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Critical Thinking , Movie About Miami Jackson's Chess Champs, Available for Download

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In the press materials for “Critical Thinking,” producer Carla Berkowitz drops this line about her reaction to reading the true story that inspired the film: “The image and story was haunting and I felt like I had a quantum shift in my perception of chess and who plays it.” The who in question are five Miami-area Black and Latino men who, along with their teacher, Mr. Martinez, brought back to their underprivileged Florida neighborhood the U.S. National Chess Championship. This happened in 1998. The film chronicles the loving camaraderie of the players and the events leading up to their victory.

In that same press release, acclaimed writer and actor John Leguizamo , who plays Martinez and also directs, states that he wanted to make this film because there were very few representations of Latin people on-screen when he was growing up. He also mentioned that the book The Bell Curve  harmfully depicted people of color as being mentally inferior due to our genetics. I wondered if, like me, Leguizamo grew up in an environment where the Black and brown people he knew played chess, so that it wouldn’t seem unusual nor an anomaly that they did. Because Berkowitz’s statement really made me consider what exactly the standard issue chess player was supposed to look like.

Chess has appeared in a lot of movies, from Boaz Yakin ’s “ Fresh ” to Steven Zaillian ’s “Searching for Bobby Fisher” to 2016’s superb Mira Nair film, “ Queen of Katwe .” I even remember it being prevalent in a crappy Gary Coleman TV movie about a smart Black kid. The game always carries the same symbolic qualifier: the person who plays it has a mental capacity for strategy and is intelligent. Chess is often employed to teach life lessons in these movies, to the point where it has become a cliché that just so happens to be used differently depending on who’s playing it. This difference is something that I admit often sticks in my craw, so I found myself wrestling a bit with this movie even though it seemed to be addressing my concern.

Unlike Zaillian’s film, which I guess answers my question of what a “standard issue” chess player is supposed to look like, the protagonists in the other films I’ve mentioned, and in “Critical Thinking,” are people of color whose economical circumstances are far from ideal. This tends to be the model when minorities are seen playing chess in films, which bends the cinematic chess player cliché toward making the ability to play the game the audience’s reason to offer empathy. Sure, they’re broke, probably in crime-ridden areas and may even do a crime or two, but see, they’re smart, so it’s OK to feel for them! This line of thinking has to do with who stereotypically plays chess and who does not.

Leguizamo’s Mr. Martinez speaks to this early in “Critical Thinking” by asking why chess is never associated with brown people despite a Latin man playing a major role in its evolution. “Why don’t you think we know about him?” he asks the students in his critical thinking class before delivering a great, pointed monologue that speaks about how history is taught in schools. The script by Dito Montiel has some sharp commentary about the education system, from what gets funded to the over-reliance on test scores to the differences between Martinez’s inner city school and the posh preppy institutions who fall victim to our heroes on the tournament circuit. There’s a bit more bite than you may be expecting, and the writing is just prickly enough to balance out the moments when the film dives headfirst into its tropes. And there are numerous tropes to swim in; not only is this a sports movie, it’s also an entry in the “Beloved Teacher” genre.

Our chess champion team is comprised of Sedrick Roundtree ( Corwin C. Tuggles ), Ito Paniagua (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.), Gil Luna ( Will Hochman ), Rodelay Medina (Angel Curiel) and later, Marcel Martinez ( Jeffry Batista ) who joins the team after dispensing a hustler’s ass-whipping in a speed chess match. Their dialogue is peppered with the language the PG-13 won’t allow but realism will. Martinez is often telling them “watch your mouth” in his class, even if, in his less guarded moments, he’s prone to occasional profanity. Leguizamo gets good performances from each of them, especially in moments where you really feel the bond between teammates, both in the tournaments and in the streets. When they tell each other that they’ve got each other’s backs, there’s a real emotional pull that emanates straight from the actors.

Though this is an inspirational movie, Leguizamo and Montiel never sugarcoat the dangers of the environment their characters inhabit. The potential for violence, temporary homelessness, crime, and police harassment are always hovering in the margins, sometimes even invading the safe space of Martinez’s class or the school. An early sequence that shockingly ends in violence shows how good Leguizamo is at quickly establishing the audience’s tie to a character. When Rivera (Dre C) is thrown into critical thinking class after a disciplinary problem (“my class is not detention!” Martinez yells at frenemy Principal Kesler [ Rachel Bay Jones ]), he immediately runs afoul of Ito. Rivera’s lack of response is due to Spanish being his primary language, which may also have something to do with the infraction that got him sent to this class. Martinez talks to him in Spanish, lectures Ito and all seems well.

Rivera is then brutally assassinated in broad daylight after accidentally bumping into another person on the street. The film is barely 15 minutes old when this happens, but it immediately establishes that “Critical Thinking” has no plans of abandoning reality for its feel-good message. That sense of realism extends to the way the characters bond with, rib, and defend each other. Additionally, Leguizamo plays Martinez as someone who understands the temptations and frustrations of his students’ world. He challenges them to do for themselves because he knows all too well that the system has no intention of lending a helping hand.

Like Nair does in “Queen of Katwe,” Leguizamo also blatantly refuses to impose on poverty any notions of shame or requests for pity. “Chess is the great equalizer,” Martinez tells his team as they navigate snooty tournament heads and appearances against challengers from much posher ‘hoods. Even when things get expectedly dire for some of the characters, “Critical Thinking” remains focused on the characters’ response to the situation, never once stripping them of their dignity for cheap emotional manipulation.

Of all the team members, Sedrick has the most detailed arc. He has a girlfriend, Chanayah ( Zora Casebere ), who is supportive and tougher than she looks, and a father ( Michael Kenneth Williams ) whose sole job here is to fill that chess movie trope of the angry guy who uses chess as a means of brutal domination. Williams is an always welcome presence, but I could have done without him. Still, there is one very good moment where he shows some growth, and his son makes a snide comment that he silently acknowledges as being right.

