Movie Review

Marco: Hello English learners! Welcome back to EnglishPod! My name is Marco.

Erica: And I’m Erica.

Marco: And today we’re gonna go back to the movies, but this time we’re gonna do it a little bit different.

Erica: That’s right, uh, we’re gonna be listening as two movie critics offer their opinion on the latest release.

Marco: Right, so, we’re gonna be learning how to criticize or give your opinions about something.

Erica: That’s right and, uh, here we’re talking movies, but a lot of this language can be used to offer your… your criticism or ideas on literature, um, or art or other artistic pursuits.

Marco: Okay, so, before we listen to this dialogue for the first time, let’s take a look at “vocabulary preview”.

Erica: Well, we’re gonna look at one word here that we will hear in the dialogue and it is erudite.

Marco: Erudite.

Erica: Erudite.

Marco: Okay, so, this word erudite, some people pronounce it Erudite.

Erica: That’s true and, basically, it’s an adjective, describing someone, who has a lot of knowledge about a subject.

Marco: Okay, so, an erudite in engineering.

Erica: Yes, or an erudite professor.

Marco: Okay, very good, so, that’s the word that we’re gonna preview today and now let’s listen to our dialogue and find out what movie they are criticizing.

Erica: Alright, so, The Lion King, one of my old time favorites.

Marco: A very good movie and, well, mixed feelings about it, right? Some people think it’s good, other people th… other people think it’s not that good.

Erica: Um, I’m in the good camp, as you know, um, but anyway there’s tons of really useful, um, and quite difficult language here, so, why don’t we look at that now in “language takeaway”?

Marco: Alright, on language takeaway today we have five words and we can start with the first one.

Erica: So, the critic… the first critic said that this was a movie, depicting men’s eternal greed for power.

Marco: Depicting.

Erica: To depict.

Marco: Alright, so, this word depict, it sounds a little bit strange, so, before we explain it, let’s take a look at some examples.

Man A: I don’t really like the way that novel depicted the role of women in society; it was pretty sexist!

男A: 我不太喜欢那部小说描绘女性社会角色的方式；那太有性别歧视了！

Man B: The film depicts the realities of war very accurately.

男B: 这部电影非常真实准确地展现了战争的残酷现实。

Woman C: See, this image here is depicting some of the most well-known scenes from Australian history.

女C: 你看，这里的这张图片展示的是澳大利亚历史上一些最为人熟知的场景。

Erica: Alright, so, depicting, um, I can basically understand that this means to show something. Now, If… now, we can notice, uh, that the word depict has th… this short and little word – pict in there…

Marco: Uhu.

Erica: That… that sounds like picture.

Marco: Uhu.

Erica: And when we think about, um, depicting, we’re often thinking about “in a picture” or “in a book”, um, or “in a painting”.

Marco: So, in his case the story is depicted in a movie, right?

Erica: That’s right.

Marco: So, you can see it, it’s a picture, basically.

Erica: Exactly.

Marco: Alright, very good, so, to depict. Well, moving on, the critic also talked about the grim portrayal of the villain of the movie - Scar.

Erica: That’s right, so, grim portrayal.

Marco: A grim portrayal.

Erica: Okay, let’s look at the word grim first. When something is grim, it’s really unpleasant or uncomfortable or even shocking to think about.

Marco: Okay, so, something that is grim. Now, what about portrayal?

Erica: Really close to depict. A portrayal is something that shows or describes something, especially like in a book or in a picture or in a play.

Marco: Okay, so, a portrayal. I guess we can relate it again to a portrait.

Erica: That’s right.

Marco: Alright, so, portrayal.

Erica: Now, we can also use this as a verb – to portray. So, this movie portrays men’s eternal greed.

Marco: Okay, so, we can use this as a noun or as a verb.

Erica: That’s right.

Marco: So, moving on with our third word today we have an enchanting movie.

Erica: That’s right, the story was simply enchanting.

Marco: Okay, so, if something is enchanting…

Erica: It’s really, um… it’s really attractive and beautiful and interesting and it holds your attention.

Marco: Okay, it holds your attention. So, it’s something very nice, something that is enchanting has to be nice.

Erica: That’s right, and it has this sense of magic around it.

Marco: Okay, very good, so, an enchanting moment.

Erica: Or an enchanting woman.

Marco: Okay, and now, what about our next word? It’s French, actually, but we use it in English.

Erica: That’s right, so, the… the critic said that this story was cliché.

Marco: Cliché.

Erica: Cliché.

Marco: Okay, so, we hear this all the time, what is a cliché?

Erica: Well, basically, a cliché is a phrase or an idea that is used so often, um, that it loses its meaning or importance or interest.

Marco: Okay, so, can you give us some examples of a cliché moment or maybe, uh, a phrase that’s cliché?

Erica: Okay, well, how about this one? When you’re breaking up with your boyfriend, then you say “honey, it’s not you, it’s… it’s me”.

