Friday Movie Night

Od kilku lat w piątek wieczorem wraz z całą rodziną oglądamy fim po angielsku. Jest to doskonała metoda ćwiczenia umiejętności rozumienia języka ze słuchu. Pamiętaj tylko o jednej zasadzie: bez napisów. Jeżeli oglądasz film z napisami (polskimi czy angielskimi), uczysz się nowych zwrotów i słów a także jak się je poprawnie wymawia, jednak nie dajesz sobie szansy na to aby precyzyjniej rozumieć mówiony język angielski. Jestem absolwentem filologii angielskiej z 20-sto letnim doświadczeniem w prowadzeniu niestandardowych zajęć z języka angielskiego po angielsku, regularnie spotykam się z moim indywidualnym konsultantem z Filadelfii, USA, uczę się angielskiego bez przerwy, czytam i oglądam wyłącznie po angielsku, a jednak zdarza się, że gdy oglądamy film razem moje dzieci są w stanie szybciej zrozumieć, co w danym momencie powiedzieli w filmie. Rozumienie języka ze słuchu jest jedną z najmniej zbadanych dziedzin w sferze nauki języków obcych. Nie wiadomo dlaczego czasami nie rozumiemy bajecznie prostych zwrotów w danym filmie, odtwarzamy to samo zdanie 6 razy i nie wiemy co aktor mówi. Włączamy napisy, a on mówi po prostu, "No thanks, I'll wait" czy coś jeszcze prostrzego. Na pewno jednak fenomenalnie skuteczną metodą na rozwijanie rozumienia języka ze słuchu jest oglądanie filmów po angielsku bez żadnych napisów. Najlepszym przykładem są właśnie nasze dzieci, które telewizję oglądają właściwie niemal wyłącznie po angielsku.

 

Zastanów się, który wieczór w tygodniu będzie dla Ciebie najlepszy

a następnie zacznij regularnie oglądać filmy po angielsku bez napisów

Give your ear a chance!

 

W tej części znajdziesz krótkie podsumowanie niektórych filmów, które nasza rodzina obejrzała w ramach Friday Movie Night. Być może zechcesz zobaczyć któreś z nich. Są one najczęściej łatwo dostępne w wypożyczalniach video. Staramy się zwrócić Twoją uwagę zwłaszacza na filmy, gdzie występuje dużo języka mówionego, nie oglądamy więc wiele filmów akcji, "strzelanek" czy horrorów. Doskonałym gatunkiem do nauki języka są komedie, filmy familijne, komedie romantyczne no i oczywiście bajki w stylu "Shrek" czy "Ice Age", choć język bywa w nich trudniejszy do zrozumienia niż w innych filmach.

 

Movie title

Matilda

Director

Danny DeVito

Starring

Mara Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rhea Permal, Embeth Davidtz, Pam Ferries

Duration

98 minutes

Released in

1996

Plot

The title character is a little girl with supernatural powers; she is woefully misunderstood by her parents and her brother. Matilda loves reading – at the age of 5 she makes a solo trip to the nearby library to read and then to borrow some books home. When she asks her parents to be sent to school when she turns 6, her father refuses as he wants Matilda to stay home in the mornings to receive packages that are sent to him, containing stolen car parts. Nevertheless Matilda soon joins school where she has to face the ruthless school principal.

Our opinion

Very good language and perfectly executed dialogues, easy to understand, especially between Matilda and her teacher; 10/10

 
 
 

 

 

Movie title

The Tree Amigos

Director

John Landis

Starring

Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Martin Short

Duration

104 minutes

Released in

1986

Plot

At the start of the 20th century, three Hollywood actors appear in a number of silent movies as gunfighters. A girl from a small Mexican village terrorized by El Guapo and his band or robbers come to a small town to obtain some help. She sees one of the silent movies featuring the Three Amigos and takes it to be the real thing. She quickly dispatches a cable to California, offering the “gunfighters” a handsome reward if they come to Santo Poco and protect the villagers from the “evil, murderous, treacherous villain El Guapo” – or, as the cable dispatcher puts it, “Infamous El Guapo”. The Amigos understand this to be a request to put on another show, this time in Mexico, in company with the most famous (in-famous, as they understand, meaning “more than famous, this guy El Guapo is not just famous, he is in-famous” – really hilarious!

