://droidmaker.blogspot.com/2009/06/droidmaker-book-now-download...

Best,
Balázs

New Moon: "an uber chick flick"?

I've recently read about a film review about Twilight: New Moon from a gender-specific perspective that has interesting implications about the movie itself. If you don't get bored of conclusions drawn from facts & figures, check out the review of James Berardinelli:

"The New Moon Gender Gap"
http://www.reelviews.net/reelthoughts.php?identifier=618

WHICH MOVIE WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE IN?

I really like this article: Which movie would you want to live in?

But I can't decide which movie I'd like to live in. Maybe this one: Who framed Roger Rabbit?

Any ideas?

HAVE YOU ACTUALLY SEEN A KERESZTAPA? (And what films would you lie about having seen?)

Hi there!

Here's a quite amusing article about a recent survey which asked people to name the films they claim to have seen but never have actually: Have you actually seen the Godfather? What does this survey tell us about the present generation of British filmgoers, and do you think Hungarian filmgoers are more familiar with Hollywood classics? What films would you lie about having seen, and what films would you never admit to having seen even though you have seen them and secretly enjoyed the experience? Mama Mia! anyone?

The Godfather - trailer
Opening scene   Sonny's death

FREE ROMAN POLANSKI!

What's going on in Switzerland? Why this senseless persecution of an old man and a great director? Even the victim has called for the charges to be dropped.

If you don't know what's it all about and you'd like to make up your own mind you can watch a very good documentary all about what happened at Jack Nicholson's house in 1977 here: Roman Polanski: wanted and desired

PICK A FILM FOR THURSDAY!

Dear class,

here is the list of films which you can vote for to watch in Thursday's class. I have included brief details about each one. I will start the class 5 minutes early but obviously if we watch one of the longer films (particularly Alfie and the 1978 Invasion of the Body Snatchers) the class will over-run by 10-15 minutes.

1. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931) black & white, 98 minutes, directed by Rouben Mamoulian
- the 6th and still the best cinematic version of Robert Louis Stevenson't chilling tale, featuring brilliant use of point of view shots, wonderful lighting effects and a great performance by the makeup department (oh, and Fredric March isn't bad, either, in both of the title roles:)

2. My Darling Clementine (1946) b & w, 97 mins, John Ford.
- a classic western which retells the story of the events leading up to the Gunfight at the OK Corral between the Earp brothers and the Clanton gang. Much of the film was shot on location in the stupendous Monument Valley in Utah, and the photography and acting in this film is outstanding. Henry Fonda takes the lead role of Wyatt Earp and the hunky Victor Mature plays dangerous dentist Doc Holliday. If you like the Western genre, they don't come any better than this!

3. Sorry, Wrong Number (1948) b & w, 89 mins, Anatole Litvak.
- a very unusual suspense thriller about the hypochondriac daughter of a millionaire (played by Barbara Stanwyck). Spoilt Leona Stevenson is bedridden and communicates with the outside world by telephone. One day she overhears two men planning to kill someone when the telephone lines apparently get crossed. When she calls the phone company and the police, she is ignored. Gradually, as she makes more and more calls, the terrible truth begins to dawn on her. Her strangely absent husband is played by a young Burt Lancaster. An offbeat noir classic.

4. Rope (1948) colour, 81 mins, Alfred Hitchcock.
- perhaps Hitch's most claustrophobic film; this story of two rich students who murder their friend just to see if they can get away with it takes place almost entirely in their appartment before, during and after a dinner party which they give while the body of their victim lies hidden (and still warm!) in a chest. The film features several extremely long takes to increase the feeling of discomfort and tension, and a great performance by James Stewart, one of Hitch's favourite Hollywood leading actors. Based on the notorious real-life Leopold and Loeb case (for those of you who are interested in trivia:)

5. The Seventh Seal (Det sjunde inseglet) (1957) b & w, 96 mins, Ingmar Bergman. (In Swedish with English subtitles)
- this speaks for itself, really. It's one of the most famous films in cinema history and involves a long chess match between Death and a disillusioned medieval knight (played by Max Von Sydow) returning from the Crusades and travelling through a plague infested Swedish landscape. (This film was hilariously parodied in Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey)

6. Throne of Blood (Kumonosu-jo=Spider Web Castle) (1957) b & w, 105 mins, Akira Kurosawa. (In Japanese with English subtitles)
- another cinema classic, and regarded as one of Kurosawa's best films. He takes the plot of Shakespeare's Macbeth and transposes it to feudal Japan. Fantastic cinematography and featuring Kirosawa's favourite male lead, Toshiro Mifune, in the Macbeth role.

