Johnny English Reborn: Imperative Forms

This is a really funny movie with a lot of scenes that can be used in the classroom. This funny one is wonderful for imperative forms.


I. Before watching the segment, put the words in the right order in order to make imperative sentences:

1. her / shut / up

2. up / lock / it

3. that / maintain / tone

4. confrontation / keep / avoid / eye-contact / and

5. table / go / the / stand / to / up / and / coffee

6. your / pocket / go / your / to / right

7. act / just / natural

8. trigger / pull / the

9. fire / hold / your

10. lose / don't him


II. Watch the segment now and check your answers.


















III. Make a list with instructions for your partner to perform. Try to use make the scene as close as possible to the one you have just seen. If you prefer, you may make the scene completely different from the original one, but you must use imperative forms to give your instructions.

S1: Drink the magic potion and does whatever he is told.

S2: Gives the instructions/commands







Answer key:



Shut her up

lock it up

maintain that tone

avoid confrontation and keep eye-contact

 stand up and go to the coffee table

go to your right pocket

just act natural

pull the trigger

hold your fire

don't lose him

Shelf Life: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

I have a fondness for Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and did a brief review of it  at Movie Mezzanine for my weekly recommendation. Weighed down by some integral flaws, sure, but the film is nevertheless a giddy display of imagination from an artist who knows that the fakeness of CGI cannot ever be fully hidden and thus can offer bold new visual treats by embracing its falsity.For that and its surprisingly touching tribute to the late Heath Ledger, it belongs closer to the top of Gilliam's films than the bottom.

Head over to Movie Mezzanine and check out my piece.

Netflix Instant Picks 2/15/13—2/21/13

It's that of week again where Corey and I post our favorite picks for Netflix Instant. This week, I celebrate finally getting the chance to watch the Comedy Bang Bang show, big up my favorite PTA movie and remind myself to finally watch Me and Orson Welles before it drops off streaming.

Check out our full post at Movie Mezzanine.

Man of the West (Anthony Mann, 1958)

Over at Movie Mezzanine, I wrote some thoughts about Anthony Mann's stirring 1958 masterpiece, Man of the West, starring a perfectly cast Gary Cooper as a man whose attempts to leave behind a life of crime will only bring him back from whence he came. It is a harrowing film, one of the bleakest in a viciously bleak filmography, a vision of violence as a self-perpetuating cycle that consumes all who fall in it and offers escape only in a bloody death. One of the greatest Westerns of all time.

My full piece is up now at Movie Mezzanine.

Something Old, Something New: Déjà Vu / Resident Evil: Retribution

More belated links. At Movie Mezzanine, I compare two great Vulgar Auteurist pieces, Tony Scott's Déjà Vu and Paul W.S. Anderson's Resident Evil: Retribution. Check it out.

Night Across the Street (Raúl Ruiz, 2013)

Raúl Ruiz's final completed feature (another is being finished by his widow) is as cryptic as the few other Ruiz films I've seen, with a host of modernist references to obscure literature and music at every turn. Yet the sense of playfulness and mourning that informs the whole feature needs no familiarity with the director. Taking Beethoven to the cinema, following ghosts as they peer in on each other, Ruiz finds sad but hilarious ways to handle his impending death. And he films it all with immaculate precision, his constantly shifting but always pristine mise-en-scène enriched to deliberately artificial degree by his use of DV. Admittedly a neophyte when it comes to the late Chilean director, I nevertheless have adored what little I've seen of his, and I suspect I might treasure Night Across the Street even more with subsequent viewings and a deeper immersion into such a tantalizing filmography. If nothing else, it's a hell of a swan song.

My full piece is up at Spectrum Culture.

Megamind: Adversative Conjunctions

This is one of my favorite animated movies. Megamind is a lovely villain, with an incredible background story. I used this scene to practice the use of adversative conjunctions in a contextualized manner.

 I. Watch the segment and decide if the sentences below refer to Evil (Megamind) or Mr. Goody Two-Shoes. Write (M) if it is about Megamind or (G) if it about Mr. Goody.