Our opinion

One of the most underappreciated movies in the history of the cinema. I have seen it so many times that the whole thing is like a one great collection of memorable quotes. Some of the dialogues, such as featuring the German or the Three Amigos at the cantina I can easily say from memory, I often do so with my son. Anytime one of us says the word “tomorrow”, the other invariably follows with the dialogue from the movie, “…we’ll take 50 men, go to Santo Poco etc.”. Same with the word “help”: “They won’t help us, nobody’s going to help us” – the opening scene, or: “I like the one who’s not so smart” “Which one is that?” or how the Amigos mispronounce the word, “Infamous”, or how they fail to understand the command, “Mount up” or the pun on “Mail plane” (“Male plane”) and many, many others. The scene when they break into Floogaman’s studio to seal the costumes is pricelss. 15/10 (yes, fifteen, one-five, I really like it, guess need to watch it again soon!)

 
 
 

 

 

Movie title

The Haunted Mansion

Director

Rob Minkoff

Starring

Eddie Murphy, Terence Stamp, Nathaniel Parker, Marsha Thomason, Jennifer Tilly

Duration

88 minutes

Released in

2003

Plot

A real estate agent takes his family (wife and two kids) to inspect a huge mansion, whose owner apparently intends to sell it. Once there, the agent quickly realizes that there are some strange goings-on there; his conviction that ghosts do not exist is being put to a test

Our opinion

A great Halloween comedy for the entire family – you may be careful about showing it to very young children, there is a dungeon scene with some Zombies chasing the main characters, other than that is really nice. In my family we often use this line from this film, when we know that something we’ll take a while, “It won’t take long, 20 minutes tops”. I like the great décor of the mansion and the general spooky atmosphere. 10/10

 
 
 

 

 

Movie title

50 First Dates

Director

Peter Segal

Starring

Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Rob Schneider, Sean Astin, Lusia Strus, Blake Clark, Dan Aykroyd

Duration

99 minutes

Released in

2004

Plot

Lucy suffers a head injury in a car crash that happened, say March 24th, which heavily affects her memory: she now remembers everything before the accident, but her recent memory capacity is limited to one day only. Every day sleep erases that memory and so every day she wakes up she thinks it is March 24th. Not intending to upset her, her father and brother do what they can to created the impression that everything is OK with Lucy and she lives in total ignorance of the accident she was involved in. Things get more complicated when she meets a guy who falls in love with her. Will he be able to overcome her inability to remember him?

Our opinion

One of the best films I’ve every seen, with a very interesting plot. Imagine a guy trying to make a girl fall in love with him every single day of their life together. A definite 10/10

 
 
 

 

 

Movie title

The Money Pit

Director

Richard Benjamin

Starring

Tom Hanks, Shelley Long

Duration

91 minutes

Released in

1986

Plot

A couple look for a house and find a very “attractive” offer. This soon turns out to be a money pit, nothing seems to work and they are at their wits’ end how to cope in this predicament.

Our opinion

A classic must-see for comedy lovers, relatively easy to follow, with hilarious moments. 9/10

 
 
 

 

 

Movie title

The Pink Panther

Director

Shawn Levy

Starring

Steve Martin, Kevin Kline, Jean Reno, Emily Mortimer, Henry Czerny, Beyonce Knowles

Duration

93 minutes

Released in

2006

Plot

When the famous Pink Panther diamond is stolen in Paris, France is in uproar. Fortunately inspector Clouseau is on the case. Will he manage to solve the mystery this time?

Our opinion

This is a new Clouseau and he does an unbelievably good job – highly recommended. 10/10

 
 
 

 

 

Movie title

Inner Space

Director

Joe Dante

Starring

Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, Meg Ryan, Kevin McCarthy

Duration

120 minutes

Released in

1987

Plot

During an experiment a guy is shrunk along with a small submarine, to the size of bacteria and is to be injected into the bloodstream of a rabbit as an experiment. Things go wrong, however, the lab gets raided by “bad guys” and he accidently ends up in the body of his fellow researcher. The bad guys soon realize where the mini sub is and start to look for the researcher.