7. Dracula (1958) colour, 82 mins, Terence Fisher.
- the film that made Christopher Lee a star. For many, including myself, his name will always conjure up his truly chilling performance as the Count. As a bonus, the well-known horror film regular Peter Cushing plays Professor Van Helsing. This is a classic British horror film from the famous Hammer studios, and has a fantastic final scene.

8. Alfie (1966) colour, 114 mins, Lewis Gilbert. (In English with Hungarian subtitles)
- this is the first really great film that Michael Caine starred in. What's so unusual about the film is that the title character (Caine) is also the narrator (he often speaks directly to camera, thereby breaking the 4th wall), and his charm and humour, not to mention sex-appeal, draw us almost unconsciously into his amoral world of adultery and shallow relationships. However, his promiscuous lifestyle is soon to undergo a number of challenges which force Alfie to think about what his goals in life really are. It's a bit like Fielding's Tom Jones set in the London of the swinging 60s. Caine is great, but forget about Jude Law in the 2004 remake - it's like comparing Boyz 2 Men :)

9. The Wicker Man (1973) colour, 88 mins, Robin Hardy.
- this cult British horror film is set on a remote Scottish island and features Edward Woodward as a sexually naive police constable investigating the disappearance of a young girl on the island. A devout Christian, he is shocked to find that the islanders have some very strange pagan beliefs, especially about what to do to ensure that their crops produce a good harvest after several poor years. Christopher Lee gives a fine peformance as the owner of the island, Lord Summerisle. Once seen, this is a film you will not easily forget. (But don't bother going to see the dire remake with Nicholas Cage.)

10. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) colour, 115 mins, Philip Kaufman.
- this is that rare bird: a remake of a classic film that's even better than the original. Donald Sutherland and a few friends gradually become aware that the inhabitants of San Francisco are rapidly being replaced by a kind of alien plant which can take the form (and the life force) of nearby humans while they are asleep. They must try to find a way to reach safety whilst staying awake as long as they can and disguising the fact that they are the last humans left in the whole city. This is a truly disturbing science fiction film whose special effects still look very convincing more than 30 years later.

So that's what you've got to choose from. Please send the number and title of the film you would like to watch to me before Thursday morning. Think about it and maybe discuss it with some of the other members of the group (by email?). Probably only 3 or 4 votes will be enough to make one film the 'winner' so choose carefully

See you Thursday,

Frank

P.S. If you still haven't given or sent me your film review, then please do so asap. (If you don't know what 'asap' means then Google it:)

links

hello everybody

here are the links which were missing from the handouts:

nem vagyok a barátod trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVQMOWZf0kA

táltosember vs ikarus (short sketch film)
part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPVGhX3DDOs
part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rt69bqrB6Q

music videos:
hollywoodoo: erdő (the protagonist, gergő trócsányi is the singer)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37eQW9aqRZE

belga: hazakísérlek
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiHDMqJjXxU



oh and one more thing, a film lecture that they gave at the osaka film festival, 2007. their english is very cute :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJUiWLUWuv4

enjoy! :)

Hi there,

During my presentation last time, unfortunately I didn't have time to share the clip from Sweeney Todd with you. With that, I wanted to illustrate all the things I'd said about Tim Burton's movies.
First, without any comments, just watch it as if on the class:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD8uQzu0IL0&feature=related

After watching it, you might consider that Sweeney Todd is, I think, one of the cruelest films I've ever seen. (I'm not a big horror fan, though -- still I'm pretty much convinced that the bloody scenes and, especially, the effect of them is outstanding in regard to "bloodthirst"). Those knives in Sweeney's hands, you can be sure, will unleash horror and flows of blood on Fleet Street!

