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Sense and sensibility
The rainman
Titanic
Saving private Ryan
Pearl Harbour
A Christmas Carol
Will Hunting
12 YEARS' A SLAVE
Harry Potter
Alice in Wonderland
Pride and Prejudice
Oliver Twist
The boy in the striped pyjamas
Life is Beautiful
Forrest Gump
The Hobbit
Schindler's list
The lord of the ring

Inside out

Apollo 11

Little women

The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

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The Titanic strikes an iceberg and sinks on its first voyage to New York on the 15th of April 1912. 1500 passengers out of the 2200 died. This film is 3 hours long and the director is James Cameron. The film isn't about the journey but about the love story between two passengers. The main characters are 3: Rose a 17-year- old girl played by Kate Winslet, trapped in an engagement with Cal Hockley ( Billy Zane), her rich fiancé and Jack Dawson played by Leonardo di Caprio, a poor artist travelling third class.The movie opens in modern times. they are searching a blue diamond which was lost when the ship sank. Rose, a 101-year-old woman gives information about it. Then she tells her story and the movie goes back in time till when the ship sank and Jack died. In the film computer effects are generated and the music is very enjoyable. look for the song titanic

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Rain Man is a 1988 American road comedy-drama film directed by Barry Levinson and written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass. It tells the story Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise), who discovers that his  father has died and bequeathed  all his money to his other son, Raymond (Dustin Hoffman), an autistic savant, of whose existence Charlie was unaware.  Valeria Golino also stars as Charlie's girlfriend Susanna. Morrow created the character of Raymond after meeting Kim Peek, a real-life savant.

Rain Man premiered at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Golden Bear, the festival's highest prize

Raymond is 45 but he is like a child. he is autistic and lives in a mental hospital. he has an obsession with routine and order. He must do the same things every day at the same time and in the same way. Every morning he gets up at 7 o'clock, he always has pancakes with maple syrup. In the afternoon he reads about baseball. he always puts his books back in the same way At 5 he watches "People's court" on TV. he goes to bed every night at 11. He always buys the clothes in the same shop. But he also has special abilities He is very good at Maths and can do complicated calculations in his head. He has a photographic memory and can remember all telephone numbers. He helps his brother win a large sum of money in Las Vegas as he remembers all the cards. he can't cross the street, he can't make coffee, he can't find his home, he doesn't like cars or flying, he doesn't like the rain

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Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 American epic war film set during the invasion of Normandy in World War II. It was directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat. It is noted for its graphic and realistic portrayal of war. The film is especially notable for the intensity of its opening 27 minutes, which depict the Omaha Beach assault of June 6, 1944. Afterwards, it follows Tom Hanks as United States Army Rangers Captain John H. Miller. He and seven other soldiers search for paratrooper James Francis Ryan (played by Matt Damon), who is the last-surviving brother of four servicemen. Rodat based the story on a monument dedicated to eight bothers killed in the American Civil War.

Saving Private Ryan was well received by audiences and got considerable critical acclaim, winning several awards for film, cast, and crew. It earned significant returns at the box office, grossing US$481.8 million worldwide. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated the film for eleven Academy Awards. Spielberg's direction won him a second Academy Award for Best Director. Filmmaker Oliver Stone, however, has accused the film of promoting "the worship of World War II as the good war". He likens it to films such as Gladiator and Black Hawk Down that he believes were well made, but may have contributed to America's readiness for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saving_private_ryan
https://lessonsonmovies.com/saving_private_ryan.html

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Saving Private Ryan: Lessons On Movies.com: ESL Lessons

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Lessons On Movies.com. ESL lesson plan on Saving Private Ryan. Complete with printable handout, 8 online quizzes and mp3.

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Pearl Harbor is a 2001 American romantic war drama film directed by Michael Bay, produced by Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer and written by Randall Wallace. It stars Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale, Josh Hartnett, Cuba Gooding Jr., Tom Sizemore, Jon Voight, Colm Feore, and Alec Baldwin. The film is a version of the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941, focusing on a love story. The movie starts out with two young boys(Rafe,Danny)who are best friends and grow up together. Rafe is always trying to portect Danny. Both boys love to fly, so in the movie they both are Army Piolts, and are two of the best fliers. Rafe falls in love with a Navy nurse Evelyn, and then volunteers to go to War and fight for the British. He goes and tells Danny that he was assigned so he wouldn't go too. When Rafe is thought to be dead both Danny and Evelyn are killed but eventually end up falling in love with DAnny.Then Rafe turnes up alive. All this time Japan was planning an attack on Pearl Harbor and attacks on December 7, 1941 and that is the start of WW2 for the U.S. Danny and Rafe pull together and shoot down 7 planes and are promoted to Captins. Evelyn decides that she has to choose Danny because she is pregnant with his baby. then there is a top secret mission with Rafe and Danny involved and on this mission they get revenge for Pearl Harbor by bombing Tokyo.

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Pearl Harbor is a 2001 American romantic period war drama film directed by Michael Bay, produced by Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer and written by Randall Wallace. It stars Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale, Josh Hartnett, Cuba Gooding Jr., Tom Sizemore, Jon Voight, Colm Feore, and Alec Baldwin.

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About the film - informazioni sul film
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1067106/plotsummary/

A Christmas Carol First edition cover (1843)
Author | Charles Dickens
Original title | A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas.
Illustrator | John Leech
Country | England
Published | 19 December 1843; 179 years ago
Publisher | Chapman & Hall
Text | A Christmas Carol at Wikisource

A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, commonly known as A Christmas Carol, is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. A Christmas Carol recounts the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. After their visits, Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man.

Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol during a period when the British were exploring and re-evaluating past Christmas traditions, including carols, and newer customs such as cards and Christmas trees

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A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, commonly known as A Christmas Carol, is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. A Christmas Carol recounts the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. After their visits, Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man.

Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol during a period when the British were exploring and re-evaluating past Christmas traditions, including carols, and newer customs such as Christmas cards and Christmas trees. He was influenced by the experiences of his own youth and by the Christmas stories of other authors, including Washington Irving and Douglas Jerrold. Dickens had written three Christmas stories prior to the novella, and was inspired following a visit to the Field Lane Ragged School, one of several establishments for London's street children. The treatment of the poor and the ability of a selfish man to redeem himself by transforming into a more sympathetic character are the key themes of the story. There is discussion among academics as to whether this is a fully secular story, or if it is a Christian allegory.

Published on 19 December, the first edition sold out by Christmas Eve; by the end of 1844 thirteen editions had been released. Most critics reviewed the novella favourably. The story was illicitly copied in January 1844; Dickens took legal action against the publishers, who went bankrupt, further reducing Dickens's small profits from the publication. He went on to write four other Christmas stories in subsequent years. In 1849 he began public readings of the story, which proved so successful he undertook 127 further performances until 1870, the year of his death. A Christmas Carol has never been out of print and has been translated into several languages; the story has been adapted many times for film, stage, opera and other media.

A Christmas Carol captured the zeitgeist of the mid-Victorian revival of the Christmas holiday. Dickens had acknowledged the influence of the modern Western observance of Christmas and later inspired several aspects of Christmas, including family gatherings, seasonal food and drink, dancing, games and a festive generosity of spirit.

The book is divided into five chapters, which Dickens titled " staves".

A Christmas Carol opens on a bleak, cold Christmas Eve in London, seven years after the death of Ebenezer Scrooge's business partner, Jacob Marley. Scrooge, an ageing miser, dislikes Christmas and refuses a dinner invitation from his nephew Fred-the son of Fan, Scrooge's dead sister. He turns away two men who seek a donation from him to provide food and heating for the poor and only grudgingly allows his overworked, underpaid clerk, Bob Cratchit, Christmas Day off with pay to conform to the social custom.

That night Scrooge is visited at home by Marley's ghost, who wanders the Earth entwined by heavy chains and money boxes forged during a lifetime of greed and selfishness. Marley tells Scrooge that he has a single chance to avoid the same fate: he will be visited by three spirits and must listen or be cursed to carry much heavier chains of his own.

The first spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Past, takes Scrooge to Christmas scenes of Scrooge's boyhood, reminding him of a time when he was more innocent. The scenes reveal Scrooge's lonely childhood at boarding school, his relationship with his beloved sister Fan, and a Christmas party hosted by his first employer, Mr Fezziwig, who treated him like a son. Scrooge's neglected fiancée Belle is shown ending their relationship, as she realises that he will never love her as much as he loves money. Finally, they visit a now-married Belle with her large, happy family on the Christmas Eve that Marley died. Scrooge, upset by hearing Belle's description of the man that he has become, demands that the ghost remove him from the house.

Stave three

The second spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Present, takes Scrooge to a joyous market with people buying the makings of Christmas dinner. The Ghost then takes Scrooge to Bob Cratchit's family feast and introduces his youngest son, Tiny Tim, a happy boy who is seriously ill. The spirit informs Scrooge that Tiny Tim will die unless the course of events changes. Afterwards, the spirit and Scrooge travel to celebrations of Christmas in a miner's cottage, in a lighthouse, and on a ship at sea. Scrooge and the ghost then visit Fred's Christmas party. Before disappearing, the spirit shows Scrooge two hideous, emaciated children named Ignorance and Want. He tells Scrooge to beware them and mocks Scrooge's concern for their welfare.

The third spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, shows Scrooge a Christmas Day in the future. The silent ghost reveals scenes involving the death of a disliked man whose funeral is attended by local businessmen only on condition that lunch is provided. His charwoman, laundress and the local undertaker steal his possessions to sell to a fence. When he asks the spirit to show a single person who feels emotion over his death, he is only given the pleasure of a poor couple who rejoice that his death gives them more time to put their finances in order. When Scrooge asks to see tenderness connected with any death, the ghost shows him Bob Cratchit and his family mourning the death of Tiny Tim. The ghost then allows Scrooge to see a neglected grave, with a tombstone bearing Scrooge's name. Sobbing, Scrooge pledges to change his ways.

Scrooge awakens on Christmas morning a changed man. He makes a large donation to the charity he rejected the previous day, anonymously sends a large turkey to the Cratchit home for Christmas dinner and spends the afternoon with Fred's family. The following day he gives Cratchit an increase in pay, and begins to become a father figure to Tiny Tim. From then on Scrooge treats everyone with kindness, generosity and compassion, embodying the spirit of Christmas.

Background

The writer Charles Dickens was born to a middle-class family which got into financial difficulties as a result of the spendthrift nature of his father John. In 1824 John was committed to the Marshalsea, a debtors' prison in Southwark, London. Dickens, aged 12, was forced to pawn his collection of books, leave school and work at a dirty and rat-infested shoe-blacking factory. The change in circumstances gave him what his biographer, Michael Slater, describes as a "deep personal and social outrage", which heavily influenced his writing and outlook.

By the end of 1842 Dickens was a well-established author, having written six major works, as well as several short stories, novellas and other pieces. On 31 December that year he began publishing his novel Martin Chuzzlewit as a monthly serial; the novel was his favourite work, but sales were disappointing and he faced temporary financial difficulties.

Celebrating the Christmas season had been growing in popularity through the Victorian era. The Christmas tree had been introduced in Britain during the 18th century, and its use was popularised by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Their practice was copied in many homes across the country. In the early 19th century there had been a revival of interest in Christmas carols, following a decline in popularity over the previous hundred years. The publication of Davies Gilbert's 1823 work Some Ancient Christmas Carols, With the Tunes to Which They Were Formerly Sung in the West of England and William Sandys's 1833 collection Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern led to a growth in the form's popularity in Britain.

Dickens had an interest in Christmas, and his first story on the subject was "Christmas Festivities", published in Bell's Weekly Messenger in 1835; the story was then published as "A Christmas Dinner" in Sketches by Boz (1836). "The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton", another Christmas story, appeared in the 1836 novel The Pickwick Papers. In the episode, a Mr Wardle relates the tale of Gabriel Grub, a lonely and mean-spirited sexton, who undergoes a Christmas conversion after being visited by goblins who show him the past and future. Slater considers that "the main elements of the Carol are present in the story", but not yet in a firm form. The story is followed by a passage about Christmas in Dickens's editorial Master Humphrey's Clock. The professor of English literature Paul Davis writes that although the "Goblins" story appears to be a prototype of A Christmas Carol, all Dickens's earlier writings about Christmas influenced the story.

Literary influences

Dickens was not the first author to celebrate the Christmas season in literature. Among earlier authors who influenced Dickens was Washington Irving, whose 1819-20 work The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. included four essays on old English Christmas traditions that he experienced while staying at Aston Hall near Birmingham. The tales and essays attracted Dickens, and the two authors shared the belief that the staging of a nostalgic English Christmas might help restore the social harmony that they felt had been lost in the modern world.

Several works may have had an influence on the writing of A Christmas Carol, including two Douglas Jerrold essays: one from an 1841 issue of , "How Mr. Chokepear Keeps a Merry Christmas" and one from 1843, "The Beauties of the Police". More broadly, Dickens was influenced by fairy tales and nursery stories, which he closely associated with Christmas, because he saw them as stories of conversion and transformation.

Social influences

Dickens was touched by the lot of poor children in the middle decades of the 19th century. In early 1843 he toured the Cornish tin mines, where he was angered by seeing children working in appalling conditions. The suffering he witnessed there was reinforced by a visit to the Field Lane Ragged School, one of several London schools set up for the education of the capital's half-starved, illiterate street children.

In February 1843 the Second Report of the Children's Employment Commission was published. It was a parliamentary report exposing the effects of the Industrial Revolution upon working class children. Horrified by what he read, Dickens planned to publish an inexpensive political pamphlet tentatively titled, An Appeal to the People of England, on behalf of the Poor Man's Child, but changed his mind, deferring the pamphlet's production until the end of the year. In March he wrote to Dr Southwood Smith, one of the four commissioners responsible for the Second Report, about his change in plans: "you will certainly feel that a Sledge hammer has come down with twenty times the force-twenty thousand times the force-I could exert by following out my first idea".

In a fundraising speech on 5 October 1843 at the Manchester Athenaeum, Dickens urged workers and employers to join together to combat ignorance with educational reform, and realised in the days following that the most effective way to reach the broadest segment of the population with his social concerns about poverty and injustice was to write a deeply felt Christmas narrative rather than polemical pamphlets and essays.