Our opinion

A very interesting story with some funny moments; a very watchable comedy. 7/10

 
 
 

 

 

Movie title

Bob The Butler

Director

Gary Sinyore

Starring

Tom Green, Brooke Shields, Genevieve Buechner, Benjamin B. Smith, Rob LaBelle, Valerie Tian, Simon Callow, Iris Graham

Duration

90 minutes

Released in

2005

Plot

Bob finally finds a job as a butler, working for an unmarried business woman living with her two kids. He soon becomes emotionally involved with the children’s mother

Our opinion

A nice and easy to follow comedy. 8/10

 
 
 

 

 

Movie title

Yogi Bear

Director

Eric Brevig

Starring

Dan Aykroyd (voice),Justin Timberlake (voice), Anna Faris, Tom Cavanagh, T.J Miller

Duration

81 minutes

Released in

2010

Plot

Yogi Bear does his best to help the Jellowstone Ranger save the park from being shut down.

Our opinion

A very nice comedy for the entire family. 9/10

 
 
 

 

 

Movie title

The Whole Nine Yards

Director

Jonathan Lynn

Starring

Bruce Willis, Matthew Perry, Rosanna Arquette, Michael Clark Duncan, Natasha Henstridge

Duration

98 minutes

Released in

2000

Plot

Tulip is a notorious hitman from Chicago with a price on his own head, who moves in to live in Canada, near a local dentist, Mathew. The dentist also happens to be from Chicago and instantly recognized Tulip. He tells his wife who sends him to Chicago to find the guys that want him dead and claim the reward money. What follows is a really hilarious chain of events.

Our opinion

A very interesting story with very good accents; some twists and turns but it generally is relatively simple to follow. 9/10

 
 
 

 

 

Movie title

Mamma Mia

Director

Phylida Lloyd

Starring

Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgad, Julie Walters, Dominic Cooper, Amanda Seyfried, Christine Baranski

Duration

109 minutes

Released in

2008

Plot

Three friends meet on a Greek island, where one of them holds a wedding reception for her daughter, Sophie; she, however, wants to make her wedding perfect – she wants her father to walk her down the aisle. To make this happen, she first has to find out who her father is. She manages to identify three “suspects” and so, without her mother’s knowledge, she invites all three to the wedding

Our opinion

A great musical and a very interesting story; I like all the songs, especially “Don’t go wasting your emotions” with this line, “It makes the truth even more incomprehensible”. Any time the word, “comprehension” comes up during a class, I always mention this songs to our students. 9/10

 
 
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

Movie title

Bringing down the house

Director

Adam Shankman

Starring

Steve Martin, Queen Latifah, Eugene Levy ,Joan Powlright, Jean Smart, Missi Pyle, Betty White

Duration

105 minutes

Released in

2003

Plot

Peter Sanderson, a lawyer, seeks a soul mate through an internet dating agency. He soon arranges to meet Charlene, but through some mix-up instead of a respectful lady, Sanderson meets an escaped prisoner who desperately wants him to help her clear her name. Will he be able to prove her innocence, and, above all, will he want to?

Our opinion

Very original dialogues, especially between the two main characters, Peter Sanderson and Charlene. I really liked the way Charline changed her accent to show Peter she can in fact speak like him; 8/10

 
 

 

 
 

 

Movie title

Fat Albert

Director

Joel Zwick

Starring

Kenan Thompson, Kyla Pratt, Dania Ramirez, Omarion, Bill Cosby

Duration

93 minutes

Released in

2004

Plot

Cartoon characters from the popular 1970’s show enter the real world. They only have a day or so to help a girl of 15 be happy again.

Our opinion

Very good dialogues and funny moments; you even get to see Bill Cosby who cameos in the last scene; 8/10

 
 

 

 

Movie title

Flightplan

Director

Robert Schwentke

Starring

Jodie Foster, Peter Sarsgaard, Erika Christensen, Kate Beahan, Greta Scaccki, Sean Bean

Duration

98 minutes

Released in

2005

Plot

The whole thing starts in Berlin where Kyle Pratt gets on a plane with her daughter, a six-year old Julia, bound for the USA. Travelling with them in the plane’s cargo hold is the casket with the lady’s husband who apparently committed suicide. Soon after take-off both Kyle and Julia take a nap. When she awakes, Julia finds herself alone. Her daughter is nowhere to be seen. A frantic search of the plane commences that involves the entire crew and an air marshal. What could have happened to the little girl?

