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How to View and Appreciate Great Movies
- Narrated by: Eric Williams
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
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Publisher's summary
What makes a movie “great”? Was it a particularly well-acted scene? The dramatic lighting? The emotion of the music? The tension that has built up? A powerful choice of words? The answer is, simply, yes.
Sit down with renowned professional filmmaker, author, and award-winning professor Eric R. Williams to unpack the elements of more than 250 “great” movies - some well-known, others less so - including Casablanca, Jaws, The Godfather, Star Wars, Rocky, Do The Right Thing, The Wizard of Oz, and more in order to gain insights and secrets that will change the way you view films. You’ll discover how from the moment you sit down, great filmmakers control every sensation the movie experience evokes: tremors or tears, goosebumps or giggles, and why it is that we invite them to do this. You’ll also uncover the tricks used to help us suspend our disbelief, let go of our cynicism, and buy into a story using sounds, scores, lighting, color, special effects, and more. You’ll discover how even these seemingly small details can greatly enhance or detract from the theme, atmosphere, and plot.
Professor Williams often refers to filmmaking as a magic show. And once you pull back the curtain to see the creative process from the filmmaker’s point of view, the magic show can never be the same again. But understanding the intent of each aspect of moviemaking - from lighting to language, color to characters, stars to scores - arms you with new set of creative and analytical tools with which to bring to the theater or to revisit your old favorites. These insights will strengthen your love and appreciation for what’s unfolding before your eyes.
Roger Ebert once said, “Every great film should seem new every time you see it” and that’s exactly what How to View and Appreciate Great Movies ensures.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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- By Michael C. on 06-03-21
By: Jennifer Cognard-Black, and others
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The Life and Writings of C. S. Lewis
- By: Louis Markos, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Louis Markos
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Original Recording
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What can we still learn from C.S. Lewis? Find out in these 12 insightful lectures that cover the author's spiritual autobiography, novels, and his scholarly writings that reflect on pain and grief, love and friendship, prophecy and miracles, and education and mythology.
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Basically a collection of sermons
- By Richard on 11-20-13
By: Louis Markos, and others
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Elements of Jazz: From Cakewalks to Fusion
- By: Bill Messenger, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Bill Messenger
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Original Recording
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Jazz is a uniquely American art form, one of America's great contributions to not only musical culture, but world culture, with each generation of musicians applying new levels of creativity that take the music in unexpected directions that defy definition, category, and stagnation. Now you can learn the basics and history of this intoxicating genre in an eight-lecture series that is as free-flowing and original as the art form itself.
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A Disappointingly Distorted, Myopic View Of Jazz
- By Parallax View on 08-18-13
By: Bill Messenger, and others
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The Power of Thought Experiments
- By: Daniel Breyer, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Daniel Breyer
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Original Recording
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Thought experiments are “what if” scenarios that invite us to look carefully at how we think and view the world. They’ve been used throughout history by philosophers and other thinkers to explore our intuitions and ways of reasoning, to find solutions to problems, and to expand our knowledge of ourselves and the world. In these 24 eye-opening lectures, Professor Breyer takes you deeply into the historical tradition of thought experiments, shining a light on both the purpose and the outcomes of these compelling mental voyages.
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Real Life Pholosophy
- By Dennis on 07-19-23
By: Daniel Breyer, and others
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A Day's Read
- By: The Great Courses, Emily Allen, Grant L. Voth, and others
- Narrated by: Arnold Weinstein, Emily Allen, Grant L. Voth
- Length: 18 hrs and 25 mins
- Original Recording
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Join three literary scholars and award-winning professors as they introduce you to dozens of short masterpieces that you can finish - and engage with - in a day or less. Perfect for people with busy lives who still want to discover-or rediscover-just how transformative an act of reading can be, these 36 lectures range from short stories of fewer than 10 pages to novellas and novels of around 200 pages. Despite their short length, these works are powerful examinations of the same subjects and themes that longer "great books" discuss.
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Stories not included, only discussed
- By Julie Jester on 01-15-16
By: The Great Courses, and others
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The Iliad of Homer
- By: Elizabeth Vandiver, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Vandiver
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Original Recording
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For thousands of years, Homer's ancient epic poem the
Iliad has enchanted readers from around the world. When you join Professor Vandiver for this lecture series on the Iliad, you'll come to understand what has enthralled and gripped so many people. Her compelling 12-lecture look at this literary masterpiece -whether it's the work of many authors or the "vision" of a single blind poet - makes it vividly clear why, after almost 3,000 years, the
Iliad remains not only among the greatest adventure stories ever told but also one of the most compelling meditations on the human condition ever written.
