NEW MOVIE REPORTS * * * * * *

[Taoyi]

"Her"

The story is about a man falls in love with his operating system who likes his real girlfriend in the cellphone. A movie is about love and science fiction always attract people, we want to explore the area which we have not contacted,we expect to see the life change in future. This movie has these elements which are love story, science technology, communication technology, and the period of time in future, but you would not feel strange when you watch it, you would not feel the story is far away from us but happening around us. I strongly believe you will think about yourself and the relationship in your daily life when you watch this touching movie.

If you asked me whether I recommend this movie,I just want to tell you it won the "Original Screenplay" in the latest Academy Awards. It's up to you.

Teacher's note: By inference, I think this author enjoyed and recommends "Her." I must admit, the premise did not grab me as much as it did others. Yet it won "Best Original Screenplay" from the Oscars. Thanks for sharing the various elements that make up the atmosphere of "Her." This setup makes the film seem more interesting. Well done!

--Mike http://www.moviesgrowenglish.com

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[people]

#About Time
Really impressed by About Time, I thought it's just a love topic when I saw first half part of movie, but It's so much more than that; it's about family and crisis of life.
Time through topic is usually found in many movies, but this movie gave me a freshly impression and unique opinion. the film showed really nicely, and let me [feel] introspect[ive about] many things, such as how I did with may family and friends.
What's more, I want to say that I became a really big fan of Domhnall who acted [as] Tim's father.
In conclusion, it's a really good film and worth seeing.
by Kim

Teacher's note: Thank you for an inspired impression of an unusual film, by all accounts. I read a few words on IMDb.com, and it sounds a little like "Groundhog Day" where a guy gets to keep trying until he gets it right. Here is another cool movie I need to see. Great piece of writing.

--Mike http://www.moviesgrowenglish.com

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[Sarahmu]

I Went with a friend. We enjoyed this movie a lot! You know that feeling when you walk out of a movie and you say " I'm so happy we watched this movie"! We both are happy we decided we wanted to see Kevin Costner in this film! I'm 40 and my friend is 35. Laughed, cried and made us happy. Action Drama, has it all. Is it perfect, no. But I feel it is defiantly not getting the credit it deserves! We felt the need to even clap at the end!! looking at Kevin Costner is easy on the eyes too. Thanks for making this movie

3 Days To Kill

Teacher's note: This author is very clear about their feelings. She/he loves this movie and, I suspect, Kevin Costner as well. Since I don't see the setup, I'd like to know more about the story. The poster is cool too. Thank your for sharing your opinion.

--mike http://www.moviesgrowenglish.com

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[montserrate]

Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice is based on novelist Jane Austen’s bestseller book. The film directed by Joe Wright is certainly a magnificent work.
The lives of the Bennet would not be so difficult if it wasn’t for the arrival of Mr. Bingley (Simon Woods), handsome and wealthy new owner of Netherfield Park’s mansion. His best friend is Fitzwilliam Darcy (Matthew Macfayden), landlord of Pemberley, and whose reputation is constantly criticized because of their pride. Together they decide to throw a party to celebrate his arrival.
Mrs. Bennet is fascinated and takes this opportunity to find a perfect husband for his 5 daughters. The chemistry between Bingley and Jane, the elder sister of the Bennet, is immediate and perceptible by all. The same will not happen with Darcy and Elizabeth, the most rebellious of the sisters, who establish a strained relationship led by the prejudice and pride of both.
The most appealing thing of the movie is that anyone can resist a good love story. Elizabeth and Darcy are clearly meant to be together, but they act as they hated each other. As spectators, we cannot rest until love finally finds its way.

Moderator's note: Thank you for noting well the whole point of this movie. We know from the first look that Darcy and Elizabeth have destiny in their eyes, but first they must each break through so many obstacles to reach happiness. BTW, which version do you prefer? I'm most familiar with the Kiera Knightley/Matthew Macfadyen take. I just noticed there is a version with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle that holds an amazing 9.3 rating at the Internet Movie Database. Have you seen this one? Thanks for posting.

--mike http://www.moviesgrowenglish.com

Answer: Nope! We haven't watched that version, but if it has such high rating maybe we should check it. Anyways we both love how Matthew Macfadyen plays mr. Darcy, that perfect old fashioned gentleman who does all this good actions without telling anyone. And he has such a sexy accent!