Writing history

By mid-1843 Dickens began to suffer from financial problems. Sales of Martin Chuzzlewit were falling off, and his wife, Catherine, was pregnant with their fifth child. Matters worsened when Chapman & Hall, his publishers, threatened to reduce his monthly income by £50 if sales dropped further. He began A Christmas Carol in October 1843. Michael Slater, Dickens's biographer, describes the book as being "written at white heat"; it was completed in six weeks, the final pages being written in early December. He built much of the work in his head while taking night-time walks of 15 to 20 miles (24 to 32 km) around London. Dickens's sister-in-law wrote how he "wept, and laughed, and wept again, and excited himself in a most extraordinary manner, in composition". Slater says that A Christmas Carol was

intended to open its readers' hearts towards those struggling to survive on the lower rungs of the economic ladder and to encourage practical benevolence, but also to warn of the terrible danger to society created by the toleration of widespread ignorance and actual want among the poor.

George Cruikshank, the illustrator who had earlier worked with Dickens on Sketches by Boz (1836) and Oliver Twist (1838), introduced him to the caricaturist John Leech. By 24 October Dickens invited Leech to work on A Christmas Carol, and four hand-coloured etchings and four black-and-white wood engravings by the artist accompanied the text. Dickens's hand-written manuscript of the story does not include the sentence in the penultimate paragraph "... and to Tiny Tim, who did not die"; this was added later, during the printing process.

Characters

The central character of A Christmas Carol is Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly London-based businessman, described in the story as "a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!" Kelly writes that Scrooge may have been influenced by Dickens's conflicting feelings for his father, whom he both loved and demonised. This psychological conflict may be responsible for the two radically different Scrooges in the tale-one a cold, stingy and greedy semi-recluse, the other a benevolent, sociable man. The professor of English literature Robert Douglas-Fairhurst considers that in the opening part of the book covering young Scrooge's lonely and unhappy childhood, and his aspiration for money to avoid poverty "is something of a self-parody of Dickens's fears about himself"; the post-transformation parts of the book are how Dickens optimistically sees himself.

Scrooge could also be based on two misers: the eccentric John Elwes, MP, or Jemmy Wood, the owner of the Gloucester Old Bank and also known as "The Gloucester Miser". According to the sociologist Frank W. Elwell, Scrooge's views on the poor are a reflection of those of the demographer and political economist Thomas Malthus, while the miser's questions "Are there no prisons? ... And the Union workhouses? ... The treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?" are a reflection of a sarcastic question raised by the philosopher Thomas Carlyle, "Are there not treadmills, gibbets; even hospitals, poor-rates, New Poor-Law?"

There are literary precursors for Scrooge in Dickens's own works. Peter Ackroyd, Dickens's biographer, sees similarities between the character and the elder Martin Chuzzlewit character, although the miser is "a more fantastic image" than the Chuzzlewit patriarch; Ackroyd observes that Chuzzlewit's transformation to a charitable figure is a parallel to that of the miser. Douglas-Fairhurst sees that the minor character Gabriel Grub from The Pickwick Papers was also an influence when creating Scrooge. Scrooge's name came from a tombstone Dickens had seen on a visit to Edinburgh. The grave was for Ebenezer Lennox Scroggie, whose job was given as a meal man-a corn merchant; Dickens misread the inscription as "mean man".

When Dickens was young he lived near a tradesman's premises with the sign "Goodge and Marney", which may have provided the name for Scrooge's former business partner. For the chained Marley, Dickens drew on his memory of a visit to the Western Penitentiary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in March 1842, where he saw-and was affected by seeing-fettered prisoners. For the character Tiny Tim, Dickens used his nephew Henry, a disabled boy who was five at the time A Christmas Carol was written. The two figures of Want and Ignorance, sheltering in the robes of the Ghost of Christmas Present, were inspired by the children Dickens had seen on his visit to a ragged school in the East End of London.

The transformation of Scrooge is central to the story. Davis considers Scrooge to be "a protean figure always in process of reformation"; Kelly writes that the transformation is reflected in the description of Scrooge, who begins as a two-dimensional character, but who then grows into one who "possess[es] an emotional depth [and] a regret for lost opportunities". Some writers, including Grace Moore, the Dickens scholar, consider that there is a Christian theme running through A Christmas Carol, and that the novella should be seen as an allegory of the Christian concept of redemption. Dickens's biographer, Claire Tomalin, sees the conversion of Scrooge as carrying the Christian message that "even the worst of sinners may repent and become a good man". Dickens's attitudes towards organised religion were complex; he based his beliefs and principles on the New Testament. Dickens's statement that Marley "had no bowels" is a reference to the "bowels of compassion" mentioned in the First Epistle of John, the reason for his eternal damnation.

Other writers, including Kelly, consider that Dickens put forward a "secular vision of this sacred holiday". The Dickens scholar John O. Jordan argues that A Christmas Carol shows what Dickens referred to in a letter to his friend John Forster as his " Carol philosophy, cheerful views, sharp anatomisation of humbug, jolly good temper ... and a vein of glowing, hearty, generous, mirthful, beaming reference in everything to Home and Fireside". From a secular viewpoint, the cultural historian Penne Restad suggests that Scrooge's redemption underscores "the conservative, individualistic and patriarchal aspects" of Dickens's " Carol philosophy" of charity and altruism.

Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in response to British social attitudes towards poverty, particularly child poverty, and wished to use the novella as a means to put forward his arguments against it. The story shows Scrooge as a paradigm for self-interest, and the possible repercussions of ignoring the poor, especially children in poverty-personified by the allegorical figures of Want and Ignorance. The two figures were created to arouse sympathy with readers-as was Tiny Tim. Douglas-Fairhurst observes that the use of such figures allowed Dickens to present his message of the need for charity, without alienating his largely middle-class readership.

Publication

As the result of the disagreements with Chapman and Hall over the commercial failures of Martin Chuzzlewit, Dickens arranged to pay for the publishing himself, in exchange for a percentage of the profits. Production of A Christmas Carol was not without problems. The first printing contained drab olive endpapers that Dickens felt were unacceptable, and the publisher Chapman and Hall quickly replaced them with yellow endpapers, but, once replaced, those clashed with the title page, which was then redone. The final product was bound in red cloth with gilt-edged pages, completed only two days before the publication date of 19 December 1843. Following publication, Dickens arranged for the manuscript to be bound in red Morocco leather and presented as a gift to his solicitor, Thomas Mitton.

Priced at five shillings (equal to £25 in 2022 pounds), the first run of 6,000 copies sold out by Christmas Eve. Chapman and Hall issued second and third editions before the new year, and the book continued to sell well into 1844. By the end of 1844 eleven more editions had been released. Since its initial publication the book has been issued in numerous hardback and paperback editions, translated into several languages and has never been out of print. It was Dickens's most popular book in the United States, and sold over two million copies in the hundred years following its first publication there.

The high production costs upon which Dickens insisted led to reduced profits, and the first edition brought him only £230 (equal to £23,000 in 2022 pounds) rather than the £1,000 (equal to £100,000 in 2022 pounds) he expected. A year later, the profits were only £744, and Dickens was deeply disappointed.

According to Douglas-Fairhurst, contemporary reviews of A Christmas Carol "were almost uniformly kind". The Illustrated London News described how the story's "impressive eloquence ... its unfeigned lightness of heart-its playful and sparkling humour ... its gentle spirit of humanity" all put the reader "in good humour with ourselves, with each other, with the season and with the author". The critic from The Athenaeum, the literary magazine, considered it a "tale to make the reader laugh and cry - to open his hands, and open his heart to charity even toward the uncharitable ... a dainty dish to set before a King." William Makepeace Thackeray, writing in Fraser's Magazine, described the book as "a national benefit and to every man or woman who reads it, a personal kindness. The last two people I heard speak of it were women; neither knew the other, or the author, and both said, by way of criticism, 'God bless him!'"

The poet Thomas Hood, in his own journal, wrote that "If Christmas, with its ancient and hospitable customs, its social and charitable observances, were ever in danger of decay, this is the book that would give them a new lease." The reviewer for Tait's Edinburgh Magazine- Theodore Martin, who was usually critical of Dickens's work-spoke well of A Christmas Carol, noting it was "a noble book, finely felt and calculated to work much social good". After Dickens's death, Margaret Oliphant deplored the turkey and plum pudding aspects of the book but admitted that in the days of its first publication it was regarded as "a new gospel", and noted that the book was unique in that it made people behave better. The religious press generally ignored the tale but, in January 1884, Christian Remembrancer thought the tale's old and hackneyed subject was treated in an original way and praised the author's sense of humour and pathos. The writer and social thinker John Ruskin told a friend that he thought Dickens had taken the religion from Christmas, and had imagined it as "mistletoe and pudding - neither resurrection from the dead, nor rising of new stars, nor teaching of wise men, nor shepherds".

There were critics of the book. The New Monthly Magazine praised the story, but thought the book's physical excesses-the gilt edges and expensive binding-kept the price high, making it unavailable to the poor. The review recommended that the tale should be printed on cheap paper and priced accordingly. An unnamed writer for The Westminster Review mocked Dickens's grasp of economics, asking "Who went without turkey and punch in order that Bob Cratchit might get them-for, unless there were turkeys and punch in surplus, someone must go without".

Following criticism of the US in American Notes and Martin Chuzzlewit, American readers were less enthusiastic at first, but by the end of the American Civil War, copies of the book were in wide circulation. In 1863 The New York Times published an enthusiastic review, noting that the author brought the "old Christmas ... of bygone centuries and remote manor houses, into the living rooms of the poor of today".

In January 1844 Parley's Illuminated Library published an unauthorised version of the story in a condensed form which they sold for twopence. Dickens wrote to his solicitor

I have not the least doubt that if these Vagabonds can be stopped they must. ... Let us be the sledge-hammer in this, or I shall be beset by hundreds of the same crew when I come out with a long story.

Two days after the release of the Parley version, Dickens sued on the basis of copyright infringement and won. The publishers declared themselves bankrupt and Dickens was left to pay £700 in costs. The small profits Dickens earned from A Christmas Carol further strained his relationship with his publishers, and he broke with them in favour of Bradbury and Evans, who had been printing his works to that point.

Dickens returned to the tale several times during his life to amend the phrasing and punctuation. He capitalised on the success of the book by publishing other Christmas stories: (1844), The Cricket on the Hearth (1845), The Battle of Life (1846) and The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain (1848); these were secular conversion tales which acknowledged the progressive societal changes of the previous year, and highlighted those social problems which still needed to be addressed. While the public eagerly bought the later books, the reviewers were highly critical of the stories.

Performances and adaptations

By 1849 Dickens was engaged with David Copperfield and had neither the time nor the inclination to produce another Christmas book. He decided the best way to reach his audience with his "Carol philosophy" was by public readings. During Christmas 1853 Dickens gave a reading in Birmingham Town Hall to the Industrial and Literary Institute; the performance was a great success. Thereafter, he read the tale in an abbreviated version 127 times, until 1870 (the year of his death), including at his farewell performance.

In the years following the book's publication, responses to the tale were published by W. M. Swepstone ( Christmas Shadows, 1850), Horatio Alger ( Job Warner's Christmas, 1863), Louisa May Alcott ( A Christmas Dream, and How It Came True, 1882), and others who followed Scrooge's life as a reformed man - or some who thought Dickens had got it wrong and needed to be corrected.

The novella was adapted for the stage almost immediately. Three productions opened on 5 February 1844, one by Edward Stirling being sanctioned by Dickens and running for more than 40 nights. By the close of February 1844 eight rival A Christmas Carol theatrical productions were playing in London. The story has been adapted for film and television more than any of Dickens's other works. In 1901 it was produced as Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost, a silent black-and-white British film; it was one of the first known adaptations of a Dickens work on film, but it is now largely lost. The story was adapted in 1923 for BBC radio. The story has been adapted to other media, including opera, ballet, animation, stage musicals and a BBC mime production starring Marcel Marceau.

Davis considers the adaptations have become better remembered than the original. Some of Dickens's scenes-such as visiting the miners and lighthouse keepers-have been forgotten by many, while other events often added-such as Scrooge visiting the Cratchits on Christmas Day-are now thought by many to be part of the original story. Accordingly, Davis distinguishes between the original text and the "remembered version".

The phrase " Merry Christmas" had been around for many years - the earliest known written use was in a letter in 1534 - but Dickens's use of the phrase in A Christmas Carol popularised it among the Victorian public. The exclamation " Bah! Humbug!" entered popular use in the English language as a retort to anything sentimental or overly festive; the name "Scrooge" became used as a designation for a miser and was added to the Oxford English Dictionary as such in 1982.

In the early 19th century the celebration of Christmas was associated in Britain with the countryside and peasant revels, disconnected to the increasing urbanisation and industrialisation taking place. Davis considers that in A Christmas Carol, Dickens showed that Christmas could be celebrated in towns and cities, despite increasing modernisation. The modern observance of Christmas in English-speaking countries is largely the result of a mid-Victorian revival of the holiday. The Oxford Movement of the 1830s and 1840s had produced a resurgence of the traditional rituals and religious observances associated with Christmastide, and with A Christmas Carol Dickens captured the zeitgeist which reflected and reinforced his vision of Christmas.

Dickens advocated a humanitarian focus of the holiday, which influenced several aspects of Christmas that are still celebrated in Western culture, such as family gatherings, seasonal food and drink, dancing, games and a festive generosity of spirit. The historian Ronald Hutton writes that Dickens "linked worship and feasting, within a context of social reconciliation".

The novelist William Dean Howells, analysing several of Dickens's Christmas stories, including A Christmas Carol, considered that by 1891 the "pathos appears false and strained; the humor largely horseplay; the characters theatrical; the joviality pumped; the psychology commonplace; the sociology alone funny". The writer James Joyce considered that Dickens took a childish approach with A Christmas Carol, producing a gap between the naïve optimism of the story and the realities of life at the time.