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Vandiver never disappoints
- By Machteacher on 07-23-13
By: Elizabeth Vandiver, and others
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Great American Short Stories: A Guide for Writers and Readers
- By: Jennifer Cognard-Black, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Jennifer Cognard-Black
- Length: 12 hrs and 45 mins
- Original Recording
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Whether you want to write short stories, simply want better insight as a reader, or even if you are looking for a new lens through which to view American history, the 24 rich and informative lectures of Great American Short Stories: A Guide for Writers and Readers will show you the ins and outs of this infinitely adaptable - and intrinsically American - literary form. Professor Jennifer Cognard-Black of St. Mary’s College of Maryland guides you through the technical aspects of the short story, while also digging deep into the history of the form in the United States.
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-sigh-
- By Michael C. on 06-03-21
By: Jennifer Cognard-Black, and others
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The Life and Writings of C. S. Lewis
- By: Louis Markos, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Louis Markos
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
What can we still learn from C.S. Lewis? Find out in these 12 insightful lectures that cover the author's spiritual autobiography, novels, and his scholarly writings that reflect on pain and grief, love and friendship, prophecy and miracles, and education and mythology.
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Basically a collection of sermons
- By Richard on 11-20-13
By: Louis Markos, and others
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Elements of Jazz: From Cakewalks to Fusion
- By: Bill Messenger, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Bill Messenger
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Jazz is a uniquely American art form, one of America's great contributions to not only musical culture, but world culture, with each generation of musicians applying new levels of creativity that take the music in unexpected directions that defy definition, category, and stagnation. Now you can learn the basics and history of this intoxicating genre in an eight-lecture series that is as free-flowing and original as the art form itself.
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A Disappointingly Distorted, Myopic View Of Jazz
- By Parallax View on 08-18-13
By: Bill Messenger, and others
-
The Power of Thought Experiments
- By: Daniel Breyer, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Daniel Breyer
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thought experiments are “what if” scenarios that invite us to look carefully at how we think and view the world. They’ve been used throughout history by philosophers and other thinkers to explore our intuitions and ways of reasoning, to find solutions to problems, and to expand our knowledge of ourselves and the world. In these 24 eye-opening lectures, Professor Breyer takes you deeply into the historical tradition of thought experiments, shining a light on both the purpose and the outcomes of these compelling mental voyages.
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Real Life Pholosophy
- By Dennis on 07-19-23
By: Daniel Breyer, and others
-
A Day's Read
- By: The Great Courses, Emily Allen, Grant L. Voth, and others
- Narrated by: Arnold Weinstein, Emily Allen, Grant L. Voth
- Length: 18 hrs and 25 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Join three literary scholars and award-winning professors as they introduce you to dozens of short masterpieces that you can finish - and engage with - in a day or less. Perfect for people with busy lives who still want to discover-or rediscover-just how transformative an act of reading can be, these 36 lectures range from short stories of fewer than 10 pages to novellas and novels of around 200 pages. Despite their short length, these works are powerful examinations of the same subjects and themes that longer "great books" discuss.
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Stories not included, only discussed
- By Julie Jester on 01-15-16
By: The Great Courses, and others
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Writing Creative Nonfiction
- By: Tilar J J. Mazzeo, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Tilar J J. Mazzeo
- Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins
- Original Recording
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Bringing together the imaginative strategies of fiction storytelling and new ways of narrating true, real-life events, creative nonfiction is the fastest-growing part of the creative writing world. It's a cutting-edge genre that's reshaping how we write (and read) everything from biographies and memoirs to blogs and public speaking scripts to personal essays and magazine articles.
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Not what I expected but useful
- By Nancy on 04-14-14
By: Tilar J J. Mazzeo, and others
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Understanding the Dark Side of Human Nature
- By: Professor Daniel Breyer, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Professor Daniel Breyer
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Original Recording
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Hardly a day goes by that we don’t hear about someone committing a violent, reprehensible, even evil, act. And each time it happens, before we know anything about the circumstances, we are already sure of one thing: We are nothing like that perpetrator. But how can we be so sure? After all, we are all human. In Understanding the Dark Side of Human Nature, Professor Daniel Breyer takes us on a fascinating philosophical journey into many of the deepest and darkest questions that have engaged humanity for millennia.
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A Great Cross-Cultural Conversation
- By Anonymous User on 09-09-19
By: Professor Daniel Breyer, and others
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The Great Tours: England, Scotland, and Wales
- By: Patrick N. Allitt, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Patrick N. Allitt
- Length: 17 hrs and 56 mins
- Original Recording
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Taught by acclaimed Professor Patrick Allitt, a British-born scholar who teaches at Emory University, these 36 splendid lectures give you an insider’s take on traveling through Great Britain. Whether you are planning a week-long vacation, a month-long grand tour, or just want to experience England, Scotland, and Wales from afar, this immersive course takes you on a voyage through not only the most popular tourist sites but also a trove of “hidden gems” overlooked by the traditional guidebooks.
