The Royal Tenenbaums

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

• quirky
• Wes Anderson
• breathing room
• neurotic

• dysfunctional
• Gene Hackman
• old timers
• anger management

• playwright
• see eye to eye

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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The Royal Tenenbaums is a comedy about a crazy family and how they deal with each other. Check out Tanis’ reaction to the movie.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Miguel

Tanis

Miguel:  Tanis, I heard you saw The Royal Tenenbaums.* What’d you think?

Tanis:  Well, I thought it was real quirky, but that’s what I expect from Wes Anderson.

Miguel:  What do you mean by quirky?

Tanis:  Well, it was just, uh, a lot of really bizarre characters in unusual situations, not what you expect.

Miguel:  Wasn’t _Gwyneth Paltrow in that movie?

Tanis:  Oh yeah. She was. She played the adopted daughter.

Miguel:  I love Gwyneth. Was she good?

Tanis:  Yeah she was. The role didn’t give her a lot of breathing room. She was a depressed, neurotic, daughter in this dysfunctional family.

Miguel:  Who else is in it?

Tanis:  Oh, There’s an all-star cast, Miguel. There’s like, um, old timers, Gene Hackman and Anjelica Huston and then, um, Luke and Owen Wilson. They’re kind of hip on the Hollywood scene. Oh, and _Ben Stiller. He’s great.

Miguel:  Oh, he’s hilarious. Was he funny in this movie?

Tanis:  Yeah, he had some anger management issues, but he was pretty fun to watch.

Miguel:  So I feel like you’re telling me I should see this movie.

Tanis:  Well, I think that you should see it, but it’s real different and you have to have kind of a dark sense of humor to like it.

 

Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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