GHOST (1990)

Wednesday, May 13 at 4:45pm

Staying with the supernatural theme, here's a love story with a difference.
A young, happy couple are deeply in love.
He, however, is murdered and finds himself trapped as a ghost and discovers that his death was no accident.
He tries to warn her about the danger that she is in, but as a ghost he can not be seen or heard by the living.
His only chance is to communicate through a psychic who doesn't even realise that her powers are real.

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)

Tuesday, May 5 in C607

Ghost Dog lives in a simple shack on the roof of an abandoned building.

His living companions are the pigeons that help him to communicate with the outside world.

He studies the 18th century book 'Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai.'

Every morning, he practices being a good samurai.

In the real world, Ghost Dog is a contract killer who steals expensive cars.

In the spirit of the samurai, he has pledged his loyalty to a mafia mobster named Louie, who saved his life many years before.

This colourful film highlights the parallels and differences between samurai and Mafia codes of honour and loyalty in the ghettos and mansions of New Jersey.

This is no real place for a true samurai, but Ghost Dog's honour and loyalty to his most interesting friends is memorable.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Wednesday, April 29 at 4:45pm

'fear can hold you prisoner, hope can set you free'

Andy Dufresne was a successful young banker who found himself mistakenly sent to jail for the murder of his wife and her lover. Andy was sent to Shawshank prison, a depressing place where brutality from both guards and other prisoners was commonplace.

Andy made friends with "Red" Redding, a lifer who had already spent many years inside. Red specialised in smuggling items into the prison for the other prisoners. Red soon discovered that Andy was different to the other prisoners. He improved the prison's tiny library, and helped those prisoners who wanted to study. He also handled the guards' tax returns, and even helped the Warden 'cook the books'.

Over the long years in jail, he gained the respect of most of the other prisoners and guards. More importantly, he never lost hope for the future - a hope he tried to pass on to the other prisoners.

Watch out for the beautiful moment when Andy surprised the whole prison by playing Mozart's 'The Marriage of Figaro'.

Amadeus (1984)

Tuesday, April 21 at 4:45pm

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart will forever be celebrated as one of the greatest composers of classical music.

Even though his music is still popular today, his life in 18th century Austria was a mess. When he wasn't writing or performing his music he would be drunk at a party.

This made one man, royal composer Antonio Salieri, very jealous of Mozart's talent and angry at Mozart's child-like behaviour. Salieri placed a spy, in the form of a maid, in the Mozart household in order to create Mozart's downfall.

Set in the last 10 years of Mozart's life, 'Amadeus' will stun you with classic performances of "The Marriage Of Figaro," "Don Giovanni" and "The Magic Flute," filmed in 200 year old Prague theatres, make you laugh at Mozart's energy and cry at the sadness of his death.

The Life of Brian
Wed 15th April C605

This is one of the few comedies that has remained popular to this day. It was made in the the late '70's by the British Comedy Group called Monty Python's Flying Circus. This gang of Oxford and Cambridge graduates has created some of the most memorable comic sketches which are still today repeated in bars and clubs around the globe.

The story is about a person who is continuously mistaken for Jesus. Just a few mangers away, a boy named Brian Cohen (Graham Chapman) is born. His mother, Mandy (Terry Jones), is no virgin Mary, however. That doesn't stop the Three Wise Men from delivering their gifts. However, when they recognize their mistake, they take back the gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and bring the presents to Jesus. Roughly 30 years later, Brian is a typical nobody living in Palestine - until he joins the People's Front of Judea. After proving himself, Brian earns the trust of the leader, Reg (John Cleese), and is allowed to participate in an attempted kidnapping of Pontius Pilate's wife. The plot fails, but Brian, after escaping from Pilate, ends up amassing a huge following of people who believe he is the Messiah. The Romans capture him and crucify him, and, despite many opportunities, no one rescues him from the cross.
This was Monty Python's first big budget film and it was instantly banned by many countries on religious grounds, the Christians didn't want anyone laughing at a film which took the time of Christ in a relaxed and comical view. Despite this is became a world classic.
Terry Jones directed, he was inexperienced and in a very foreign environment, but still the film runs smoothly and is shockingly funny throughout. For ESL students there will be some small problems especially having not been raised in a Christian culture some of the jokes may be missed, and the Monty Python team uses strong accents and slang which will cause further trouble. However this is a film that has crossed many borders already and I am confident that it will still be appreciated. For a clip go to http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/99524/Monty-Python-s-Life-Of-Brian/trailers

Memoirs of a Geisha

Tuesday, April 7 at 4:45pm

It was 1929 in a small Japanese fishing village.

Chiyo was only 9 years old when her father sold her and her sister to a geisha house in Kyoto.

"This one will be trouble," warned the owner of the geisha house, "her eyes are water."

As she grew older, Chiyo turned into a beautiful young woman who made Hatsumomo, the head geisha (played by Gong Li) very jealous. Her goal was to destroy Chiyo.

Hatsumomo's rival, Mameha rescued Chiyo and trained her in all the artistic and social skills a geisha had to master in a society of wealth, privilege, and political intrigue.

Then, just as Chiyo found fame and love, World War II broke out and changed the face of Japan and the geisha's world forever.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0397535/

2001: A Space Odyssey

1st April 4:45 pm in room C605

2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 science fiction film directed by Stanley Kubrick, written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke. Despite being made before America had made any advances into space this film shows incredible forethought, and even today this film looks wholly realistic. Ideas in the film were several decades in front of the advances in technology. Ideas such as video phones, phone cards, international space stations, which 40 years ago were laughable ideas show how ahead of it's time this film really was. Now the only thing that is really out of date is the title.

Kubrick really was a master of directing, especially in the perfect images and music. So precisely times and detailed, so intricate in background research: these make this film extremely re-watchable. Details like the complete silence of space become vivid moments and experiences.

The film deals with mans first experience with an alien object. The object has an almost religious feeling. It signifies the ability to move to the next evolutionary stage. But there is a problem: the artificial intelligence that runs the space ship has worked out that it could steal this opportunity for itself. It could steal this prize and all it has to do is kill it's human cargo.

The film deals with thematic elements of human evolution, technology, artificial intelligence, and extraterrestrial life, and is notable for its scientific realism, pioneering special effects, ambiguous and often surreal imagery, sound in place of traditional narrative techniques, and minimal use of dialogue.

Despite receiving mixed reviews upon release, 2001: A Space Odyssey is today recognized by many critics and audiences as one of the greatest films ever made; the 2002 Sight & Sound poll of critics ranked it among the top ten films of all time.^[1] It was nominated for four Academy Awards, and received one for visual effects. In 1991, it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in their National Film Registry.