Illustration by Dushan Milic for The Globe and MailThe Globe and Mail
Welcome students, to the fall session of Movie Academy 2010. The successful graduate of this program may expect to be acquainted with a basic knowledge of history ( The King's Speech), economics ( Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps; Inside Job) and Shakespeare ( The Tempest).
As well, our cutting-edge syllabus includes online programs ( The Social Network), a sophomoric comedy seminar ( Jackass 3-D) and afterlife career choices ( Hereafter).
Please remember: This session is a prerequisite for the spring term half-courses for our Oscar Predictions 2011.
Now, please sharpen your eyeballs and begin.
THE CORE CURRICULUM (The must-see, mandatory films. These are not electives.)
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (Sept. 24)
Reception at Cannes was mixed. Director Oliver Stone updates his 1987 film, Wall Street, for a new economic crisis, with Shia LaBeouf as a young broker who comes under the wing of now-out-of-prison Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), while courting Gekko's estranged daughter (Carey Mulligan).
Focus on: Douglas's tricky portrayal of the rueful con man, Gekko, still the best character in this convoluted financial thriller.
You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger (Oct. 1)
The grass is always greener in someone else's bed in Woody Allen's latest farce, which stars Anthony Hopkins as Alfie, a wealthy London business man, who ditches his superstitious wife (Gemma Jones) for a call girl. Meanwhile, their daughter (Naomi Watts) and son-in-law (Josh Brolin) struggle with extra-marital temptations.
Focus on: Hopkins, who squeezes genuine pathos out of this foolish old reprobate, while English newcomer Lucy Punch, as the gold digger, walks off with the comic scenes.
The Social Network (Oct. 1)
In a real revenge-of-the-nerd story, Jesse Eisenberg plays Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who improved his social life through computer programming, but became the youngest billionaire in history while facing legal and personal challenges.
Focus on: Director David Fincher ( The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and writer Aaron Sorkin ( The West Wing), who bring Oscar-worthy weight to a topical story that already has half a million online friends.
Carlos (Oct. 21)
Too sexy for a terrorist? That was one knock against French director Olivier Assayas's five-and-a-half hour epic, Carlos (starring Edgar Ramirez), a memorable portrait of a gun-for-hire as both an instigator and product of his times.
Focus on: Assayas's taut storytelling as he turns a multi-language, decades-spanning drama into what feels like an intense dash across history from the sixties to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Hereafter (Oct. 22)
Clint Eastwood directs this supernatural thriller written by Peter Morgan ( The Queen), following three near-death stories of an American factory worker (Matt Damon), a French journalist (Cécile de France) and twin English brothers.
Focus on: Eastwood's no-nonsense aesthetic, which should make this afterlife story more about Zen detachment than New Age mush.
127 Hours (Nov. 5)
Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle directs the real-life story of Utah hiker Aron Ralston (James Franco), who, in 2003, spent five days with his arm trapped by a boulder before he came up with an escape plan.
Focus on: Man, rock and prolonged silences, as Boyle assumes an atypically understated mode for this intense survival tale.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (Nov. 19)
The second-last of the ultra-lucrative Potter movies finds the mature Harry, Hermione and Ron on the run from the snake-nosed Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), who has taken control of Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic.
Focus on: Hanging with your favourite characters. Before the big showdown of Hallows: Part 2 brings the 10-year film cycle to a close, we have a road movie concentrating on the three friends.
The King's Speech (Dec. 10)
Colin Firth plays England's wartime king, George VI, who hired an Australian therapist (Geoffrey Rush) to cure his stammer, in the latest Brit pic about the human side of royal personages.
Focus on: Very British acting excellence and a credible historic reconstruction, which should make this film (originally a play) like Masterpiece Theatre with a budget.
Love and Other Drugs (Nov. 24)
A free-spirited woman with health issues (Anne Hathaway) falls for a wheeler-dealer pharmaceutical salesman (Jake Gyllenhaal) in this adaptation of Jamie Reidy's memoir, Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman.
Focus on: A literate script from director Ed Zwick that balances a sardonic take on the world of penile drug-pushing with romance and pathos.
Black Swan (Dec. 1)
Director Darren Aronofsky ( Pi, Requiem for a Dream) is out to do for tutus and pirouettes what his last film, The Wrestler, did for body slams and barbed wire in this psychological thriller starring Natalie Portman as a New York dancer with Mila Kunis as her possibly illusory competitor.
Focus on: Aronofsky delivers brilliant visuals, and the image of Natalie Portman's swan mask alone delivers an anticipatory thrill chill.
Miral (Dec. 3)
Based on the book by Rula Jebreal, the story traces the history of modern Palestine through the life of an orphan girl, Miral (Freida Pinto), raised to believe in peace through education, who falls for a political activist.