Our opinion

Very well paced, the entire story, except for the several minute opening, takes place aboard the airliner. A highly recommended thriller where a lot of language is spoken. 9/10

 
 

 

 

Movie title

Rat Race

Director

Jerry Zucker

Starring

Rowan Atkinson, Whoopi Goldberg, Cuba Gooding, Jon Lovitz, Seth Green, John Cleese, Dave Thomas

Duration

112 minutes

Released in

2001

Plot

Donald Sinclair, the owner of a casion in Las Vegas, places six special tokens in the casino's slot machines. The six gamblers who win the tokens are invited to Sinclair’s office where they learn that they are players in game against the time. In Silver City, New Mexico, some 400 miles away, there is a train station, at the station there is locker 001 and in the locker there is a duffel bag with two million dollars in it. The first person to get there keeps the money. There are no rules for how to play this game, says Sinclair, just go, do whatever you need to, and be the first at the locker.

Our opinion

One of the best comedies I’ve ever seen, easy to follow, with great humor and great actors, a light comedy for the entire family. 9/10

 

Movie title

Click

Director

Frank Coraci

Starring

Adam Sandler, Kate Beckinsale, Christopher Walken

Duration

103 minutes

Released in

2006

Plot

Michael Newman, an architect has no time for his wife or children. He works all the time. One day he meets a crazy sales clerk who offers him a remote control that can revolutionize his life. With a single click he can now skip large and dull parts of his daily routines.

Our opinion

A very interesting movie indeed, a little sad towards the end, 8/10


Movie title

Raising Helen

Director

Garry Marshall

Starring

Kate Hudson, John Corbett, Joan Cusack, Hayden Panettiere, Spencer Breslin

Duration

119 minutes

Released in

200

Plot

When one of Helen’s two sisters and Helen’s brother-in-law die in a car accident, Helen soon finds herself looking after her late sister’s three children, which turns out to be a real feat. Many funny moments, especially when Helen intends to enroll the children in a Lutheran school in Bronx. The conversation she has with Pastor Parker is really amusing.

Our opinion

One of the best films I’ve ever seen, with very good language, 10/10

 

Movie title

Shackleton

Director

Charles Sturridge

Starring

Kenneth Brangh, John Grillo, Paul Humpoletz, Phoebe Nicholls, Eve Best, Mark Tandy, Cicely Delaney, Christian Young, Embeth Davidtz

Duration

206 minutes

Released in

2002

Plot

This is actually a television series, but you can watch it just like a regular movie, I rented it as a two-disc edition. It tells In a great way the true story of explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton who in 1914 organized an expedition to Antarctica on the ship Endurance. Things go wrong when they discover solid ice much farther away from the south pole than they expected. Soon the ship is trapped by ice and there is nothing for the crew to do but wait. To keep up their spirits, Shackleton and his men play football on the ice. The real drama begins when the ship is crushed by the ice and the crew are left stranded. Despite the odd, Shackleton vows not to lose a single man. Will he be able to pull that off? How can he hope to return them alive to civilization if there Is even no solid land under their feet?

Our opinion

Yes, it is very long, especially the first part (or the first disc). The whole thing could easily have been downsized to just 120 min-long picture. Anyhow, it really becomes interesting at the end of the first disc, when the Endurance is destroyed by the ice and the members of the expedition fight for survival. Highly recommended. 7/10

 

Movie title

Moonrise Kingdom

Director

Wes Anderson

Starring

Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand

Duration

94 minutes

Released in

2012

Plot

The story takes place in a scout summer camp, in 1964, on an island off the coast of New England; two 12-year olds fall in love and decide to run away together. When they do, a search party is put together to locate them. A number of funny scenes showing campers in various situations.