The chess scenes are good even if you know nothing about chess. I’ve been playing since I was five, so of course I wanted more detailed representations than Leguizamo provides. I found his classroom lessons and the team’s banter about moves fascinating, and every time I was given a good look at a chessboard, I got closer to the screen to investigate. And yet, despite its acknowledgement of my aforementioned issues, I still felt a little itchy watching “Critical Thinking.” I am always game for a movie that makes me reckon with my personal feelings and biases, and I’m glad this one exists because representation will always speak volumes. If nothing else, “Critical Thinking” reminds you what a chess player can look like.

Odie Henderson

Odie "Odienator" Henderson has spent over 33 years working in Information Technology. He runs the blogs Big Media Vandalism and Tales of Odienary Madness. Read his answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire  here .

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Film credits.

Critical Thinking (2020)

117 minutes

John Leguizamo as Mario Martinez

Rachel Bay Jones as Principal Kestel

Michael Kenneth Williams as Mr. Roundtree

Corwin C. Tuggles as Sedrick Roundtree

Jorge Lendeborg Jr. as Ito Paniagua

Angel Bismark Curiel as Rodelay Medina

Will Hochman as Gil Luna

Jeffry Batista as Marcel Martinez

Zora Casebere as Chanayah

• John Leguizamo
• Dito Montiel

Cinematographer

• Zach Zamboni
• Jamie Kirkpatrick
• Chris Hajian

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‘Critical Thinking’ Review: All the Right Moves

John Leguizamo directs and stars in this warmhearted drama about underprivileged teenagers who enter a national chess championship.

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By Jeannette Catsoulis

Whether championing math, poetry, or just how to be a decent human being , the inspirational teacher is as familiar to movie audiences as the class stoner. “Critical Thinking” does little to detach itself from genre cliché; yet this heartfelt drama about a rough-and-tumble group of high-schoolers who claw their way to a national chess tournament has a sweetness that softens its flaws.

Based on a true story and set in an underserved Miami neighborhood in 1998, the movie drops us into the boisterous classroom of Mr. Martinez (played by the director, John Leguizamo).

“Chess is the great equalizer,” he tells his multiethnic students, using the game to teach his critical thinking elective — with a side of racial history discouraged by his school board. The principal (Rachel Bay Jones) might treat his classroom like a dumping ground for miscreants, but Martinez, assisted by wigs and funny accents, explains complicated chess moves with a deftness that cuts through their indifference.

With goals as modest as the lives of its characters, “Critical Thinking” follows the predictable arc of the underdog drama as the chess team overcomes troubled home situations and other setbacks on the road to a Beverly Hills-set finale. Slow and straightforward, the movie knows that a chess match is hardly a barnburner; but its lively young performers and their eventual triumph are easy to warm to. Drugs and gangs might beckon — and immigration officers hover just outside the frame — but they’re no match for the values of sportsmanship and teamwork. And Mr. Martinez’s pep talks.

Critical Thinking Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 57 minutes. Watch through virtual cinemas, or rent or buy on iTunes , Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators.

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Critical Thinking

Where to watch.

Watch Critical Thinking with a subscription on Netflix, rent on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

What to Know

Strategic in delivering all the feels, Critical Thinking is a good old-fashioned underdog story that marks a winning directorial debut for John Leguizamo.

Critics Reviews

Cast & crew.

John Leguizamo

Mario Martinez

Rachel Bay Jones

Principal Kestel

Michael Kenneth Williams

Mr. Roundtree

Corwin C. Tuggles

Sedrick Roundtree

Jorge Lendeborg

Ito Paniagua

More Like This

Top 7 Movies To Put Your Critical Thinking Skills To Work

Last Updated on February 7, 2022 by Editorial Team

From understanding what your friend is upset about to giving a logical explanation about a recent incident to even identifying real and fake news, many situations that life throws us in can be overcome and understood well by critical thinking. This complex notion is the capacity to think clearly and rationally and form a logical relationship between concepts, subjects, and ideas. 

The ability to analyze and solve problems, creative thinking, great communication, and empathy comes with a person’s potential to think critically and intensely. But this is not something that can be taught theoretically in school or by books. A child needs practical learning to understand the basics of critical thinking and later exercise it in real life. 

A lot of learning about different skills comes from daily activities , games, and even movies. Movies teach us a lot of life and life skills, critical thinking being one of them. This article will be all about such movies which promote critical thinking and enable the individual to indulge and practice attributes like self-evaluation, drawing conclusions, creativity, emotional intelligence, and much more. 

Movies & Critical Thinking

When individuals are exposed to new information, they need to carefully and logically find out how this information relates to what they already know. Similarly, whenever a movie makes an individual aware of a certain emotion, feeling, or attribute, they begin to think consciously about it and try to fit it in their library of attributes.  

Once in a while, a clever movie comes in and plays with an individual’s mind, which in turn helps promote critical thinking. There lies suspense and twists at every stage of a good survival and thrilling movie, which compel the audience to use their mind critically. Fortunately enough, nature endows each individual with intrigue and vision that can be further enhanced if we indulge in the movies that make us question and think hard over our existing beliefs and notions. 

How do movies help in critical thinking?

Film or movies are an effective educational tool. Films can help individuals better comprehend and empathize with the life experiences of other persons by providing diverse views in compelling and emotional ways. 

Individuals learn to investigate, evaluate, synthesize, and understand using the movies and their plots as catalysts. Movies serve as a training tool for survival skills and real-world situations. Above all, movies are becoming a great medium to impart skills that help children think critically to solve problems. 

List of Movies for critical thinking 

1.  eternal sunshine of the spotless mind (2004).

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a romantic science-fiction film that questions all our beliefs. Being a psychological drama with a nonlinear storyline, this movie promotes critical thinking because of the unique plot. Having had memories removed to get rid of the traumatic past, this movie fills in the mind with many emotions and questions, which builds the various attributes of critical thinking.

2. Life of pi (2012)

Life of Pi is one movie that challenges our thoughts and helps us face the real world. Being an adventure drama film, this movie by Ang Lee centers around an Indian adolescent who tells a novelist about how he survives a shipwreck and ends up adrift in the pacific ocean. This aspect of the movie brings awareness to the audience. Life of Pi shows the struggle of the teenager to save his life, which induces the various attributes of critical thinking in the individual.  