But apart from this respect, the film also tells much about the same drama that you can see, for example, in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Anakin Skywalker falls to the same hamartia (tragic error that causes the protagonist's fall) as Sweeney when he is overflown by his own hatred and want for revenge and disregards the warning signs telling about his future fall. (And also the love of Padmé.) Sweeney Todd seems to completely misjudge the value of life and also misses the affections of his mate Mrs. Lovett (played by Bonham Carter). Nevertheless, his tragedy is somewhat different than Anakin's because at the end of the film you find that it's questionable whether it would have been a good idea to give in to the woman.

On this second thought, I think I tend to grow more and more to like your idea, Frank, that oftentimes there is a femme fatales in Burton's films -- as it seems to be the case in this film. -- But I don't want to "kill the punchline." :-)

All in all, watch the film and think for yourselves about it (but don't show it to your little sister:-)).

Jane Austen: Undead but not forgotten?

Just had to share this with you - I know it's not about a film , strictly speaking, but I'm sure it soon will be one, and I just lurv crazy zombie movies!

FANGTASTIC! The Vampire film is back.

Finally, a new vampire film for people who really appreciate the genre - Let the Right One In. After the twee pretty-boy vampires in Twilight, we at last have a vampire film that's worthy of the name - and it's Swedish! What's more, there's the promise of further original horror movies coming from Europe in the near future. Hollywood, eat your heart out, literally!


You can read about it here, and watch a trailer here.


It looks like it's gonna be worth a pint or two of the red stuff (or failing that, you can just buy a ticket like everyone else:)

Have a good Easter everyone, and don't get a pain in the neck.

Just in case you didn't know it - the Titanic Film Festival is here again. It's a great opportunity to see recent arthouse movies from all around the world. There's nearly always something to interest all film tastes. Check it out here and let us know if you find something good.

Hello again,

I'm writing because I've found another way to insert IPA symbols in your texts.
As some of you have noted, "akkphon" might not be found in every version of MS Word, but there's still another font called "Lucida Sans Unicode" which has -- it seems -- all the necessary symbols. So, if you go to "Insert" and then "Symbol," you'll have to select this font type on the drop-down menu and then look for the things you need. It should work now, really.

Hi there,

Last time I promised to help in finding out how phonetic symbols can be inserted in texts using MS Word. These are the methods I've found so far:

1) Click on "Insert" and then on "Symbol." Select "akkphon" on the drop-down menu (this is the name of a font package that has every necessary phonetic symbols in it). This font is a so-called TrueType font and is among the ones that are normally built in MS Word. But if you really don't have it, then

2) here is this link directing you toward further help. It provides some downloads to get fonts that support IPA symbols. I hope it proves useful.

Note: if the first way works, you should render combos (combinations of keyboard buttons) to the most frequently used symbols to avoid the uncomfortable having-to-insert-it-again problem. (E.g., Ctrl+e could be rendered to the symbol of the schwa.)

vocab list

Dear Frank,
You wrote in your letter, that you have not seen my Vocab list, but I feel that there is a misunderstanding because I left it in your box last Monday and you have already corrected it, and I saw it also this Thursday. Could you please help me? Maybe it was me, who misunderstood something.
Thank you,
Andi

Hello everyone,

Last time Dani and I presented on a rerview written by an author about whom we sincerely didn't know anything. Now I've discovered that he's in fact a highly accomplished American online film critic. Here's a link to a Wikipedia article on James Berardinelli. He has written two books as well that have probably apperared in print: the 2003 and 2005 ReelViews : The Ultimate Guide to the Best 1,000 Modern Movies on DVD and Video. His site can be found here. There are plenty of reviews there to be checked out --- even for class.

Don't know if you're into comic book adaptations but there's an adult (18 certificate) one coming our way soon which looks quite interesting. Here's an article about it: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2009/feb/25/watchmen-dark-knight-green-hornet

and here's a review: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/mar/08/watchmen-review-philip-french and here's a profile of Alan Moore who wrote the original graphic novel (i.e. a comic book:) http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/mar/01/alan-moore-profile-watchmen

For those of you who couldn't care less about super heroes, here's an article about the celebrated but controversial female director, Mary Harron: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/mar/06/mary-harron-film

and, finally, this piece is about a film starring Daniel Craig which has upset a lot of people in Poland recently (and no, it's not A Quantum of Solace): http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/mar/05/defiance-film-poland

Happy reading, and please leave a comment if you have any thoughts about any of these topics (or anything else in the movie world).

