THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN (Reading Comprehension C1 level)

Today we're going to read about this Marvel's SuperHero, the level is a bit hard but you have to set some difficult goals in order to develop your Reading Skill.

On the other hand for those who want to become familiar with writing reviews, this is an example of a Movie Review.

When a studio reboots a franchise, starting from scratch while unavoidably having to repeat much of the same subject matter, comparisons are inevitable. Usually, though, the turnaround doesn't occur five quick years down the line (well, okay, this also happened with 2003's "Hulk" and 2008's "The Incredible Hulk"). In keeping this rather undesirable ritual going, Columbia Pictures has found a new creative team, a new cast, and added an adjective to the title ("What's better than 'Spider-Man'?" one studio exec probably said during pre-production. "How about 'The Amazing Spider-Man'?"). While 2002's "Spider-Man," 2004's "Spider-Man 2," and 2007's "Spider-Man 3" marked that rare trilogy that remained consistently successful over three films, its particular story and character arcs involving Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, and Harry Osborn had admittedly played themselves out by the end of the last one. For this so-called "re-imagining," director Sam Raimi is out and Marc Webb (2009's "(500) Days of Summer") is in, taking on a daunting summer tentpole about one hundred times bigger in size than his lovely indie debut. Meanwhile, screenwriting duties fall to sole returnee Alvin Sargent, and is extended to James Vanderbilt (2010's "The Losers") and Steve Kloves (2011's "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"). As for the lead actor, 28-year-old Andrew Garfield (2010's "The Social Network") has been chosen to play 17-year-old Peter Parker because, apparently, there are no talented actual teenagers in Hollywood.


If not as tightly paced or even as emotionally gratifying as its forefather, "The Amazing Spider-Man" delivers spectacle and a hard choice near the end that suggests this rebooted series, like Christopher Nolan's "Batman" trilogy, may fully come into its own with a superior second entry that has already gotten the familiar setup out of the way. This one must be judged alone, however, and there is no getting around its been-there-done-that tedium and underlying reason for being: Columbia Pictures was desperate to add another surefire franchise release to their schedule, even if it meant returning to a well dipped into a measly half-decade ago. "The Amazing Spider-Man" can be immersive - the climax is certainly pulled off on an ornate scale - but does it also capture a comparable pure heart and freshness to Raimi's vision? No. Its creation and conception simply smell of too much cynicism.
from: www.worstprevies.com

Vocabulary:

Indie: Independent movie.
Reboots: reuses
Cynicism: Irony.

LEARNING ENGLISH WITH SHERLOCK HOLMES 2010

LISTENING COMPREHENSION

THESE ARE THE INSTRUCTIONS:

Click on the video below.
Watch the video, and pay attention to it! (You can pause and rewind the video.)
Answer the listening comprehension questions below the video.
Check your answers.




QUESTIONS:

1. Dr. Watson _______________________ with Mary's parents. is planning on having tea didn't get to have tea had tea
2. Dr. Watson thinks he's _______________________ for listening to Sherlock Holmes. crazy a good friend smart
3. Watson doesn't like that Holmes leads him into situations _______________________. that are dangerous without telling him what his plans are that are not very well thought-out
4. Which of the following things does Watson NOT accuse Holmes of?: Singing loudly Stealing his clothes Playing violin at night
5. Holmes thinks he and Watson should ________________________. talk about this problem a bit more go out for a couple of drinks spend some time in the country

HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE. LEARNING ENGLISH WITH MOVIES.

WE ARE WATCHING HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE IN CLASS, THIS IS PART OF OUR BILINGUAL TEACHING (ENGLISH-SPANISH) PROGRAMME AND THE PROJECT: LEARNING WITH MOVIES".
THIS IS THE HANDOUT ABOUT THE MOVIE THAT MY STUDENTS HAVE TO FILL IN , ONCE WE'VE WATCHED THE FILM IN CLASS.
FOR THE REST OF YOU ( TEACHERS AND STUDENTS I ADVICE YOU TO WATCH IT AT HOME OR IN CLASS, AND THEN DO THE ACTIVITIES.





HARRY POTTER and the Goblet of Fire worksheet

ECLIPSE -TWILIGHT SAGA (english-spanish)

This video is addressed to my last year students and all the followers of this incredible saga. 30th June 2010 is closer...

WATCHING NEW MOON

Watch These videos about NEW MOON and answer the questions presented at the end:

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON: Movie Trailer - For more amazing video clips, click here

QUESTIONS:

VIDEO ONE:

1. WHAT'S THE NAME OF BELLA'S FRIEND?
2. wHAT IS HIS SECRET IDENTITY?
3 WHY DID EDWARD ABANDON BELLA, ACCORDING TO THE VIDEO?
4. WHO IS LOOKING FOR HER IN THE FOREST?
5. WHAT DID HAPPEN AT BELLA'S BIRTHDAY PARTY?

VIDEO TWO:

1. HOW DOES BELLA FEEL TOWARDS JACOB?
2 WHAT'S THE NAME OF THE OLD VAMPIRES?
3. WHO TELLS BELLA ABOUT EDWARD'S INTENTIONS?
4. WHERE DO THEY TRAVEL?
5 CAN YOU IMAGINE AN END FOR THIS VIDEO?

Learning English with Movies: SHRECK 2

Wach this clip and pay attention.

SHREK - Princess Fiona "Family Blessing"




Now answer the following questions:

1. The princess thinks that her parents:
will hate Shrek
will love Shrek
will not meet with Shrek

2. Shrek thinks:
they will not accept him
they will accept him with open arms
he won't meet her parents

3. The princess asks Shrek to:
give her parents a present
give her parents a chance
sharpen their pitchforks

4. What does the princess want from her parents?:
Their blessing
Their money
Their admiration

5. When did Shrek agree to become part of the princess' family?:
When they got engaged
When her parents got married
When he married her

Answers: b,a,b,a,c

TWILIGHT -CREPÚSCULO

This week is the premiere of TWILIGHT in our country. That's a good reason to know something about that phenomenon in all the world. (thanks God, Harry Potter has a substitute)

Above all, I reccomend you reading the book, before seeing the movie.

((Aprovecho que esta semana es el estreno de crepúsculo en nuestro país para dar alguna información acerca de la película y el libro que están batiendo records de ventas.))