[chinoycathe]

THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION

Andrew Dufrense, a young banker man is wrongly accused of his wife and his lover murder, because of this he’s sentenced and sent to Shawshank’s prison for fulfill his two life’s sentences. Because of his pretended coldness at the time he killed the girls. In Shawshank (where happens the most of the story), Dufrense should learn to live with the crude reality there, in the prison where the two first years will be the worse ones because people will bully him. He’ll have to face with enemies, that later will be his friends. Also he’ll create friendship with one of the most important guards there and the same director. He’ll get this only for his old job. Andrew will change most of his diary life into the prison. Will Andrew scape from this situation?

We found very interesting the movie, because it makes that you get involved in what Andrew lives. He had bad moments in prison, an inhuman and misunderstood reality but the movie tries to maintain the hope even the most adverse situations. In this movie multiple values are reflected as solidarity, friendship, hope, perseverance, but in the other hand negative values as selfishness, cruelty, ambition, etc. We recommend it!

Catherine González , Benjamín Quiñones IVºC English Elective

Moderator's notes--


Here's a film that I have presented multiple times in my classes at UCLA, and it appears also at USC since I am scheduled to teach a film class there this summer. The ESL program is so lucky at USC because we are located right across the alley from the (George Lucas) Film Academy, which is probably the most famous school of its kind in the world. Thanks for sharing your ideas about Shawshank.

--mike http://www.moviesgrowenglish.com

[pau.57]

DIVERGENT
This movie is based on the books of Veronica Mars,it's about a society that is divided in five sections: cardor, erudite, abnegation, amity and dauntless. The history is about a girl (Tris) who grew in abnegation, the section who cares about others. When she had to choose the section that she will belong to, the results showed that she could be in abnegation, erudite( the wiser ones) and dauntless( the most daring ones), that means that she is divergent, so when is the ceremony she decided to change to dauntless.
After that, she had to face different trainings and tests to can stay in dauntless, when Tris finished them, the erudite section confront abnegation because they leaded the city, and the wiser ones, wanted to take it and kill all the divergents, because the lead of the erudite section thinks that they represent danger to the system, Tris had to face a part of this problem at the final part of the movie.

We think that is a good movie that is very well achieved, that manages to captivate the young public, the movie achieves to catch very well the ideas of the book, it is very seemed to it, it doesn't change neither the plot nor the scenes of the book.

Javiera Jiminez - Paulina Sanhueza


Moderator's notes--

Here is a movie I have seen the previews for and wondered whether I should spend my money. After reading this report, . . . I gotta see this movie. BTW which country are you guys in? Your English is pretty amazing! Much better than my español.

--mike http://www.moviesgrowenglish.com

[natandisi]

G.B.F (Gay Best Friend).

The story is about Tanner, a highschool kid that is unexpectedly outed to the whole school without it being his intention, and how the three most popular girls who rule North Gateway High fight for Tanner’s attention, treating him more like a must-have accessory than an actual peer. Locked in a dead heat for prom queen, they are looking for any way to climb up their social status, and according to the latest pop-culture, the way to climb would be having a fabulous gay BFF.

It's a typical teen comedy filled with stereotypes. Starting with the three clique queen bees, drama club diva Caprice, Mormon princess ‘Shley and blonde queen-of-mean Fawcett. In the other hand we have the wallflowers, Tanner (who loves comic books and has no sense of style) and his friends, Brent (who's also gay and practically aflame with stereotypical swishiness), Sophie and Glenn.

Like most teen movies, "GBF" makes up some amusing teenage slang and It has a lot of sexual references without being grotesque.
The film includes cliché situations such as when the divas give him a fashion makeover; Later on Tanner must choose between skyrocketing popularity and the friends he's leaving behind; And Brent's mother attempting to be the most supportive parent of a gay kid ever.

It's not an OMG type of movie but you'll have a great laugh and It will show you that you can't just asume anything about anyone because of their sexual preferences, skin color, etc.

Isidora Peredo - Nathalie Silva

Moderator's notes--

Which one of you (or both) wrote this? This is an amazing piece of authorship (and in your own words, I trust). I haven't heard of this film. Is it American? By your description, it seems quite authentic, true life. Thank you both for posting.

--mike www.moviesgrowenglish.com

[Kira&Nicole]

Alice in Wonderland (1951)
Produced by: Walt Disney Productions.