Ruth Glancy, a professor of English literature at Concordia University, states that the largest impact of A Christmas Carol was the influence felt by individual readers. In early 1844 The Gentleman's Magazine attributed a rise of charitable giving in Britain to Dickens's novella; in 1874, Robert Louis Stevenson, after reading Dickens's Christmas books, vowed to give generously to those in need, and Thomas Carlyle expressed a generous hospitality by hosting two Christmas dinners after reading the book. In 1867 one American businessman was so moved by attending a reading that he closed his factory on Christmas Day and sent every employee a turkey, while in the early years of the 20th century Maud of Wales - the Queen of Norway - sent gifts to London's crippled children signed "With Tiny Tim's Love". On the novella, the author G. K. Chesterton wrote "The beauty and blessing of the story ... lie in the great furnace of real happiness that glows through Scrooge and everything around him. ... Whether the Christmas visions would or would not convert Scrooge, they convert us."

Analysing the changes made to adaptations over time, Davis sees changes to the focus of the story and its characters to reflect mainstream thinking of the period. While Dickens's Victorian audiences would have viewed the tale as a spiritual but secular parable, in the early 20th century it became a children's story, read by parents who remembered their parents reading it when they were younger. In the lead-up to and during the Great Depression, Davis suggests that while some see the story as a "denunciation of capitalism, ...most read it as a way to escape oppressive economic realities". The film versions of the 1930s were different in the UK and US. British-made films showed a traditional telling of the story, while US-made works showed Cratchit in a more central role, escaping the depression caused by European bankers and celebrating what Davis calls "the Christmas of the common man". In the 1960s, Scrooge was sometimes portrayed as a Freudian figure wrestling with his past. By the 1980s he was again set in a world of depression and economic uncertainty.

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1. The addition of the line has proved contentious to some. One writer in ^ The Dickensian - the journal of the Dickens Fellowship wrote in 1933 that "the fate of Tiny Tim should be a matter of dignified reticence ... Dickens was carried away by exuberance, and momentarily forgot good taste".

2. Carlyle's original question was written in his 1840 work ^ Chartism.

3. Others who have examined the Christian theme include ^ Geoffrey Rowell, Claire Tomalin and Martin Sable.

4. The author ^ G. K. Chesterton wrote of Dickens's religious views that "the tone of Dickens towards religion, though like that of most of his contemporaries, philosophically disturbed and rather historically ignorant, had an element that was very characteristic of himself. He had all the prejudices of his time. He had, for instance, that dislike of defined dogmas, which really means a preference for unexamined dogmas." Dickens stated that "I have always striven in my writings to express the veneration for the life and lessons of our Saviour."

5. In 1875 Mitton sold the manuscript to the bookseller ^ Francis Harvey - reportedly for £50 (equal to £4,800 in 2022 pounds) - who sold it to the autograph collector, Henry George Churchill, in 1882; in turn Churchill sold the manuscript to Bennett, a Birmingham bookseller. Bennett sold it for £200 to Robson and Kerslake of London, which sold it to Dickens collector Stuart M. Samuel for £300. It was purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan for an undisclosed sum and is now held by the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York.

6. Dickens's biographer, ^ Claire Tomalin, puts the first edition profits at £137, and those by the end of 1844 at £726.

7. The Parley version was titled ^ A Christmas Ghost Story reoriginated from the original by Charles Dickens Esquire and analytically condensed for this work.

8. One example of this was the introduction of turkey as the main meat of the Christmas meal. In Britain the tradition had been to eat roast goose, but a change to turkey followed the publication of the book. By 1868 ^ Mrs Beeton, in her Book of Household Management, advised her readers that "A Christmas dinner, with the middle-class of this empire, would scarcely be a Christmas dinner without its turkey."

References

Chesterton, G. K. (1989). The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton: Chesterton on Dickens. San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press. ISBN 978-0-89870-258-3.

Cochrane, Robertson (1996). Wordplay: origins, meanings, and usage of the English language. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-7752-3.

Dickens, Charles (1843). A Christmas Carol. London: Chapman and Hall. OCLC 181675592.

Howells, William Dean (1910). My literary passions, criticism and fiction. New York and London: Harper & Brother. p. 2986994. ISBN 978-1-77667-633-0.

Hutton, Ronald (1996). Stations of the Sun: The Ritual Year in England. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-285448-3.

Slater, Michael (2003). "Introduction". In Dickens, Charles (ed.). A Christmas Carol and other Christmas Writings. London: Penguin Books. pp. xi-xxviii. ISBN 978-0-14-043905-2.

Slater, Michael (2009). . New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-16552-4.

Studwell, William Emmett; Jones, Dorothy E. (1998). Publishing Glad Tidings: Essays on Christmas Music. Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press. ISBN 978-0-7890-0398-0.

Online resources

"A Christmas Carol". WorldCat.

Davidson, Ewan. "Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost (1901)". Screenonline. British Film Institute.

Elwell, Frank W. (2 November 2001). "Reclaiming Malthus". Rogers State University. Archived from the original on 24 March 2017.

Lee, Imogen. "Ragged Schools". British Library.

Martin, Katherine Connor (19 December 2011). "merry, adj". Oxford English Dictionary. (subscription required)

Rowell, Geoffrey (12 December 1993). "Dickens and the Construction of Christmas". History Today.

"Scrooge, n". Oxford English Dictionary. (subscription required)

Sutherland, John (15 May 2014). "The Origins of A Christmas Carol". British Library.

UK CPI inflation numbers based on data available from Gregory Clark (2016). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth.

Newspapers, journals and magazines

Alleyne, Richard (24 December 2007). "Real Scrooge 'was Dutch gravedigger'". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022.

"Christmas Carol". The New Monthly Magazine. 70 (277): 148-149. January 1844.

Davis, Paul (Winter 1990b). "Literary History: Retelling A Christmas Carol: Text and Culture-Text". The American Scholar. 59 (1): 109-15. JSTOR 41211762.

(Subscription or Gordon, Alexander; McConnell, Anita (2008). "Elwes [formerly Meggott], John". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8776. UK public library membership required.)

Hood, Thomas (January 1844). "A Christmas Carol". Hood's Magazine. 1 (1): 68-75.

Jackson, Crispin (December 1999). "Charles Dickens, Christmas Books and Stories". The Book and Magazine Collector (189).

Jaffe, Audrey (March 1994). "Spectacular Sympathy: Visuality and Ideology in Dickens's A Christmas Carol". PMLA. 109 (2): 254-265. doi:10.2307/463120. JSTOR 463120.

Martin, Theodore (February 1844). "Bon Gaultier and his Friends". Tait's Edinburgh Magazine. 11 (2): 119-131.

"Notice of Books". The Christian Remembrancer. 7 (37): 113-121. January 1844.

Sable, Martin H. (Autumn 1986). "The Day of Atonement in Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol'". Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought. 22 (3): 66-76. JSTOR 23260495.

Senior, Nassau William (June 1844). "Spirit of the Age". The Westminster Review. 41 (81): 176-192.

Slater, Michael (2011). "Dickens, Charles John Huffam". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/7599.

Thackeray, William Makepeace (February 1844). "A Box of Novels". Fraser's Magazine. 29 (170): 153-169.

External links

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A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas , commonly known as A Christmas Carol , is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech.

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Twenty-year-old Will Hunting of South Boston is a natural genius who is self-taught and been recently paroled from jail. He works as a janitor at MIT and spends his free time drinking with his friends Chuckie, Billy, and Morgan. When Professor Gerald Lambeau posts a difficult  mathematics problem on a blackboard as a challenge for his graduate students, Will solves the problem. As a challenge the teacher posts an even more difficult problem; later the teacher sees Will writing the solution on the blackboard late at night and  thinks Will is vandalizing it and chases him off.

At a bar, Will meets Skylar, a British woman.

The next day, Will and his friends fight a gang. Will is arrested after he attacks a police officer. Lambeau sits in on his court appearance and watches Will defend himself. He arranges for him to avoid jail time if he agrees to study mathematics under Lambeau's supervision and participate in psychotherapy sessions. Will agrees but treats his therapists with mockery. In desperation, Lambeau calls on Dr. Sean Maguire, his college roommate, who now teaches psychology. During the first session, Will insults Sean's deceased wife, and Sean threatens him—but after a few unproductive sessions, Will finally begins to open up.

Lambeau sets up a number of job interviews for Will.  Skylar asks Will to move to California with her, but he refuses and tells her he is an orphan, and that his foster father physically abused him. Will breaks up with Skylar.

Will walks in on a heated argument between Sean and Lambeau over his potential. Sean and Will share and find out that they were both victims of child abuse. Sean helps Will to see that he is a victim of his own inner demons and to accept that it is not his fault, causing him to break down in tears in Sean’s arms. Will accepts one of the job offers.

Will sends Sean a letter telling him to tell Lambeau that he had to go "see about a girl," revealing he passed on the job offer and instead is heading to California to reunite with Skylar.

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Good Will Hunting is a 1997 American psychological drama film directed by Gus Van Sant, and written by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. It stars Robin Williams, Damon, Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård and Minnie Driver. The film tells the story of janitor Will Hunting, whose mathematical genius is discovered by a professor at MIT.

The film received positive reviews from critics and grossed over $225 million during its theatrical run against a $10 million budget. At the 70th Academy Awards, it received nominations in nine categories, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won in two: Best Supporting Actor for Williams and Best Original Screenplay for Affleck and Damon. In 2014, it was ranked at number 53 in The Hollywood Reporter's "100 Favorite Films" list.

Twenty-year-old Will Hunting of South Boston is a self-taught math genius who was recently paroled from jail. He works as a janitor at MIT and spends his free time drinking with his friends Chuckie, Billy and Morgan.

When Professor Gerald Lambeau posts a difficult combinatorial mathematics problem on a blackboard as a challenge for his graduate students, Will solves the problem anonymously, stunning both the students and Lambeau. As a challenge to the unknown genius, Lambeau posts an even more difficult problem. He later catches Will writing the solution on the blackboard late at night, but initially thinks Will is vandalizing it and chases him off. At a bar, Will meets Skylar, a British woman about to graduate from Harvard College, who plans on attending medical school at Stanford.

Meanwhile, Lambeau, realising Will was not vandalizing the problem but solving it, asks the campus maintenance staff his whereabouts, but is informed he did not turn up for work. Lambeau learns Will was placed at MIT by a parole program, and obtains his parole officer's details.

The next day, Will and his friends get in a fight with a gang that includes a member who used to bully Will as a child. Will is arrested after he attacks a responding police officer. Lambeau sits in on his court appearance and watches Will defend himself. He arranges for Will to avoid jail time if he agrees to study mathematics under Lambeau's supervision and participate in psychotherapy sessions. Will agrees but treats his therapists with mockery.

In desperation, Lambeau calls on Dr. Sean Maguire, his college roommate, who now teaches psychology at Bunker Hill Community College. Unlike the other therapists, Sean actually challenges Will's defense mechanisms. During the first session, Will insults his deceased wife, and Sean threatens him, but after a few unproductive sessions, Will finally begins to open up.

Will is particularly struck by Sean's story of how he met his wife, who later died of cancer, by giving up his ticket to the historic game six of the 1975 World Series after falling in love at first sight. Sean's explanation for surrendering his ticket was to "see about a girl", and he does not regret his decision. This encourages Will to build a relationship with Skylar, though he lies to her about his past and is reluctant to introduce her to his friends or show her his home. Will also challenges Sean to take an objective look at his own life, since Sean cannot move on from his wife's death.

Lambeau sets up a number of job interviews for Will, but he scorns them by sending Chuckie as his "chief negotiator", and by turning down a position at the NSA with a scathing critique of the agency's moral position. Skylar asks Will to move to California with her, but he refuses and tells her he is an orphan, and that his foster father physically abused him.

Will breaks up with Skylar and later storms out on Lambeau, dismissing the mathematical research he has been doing. Sean points out to Will that he is so adept at anticipating future failure in his interpersonal relationships that he deliberately sabotages them to avoid emotional pain. Chuckie likewise challenges Will over his resistance to taking any of the positions he interviews for, telling him he owes it to his friends to make the most of opportunities they will never have, even if it means leaving one day. He then tells Will that the best part of his day is the brief moment when he waits at his doorstep, thinking Will has moved on to something greater.

Will walks in on a heated argument between Sean and Lambeau over Will's potential. Sean and Will talk and it comes to light that they were both victims of child abuse. Sean helps him see that he is a victim of his own inner demons and to accept that it is not his fault, causing him to break down in tears in Sean's arms. Will accepts one of the job offers arranged by Lambeau. Having helped Will manage his problems, Sean reconciles with Lambeau, deciding to take a sabbatical.

Will's friends give him a used car for his 21st birthday so he can commute to work. Later, Chuckie goes to Will's to pick him up, only to find that he is not there, much to his happiness. Will leaves a note for Sean asking him to tell Lambeau that he had to go "see about a girl", revealing he passed on the job offer and instead is heading to California to reunite with Skylar.

Matt Damon started writing the film as a final assignment for a playwriting class he was taking at Harvard University. Instead of writing a one-act play, Damon submitted a 40-page script. He wrote his then-girlfriend, medical student Skylar Satenstein (credited in the closing credits of the film), into his script. Damon said the only scene from that script that survived - "it survived verbatim" - was when Will Hunting (Damon) meets his therapist, Sean Maguire ( Robin Williams), for the first time. Damon asked Ben Affleck to develop the screenplay together. They completed the script in 1994. At first, it was written as a thriller about a young man in the rough-and-tumble streets of South Boston who possesses a superior intelligence and is targeted by the government with heavy-handed recruitment.

Castle Rock Entertainment bought the script for $675,000 against $775,000, meaning that Damon and Affleck would stand to earn an additional $100,000 if the film was produced and they retained sole writing credit.[citation needed ] Castle Rock president Rob Reiner urged them to drop the thriller aspect of the story and to focus on the relationship between Will and his therapist. Terrence Malick told Affleck and Damon over dinner that the film ought to end with Will's decision to follow his girlfriend Skylar to California, not them leaving together.

At Reiner's request, screenwriter William Goldman read the script. Goldman consistently denied the persistent rumor that he wrote Good Will Hunting or acted as a script doctor. In his book Which Lie Did I Tell? Goldman jokingly writes, "I did not just doctor it. I wrote the whole thing from scratch," before dismissing the rumor as false and saying his only advice was agreeing with Reiner's suggestion.