Mr. Goody Two Shoes (G)

Evil - Megamind (M)


















1. Landed in the White House ( )
    Landed in a the Metro City Prison for the Gifted ( )

2. Was adopted by the presidential family ( )
     Was adopted by the prisoners ( )

3. Had life handed to him on a silver platter ( )
    Was taught the difference between right and wrong by the prisoners ( )

4. Had the power of flight, invulnerability and and great hair ( )
    Had his amazing intellect. ( )

5. Had already amassed an a gigantic army of soft-headed groupies ( )
    Was given an opportunity to better himself. ( )

6. Is sent to quiet time in the corner. ( )
    Receives all the praise, adulation. ( )

7. Was destined to be a super villain. ( )
    Was destined to be Megamind's rival. ( )


II. Connect both sentences with one of the adversity conjunctions below. Mind punctuation. Try not to repeat the conjunctions.

BUT / HOWEVER / IN CONTRAST / WHILE / WHEREAS / ON THE OTHER HAND / THOUGH (FINAL POSITION)

Ex: Goody landed on the White House whereas Megamind landed on the Metro State Prison for the Gifted.
or
Whereas Megamind landed on the Metro State Prison for the Gifted, Goody landed on the White House.

2. ___________________________________
3.___________________________________
4. ___________________________________
5. ___________________________________
6. ___________________________________
7. ___________________________________

WORKSHEET

MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - MEGAMIND



Answer key:

I.

1. Landed in the White House (G)
    Landed in a the Metro City Prison for the Gifted (M)

2. Was adopted by the presidential family (G)
     Was adopted by the prisoners (M)

3. Had life handed to him on a silver platter (G)
    Was taught the difference between right and wrong by the prisoners (M)

4. Had the power of flight, invulnerability and and great hair (G)
    Had his amazing intellect. (M)

5. Had already amassed an a gigantic army of soft-headed groupies (G)
    Was given an opportunity to better himself. (M)

6. Is sent to quiet time in the corner. (M)
    Receives all the praise, adulation. (G)

7. Was destined to be a super villain (M)
    Was destined to be Megamind's rival (G)

II. Answers will vary.

Criminally Underrated: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

I wrote about the weakest (but still delightful) Neveldine/Taylor feature to date, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance for Spectrum Culture's Criminally Underrated series. After vastly overrating The Dark Knight Rises last year and even cooling on my more muted enjoyment of The Avengers, Ghost Rider 2 feels like the best of last year's crop of comic book films (close second: Dredd), and its ingenuity impresses me where the increasing severity of the tentpole super flicks is becoming more facile and stylistically dull.

My full piece is up now at Spectrum Culture.

Netflix Instant Picks 2/1/13—2/7/13 and 2/8/13—

Since I forgot to link to last week's Netflix picks, I'll just post links for that one and the one that went up this morning.

Netflix picks 2/1/13—2/7/13

Netflix picks 2/8/13—2/14/13

Oscar-Nominated Shorts

I have capsule reviews for each of the animated and live-action shorts nominated for this year's Oscars at Spectrum Culture. They are mostly a wan bunch, lacking the spark of the best short-form artistry and in some cases feeling like mere fragments where a good short feels as if it contains the world. Even so, a few here and there piqued my curiosity, and some even entertained me.

The post with capsules is up now at Spectrum Culture.

Trash (Paul Morrissey, 1970)

Man, I've got to get better about updating this place with links. My review for Paul Morrissey's excellent, transgressive Trash (my first Blindspot entry of the year) has been up for some time at Movie Mezzanine, but I forgot to link to it here. Suffice to say, it's a brilliant, blistering film that also finds an empathy through its actors that the camera otherwise would not communicate. Highly recommended.

My full piece is up at Movie Mezzanine.

27 Dresses: Present Perfect

Romantic comedies are not my cup of tea, but they are wonderful sources of activities. 27 dresses is no exception. This scene is great for practicing the present perfect tense.

I. Talk to a partner:


1. Have you ever had insomnia? How often does it happen?


2. What do you do when you just can't sleep?


3. What makes you lose your sleep?


4. When you can't sleep, do you insist on trying to sleep or do you get up and do something else until you fall asleep?



II. Look at the activities below. Check the ones you usually do when you have a hard time to fall asleep.


1. ( ) read a magazine

2. ( ) read a book

3. ( ) use the computer

4. ( ) moisturize your hands with cream

5. ( ) work out

6. ( ) clean the stove

7. ( ) speak to yourself out loud

8. ( ) talk to your sister (or someone else)

9. ( ) dance

10. ( ) eat


III. Watch the movie segment and check what the main character has done during her insomnia.


IV. Now write sentence in the present perfect tense saying what she has (not) done during the whole night.


Ex:


1. She has read a magazine.

2. She hasn't read a book.


Answer key:

III. Don't check 2, 9, 10


WORKSHEET

MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - 27 DRESSES