3. Forrest gump (1994)

Forrest Gump is a comedy-drama film based on a kind guy who impacts numerous historical events in the United States in the 20th century. This movie is complex but will play with the strings of your heart. Promoting aspects like loyalty, appreciation, and honesty, Forrest Gump is perfect for adolescents as this will make them think hard and learn a lot.  

4. Good will hunting (1997)

Being an American Psychological drama, this film about a 20-year-old will change your life for good. The movie teaches you to break down the barriers and inspires you to fight the demons inside. This story about an unappreciated genius will persuade you to think emotionally and logically question your life and teachings. 

5.  Equilibrium (2002)

Starring Emmy Watson and Taye Diggs, this movie is an American science fiction that edifies an individual’s potential for creative expression. The movie revolves around how residents need to undergo daily medication to keep their emotions at bay, making their emotional intelligence more powerful. The way characters regulate their behavior makes the viewer more sensitive towards morals and society in general. All these aspects of the movie ultimately work towards the critical thinking of an individual.

6. Inside out (2015)

Set in the mind of an 11-year-old, this movie deals with strong emotions that we face daily. These feelings of anger, fear, disgust help the protagonist and give out plenty of inculcating moments. The movie teaches the viewers a lot about happiness, leaving a powerful message which challenges emotions and teaches them not to suppress them but rather express them. 

7. Moneyball (2011)

This American biographical film is based on a true story that is about Oakland Athletic’s former manager. Few movies enable the viewer to think out-of-the-box, and this is one of them. It shows the unique way of building a team and builds critical thinking attributes like teamwork and decision making. 

Wrapping up

Although movies cannot be used as a primary method of teaching attributes, skills, and abilities, they work perfectly as they push us to think intensely and build new qualities, such as critical thinking. These movies can be added to the class activities, and later the teacher can also host a debate, which will be even more beneficial for the student. These movies can also be given as homework for holidays, and later the teacher can discuss them in class to understand whether the child has comprehended the plot well. Movies are often looked at as a source of entertainment, but very few give out life lessons and make the individual more aware of their feelings, likes, dislikes, and so much more.

An engineer, Maths expert, Online Tutor and animal rights activist. In more than 5+ years of my online teaching experience, I closely worked with many students struggling with dyscalculia and dyslexia. With the years passing, I learned that not much effort being put into the awareness of this learning disorder. Students with dyscalculia often misunderstood for having  just a simple math fear. This is still an underresearched and understudied subject. I am also the founder of  Smartynote -‘The notepad app for dyslexia’, 

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Critical thinking, common sense media reviewers.

Underdog chess team defies odds but plays into stereotypes.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Positive themes of teamwork and defiance against t

Main characters are depicted as underdogs whose su

Frequent gun use. One character is abruptly shot a

Occasional kissing.

Frequent use of the words "f--k," "s--t," and "ass

Adults get drunk. Underage characters smoke cigare

Parents need to know that Critical Thinking is a fact-based drama about a high school chess team from an underserved community that defies the odds to make it to the U.S. National Chess Championship. Directed by and starring John Leguizamo, the movie has frequent swearing ("f--k," "s--t," etc.), underage…

Positive Messages

Positive themes of teamwork and defiance against the odds are prevalent. While it exposes some of the broken systems in public education, it fails to fully portray its teen characters' humanity, contributing to problematic stereotypes.

Positive Role Models

Main characters are depicted as underdogs whose success goes against everyone's expectations. Some show determination, but most play into stereotypes associated with Black and Latinx teens from under-resourced communities -- i.e., unmotivated, unintelligent jokesters. That makes it seem like their success is because of some paradoxical talent instead of their strength of character. Failure to see these kids' humanity contributes to their stereotyping, on-screen and off.

Violence & Scariness

Frequent gun use. One character is abruptly shot and killed. Another character is punched and strangled to death. Parents emotionally abuse children.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Frequent use of the words "f--k," "s--t," and "ass."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Adults get drunk. Underage characters smoke cigarettes. Drug dealing.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Critical Thinking is a fact-based drama about a high school chess team from an underserved community that defies the odds to make it to the U.S. National Chess Championship. Directed by and starring John Leguizamo , the movie has frequent swearing ("f--k," "s--t," etc.), underage cigarette smoking, drug dealing, punching, strangling, and gun violence that results in death. Parents emotionally abuse children. While positive themes of teamwork and overcoming challenges are prevalent, the movie's Black and Latinx teens are stereotypically depicted as unintelligent with little work ethic and their success as an anomaly. Rachel Bay Jones and Michael Kenneth Williams co-star. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

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What's the Story?

In CRITICAL THINKING, teacher Mr. T ( John Leguizamo ) oversees an unofficial detention hall at Miami Jackson Senior High School, where students are sent if they're deemed troublesome. Mr. T seizes the opportunity to start a chess team, all while navigating limited resources, a school with little faith in his students' abilities, and the stressors of his students' turbulent personal lives. When the team starts to succeed, the students come up with creative fundraisers to pay for travel and lodging at their competitions. But none of this is easy. One teen faces pressures at home from an emotionally abusive father who resents his son's talents. Another is pulled into dealing drugs to make ends meet. All the while, Mr. T is the loving, encouraging adult they crave.

Is It Any Good?

This drama is the classic story of an underdog team overcoming the odds and making it all the way; unfortunately, it falls back on stereotypical characterizations to tell its tale. The Miami Jackson team seems to be in this position because its members -- Black and Latinx teens from under-resourced communities -- have historically underestimated identities. The film plays on the biases that are often held about these identities by depicting the teens as shiftless and unfocused. They're careless in their fundraising efforts, they try to pass notes during tournaments, and they use the threat of physical violence to intimidate their opponents.

