Paper #1
“300”
The movie 300 is an action packed adventure based on the true story when Leonidas leads his elite 300 Spartan soldiers against the endless hordes of xerxes Persian army. This is the main storyline of the movie which I think is a major criterion in making a good movie. There are many other criteria in which a movie can be judged by, but two other criteria that are also important are the ending and the music of the movie. The three criteria of storyline/plot, the ending and the music are all important determining factors in making a good movie, all three of which are present in the action packed movie of 300.
The first criterion in making a good movie may be the most important. That is the basic storyline or the plot of the movie. This is a key factor in whether the movie is good or bad or great because without an interesting storyline that will keep the audience on the edge of there seats, you won’t have a good movie no matter how good all the special effects and cinematography are. The movie 300 has an action filled story line that will keep you rooting for the underdog Spartans till the last moment. Leonidas and his brave 300 Spartans march to there imminent death trying to defend there country against the millions that make up Xerxes army. Using the terrain to there advantage the Spartans persevere through wave after wave of fierce Persian warriors. Finally after a Spartan hunchback traitor shows the Persians and old goat path that allows Xerxes army to outflank the Spartans, Leonidas and his 300 soldiers fall.
This storyline really brings the viewer into the movie and keeps you on the edge of your seat through every single battle. Even though the Spartans lose the war there courage and tenacity will inspire you and really show yo u the “never give up” attitude. So the storyline is one of the stronger points for the movie 300 as it teaches you about one of the greatest battles in history in an exciting and action packed way.

A second criterion that makes the movie 300 a great movie is the ending to the movie.
The ending is also a major factor in whether the movie is good or not because it really ties all the lose ends together and really brings the movie to a close. The ending can really make or break a movie as well because it is the last image that the viewer will get of the movie and could be the basis on which they form there opinion. The ending of the movie 300 is one of my personal favorites. After Leondias and his 300 are defeated at Thermopylae, one of Leonidis’ soldiers that was sent home due to the fact he lost an eye leads a reformed group of 10,000 and
30,000 free Greeks against the remainder of Xerxes army. Before they make there heroic charge into battle he gives an epic speech portraying all the Spartan legacies that Leonidis, his king had preached about for so long. This ending definitely brings closure because it show an inspired free Greek army crushing the tyrant Xerxes and his army. It shows a group of people finally recognizing what Leonidas had preached about for do long, that each individual should fight as a free man and fight for what her believes in.
The third criterion that can make a movie good is the music throughout. The music really sets the tone in the movie and especially during certain parts. It can add intensity, sadness, and happiness to a part of the movie that is supposed to be happy or sad. In the movie 300, music does do what I just explained and set up the mood in a lot of different scenes.
They play more hard core music when the Spartans are marching into battle which really gets your adrenaline flowing and brings you into the battle. When the Spartans are leaving and saying good bye to their families they play a more depressing type of music which really brings out and shows the families sadness knowing that there loved ones will probably die off at war.
The music can really bring out a person’s emotion and show the general mood of that moment in the movie. Without good music the movie would definitely not be as interesting and the parts that are supposed to be intense and happy would not be as full with that emotion.
Those three criteria of storyline, ending and music are all important factors that can determine whether a movie is good or not and the movie 300 is strong in each of the categories.

It has a storyline that will keep you on the edge of your seat and rooting for the 300 who live by there Spartan law of never retreat. The epic ending really brings closure and almost makes you happy because Xerxes who you learn to hate through the course of the movie is finally defeated by another army of Spartans. Finally the music which sets the tone and mood for so many defining moments in the movie is awesome and well chosen as it brings out how the characters are truly feeling. These three criteria are all contributors in making the action packed classic an awesome experience that will leave you inspired and wanting more.

