The movie which fires women's imaginations

~Dirty Dancing~

''That was the summer of 1963, when everybody called me 'Baby' 

and it din't occur to me to mind.''

Baby (Jennifer Grey) is travelling with her family to Kellerman's resort. It appears to be a typical family holiday: boring dinners with family, silly activities.
While dancing, Baby's eyes are drawn to the professional dancer hired to entertain guests: Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze). He is dancing with penny Johnson who also happens to teach dancing in the resort. On the very same day, Baby helps one of the workers carry a watermelon to the emplyees' cabin. She wintesses some bumping and grinding. Not only is this is the moment where Baby's path crosses with Johnny's, but also the story takes off. 

This scene where Baby and Johnny are singing and dancing at the same time, was not supposed to be in the film. Actors were fooling around when the camera was on. The director did commend the scene, that he decided to place it in the film. 

She is like a wind song is performed by Patrick Swayze himself. He wrote it for his beloved wife. 

When in 1987, the film was shown to one of the greatest directors, he said: '' Burn the negative and pick your insurance.'' He thought that it was worthless.

Dirty Dancing is one of the most romantic films of all time.

Task: Watch the film and write a review (300 words). Do yout think that Dirty Dancing is a all time film or a total flop?

Will Smith - the most powerful actor in Hollywood

Willard Carroll "Will" Smith Jr. is a widely known American actor, producer, rapper and songwriter. He was born on September 15, 1968 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  to Caroline, a school board administrator, and Willard Carroll Smith, Sr. who was a refrigeration engineer. He was raised baptist. Smith attended Overbrook High School. What is interesting, he could have studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology but he said he never wanted to apply to college because he "wanted to rap". 

Smith started his recording career as The Fresh Prince in the hip hop band DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. They performed humorous songs and became very famous. They released 3 albums with hits like "Parents Just Don't Understand",  "Rock the House" or "Girls Ain't Nothing But Troubles". In 1998 the group won the first Grammy awarded in the Rap category. 

What could go wrong? - you may ask. Well, in the years 1998-1999 Smith spent his money so freely that in 1990 he was almost a bankrupt. With some help came the NBC television network - he was to play in a sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air". This is how his acting career started.  Will Smith set for himself the goal of becoming "the biggest movie star in the world", studying box office successes' common characteristics.

Smith didn't give up his music career, with the group he released another album with the hit "Summertime" for which they got the second in their career Grammy award. At that time many of Hollywood producers started to offer him roles in their movies. His first major roles were in the drama "Six Degrees of Separation" from 1993 and the action film "Bad Boys" from 1995. 

In 1996 Smith starred in "Independence Day" - a massive blockbuster becoming the second highest-grossing film in history at the time and bringing a huge popularity to the actor. 

In his acting career he starred in more than 20 movies, he was also a producer of many of them. One of the best are: "The Pursuit of Happyness","Ali", "I Am Legend" and "Seven Pounds", which is my favorite. Personally, I consider will Smith as a great actor because of his acting skills, his sensitivity in playing and the perfect choose of the films he plays in - in my opinion he plays only in those ones that he knows that will be good.

Smith has been nominated for five Golden Globe Wards and two Academy Awards and honestly... I don't know why he doesn't have an Oscar yet!

In April 2007 "Newsweek" called him "the most powerful actor in Hollywood". He is the only actor to have eight consecutive films gross over $100 million in the domestic box office, eleven consecutive films gross over $150 million internationally, and eight consecutive films in which he starred open at the number one spot in the domestic box office tally. He has been ranked as the most bankable star worldwide by "Forbes". As of 2016, his films have grossed $7.5 billion at the global box office. Even president Obama admitted that a biographical movie about him was ever made, he would like Will Smith to play his role. He also spoke to Smith about the possibility of making a movie about the election of 2008. 

It may not be a surprise, but Will Smith is my favorite actor. I watch all of his movies and they never dissappointed me. If you are also interested, his newest one, "Collateral Beauty" is now in cinemas. :)

Task: Think about your favorite actor/actress and write a letter to a friend in which you will describe that person. 

Sundance Film Festival

The biggest annual festival of independent films.

For the first time, it was held in September 1978, under the name of Utah/Us Film Festival, and was ment to attract as many artists as possible to Utah.

One of the factors which led the to development of this festiwal is a a commitment of Robert Retford, whose name managed to attract the attention of a huge number of people.