Affleck and Damon proposed to act in the lead roles, but many studio executives said they wanted Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio. Meanwhile, Kevin Smith was working with Affleck on and with both Damon and Affleck on Chasing Amy. Castle Rock put the script in turnaround, and gave Damon and Affleck 30 days to find another buyer for the script who would reimburse Castle Rock the money paid, otherwise the script reverted to the studio, and Damon and Affleck would be out. All the studios that were involved in the original bidding war for the screenplay now turned the pair down, taking meetings with Affleck and Damon only to tell them this to their face. As a last resort, Affleck passed the script to his Chasing Amy director Kevin Smith, who read it and promised to walk the script directly into Harvey Weinstein's office at Miramax. Weinstein read the script, loved it, and paid Castle Rock their due, while also agreeing to let Damon and Affleck star in the film. Weinstein asked that a few scenes be removed, including an out-of-place, mid-script oral sex scene that Damon and Affleck added to trick executives who were not looking closely.

The Baskin-Robbins/Dunkin' Donuts, in front of which Will mocked Harvard student Clark

After buying the rights from Castle Rock, Miramax put the film into production. Several well-known filmmakers were originally considered to direct, including Mel Gibson and Michael Mann. Originally, Affleck asked Kevin Smith whether he was interested in directing. He declined, saying they needed a "good director," that he only directed projects he wrote, and that he was not much of a visual director, but he still served as one of the film's co-executive producers. Damon and Affleck later chose Gus Van Sant for the job, whose work on previous films like Drugstore Cowboy (1989) had left a favorable impression on the fledgling screenwriters. Miramax was persuaded and hired Van Sant to direct the film.

The Au Bon Pain in Harvard Square where Skylar asked Will to explain his "photographic memory" to her (as seen in 2013; it has since been redeveloped by Harvard)

Filming took place between April and June 1997. Although the story is set in Boston, and many of the scenes were shot on location in the Greater Boston area, many of the interior shots were filmed at locations in Toronto, with the University of Toronto standing in for MIT and Harvard University. The classroom scenes were filmed at McLennan Physical Laboratories (of the University of Toronto) and Central Technical School. Harvard normally disallows filming on its property, but permitted limited filming by the project after intervention by Harvard alumnus John Lithgow. Likewise, only the exterior shots of Bunker Hill Community College were filmed in Boston; however, Sean's office was built in Toronto as an exact replica of one at the college.

The interior bar scenes set in " Southie" were shot on location at Woody's L Street Tavern. Meanwhile, the homes of Will (190 West 6th Street) and Sean (259 E Street), while some distance apart in the movie, actually back up to each other on Bowen Street, the narrow street Chuckie drives down to walk up to Will's back door.

The Bow and Arrow Pub, which was located at the corner of Bow Street and Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, doubled as the exterior of the Harvard bar in which Will met Skylar for the first time. The Baskin-Robbins/ Dunkin' Donuts featured in the "How do you like them apples?" scene was next door to the pub at the time of the film's release. The Harvard Bar interior scenes were filmed at the Upfront Bar and Grill on Front St. E. in Toronto.

The Tasty, at the corner of JFK and Brattle Streets, was the scene of Will and Skylar's first kiss. The Au Bon Pain, where Will and Skylar discuss the former's photographic memory, was at the corner of Dunster Street and Mass Ave.

The Boston Public Garden bench on which Will and Sean sat for a scene in the film became a temporary shrine after Williams's death in 2014.

The musical score for Good Will Hunting was composed by Danny Elfman, who had previously collaborated with Gus Van Sant on and would go on to score many of the director's other films. The film also features many songs written and recorded by singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. His song " Miss Misery" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, but lost to " My Heart Will Go On" from . Elfman's score was also nominated for an Oscar, but lost to Titanic as well. On September 11, 2006, The Today Show used Elfman's song "Weepy Donuts" while Matt Lauer spoke during the opening credits.

A soundtrack album for the film was released by Capitol Records on November 18, 1997, though only two of Elfman's cues appear on the release.

" Afternoon Delight" by the Starland Vocal Band was featured in the film, but did not appear on the soundtrack album.

A limited edition soundtrack album featuring Elfman's complete score from the film was released by Music Box Records on March 3, 2014. The soundtrack, issued in 1500 copies, includes all of Elfman's cues (including music not featured on the rare Miramax Academy promo) and also contains the songs by Elliott Smith. One of the tracks is Smith's songs with Elfman's arrangements added into the mix.

1. Main Title (2:44)

2. Genie Mopper (0:37)

3. First Calculation (1:08)

4. Theorem (0:42)

5. Kick Ass Choir (0:59)

6. Mystery Math (2:28)

7. Them Apples (0:57)

8. Jail (1:13)

9. Second Shrink (1:14)

10. Any Port (1:25)

11. Times Up (1:14)

12. Oliver Twist (1:58)

13. Staring Contest (0:49)

14. Secret Weapon (0:57)

15. Retainer (Part A) (0:58)

16. Retainer (Part B) (0:20)

17. Tell You Something (0:48)

18. No Love Me (0:47)

19. Fire Music (1:11)

20. Whose Fault (2:34)

21. End Titles (3:50)

22. Between the Bars (Orchestral) (1:09) - Performed by Elliott Smith / Arr. by Elfman

23. No Name #3 (3:04) - Performed by Elliott Smith

24. Say Yes (2:15) - Performed by Elliott Smith

25. Between the Bars (2:21) - Performed by Elliott Smith

26. Angeles (2:55) - Performed by Elliott Smith

27. Miss Misery (3:12) - Performed by Elliott Smith

In an early version of the script, Will Hunting was going to be a physics prodigy, but Nobel Laureate in Physics Sheldon Glashow at Harvard told Damon that the subject should be math instead of physics. Glashow referred Damon to his brother-in-law, Daniel Kleitman, a mathematics professor at MIT. Columbia University physics and math professor Brian Greene at the Tribeca Sloan retrospectively explained that for physics, "Having some deep insight about the universe [⁠ ⁠.⁠ ⁠.⁠ ⁠.⁠ ⁠] typically [⁠ ⁠is ⁠] a group project in the modern era," while "doing some mathematical theorem is a singular undertaking very often." In the spring of 1997, Damon and Affleck asked Kleitman to "speak math to us" for writing realistic dialogue, so Kleitman invited postdoc Tom Bohman to join him, giving them a "quick lecture". When asked for a problem that Will could solve, Kleitman and Bohman suggested the unsolved computer science P versus NP problem, but the movie used other problems.

Patrick O'Donnell, professor of physics at the University of Toronto, served as the mathematical consultant for the film.

The main hallway blackboard is used twice to reveal Will's talent, first to the audience, and second to Professor Lambeau. Damon based it on his artist brother Kyle visiting MIT's Infinite Corridor and writing "an incredibly elaborate, totally fake, version of an equation" on a blackboard, which lasted for months. Kyle returned to Matt, saying that MIT needed those blackboards "because these kids are so smart they just need to, you know, drop everything and solve problems!"

Near the start of the film, Will sets aside his mop to study a difficult problem posed by Lambeau on the blackboard. The problem has to do with intermediate-level graph theory, but Lambeau describes it as an advanced " Fourier system."

To answer the first part of the question, Will chalks up an adjacency matrix:

To answer the second part, he determines the number of 3-step walks in the graph, and finds the third power matrix:

The third and fourth parts of the question concern generating functions. The other characters are astounded that a janitor shows such facility with matrices.

Lambeau subsequently poses a new challenge on the blackboard: state Cayley's formula and "draw all the homeomorphically irreducible trees with ." Will writes eight of the ten trees correctly before Lambeau interrupts.[36]

In the film's opening weekend in limited release, it earned $272,912. In its January 1998 wide-release opening weekend, it earned $10,261,471. It went on to gross $138,433,435 in North America and a total worldwide gross of $225,933,435.

The film was met with highly positive reviews. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 97% based on 90 reviews, with an average rating of 8.10/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "It follows a predictable narrative arc, but Good Will Hunting adds enough quirks to the journey - and is loaded with enough powerful performances - that it remains an entertaining, emotionally rich drama." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four, writing that while the story is "predictable", it is "the individual moments, not the payoff, that make it so effective". Duane Byrge of The Hollywood Reporter praised the performances of the cast, writing "The acting is brilliant overall, with special praise to Matt Damon for his ragingly tender portrayal of the boy cursed with genius". Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle was equally positive, writing "The glow goes well beyond a radiant performance by Matt Damon ... Intimate, heartfelt and wickedly funny, it's a movie whose impact lingers". Owen Gleiberman, writing for Entertainment Weekly, gave the film a "B", stating " Good Will Hunting is stuffed - indeed, overstuffed - with heart, soul, audacity, and blarney. You may not believe a minute of it, but you don't necessarily want to stop watching". He also noted Damon's and Williams' chemistry, describing it as "a quicksilver intercepting each other's thoughts". Janet Maslin of The New York Times, called the screenplay "smart and touching", and praised Van Sant for directing with "style, shrewdness and clarity". She also complimented the production design and cinematography, which were able to effortlessly move the viewer from "classroom to dorm room to neighborhood bar", in a small setting.

Quentin Curtis of The Daily Telegraph opined Williams' performance brought "sharpness and tenderness", calling the film a "crowd-pleaser, with bags of charm to spare. It doesn't bear thinking too much about its message ... Damon and Affleck's writing has real wit and vigour, and some depth". Andrew O'Hehir of stated that despite the "enjoyable characters", he thought the film was somewhat superficial, writing "there isn't a whole lot of movie to take home with you ... many will wake the next morning wondering why, with all that talent on hand, it amounts to so little in the end". Writing for the BBC, Nev Pierce gave the film four stars out of five, describing the film as "touching, without being sentimental", although he felt some scenes were "odd lapses into self-help speak". Emanuel Levy of Variety called the film a "beautifully realized tale ... engaging and often quite touching". He felt that the film's visual style showcased Van Sant's talent, but the plot was "quite predictable".

Several scholars have examined the role of class, religion and the cultural geography of Boston in the film. Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera observed that the residual Catholic-Protestant tensions in Boston are an important backdrop in the film, as Irish Catholics from Southie are aligned against ostensibly Protestant characters who are affiliated with Harvard and MIT. Emmett Winn has argued that character interactions show class conflict and stunted social mobility, while, similarly, David Lipset commented that class inequality is a driving subtext.

In 2005, the film was nominated for American Film Institute's 100 Years... 100 Cheers list of most inspiring movies.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Good Will Hunting is a 1997 American psychological drama film directed by Gus Van Sant, and written by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. It stars Robin Williams, Damon, Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård and Minnie Driver. The film tells the story of janitor Will Hunting, whose mathematical genius is discovered by a professor at MIT.

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Genre: autobiography
First Published: 1853
Setting (primary): The Red River region of Louisiana
Settings (secondary): Saratoga Springs, New York; Washington, D.C.; New Orleans, Louisiana
Main Characters: Solomon Northup (aka “Platt”), James H. Burch, William Ford, John M. Tibeats, Edwin Epps, Patsey, Mistress Epps, Mr. Bass, Henry B. Northup
Major Thematic Topics: Slavery; freedom; injustice; the inherent dignity of all humanity; the place of women in society; religion and slavery; man’s inhumanity to man; slavery’s toll on servant and master alike
Major symbols: Chains; the whip; the Bible; water; the swamp
TWELVE YEARS A SLVAE is an autobiography. It talks about Solomon Northup a free
man who lives in New York with his wife and his three children- There 22 chapters
1.Solomon Northup: Free Man
2. Solomon Northup: prisoner in the slave pen of Burch –< New Orleans Freeman ----Platt ----ford
3. Solomon Northup: Slave at Ford plantation – a good man----------Tibeats -----Epps 4. Solomon Northup: Slave Under Edwin Epps the story of Patsey, Bass a carpenter,
5. Solomon Northup: Free Man AgaiZZn
1. Solomon Northup: Free Man
In the first two Chapters, Northup tells of his life as a free black man living in upstate New York. Born in July 1808, he was the son of an emancipated slave. He grew up working on a farm at his father’s side, and also was educated to a degree of competence in reading and writing. Additionally, he learned to play the violin, At age 21, he married Anne Hampton, and they had three children. Solomon worked in many trades, including farming, lumberjacking, and performing on the violin, while Anne was a cook. In 1841, Solomon met two white men who offered him lucrative work with a circus—if he would travel with them to Washington, D.C. Unsuspecting, he joined them in their travels and in Washington, D.C., after a day he became terribly ill. On his way to see a doctor, he passed out. When he woke up, Solomon Northup was alone, chained in darkness.
2. Solomon Northup: Captive
From Chapter III to VI, Solomon is a prisoner in the slave pen of James H. Burch, . Solomon wants his freedom, but Burch tells him he is going to kill him if he ever mentions his freedom again. Solomon understands he has no more hopes. With other slaves, he is transported to New Orleans, Louisiana in the slave pen of Theophilus Freeman. Freeman changes Solomon’s name to “Platt,” so there is no more connection to his past. Freeman wants to sell him, but he contracts smallpox, (vaiolo) which nearly kills him. When he finally recovers, he is sold, with a slave girl Eliza, to a man William Ford.

3. Solomon Northup: Slave
From Chapter VII to XI. Solomon works for Ford a kind Christian man, for Solomon it is almost a pleasure to work for him. However, a series of financial problems let Ford sell Platt to a cruel carpenter named John M. Tibeats.
Tibeats soon becomes his worst enemy, he attempts to whip Platt and to murder him. Only the intervention of William Ford saves the slave’s life. Unable to kill him. Tibeats sells Platt to Edwin Epps.
4. Solomon Northup: Slave Under Edwin Epps
The fourth phase of Solomon Northup’s 12 Years a Slave, told in Chapters XII–XX, focuses on the ten years he lived under the tyranny of Edwin Epps on two different plantations in Bayou Boeuf, along the banks of the Red River in Louisiana. Epps is a cruel master. He always whips his slaves. Solomon describes his life under Epps in detail, telling stories of abuse, humiliation, and deprivation.
He tells the story of Patsey, a slave girl. She is raped by him and also whipped by him at the insistence of his jealous wife. At the worst point, she visits a friend at a nearby plantation simply to get a bar of soap because Epps’ wife won’t allow her to have any. When Patsey returns, Epps is furious, He thinks he has gone with another man. Platt is forced to whip a naked, helpless Patsey while she screams for mercy.
The years pass by, and Solomon almost loses hope. Then he meets Bass a carpenter, who learns of Solomon’s story and decides to help. He sends letters to Solomon’s friends in the North, asking them to come and rescue the slave from his captivity.
5. Solomon Northup: Free Man Again
The final section of 12 Years of Slave, Chapters XXI and XXII (and Appendix), tells of Solomon’s escape from captivity. Thanks to Bass, Solomon’s friends in the North go and free him. Henry B. Northup, a white man who is a relative of the person who once owned Solomon’s father, gathers legal support and travels to Louisiana to find the slave. After some searching, he finds “Platt” and, with the help of a local sheriff, emancipates him from the clutches of Edwin Epps.
They travel back to New York, stopping for a time in Washington, D.C., to pursue legal charges against James H. Burch for his role in the kidnapping of Solomon Northup. In the end, though, Burch is acquitted because of false witnesses and racist bias in the courtroom. After that, Solomon is finally reunited with his family in Saratoga Springs, New York, where he finds that his daughter has married and he is now a grandfather. His grandson has been named in his honor: Solomon

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12 Years a Slave is a 2013 biographical drama film directed by Steve McQueen from a screenplay by John Ridley, based on the 1853 slave memoir Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, an African-American who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C. by two conmen in 1841 and sold into slavery. He was put to work on plantations in the state of Louisiana for 12 years before being released. The first scholarly edition of Wilson's version of Northup's story was co-edited in 1968 by Sue Eakin and Joseph Logsdon.

Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as Solomon Northup. Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Garret Dillahunt, Paul Giamatti, Scoot McNairy, Lupita Nyong'o, Adepero Oduye, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, Michael Kenneth Williams, and Alfre Woodard feature in supporting roles. Principal photography took place in New Orleans, Louisiana, from June 27 to August 13, 2012. The locations used were four historic antebellum plantations: Felicity, Bocage, Destrehan, and Magnolia. Of the four, Magnolia is nearest to the actual plantation where Northup was held.

12 Years a Slave received widespread critical acclaim and was named the best film of 2013 by several media outlets and critics, and it earned over $187 million on a production budget of $22 million. The film received nine Academy Award nominations, winning for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay for Ridley, and Best Supporting Actress for Nyong'o. The Best Picture win made McQueen the first black British producer to ever receive the award and the first black British director of a Best Picture winner. The film was awarded the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts recognized it with the BAFTA Awards for Best Film and Best Actor for Ejiofor. The film was later named the 44th greatest film since 2000 in a BBC poll of 177 critics in 2016.

Solomon Northup is a free African-American man in 1841, working as a violinist and living with his wife and two children in Saratoga Springs, New York. Two white men, Brown and Hamilton, offer him short-term employment as a musician in Washington, D.C.; instead, they drug Northup and deliver him to a slave pen. Northup proclaims his freedom, only to be savagely beaten.

Northup is shipped to New Orleans along with other captives. He is told by the others that if he wants to survive in the South, he must adapt. A slave trader named Theophilus Freeman gives Northup the identity of "Platt", a runaway slave from Georgia, and sells him to plantation owner William Ford. Ford takes a liking to Northup and gives him a violin. Growing tension between Northup and plantation carpenter John Tibeats finally breaks when Northup physically defends himself from Tibeats and beats him with his own whip. Tibeats and his men prepare to lynch Northup, but they are stopped by the plantation overseer. Northup is left on tiptoes with the noose around his neck for hours before Ford arrives and cuts him down. To save Northup's life, Ford sells him to Edwin Epps. In the process, Northup attempts to explain his situation, but Ford does not help him.

Epps is ruthless and sadistic. Northup meets Patsey, a favored slave and Epps' top cotton picker. Epps regularly rapes Patsey while his wife abuses and humiliates her out of jealousy. Some time later, cotton worms destroy Epps' crops, so he leases his slaves to a neighboring plantation for the season. Northup gains the favor of the plantation's owner, Judge Turner, who allows him to play the fiddle at a neighbor's anniversary celebration and to keep his earnings. When Northup returns to Epps, he uses the money to pay a white field hand and former overseer, Armsby, to mail a letter to his friends in New York. Armsby agrees and accepts Northup's saved money, but immediately betrays him. A drunken Epps questions Northup at knifepoint, and Northup is narrowly able to convince Epps that Armsby is lying and Epps relents. Afterwards, Northup mournfully burns the letter to prevent Epps from finding it. Some time later, Patsey is caught by Epps going to a neighboring plantation in order to acquire soap, as Mrs. Epps will not let her have any. In retaliation, Epps orders Northup to whip Patsey. Rather than risk harm to himself, Northup accepts but Epps demands he strike her harder, eventually taking the whip from Northup, and nearly whips Patsey to death. Enraged, Northup destroys his violin.

Northup begins working on the construction of a gazebo with a Canadian laborer Samuel Bass. Disturbed by Epps' open cruelty towards his slaves, Bass, citing his Christian faith, expresses his opposition to slavery and castigates Epps, earning Epps' enmity. Northup overhears the conversation and decides to reveal his kidnapping to Bass. Once again, Northup asks for help in sending his letter. Although Bass is hesitant at first because of the risk, he agrees. Not long after, the local sheriff arrives and Northup recognizes the sheriff's companion as Mr. Parker, a shopkeeper he knew in New York. As they embrace, an enraged Epps furiously protests and tries to prevent Northup from leaving only to be rebuffed. Northup bids an emotional farewell to Patsey and rides off to his freedom.

Northup returns to reconnect with his wife with their fully grown son, daughter, and his daughter's husband. He is presented with his grandson and namesake, Solomon Northup Staunton. Northup tearfully apologizes for his long absence while his family comforts him. The film's epilogue titles recount: Northup's unsuccessful suits against Brown, Hamilton, and Birch; the 1853 publication of Northup's slave narrative memoir, Twelve Years a Slave; describes his role in the abolitionist movement; and the absence of any information surrounding the details of his death and burial.

African-American history and culture scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. was a consultant on the film. Researcher David Fiske, a co-author of Solomon Northup: The Complete Story of the Author of Twelve Years a Slave, provided some material used to market the film.

Emily West, an associate professor of history at the University of Reading who specializes in the history of slavery in the U.S., said she had "never seen a film represent slavery so accurately". Reviewing the film for History Extra, the website of BBC History Magazine, she wrote: "The film starkly and powerfully unveiled the sights and sounds of enslavement - from slaves picking cotton as they sang in the fields, to the crack of the lash down people's backs. We also heard a lot about the ideology behind enslavement. Masters such as William Ford and Edwin Epps, although very different characters, both used an interpretation of Christianity to justify their ownership of slaves. They believed the Bible sanctioned slavery, and that it was their 'Christian duty' to preach the scriptures to their slaves."

Scott Feinberg wrote in The Hollywood Reporter about a September 22 article in The New York Times that "dredged up and highlighted a 1985 essay by another scholar, James Olney, that questioned the 'literal truth' of specific incidents in Northup's account and suggested that David Wilson, the white amanuensis to whom Northup had dictated his story, had taken the liberty of sprucing it up to make it even more effective at rallying public opinion against slavery." Olney had observed that "slave autobiographies, when read one next to another, display an "overwhelming sameness." That is, though the autobiography by definition suggests a unique and personal story, that slave narratives present a genre of autobiographies that tell essentially the same story. When read in conjunction, as in this anthology, there is a distinct repetitiveness. While this repetitiveness disallows the creativity and shaping of one's personal story, as Olney argues, it was equally important for slave narratives to follow a form that corroborated with the stories of others to create a collective picture of slavery as it then existed. In fact, the "same" form presented in all of these unique and individual stories created a powerful and resounding message of the consistent evils of slavery and the necessity of its demise."

A journal article published by The Johns Hopkins University Press and written by Sam Worley states that "Northup's narrative, though well known, has often been treated as a narrative of the second rank, albeit one with an unusually exciting and involving story as well as, thanks to the research of its modern editors, Sue Eakin and Joseph Logsdon, one with considerable historical value."

Noah Berlatsky wrote in The Atlantic about a scene in McQueen's adaptation. Shortly after Northup's kidnapping, he is sent on a slave ship. One of the sailors attempts to rape a female slave, but is stopped by a male slave. "The sailor unhesitatingly stabs and kills [the male slave]," he wrote, stating that "this seems unlikely on its face - slaves are valuable, and the sailor is not the owner. And, sure enough, the scene is not in the book." Berlatsky also states, "the sequence is an effort to present nuance and psychological depth - to make the film's depiction of slavery seem more real. But it creates that psychological truth by interpolating an incident that isn't factually true."

The visual blog Information is Beautiful deduced that, while taking creative license into account, the film was 88.1% accurate when compared to real-life events, summarizing: "While there are a touch of dramatic license here and there, the most gut-wrenching scenes really happened".

Forrest Wickman of wrote of Northup's book giving a more favorable account of the author's onetime master, William Ford, than the McQueen film. In Northup's own words, "There never was a more kind, noble, candid, Christian man than William Ford," adding that Ford's circumstances "blinded [Ford] to the inherent wrong at the bottom of the system of Slavery." The movie, however, according to Wickham, "frequently undermines Ford." McQueen undercuts Christianity itself as well, in an effort to update the ethical lessons from Northup's story for the 21st century, by holding the institutions of Christianity up to the light for their ability to justify slavery at the time. Northup was a Christian of his time, writing of his former master being "blinded" by "circumstances" that in retrospect meant a racist acceptance of slavery despite being a Christian, a position untenable to Christians now and to Christian abolitionists of the 19th century but not contradictory to Northup himself. Valerie Elverton Dixon in The Washington Post characterized the Christianity depicted in the movie as "broken".

After meeting screenwriter John Ridley at a Creative Artists Agency screening of in 2008, director Steve McQueen got in touch with Ridley about his interest in making a film about "the slave era in America" with "a character that was not obvious in terms of their trade in slavery." Developing the idea back and forth, the two did not strike a chord until McQueen's partner, Bianca Stigter, found Solomon Northup's 1853 memoir Twelve Years a Slave. McQueen later told an interviewer:

I read this book, and I was totally stunned. At the same time, I was pretty upset with myself that I didn't know this book. I live in Amsterdam where Anne Frank is a national hero, and for me, this book read like Anne Frank's diary but written 97 years before - a firsthand account of slavery. I basically made it my passion to make this book into a film.

After a lengthy development process, during which Brad Pitt's production company Plan B Entertainment backed the project, which eventually helped get financing from various other film studios. The film was officially announced in August 2011 with McQueen to direct and Chiwetel Ejiofor to star as Solomon Northup, a free African-American who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South. McQueen compared Ejiofor's conduct "of class and dignity" to that of Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte. In October 2011, Michael Fassbender (who starred in McQueen's previous films Hunger and ) joined the cast. In early 2012, the rest of the roles were cast, and filming was scheduled to begin at the end of June 2012.

To capture the language and dialects of the era and regions in which the film takes place, dialect coach Michael Buster assisted the cast in altering their speech. The language has a literary quality related to the style of writing of the day and the strong influence of the King James Bible. Buster explained:

We don't know what slaves sounded like in the 1840s, so I just used rural samples from Mississippi and Louisiana [for actors Ejiofor and Fassbender]. Then for Benedict [Cumberbatch], I found some real upper-class New Orleanians from the '30s. And then I also worked with Lupita Nyong'o, who is Kenyan but she did her training at Yale. So she really shifted her speech so she could do American speech.

After both won Oscars at the 86th Academy Awards, it was reported that McQueen and Ridley had been in an ongoing feud over screenplay credit. McQueen reportedly had asked Ridley for shared credit, which he declined. McQueen appealed to Fox Searchlight, which sided with Ridley. Neither thanked the other during their respective acceptance speeches at the event. Since the event, Ridley has noted his regret for not mentioning McQueen and denied the feud. He spoke favorably of working with McQueen, and explained that his sole screenplay credit was due to the rules of the Writers Guild of America. McQueen has not commented on the alleged feud.

With a production budget of $22 million, principal photography began in New Orleans, Louisiana, on June 27, 2012. After seven weeks, filming concluded on August 13, 2012. As a way to keep down production costs, a bulk of the filming took place around the greater New Orleans area - mostly south of the Red River country in the north of the state, where the historic Northup was enslaved. Among locations used were four historic antebellum plantations: Felicity, Bocage, Destrehan, and Magnolia. Magnolia, a plantation in Schriever, Louisiana, is just a few miles from one of the historic sites where Northup was held. "To know that we were right there in the place where these things occurred was so powerful and emotional," said actor Chiwetel Ejiofor. "That feeling of dancing with ghosts - it's palpable." Filming also took place at the Columns Hotel and Madame John's Legacy in the French Quarter of New Orleans for the scenes set in Washington D.C.

Cinematographer Sean Bobbitt, the film's primary camera operator, shot 12 Years a Slave on 35 mm film with a 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio using both an Arricam LT and ST. "Particularly for a period piece, film gives the audience a definite sense of period and quality," said Bobbitt. "And because of the story's epic nature, widescreen clearly made the most sense. Widescreen means a big film, an epic tale - in this case an epic tale of human endurance."

The filmmakers avoided the desaturated visual style that is typical of a more gritty documentary aesthetic. Deliberately drawing visual comparisons in the filming to the works of Spanish painter Francisco Goya, McQueen explained:

When you think about Goya, who painted the most horrendous pictures of violence and torture and so forth, and they're amazing, exquisite paintings, one of the reasons they're such wonderful paintings is because what he's saying is, 'Look - look at this.' So if you paint it badly or put it in the sort of wrong perspective, you draw more attention to what's wrong with the image rather than looking at the image.

To accurately depict the time period of the film, the filmmakers conducted extensive research that included studying artwork from the era. With eight weeks to create the wardrobe, costume designer Patricia Norris collaborated with Western Costume to compile costumes that would illustrate the passage of time while also being historically accurate. Using an earth tone color palette, Norris created nearly 1,000 costumes for the film. "She [Norris] took earth samples from all three of the plantations to match the clothes," McQueen said, "and she had the conversation with Sean [Bobbitt] to deal with the character temperature on each plantation, there was a lot of that minute detail." The filmmakers also used some pieces of clothing discovered on set that were worn by slaves.

