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 yoyoraw on Fri, 03/04/2020 - 14:43

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Actually its been along time since i watched a film, and the last one i remember watching is birdbox .It was quite good but i didnt like the ending scene i found it really boring .

Submitted by Amparo on Sat, 28/03/2020 - 11:46

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The last movie I saw was the constant gardener( el jardineri fiel) in my poin of view its a critica movie and hard , its agains with the companys of pharmacits. Its about an English gentel diplomatic who is sent it to the Kenyaan Embassy to work, he tooks his wife wiht him, her name is Tessa, and she is a tenacious activist that fights for the right of the poor peoples. she faind out a powerfull pharmacist firm (3 bees) is trailling a new drug amongst the Africans. She is more involved and she is murdered in a trip to the nort of Kenya and her husband dicided to uncover the truth behiind the dead of his wife, with no regards for the consequences.

Submitted by CamilaCoronel on Wed, 18/03/2020 - 21:24

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The last film that i saw, was ME BEFORE YOU. In my opinion, it was beautiful, fun and emotional. I love romantic movies and it met in my expectations. It had spectacular images and the actors got perfectly into the script. It also makes you reflect on topics such as how complicated life can be for a paralyzed person, how his personality changes, how his way of seeing life changes, how others react to seeing it and how love can change everything. This movie leaves a beautiful message.

Submitted by FrancoPresas on Wed, 18/03/2020 - 19:18

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The last movie that i watched was "Uncut Gems", produced and starring Adam Sandler. Unlike the usual comedies, in this film, the sensations of drama and suspense are increasing as the story progresses. Shows us what day-to-day of New Yorker jeweler is like, as greed floods the protagonist and thus alteers the rythim of thr film with a frenetic feeling of always betting on more without seeing the risks it brings to its customers, bussines, family and even its own existence. I love it.

Submitted by clramosm on Tue, 25/02/2020 - 23:56

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Hi everyone, The last movie that I watched was "The Two Pope". That movie take place in Vaticano, where the last Pope quitted to be a Christian church leader because he felt tired and exhausted. The story starts when the current Pope "Bendectico XVI" decides to give up. He called to cardinal who is against with her ideas. The name of the cardinal is Jorge Mario Bergolio. After the call, both talk about their life and problems that Christian church is facing. At the end, Jorge Bergolio become a new Pope despite of he wanted to retire to Christian church. To sum up, the story was adapted by director and is unreal. However, it was interesting because I could understand how is the life in Vaticano.

Submitted by fidaasiddig on Sun, 16/02/2020 - 19:13

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Hello Why she would say (that wouldn't be a film review if she going to say the review? I didn't get the idea of the sentence And another thing : hopefully explain (would )here grammatically? Thanks
Profile picture for user Kirk Moore

Submitted by Kirk Moore on Mon, 17/02/2020 - 06:30

In reply to by fidaasiddig

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Hello fidaasiddig

Just before this, the reviewer says that the film was so bad that she doesn't want to speak about it any more. But then she says that if she stopped speaking about the film, she wouldn't be able to give a review of it, which is her purpose in this programme. Therefore she continues. Does that make more sense?

'wouldn't be a film review' is part of a second conditional structure. She means that if she stopped speaking about the film (which is not what she does, because she does continue speaking about the film), then her programme would not be a review.

I hope that clears it up for you, but please let us know if you have any further questions.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

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.

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.