The largest independent film festival in the United States. It comprises competitive sections for American and international dramatic and documentary film, both feature films and short films and a group of out-of-competition sections, including NEXT, New Frontier, Spotlight, Midnight, Premieres and Documentary Premieres. 

History of Sundance Film Festival in brief: 

•  It was founded by Sterling Van Wagene, John Earle, and Cirina Hampton Catania. 

•  The goal of the festival was to showcase  American-made films, highlight the potential of independent film, and to increase visibility for filmmaking in Utah.

• The main focus of the event was to conduct a competition for independent American films.

•  In 1979, Sterling Van Wagenen left to head up the first-year pilot program of what was to become the Sundance Institute.

• More than 60 films were screened at the festival that year, and panels featured many well-known Hollywood filmmakers. 

• Several factors increased the growth of Utah/US Film Festival - the involvement of actor and Utah resident Robert Redford, the common hunger for more venues that would celebrate American-made films.

• In 1981, the festival moved to Park City, Utah, and changed the dates from September to January. 

TASK: find out what the Sundance Institute is and write about its main goals. 

New Year's-Themed Movies

There is  always a lot of pressure on New Year's Eve - decisions what to do, where to go and what to wear may cause a lot of problems.  It is said that the way you spend New Year's Eve is how you will spend the entire year.

While it can be fun and nice to go out with  friends  and hit some great party,  it can also be a horrible experience -  huge amounts of people make us spend hours waiting to get into a club or bar, drunk people make us nervous and after some time we really desire to come back home.

 There is  a great alternative to celebrating New Year's: staying in and watching a New Year's Eve-themed movies !

Some of the greatest American movies to watch during New Year's Eve:

1.  WHEN HARRY MET SALLY - One of the most iconic romantic comedies made in the USA. It is very hilarious and features one of the best New Year's Eve scenes of all time.

2. AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER - Another classic romance. It shows how romantic and tragic, a New Year's Eve kiss can be.

3. NEW YEAR'S EVE - Funny and entertaining stories connected with New Year's Eve confusion. This is a perfect movie to enjoy with group of friends or during girl's pyjama party.

4. BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY - Although the whole action is not strictly connected with New Year's Eve, there is a lot of Christmassy mood , what makes it a perfect choice for this special night.

5. IN SEARCH OF MIDNIGHT KISS - The action takes place on 31st of December. Two lost souls find themselves on the dating site to survive New Year's Eve together

TASK: Find out and write down some traditions connected with celebrating New Year's Eve in United States. 

Back to the Future

If  you're a cinema lover you probably know this movie by heart. And at some point you fell in love with Michael J. Fox.

   Marty McFly, a typical teenager of the eighties, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-travelling DeLorean by his mad friend Dr. Emmett Brown. Marty lands in 1955 and faces the complicated story of his future parents in which he unintentionally takes part in.

  The success of the film led to its continuation. In Back to the Future Part II Marty needs to fix his own future while in Back to the Future Part III he helps his friend Emmett Brown to face the culture of Wild West and conquest the love of his life.

  Despite the fact that I'm not a science-fiction lover I strongly recommend this trilogy simply because it is a story about consequences of previously made decisions. The effect is intensified in the way that it concerns a story of Marty's parents and leads to a conclusion about our own lives.

I hope you will enjoy this cinema's classic.

Westerns versus 19th-century American reality

Contrary to the popular belief, the Old West was much more peaceful than American cities are today. The real culture of violence on the frontier during the latter half of the nineteenth century sprang from the U.S. government’s policies toward the Indians. In spite of the violence, what were the biggest myths perpetuated in Westerns? What productions were the truest to form? What common elements were historically accurate?

The Western is a genre of various arts which tell stories set primarily in the later half of the 19th century in the American Old West, often centering on the life of a nomadic cowboy or gunfighter armed with a revolver and a rifle who rides a horse. Westerns often stress the harshness of the wilderness and frequently set the action in an arid, desolate landscape of deserts and mountains. Often, the vast landscape plays an important role, presenting a "...mythic vision of the plains and deserts of the American West". Specific settings include ranches, small frontier towns, saloons, railways and isolated military forts of the Wild West. Most are set in the American colonial era.