Focus on: Painter-turned-director Julian Schnabel's track record ( Basquiat, Before Night Falls, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) is consistent in delivering emotionally powerful films.
The Tempest (Dec. 10)
Before there was Lost, there was the original castaway drama, Shakespeare's The Tempest, here reworked by Julie Taymor, with Helen Mirren as the spell-weaving Prospera leading an international cast, including Djimon Hounsou (as Caliban), Russell Brand, Alfred Molina and Chris Cooper.
Focus on: The island designs supervised by Taymor ( Frida, Across the Universe) and, of course, Mirren the Magician.
How Do You Know (Dec. 17)
Reese Witherspoon stars as a former pro athlete torn between an easy-going baseball pitcher (Owen Wilson) and a businessman facing criminal charges (Paul Rudd).
Focus on: The return of the king of the heartfelt comedy, director James L. Brooks, the man behind The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Terms of Endearment and As Good as it Gets.
Somewhere (Dec. 22)
Director Sofia Coppola's new drama is set in Los Angeles's Chateau Marmont and stars Stephen Dorff as a hard-partying celebrity reunited with his estranged 11-year-old daughter (Elle Fanning).
Focus on: Fans of Lost in Translation will instantly see the hook: Coppola directing a movie set in a strange hotel and the rarefied bewilderment of celebrity life; can lightning strike twice?
True Grit (Dec. 25)
A teenaged girl hires a hard-drinking deputy marshal to hunt down her father's killer in this Western, based on the Charles Portis novel, previously adapted into an Oscar-winning John Wayne picture.
Focus on: The Coen Brothers, in a movie starring Jeff Bridges, which represents a hard-to-beat two-one combo.
Advanced Oscar Studies (*non-credit)
In our new "interdisciplinary" Advanced Oscar Studies course, students will learn to balance mathematical evidence, historical trends, psychic readings and regular watching of eTalk Daily to make a calculated prediction about next year's Oscar race.
Suggested viewing: Below is a list of films that have already been judged most likely to make the 2010 Best Picture list, irrespective of the fact that only two ( Toy Story 3 and Inception) have actually been seen by audiences yet.
- The Black Swan (Dec. 1) -- Darren Aronofsky
- Hereafter (Oct. 22) - Clint Eastwood
- Inception (July 16) - Christopher Nolan
- The King's Speech (Dec. 10) - Tom Hooper
- Love and Other Drugs (Nov. 24) - Ed Zwick
- Miral (Dec. 3) - Julian Schnabel
- The Social Network (Oct. 1) - David Fincher
- Somewhere (Dec. 22) - Sofia Coppola
- Toy Story 3 (June 18) - Lee Unkrich
- True Grit (Dec.. 25) - Joel and Ethan Coen
Beyond the Second Dimension (Supported by the Institute of James Cameron Studies)
Since the arrival of James Cameron's epic science-fiction film, Avatar, in late 2009, critics have hailed a new era in filmmaking as studios rushed to make numerous children's and horror films in the 3-D format, including the following movies to be released during the next four months. The class will discuss such topics as: The Future in 3D: Deeper, or just More Pointy?
- Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D (Sept. 10)
- Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (Sept. 24)
- Jackass 3-D (Oct. 15
- Saw 3D (Oct. 29)
- Megamind (Nov. 5)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (Nov. 19)
- Tangled (Nov. 24)
- Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Dec. 10)
- Yogi Bear (Dec. 17)
- Tron Legacy (Dec. 17)
- Gulliver's Travels (Dec. 30)
Comedy Binary Logic
Open to athletic-scholarship students and continuing-studies students alike, this popular course looks at contemporary comic duos in the tradition of Abbot and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, Cheech and Chong and Dumb and Dumber. Evaluation standards are minimal, with students being required merely to say something funny, gesture, or make a funny noise.
Going the Distance (Sept. 3). Real-life couple Justin Long and Drew Barrymore play lovers negotiating a long-distance affair.
Easy A (Sept. 17) A high-school student (Emma Stone) fakes losing her virginity to her gay best friend (Dan Byrd).
Life as We Know It (Oct. 8) Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel discover parenthood before romance.
Due Date (Nov. 5) Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis buddy up on the road.
Morning Glory (Nov. 12) Diane Keaton and Harrison Ford spat as grumpy morning-show co-anchors.
Love and Other Drugs (Nov. 24) Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal are more compatible than they were in Brokeback Mountain.
How Do You Know (Dec. 17) Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson compete for Reese Witherspoon's affections in a who's-the-cutest cage match.
Little Fockers (Dec. 22) Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro again, 37 years after their focking breakthroughs in Mean Streets.
Liam Lacey