Interesting Movie Clips

Wild Australia: The Edge brings us into a world full of exotic and unique flora and fauna through the eyes of explorers. The movie is filmed in Australia’s largest city, featuring in all its glory Australia’s Blue Mountains wilderness. The film takes us to waterfalls, canyons and underground rivers and allows us viewers to marvel at the delicate wild life that this natural treasure houses. The Edge was a Heliograph Production and was released in 1996 by Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. The film became an important eye-opener for every tourist who would want to take the opportunity to explore this beautiful place on earth.

“A math teacher’s presentation to other middle and high school teachers”

This site is a companion to the presentation “Math in the Movies – Using movie clips for motivation and mathematical connections.”

Movie clips are known to attract the interest of students and are often considered as efficient and real-life applications of mathematical topics since they are more fun, creative and more engaging. Using three-minute clips from well-known movies, one can determine the stage for a lesson or show a problem to solve for the students. The presentation will consist of different movie clips currently being used as learning materials with ninth and tenth graders.

The Shawshank redemption is Frank Darabont’s directoral debut film and is full of striking, unforgettable scenes. Perhaps the one that sticks the most is the establishing shot. There’s an overhead shot that moves from the arriving prison bus, goes up to the main tower of the prison building, and looks down on the prison courtyard where prisoners in their drab gray uniforms go to the fence to jeer and gawk at the new arrivals. From this point on, the viewer gets an idea why there’s no other choice but to get busy living or get busy dying in an institution like this.

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, makers of ‘The Sound of Music’ have left so many wonderful songs in this most popular musical film of all time. One of the most beloved songs written for this film is the love song Edelweiss (a white flower found high in the Alpine Hills). Accompanied with a guitar, Capt Von Trapp(portrayed by Christopher Plummer) sung the song towards the end of the Saltzberg concert as he offers it to his fellow Austrians saying these lines ‘ I would like to sing for you now…a love song. I know you share this love. I pray that you will never let it die.’ Capt. Von Trapp became emotional towards the middle of the song that Maria joined him and the people sung with them. The Germans have no idea that it is a patriotic song and the Austrians are singing it out of great love for their country. Edelweiss was the last song written together by Rodgers and Hammerstein. The latter died of a terminal stomach cancer. Edelweiss as popular as it became was mistaken to be the national anthem of Austria.

Even if you don’t particularly enjoy zombie flicks, 28 Days Later is a movie well worth watching. The first scene where Jim, a bicycle courier, wakes up from a coma and leaves the hospital to find London completely deserted, is one to look out for. The many attack scenes are also worth sitting through with your eyes wide open: the church with the zombie priest (apparently the cross doesn’t repel the living dead), the tunnel after getting a flat tire, and a soldier zombie destroying what is perhaps the last human hideout in London.

A timeless classic, Casablanca has set a benchmark in the history of films. It is a story of love and self sacrifice in the midst of World War II. Humprey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman who played Rick and IIsa, had to sacrifice their love for each other for a greater cause. A film which gives significance to its musical score, anyone who had watched the film would never forget the scene where lovely IIsa requested Sam(the piano player) to play the timeless classic song’ As time goes by’. IIsa hum the song and Rick came out from the background and saw IIsa, the woman from his past. This particular scene from then on became one of the most romantic scenes in the film’s history.

Cruel Intentions is a flick for older teenagers that’s loosely based on the 1988 film “Dangerous Liaisons”. Rich girl Kathryn makes a bet with her equally jaded stepbrother Sebastian that he can’t seduce good girl virgin Annette. Along the way, Kathryn also tries to help out sexually inexperienced Cecile get some experience points. The prolonged, wet French kiss between Kathryn and Cecile is the most striking moment of the film (and it’s too bad that some cable TV channels censor this out!).

The remake of the 1962 Lolita has a lot of great scenes that will keep you riveted to your seat until the credits roll. The first view of the nymphet Lolita, played by 14-year old Dominique Swain, is of her lounging in the garden next to a lawn sprinkler. What middle-aged professor would get obsessed, or at least, stop and stare? The most provocative scene in the movie, however, is when Lolita nuzzles up right next to Humbert Humbert’s crotch and inches her hand up his inner thigh while she asks for a $2 allowance. This version is by far the most controversial version of the novel dealing with the taboo and touchy subject of of pedophilia and underage sexuality.

Marilyn Monroe was not the only major sex symbol during the 50’s. Jayne Mansfield was an American actress and Playboy model who also became one of the contemporaries of Miss Monroe as the leading blonde sex symbols in the 1950’s. Born Vera Jayne Palmer on April 19, 1933, Mansfield starred in many successful Hollywood films which popularized her platinum-blonde hair and sexy figure. She was awarded a Golden Globe Award and a Theatre World Award for two early screen and stage performances. Although her career was short-lived, she still managed to acquire celebrity status through several box office hits. She died in an automobile accident at 34.

Everyday, millions and millions of short video clips are uploaded on the web. These video clips are either produced by professionals or amateurs and are uploaded for sharing using a variety of video sharing sites like YouTube and Google video. Oftentimes, amateurs publish their video clips for the sake of having fun and entertainment by sharing them with other people. Professionals, on the other hand, produce and publish video clips to create traffic to their web sites in order to market or advertise their products or services for business. Such are reasons why one makes use of video clips either for entertainment or for profit.