The Oscars were last night. The Oscars are movie awards. The Oscar for Best Picture (Best Movie) went to 12 Years a Slave. Watch the movie trailer above, then read about the movie below.
From Wikipedia.org:
12 Years a Slave is a 2013 historical drama film and an adaptation of the 1853 memoir of the same name by Solomon Northup, a New York State-born free African American man who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C., in 1841 and sold into slavery. He worked on plantations in the state of Louisiana for twelve years before his release.
Solomon Northup (July 1808 – 1863?)was a free-born African American from New York, the son of a freed slave. A farmer and violinist, he owned a property in Hebron. In 1841 he was kidnapped by slave-traders, having been enticed with a job offer as a violinist. When he accompanied his supposed employers to Washington, DC, they drugged him and sold him as a slave. He was shipped to New Orleans where he was sold to a plantation owner in Louisiana. He was held in the Red River region of Louisiana by several different owners for 12 years, during which time his friends and family had no knowledge of him. He made repeated attempts to escape and get messages out of the plantation. Eventually he got news to his family, who contacted friends and enlisted the Governor of New York, Washington Hunt, to his cause. He regained his freedom in January 1853 and returned to his family in New York. In his first year of freedom Northup published an account of his experiences in the memoir Twelve Years a Slave (1853).
Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Below is the short movie ‘A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving‘. It is usually on TV on Thanksgiving. Do you have any Thanksgiving traditions you do every year? Let us know in the comments section what your traditions are and if you enjoyed the movie.
Meet our new student of the month, Li Juan Zou, Winnie. Her teacher is David Moss from class W2 (Saturday & Sunday 9:30AM-12:30PM).
Watch and listen to Winnie comfortably and confidently answers our interview questions . Winnie also reads one of her favorite poems. Below, you can also read the movie review Winnie wrote for one of her favorite films, Groundhog Day (and watch the movie trailer).
Winnie Zou
Groundhog Day Movie Review
Groundhog Day’s director is Harold Ramis. The main characters are Phil and Rita. The movie is about Phil, who keeps reliving Groundhog Day. Phil wakes up at 6:00AM every day, he wakes up to the same song and listens to the same news on the radio. At first, he tries to face the same day and tries to end Groundhog Day. He jumps off a building, he gets hit by a car and he electrocutes himself with a toaster in the bathtub, but none of this works. Also he tells his producer, Rita, but she doesn’t believe him. So he tells her about all the people in the town to prove to Rita that he is reliving the same day. Then he tries to enjoy Groundhog Day and falls in love with Rita. He tries to be nice to people he brings breakfast to his co-workers, he learns to play the piano, he does ice sculpting and he catches a kid who falls out of a tree. Finally, Rita and Phil fall in love with each other and Groundhog Day ends. “Today is tomorrow!”
My opinion is that the film’s message is telling us to enjoy our life and bad or good situations don’t really matter. People have a dream, they wonder if they are reliving the same day, there would be no consequences. People could do whatever they wanted. People wouldn’t worry about gaining weight, love handles, cholesterol or eating too much sugar. They wouldn’t worry about accidents because nobody would die. It sounds very funny and beautiful.
I like to watch Phil as he tries to end Groundhog Day and he does some silly things. He tries to enjoy the same day and he is nice with people. I like the song in the movie, “I Got You, Babe”. I would recommend this movie to my friends. I like the film because I also like to daydream.
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To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour
This poem was written by William Blake, it is my favorite poem because it resonants with me. I think people should value what they have and find beauty from small things.
This is a post from Movie Class teacher Janel:
Watch the movie preview below and then take a quiz about it to test your comprehension and your English. The preview is for a movie about immigrants called In America. Watch and listen carefully – you may have to watch it more than once!
If the movie looks interesting to you, and you’d like to watch it, it’s available for free at the New York Public Library. Click here to take a look!