                                               

Who do we not see in westerns, although they were there in the real West? Until 1960's, black people were almost completely absent from westerns, although in history they were about one seventh of all cowboys. Hispanics another one seventh of the cowboys, were almost as invisible; the 1978 miniseries Centennial in 1978 was one of the first to give them a role as cowpunchers. We often hear complaints about how native Americans are shown in westerns, but at least they are there, and not always as villains.

But the racial blind spots have largely been corrected today. What we still do not see are events and issues of the utmost importance to the actual people of the West. Labor unions in the gold mines of Virginia City, Nevada and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; the fight over free silver, the Grange and the Populists. Republican and Democratic party politics and presidential elections are never shown; sometimes an election on statehood is shown, but with the party politics left out. Farm co-ops and their struggle with the railroads are hardly ever seen.

An example: in the early 1900s, Glacier National Park, home of the Blackfeet people, was advertised to Eastern tourists as one of the last places you could see the American Indians, who most whites thought would all be gone soon. Thousands of tourists came and saw scenes like this:

White people who had never seen a Native American before saw these folks, and made movies with "Indians" who looked like this.  And so every Native American in every western, from the Yaqui to the Apache to the Kiowa to the Oglala, ended up looking like the Blackfeet of Glacier National Park.  You rarely saw natives who looked or dressed like this:

The movie image is based on reality, yes, but we should definitely remember how loosely connected with the facts it actually is.

Conclusions? This barely scratches the surface of the similarities and differences between the historical Wild West and the kaleidoscopic range of movie versions of it. Hundreds of books have been written about the Wests of film and reality.  Overall, the trend has been toward a more realistic depiction of the West in movies, with the reality of racial diversity better portrayed, historical sources better consulted, and less tendency to draw superhuman characters. 

I've focused mostly on a racial aspect but there are a lot of different problems being constantly distorted if it comes to the culture and the history of the U.S.A. TASK: Make a brainstorm about the Westerns (19th c.) or any other period of the American history of your choice, think of some different aspects that are not completely faithfully reflected in, for instance, cinematography. Discuss your conclusions in groups. 

Johnny Depp

John Christopher Depp II ( June 9, 1963 in Owensboro) is an  American actor, director and musician,  three times nominated for an Oscar. He is considered to be  one of the most versatile actors of his day and age in Hollywood.

 Depp's  family is of German and Irish origin.  Johnny Depp also admits to Indian roots, saying in an interview that his great-grandmother came from Cherokee.

In 1973, Johnny's  family moved from Kentucky to Miramar (FL) near Miami. In 1978, Depp's parents divorced. The following year, Johnny eventually dropped out of school.

Playing a major role in the TV series 21 Jump Street, helped him to gain popularity among teenagers.

   

Johnny Depp  is also known for his regular collaboration with director Tim Burton. Burton and Depp worked so far on eight films: Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood (film), Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Alice in Wonderland and Dark Shadows.

Many times he played a duet with Helena Bonham Carter, among others, in films: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Alice in Wonderland, Alice Through the Looking Glass and The Lone Ranger.

Johnny Depp made his debut as the director and screenwriter in the film Brave, where he also played a major role.

Depp has generally chosen roles which he found interesting, rather than those he thought would succeed at the box office. However, In 2003, Depp starred in the Walt Disney Pictures adventure film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which was a major box office success. He earned widespread acclaim for his comic performance as pirate Captain Jack Sparrow  and received a nomination for the Academy Award for the Best Actor.

His most significant roles: 

Edward Scissorhands

Captain Jack Sparrow

Barnabas Collins

Ed Wood

James Barrie

TASK:

Choose one film with Johnny Depp (whichever you like) watch it and write a  review about it. Do not forget to justify why you have chosen this particular film.The review should not be shorter than 200 words and not longer than 300.

American Christmas Horror Movies

Not all of us like horror movies, however, watching one in a snowy December evening may be a nice alternative to the mainstream classics (if you seek that kind of entertainment, please check out Karola's post) as Titanic or Home-Alone. Even though I am not a huge fan of horror movies myself (too gripping), they may possibly reflect the Christmas atmosphere even better than those pleasant ones.

Sometimes, conjoining comic and terrifying elements may occur to be as tasty as the combination of sweet and salty (just quoting one of our teachers of American Pop Culture), if your nerves are weak though, just give a try one of the lightest proposals.

1. Christmas Cruelty (2013)

If you are looking for a movie that is brutal and pulls no punches, Christmas Cruelty is for you. We follow a serial killer and his victims as they all prepare for Christmas in their own ways. This year it doesn’t matter if you have been naughty or nice, Santa is coming to town no matter what, and he knows where you live.