The musical score to 12 Years a Slave was composed by Hans Zimmer, with original on-screen violin music written and arranged by Nicholas Britell and performed by Tim Fain. The film also features a few pieces of western classical and American folk music such as Franz Schubert's "Trio in B-flat, D471", Daniel Dow's " Money Musk", and John and Alan Lomax's arrangement of " Run, Nigger, Run". A soundtrack album, Music from and Inspired by 12 Years a Slave, was released digitally on November 5 and received a physical format release on November 11, 2013, by Columbia Records. In addition to Zimmer's score, the album features music inspired by the film by artists such as John Legend, Laura Mvula, Alicia Keys, Chris Cornell, and Alabama Shakes. Legend's cover of " Roll, Jordan, Roll" debuted online three weeks prior to the soundtrack's release.

On November 15, 2011, Summit Entertainment announced it has closed deals for the distribution of 12 Years a Slave in most international markets. In April 2012, a few weeks before principal photography, New Regency Productions agreed to co-finance the film. Because of a distribution pact between 20th Century Fox and New Regency, Fox Searchlight Pictures acquired the film's United States distribution rights. However, instead of paying for the distribution rights, Fox Searchlight made a deal in which it would share box-office proceeds with the financiers of the independently financed film. 12 Years a Slave premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on August 30, 2013; it was later screened at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, the New York Film Festival on October 8, the New Orleans Film Festival on October 10, and the Philadelphia Film Festival on October 19. The film was commercially released on October 18, 2013 in the United States for a limited release of 19 theaters, with a wide release in subsequent weeks. The film was initially scheduled to be released in late December 2013, but "some exuberant test screenings" led to the decision to move up the release date. The film was distributed by Entertainment One in the United Kingdom.

Due to both the film's explicit nature and award contender status, 12 Years a Slave's financial success was being watched closely. Many analysts compared the film's content to other drama films of a similar vein such as Schindler's List (1993) and The Passion of the Christ (2004), which became box office successes despite their respective subject matters. "It may be a tough subject matter, but when handled well ... films that are tough to sit through can still be commercially successful," said Phil Contrino of Boxoffice Magazine. Despite its content, the film's critical success has assisted its domestic distribution by Fox Searchlight that began with a limited release aimed primarily towards art house and African-American patrons. The film's release was gradually widened in subsequent weeks, similarly to how the studio had successfully done in years prior with films such as and The Descendants. International release dates for 12 Years a Slave were largely delayed to early 2014 in order to take advantage of the attention created by awards seasons.

During its marketing campaign, 12 Years a Slave received unpaid endorsements by celebrities such as Kanye West and P. Diddy. In a video posted by Revolt, Combs urged viewers to see 12 Years a Slave by stating: "This movie is very painful but very honest, and is a part of the healing process. I beg all of you to take your kids, everybody to see it. ... You have to see this so you can understand, so you can just start to understand."

Following its cinematic release in theaters, the Region 1 Code widescreen edition of the film was released on DVD in the United States on March 4, 2014. Special features for the DVD include; a Closed Caption option, The Team - Meet the Creative Minds Assembled by Director Steve McQueen and Bring Solomon Northup's Journey to Life bonus selection, and The Score - Follow Film Composer Hans Zimmer Creating His Dramatic Score feature. In supplemental fashion, a widescreen hi-definition Blu-ray Disc version of the film was also released on the same day. Special features include; a historical portrait from Director Steve McQueen's documentary feature, cast and crew interviews, The Team special feature, and The Score selection. An additional viewing option for the film in the media format of Video on demand has been made available as well.

12 Years a Slave earned $187.7 million, including $56.7 million in the United States. During its opening limited release in the United States, 12 Years a Slave debuted with a weekend total of $923,715 on 19 screens for a $48,617 per-screen average. The following weekend, the film entered the top ten after expanding to 123 theatres and grossing an additional $2.1 million. It continued to improve into its third weekend, grossing $4.6 million at 410 locations. The film release was expanded to over 1,100 locations on November 8, 2013. In 2014, 12 Years a Slave was the 10th most-illegally downloaded movie, with 23.653 million such downloads, according to .

Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 95% of critics gave the film a positive rating, based on 374 reviews, with an average score of 8.90/10. The site's consensus states, "It's far from comfortable viewing, but 12 Years a Slave's unflinchingly brutal look at American slavery is also brilliant - and quite possibly essential - cinema." Metacritic, another review aggregator, assigned the film a weighted average score of 96 out of 100 based on 57 reviews from mainstream critics, indicating "universal acclaim". It is currently one of the site's highest-rated films, as well as the best-reviewed film of 2013. CinemaScore reported that audiences gave the film an "A" grade.

Richard Corliss of wrote: "McQueen's film is closer in its storytelling particulars to such 1970s exploitation-exposés of slavery as and Goodbye, Uncle Tom. Except that McQueen is not a schlockmeister sensationalist but a remorseless artist". Corliss draws parallels with Nazi Germany, saying, "McQueen shows that racism, aside from its barbarous inhumanity, is insanely inefficient. It can be argued that Nazi Germany lost the war both because it diverted so much manpower to the killing of Jews and because it did not exploit the brilliance of Jewish scientists in building smarter weapons. So the slave owners dilute the energy of their slaves by whipping them for sadistic sport and, as Epps does, waking them at night to dance for his wife's cruel pleasure." Gregory Ellwood of HitFix gave the film an "A−" rating, stating, " 12 Years is a powerful drama driven by McQueen's bold direction and the finest performance of Chiwetel Ejiofor's career." He continued by praising the performances of Fassbender and Nyong'o, citing Nyong'o as "the film's breakthrough performance [that] may find Nyong'o making her way to the Dolby Theater next March". He also admired the film's "gorgeous" cinematography and the musical score, as "one of Hans Zimmer's more moving scores in some time". Paul MacInnes of The Guardian scored the film five out of five stars, writing, "Stark, visceral and unrelenting, 12 Years a Slave is not just a great film but a necessary one." The Guardian's Andrew Pulver said, in 2017, that 12 Years a Slave is "one of the most important films about the African-American experience ever".

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly praised it as "a new movie landmark of cruelty and transcendence" and as "a movie about a life that gets taken away, and that's why it lets us touch what life is". He also commented very positively about Ejiofor's performance, while further stating, " 12 Years a Slave lets us stare at the primal sin of America with open eyes, and at moments it is hard to watch, yet it's a movie of such humanity and grace that at every moment, you feel you're seeing something essential. It is Chiwetel Ejiofor's extraordinary performance that holds the movie together, and that allows us to watch it without blinking. He plays Solomon with a powerful inner strength, yet he never soft-pedals the silent nightmare that is Solomon's daily existence." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone, gave the film a four-star rating and said: "you won't be able to tuck this powder keg in the corner of your mind and forget it. What we have here is a blistering, brilliant, straight-up classic." He later named the film the best movie of 2013.

Manohla Dargis wrote, in her review for The New York Times, "the genius of 12 Years a Slave is its insistence on banal evil, and on terror, that seeped into souls, bound bodies and reaped an enduring, terrible price". The Daily Telegraph's Tim Robey granted the film a maximum score of five stars, stating that "it's the nobility of this remarkable film that pierces the soul", while praising Ejiofor and Nyong'o's performances. Tina Hassannia of Slant Magazine said that "using his signature visual composition and deafening sound design, Steve McQueen portrays the harrowing realism of Northup's experience and the complicated relationships between master and slave, master and master, slave and slave, and so on". David Simon, the creator of the TV series , highly praised the movie, commenting that "it marks the first time in history that our entertainment industry, albeit with international creative input, has managed to stare directly at slavery and maintain that gaze".

The film, however, was not without its criticisms. Stephanie Zacharek of The Village Voice was more critical of the film. While praising Ejiofor's work, she stated: "It's a picture that stays more than a few safe steps away from anything so dangerous as raw feeling. Even when it depicts inhuman cruelty, as it often does, it never compromises its aesthetic purity." Peter Malamud Smith of criticized the story, saying, " 12 Years a Slave is constructed as a story of a man trying to return to his family, offering every viewer a way into empathizing with its protagonist. Maybe we need a story framed on that individual scale in order to understand it. But it has a distorting effect all the same. We're more invested in one hero than in millions of victims; if we're forced to imagine ourselves enslaved, we want to imagine ourselves as Northup, a special person who miraculously escaped the system that attempted to crush him." Describing this as "the hero problem", Malamud Smith concluded his review explaining, "We can handle 12 Years a Slave. But don't expect 60 Years a Slave any time soon. And 200 Years, Millions of Slaves? Forget about it." Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of opined that McQueen is "essentially tone-deaf when it comes to performance, and skirts by on casting". The film "lacks a necessary emotional continuity. I don't think it's something the movie is denying in the way it intentionally denies so many other conventions; it's still structured around an ending that's supposed to function as a release, but because it can't organize that sense of catharsis it so badly needs, it just feels as though McQueen is scurrying for an exit. Also: The cast is wildly uneven."

Some critics identified 12 Years a Slave as an example of the white savior narrative in film. Timothy Sneed said in U.S. News & World Report the year after the film was released, "Doubts still lingered about its ability to truly bring about a newfound racial consciousness among a national, mainstream audience ... The film also was a period piece that featured a happy ending ushered in by a 'white savior' in the form of Brad Pitt's character." At The Guardian, black Canadian author Orville Lloyd Douglas said he would not be seeing 12 Years a Slave, explaining: "I'm convinced these black race films are created for a white, liberal film audience to engender white guilt and make them feel bad about themselves. Regardless of your race, these films are unlikely to teach you anything you don't already know." A Black writer Michael Arceneaux wrote a rebuttal essay "We Don't Need To Get Over Slavery... Or Movies About Slavery". Arceneaux criticized Douglas for being ignorant and having an apathetic attitude towards black Americans and slavery.

12 Years a Slave has received numerous awards and nominations. It earned three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress. It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama. The film also won the BAFTA Award for Best Film, while Ejiofor received the Best Actor award. In addition, the motion picture has been named as one of the best films of 2013 by various ongoing critics, appearing on 100 critics' top-ten lists in which 25 had the film in their number-one spot. This is both the most of any film released in its production year.

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12 Years a Slave is a 2013 biographical drama film directed by Steve McQueen from a screenplay by John Ridley, based on the 1853 slave memoir Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, an African-American who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C. by two conmen in 1841 and sold into slavery.

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The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling is one of the most popular Kids Book Series of all time. The series follows the story of young British boy, Harry, who finds out he's actually a wizard and that there is a double world in England where wizards work, live, and go to school. Against his mean foster parent's wishes, he attends Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to learn how to control his magic. At Hogwarts Harry meets his two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. These two friends will accompany Harry on his adventures in the next seven books.

In each book Harry has to take on his arch enemy, the powerful dark wizard Lord Voldemort. Typically harry first has to deal with his horrible foster parents and escape them in order to attend a new year at Hogwarts. Once at Hogwarts, Harry has his friends but also his enemies; teachers and students who are secretly allied with Voldemort. Generally Harry gets some help from the powerful wizard and headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, but, in the end, Harry must face Voldemort on his own and figure out how to keep him at bay.

Major Characters in Harry Potter

Harry Potter - The lead character and boy wizard. Has a lighting bolt scar on his forehead from a battle with Voldemort as a baby.

Ron Weasley - Best friend to Harry. He's not the most skilled wizard, but Harry couldn't ask for a more loyal and good friend. His parents are poor, but loving.

Hermione Granger - Hermione is the brain of the bunch. She's one of the smartest kids at Hogwarts. She likes Ron.

Albus Dumbledore - Perhaps the most powerful wizard in the world except for Voldemort. Dumbledore always seems to be a step ahead of everyone else and guides Harry in the right direction.

Lord Voldemort - The main source of evil in the book, he is a very powerful evil wizard. He is also called the Dark Lord or "he who shall not be named".

Severus Snape - Snape is one of the more mysterious characters in the book. You are never quite sure which side he is on.

Sirius Black - Harry's godfather and once a good friend to his parents, Sirius gets framed and sent to prison. Upon his escape he becomes Harry's ally.

Draco Malfoy - Malfoy is the ringleader of the mean kids at Hogwarts. He hates Harry Potter and will do anything to bring him down.

Rubeus Hagrid - Hagrid is a giant who is also an instructor at Hogwarts. Hagrid is loyal to Dumbledore and Harry no matter what.

Fred and George Weasley - Ron's twin older brothers. They love to use their magic for fun and pranks. They even start up their own successful pranks store by the end of the series.

Books in the Series

Book 1: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997)

Book 2: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998)

Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999)

Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000)

Book 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003)

Book 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005)

Book 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007)

Overall Review

This series is very entertaining and most kids will have a tough time putting the books downs. The books do get progressively darker and more mature. Parents may want to supervise or read the stories, especially the last few, before letting young children read them. There is also a strong element of magic and evil.

Suggested Reading level: Ages 9-14

If you liked Harry Potter, you may also like:

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

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The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling is one of the most popular Kids Book Series of all time. The series follows the story of young British boy, Harry, who finds out he's actually a wizard and that there is a double world in England where wizards work, live, and go to school. Against his mean foster parent's wishes, he attends Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to learn how to control his magic. At Hogwarts Harry meets his two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. These two friends will accompany Harry on his adventures in the next seven books.

In each book Harry has to take on his arch enemy, the powerful dark wizard Lord Voldemort. Typically harry first has to deal with his horrible foster parents and escape them in order to attend a new year at Hogwarts. Once at Hogwarts, Harry has his friends but also his enemies; teachers and students who are secretly allied with Voldemort. Generally Harry gets some help from the powerful wizard and headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, but, in the end, Harry must face Voldemort on his own and figure out how to keep him at bay.

Major Characters in Harry Potter

Harry Potter - The lead character and boy wizard. Has a lighting bolt scar on his forehead from a battle with Voldemort as a baby.

Ron Weasley - Best friend to Harry. He's not the most skilled wizard, but Harry couldn't ask for a more loyal and good friend. His parents are poor, but loving.

Hermione Granger - Hermione is the brain of the bunch. She's one of the smartest kids at Hogwarts. She likes Ron.

Albus Dumbledore - Perhaps the most powerful wizard in the world except for Voldemort. Dumbledore always seems to be a step ahead of everyone else and guides Harry in the right direction.

Lord Voldemort - The main source of evil in the book, he is a very powerful evil wizard. He is also called the Dark Lord or "he who shall not be named".

Severus Snape - Snape is one of the more mysterious characters in the book. You are never quite sure which side he is on.

Sirius Black - Harry's godfather and once a good friend to his parents, Sirius gets framed and sent to prison. Upon his escape he becomes Harry's ally.