Plot summary
Isabella "Bella" Swan moves from sunny Phoenix, Arizona, to rainy Forks, Washington, to live with her father, Charlie. She chooses to do this so that her mother, Renée, can travel with her new husband, Phil Dwyer, who is a minor league baseball player. In Phoenix she was a bit of an outcast, so it surprises her that she attracts much attention at her new school, and is quickly befriended by several students. Much to her dismay, several boys in the school compete for shy Bella's attention.
When Bella sits next to Edward Cullen in class on her first day of school, Edward seems utterly repulsed by her. He even attempts to change his schedule to avoid her, leaving Bella completely puzzled about his attitude towards her. After tricking a family friend, Jacob Black, into telling her the local tribal legends, Bella concludes that Edward and his family are vampires. Although she was inexplicably attracted to him even when she thought Edward drank human blood, she is much relieved to learn that the Cullens choose to abstain from drinking human blood, and drink animal blood instead. Edward reveals that he initially avoided Bella because the scent of her blood was so desirable. Over time, Edward and Bella fall in love.
The seemingly perfect state of their relationship is thrown into chaos when another vampire coven sweeps into Forks, and James, a tracker vampire, decides that he wants to hunt Bella for sport. The Cullens plan to distract the tracker by splitting up Bella and Edward, and Bella is sent to hide in a hotel in Phoenix. Bella then gets a phone call from James in which he says that he has her mother, and Bella must give herself up to James at her old dance studio, to save her. She does so, and while at the dance studio, James attacks her. Edward, along with the rest of the Cullen family, rescue Bella before James can kill her. Once they realize that James has bitten Bella's hand, Edward sucks the venom out of her system before it can spread and change her into a vampire. Upon returning to Forks, Bella and Edward attend their prom and Bella expresses her desire to become a vampire, which Edward refuses to let happen.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, A wonderful movie, an Incredible Book

SET DURING WORLD WAR II, THIS IS A THE UNFORGETTABLE STORY ABOUT THE LINES THAT DIVIDE US, ABOUT A FRIENDSHIP THAT WAS NEVER MEANT TO HAPPEN BUT THAT BECAME INEVITABLE AND ABOUT THE HOPE THAT UNITES US.

SYNOPSIS:
Being the son of a military commander, 9 years old Bruno is forced to move with his family to place he calls ‘Out With.’ Angered and confused by his fathers decision to move aways from their five storey mansion, Bruno, who is quite the explorer, locks himself in his bedroom with no friends to play with. Until he discovers from his bedroom window a fence behind which he sees many people wearing striped pyjamas. One day, escaping the boring classes of his hired teacher Herr Litz, Bruno decides to go out exploring and meets a little boy behind the fence with the unusual name Shmuel. Even though Bruno does not understand the reason why Shmuel is always dressed in his pyjamas and can not leave from behind the fence, the two kids become friends, and Bruno visits him every day. It isn’t for long that Bruno, at the innocent age of 9, learn from his older sister that the pyjama people are in fact called Jews and are destined to spend their lives behind the fence, a place that in fact is called Auschwitz…

Questions for the Students:

1. What is the name of the protagonist in the book?
2. How old is he?
3. Has he got any friends to play with?
4.What is his teacher's name?
5. What is the view that he sees from his room?
6. Who is his new friend?
7. Why is he behind the fence?
8. Why is he always dressed in stryped pyjamas?
9. What does JEWS mean for his parents?
10. What do you know about that place called Auschwitz?

Extension Project:

1. Surf the the Internet and find out the most important information about the historical moment represented in the movie.
2. Find out credible information about Auschwitz. You can bring books, papers, magazines, etc and show them to the class.

Vocabulary help:
-Striped: a rayas o the rayas; como la bandera de USA(stripes and stars= rayas y estrellas).
-Jews: judíos.
- Fence: valla.
-Hired teacher: profesor particular, o contratado.
-Kids: chicos, niños (boys)

SHAKESPEARE in THE MOVIES

Shakespeare in Teen Movies:

By the mid-1990s, Shakespeare’s ever-evolving relationship with Hollywood had spun off in an unexpected direction: the teen movie. Young stars like Heath Ledger, Leonardo DiCaprio, Amanda Bynes, Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon Levitt, and Mekhi Phifer, to name only a few, found themselves playing Shakespeare-inspired high-school athletes, cheerleaders, gang-bangers, and other characters in movies like O, 10 Things I Hate About You, She’s the Man, and Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet—among others. Film historian Vicki Botnick explores the youth movie tren:There are two directions in which Shakespeare's gone in the past twenty years, probably. One of them is not very Americanized and that is the sort of classic, more literal, prestige projects done by, typically with, a big star, often with a European director, usually they're speaking with a British accent. That would be maybe Mel Gibson's Hamlet, or more recently, Al Pacino's Merchant of Venice, and those are not Americanized.
But there's another direction that cinema has gone more recently, that you could certainly call Hollywoodized, and that's the teen adaptations, and that's films like O, 10 Things I Hate About You, Scotland, PA, She's The Man, which is an interpretation of Twelfth Night starring Amanda Bynes. So these are very loose interpretations made to attract a teenage crowd. Certainly that's because Hollywood wants to appeal to a teen demographic. They're supposed to have a lot of disposable income, it's a very flashy demographic to get.
One thing that Hollywood is focused on right now is the high concept film. And that's where you have a fairly simple concept with a hook that can be described in one sentence, and Shakespeare is really easy to reduce to that because the plots are so classic and so primal. So you could take something like Romeo and Juliet, which people would typically think of as being complex and intellectual, and you could give it this great pitch sentence like, "two gorgeous teenagers desperately in love, and their parents want so badly to keep them apart that they end up killing themselves for the ultimate romance." And you could really sell it to a studio head that way, so it is very easy to market.
There's also the prestige that comes with using Shakespeare's name, and there's the fact that you can attract really great stars with the project, because obviously the characters in Shakespeare are so fantastic, so multi-layered, so complex. The women are just as strong as the men. So it's easy to get stars attached.