Their chess skills are an afterthought, making their success feel like an anomaly. And it certainly doesn't help that a White teen joins the team as they gain momentum and becomes their shining star -- teaching the other kids new chess moves and giving them vocabulary lessons. He's the only teen character whose background, personal life, and stressors aren't explored. So while Critical Thinking is diverse in its casting and exposes some of the broken systems in public education, it misses the mark in humanizing its characters. The failure to see these kids' humanity contributes to their stereotyping, on-screen and off.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how Critical Thinking handles stereotypes and biases. Can media offer positive representations while still promoting stereotypical characterizations?

What does Critical Thinking teach viewers about student engagement and the importance of teaching things in a fun way?

What role does teamwork play in Critical Thinking ? Why is it an important character strength ?

Movie Details

• In theaters : September 4, 2020
• On DVD or streaming : September 4, 2020
• Cast : John Leguizamo , Rachel Bay Jones , Michael Kenneth Williams
• Director : John Leguizamo
• Inclusion Information : Latino directors, Latino actors, Female actors
• Studio : Vertical Entertainment
• Genre : Drama
• Topics : High School
• Character Strengths : Teamwork
• Run time : 117 minutes
• MPAA rating : NR
• Last updated : February 19, 2023

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Teachers Look to Film to Foster Critical Thinking

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Twenty-one teachers sit in a small movie theater here watching a quick, dialogue-driven scene that culminates with Mark Zuckerberg, as played by actor Jesse Eisenberg, getting dumped by his girlfriend.

Larry Knapp, a film professor at Oakton Community College in Des Plaines, Ill., pauses “The Social Network” and asks the teachers why they think Zuckerberg is wearing a gray Gap sweatshirt.

They throw out varied analyses: It shows that Mr. Zuckerberg does not want to stand out—he’s uncomfortable in public. It’s an all-American brand and, as the inventor and CEO of Facebook, he embodies the American dream. It symbolizes the “gap” in communication between him and his girlfriend.

These educators, who work in a wide range of subjects and grade levels, are participating in a five-day intensive “film camp” through Facets Multimedia , a nonprofit arts organization in Chicago. The camp is a small-scale effort to promote the use of film studies in the K-12 classroom.

Resources for K-12 Film Studies

Despite the fact that film studies is not widely taught in K-12 classrooms, curricula and resources are available for teachers looking to incorporate film into their lessons. Places to start include:

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences An educator-outreach page offers a series of free “teachers’ guides.” It includes an activity page for teaching students to “read a film.”

ReadWriteThink This site, hosted by the National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association, allows users to search for lesson ideas for using film in the classroom, including one on teaching Elie Wiesel’s Night in conjunction with “Life Is Beautiful.”

Australian Teachers of Media ATOM offers study guides for feature films and documentaries, as well as other resources, including Screen Education magazine.

Movieclips This free site has an expansive collection of movie clips teachers can show in the classroom.

Prentice Hall Media Studio This Pearson product has lesson plans and activities focused on helping students make sense of film, news, and advertising. Clips are included. The bundle for each grade costs about $330.

Media Literacy Clearinghouse Media-literacy consultant Frank W. Baker calls himself a “resource guy,” and his website offers evidence. See his page on film study and suggested readings on the “language of film.”

—Liana Heitin

While film-studies classes are common in higher education, the idea that a film should be taught as an academic text with younger students is still nascent.

“That doesn’t mean teachers are not showing film,” said John Golden, the author of Reading in the Dark: Using Film as a Tool in the English Classroom . “They’re absolutely showing film. But in terms of giving kids the language to talk about and learn film, there’s very little pedagogy going on.”

Critical viewing, a foundation of film literacy, is more than just putting on a movie or showing the film adaptation of a novel. Like critical reading, it’s a way of analyzing the components of a text and the choices made during its creation—key emphases, film-studies proponents point out, of the Common Core State Standards.

Of those teachers who are teaching critical viewing in the classroom, most tend to be English teachers, said Frank W. Baker, a consultant in media-literacy education and the author of Media Literacy in the K-12 Classroom . Nearly all film literacy is being taught at the high school level, he said.

Proponents of media studies, like Mr. Golden, also an English teacher and instructional specialist in the 46,000-student Portland, Ore., district, argue that critical viewing of film should be an essential part of instruction—not just something taught by film buffs at the high school level. Students are bombarded by visual images, said Mr. Golden, especially now with the proliferation of mobile devices on which to view them. They’re “subject to so much manipulation,” he explained, including stereotyping, veiled biases, and false claims. “I don’t think we can say students are literate anymore if we’re not giving them the language to talk about visual media and film.”

Analyzing ‘Texts’

Jessica Keigan, an English teacher in the 44,000-student Adams 12 Five Star Schools in Thornton, Colo., received an undergraduate minor in film and spent a semester interning in the film industry in Los Angeles before becoming a teacher. For her, it was only natural to incorporate film into her classes. Now in her 11th year of teaching, she uses film about 25 percent of the time in her English classes.

See examples of films that teachers say can contribute to classroom lessons.

Ms. Keigan explains that she typically incorporates film “as a springboard for critical reading.” For instance, when introducing students to the different “levels” of literary analysis—from simple recall to complex thinking—she often starts by showing the Pixar short film “Boundin’.” After watching the four-minute short about a dancing sheep who loses his wool, she begins by asking students questions about the storyline. She moves on to questions about “what the filmmaker is doing symbolically” and then about how the film compares with other hero stories the students have seen or read. “Film gives me a chance to teach the thinking skill without having to do the reading skill as well,” she said.

Edna Camacho, an English teacher in the Weslaco Independent school district, which serves 19,000 students in Weslaco, Texas, initially began using film as a reward—students watched “Of Mice and Men” after completing the novel. Soon after, though, “I realized I could’ve done a lot more with the film if I used it as a text,” she said.

Now, she pairs novels and films with similar themes to hone her students’ critical-thinking skills. For instance, her students read the book Night by Eli Wiesel and watch the movie “Life Is Beautiful,” both of which center on Jewish characters’ experience of the Holocaust. She asks students to find similarities in the relationships in the stories, to look for archetypes in each, and to consider what the author or director does to evoke feeling. “The same type of figurative language you use with literature, we use with film,” she said.

