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Land of the Lost

Date: Aug 26 2009

Themes: Time

Grammar: Modal Verbs

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Intro

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When you see the preview for the movie Land of the Lost, it’s hard to figure out what the film is actually about. There are all kinds of weird creatures in it, time travel, space travel, and even dinosaurs. None of it really makes sense, but maybe it doesn’t have to. For one thing, it’s a movie for kids, and it doesn’t usually bother children when films aren’t entirely believable. Plus, it has Will Ferrell in it. And he can make just about anything funny. Listen to Jason and Ella discuss the new movie starring one of their favorite comedians.

Dialog

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

Jason

Ella

Jason: I have always thought that Will Ferrell is a comic genius.

Ella: I know, right? He just comes up with the best ideas, his improv...Yeah.

Jason: But what I never thought of was how well his comedy would translate to a children’s type setting.

Ella: Yeah, it seemed sort of odd when you put the idea together at first, but…

Jason: But it made sense, you know, Land of the Lost...like, his reactions are so deadpan and his characters are so over-the-top.

Ella: Mm-hmm, and kids get it. Like in Elf. That’s how you first knew it would be OK to use that with him.

Jason: Oh totally. But Land of the Lost, that’s crazier. I mean, he’s running around being chased by dinosaurs and stuff on this sort of excavation into another dimension.

Ella: It looked good, but it just seemed like it relied too much on all the special effects and not too much on the actual comedy and the script. Like just from first glance, it’s like, “That seemed kind of unnecessary, for some of that.”

Jason: Yeah, that’s a good point. It’s like, when you’ve got Will Ferrell, who needs a dinosaur?

Ella: Exactly.

Jason: Will Ferrell can just play basketball and be hilarious, right?

Ella: Exactly!

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

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Jason and Ella have always liked Will Ferrell’s comedy. He does great improv and creates hilarious, over-the-top characters.

At first, Jason was surprised to hear that Ferrell was in a kids’ movie, because he wasn’t sure if children would get his sense of humor. But Ella reminds him that Ferrell was in another children’s movie, Elf, which was very funny. Jason agrees that Ferrell’s comedic style would probably work well for the kids’ movie Land of the Lost, because the plot of that movie is really crazy. Ferrell is good at reacting in a deadpan way to crazy and hilarious situations.

Ella thinks Land of the Lost might be a little too over-the-top. She would rather see Will Ferrell in a movie with fewer special effects and wild storylines. She and Jason agree that Ferrell is funny no matter what he does.

Who do you think is the funniest actor? Do you prefer crazy, fantastic characters and stories, or do you like movies to be believable?