Shaping the Plays for Teen Movie Audiences:

There's so much going on in any one Shakespeare play that it's easy to cut, to use only the themes that are relevant to the time, only a theme that might be hot for the time, or to cut it down so that it can be a shorter length, because they are all so long and complex on the stage. And with something like O, which is based on Othello, there's a whole important theme running through about age difference because Othello and Desdemona and Iago are all different in age and there's a jealousy going on about that. But since O is set in a high school where everyone is a teenager, you can just completely cut that whole theme and still have this incredibly complex story with lots of other themes that you can work through.
10 Things I Hate About You is based on Taming of the Shrew, and again it's set in teenage times. There's much more of an emphasis on the bawdy humor in the play, on a woman who—in the play, there's a sort of anti-feminist theme running through where she needs to be tamed, whereas in a 1990s update of that, of course, the woman's going to be strong throughout and it's really probably the man who's going to be tamed romantically instead. So you can tweak things but still have all the important themes there.
Romeo and Juliet—in the play, religion is pretty important and many, many adaptations onscreen have sort of excised that whole theme out of the story because it wasn't very vogue at the time. Whereas Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet brings it back again. So, you can really cut and pick different themes as you choose.

One thing that I was thinking about in terms of teen adaptations is that the purists are often really horrified by them.
Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, for example, took a lot of liberties with the story and with the visual style, so that it's got a very modern, hip-hop, violent, sexy kind of flair to it, and many critics said that it was kind of sacrilege to play around with Shakespeare. Whereas the truth is that Shakespeare played around with his own plays all the time, and the real sacrilege is with the other teen adaptations that tend to cut out all of the Shakespearean language, which Romeo + Juliet didn't do at all. It kept a lot of the actual text from the play and didn't assume that a young audience couldn't understand it or wouldn't relate to it, or that it would get in the way somehow of the modernization and of feeling really contemporary
It is a gamble for Luhrmann to make a teen adaptation and keep all the Shakespearean language, but the truth is, he cut it down to pretty bare bones, and a lot of the language in a Shakespearean play is dependent on the way it's read and the background that you can see to help you to interpret the words. So I think that a lot of the lines that Luhrmann left in were not the ones that have a lot of difficult vocabulary or that would be hard to interpret, even to an audience that's not very familiar with it.

Shakespeare in Hollywood's Golden Age:

In 1935 and 1936, Warner Brothers and MGM produced two major motion pictures of Shakespeare plays, each packed with well known stars and utilizing all the technical resources of the studio system in its heyday. Patricia King Hanson considers what artistic aspirations may have led Hollywood studios to this interest in Shakespeare—and what kinds of films resulted.

Now, we have an impression of studio bosses, which may or may not be 100 percent accurate. But in addition to looking for the bottom line, I think a lot of the studio heads, and a lot of the production heads—remember, sometimes the production head and the studio head would be at odds over what should be presented, so it's not just one person in charge of everything—but they did have a feeling in the 30s that, as people were going and watching all these musicals and comedies and so forth, that they should have some intellectually and emotionally inspiring films, that they should kind of elevate their audiences.
So you see a lot of films in the 30s and 40s, but particularly 30s, in which they have concert music, in which operas are presented, Shakespearean plays, Eugene O'Neill plays. When you look at those kind of things now, it's hard to believe that they thought these were going to be great money-makers. In most cases they were not, and I think in most cases they knew they wouldn't be, but they felt that among the maybe 30 to 50 films a year they might be releasing, they could have a few showpiece films that would show people, "Hey, we do some pretty great things here, and we're really trying to elevate our audiences."
So, I don't know what exactly their interior motivation was, but it's definitely true that they had a certain number of films which they considered films that were uplifting, high-class if you will, and would show an artistic side to Hollywood filmmaking that perhaps people wouldn't otherwise find.
Listen To The Documentary