Marco: Okay, that’s cliché, it’s typical.

Erica: Yeah, or maybe, um, a cliché portrayal of a Frenchman would be a guy, riding a bike with a baguette, smoking a cigarette and with a beret on his head.

Marco: Okay, that’s a cliché portrayal, very good.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: So, it’s common, it’s even to a certain point a little bit stereotypical.

Erica: That’s right.

Marco: Alright. And what about our last word?

Erica: Well, they described this story as a fable.

Marco: Fable.

Erica: A fable.

Marco: Okay, so, when we were small, we all read fables.

Erica: That’s right, uh, they are stories, um, about animals that are used to teach people a lesson.

Marco: Okay, so, a fable teaches you a lesson, I think the most famous one is the one of “The Tortoise and the Hare”, right?

Erica: Yeah, and another good one would be “The Three Little Pigs”.

Marco: Okay, that’s also a fable.

Erica: Yep.

Marco: Okay, so, we’ve looked at these five great words and now it’s time for us to move on to “putting it together”.

Erica: Okay, here we’re gonna look at some phrases that you can use in a bunch of different ways to help you criticize or give you opinion about a piece of art like a movie or a book or whatever.

Marco: Okay, so, let’s start right away with our first word. So, the film critic asked “what is your impression of this film?”

Erica: What’s your impression of.

Marco: What’s your impression of something, right?

Erica: That’s right.

Marco: Alright, so, before we get into explaining impression, let’s listen to some more examples.

Man A: I don’t know where, but I have the impression that we’ve met before.

男A: 我说不上来在哪里，但我总有一种感觉，我们以前好像见过。

Man B: I get the impression that he’s a very organized person.

男B: 我给人的感觉/我对他的印象是，他是一个非常有条理的人。

Woman C: Somehow Jim got the impression I was gay; did you tell him that?

女C: 不知道为什么，吉姆误以为我是同性恋；是你告诉他的吗？

Erica: Okay, so, I can see that this means, basically, what’s your opinion or how do you feel about something.

Marco: Okay, so, you can have an impression of something or of someone.

Erica: Yep.

Marco: Alright. And what about the next word?

Erica: Well, the critic Richard Clarke said that it was a really enjoyable film, even despite the accusations of plagiarism.

Marco: Okay, so, now we have an interesting phrase here – the accusations of plagiarism.

Erica: Accusations of plagiarism.

Marco: Okay, so, accusations is a noun, right?

Erica: Right, it’s the action of accusing.

Marco: Okay, of blaming somebody.

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: Alright, and what about plagiarism?

Erica: This is an academic term. If you, uh, plagiarize, you copy someone’s work and take credit for it.

Marco: Okay, so, if I copy somebody’s book and I say I wrote it, then that’s plagiarism.

Erica: Yeah, that’s pretty bad, so…

Marco: Alright.

Erica: Accusations of plagiarism. Now, we can use this phrase, accusations of something, in a bunch of different ways. So, Marco, what… let’s have an example.

Marco: Alright, so, for example, we can say “he was cleared of all accusations of tax evasion”.

Erica: Okay. He denied accusations of cheating on his wife.

Marco: Alright, very good, so, accusations. And now, moving on to the final part of putting it together, we have this word – lacks.

Erica: The film lacks a certain originality.

Marco: Okay, so, the film lacks a certain originality. What does he mean by that?

Erica: It doesn’t have enough of.

Marco: Okay, so, if you’re lacking something, you don’t have enough of it.

Erica: Or you don’t have it at all.

Marco: Alright, so, can you give us some more examples of how we can use lack?

Erica: Okay, the same way it’s used in the dialogue – “our team lacks the… appropriate talent to complete this project”.

Marco: Okay or I can say “our school lacks infrastructure for so many students”.

Erica: Or we can also say “infrastructure is lacking at our school”.

Marco: Okay, so, you can use it in those two ways, right? You can use it as a gerund or as a verb.

Erica: That’s right. Okay, lots of great language here and why don’t we hear one more time in context with the dialogue?

Marco: Alright, so, a good movie. What do you think about The Lion King? What do you think about his critique?

Erica: Well, I am with Dick on this one. Um, I think that this is a great film, it was one of my favorites and I’ve seen it about five billion times.

Marco: Really?

Erica: Yeah.

Marco: You really liked it?

Erica: But I’m not interested in my opinion. I wanna hear criticisms and film criticisms from our users.

Marco: Right, so, come to our website at englishpod.com, where you can leave your questions or comments and also any criticisms on this particular movie or maybe the other one that we mentioned, uh, “How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days”.

Erica: Personally, not so fond of that one, but looking forward to hearing from our users.

Marco: Alright, or maybe any other movies you might like. So, uh, come to the website and until next time…

Erica: Good bye!

Marco: Bye!