Film reviews

Film reviews

Listen to the film reviews to practise and improve your listening skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.

Preparation

Transcript

Obviously, this is the sequel to Fun in the City, which is a film I didn't like so it's fair to say my expectations were low. So, you could say I wasn't disappointed, as it met my expectations. It was awful! It was so awful, I'd rather not spend any more time on it by talking about it. But, that wouldn't be a film review and I think I owe you all a review to save you wasting your money going to see it.

So, it starts off with this big wedding scene. And, I won't go into why, but the whole scene is just there so they can make this one joke. It's not even a funny joke ... it's just, ah, it's just terrible. It's got nothing to do with the rest of the film. Anyway, it starts there. Then, instead of the characters and the plot staying in New York where the original film was set, one of them wins a ticket to India and decides to take all her friends. It's what directors do when they've run out of ideas … let's take our characters on tour!

Anyway, they gossip, cry and shop, and they repeat this until the end. No real people would ever act like this. I didn't have any sympathy for their problems or even care what happened to them. Don't go and see it, you'll only encourage them to make another sequel. The world doesn't need three of these films. Please save your money and go and see the other big film this week: Twilight Mirror.

So, if you're a fan of the book it's based on, you're probably as excited as I was about this. For everyone else, this is a film fans have been waiting ten years to see. I have to confess, I was a bit nervous. I'd seen the posters and they didn't look right. I didn't love them at all. And I wasn't sure about the actors they cast either. So I went in not sure what to expect. But … I loved it.

One thing I really liked about it was the pace. They went backwards and forwards between the real world and the computer world and it worked really well. The special effects brought the computer world to life and I totally believed in it. But, more than that, I felt emotionally connected to the story and the characters. The whole film worked on so many levels. It reminded me of going to the cinema as a child – how much fun that was. I can't recommend it enough.

Task 1

Task 2

Discussion

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Average: 4.1 (76 votes)
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Submitted by Tracey on Thu, 13/02/2020 - 15:08

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I recently saw the film Jojo Rabbit. It's a comedrama about nazi Germany. I found it very clever, funny and heart-warming, but without overdoing it, which is not easy when dealing with such a sensitive part of history. I think in this day and age, when there are less and less victims of the holocaust left alive and more people denying history, it's important for cinema and art in general to celebrate the victory of dialogue, understanding and love over hatred.
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Submitted by fidaasiddig on Sun, 09/02/2020 - 08:34

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I remember that I sowed film called (the ringer) about a guy who fraud his identity to be a man with disability even he is really not in order to win an athletic competition and take the money of the award as there is a man he work with who'd lost his fingers in work accident and need money to fix them back As the main character kept pretending to be disabled man he made lot of friendships with boys with disabilities live with in the special needs centre I helped him win the competition while he was falling in love with his teacher and supervisor , in the end he admitted what he'd done in the the award handling in the end of the race his teacher get shocked and slapped him in the face , then his disabled friends convinced her with his good intentions and forgave him and felt in love with him. The film actually made my hold my breath that in any minute the truth will be revealed so it was so exited and funny to some degree

Submitted by armando on Thu, 06/02/2020 - 05:58

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The last movie that i saw was Bad Boys 3 Have past a lot of years since the last one, the mix betwen Martyn Laurence and Will Smith it's always funny to watch, those characters are so differents and Martyn is so funny, this last film was filled of latin themes, they have latin songs and artist from latin America, I recommend It, you are going to have a great time watching this movie.

Submitted by Evgeny N on Mon, 13/01/2020 - 10:40

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Last movie which I've watched was "Peter's friends". It was created in 1992. But I like this movie a lot! First of all I like actors: Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson. The movie is a fascinating story about 5 friends who met after hadn't seen each other for 10 years. It was an idea of Peter (Stephen Fry) to invite his friends for New Year Party. Peter's father passed away not so recently and he inherited his family mansion. He hadn't had any idea about what to do with it further. Besides of this Peter wanted to tell his friends very important secret about himself. When his friends arrived you started to understand that each of them has his or her own life with problems and happiness. But what is more important each of them saved value of their friendship. And apparently it would take some time to get used to each other, to new traits of character's which appeared during this 10 years. But in the end they again became the same friends as 10 yeas ago. In my opinion this movie not only about friendship but also about how important it is to understand other people and be tolerable to their weaknesses. I don't want to tell you the whole plot of this movie. Just watch this movie and have your own opinion about it. You also will find what secret Peter has and why for him it is so important to share it with his best friends.

Submitted by Mujtabaaman on Sat, 11/01/2020 - 10:07

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It was "The jocker" and I watched it with my friends at the cinema. I am neither an expert nor a reviewer, but It was a masterpiece from my perspective. The movie's atmosphere was pretty dark, and I love this kind of atmosphere in the movies and games. The protagonist was an amazing character. But unfortunately, the people in the cinema theater was very annoying, they were talking and laughing during almost all of the movie. But overall, it was a great experience :).

Submitted by nikisyazwani on Wed, 02/10/2019 - 17:21

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I have completed the lesson for 'Film Review'. The level I chose was Upper Intermediate B2.
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Submitted by kamicounciler on Tue, 24/09/2019 - 21:21

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x-men : Dark Phoenix simply it was fantastic.i love comics books and their cinematic world.x-men has always been one of my favorites,and dark phoenix had even more.seeing again x-men heroes together,like professor x,magneto,mystique and of course jean was wonderful.jean is the main character and is acted by sophie turner ,she was really into her role, and i think she was the best choice. also cgi was new and greatly performed.the pace was good and events where well designed so that u dont get bored.the story is attractive too and ends properly.

Submitted by starfish2019 on Tue, 10/09/2019 - 17:40

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What was the last film you watched? What did you think of it? The last film I watched was "Dumbo" and it was a very nice film! I like it because it made me to remember my childhood life, for watching it's cartoon version movie. Of course, cartoon movie and real 3D animated has some differences on perspectives, but the main theme of the story is the same. It was about a magical baby elephant with big ears, born in circus environment, and that could fly, which is exceeding all the people and animals' expectations about that baby elephant. A lot of people and fellow elephants mocked that baby's big ears, but those big ears were meant to fly. Anyway, that film had my all favorite actors and actress. Such as Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton, Danny Devito and Eva Green.

Submitted by AReina9 on Tue, 02/07/2019 - 17:50

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The last film I have watched is The Flying Scotsman, the film is the story of Grane Obree, who was a two times Track Cycling world champion on and broke the hour rercord twice. However, his life was not easy at all, Grane had to solve a mind illness after he went to the ground trying to break the time of Chris Boradman in the UK Championship.