Draco Malfoy - Malfoy is the ringleader of the mean kids at Hogwarts. He hates Harry Potter and will do anything to bring him down.

Rubeus Hagrid - Hagrid is a giant who is also an instructor at Hogwarts. Hagrid is loyal to Dumbledore and Harry no matter what.

Fred and George Weasley - Ron's twin older brothers. They love to use their magic for fun and pranks. They even start up their own successful pranks store by the end of the series.

Books in the Series

Book 1: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997)

Book 2: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998)

Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999)

Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000)

Book 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003)

Book 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005)

Book 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007)

Overall Review

This series is very entertaining and most kids will have a tough time putting the books downs. The books do get progressively darker and more mature. Parents may want to supervise or read the stories, especially the last few, before letting young children read them. There is also a strong element of magic and evil.

Suggested Reading level: Ages 9-14

If you liked Harry Potter, you may also like:

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Back toBooks

More Book Series:

Artemis Fowl Series

Boxcar Children

Chronicles of Narnia

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Encyclopedia Brown

Guardians of Ga'Hoole

Hank Zipzer

Harry Potter Series

Humphrey Series

Hunger Games

Lord of the Rings

The Magic Tree House

The Missing

The Mysterious Benedict Society

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Princess Diaries

Ramona Quimby Series

The Secret Series

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Shadow Children

Swindle Series

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Back toBooks The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling is one of the most popular Kids Book Series of all time. The series follows the story of young British boy, Harry, who finds out he's actually a wizard and that there is a double world in England where wizards work, live, and go to school.

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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (commonly Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatures. It is seen as an example of the literary nonsense genre.

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https://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/resources/analysis/themes-and-motifs/

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THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS ( source SPARK NOTES)

IT TELLS THE STORY OF BRUNO, A YOUNG GERMAN BOY GROWING UP IN BERLIN DURING WORLD WAR II. HIS FATHER SERVED AS AN OFFICER IN GERMANY NAZY PARTY. BRUNO UNDERSTOOD LITTLE ABOUT HIS FATHER’S JOB AND ABOUT WAR. ONE DAY BRUNO CAME HOME FROM SCHOOL AND DISCOVERED THEY HAD TO LEAVE IMMEDIATELY. HE DIDN’T LIKE HIS NEW HOUSE. THERE WERE SOLDIERS EVERYWHERE. HE ALSO SAW BOYS AND MEN OF ALL AGES WEARING STRIPED PYJAMAS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE.  AFTER A FEW WEEKS, BRUNO DECIDED TO GO EXPLORING. HE WALKED ALONG THE FENCE THAT HE COULD SEE FROM HIS WINDOW. HE WALKED FOR AN HOUR BEFORE MEETING A BOY SHMUEL. BRUNO AND SHMUEL SAT TOGETHER AND THEY TOLD EACH OTHER ABOUT THEIR LIVES. SHMUEL EXPLAINED HOW HIS FAMILY HAD BEEN FORCED TO MOVE INO A GHETTO AND THEN TO GET ON A TRAIN TO COME TO THIS CAMP IN POLAND. BRUNO RETURNED TO THE CAMP EVERYDAY OVER THE COMING WEEKS AND MONTHS. AS TIME PASSED SHMUEL GREW THINNER AND WEAKER. BRUNO STARTED STEALING BREAD AND CHEESE FOR HIS HUNGRY FRIEND. THE DAY OF HIS FATHER’S BIRTHDAY, BRUNO FOUND SHMUEL IN THE KITCHEN POLISHING GLASSES. BRUNO GAVE HIM SOME CHICKEN TO EAT BUT A YOUNG SOLDIER CAUGHT SHMUEL IN THE ACT. BRUNO DENIED KNOWING SHMUEL AND SHMUEL DIDN’T APPEAR AT THE FENCE FOR NEARLY A WEEK AND WHEN HE DID HE HAD BRUISES EVERYWHERE. ONE YEAR LATER HIS MOTHER CONVINCED HIS FATHER THAT IT WAS TIME TO TAKE BRUNO AND HIS SISTER BACK TO BERLIN. BRUNO AND SHMUEL MADE A PLAN FOR THEIR LAST DAY TOGETHER. SHMUEL WOULD BRING A PAIR OF STRIPED PAJAMAS AND BRUNO WOULD CRAWL THROUGH THE SMALL OPENING AT THE BOTTOM OF THE FENCE TO HELP HIS FRIEND LOOK FOR HIS MISSING FATHER. THEY COULDN’T FIND SHMUEL’S FATHER ANYWHERE SO BRUNO DECIDED TO GO BACK HOME BUT A GROUP OF SOLDIERS FORCED HIM TO MARCH INTO A LONG DARK BUILDING. THE DOORS WERE LOCKED AND THE TWO BOYS WERE TERRORIZED. BRUNO TOOK SHMUEL’S  HAND AND HE WAS NEVER HEARD FROM HIM AGAIN.

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(Source Britannia)Pride and Prejudice is a romantic novel by Jane Austen, published anonymously in three volumes in 1813.

Characters

Pride and Prejudice is set in rural England at the end of the 19th century, and it follows the Bennet family, which includes five very different sisters. The eldest, Jane, is sweet-tempered and modest. She is her sister Elizabeth’s confidant and friend. Elizabeth, the heroine of the novel, is intelligent and high-spirited.
The third daughter, Mary, is plain, bookish, and pompous, while Lydia and Kitty, the two youngest, are  immature.

Mr. Bennet is the family patriarch. He is fond of his two eldest daughters—especially his favourite, Elizabeth—but takes a passive interest in the younger ones. An intelligent but eccentric and sarcastic man, he does not care for society’s conventions and mocks his wife’s obsession with finding suitable husbands for their daughters.  Mrs. Bennet is rightfully concerned as the modest family estate is to be inherited by William Collins, Mr. Bennet’s nephew, who is the next male in line.

Throughout the novel, the Bennet sisters encounter several eligible bachelors, including Charles Bingley, Darcy, Lieutenant George Wickham, and Collins.

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Life is beautiful

“Life is beautiful" is a romantic war film. It first appeared in 1997 on the 20th of December. The director is Roberto Benigni. The film is about two hours long.

It is about a man named Guido , who works in his uncle Leo’s hotel and meets a lady, a teacher Dora. After meeting each other a lot of times, Dora and Guido fall in love. They have a child Giosuè ( Joshua) but one day their fairy tale comes to an end when Giosuè and Guido are taken away by the Nazis to a concentration camp. Dora gets to the train just in time to go with them showing a great courage not knowing were they were going. Guido doesn’t want his six year old child to be scared by the war so he tells him that is a game. He says that when the game is over ( the war) who gets the most points will win a tank. Giosuè go on believing this. At the end of the war Guido while looking for Dora, unsucessfully ,gets caught by a nazi and taken away and is shot. But the game has not endend for Giosuè, who came out from hiding when everyone had left the camp. A tank came in front of him and he thought he had won the game. The driver of the tank lifted him up and took him for a ride. On the way, he sees his mum who joins him.

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Oliver Twist is a 2005 drama film directed by Roman Polanski. The screenplay by Ronald Harwood adapts Charles Dickens's 1838 novel of the same name. It is an international co-production of the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, France and Italy.

The film premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival on 11 September 2005 before going into limited release in the United States on 23 September. It received mixed to positive reviews from critics, but was a commercial failure.

OLIVER TWIST (SOURCE SPARK NOTES/wikipedia/ pearson)

Oliver Twist born in a workhouse in 1830s England is an orphan. His mother, whose name no one knows, is found on the street and dies just after Oliver’s birth. Oliver spends the first nine years of his life in a home for young orphans and then is transferred to a workhouse for adults. Oliver asks for more gruel at the end of a meal and so Mr. Bumble, the parish beadle, offers five pounds to anyone who will take the boy away from the workhouse. Oliver is apprenticed to a local undertaker, Mr. Sowerberry. When the other apprentice, Noah Claypole, makes comments about Oliver’s mother, Oliver attacks him and incurs the Sowerberrys’ wrath (collera). Desperate, Oliver runs away and goes to London.

Outside London, Oliver, starved and exhausted, meets Jack Dawkins, a boy his own age, known as the "Artful Dodger". The Dodger brings Oliver to a criminal known as Fagin, who trains the boys as pickpockets.

The Dodger and Charley steal the handkerchief of an old gentleman named Mr. Brownlow who thinks Oliver is the thief. Mr Brownlow captures Oliver ad takes him home and cares for him. Brownlow notices that Oliver resembles a woman drawn in a portrait he has in his house.

Fagin, fearing Oliver might tell the police about his criminal gang, sends a young woman named Nancy, and her lover, Bill Sikes, to bring Oliver back to Fagin who forces Oliver to participate in a burglary during which Oliver is shoot. After being abandoned by Sikes, Oliver returns to the house he went to rob. The owners Miss Rose and her guardian Mrs. Maylie, treat Oliver well, moved by the tragic stories he tells them.

In the meanwhile, Nancy listens to a conversation between Fagin and the mysterious man MONKs and She realizes that Oliver is in great danger She goes to see the Maylies family with whom Oliver is staying and tells them the conversation she heard.

The Maylies family contact Mr Brownlow and he sets about making Oliver safe. He tries to help Nancy, but she refuses, saying she has no choice but to return to Bill Sikes who is very angry with her and he kills her. In the end, it is revealed that Monks is Oliver’s half brother.Their father Mr Leeford had an affair with Oliver’s mother Agnes Fleming the woman in the picture. Rose is Agnes’s sister and mr Brownlow adopts Oliver. Fagin is hunted and so did the other criminals.

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Types of movies (YouTube link = vocabulary lesson film genres)

SCIENCE FICTION =books and films about an imaginary future, especially with space travel to other planets. "Star treck"and" Star wars" are two good examples of Sci - fi films.

HORROR FILMS=a film made to frighten people, with murders frightening creatures or evil people.

COMEDY=a film that makes you laugh.

LOVE STORY=a film about a romantic relationship.

THRILLER=a book or film that has an exciting story with full of suspense.

WESTERN FILM=a film about cowboys in Western North America set in 19th and 20th

MUSICAL=a film in which singing and dancing are an important part.

ANIMATIONS=drawings, paintings or illustrations are photographed frame by frame

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TITLE:
GENRE:
LANGUAGE:
SUBTITLES:
YEAR:
RUNNING TIME:
RELEASE DATES:
DIRECTED BY:
BASED ON:
PRODUCED BY:
STARRING/CAST:
MUSIC BY:
PLOT SUMMARY:

FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS
My favourite film is _
I've seen it _ times
It's a _
It first appeared in _
The director is _
The film is about _ hours long
The main characters are _
My favourite character is _ because
The best part of the film is _
The film has everithing you want
Children and adults would enjoy the film because it is full of _
This is a film for all the family/only for adults
The film tells the story of _
I went to see it _
I liked it so much that now I have it in DVD
The beginning of the film is _
At the end _
For the main character they used the voices of ___
They make films using digital technology and computer graphics.

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what is the name of your favourite film?
what kind of film is it?
why is it so good?
who is the main character?
what is good about him/her?
what are the best parts of the film?
what kind of people would enjoy the film?
why should people go to see it?
who is the director?
where was it filmed?
when was it released?
how long is the movie??
can you tell me something about the plot?
did you go to see it at the cinema?
when and where did you see it?

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CHOOSE THE ONE YOU LIKE THE MOST

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Free ESL Materials Website

Free ESL Materials.com: A site containing links to free materials for ESL teachers and students.

Help Support This Web Site

Please consider a Donation.

Recommend the site on blogs, forums and other sites.

Link this site.

Consider buying my 1,000 Ideas and Activities book.

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Lessons On Movies.com - Film English | Movie Lessons

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Study / teaching materials for movie / film English. Free worksheets, listening and online quizzes.

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https://lessonsonmovies.com/forrest_gump.html

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Forrest Gump: Lessons On Movies.com: ESL Lessons

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Lessons On Movies.com. ESL lesson plan on Forrest Gump. Complete with printable handout, 8 online quizzes and mp3.

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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is a 2012 epic fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson. It is the first of a three-part film adaptation of the 1937 novel 'The Hobbit' by J. R. R. Tolkien. It will be followed by The Desolation of Smaug and There and Back Again in 2013 and 2014. The three films together will act as prequels to Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. The story is set in Middle-earth sixty years before The Lord of the Rings. It tells the tale of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins in his quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from Smaug the dragon. The film premiered in New Zealand on 28 November 2012 and was released internationally from 12 December 2012.

As of April 4, 2013, An Unexpected Journey had grossed a worldwide total of just over $1 billion. This makes it the 14th highest-grossing film of all time. Critical response for the movie was mixed. After the New Zealand premiere, Television New Zealand noted that critical responses were "largely positive". The 'Los Angeles Times' said the critical consensus is that the film "stumbles". Peter Travers of 'Rolling Stone' criticised the film's use of 48 frames per second and 3D, saying "the movie looks so hyper-real that you see everything that's fake about it". The film received three Academy Award nominations for Best Visual Effects, Best Production Design, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hobbit:_An_Unexpected_Journey

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The Hobbit: Lessons On Movies.com: ESL Lessons

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Lessons On Movies.com. ESL lesson plan on The Hobbit. Complete with printable handout, 8 online quizzes and mp3.

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Schindler's List: Lessons On Movies.com: ESL Lessons

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 SCHINDLER'S LIST is the true story of Oskar Schindler, a German (from Czechoslovakia) businessman who started a business using Jewish labour duing the Holocaust. He ended up saving the lives of 1100 Jews who worked in his company.The film opens in September of 1939 in Krakow, Poland, with the Jewish community under increasing pressure from the Nazis. Into this tumult comes Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), a Nazi businessman interested in obtaining Jewish backing for a factory he wishes to buildSCHINDLER'S LIST gives us three major stories and a host of minor ones. First and foremost, it tells the tale of the Holocaust, presenting new images of old horrors.The second story is that of Oskar Schindler, the Nazi businessman who saved 1200 Jews from death. Schindler starts out as a self-centered manufacturer, concerned only about making money. He hires Jews because they're cheap, not because he likes them. But his perspective changes, and he risks losing everything to save as many lives as he can. His eventual lament that he couldn't save more is heartbreaking.The third story is that of Amon Goeth, the Nazi commander of Krakow. He enjoys killing, and despises Jews, yet he inexplicably falls in love with his Jewish housekeeper, Helen Hirsch (Embeth Davidtz). Rather than allowing himself to touch her, however, he beats her.SCHINDLER'S LIST is the kind of movie that's ripe for discussion. One-hundred ninety five minutes (the running length of SCHINDLER'S LIST) is a long time, but it's hard to imagine anyone being aware of the time while watching this film.