Movie and Television List based on Shakespeare's

2006. Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss, Phil Nibbelink Productions and Indican Pictures. Directed by Phil Nibbelink. A full-length animated version of Romeo and Juliet that takes place under the sea between feuding seal families.
2006. She’s the Man, Donners’ Company, Dreamworks SKG, and Lakeshore Entertainment. Directed by Andy Fickman. With Amanda Bynes (Viola). Twelfth Night is transported to a modern private school when female athlete Viola must disguise herself and attend her twin brother’s all-male academy after her own school’s soccer team is cut.
2005. The Hobart Shakespeareans, Mel Stuart, Thirteen/WNET and P.O.V./American Documentary. Directed and produced by Mel Stuart, with appearances by Ian McKellan and Michael York. Documentary about fifth-grade teacher Rafe Esquith’s classes at a Los Angeles public school where most students speak English as a second language; among other academic challenges, the students learn about Shakespeare’s works and produce one of his plays—in this case, Hamlet.
2005. Shakespeare Behind Bars, Philomath Films. Directed by Hank Rogerson and produced by Joann Spitzmiller. Documentary about a Shakespeare acting program for inmates of a medium-security prison in LaGrange, Kentucky, filmed as they prepare a production of The Tempest.
2004. The Goodbye Girl, Turner Network Television. Directed by Richard Benjamin. With Jeff Daniels (Elliot Garfield), Patricia Heaton (Paula McFadden), Hallie Kate Eisenberg (Linda McFadden), and Alan Cumming (Mark). Although not directly based on a Shakespeare play, the film involves a production of Richard III. Remake of the 1977 movie. Television production.
2004. The Merchant of Venice, Spice Factory Limited in association with UK Film Council. Directed by Michael Radford. With Al Pacino (Shylock), Jeremy Irons (Antonio), and Joseph Fiennes (Bassanio).
2003. Fairies, SPEAKproductions. Directed by Thomas Gustafson. After constant bullying from his homophobic classmates, a young boy uses A Midsummer Night’s Dream to imagine a world where he fits in.
2003. Skin, Jerry Bruckheimer Television and Warner Bros. Television for Fox Network. Created by Jim Leonard. The daughter of a liberal Jewish pornographer falls in love with the son of the conservative Catholic district attorney determined to bring him down in this short-lived television series (eight episodes) based on Romeo and Juliet. Television production.
2002. King of Texas, Hallmark Entertainment and Turner Network Television. Directed by Uli Edel. With Patrick Stewart (John Lear) and Marcia Gay Harden (Mrs. Susannah Lear Turlington). King Lear set on a ranch in the Old West. Television production.
2001. Get Over It!, Ignite Entertainment and Miramax Films. Directed by Tommy O’Haver. With Kirsten Dunst (Kelly Woods), Sisqó (Dennis Wallace), Mila Kunis (Basin), Shane West (Striker), Carmen Electra (Mistress Moira), and Martin Short (Dr. Desmond Forrest Oates). A high school boy gets involved in a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to win his girlfriend back, until he falls in love with her younger sister.
2001. O, FilmEngine and Lions Gate Films. Directed by Tim Blake Nelson. With Mekhi Phifer (Odin James), Josh Hartnett (Hugo Goulding), and Julia Stiles (Desi Brable). Othello set in a modern high school, with the basketball coach’s white son jealous of the black star of the team and his beautiful girlfriend.
2001. Richard II, Farrellmedia Inc. Directed by John Farrell.
2001. Scotland, PA, Abandon Pictures. Directed by Billy Morrissette. With James LeGros (Joe McBeth), Maura Tierney (Pat McBeth), and Christopher Walken (Lieutenant McDuff). Macbeth plays itself out in a fast food restaurant as Joe McBeth is persuaded to kill his boss and take over Duncan’s burger kingdom.
2000. The Distinct Smell of Red, Malamute Entertainment. Directed by Jason Kittelberger. A lonely flower shop employee becomes obsessed with trying to find his Juliet after reading the Cliff Notes for Romeo and Juliet.
2000. Hamlet, double A films. Directed by Michael Almereyda. With Ethan Hawke (Hamlet), Julia Stiles (Ophelia), Kyle MacLachlan (Claudius), and Bill Murray (Polonius).
2000. Hamlet, Hallmark Entertainment. Directed by Campbell Scott and Eric Simonson. Television production.
2000. Love’s Labours Lost, Arts Council of England, Canal+, and Miramax Films. Directed by Kenneth Branagh. With Alicia Silverstone (The Princess of France), Kenneth Branagh (Berowne), and Nathan Lane (Costard). A musical version of Love’s Labours Lost set in the 1930s.
2000. Romeo Must Die, Silver Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures. Directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak. With Jet Li (Han Sing) and Aaliyah (Trish O’Day). A Romeo and Juliet adaptation featuring Chinese and black mob families as the Montagues and Capulets and lots of kung fu.
2000. Titus Andronicus, South Main Street Productions. Directed by Richard Griffin. Television production.
1999. Let the Devil Wear Black, New Moon Productions. Directed by Stacy Title. With Jonathan Penner (Jack Lyne), Jacqueline Bisset (Helen Lyne), Mary-Louise Parker (Julia Hirsch), and Chris Sarandon (Jack’s father). Hamlet is updated to modern-day southern California as a moody grad student is compelled to take revenge on his uncle for his father’s death in this almost-slasher film.
1999. Macbeth in Manhattan, Amber Waves. Directed by Greg Lombardo. A troupe of actors unfamiliar with the curse on the Scottish Play stage a production of Macbeth: mayhem ensues.
1999. Midsummer, Kerwin Productions. Directed by James Kerwin. A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Egyptian elements.
1999. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Fox Searchlight Pictures. Directed by Michael Hoffman. With Kevin Kline (Bottom), Michelle Pfeiffer (Titania), Stanley Tucci (Puck), Rupert Everett (Oberon), Calista Flockhart (Helena), and Christian Bale (Demetrius).
1999. 10 Things I Hate About You, A Mad Chance/Jaret Entertainment Production and Touchstone Pictures. Directed by Gil Junger. With Heath Ledger (Patrick Verona), Julia Stiles (Kat Stratford), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Cameron James), and Allison Janney (Ms. Perky). The Taming of the Shrew set in a modern California high school.
1999. Titus, Clear Blue Sky Productions and Fox Searchlight Pictures. Directed by Julie Taymor. With Anthony Hopkins (Titus), Jessica Lange (Tamora), Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Chiron), and Alan Cumming (Saturninus).
1999. Titus Andronicus, Joe Redner Film & Productions. Directed by Christopher Dunne.

1998. The Tempest, Bonnie Raskin Production and NBC Studios. Directed by Jack Bender. With Peter Fonda (Gideon Prosper) and Katherine Heigl (Miranda Prosper). The Tempest set in the Civil War South. Television production.
1998. Twelfth Night, Live fromLincoln Center and PBS. Directed by Nicholas Hytner. With Helen Hunt (Viola), Kyra Sedgwick (Countess Olivia), and Paul Rudd (Duke Orsino). Filmed stage production / television production.
1997. A Thousand Acres, Beacon Communications LLC and Touchstone Pictures. Directed by Jocelyn Moorehouse. With Jessica Lange (Ginny Cook Smith), Michelle Pfeiffer (Rose Cook Lewis), Jennifer Jason Leigh (Caroline Cook), Jason Robards (Larry Cook), and Colin Firth (Jess Clark). King Lear on a Midwestern American farm, where three daughters despise their abusive father.
1997. Titus Andronicus: The Movie, Lorn Richey Productions. Directed by Lorn Richey. Television production.
1996. Hamlet, Castle Rock Corporation and Columbia Pictures Entertainment. Directed by Kenneth Branagh. With Kenneth Branagh (Hamlet), Kate Winslet (Ophelia), Julie Christie (Gertrude), and Derek Jacobi (Claudius).
1996. Looking for Richard, 20th Century Fox. Directed by Al Pacino. With Alec Baldwin (himself / Duke of Clarence), Al Pacino (himself / Richard III), Winona Ryder (Lady Anne), and Kenneth Branagh, John Gielgud, Derek Jacobi, Kevin Kline, Vanessa Redgrave, and James Earl Jones as themselves (among others). Pacino uses scenes from Richard III and interviews with scholars, other actors, and ordinary people to create a documentary about the play.
1996. Love is All There Is, Cinema 7 and Samuel Goldwyn Company. Directed by Joseph Bologna and Renee Taylor. With Lainie Kazan (Sadie Capomezzo), Abe Vigoda (Rudy), and Angelina Jolie (Gina Malcici). Romeo and Juliet with two rival restaurant-owning Italian families in New York at constant odds—especially after their children fall in love.
1996. Romeo + Juliet, 20th Century Fox and Bazmark Films. Directed by Baz Luhrmann. With Leonardo DiCaprio (Romeo), Claire Danes (Juliet), John Leguizamo (Tybalt), Pete Postlethwaite (Father Laurence), and Brian Dennehy (Ted Montague).
1996. Tromeo and Juliet, Troma Entertainment Incorporated. Directed by Lloyd Kaufman. Extremely violent and sexual R-rated modern version of Romeo and Juliet, in keeping with the outrageous sensibility of Troma productions.
1995. The Fifteen Minute Hamlet, cin-ciné 19. Directed by Todd Louiso. With Philip Seymour Hoffman (Bernardo/Horatio/Laertes). Short film based on Tom Stoppard’s short play: William Shakespeare shoots a fifteen-minute version of Hamlet but is told to trim it down by a studio executive.
1995. Othello, Castle Rock Entertainment and Columbia Pictures Corporation. Directed by Oliver Parker. With Laurence Fishburne (Othello) and Kenneth Branagh (Iago).
1995. Richard III, Bayly/Paré Productions and United Artists. Directed by Richard Loncraine. With Ian McKellen (Richard III), Annette Bening (Queen Elizabeth), Jim Broadbent (Buckingham), and Robert Downey, Jr. (Lord Rivers).
1994. The Lion King, Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff. With the voices of Jonathan Taylor Thomas (Young Simba), Matthew Broderick (Adult Simba), Jeremy Irons (Scar), James Earl Jones (Mufasa), Nathan Lane (Timon), Rowan Atkinson (Zazu) and Whoopi Goldberg (Shenzi the Hyena). An animated tale of a lion cub, who after seeing his father killed, must find the strength to replace his evil uncle as the leader of the pride, is based loosely on Hamlet.
1994. Renaissance Man, Cinergi Pictures Entertainment, Inc. and Touchstone Pictures. Directed by Penny Marshall. With Danny DeVito (Bill Rago), Gregory Hines (Sergeant Cass), Ed Begley, Jr. (Jack Markin), and Mark Wahlberg (Pvt. Tommy Lee Haywood). A former advertising man finds work teaching Hamlet and Henry V to army recruits at a base camp.