Another way to exercise critical thinking with film, Mr. Knapp told teachers at the film camp in Chicago, is to have students look for motifs, or distinctive patterns. Mr. Knapp illustrated that by showing the opening credits of Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X,” in which an American flag burns until only the shape of an X is left. The teachers identified “reinvention” and “a changing America” among the motifs illustrated by that image. “If you set up this way of looking at a film,” said Mr. Knapp, “usually students will start looking for other motifs.”

For Ms. Camacho, one of the great benefits of using film is its accessibility. In the cases of students with learning disabilities and English-language learners, she noticed that film “kind of loosened them up. ... It opened the door for them to start conversations in class.”

Mr. Golden said he sometimes refers to film in the classroom as “the great equalizer” because it gives even the most reticent reader a chance to display understanding and deep thinking.

Consortia Plans

The higher-order thinking skills that students learn in analyzing film transfer to other mediums, say film-instruction proponents. “In my absolute gut, I’m convinced it makes them stronger readers when we talk about print text,” said Mr. Golden. When asked to analyze, for instance, tone in the novel The Great Gatsby , his students have already “used and practiced and discussed in really accessible terms those literary devices in film.”

And while studying film in K-12 is far from widespread, the new common standards could breathe some life into the idea: The English/language arts standards require students to analyze texts of all kinds, and several standards mention film as an example text type.

“Analysis is the word of the day with common core,” said Ms. Keigan. “You’re reading to understand the deep symbolic meaning of a text.” Film and other art forms are good ways “to practice those thinking skills.”

Mr. Golden said the standards’ emphasis on nonfiction could lead to more teachers showing documentary films. However, because the standards that mention film predominately ask students to compare two presentations of a text, he worries that teachers will simply show film adaptations of books. “The problem for me is [film literacy] is not explicitly called out as much as I’d wished” in the standards, he said.

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, which is designing computer-based tests aligned to the common standards, plans to include items asking students to “read and analyze one digital source,” PARCC spokesperson Chad Colby wrote in an email. That source could be “a video, a narrated slide show, a podcast, etc.”

Pilot tests from the competing assessment consortium, Smarter Balanced, initially included items asking students to watch and analyze video clips. However, many piloting schools had technical difficulties, including insufficient broadband. The videos have since been eliminated, said Brandt Redd, the chief technology officer for Smarter Balanced. In addition, for initial stages of implementation, both consortia plan to offer paper-and-pencil testing options, which would likely preclude the use of video.

Even so, Mr. Baker, the consultant, sees the conversations around including the use of video components on tests as a start. “The fact that these national assessments have acknowledged the visual-media world in which our students reside, and are planning to incorporate images and video into tests, is yet another opportunity for us to teach film-literacy skills,” he said.

Considering that professional-development opportunities like the one at Facets are rare, many teachers who might like to incorporate film into their lessons may not know where to start. Ms. Camacho, the Texas teacher, suggests they read well-written film reviews to learn “the basics of what it takes to make a film—acting, music, camera angles.” Mr. Baker advises teachers to watch the extras at the ends of DVDs for analysis and insights on the filmmaking process.

Mr. Golden, the Reading in the Dark author, believes all teachers can and should incorporate film. “It takes 25 minutes to get an introduction to film terminology,” he said. “It’s not super esoteric—it’s pretty obvious.” The challenge from there, he said, is that teachers “have to be willing to give students this vocabulary .... and to ask kids to look at film this way.”

Classroom Cinema

Teachers share their suggestions for films that can contribute to classroom lessons..

Stage Beauty Director: Richard Eyre Used by: Jessica Keigan

Ms. Keigan shows clips from the film to discuss directorial decisionmaking and varied interpretations of William Shakespeare’s “Othello.”

Boundin’ Directors: Bud Luckey and Roger Gould Used by: Jessica Keigan

Ms. Keigan uses this Pixar short to teach archetypes and levels of analysis, and for general skill building around film analysis.

Run Lola Run Director: Tom Tykwer Used by: Jessica Keigan

Clips from this German film are used in Ms. Keigan’s classroom to analyze narrative elements.

Bowling for Columbine Director: Michael Moore Used by: John Golden

Mr. Golden uses clips from Moore’s 2002 documentary to discuss a director’s point of view and the concept of biases.

Jaws Director: Steven Spielberg Used by: John Golden and Edna Camacho

After viewing selected clips from this blockbuster 1975 film, Mr. Golden’s class examines how the director shifts camera angles to show different characters’ points of view. Ms. Camacho uses the film to illustrate the importance of musical choices, showing a clip with the shark approaching as the iconic theme music plays.

Life Is Beautiful Director: Roberto Benigni Used by: Edna Camacho

Ms. Camacho pairs this film with the novel Night by Elie Wiesel to inspire discussion on archetypes and how a director or author evokes emotion.

Super Size Me Director: Morgan Spurlock Used by: John Golden

Mr. Golden shows the film during his unit on American literature, pairing it with books like The Jungle by Upton Sinclair and Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser.

Edward Scissorhands Director: Tim Burton Used by: John Golden

Mr. Golden’s students explore themes like setting, atmosphere, and identity after watching sections of Burton’s 1990 film.

The Shining Director: Stanley Kubrick Used by: Edna Camacho

Ms. Camacho uses clips from Kubrick’s horror classic to discuss narrative techniques for building suspense, both in literature and in movies.

Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith Director: George Lucas Used by: Edna Camacho

Ms. Camacho has her class watch the full film and pairs the movie with Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex” to discuss symbolism and the theme of family ties.

Vertigo Director: Alfred Hitchcock Used by: John Golden

Mr. Golden pairs clips from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 thriller with Edgar Allan Poe’s writing to teach students about setting and foreshadowing.

Coverage of leadership, expanded learning time, and arts learning is supported in part by a grant from The Wallace Foundation, at www.wallacefoundation.org . Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of this coverage. A version of this article appeared in the August 21, 2013 edition of Education Week as Teachers Look to Film to Foster Critical Thinking

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Defining Critical Thinking

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Critical Thinking

The true story of the Miami Jackson High School chess team which was the first inner city team to win the U.S. National Chess Championship. The true story of the Miami Jackson High School chess team which was the first inner city team to win the U.S. National Chess Championship. The true story of the Miami Jackson High School chess team which was the first inner city team to win the U.S. National Chess Championship.