Paper #2
This past weekend I saw the movie "The Exorcism of Emily Rose", which was based on a true story. I starts out in a courtroom, with the family's priest on trial for negligent homicide of
Ms. Emily Rose. It's hard to write a review about the story, because it is a movie that starts from the end and works backwards. Some of the main characters are Emily, her father, her boyfriend
Jason, Father Moore, and Mr. Moore's lawyer,Erin Bruner.
In college Emily Rose had an unforgettable experience. Her roommate went home for the weekend and Emily was alone in her dorm. She awoke to a smell of something burning at
3A.M. and wandered out into the hallway. There was no smoke and the detectors weren't going off, but she knew she smelt it. She began to walk down the hall only to be startled by the doors at the end of the hallway opening and slamming shut. She shut the doors and returned to her room. While lying in bed she watched as her cup of pens and pencils moved off the desk and fell to the floor. Startled she sat up only to have her bed sheets pulled off the bed as an unknown force began to climb into her bed. She struggled but the demon straddled her and held her down. After a few seconds they released her. This was only the first of her encounters.
As the movie went on the demons and the visions only got worse. Eventually she was placed in the hospital and put on medication for epilepsy and psychosis. She decided that this was not just a medical problem. She called her Priest and asked for his advice; from there she quit taking the pills. After that she had another encounter with these demons, she started seeing them in people around her, even in their church. Her boyfriend followed and watched as she was tormented and then decided it was time for her to go back home. Her possession only grew worse after this.
She agreed to go through with an exorcism, but it only failed. The demons were too strong. When asked their names it recited: 1-2-3-4-5-6, 1-2- 3-4-5-6. Eventually they gave
Father Moore their final names, the last of which was Lucifer. The following morning Emily Rose was given a choice by the Virgin Mary. She could come to heaven in peace or continue her

torment, but open the eyes of nonbelievers to this truth. Emily chose to stay. A few days after this Emily passed away. In court the lawyer representing the people, argued that after Emily quit taking her medication, she went entirely into Father Moore's hands. Therefore, leading to the conclusion that his neglect killed Emily. Father Moore's lawyer was given this case not because she was interested, but because she wanted become a partner at her firm. But throughout the movie father Moore continued to tell her that there not just fighting the courts, but that this trial is surrounded by demons. Erin does encounter them many times all of which at 3A.M.(this is the hour that demons can mock the believers). In the end, Father Moore is found guilty because the people have too much reliable evidence for Erin to prove otherwise.
This story was compelling, outrageous, and scary, but it made me think about my beliefs. I went home and spent an hour and a half discussing them with my mom and then another hour with my boyfriend's mom. I don't know if there is a heaven or a hell, but I know if this movie really is the truth, then I better start praying.

Paper #3
Of the T.V. shows on the WB, "One Tree Hill is the teenage depict that exploits high school life to pull teenage viewers in. I chose this T.V. series because it's a popular primetime show for my age group. "One Tree Hill," is a suspenseful teenage drama of kids in high school that deal with everyday issues that in actuality effect teens today. I think this TV series is a great watch and all teens can relate to the show's content. The show may not make top ratings or be a top show but it still continues to be a popular WB drama that is currently on its 3rd season.
In my opinion the season so far is great; the show's content is definitely keeping my attention and my desire to keep watching. I've been a dedicated viewer since the 1st season, and I think the show's progress up to this season is impressive. The network is definitely going in the right direction with this TV series. The reasons why "One Tree Hill" is a success is because they have established popular characters with relatable personalities to the average teen's likings. They also have very relatable problems and experiences the average teen in our society goes through everyday. This show influences great examples of and like school shootings, sports, romance, marriage, and illness. These realistic examples affect every single one of us sometime or eventually in our lifetime. Issues like the show's content send out messages of awareness and stereotyping of the average teenager. This show also does a great job of targeting the everyday teen audience and influencing positive attitude upon teens as they experience everyday high school issues.
The show is constantly being promoted and advertised. It may not be the WB's top show, but "One Tree Hill" does remain one of the more popular ones. The WB has promos on the web, TV, and radio. It advertises new episodes and sneak previews weekly. I've seen many promo's on the WB, MTV, and other stations. MTV is definitely very supportive of the WB drama since Hilarie Burton left the network as a VJ to play Peyton, on "One Tree Hill." MTV does a lot of advertising and promoting for the show like special appearances and interviews with many of the characters, and the "One Tree Hill" cast has guest hosted for "TRL", "Cribs" and many other special feature broadcasts that MTV shows. On MTV produced shows like "TRL"; they keep

