CHAPTER 20 – AMERICAN CINEMA SINCE 2000
Multiple Choice
1. All of the following are true about movies of the 2000s except that
a. they are expressions of individual consciousness.
b. they follow the conventions of classical movie making.
c. they do not look like other movies.
d. none of the above
2. What characteristics shape the ethos of the movie business today according to director Sydney
Pollack?
a. geared to a demographic that provides repeat business
b. grab attention fast and furiously
c. experience is shaped by what happens at home with DVDs
d. all of the above
3. All of the following genres are sources for movies intended for a younger audience except
a. war
b. science fiction
c. comic books
d. fantasy
4. What skill has never seemed less important in movie storytelling?
a. costuming
b. Irony
c. composition
d. lighting
5. A David Cronenberg movie typically focuses on
a. sex and violence.
b. sex and money.
c. sex and technology.
d. sex and politics.
6. Digital movie making has meant all of the following except
a. easier access to the means of production.
b. better image quality.
c. less filming expense.
d. increase in low-budget films.
7. Which movie did more than just talk about gay sex?
a. The Boys in the Band
b. Philadelphia
c. Brokeback Mountain
d. Sunday Bloody Sunday
8. Pixar Studio most closely resembles what classical studio in its approach to animation values?
a. Warner Brothers
b. Big Sky
c. DreamWorks
d. Disney
9. Which of the following movies spun off from the Iraqi War was a financial success?
a. The Kingdom
b. Redacted
c. both a and b
d. neither a nor b
10. Which of the follow is all important in a comedy?
a. pacing
b. tone
c. physical humor
d. verbal wit
11. Ridley Scott is an incredible visual stylist, but he often show a disdain for
a. actors
b. sound effects
c. scripts
d. all of the above
12. Ridley Scott is more than just a film director and has a stake in all of the following
enterprises except
a. Ridley Scott Recording
b. Scott Free Productions
c. Ridley Scott Associates
d. all of the above
13. Ang Lee’s movies stand out because of his attention to
a. setting details
b. narrative details
c. psychological details
d. period details
14. All of the following is true of Paul Thomas Anderson except
a. character is destiny
b. period authenticity is unimportant
c. families have troubles
d. choices can have terrible consequences
15. Alexander Payne’s film career could best be described with the term
a. humane
b. prolific
c. sardonic
d. serious
16. The Coen brothers’ No Country for Old Men was
a. basically a faithful adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel
b. about a killer straight from the id
c. both a and b
d. neither a nor b
17. What theater screen format gives promise that the horizon of movies contains more than just
a transition to digital?
a. Netflix
b. direct downloads
c. IMAX
d. all of the above
True/False
(Place a T or an F in the line following the sentence.)
1. Many critics regard Mike Leigh, who works in the Kitchen Sink-style, as England’s greatest
living director.
2. In Eastern Europe, film industries have been thriving since the fall of communism and state-
subsidization.
3. Movie making in Iran shares many similarities with classic neo-realism in Italy.
4. Many Islamic filmmakers center their stories on children because the lives of children are less
restricted than adult, women in particular.
5. Asian martial arts movies have long appealed principally to adult make because of their
complex choreography and graphic violence.
6. Latin American films of late continue to be slanted to the left, but are also now often funny,
sexy, nuanced, and less self-consciously intellectual.
7. Latin American films often closely examine poverty and the desperation it breeds as can be
seen in City of God and Maria Full of Grace.
8. In the United States, Hollywood is in the midst of a great rebirth of film-making having
learned how to manufacture (rather than create) and franchise movies.
9. American movies have always been the fastest moving in the world and digital technology—
both recording and editing—has enabled them to move even faster.
10. The transition to digital imaging and editing will probably mean the death of film.
Matching
1)Pedro Almodóvar ___
2) Richard Linklater ___
3)Walter Salles ___
4)Marzieh Meshkini ___
5)Jean-Pierre Jeunet ___
6)Michael Gondry ___
7)Brad Bird ___
8)Danis Tanovic ___
9)Zhang Yimou ___
10)Mike Leigh ___
a. No Man’s Land
b. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
c. Amélie
d. Before Sunrise
e. The Motorcycle Diaries
f. All or Nothing
g. The Day I Became a Woman
h. The Incredibles
i. Talk to Her
j. House of Flying Daggers
ANS:
Short Answer
1. Why are Pixar movies so successful?
2. What has helped independent films find an audience?
3. What medium and in what ways do movies often seem to ape in the 2000s?
4. What does quality movie making depend on and where principally could it be found in the
2000s?
Essay Questions
1. How is it possible that a state-of-the-art home-entertainment system can very nearly equal the
film-watching experience of a movie theater?
2. Why have most war films of the 2000s like A Mighty Heart and The Kingdom not been
successful?
3. Why have gay movies suddenly come out of the closet and found large, appreciative
audiences?
4. Are the directors of the 2000s realists, classicists, or formalists generally?
5. What has happened to the rules for genre storytelling in movies in the 2000s?