Intro
1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.
2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.
The British have knights. The Japanese have ronin. The Argentinians have gauchos. And the Americans have the western.
Westerns are stories about cowboys in the 1800s. A new movie called Jonah Hex updates this common theme in film.
Like many westerns, Jonah Hex is a story of gunfights, romance and revenge. But the guns are bigger, the girl is sexier and the main character, who is played by Josh Brolin (of No Country for Old Men), has a scar on one whole side of his face to make sure you never forget why he’s out for revenge.
The Old West is also a time that people like to romanticize and imagine to be better than it was. In Jonah Hex, the hero even has super powers. See if Ella and Mason are caught up in the magic of the film.
Dialog
1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.
2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.
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Ella: Megan Fox. That’s all I have to say.
Mason: Not a big fan, quite frankly. You know that new movie she’s in, Jonah Hex, right?
Ella: Oh yes.
Mason: Yeah, I’m generally a fan of comic book movies…
Ella: It’s a comic book?
Mason: Oh, for sure.
Ella: It looks like it’s a western.
Mason: Yeah, it’s kind of like a mystic western, right? Jonah Hex is this dude who gains these mystical powers after whoever the character John Malkovich plays kills his family and scars Jonah Hex’s face and leaves him for dead.
Ella: He’s like a cowboy with mystical powers?
Mason: He’s like a demon cowboy, like Ghost Rider.
Ella: Well, Megan Fox is in it so that’s pretty much what sold me. And the mystic stuff…
Mason: ...also good. I would go for Malkovich, personally. He’d be the draw. But I don’t know, they whole thing is like he’s out for blood. He’s on this vengeance streak. It’s that kind of motivation. Those can be interesting stories.
Ella: So it’s going to be a gory hotness, basically.
Mason: Gory. Hotness. Hopefully it won’t delve into Wild Wild West territory, the Will Smith and Kevin Kline classic.
Ella: I hope not.
Grammar Point
Go Super to learn "Contractions and Abbreviations" from this lesson
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Discussion
Ella is a big fan of Megan Fox, who stars in the new movie Jonah Hex. Mason isn’t so sure about Fox or the movie, which he tells Ella is based on a comic book.
Mason normally likes movies based on comic books, but doesn’t think Jonah Hex looks all that good. If he were to see it, it would be to watch John Malkovich, who plays the villain.
Both Mason and Ella agree that revenge stories can be interesting and that the movie will most likely be gory and sexy. They hope it isn’t too silly like the Will Smith movie Wild Wild West, which makes fun of westerns.
Have you ever seen a western? What kind of western do you like best? What sort of stories from the past do people like to make movies about in your country?
Comments
Brazil |
Ukraine |
Mexico |
Russian Federation |
Thailand |
Jordan |
China |
Saudi Arabia |
China |
China |
Spain |
Egypt |
Argentina |
Argentina |
Brazil |
Brazil |
Uruguay |
Argentina |
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