1993. Much Ado About Nothing, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Renaissance Films, and Samuel Goldwyn Company. Directed by Kenneth Branagh. With Kenneth Branagh (Benedick), Emma Thompson (Beatrice), Keanu Reeves (Don John), Kate Beckinsale (Hero), Denzel Washington (Don Pedro), Michael Keaton (Dogberry), and Imelda Staunton (Margaret).
1991. Men of Respect, Arthur Goldblatt Productions and Central City Films. Directed by William Reilly. With John Turturro (Mike Battaglia), Dennis Farina (Bankie Como), Peter Boyle (Matt Duffy), Rod Steiger (Charlie D’Amico), and Stanley Tucci (Mal). After hearing a prophecy, a hitman executes his superiors and rises to the head of a mob family with dire consequences in this film inspired by Macbeth.
1991. My Own Private Idaho, New Line Cinema. Directed by Gus Van Sant. With River Phoenix (Mike Waters) and Keanu Reeves (Scott Favor). The story of two hustlers on a journey to find peace and a long-lost mother, inspired by Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2.
1990. The Godfather: Part III, Paramount Pictures and Zoetrope Studios. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. With Al Pacino (Michael Corleone), Diana Keaton (Kay Adams Michelson), Andy Garcia (Vinnie Mancini-Corleone), and Sofia Coppola (Mary Corleone). The last installment of the Godfather trilogy follows a King Lear-like plot, with a scene at the end that quotes directly from the play.
1990. Hamlet, Canal+ and Warner Brothers Pictures. Directed by Franco Zeffirelli. With Mel Gibson (Hamlet), Glenn Close (Gertrude), Alan Bates (Claudius), Ian Holm (Polonius), Helena Bonham Carter (Ophelia), and Pete Postlethwaite (Player King).
1990. Hamlet, New York Shakespeare Festival. Directed by Kevin Kline. With Kevin Kline (Hamlet) and Michael Cumpsty (Laertes). Television production.
1990. Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, Brandenberg and Buena Vista Home Video. Directed by Tom Stoppard. With Gary Oldman (Rosencrantz), Tim Roth (Guildenstern), and Richard Dreyfuss (The Player). Two minor characters from Hamlet ponder life, reality, and the stage with the help of a group of traveling players.
1989. The Dead Poets’ Society, Silver Screen Partners IV and Touchstone Pictures. Directed by Peter Weir. With Robin Williams (John Keating), Robert Sean Leonard (Neil Perry), and Ethan Hawke (Todd Anderson). A drama about an inspiring teacher at a stuffy boys’ school that includes a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream as a major plot element.
1989. Othello, Rockbottom Productions. Directed by Ted Lange.
1987. The Comedy of Errors, Lincoln Center and PBS. Directed by Gregory Mosher and Robert Woodruff. With The Flying Karamazov Brothers. The Comedy of Errors as performed by a troupe of flying acrobats at Lincoln Center. Filmed stage production / television production.
1987. China Girl, Great American Films Limited Partnership. Directed by Abel Ferrara. With David Caruso (Mercury). Romeo and Juliet in New York City, with rival Italian and Chinese gangs as the feuding families.
1987. King Lear, Cannon Films. Directed by Jean-Luc Godard. With Woody Allen (Mr. Alien), Julie Delpy (Virginia), Burgess Meredith (Don Learo), Molly Ringwald (Cordelia), and Peter Sellars (William Shaksper Junior the Fifth). The great works of art have been lost and William Shaksper Junior the Fifth tries to reconstruct King Lear after being reminded of its plot by the strange inhabitants at a nearby resort.

1983. Antony and Cleopatra, Bard Productions. Directed by Lawrence Carra. With Timothy Dalton (Mark Antony) and Lynn Redgrave (Cleopatra). Television production.
1983. The Taming of the Shrew, Bard Productions. Directed by John Allison. Television production.
1983. The Tempest, Bard Productions. Directed by William Woodman. With Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. (Prospero). Television production.
1983. To Be or Not to Be, 20th Century Fox and Brooksfilms Ltd. Directed by Alan Johnson. With Mel Brooks (Dr. Frederick Bronski), Anne Bancroft (Anna Bronski), Charles Durning (Colonel Erhardt), Jose Ferrer (Professor Siletski), and Christopher Lloyd (Captain Schultz). During the occupation of Poland, stage actors engaged in a production of Hamlet use parts of the play to prevent information about the Resistance from reaching the Nazis; remake.
1982. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, ABC Video. Directed by Emile Ardolino. With Christine Baranski (Helena) and William Hurt (Oberon). Filmed stage production.
1982. Richard II, Bard Productions. Directed by William Woodman. With David Birney (Richard II). Television production.
1982. Tempest, Columbia Pictures Corporation. Directed by Paul Mazursky. With John Cassavetes (Phillip Dimitrius), Gena Rowlands (Antonia Dimitrius), Susan Sarandon (Aretha Tomalin), Raul Julia (Kalibanos), and Molly Ringwald (Miranda Dimitrius). Adaptation of The Tempest set in modern-day America and Greece.
1981. Macbeth, Bard Productions. Directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman. With Piper Laurie (Lady Macbeth). Television production.
1981. Othello, Bard Productions. Directed by Franklin Melton.
1977. The Goodbye Girl, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and Warner Brothers Pictures. Directed by Herbert Ross. With Richard Dreyfuss (Elliot Garfield). Although not directly based on a Shakespeare play, the plot involves a production of Richard III.
1976. The Taming of the Shrew, American Conservatory Theatre and PBS. Directed by Kirk Browning. Filmed stage production / television production.