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Disjointed as an Audible book
- By John Kitchen on 02-04-21
By: Patrick N. Allitt, and others
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Your Deceptive Mind: A Scientific Guide to Critical Thinking Skills
- By: Steven Novella, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Steven Novella
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Original Recording
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No skill is more important in today's world than being able to think about, understand, and act on information in an effective and responsible way. What's more, at no point in human history have we had access to so much information, with such relative ease, as we do in the 21st century. But because misinformation out there has increased as well, critical thinking is more important than ever. These 24 rewarding lectures equip you with the knowledge and techniques you need to become a savvier, sharper critical thinker in your professional and personal life.
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Same Material Different Title
- By rkeinc on 09-21-14
By: Steven Novella, and others
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Rise of the Novel
- Exploring History’s Greatest Early Works
- By: Leo Damrosch, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Leo Damrosch
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Original Recording
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Thousands of novels are published around the world every year. There are so many readily available, it would take multiple lifetimes for a single person to even read a fraction of them. But it hasn’t always been that way. While humans have always been storytellers, the novel as we recognize it today is a relatively new art form in the timeline of human culture. Of all the ways we tell stories, why has the novel become such a perennial favorite? How did the novel go from a narrative experiment with a low-brow reputation to a cultural touchstone and focal point of modern literature?
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the more I read the further behind I get
- By Bruce on 02-08-22
By: Leo Damrosch, and others
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How Horror Works in Books and Film
- By: Shannon Scott, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Shannon Scott
- Length: 3 hrs and 40 mins
- Original Recording
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Why are we scared of ghosts, zombies, vampires, demons, and monsters, when we know they are not real? Why do dark attics give us the creeps? How do writers and directors know exactly what anxieties to tap into, so that we break out in goosebumps, cover our eyes, and cringe? Shannon Scott invites you into the spooky, creepy, and sometimes surprising world of the horror genre to examine how popular scary movies and books manipulate our collective and individual fears—not only to frighten us, but also to address taboo subjects, and to reflect and comment on the state of our society.
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A social study about horror literature and media.
- By The Cimmerian on 11-07-22
By: Shannon Scott, and others
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Great Music of the 20th Century
- By: The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Professor Robert Greenberg PhD
- Length: 17 hrs and 50 mins
- Original Recording
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The 20th century was a hotbed of musical exploration, innovation, and transformation unlike any other epoch in history. Ranging across the century in its entirety, these 24 lectures present a musical cornucopia of astounding dimensions - a major presentation and exploration of the incredible brilliance and diversity of musical art across a turbulent century. Far more than simply a series of lectures, the program comprises a huge and many-sided resource for discovering the endless riches of 20th-century concert music across the globe.
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Disappointment
- By MAdison on 03-11-18
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America’s Musical Heritage
- By: Anthony Seeger, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Professor Anthony Seeger
- Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins
- Original Recording
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Professor Seeger reveals the origins of the American music industry; the impact of instruments like the piano and the banjo; and the myriad ways music has shaped American wars, dances, elections, and public demonstrations. You’ll learn the secret histories of songs, including “The President’s March”, “Amazing Grace”, and “We Shall Overcome”, You’ll also hear informative interviews and eclectic performances from scholar-musicians, and sample original recordings that reflect the incredible richness of the American musical experience.
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Too much talking - too little music
- By Roberto on 08-09-20
By: Anthony Seeger, and others
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Film Studies, Second Edition
- An Introduction
- By: Ed Sikov
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Film Studies is a concise and indispensable introduction to the formal study of cinema. Ed Sikov offers a step-by-step curriculum for the appreciation of all types of narrative cinema, detailing the essential elements of film form and systematically training the spectator to be an active listener and critic. He treats a number of fundamental factors in filmmaking, including editing, composition, lighting, the use of color and sound, and narrative.
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Lovely read.
- By Dewey Gallegos on 08-12-23
By: Ed Sikov
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Falling in Love with Romance Movies
- By: Eric R. Williams, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Eric R. Williams
- Length: 4 hrs and 41 mins
- Original Recording
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Why have viewers always had a love affair with romance movies? From tragic love stories, like Romeo + Juliet, to feel-good rom-coms, like Sleepless in Seattle, people simply cannot get enough of these movies. Join Professor Eric R. Williams to analyze dozens of titles that fall under the scope of "romance films"—inviting students to see old favorites in a new light and introduce them to elements of romance in movies one might not consider to be part of the genre.
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Wonderful!
- By Ranran on 10-22-19
By: Eric R. Williams, and others
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The Dead Sea Scrolls
- By: Gary A. Rendsburg, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Gary A. Rendsburg
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Original Recording
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Whether complete or only fragmentary, the 930 extant Dead Sea Scrolls irrevocably altered how we look at and understand the foundations of faith and religious practice. Now you can get a comprehensive introduction to this unique series of archaeological documents, and to scholars' evolving understanding of their authorship and significance, with these 24 lectures. Learn what the scrolls are, what they contain, and how the insights they offered into religious and ancient history came into focus.