Bye now,

Frank

(The Public Enemy, 1931)


Hi there!

I want to share a few interesting articles /trailers with you that have caught my attention in the last couple of days.

The first is an article about classic Depression era (1930s) Hollywood films: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2009/feb/25/depression-films-credit-crunch
This is interesting both for the wonderful films which are in the list (several of which you can find on YouTube if you're interested, or rent in places like the Puskin Mozi upstairs), and for the question of what will be the cinematic equivalents in our own time. What do you think? Are we already seeing films about the New Depression? What films are they? What are the current trends in film?

The second piece is also very interesting: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/feb/27/sexism-equality-hollywood
It's about sexism in cinema classics, and it evaluates some very well known classic films for how sexist they are. Can you think of some well known films which are particularly sexist (Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs springs to mind), or which give women strong leading roles (e.g. Stephen Daldry's The Hours)?

Speaking of Tarantino, here's a trailer for his latest effort: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2009/feb/24/inglourious-basterds-tarantino-trailer
along with a brief review/evaluation of the trailer. What are your thoughts on Tarantino and his films?

Finally, here's a trailer for a much more serious film which looks very interesting: http://vimeo.com/2992103 I wonder if any of you saw An Inconvenient Truth, and if you did, what you thought of it. The comments here are interesting as well. This kind of cinema about current affairs and issues tends to provoke strong reactions. What are your feelings about films like this? What do you think about the issue of man-made global warming?

If you have any thoughts about any of these topics then please take a few minutes to share them with us.

Cheers,

Frank

hi
I would need a partner to do the presentation for this week...
so, if there is anyone who does not have a partner yet, please contact me:
andikaaa@msn.com
thx

Vampire is the new Prince Charming

Vampires are the new hot stuff in Hollywood. True, they don’t get any awards, but the screaming fans and the incoming millions sure make it up for the lack.

But what is it exactly which makes these bloodsuckers so popular? Aren’t they supposed to be terrifying creatures making people scream and faint at their sight? Oh no, not in Hollywood. Movie-makers soon realized that the traditional image of vampires would just not do anymore. So what did they do? They began to cast gorgeous actors and actresses and essentially killed everything which makes a vampire a vampire.

The trend started somewhere around the appearance of Brad Pitt in The interview with the vampire in 1994. His character, Louis, was passionate and caring and had such a sad life story that people couldn’t help but love him. And this is the thing in these movies: apart from their diet, these vampires are so human that the whole idea of being horrified of the just simply vanished.

Then came Gerard Butler in Dracula 2000. His portrayal of the count was quite different from Bela Lugosi’s back in 1931. This vampire was handsome and made all the girls swoon. Yeah, not your average pale-white and red-eyed monster either.

Yet the biggest blasphemy – at least according to diehard vampire fans – came with Twilight and the dazzling Edward Cullen. No fangs, no burning in the sunlight and no hunting for humans. Instead he looks like a normal boy - well, apart from the fact that he sparkles in the sunlight - and hunts for animals. Not the traditional vampire either.

And where does this whole trend lead? To insanity of course, just as the producers want it, with tons of girls going and watching the same movie ten times and buying everything which is related to their favourite bloodsucker. And not just girls, unfortunately adults have been going crazy as well. (Have you ever heard about Twilight-moms? If not then get on your knees and thank God, if yes, then you know how hard it is to reach the toilet before your breakfast makes an appearance...)

Spoiling the vampires and making them fancy men is certainly embarassing for the whole mythical world but at least Hollywood gets its money and fans can lay in their bed at night, wishing a vampire would jump in through their windows and bit them. Or if their much awaited creature doesn’t show up, they can still go to their dentists to get fangs and use the Cullen Body Glitter to sparkle in the sun.

And here's a video, just so you can see that fans would do anything - even if it means total embarassment (although I think they don't even think that what they're doing is totally pitiful...)