1974. Catch My Soul: Santa Fe Satan, Metromedia Productions. Directed by Patrick McGoohan. With Richie Havens (Othello). A rock opera version of Othello that originated on the London stage.
1974. Harry and Tonto, 20th Century Fox. Directed by Paul Mazursky. With Art Carney (Harry Coombes). After his life-long New York City home is torn down, a retired schoolteacher makes a cross-country journey to visit his estranged children in this adaptation of King Lear.
1974. King Lear, New York Shakespeare Festival and PBS. Directed by Edwin Sherin. With James Earl Jones (Lear) and Raul Julia (Edmund). Filmed stage production / television production.
1973. Much Ado About Nothing, New York Shakespeare Festival and CBS Television. Directed by Nick Havinga. With Sam Waterston (Benedick). Filmed stage production / television production.
1972. Antony and Cleopatra, Folio Films. Directed by Charlton Heston. With Charlton Heston (Mark Antony).
1970. Hamlet, Hallmark Hall of Fame and NBC. Directed by Peter Wood. With Richard Chamberlain (Hamlet) and John Gielgud (The Ghost). Television production.
1970. Julius Caesar, Commonwealth United Entertainment. Directed by Stuart Burge. With Charlton Heston (Mark Antony), Jason Robards (Brutus), John Gielgud (Julius Caesar), Richard Chamberlain (Octavius Caesar), and Christopher Lee (Artemidorus).
1970. The Merry Wives of Windsor, Shakespeare Society of America. Directed by Jack Manning. With Gloria Grahame (Mistress Page). Television production.
1969. The Merchant of Venice, never released. Directed by Orson Welles. With Orson Welles (Shylock). The production was never finished and the negatives were lost, but the remains were compiled into a forty-minute print that is currently stored at the Munich Filmuseum.
1968. Kiss Me Kate, Rogo Productions and ABC. Directed by Paul Bogart. With Robert Goulet (Fred Graham/Petruchio). Musical inspired by The Taming of the Shrew, with backstage drama mirroring the plot that the actors are performing onstage; remake. Television production.
1967. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Oberon and Columbia Pictures. Directed by George Balanchine and Dan Eriksen. A Midsummer Night’s Dream told without words through Balanchine’s ballet choreography.
1967. The Taming of the Shrew, FAI and Columbia Pictures. Directed by Franco Zeffirelli. With Elizabeth Taylor (Katharine) and Richard Burton (Petruchio).
1965. Campanadas a medianoche (Chimes at Midnight), Alpine Films and Internacional Films. Directed by Orson Welles. With Orson Welles (Falstaff), Jeanne Moreau (Doll Tearsheet), Margaret Rutherford (Mistress Quickly), and John Gielgud (Henry IV). Sir John Falstaff becomes the main character in an epic tale composed of episodes from Richard II, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, Henry V, and The Merry Wives of Windsor.
1964. Hamlet, Theatrofilm and Warner Brothers Pictures. Directed by Bill Colleran and John Gielgud. With Richard Burton (Hamlet) and Hume Cronyn (Polonius). Filmed version of Broadway stage production.
1961. Romanoff and Juliet, Pavla and Universal International Pictures. Directed by Peter Ustinov. With Peter Ustinov (The President of Concordia), Sandra Dee (Juliet Moulsworth), and John Gavin (Igor Romanoff). Romeo and Juliet during the Cold War features the children of the US and Russian ambassadors falling in love.
1961. West Side Story, The Mirisch Corporation and United Artists. Directed by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise. With Natalie Wood (Maria), Richard Beymer (Tony), Rita Moreno (Anita), and George Chakiris (Bernardo). A musical adaptation of Romeo and Juliet set in New York in the 1950s, with gangs called the Jets and the Sharks replacing the Montagues and Capulets.
1960. Macbeth, Hallmark Hall of Fame Production and NBC. Directed by George Schaefer. Television production.
1960. The Tempest, Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions and NBC. Directed by George Schaefer. With Richard Burton (Prospero) and Lee Remick (Miranda). Television production.
1958. Kiss Me Kate, Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions and NBC. Directed by George Schaefer. Musical inspired by The Taming of the Shrew, with backstage drama mirroring the play that the actors are performing onstage; remake. Television production.
1957. Twelfth Night, Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions and NBC. Directed by David Greene. Television production.
1956. Forbidden Planet, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Directed by Fred Wilcox. With Walter Pidgeon (Dr. Edward Morbius), Anne Francis (Altaira Morbius), and Leslie Nielsen (Commander John J. Adams). The plot of The Tempest is transported to an isolated planet inhabited only by the eccentric Dr. Morbius, his beautiful daughter, and his frightening creation.
1956. The Taming of the Shrew, Hallmark Hall of Fame and NBC. Directed by George Schaefer. Television production.
1955. Prince of Players, 20th Century Fox. Directed by Philip Dunne. With Richard Burton (Edwin Booth). This biography of Edwin Booth, the great American actor and brother of the infamous John Wilkes Booth, includes scenes from several Shakespeare plays, including Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Richard III.
1954. Macbeth, Hallmark Hall of Fame and NBC. Directed by George Schaefer. Television production.
1954. Richard II, Hallmark Hall of Fame and NBC. Directed by George Schaefer. Television production.