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A comprehensive overview of the Qumran Scrolls
- By Jacobus on 09-25-13
By: Gary A. Rendsburg, and others
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A Historian Goes to the Movies: Ancient Rome
- By: Gregory S. Aldrete, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Gregory S. Aldrete
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Original Recording
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How have films like Ben-Hur, Spartacus, Gladiator, or even a satire like Monty Python’s Life of Brian created our popular perceptions of ancient Roman history? In what ways have they led us astray? And why, despite the occasional box-office flop, do movies set in ancient Rome still have the power to captivate us, and to turn each of us into theater-going history buffs? In these 12 lectures, an award-winning historian gives you a front-row look at the great movies that have shaped ancient Rome’s role in popular culture and memory.
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A Great Audio Course
- By Mark on 02-02-20
By: Gregory S. Aldrete, and others
What listeners say about How to View and Appreciate Great Movies
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Anthony Sanchez
- 07-31-22
Very helpful, but…
There really are other movie experts to quote besides Roger Ebert. After a dozen of his “Finally I’d like to quote…” it got rather tiresome. That was especially true when the Ebert quote was sometimes not at all insightful. But that’s a very minor criticism. Overall, a worth while listen.
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- A. Yoshida
- 04-25-23
Great Introduction to Film Appreciation
There are 24 lectures covering different aspects of film appreciation (e.g., story structure, genre, theme, framing, sound, special effects, music, color, and point of view). There are some elements that the audience already intuitively understands the purpose, such as characters having their music (e.g., Star Wars) or color appearing in key moments (e.g., red in The Sixth Sense). If you're the type who appreciates Easter eggs and the significance of a character's name in a movie, this is a great introduction to film appreciation.
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- Jaq Greenspon
- 01-28-23
A good intro to the subject.
This was a well thought out series of lectures. The information presented is a nice base of knowledge on which to grow some deeper understanding of film criticism.
That said, this audio series of lectures is in desperate need of an editor. There were points where the speaker lost his place in the notes or made mistakes and the audio just kept going.
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- Daniel
- 07-17-24
Not the way I appreciate great movies
I feel as though this is a misleading title. While these lectures have a bunch of great information on film and the idiosyncrasies of story telling this is not needed to enjoy a great movie. There is too much dissection and analyzing of characters, thought process, story arc, and mise-en-scène mentioned that makes watching a great film more like work than enjoyment. Perhaps it’s just me but I just like to turn my brain off and go on whatever ride the film will take me on and not begin to over analyze everything about it.
Perhaps a Great Course for those with more intellectual tastes than mine.
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- Michael Tufaro
- 04-22-22
I need to watch more movies
I wish I could have known every movie he referenced, I guess I can’t quite refer to myself as a movie buff, until I see all these movies.
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2 people found this helpful
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- AM
- 08-20-23
The title is misleading
It's essentially an intro to film class, which I took in college years ago. Same films there with few additions. I really LOVED the section of Special Effects. I love film so I think it's neat to have a sort of pocket guide to the best films of all time. There is not a big difference between this version and other versions.
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- Greg Bensch
- 01-18-21
very informative
Really found it enjoyable.
Built my appreciation for the cinema.
The "No Country for Old Men" theory is brilliant.
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8 people found this helpful
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- William
- 08-13-22
A good introduction
This was one of Audible’s freebies and I took it. I’m not really a movie buff, but I’m glad that I listened to this course. It helped me understand movies a lot better and gave me a few titles that I’d like to find and see. And, this one does include a PDF with photos, charts, colors, etc., as well as a summary of the lectures.
Some of the topics are very similar to what you would get in a course teaching you to appreciate great literature. There is a lecture on the universal story types that almost all great stories and movies fall into. There is a discussion of genre, how the author/filmmaker uses and sometimes breaks audience expectations, the use of tension, how to let people get to know a character by choosing what details to reveal instead of just describing them, etc. Then there are lectures dealing with visual cues that are unique to movies, though some may still be common to other visual arts, such as how to frame a shot, camera angle, whether the camera is stationary or moves with the subject, etc. There are two chapters on special effects.
And, it’s all illustrated with tons of examples, most of which are movies that I’ve never seen, but I didn’t have to because the professor’s descriptions were so clear and the PDF was there to back it all up. Maybe it would have been better with some actual clips, but I’m not sure that, in most cases, they would have been any improvement over the still shots that he gave us. And, Professor Williams was engaging and interesting. There were some long pauses but it never got boring.
Yes, I have to say, I enjoyed it and for someone who almost never watches TV and has never really been one to go out and see movies, that’s probably a pretty good complement.
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