• John Leguizamo
• Dito Montiel
• Rachel Bay Jones
• Michael Kenneth Williams
• 31 User reviews
• 20 Critic reviews
• 65 Metascore

• Mr. Martinez

• Principal Kestel

• Mr. Roundtree

• Sedrick Roundtree

• Oelmy 'Ito' Paniagua
• (as Jorge Lendeborg)

• Rodelay Medina
• (as Angel Bismark Curiel)

• Marcel Martinez

• Detective Ransone

• Detective Vargas
• Michael Rivera

• Jitney Driver

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• Trivia Martinez started the after-school chess club in 1992 after his teacher's lounge rounds of chess with another teacher sparked student interest. His playing partner left the school that year and students began challenging him to matches so the club was born.
• Goofs During Ito's game at the regional tournament, both Ito and Martinez say that he is in "Zugzwang". However, in a real "Zugzwang" situation, a player loses only because he is forced to make a move, while Ito lose the same way even if it was his opponent's time to move, as he could take the pawn on d3 with the queen.

Mr. Martinez : All right, now, people, this is gonna be very basic for some of you, but for the fish, or the newbies as I like to call you, this is gonna be eye opening because what you've got is 64 squares, 32 pieces, it doesn't matter how rich or poor you are, what Ivy League school you may go or you may not go to, what prison you hopefully never set foot in, because chess is the great equalizer.

• Crazy credits Over the credits, there are interviews with the real people who the movie is based on.
• Soundtracks What Would You Do Written by Timothy McNealy Performed by Timothy McNealy Published by Afrika Kuruvilla Kurian, BMI

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Critical thinking explained in six kid-friendly animations

If you've been looking for a crash course in basic logic — or just want to explain to a friend exactly what a logical fallacy is — turn your attention to these simple, easy-to-understand videos, which lay out the basics of critical thinking.

Related Content

Creative solutions agency Bridge 8 created these animations to offer a basic overview of critical thinking. The videos were designed for an audience of kids ( Edit: Australian grades, not ages) 8-10, but they're handy for anyone who wants to brush up on their logic.

The first video (up top), provides an introduction to critical thinking and how we form judgments and opinions.

The second video introduces formal logic and explains logical fallacies.

The third video explains straw man arguments and false premises.

The fourth video reminds us to separate the person from the argument. That's always a tough one to remember in the moment.

Video five describes the gambler's fallacy, while acknowledging that the human brain is always looking for patterns. Not a bad way to warn kids off gambling.

The final video looks at the utility (and limits) of the precautionary principle and notes that theories do not mean "I reckon this is probably true." I wonder what they could possibly be referring to.

[via Brain Pickings ]

Critical thinking definition

Critical thinking, as described by Oxford Languages, is the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgement.

Active and skillful approach, evaluation, assessment, synthesis, and/or evaluation of information obtained from, or made by, observation, knowledge, reflection, acumen or conversation, as a guide to belief and action, requires the critical thinking process, which is why it's often used in education and academics.

Some even may view it as a backbone of modern thought.

However, it's a skill, and skills must be trained and encouraged to be used at its full potential.

People turn up to various approaches in improving their critical thinking, like:

• Developing technical and problem-solving skills
• Engaging in more active listening
• Actively questioning their assumptions and beliefs
• Seeking out more diversity of thought
• Opening up their curiosity in an intellectual way etc.

Is critical thinking useful in writing?

Critical thinking can help in planning your paper and making it more concise, but it's not obvious at first. We carefully pinpointed some the questions you should ask yourself when boosting critical thinking in writing:

• What information should be included?
• Which information resources should the author look to?
• What degree of technical knowledge should the report assume its audience has?
• What is the most effective way to show information?
• How should the report be organized?
• How should it be designed?
• What tone and level of language difficulty should the document have?

Usage of critical thinking comes down not only to the outline of your paper, it also begs the question: How can we use critical thinking solving problems in our writing's topic?

Let's say, you have a Powerpoint on how critical thinking can reduce poverty in the United States. You'll primarily have to define critical thinking for the viewers, as well as use a lot of critical thinking questions and synonyms to get them to be familiar with your methods and start the thinking process behind it.

Are there any services that can help me use more critical thinking?

We understand that it's difficult to learn how to use critical thinking more effectively in just one article, but our service is here to help.

We are a team specializing in writing essays and other assignments for college students and all other types of customers who need a helping hand in its making. We cover a great range of topics, offer perfect quality work, always deliver on time and aim to leave our customers completely satisfied with what they ordered.

The ordering process is fully online, and it goes as follows:

• Select the topic and the deadline of your essay.
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With lots of experience on the market, professionally degreed essay writers , online 24/7 customer support and incredibly low prices, you won't find a service offering a better deal than ours.

Explained: Importance of critical thinking, problem-solving skills in curriculum

F uture careers are no longer about domain expertise or technical skills. Rather, critical thinking and problem-solving skills in employees are on the wish list of every big organization today. Even curriculums and pedagogies across the globe and within India are now requiring skilled workers who are able to think critically and are analytical.

The reason for this shift in perspective is very simple.

These skills provide a staunch foundation for comprehensive learning that extends beyond books or the four walls of the classroom. In a nutshell, critical thinking and problem-solving skills are a part of '21st Century Skills' that can help unlock valuable learning for life.

Over the years, the education system has been moving away from the system of rote and other conventional teaching and learning parameters.

They are aligning their curriculums to the changing scenario which is becoming more tech-driven and demands a fusion of critical skills, life skills, values, and domain expertise. There's no set formula for success.

Rather, there's a defined need for humans to be more creative, innovative, adaptive, agile, risk-taking, and have a problem-solving mindset.

In today's scenario, critical thinking and problem-solving skills have become more important because they open the human mind to multiple possibilities, solutions, and a mindset that is interdisciplinary in nature.