1953. Hamlet, Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions and NBC. Directed by Albert McCleery. Television production.
1953. Julius Caesar, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. With Marlon Brando (Mark Antony), James Mason (Brutus), John Gielgud (Cassius), Deborah Kerr (Portia), and Greer Garson (Calphurnia).
1953. King Lear, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) and Omnibus Productions. Directed by Andrew McCullough. With Orson Welles (Lear). Television production.
1953. Kiss Me, Kate, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Directed by George Sidney. With Kathryn Grayson (Lilli Vanessi/Katherine), Howard Keel (Fred Graham/Petruchio), and Ann Miller (Lois Lane/Bianca). Musical inspired by The Taming of the Shrew, with backstage drama mirroring the play that the actors perform onstage.
1952. The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice, Mercury Productions Incorporated and Les Films Marceau. Directed by Orson Welles. With Orson Welles (Othello).
1950. Julius Caesar, Avon Productions. Directed by David Bradley. With Charlton Heston (Mark Antony).
1949. Julius Caesar, Amherst College Masquers, NBC Television. College production of Julius Caesar at Folger Shakespeare Library’s Elizabethan Theatre.
1949. Julius Caesar, CBS Television. Directed by Paul Nickell.
1949. Macbeth, NBC Television. Directed by Anthony Brown and Gerry Simpson.
1948. Macbeth, Mercury Productions Inc. and Republic Pictures Corporation. Directed by Orson Welles. With Orson Welles (Macbeth).
1948–1958. Studio One, CBS Television. Seven of the 467 hour-long dramas in this series were based on Shakespeare plays; many featured Charlton Heston. Television anthology series.
1947. A Double Life, Garson Kanin Productions. Directed by George Cukor. With Ronald Colman (Anthony John) and Shelley Winters (Pat Kroll). A matinee actor constantly transformed by the roles he plays is cast as Othello and overcome by the character’s murderous rage.
1946. Macbeth, Willow Productions. Directed by Thomas A. Blair.
1945. Strange Illusion, Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC). Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer. With James Lydon (Paul Cartwright). Hamlet adapted to a California political family whose patriarch has been the victim of a mysterious accident and whose son is having strange and prophetic dreams.
1942. To Be or Not to Be, Romaine Film Corporation. Directed by Ernst Lubitsch. With Jack Benny (Joseph Tura) and Carole Lombard (Maria Tura). During the occupation of Poland, a troupe of ham stage actors engaged in a production of Hamlet uses parts of the play to prevent information about the Resistance from reaching the Nazis.
1940. The Boys from Syracuse, Universal Pictures. Directed by A. Edward Sutherland. Based on the Rogers and Hart Broadway musical inspired by The Comedy of Errors.
1939. Tower of London, Universal Pictures. Directed by Rowland V. Lee. With Basil Rathbone (Richard, Duke of Gloucester), Boris Karloff (Mord), and Vincent Price (Duke of Clarence). A version of Richard III.
1936. Romeo and Juliet, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Directed by George Cukor. With Norma Shearer (Juliet), Leslie Howard (Romeo), John Barrymore (Mercutio), Edna May Oliver (Nurse), and Basil Rathbone (Tybalt).
1935. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Warner Brothers Pictures. Directed by William Dieterle and Max Reinhardt. With James Cagney (Bottom), Joe E. Brown (Flute), Dick Powell (Lysander), Mickey Rooney (Puck), Victor Jory (Oberon), and Olivia de Havilland (Hermia).
1929. The Taming of the Shrew, Elton Corporation and United Artists. Directed by Sam Taylor. With Mary Pickford (Katherine) and Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. (Petruchio). Released in both silent and sound versions.
1924. Antony and Cleopatra, Universal Pictures. Directed by Bryan Foy. Silent.
1924. Romeo and Juliet, Mack Sennett Comedies. Directed by Reggie Morris and Harry Sweet. Silent.
1920. Romeo and Juliet, Star Comedy and Universal Film Manufacturing Company. Directed by Vin Moore. Silent.
1919. A Sagebrush Hamlet, Jesse D. Hampton Productions. Directed by Joseph Franz. With William Desmond (Larry Lang) and Walter Perry (Sheriff John Doe). Hamlet set in the Old West. Silent.
1917. The Mad Lover, Robert Warwick Film Corporation. Directed by Léonce Perret. With Robert Warwick (Robert Hyde). A version of Othello; also known as A Modern Othello. Silent.
1916. King Lear, Thanhouser Film Corporation. Directed by Ernest C. Warde. Silent.
1916. Macbeth, Reliance Film Company. Directed by John Emerson. Silent.
1916. Master Shakespeare, Strolling Player, Thanhouser Film Corporation. Directed by Frederick Sullivan. Silent.
1916. Romeo and Juliet, Fox Film Corporation. Directed by J. Gordon Edwards and Maxwell Karger. With Theda Bara (Juliet). All copies of this film have been lost. Silent.
1916. Romeo and Juliet, Quality Pictures Corporation. Directed by Francis X. Bushman and John W. Noble. Silent.
1914. The Merchant of Venice, Universal Film Manufacturing Company. Directed by Phillips Smalley and Lois Weber. Silent.
1914. Venus and Adonis, Selig Polyscope Company. Directed by Otis Turner. Silent.

1913. Cymbeline, Thanhouser Film Corporation. Directed by Frederick Sullivan. Silent.
1913. Julius Caesar, Edison Film Manufacturing Company. Directed by Allen Ramsey. Kinetophone.
1913. Much Ado About Nothing, Crystal Film Company. Directed by Phillips Smalley. Silent.
1912. Cardinal Wolsey, Vitagraph Company of America. Directed by J. Stuart Blackton and Laurence Trimble. With Clara Kimball Young (Anne Boleyn). Based on Henry VIII. Silent.
1912. As You Like It, Vitagraph Company of America. Directed by J. Stuart Blackton, Charles Kent, and James Young. With Maurice Costello (Orlando) and Rose Coghlan (Rosalind). Silent.
1912. Indian Romeo and Juliet, Vitagraph Company of America. Directed by Laurence Trimble. Romeo and Juliet among Native American tribes. Silent.
1912. The Merchant of Venice, Thanhouser Film Corporation. Directed by Lucius Henderson. With William Bowman (Shylock). Silent.
1912. Richard III, Le Film d’Art, M.B. Dudley Amusement Co., and Sterling Camera and Film Company. Directed by Andre Calmettes and James Keane. Silent.
1911. Romeo and Juliet, Thanhouser Film Corporation. Directed by Barry O’Neil. With George Lessey (Romeo) and Julia M. Taylor (Juliet). Silent.
1911. The Tempest, Thanhouser Film Corporation. Directed by Edwin Thanhouser. Silent.
1910. The Merry Wives of Windsor, General Film Company and Selig Polyscope Company. Directed by Francis Boggs. Silent.
1910. Twelfth Night, Vitagraph Company of America. Directed by Eugene Mullin and Charles Kent. With Charles Kent (Malvolio) and Edith Storey (Sebastian). Silent.
1910. The Winter’s Tale, Thanhouser Film Corporation. Directed by Theodore Marston and Barry O’Neil. Silent.
1909. King Lear, Vitagraph Company of America. Directed by J. Stuart Blackton and William V. Ranous. With Maurice Costello and Edith Storey. Silent.
1909. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Vitagraph Company of America. Directed by J. Stuart Blackton and Charles Kent. With Charles Chapman (Peter Quince), Maurice Costello (Lysander), and Clara Kimball Young (Penelope). Silent.
1908. Antony and Cleopatra, Vitagraph Company of America. Directed by J. Stuart Blackton and Charles Kent. With Maurice Costello (Mark Antony) and Florence Lawrence (Cleopatra). Silent.
1908. Julius Caesar, Vitagraph Company of America. Directed by J. Stuart Blackton and William V. Ranous. With Charles Kent (Julius Caesar) and Florence Lawrence (Calphurnia). Silent.
1908. Macbeth, Vitagraph Company of America. Directed by J. Stuart Blackton and William V. Ranous. With Paul Panzer (Macduff), Charles Kent (Duncan), and Florence Lawrence (Banquet Guest). Silent.
1908. The Merchant of Venice, Vitagraph Company of America. Directed by J. Stuart Blackton. With Maurice Costello and Paul Panzer. Silent.
1908. Othello, Vitagraph Company of America. Directed by William V. Ranous. With Paul Panzer (Cassio). Silent.
1908. Richard III, Vitagraph Company of America. Directed by J. Stuart Blackton and William V. Ranous. With Maurice Costello, Florence Lawrence, and Paul Panzer. Silent.
1908. Romeo and Juliet, Vitagraph Company of America. Directed by J. Stuart Blackton. With Paul Panzer (Romeo), Florence Lawrence (Juliet), and Charles Chapman (Montague).
1908. The Taming of the Shrew, American Mutoscope and Biograph. Directed by D. W. Griffith. Silent.

