Hello, everyone!

We've just finished watching "Poltergeist," a movie with a lot of scares and thrills, about a malevolent ghost that terrorizes a suburban family.

A lot of people enjoy scary movies -- even if they scream and hide and peek through their fingers as they watch. What compels us to watch movies that frighten us? Do you like scary movies? Write a paragraph and tell us your views, and why you think scary movies are so popular.

Good day, all!

We just finished watching "Ghost," which shows one interpretation of what happens after death.

Different cultures around the world have a variety of beliefs about what happens when we die. Take a moment and write a paragraph describing what you think happens after death. As always, we look forward to reading your thoughts.

Hi everyone!

I hope you all enjoyed watching "The Shawshank Redemption". For your next blog entry, please share your opinion of the film with us all by writing a short movie review. We all look forward to reading your thoughts.

Big

Big Welcome back to the blog! For your homework tonight, please attach a comment giving your ideas about the following topic: In order, what are five important things that happened in the movie Big? Why were these events important? Thanks, everyone. Alan and I are looking forward to reading what you write!

According to Vincent

At the beginning of the movie Collateral, Vincent tells Max what he thinks about Los Angeles:

"Tell you the truth, whenever I'm here I can't wait to leave. It's too sprawled out, disconnected. You know? ... 17 million people. This has got to be the fifth biggest economy in the world and nobody knows each other. I read about this guy who gets on the MTA here, dies. Six hours he's riding the subway before anyone notices his corpse doing laps around L.A., people on and off sitting next to him. Nobody notices."

The story Vincent tells, in addition to being shocking, is a pretty strong (and not very positive!) statement about what he thinks people in Los Angeles are like.

So, what does Vincent think about Los Angeles? Do you agree with him? Why or why not?

Please share your thoughts in the form of a "comment" on this post. (You don't need to write very much, but you should write in complete sentences.) Please do this by class on Friday, Sept. 30.

That movie with Tom Cruise in it

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the late posting on this! Here is Monday's homework (due Wednesday). It is based on the movie we started watching - Collateral.

From the part of the movie that we watched, please write a comment sharing your thoughts in the following three areas ...

1) Examples of American culture (at least 3 examples; try to see if you can find any examples that are unique not just to the U.S. in general but to Los Angeles in particular!)
2) Compare this movie to the other movies we've seen so far this semester (4-5 sentences)
3) Explain what you think will happen next (4-5 sentences)

Let me know if you have questions!

Plot Questions, Opinion Questions

Hi everyone,

My apologies for the late posting on this assignment - but you can now upload your responses to the Beverly Hills Cop questions you had for homework this weekend!

As we discussed in class, you'll need to answer two questions: one question from the "plot" section of the handout (this question was assigned to you in class on Friday), and one question of your choice from the "opinion" section of the handout.

Please be sure to state which "plot" question you are answering (you can include a short sentence or even just a heading with the number of your question - no need to get fancy or re-type the entire question!).

As always, I look forward to seeing what you write. Happy posting!