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.

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Average: 4 (45 votes)

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.
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Submitted by Andres Felipe … on Sat, 22/06/2019 - 03:58

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I had a problem with the task 1! Every time when i was going to select a description to organize the activity, the answered one disappeared all the time and i finished answering just with one answer in each point. but in task 2 i didn't have any problem at all. Can anyone explain me what was the problem?

Hello Andres,

When you select a second item you need to click on the box itself rather than on an item inside the box. If you click on the box (which should change to a darker colour when you select an item) then you will add your item. If you click on an existing item then you will swap it out.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Ol4ik on Sat, 08/06/2019 - 04:28

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I watched "chernobyl" from HBO last week. It is incredible film in 5 parts about awful explosion in nuclear reactor that took a place in Sovet Union in 1986. Whole continent could damage because of this accident, but real people made everything and gave everything, even their lives, that manage this problem. No special effects, but great actors and great plot that was create on real story, that made this movie (series) so fearing and exciting. Chernobyl is worth watching.