THIS CLASS IS FULL

Jules, 2023, is an American science fiction comedy-drama film directed by Marc Turtletaub and written by Gavin Steckler. It stars Ben Kingsley, Harriet Sansom Harris, Zoë Winters, Jade Quon, and Jane Curtin.

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12 Angry Men, 1957, is an American independent legal drama film directed by Sidney Lumet in his feature film debut, adapted from a 1954 teleplay of the same name by Reginald Rose. The film tells the story of a jury of 12 men as they deliberate the conviction or acquittal of a teenager charged with murder on the basis of reasonable doubt; disagreement and conflict among the jurors forces them to question their morals and values. It stars Henry Fonda (who also produced the film with Reginald Rose), Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley, E. G. Marshall, and Jack Warden.

12 Angry Men received acclaim from critics, despite a lukewarm box office performance. At the 30th Academy Awards, it was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. It is regarded by many as one of the greatest films ever made.

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Postcards from the Edge, 1990, is an American comedy-drama film directed by Mike Nichols. The screenplay by Carrie Fisher is based on her 1987 semi-autobiographical novel of the same title. The film stars Meryl Streep, Shirley MacLaine, and Dennis Quaid.

Nichols began pre-production in New York, where he assembled a group of actors to run lines from the script in order to perfect it. In return, the actors, including Annette Bening, were given small roles in the film when it filmed.

Responding to questions about how closely the film’s relationship between Suzanne and Doris parallels her relationship with her mother, Debbie Reynolds, Carrie Fisher stated, “I wrote about a mother actress and a daughter actress. I’m not shocked that people think it’s about me and my mother. It’s easier for them to think I have no imagination for language, just a tape recorder with endless batteries.” In the DVD commentary, she notes that her mother wanted to portray Doris, but Nichols cast Shirley MacLaine instead. In her 2013 autobiography, Unsinkable, Reynolds recounted that Nichols told her, “You’re not right for the part.”

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O Brother, Where Art Thou?, 2000, is a satirical comedy-drama film written, produced, co-edited, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. It stars George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson, with Chris Thomas King, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and Charles Durning in supporting roles.

The film is set in rural Mississippi in 1937, and it follows three escaped convicts searching for hidden treasure while a sheriff relentlessly pursues them. Its story is a modern satire which, while incorporating social features of the American South, is loosely based on Homer’s epic Greek poem The Odyssey. Some examples of this include Sirens, a Cyclops, and the main character’s name, “Ulysses”, which is the Roman name for “Odysseus”. The title of the film is a reference to the 1941 Preston Sturges film Sullivan’s Travels, in which the protagonist is a director who wants to film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a fictitious book about the Great Depression.

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What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, is an  American psychological horror thriller film directed and produced by Robert Aldrich, from a screenplay by Lukas Heller, based on the 1960 novel of the same name by Henry Farrell. The film stars Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, and features the major film debut of Victor Buono. It follows an aging former child star tormenting her paraplegic sister, a former film star, in an old Hollywood mansion.

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Life Is Beautiful, 1997, is an Italian comedy-drama film directed by and starring Roberto Benigni, who co-wrote the film with Vincenzo Cerami. Benigni plays Guido Orefice, a Jewish Italian bookshop owner, who employs his imagination to shield his son from the horrors of internment in a Nazi concentration camp. The film was partially inspired by the book In the End, I Beat Hitler by Rubino Romeo Salmonì and by Benigni’s father, who spent two years in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp during World War II.

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The Return of the Pink Panther, 1975, is a comedy film and the fourth film in The Pink Panther series. The film stars Peter Sellers returning to the role of Inspector Clouseau for the first time since A Shot in the Dark (1964), after having declined to reprise the role in Inspector Clouseau (1968). The film was a commercial hit and revived the previously dormant series and with it Peter Sellers’ career.

Herbert Lom reprises his role as Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus from A Shot in the Dark. Also reprising their roles from the previous film are André Maranne as François and Burt Kwouk as Cato; the three thereafter became regulars in the series. The character of Sir Charles Litton is played by Christopher Plummer. David Niven, who played the part in The Pink Panther (1963), was unavailable. The stolen Pink Panther diamond once again plays a central role in the plot.

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Best in Show, 2000, is an American mockumentary comedy film co-written by Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy and directed by Guest. The film follows five entrants in a prestigious dog show as they travel to and compete at the show. Much of the dialogue was improvised. Many of the comic actors were also involved in Guest’s other films, including Waiting for Guffman, A Mighty Wind, For Your Consideration, and Mascots. The film’s score was composed by C. J. Vanston.

Filming took place in Vancouver and Los Angeles. In a 2000 interview, Christopher Guest reflected, “Originally, we thought it would be easier to go to an actual dog show and film there, but nobody would let us do that.” Eugene Levy adds that, “We actually had to stage our own dog show. And that’s where the nightmare started. We literally had to put everything together from scratch, get somebody to organize the whole show, get the dogs in, find trainers and so forth.”

The greater part of the film was improvised by the actors, with little to no planning. Sixty hours of footage were filmed, as was the case with Guest’s previous mockumentary Waiting for Guffman. Levy said, “There is a much wider appeal for this movie than for Waiting for Guffman, which was a funny movie and a funny premise but not as accessible as this film, which is more mainstream. People just love dogs.”

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Red Dog, 2011, is an Australian comedy-drama family film written by Daniel Taplitz, directed by Kriv Stenders and produced by Nelson Woss and Julie Ryan. It stars Koko as the title character, Josh Lucas, Rachael Taylor, and John Batchelor. The film is based on the true story of Red Dog and uses the 2002 novel Red Dog by Louis de Bernières as the primary source. At the 2011 Inside Film Awards, Red Dog was nominated in nine categories and won seven, including best feature film. The film was also nominated for seven AACTA Awards and won for Best Film. The film was theatrically released on 4 August 2011 by Roadshow Film Distributors.

The film was followed by a prequel, Red Dog: True Blue released in 2016, and a spin-off documentary Koko: A Red Dog Story released in 2019.

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Bringing Up Baby, 1938, is an American screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, and starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. It was released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film tells the story of a paleontologist in a number of predicaments involving a scatterbrained heiress and a leopard named Baby. The screenplay was adapted by Dudley Nichols and Hagar Wilde from a short story by Wilde which originally appeared in Collier’s Weekly magazine on April 10, 1937.

The script was written specifically for Hepburn, and tailored to her personality. Filming began in September 1937 and wrapped in January 1938, over schedule and over budget. Production was frequently delayed by Hepburn and Grant’s uncontrollable laughing fits. Hepburn struggled with her comedic performance and was coached by another cast member, vaudeville veteran Walter Catlett. A tame leopard was used during the shooting; its trainer stood off-screen with a whip for all of its scenes.

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