Therefore, many schools and educational institutions are deploying AI and immersive learning experiences via gaming, and AR-VR technologies to give a more realistic and hands-on learning experience to their students that hone these abilities and help them overcome any doubt or fear.

ADVANTAGES OF CRITICAL THINKING AND PROBLEM-SOLVING IN CURRICULUM

Ability to relate to the real world:  Instead of theoretical knowledge, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills encourage students to look at their immediate and extended environment through a spirit of questioning, curiosity, and learning. When the curriculum presents students with real-world problems, the learning is immense.

Confidence, agility & collaboration : Critical thinking and problem-solving skills boost self-belief and confidence as students examine, re-examine, and sometimes fail or succeed while attempting to do something.

They are able to understand where they may have gone wrong, attempt new approaches, ask their peers for feedback and even seek their opinion, work together as a team, and learn to face any challenge by responding to it.

Willingness to try new things: When problem-solving skills and critical thinking are encouraged by teachers, they set a robust foundation for young learners to experiment, think out of the box, and be more innovative and creative besides looking for new ways to upskill.

It's important to understand that merely introducing these skills into the curriculum is not enough. Schools and educational institutions must have upskilling workshops and conduct special training for teachers so as to ensure that they are skilled and familiarized with new teaching and learning techniques and new-age concepts that can be used in the classrooms via assignments and projects.

Critical thinking and problem-solving skills are two of the most sought-after skills. Hence, schools should emphasise the upskilling of students as a part of the academic curriculum.

The article is authored by Dr Tassos Anastasiades, Principal- IB, Genesis Global School, Noida. 

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Why the movie studio behind blade runner died just 2 years after its release.

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Blade Runner: Why Both The Original Movie & 2049 Bombed At The Box Office

What happened to merry & pippin after lord of the rings: return of the king, new 90% horror movie is the perfect blueprint for how to revitalize friday the 13th.

• The Ladd Company saw success with hits like Blade Runner, but timing and financial burdens led to its downfall.
• Critical successes like The Right Stuff and Blade Runner failed to attract audiences, causing financial strain.
• Despite multiple setbacks, the company made a brief comeback with Alan Ladd Jr. leading MGM and later reviving The Ladd Company.

The beloved 1982 film Blade Runner is an integral part of pop culture, so much so that it’s hard to believe that the studio responsible for its creation died just two years after its release. Helmed by producer Alan Ladd Jr., The Ladd Company produced several gems. Many were popular during its peak in the 1980s or were quietly influential behind the scenes thereafter.

The Ladd Company was founded in October of 1979 by a team of former Fox executives. Its president, Alan Ladd Jr., worked on a couple of the best sci-fi movies of all time like Star Wars and Alien . After leaving Fox, Ladd received financial backing from Warner Bros, one of Fox’s main competitors. The Ladd Company quickly began distributing films before producing its own. With steady financial support coupled with Ladd’s connections, experience, and passion for storytelling, The Ladd Company should have been a household name.

Both the original Blade Runner and its sequel, Blade Runner 2049, are highly regarded sci-fi movies nowadays - so why did they bomb at the box office?

The Ladd Company's Rise In The Early 1980s With Movies Explained

The studio launched the careers of great new talent.

When things were going well, The Ladd Company left indelible marks on the cinema landscape , but it tanked because of a brutal reality: even financial successes can be a liability if the money doesn’t come in fast enough. At first, the company played it safe. Its first release, Divine Madness , was a Bette Midler concert film released in 1980. The film was a moderate financial win. The second film it distributed, Chariots of Fire , was up for seven Oscars in 1981 and won Best Picture. This wasn't bad for a studio that had only been in business for two years.

Blade Runner is available to watch on Google Play.

In 1981, The Ladd Company began hitting its stride. Though George Lucas took his name off of Body Heat , the film launched the careers of director Lawrence Kasdan and star Kathleen Turner, earning $24 million domestically against a budget of $9 million. The following year, the company released Blade Runner , one of the greatest science fiction films ever made. A year later, they released The Right Stuff with a star-studded cast . The film was a major critical hit, nominated for eight Oscars and winning four. In 1984, The Ladd Company released Police Academy , which grossed $81 million.

How Too Many Movie Flops Killed Off The Ladd Company In The Mid-1980s

Critical successes did not always attract audiences.

With such huge successes, The Ladd Company looked poised to take over the world. What ultimately started killing it was timing. The financial burden of its flops, while relatively minor on their own, did too much damage while the studio waited to see the profits of its successes. Despite working with legendary talents like Sergio Leone, George Lucas, Michael Crichton, and Ron Howard, several of the studio's films didn’t cover their costs or only did modestly well at the box office. One of those films was Twice Upon a Time .

Ironically, one of The Ladd Company’s biggest liabilities was also one of its biggest successes: Blade Runner.

Released in 1983 — the same year as Return of the Jedi — and with George Lucas attached, the film was expected to be a success. However, it was experimental animation, blending live action, stop motion, and 2D animation. On a $3 million budget, the film earned an abysmal $5,000. Another problem was Once Upon A Time In America . Directed by Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro, it looked great on paper. However, its ten-hour runtime sent distributors scrambling to cut it down. The edits almost destroyed the Once Upon A Time , and audiences were turned off.

Ironically, one of The Ladd Company’s biggest liabilities was also one of its biggest successes: Blade Runner. The film did reasonably well on its first weekend in May 1982 but faced competition from films like The Thing and E.T. the Extra-terrestrial . While its charm lies in its masterful production design and a legendary monologue at the climax, there are some harsh realities to watching Blade Runner , and audiences weren’t immediately awestruck. It took several years for a cult following to really build. The death knell came with the multi-Oscar-winning The Right Stuff .

The Right Stuff is available to watch on Amazon Prime and Apple TV+.

Telling the story of American pilots who pushed the limits of space flight and paved the way for the moon landing, The Right Stuff is an excellent flight film . It takes risks with story structures that are rarely seen in contemporary Hollywood. However, with a runtime of over three hours, audiences weren’t excited to see it. The film bombed, earning back just $21 million of a $27 million budget. Police Academy was released on March 23, 1984. It went on to become a huge success, but the damage had already been done. Warner severed ties with the company , making the announcement less than one month after the film’s release.