This movie is about a little girl who learn to read latterly with her adoptive father but after that she stool book for everywhere. This girl lives in Germany during the Second World War. her real mother was communist and in her life always happened thing so great or so bad and makes you feel you’re part of the movie, she is so quiet That you get commove for all her lost and all she get friends family. At the end of the movie you realice that even when her life was so unfear she always was smiling. when she realice her mother can be dead or the secret Jewish man.
This kind of movie always makes me think I’m not gracefull for all things I have, this move show you how to do it, how appreciate little think and how fight and have fe? In your destiny, always we thought my life can’t be worst when the truth is it’s can’t be better.

Main Characters:
*Alice
*The white rabbit
*The Queens of Hearts
*The Hatter
*The Cheshire Cat

Moderator Comment: My first comment is where did that amazing poster come from? I love it. I haven't seen Alice or Through the Looking Glass in some time, but I remember reading the book once when I was a musician in Frankfurt, Germany and had some time in the afternoons to read. It was a beautiful summer. But I don't remember this version of the story. Still, I appreciate the moral clarity expressed by the author and would like to suggest a careful notice of GPS when publishing. This can help to grow English. Thanks for posting.

--mike http://www.moviesgrowenglish.com

[natandisi]

Fight Club
It's a movie based on a book of the same name, written by Chuck Palahniuk. The movie tells the story of a man who is tired of his routine and his life in general is quite boring. He suffers of insomnia and constant tiredness, so he tries to find something that makes his life more exciting and this need gets filled when he and his friend start a fight for no reason. Slowly this becomes a routine and it starts getting more adepts.
Tyler, the protagonist's friend, is the leader of this group, which he calls "The Fight Club". He sets several rules to make the fights fair, carefree and liberating, the most important of them being "You do not talk about Fight Club" which was intended to keep in secret what they had created. They were a group of men fighting just because they wanted to but they were all friends.

The movie goes through the mind of a men who feels disoriented in his life and shows us his thoughts and reasons, narrating from a first person point of view. In the course of the movie, it starts developing some questionings and critics directed towards the society that we live in.
We think The Fight Club it's interesting because it's a very unique movie, it gets you to think a lot and the plot is well thought out and witty. The facts are disposed in an order that makes you understand the purpose of the movie but at the same time it's very confusing so you have to be concentrated to figure it out correctly because every detail is important.

Moderator's comments: Fight Club has always been, for me, one of those movies where I have to scratch my head and ask, "What's going on, here?" I so love the bending or blurring of reality, where the line draws, what is real, I mean what defines real . . . speaking of which, are you the Camila who was in my UCLA class, once upon a time? Well, if not, no worries. I think you guys did a great job of setting up the premise of this classic "guys' movie," but it's funny how many gals adore it too. Maybe it's the presence of Brad Pitt. . . Naw! just a thought. Thanks for posting.

--mike http://www.moviesgrowenglish.com



Submitted by Sofia Escobar and Camila Villegas

[ElyJelly]

The movie that we chose my mate and I was 'War horse'. This movie goes by during the war between England and Germany, where a boy called Albert raises a horse and keeps it until this war. When the war starts, Albert has to give this horse to a soldier that goes to war. In the course of the movie it shows how the horse lives during this war and all the owners that had in that period, also how it fights for survive [val] and stay[s] faithful to the different owners that it had, but, no matter which person had been his owner, it´s real owner always will be Albert.

We think that this movie is really good because it shows courage, companionship, commitment. The horse represents the strenghts of fight for living and all previously mentioned. The horst is a true example of loyalty, faithfulness, love for his owner,supervivence and the willingness to move forward, and that's something that we treasure.

Note from the Moderator: The first thing I love about this setup and opinion is that it is extremely concise, not a wasted word. Sometimes authors make the mistake of thinking they have to write a lot or use fancy words to make a point. Wrong! All you need to do is be clear and make your point. Bravo! . . . on this report.

I remember seeing The War Horse (Steven Spielberg). My first thought was that the story is quite unusual because the main character is a horse, not a human, yet it is endowed with human characteristics of heroism, which I'm sure has something to do with Spielberg's sense of storytelling and film craft. All you future directors and screenwriters, please take note. Thanks ElyJelly for posting.

--mike http.://www.moviesgrowenglish.com