fans posted week to week on the show's drama and new episode content. They also premiere the cast on talk shows, in music videos, in interviews, and at music award shows like the "MTV
Awards." On other shows like MTV's "Cribs"; they tour, interview, and invade the homes of movie stars like the cast. "Cribs" is the kind of show that allows you to see the day to day life of your favorite cast member and see how they live and where they live. "One Tree Hill" also has its own website link on the WB's network site; which offers fans information on cast interviews, episode reviews, contests, cast member biographies, and viewer surveys. The WB is a big network and is quite popular but not all that successful. Several hit TV shows/comedies are produced by the WB but none really make the Nielsen ratings or other rating polls.
The WB produces "7th Heaven", "Everwood", "Gilmore Girls", "Pepper Dennis", "One
Tree Hill", "Bedford Diaries", "Smallville", "Supernatural", "Charmed", "Survival Of The Richest",
"Reba" and "Modern Men." Out of all the shows, "Pepper Dennis" and "Bedford Diaries" are the newest additions to the WB family and have been receiving great reviews and ratings. The WB dramas "7th Heaven", "Gilmore Girls", "Charmed", "Smallville" and "Everwood" have been airing for years and have had several successful seasons with great ratings and dedicated audiences.
The WB's "7th Heaven" is on their final season with only 3 episodes left, and their previous seasons can be viewed by syndication on the FOX Family Channel along with the WB dramas,
"Gilmore Girls" and "Smallville." Other WB shows like the syndicated, "Charmed" can be viewed on the TNT network.
In conclusion, I chose the WB show, "One Tree Hill" because I love the drama and it's one of the only shows I have time to watch. I adore and can relate to the characters; the show also has great content and "One Tree Hill" has been very successful the last three seasons it has aired. I chose to critique and evaluate my show on 1. The characters and how their personalities and images relate to real life teens. 2. Show content and the season's plot. 3.
Show advertising and promotion. 4. Competition within the networks and their shows. 5. How the show exploits and relates to high school life.

Paper #4
Prison Break
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a sort of genius, and have an innocent brother on death row? Michael Scofield is a rather successful young man, with a very kind heart. Lincoln Burrows is Michael’s brother who was framed for the killing of the
P resident’s brother, and is now in the Fox River Penitentiary awaiting his death. Michael is willing to do anything to get his brother out of prison even if he has to go in and get him out. So what makes a TV show so captivating? Personally I think that shows that keep me constantly guessing are great shows.
Prison Break is a fine example of how keeping you guessing really captivates the audience. In this show the main character Michael Scofield purposely gets himself arrested so he can be put into the same prison as his brother. Before he did this however, he carefully planned an escape for his brother and himself. In this show Michael is constantly working on his escape plan, but what makes this show great is all the little things that go wrong to screw up his plan. A prime example in this show is people figuring out what he is up to and threatening to tell the warden of his plan. This constantly happens to Michael which is really cool because it makes his have to think of new ways to keep everybody happy while making progress on his escape without getting caught. Something that is really great about this, is it gets us to try and think of what he is going to do and the mental interactions intrigue me greatly.
Michael originally planned on escaping with three people; his brother, his cellmate, and himself. However, in the end he ended up escaping with five extra people, putting the final number at eight people. This was not good because he had this down to an exact science dealing with time, the crucial part was getting over the wall. Another thing that I really enjoy about this show is the choice of characters. All of the prisoners were quite different from each

other and all had their own reasons for being in there, and wanting to get out. I really like how this whole big escape plan brought this many completely different people together to work together, when normally they would be trying to kill each pother. They each had their own special abilities and influences that kept them all involved in the escape. Michael had figured enough time for six total people to cross an electrical wire but he had to adjust a little bit and even take some risks which he wasn’t really used to.
On a slightly different note, I really liked how we get to see some of the characters grow and evolve. One character that really stands out in my mind is Michael Scofield. He is a very successful young man, with a lot of money, and yet he goes and attempts to rob a bank just so he can go to where his brother is. The evolution is that Michael is always the kind of person who selflessly helps out people as much as he can. He goes to prison to help out his brother, and he helps out five more convicts than he had planned for. His main goal for all of this was to rescue his brother, and it remains to be his goal. So as the show goes on he gradually lets things slide and becomes a little more able to improvise than he’s used to, all to save his brother. It is in that transformation that really catches my attention, it really makes me feel connected to the character.
In my eyes, Prison Break is the best TV series that I have seen in a very long time. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in mystery shows, it constantly keeps me glued to the screen because I’m afraid I am going to miss something. So if you’re ever curious at how it would be to plan a mass escape from prison to save your innocent brother, Prison Break is the show to watch.