News of the World has many features of a Western but its hero has much more psychological depth than Western heroes of old. The film takes its title from the main character’s job. Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd is a Civil War veteran who now makes his living by travelling from one small frontier town to … Continue reading “Searching for Answers in the West”
The Personal History of David Copperfield is far from the first adaptation of Charles Dickens’ semi-autobiographical coming-of-age novel. But Armando Iannucci has given the story a very new feel, while keeping Dickens’ humour and playing with that idea of autobiography and the art of inventing oneself through the act of writing. Iannucci is known for … Continue reading “David Copperfield: Dickens for the 21st Century”
The educational TV channel Lumni is offering the Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise film of West Side Story free to stream for collège and lycée classes. The film of the musical comedy by Bernstein, Sondheim and Robbins is a reworking of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, with the Capulets and Montagues being replaced by rival gangs … Continue reading “West Side Story Free for Classes”
We know from your messages that you’ve been waiting for them… Our first two film guides in the Reading Guide series, Much Ado About Nothing and 12 Angry Men, are now available, as is Jane Eyre. Our film guides accompany students as they watch the film, and provide them with skills for film analysis as … Continue reading “New Reading Guides Available”
Roald Dahl’s The Witches was published in 1983, a typically twisted tale of witches who look like normal women and want to eliminate children by turning them into mice. A second film version, this time by American director Robert Zemeckis, was scheduled for a November release. Like everything else, it’s on hold for lockdown, but … Continue reading “Roald Dahl’s The Witches”
In the Netflix adaptation of the Young Adult mystery-adventure by Nancy Springer, Millie Bobby Brown is playing Enola Holmes, the sister of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes! Over 130 years after the world’s most famous detective made his 1887 debut in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet, comes a new mystery-adventure about another … Continue reading “Enola Holmes: Not Elementary My Dear Sherlock!”
One of the greatest classics in English literature and the “most beloved” Jane Austen novel is back on screen in a new film version that mines the deep seam of humour in the novel. These activities and offer your students a new vision of marriage in the 19th century upper-class England and fit perfectly with … Continue reading ““Emma”: a New Austen Film”
The Visionary Honours is a new kind of awards ceremony: one that singles out art, media and entertainment that fosters social change and debate. The awards were created in 2019 by the Visionary Arts Foundation, which helps 16-29-year-olds get a foothold in the creative industries in the UK, encouraging them in their ambition to influence … Continue reading “Positive Vision”
Irish author Eoin Colfer imagined Artemis Fowl as a 12-year-old James Bond villain in a battle with the fairy underworld. The eight books starring the teen criminal mastermind have millions of fans, and there is now a film version directed by Kenneth Branagh. The film release was delayed by lockdown and was finally released directly … Continue reading “My Name is Artemis, Artemis Fowl”
As the race to the White House is about to resume after the pandemic , Jon Stewart’s latest movie — released on 1 July in France — takes you behind the scenes to help you decipher a political campaign. Setting the movie in Wisconsin, and using (wry) humour, Stewart wants people to realise politics is … Continue reading “Irresistible: U.S. Politics on Film”