Overview
Film Journal Instructions
You need to select 5 (five) films to review for this assignment. All the films in this first list are public domain, meaning they are free from copyright and available online, usually on YouTube, but you don’t have to only use these films. Send me an email with films you’d like to consider, and I will let you know if you can use them.
List One:
Abandon Ship!
12 Angry Men
It’s A Wonderful Life
House on Haunted Hill
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Jackie Robinson Story
Japanese Relocation
Many more films are listed here:
You can also use any of the following films (List Two), but you will need an online subscription service (such as Amazon or Netflix) to access them, or watch them on DVD:
List Two:
- The Grey
Memento
Groundhog Day
- Circle (this is available on Netflix)
Batman – the Dark Night
Fail Safe
- To Sir with Love
Lifeboat
Open Water
- Matrix
Episodes from good science fiction are also allowed, such as some of those from Twilight Zone, and even Star Trek. Check with me regarding episodes.
REMEMBER: If you would like to review a film not listed, please email me the title so I can approve it.
- Here are the general instructions for the “Film Review” Journal.
Begin a “Word” document, save it and continue to add to it as the semester progresses.
Write 100-125-word reviews of your selected movies (please use the word count feature in your word processor to be sure you are not going over/under this limit.
- For each of your 5 entries:
Try to be creative and write things that capture your ideas, feelings, and thoughts.
Make sure that you focus on philosophical content, rather than just how much you liked the story. In the opening sentence, state our general evaluation of the movie, even if it’s just a brief sentence such as "This was a great movie", "This was worst movie I've seen in a year," "I'm not sure what to think about this film…” etc.
Next, very briefly summarize the main plot.
Next, look for at least one philosophical/ethical issue – something from the readings, for example, you will need to explain how that film handled the issue.
Next, be sure to state the general philosophy/philosopher (for example, Existentialism, or Plato, Aristotle, Ethics, etc.) -briefly explain how the film exemplified it.
Be concise – do not be wordy; get to the point quickly.
Ask yourself the following to help you with each film:
What happened in this film to illustrate the philosophy?
How did this film help me understand the philosophy more completely?
Thoughts about the quality -or lack thereof – of the overall film?
What would you have done differently? Why?
Anything else you’d like to add (as long as it’s relevant).
Each entry needs a date and film title, so be sure to add these.