Our opinion

A very good movie, highly recommended for language purposes, 10/10

 

Movie title

Oliver Twist

Director

Roman Polanski

Starring

Barney Clark, Ben Kingsley, Jeremy Swift

Duration

130 minutes

Released in

2005

Plot

Based on Charles Dickens classic novel and tells the story of a young Oliver and his difficult life in London

Our opinion

A great movie with a variety of difficult accents; HOWEVER, once you quench the desire to switch on the subtitles because, “Oh no, I don’t understand a single word they are saying!”, you will discover to your amazement that you are able to follow the story. Sit back, relax and enjoy this journey into the 19th century London. 10/10

 

Movie title

The World’s Fastest Indian

Director

Roger Donaldson

Starring

Anthony Hopkins, Christopher Lawford, Bruce Greenwood, Paul Rodriguez, Diane Ladd, Patrick Flueger, Aaron Murphy

Duration

127 minutes

Released in

2005

Plot

Based on a true story, hence the title in Polish, this movie tells a story of a lovely character from New Zealand named Burt Munro, a cantankerous elderly gentleman with a clearly-defined purpose in his life: he wants to go to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah with his 1920s-era Indian motorcycle that he has modified himself to set a new speed world record. We first observe his life in New Zealand and how he eventually secures the funds indispensible to carry out his daring project. He books a passage for himself and his bike on a ship bound for the States. He meets interesting people along the way but when he arrives at the racing track site, he is turned down by the organizers. Is this the end of his dreams?

Our opinion

If you still have not seen this one, then I envy you, the adventure is still before you! A truly great picture, wonderful dialogues and great accents, with Munro being unable to understand some of the Americans; a very easy to follow movie, with some humorous situations, good for children. I really like movies based on true stories, I usually precede the movie with a short intro, we look at the map to find Salt Lake City or to see which way the ship took to travel from New Zealand to the USA. Highly recommended, 10/10

 

Movie title

Eight Below

Director

Frank Marshall

Starring

Paul Walker, Bruce Greenwood, Moon Bloodgood, Jason Biggs, Gerard Plunkett

Duration

120 minutes

Released in

2006

Plot

Set mostly in Antarctica, the film tells a fictitious story of a team of 8 sled dogs that due to the worst Antarctic storm in decades are left on their own chained at the polar station. The researchers planned to pick them up the following day but were cut off by the storm and were in fact unable to return to the station for several months.

Our opinion

This is a very simple movie to follow; very interesting scenes showing how the dogs coped in the difficult conditions. Roughly half the movie involves only dog actors, so no language is spoken, but throughout the film there are scenes showing human actors as well. Highly recommended, but parts of it, at least two scenes, can be REALLY SAD for very emotional young children – my daughter saw this film when she was around 8 or 9 and she was crying like a little babe, so a little caution is recommended. 9/10

 

Movie title

Billy Elliot

Director

Stephen Daldry

Starring

Jamie Bell, Julie Walters, Gary Lewis, Jamie Draven, Adam Cooper

Duration

112 minutes

Released in

2000

Plot

Billy is 11 year old, being brought up in a miner’s family in England. His dad wants him to take boxing lessons but this is not what Billy wants to do: he wants to join a ballet school. His dad wouldn’t hear of it. It is the time of the great miners’ strike, and both Billy’s dad and his grown-up brother are on the picket lines. Will Billy make his dream come true?

Our opinion

A wonderful movie with great British accents throughout, so different from the majority of films where we hear American English, great acting and a really interesting plot if you don’t really know how it will all end. A very underappreciated film. 10/10

 

Movie title

Without a paddle

Director

Steven Brill

Starring

Seth Green, Mathew Lillard, Dax Shephard, Ethan Suplee, Abraham Benrubi, Rachel Blanchard, Burt Reynolds, Christina Moore

Duration

95 minutes

Released in

2004

Plot

A story of three lifelong friends who go on a canoe trip in search of a treasure their late comrade had been after. There is a number of obstacles along the way, including a dangerous river, waterfalls and two bad guys growing pot. Will they find the treasure?

Our opinion

A number of funny highlights, a really nice comedy. 8/10

 

Movie title

Harold

Director

T. Sean Shannon

Starring

Spencer Breslin, Ally Sheedy, Nikki Blonsky, Cuba Gooding Jr.

Duration

95 minutes

Released in

2009

Plot

Harold is 14 but almost completely bald. Most people think he is adult, and some even think he might be 60 years old. Needless to say, he has trouble fitting in. Some of his classmates mock him and he quickly becomes target number 1 for the school bully. Then, amidst this plight, Harold is helped by the school janitor.

Our opinion

A very watchable film for the whole family, some funny highlights, 7/10

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