The Ladd Company Returned - But It Didn't Last

After a long absence, the company returned with a bang.

Alan Ladd Jr. made a decisive career move after The Ladd Company’s collapse, parlaying his experience to become head of MGM in 1985. He remained there for a decade before reviving The Ladd Company once again in the mid-nineties, this time with the backing of Paramount Pictures. It seems the company had more to say. In 1995, The Ladd Company released the smash hit Braveheart , grossing $209 million against a $72 million budget — despite its lengthy runtime of three hours — and winning five Oscars, including Best Picture.

The company went dormant again in 1996 before releasing An Unfinished Life and Gone Baby Gone in 2007. Unfinished Life failed to earn back its budget and didn’t make an impression on audiences. Meanwhile, Gone Baby Gone cemented Ben Affleck as a director and earned $34.6 million against a $19 million budget. It was the last film The Ladd Company would produce. Alan Ladd Jr. died in 2022 . Even though the company didn't become a household name, its successes, like Blade Runner , will never be forgotten.

Blade Runner

The original Blade Runner is a sci-fi neo-noir film set in 2019 in a dystopian cyber-punk society. Harrison Ford stars as Rick Deckard as a Blade Runner for the LAPD, tasked with hunting rogue replicants, genetically engineered humans designed to tackle tasks that human beings cannot. When four replicants go rogue and begin killing humans, Deckard is forced out of retirement to hunt them down and stop them - but the truth isn't as simple as it seems. Deckard will have to reckon with the philosophical dilemma of what makes someone human.

More From Forbes

Is critical thinking a superpower in the ai era.

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Critical thinking skills are crucial for AI.

AI, particularly generative AI, is having an immediate and dramatic impact on our lives, both personally and professionally. AI enables everyone to become better writers, content creators, coders, and artists. Interestingly, to derive effective value from AI systems, we must also develop our "soft skills”, of which critical thinking becomes one of the most important.

Just a few years ago, to get real benefit from AI, you needed to build and train AI systems which required “hard” skills such as math, programming, or data engineering skills. Now, because of generative AI, you no longer need to be an expert in statistics & probability, calculus, or linear algebra to get value from using Generative AI. You also don’t need knowledge of different algorithms & modeling skills. Instead, you need to use soft skills such as communication, curiosity, problem solving, adaptability, and critical thinking.

Why Critical Thinking is Crucial for AI

There’s no doubt that in today's fast-paced business environment, workers will need to use AI tools to stay ahead in the market. While AI systems will let anyone get a basic grasp of hard skills, the soft skills are proving to be the most important to get value from AI systems. In particular, the soft skill of critical thinking is proving indispensable. Put simply, critical thinking is the ability to get a solid, reliable, and as truthful as possible understanding of information, and then use that understanding to make sound decisions based on that knowledge. This means scrutinizing information, questioning assumptions, and ensuring that conclusions are supported by solid evidence.

When it comes to using generative AI systems, being able to observe, analyze, discern, and ask the right questions is what not only allows you to get the required results from the AI, but also to determine if the outputs are credible, lack bias, and truthful. Critical thinking approaches provide the necessary mental tools to iteratively refine prompts and hone in to get more effective results. Trying different approaches using thinking skills leads to clearer, more accurate results. The ability to analyze complex requirements helps in designing effective prompts and assessing the quality of AI-generated responses.

How To Develop Critical Thinking Skills

Critical thinking skills will only become more important in our AI-driven organizations. This means that people of all ages will need to make sure to develop and use critical thinking skills to be able to stay ahead of the pack. A key approach to develop and refine critical thinking skills is to always approach interactions with AI systems with a healthy dose of skepticism, and question assumptions, especially your own. Ask yourself whether the information going into and out of AI systems make sense and what assumptions are being made. Look for evidence to support or refute these assumptions.

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Additionally, you’ll want to seek evidence. It goes without saying that especially in an AI-generated world, you can’t take what you see, hear, or read at face value. Large language models are known to hallucinate, or confidently provide you with the wrong information. Verify the sources of your information and ensure that your conclusions are backed by solid proof, research, or findings, and dive deeper to find supporting evidence.

Critical thinking also requires you to be aware of potential informational and data biases. Those biases could be represented in your thinking, data, analyses, outputs of LLM systems, or the way in which you utilize or scrutinize AI outputs. Work to observe and identify patterns and trends in data. This involves not just looking at the data, but understanding the context and relationships between different variables.

Key Benefits Of Critical Thinking in an AI-Centric World

As you continue to work on your critical thinking skills, you’ll see many key benefits, especially as more people make use of AI to augment or assist their work. Professionals are often required to make decisions based on various data points and pieces of information. Critical thinking enables you to sift through the mountains of AI-generated information, identify what is relevant, and then make decisions based on accurate interpretations. This is especially the case with generative AI. Without critical thinking, there is a risk of making decisions based on incomplete or incorrect information, which can lead to erroneous, suboptimal, or misleading results.

A key to critical thinking is problem solving skills. Critical thinking helps professionals approach problems systematically, considering all possible solutions and their implications before making decisions. This thorough approach reduces the likelihood of overlooking important factors and increases the chances of finding effective solutions. It also helps you become a better prompt engineer as you’ll not stop until you get a satisfactory response. You are able to evaluate complex situations to make informed decisions. This analytical ability helps in designing effective prompts and assessing the quality of AI-generated responses.

Setting Yourself Apart With Critical Thinking

Individuals who excel in critical thinking will stand out when it comes to the use of AI. These individuals can navigate complex information landscapes, create better results and responses from LLMs, make better informed decisions, iterate more effectively to get desired outcomes, and be more effective when it comes to communicating and sharing results.

The ability to critically evaluate and interpret information is a strategic advantage for those who are working with AI systems. As AI becomes an increasing part of our every day business processes, tools, and interactions, those with strong critical thinking abilities will be better equipped to harness AI’s full potential, driving innovation, better insights, and answers.

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