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 SCHINDLER'S LIST is the true story of Oskar Schindler, a German (from Czechoslovakia) businessman who started a business using Jewish labour duing the Holocaust. He ended up saving the lives of 1100 Jews who worked in his company.The film opens in September of 1939 in Krakow, Poland, with the Jewish community under increasing pressure from the Nazis. Into this tumult comes Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), a Nazi businessman interested in obtaining Jewish backing for a factory he wishes to buildSCHINDLER'S LIST gives us three major stories and a host of minor ones. First and foremost, it tells the tale of the Holocaust, presenting new images of old horrors.The second story is that of Oskar Schindler, the Nazi businessman who saved 1200 Jews from death. Schindler starts out as a self-centered manufacturer, concerned only about making money. He hires Jews because they're cheap, not because he likes them. But his perspective changes, and he risks losing everything to save as many lives as he can. His eventual lament that he couldn't save more is heartbreaking.The third story is that of Amon Goeth, the Nazi commander of Krakow. He enjoys killing, and despises Jews, yet he inexplicably falls in love with his Jewish housekeeper, Helen Hirsch (Embeth Davidtz). Rather than allowing himself to touch her, however, he beats her.SCHINDLER'S LIST is the kind of movie that's ripe for discussion. One-hundred ninety five minutes (the running length of SCHINDLER'S LIST) is a long time, but it's hard to imagine anyone being aware of the time while watching this film.

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SCHINDLER'S LIST

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Schindler's List: Lessons On Movies.com: ESL Lessons

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Lessons On Movies.com. ESL lesson plan on Schindler's List. Complete with printable handout, 8 online quizzes and mp3.

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watch the templates

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Sample Film Review Template - 8+ Free Documents Download in Word, PDF

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Cinema or film is not just an entertainment, but also a matter of study as well as research. Academics often do case studies on different films to understand human psychology and various other things about human society as well as culture. So, writing a film review may often be required for such academics.

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upload pictures

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The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King: Lessons On Movies.com: ESL Lessons

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The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a 2003 epic fantasy-drama film directed by Peter Jackson. It is based on the second and third volumes of J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings". It is the concluding film in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, following The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and The Two Towers (2002). It shows the final fight for the control of Middle-earth between Sauron and the Hobbits, Frodo, Sam and their friends. After a long journey they finally arrive in the dangerous lands of Mordor, seeking to destroy the One Ring in the place it was created, the volcanic fires of Mount Doom. The movie has a thrilling climax that is a must-see for fantasy fans.

The Return of the King received rave reviews from critics. It became one of the greatest critical and box office successes of all time. The world premiere in Wellington saw a quarter of the city's population. It won all eleven Academy Awards for which it was nominated, an Oscar record, and tied for largest number of awards won with Ben-Hur and Titanic. It also won the Academy Award for Best Picture, the first and only time a fantasy film has done so. The main criticism of The Return of the King was its length. Joel Siegel of the TV show Good Morning America said: "If it didn't take forty-five minutes to end, it'd be my best picture of the year. As it is, it's just one of the great achievements in film history." It is frequently listed in the top ten on lists of the greatest ever movies.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_of_the_King_%28film%29

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the lord of the rings: the return of the king

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The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King: Lessons On Movies.com: ESL Lessons

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Lessons On Movies.com. ESL lesson plan on The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Complete with printable handout, 8 online quizzes and mp3.

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https://www.tolearnenglish.com/exercises/exercise-english-2/exercise-english-115481.php

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INSIDE OUT (2015) IS A PIXAR ANIMATED FILM ABOUT THE EMOTIONS INSIDE AN 11-YEAR-OLD GIRL NAMED RILEY.

THE STORY TAKES PLACE MOSTLY INSIDE RILEY’S MIND, WHERE FIVE CORE EMOTIONS—JOY, SADNESS, ANGER, FEAR, AND DISGUST—CONTROL HER REACTIONS FROM A CONTROL CENTER. JOY TRIES TO KEEP RILEY HAPPY AND BELIEVES SHE SHOULD ALWAYS STAY POSITIVE, WHILE SADNESS FEELS LIKE A PROBLEM THAT NEEDS TO BE AVOIDED.

WHEN RILEY MOVES TO A NEW CITY, HER LIFE CHANGES DRASTICALLY. DURING THE ADJUSTMENT, JOY AND SADNESS ACCIDENTALLY GET LOST FROM HEADQUARTERS, LEAVING ANGER, FEAR, AND DISGUST IN CHARGE. WITHOUT JOY AND SADNESS, RILEY STRUGGLES EMOTIONALLY AND BEGINS TO FEEL DISCONNECTED FROM HER FAMILY AND LIFE.

AS JOY AND SADNESS JOURNEY THROUGH RILEY’S MIND TO RETURN, JOY LEARNS THAT SADNESS IS ACTUALLY IMPORTANT—SHE HELPS RILEY EXPRESS HER FEELINGS AND CONNECT WITH OTHERS. IN THE END, RILEY IS ABLE TO OPEN UP TO HER PARENTS ABOUT HOW SHE FEELS, AND HER EMOTIONS BEGIN TO WORK TOGETHER IN A MORE BALANCED WAY.

MAIN THEME: ALL EMOTIONS—EVEN SADNESS—ARE ESSENTIAL FOR EMOTIONAL HEALTH AND PERSONAL GROWTH.

INSIDE OUT (2015) È UN FILM D’ANIMAZIONE PIXAR CHE PARLA DELLE EMOZIONI ALL’INTERNO DI UNA RAGAZZA DI 11 ANNI CHIAMATA RILEY.

LA STORIA SI SVOLGE PRINCIPALMENTE NELLA MENTE DI RILEY, DOVE CINQUE EMOZIONI PRINCIPALI—GIOIA, TRISTEZZA, RABBIA, PAURA E DISGUSTO—CONTROLLANO LE SUE REAZIONI DA UNA CENTRALE DI CONTROLLO. GIOIA CERCA DI TENERE RILEY FELICE E CREDE CHE DOVREBBE SEMPRE RESTARE POSITIVA, MENTRE TRISTEZZA VIENE VISTA COME UN PROBLEMA DA EVITARE.

QUANDO RILEY SI TRASFERISCE IN UNA NUOVA CITTÀ, LA SUA VITA CAMBIA RADICALMENTE. DURANTE L’ADATTAMENTO, GIOIA E TRISTEZZA SI PERDONO ACCIDENTALMENTE DALLA CENTRALE, LASCIANDO RABBIA, PAURA E DISGUSTO A GESTIRE LA SITUAZIONE. SENZA GIOIA E TRISTEZZA, RILEY FA FATICA EMOTIVAMENTE E INIZIA A SENTIRSI DISCONNESSA DALLA FAMIGLIA E DALLA SUA VITA.

MENTRE GIOIA E TRISTEZZA VIAGGIANO NELLA MENTE DI RILEY PER TORNARE INDIETRO, GIOIA IMPARA CHE TRISTEZZA È IN REALTÀ IMPORTANTE: AIUTA RILEY A ESPRIMERE LE SUE EMOZIONI E A CONNETTERSI CON GLI ALTRI. ALLA FINE, RILEY RIESCE AD APRIRSI CON I SUOI GENITORI SU COME SI SENTE E LE SUE EMOZIONI INIZIANO A LAVORARE INSIEME IN MODO PIÙ EQUILIBRATO.

TEMA PRINCIPALE: TUTTE LE EMOZIONI—ANCHE LA TRISTEZZA—SONO ESSENZIALI PER LA SALUTE EMOTIVA E LA CRESCITA PERSONALE.

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IN 1969, NASA, THE AMERICAN SPACE AGENCY, SENT THREE ASTRONAUTS TO THE MOON.
ON JULY 16, 1969, THE ROCKET SATURN V LAUNCHED FROM THE KENNEDY SPACE CENTER IN FLORIDA.

THE ASTRONAUTS WERE:

NEIL ARMSTRONG – COMMANDER

BUZZ ALDRIN – LUNAR MODULE PILOT

MICHAEL COLLINS – COMMAND MODULE PILOT

ON JULY 20, 1969, THE LUNAR MODULE EAGLE LANDED ON THE MOON IN THE SEA OF TRANQUILITY.
NEIL ARMSTRONG BECAME THE FIRST MAN TO WALK ON THE MOON AND SAID:

“ONE SMALL STEP FOR [A] MAN, ONE GIANT LEAP FOR MANKIND.”

BUZZ ALDRIN JOINED HIM SHORTLY AFTER.
THE TWO ASTRONAUTS EXPLORED THE MOON, COLLECTED ROCK SAMPLES, AND PLANTED THE AMERICAN FLAG.
MICHAEL COLLINS REMAINED IN ORBIT AROUND THE MOON.

ON JULY 24, 1969, THE MISSION ENDED WITH A SAFE RETURN TO EARTH.
THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY THAT HUMANS WALKED ON ANOTHER CELESTIAL BODY.

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Little Women is a classic coming-of-age story that follows the lives of the four March sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—growing up during the American Civil War.

The sisters live with their mother, Marmee, while their father is away serving as a chaplain in the war. Each sister has a distinct personality: Meg is responsible and dreams of a traditional life, Jo is independent and passionate about writing, Beth is gentle and kind, and Amy is artistic and concerned with refinement and social status.

The novel traces their journey from childhood to adulthood as they face challenges like poverty, illness, personal flaws, and loss. They form close bonds with their neighbor Laurie and his grandfather, who become like family to them.

As they grow older, each sister follows her own path: Meg marries and builds a family life, Jo pursues writing and eventually opens a school, Amy develops her art and marries Laurie, and Beth, whose health is fragile, dies—deeply affecting the family.

Main theme: The novel emphasizes the importance of family, love, personal growth, and staying true to one’s values while transitioning into adulthood.

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The Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

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The Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

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THE STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE IS A GOTHIC NOVELLA ABOUT THE DUAL NATURE OF HUMAN BEINGS—GOOD AND EVIL EXISTING WITHIN THE SAME PERSON.

THE STORY IS SET IN LONDON AND FOLLOWS MR. UTTERSON, A LAWYER WHO BECOMES CONCERNED ABOUT HIS FRIEND, DR. HENRY JEKYLL. JEKYLL HAS WRITTEN A STRANGE WILL LEAVING EVERYTHING TO A MYSTERIOUS AND DISTURBING MAN NAMED EDWARD HYDE.

AS UTTERSON INVESTIGATES, HE LEARNS THAT HYDE IS VIOLENT AND IMMORAL, EVEN COMMITTING MURDER. EVENTUALLY, THE TRUTH IS REVEALED: DR. JEKYLL HAS CREATED A POTION THAT TRANSFORMS HIM INTO HYDE, ALLOWING HIM TO ACT ON HIS DARKER IMPULSES WITHOUT GUILT.

AT FIRST, JEKYLL ENJOYS THE FREEDOM HYDE PROVIDES, BUT OVER TIME, HE LOSES CONTROL. THE TRANSFORMATIONS BEGIN TO HAPPEN WITHOUT THE POTION, AND HYDE BECOMES STRONGER WHILE JEKYLL WEAKENS. UNABLE TO STOP THE EVIL SIDE FROM TAKING OVER, JEKYLL ULTIMATELY CHOOSES DEATH TO END THE STRUGGLE.

MAIN THEME: THE NOVELLA EXPLORES THE CONFLICT BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL WITHIN HUMAN NATURE AND WARNS ABOUT THE DANGERS OF REPRESSING ONE’S DARKER DESIRES INSTEAD OF CONFRONTING THEM.

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LO STRANO CASO DEL DOTTOR JEKYLL E DEL SIGNOR HYDE È UN ROMANZO BREVE GOTICO SULLA DUPLICE NATURA DEGLI ESSERI UMANI: IL BENE E IL MALE CHE COESISTONO ALL'INTERNO DELLA STESSA PERSONA.

LA STORIA È AMBIENTATA A LONDRA E SEGUE IL SIGNOR UTTERSON, UN AVVOCATO CHE INIZIA A PREOCCUPARSI PER IL SUO AMICO, IL DOTTOR HENRY JEKYLL. JEKYLL HA REDATTO UN TESTAMENTO BIZZARRO IN CUI LASCIA TUTTO A UN UOMO MISTERIOSO E INQUIETANTE DI NOME EDWARD HYDE.

MENTRE UTTERSON INDAGA, SCOPRE CHE HYDE È VIOLENTO E IMMORALE, ARRIVANDO PERSINO A COMMETTERE UN OMICIDIO. ALLA FINE, LA VERITÀ VIENE SVELATA: IL DOTTOR JEKYLL HA CREATO UNA POZIONE CHE LO TRASFORMA IN HYDE, PERMETTENDOGLI DI ASSECONDARE I SUOI IMPULSI PIÙ OSCURI SENZA SENSI DI COLPA.

ALL'INIZIO JEKYLL SI GODE LA LIBERTÀ CHE HYDE GLI OFFRE MA, COL PASSARE DEL TEMPO, PERDE IL CONTROLLO. LE TRASFORMAZIONI INIZIANO AD AVVENIRE SENZA LA POZIONE; HYDE DIVENTA SEMPRE PIÙ FORTE MENTRE JEKYLL SI INDEBOLISCE. INCAPACE DI IMPEDIRE ALLA SUA PARTE MALVAGIA DI PRENDERE IL SOPRAVVENTO, JEKYLL ALLA FINE SCEGLIE LA MORTE PER PORRE FINE ALLA LOTTA.

TEMA PRINCIPALE: IL ROMANZO ESPLORA IL CONFLITTO TRA BENE E MALE NELLA NATURA UMANA E METTE IN GUARDIA DAI PERICOLI DEL REPRIMERE I PROPRI DESIDERI OSCURI INVECE DI AFFRONTARL

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Audio the strange case of dr Jekyll and mr Hyde

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Audio the strange case of dr Jekyll and mr Hyde