Film

Analyse the impact of the Fast and the Furious film franchise on cinema-going audiences and film buffs worldwide. The continued success of each film at the box office and their potential to rake in millions worldwide as well as the non-stop sequels being released every other year.

Analyse why novel sci-fi and fantasy ideas that have been released to the cinemas recently have not had the strong effect that the same kinds of films had during the 2000-2010s. One immediate example that comes to mind would be Jupiter Ascending, which performed abysmally at the box office and was critically demolished. John Carter is another example that seemed promising, yet was not given a sequel despite being based off a series of comics.

Themes and values from the French New Wave (FNW) have become commonplace in filmmaking. Do you think the theories and underpinnings of the movement are still relevant or important? If it is or is not in your mind, why?

The second Fantastic Beast film, The Crimes of Grindelwald, will be released in November 2018. Prior to release, the film has been stirring up fan surprise and controversy. The final trailers revealed that Nagini, Voldemort's famous snake companion, would be featured as a character in the film (a female women who is slowly devolving into a snake until the effect is permanent). In the past few week, it has been rumored that a young Professor McGonagall may appear in the film. This is an event that may directly contradict Harry Potter lore established in prior Potter stories and world building. Will the fantastic beast series, once thought as a spin off/relatively unrelated prequel, totally alter our perception of the Harry Potter franchise, re contextualizing the entire chain of events in the world's most famous book series?

Recently I saw Bad Times at the El Royale, and instantly wanted to do an analysis of the film. Operating in true thriller fashion, it often left me wondering what on Earth was going on, and proceeding to deliver hammer blow after hammer blow of intense character development and tense moments. It is filmed in a unique way, as a series of smaller narratives that follow each character, sometimes backtracking or jumping forward in time, before tying the narratives together a piece at a time. Analyzing what new elements this movie brings to the genre, or what elements are familiar, may be interesting.

Recently, I also saw Jaws for the first time. (Yeah, I know). I was amazed at how well it still held up after 43 years! This film is credited with beginning huge changes in cinema and marketing, and for revolutionizing a genre. Between being one of the first movies advertised on television, to knocking The Godfather from its pedestal in 78 days, to casting the Great White as a pariah in the public eye, this film altered every aspect of the moviegoing experience. Specifically focusing on the impact Jaws made in its genre and the changes it introduced to cinematograpghy (i.e. the introduction of more subtle horror, larger budgets, and the importance of a good cinematic score) would be interesting.

This time of year is filled with the macabre–from movies to haunted houses. Why do people enjoy this kind of entertainment? Is it because it makes us value our humanity as we know we are safe? I would love to see an exploration of this topic perhaps through a few specific popular horror films (slasher, demonic, etc).

A broad scope to go over, but in the wake of films like The Florida Project and Beasts of the Southern Wild from this decade, films about the downtrodden in America are often debated in circles of critics who read from a socioeconomic perspective upon their veracity. The discussion of whether a film is being authentic in its portrayal of poverty, or if it's being artificial and dishonest for the sake of appeasing a middle-class audience is an interesting one, and analyzing the contexts of aspects like class and race while looking over a few select films given/saved from this criticism are worth attempting. What appear to be the common criticisms? What keep the better films from being given the label?