2. Gremlins (1984)

A boy inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet and unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters on a small town. 

3. Tales from the Crypt (1972)

It’s the opening section of the third (and best) of Freddie Francis’ anthology films for Amicus that concerns us here. It’s Christmas Eve, and Joan Collins has just embedded a fire iron in her husband’s head as her daughter sleeps upstairs. A radio announcement that there’s an escaped lunatic in the area dressed as Santa Claus could provide her with the perfect alibi, as long as he doesn’t make it into the house before the police arrive.

The film that started the whole psycho-Santa subgenre, it may not be the most iconic example (the notorious marketing campaign alone for 1984’s Silent Night, Deadly Night gives that film that honour), but with a lean 12-minute running time it’s easily the most effective.

 

4. Christmas Evil (1980)

The sole credit for director Lewis Jackson, this terrifically strange one off predated Silent Night, Deadly Night’s notion that a traumatic childhood encounter with Santa Claus might trigger an unhealthy desire to dress up as the Coca-Cola Company’s benevolent mascot and slaughter those on the naughty list. Harry has been obsessed with Christmas ever since he caught mommy getting a little bit more than a kiss from Santa when he was a kid. Donning the suit and kitting out his van, Harry takes to the streets to deliver presents to hospitals and murder those who fail to recognise the true spirit of the season.

5.  Black Christmas (2006)

 
An escaped maniac returns to his childhood home on Christmas Eve, which is now a sorority house, and begins to murder the sorority sisters one by one.

 6. Jack Frost (1997)

A father, who can't keep his promises, dies in a car accident. One year later, he returns as a snowman, who has the final chance to put things right with his son before he is gone forever. 

If you have a free moment between cleaning, eating and spending incredibly long and worisome hours with your family - check out any of the mentioned movies (please bear in mind that not all of them may be proper for your age). Some of them may be considered as classics, being rather funny nowadays that scary. I recommend these newer ones for fans of strong thrillers with a lot of violence, but causing us the creeps, both types of horror movies can make us appreciate the warmth of home and the company of our family even more.

SOURCES: http://www.imdb.com



TASKS:

1. Try to think about possible pros and cons of horror movies. If you're not a fan of that type of movies, talk to your friends who like them. Discuss.

2. Write your review of a Christmas movie that you've watched. (It doesn't have to be a horror movie! Think about aspects that make Christmas even more vivid and magical.) (200-250 words)

The Queen of Diamonds

The Real Life of Marilyn Monroe

Women all over the world dream of having her sex appeal. Men all over the world dream of having a woman like her. What is the truth about one of the most influential women in the world?

                                 Norma Jeane Mortenson. 

Born in 1926 in Lemmon, South Dakota. Grew up in several foster homes. Had a turbulent love life and didn't like expensive jewellery at all.

CHILDHOOD

Marilyn grew up in eleven different foster homes as her mother Gladys Baker Mortenson suffered from mental illness. Her biological father remained unknown. The constant move from one foster house to another affected also her background education.

PRIVATE ISSUES

Apart from childhood nuisances, the symbol of sex appeal had a turbulent love life. She experienced heartache over the failure of her three marriages. At sixteen, Marilyn worked in an aircraft plant and married a man she called Daddy (Jim Dougherty) but got divorced in 1946. It appeared to be a marriage of convenience (she escaped from an orphanage or a new foster home). Her second marriage to Joe DiMaggio ended within a year. Marilyn's third marriage with the symbol of sex Arthur Miller ended due to her self-destructive behavior.

CAREER

While working at the Radioplane factory Jane was spot by David Conover. She started her career as a pin-up model as her figure was suitable for advertisements and men's magazines.  Finally she became famous for playing 'dumb blonde' characters. Monroe appeared in over thirty movies but also faced a scandal when it was revealed that she had posed for nude photos before becoming a star.

MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS

Her private life received much attention. Apart from three husbands, Monroe had several boyfriends including politicians, athletes and celebrities. All the love affairs led to her mental problems. She suffered from anxiety, abuse and depression. In 1962 Marilyn was found dead at her mansion in Los Angeles. The cause of death was noted as barbiturade overdose and stated as a suicide several conspiracy theories are considered. 

        Lying on her bed, the sweet blonde innocent allurer died leaving the truth of her real image unknown forever.