Learning with Movies: ROMEO & JULIET

Name:
Class:

For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo

A WebQuest for English as a Foreign Language 4º ESO

Introduction
Shakespeare is one of the greatest writers ever in history, but you don't know much about
him or about his work. When you finish this WebQuest you will be able to say a lot about
him and his well-known play "Romeo and Juliet"

Biographer Sheet:

Activity 1- find the information to answer the following questions:
About Shakespeare
1. How many plays and sonnets did Shakespeare write?
2. Was Shakespeare an actor?
3. Why is Shakespeare called "The Bard"?
4. Where is Shakespeare buried?
About his time
1. Who were the monarchs of Britain during the life of Shakespeare?
2. Which important event took place in 1588?
3. What caused "the plague"?
4. Can you name some typical sports in that time?
5. Name three Theatres of the epoch.

Activity 2: you have to write a biography of Shakespeare including some details about the Elizabethan age.

Activity 3-While watching the movie, find the information to answer the following questions:

1. Who did Romeo love in the beginning of the play?
2. Where did Romeo and Juliet first meet?
3. In which act does the famous balcony scene take place?
4. Why couldn't Romeo and Juliet get married?
5. Who gave the potion to Juliet?
6. Who did Romeo first meet when he arrived at Juliet's tomb?
7. What happened then?


Final Activity : select the most outstanding events in the tragedy and write a short summay of each act. Include the place where the scenes take place, the characters and summarize the main actions.Make up a different ending.

Student Vocabulary :

argue-quarrel
awakened-woke up
balcony-a small upstairs porch
beloved-someone who is loved
citizens-people who live and vote in a particular place
Cupid-the god of love;
curse-evil wish
challenge-dare; in this case, an invitation to fight a duel
dagger-knife
disease-sickness
feud-a fight between to families that usually lasts for many years
Friar-a priest, a member of a religious order
nephew-the son of one's brother or sister
penalty-punishment
plunged-pushed quickly
realize-understand
relatives-members of ones family
reputation-honor, good name
ruin-spoil, hurt
stunned-shocked , upset
tomb-a room in which the dead is buried
urge-try to get someone to do something
vial-a small glass tube
wounded-hurt, injured

Trivia for
Romeo + Juliet

• The pool hall that Romeo and Benvolio enter is in a building called "Globe." The Globe Theatre in England was the site of William Shakespeare's original productions in Elizabethan times.
• A number of important moments (and a lot of trivial ones) involve water. When we first see Juliet, she is holding her head under water; when Romeo and Juliet first see each other, it's through a fish tank; the balcony scene is moved from a balcony to a swimming pool; Mercutio is killed at the beach; when Tybalt is shot, he falls into a pond; when the banished Romeo comes to Juliet's room he is drenched from the pouring rain, and when he leaves the next morning he falls into the pool again.
• The Sycamore Grove theatre and huts on Verona Beach were actually destroyed by a hurricane during filming. The beginning of the hurricane is evident during Mercutio's death scene, and many pick up shots had to be filmed elsewhere.
• The film runs for exactly two hours, in line with the prologue which states: "Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage".
• Like most of Shakespeare's work, the verse of Romeo and Juliet is written in iambic pentameter. Father Laurence, is the only actor in the movie who speaks using this meter

Memorable quotes:

Juliet: O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name, or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet.

Romeo: Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?

Juliet: 'Tis but thy name that is my enemy, thou art thyself though not a Montague. What is Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot, nor arm, nor face, nor any other part belonging to a man. Oh, what's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet; so Romeo would, were he not Romeo called, retain that dear perfection to which he owes without that title. Romeo, doff thy name! And for thy name, which is no part of thee, take all myself.

Romeo: Did my heart love 'til now? Forswear its sight. For I never saw true beauty 'til this night.
Juliet: Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, which mannerly devotion shows in this. For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, and palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss.

Romeo: Have not saints lips, and holy palmers, too?

Juliet: Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.

Romeo: Well, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do. They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.

Juliet: Romeo, what's here? Poison? Drunk all, and left no friendly drop to help me after?

Quiz:

1. To which city does Romeo go after being exiled from Verona?
(A) Padua
(B) Rome
(C) Venice
(D) Mantua
2. Why is Romeo exiled?
(A) For killing Tybalt
(B) For marrying Juliet against her father’s will
(C) For killing Mercutio
(D) For publicly admitting his atheism
3. Who performs Romeo and Juliet’s marriage?
(A) Friar John
(B) Friar Lawrence
(C) Father Vincentio
(D) Mercutio

4. Who is the fairy that Mercutio says visits Romeo in dreams?
(A) Puck
(B) Queen Mab
(C) Beelzebub
(D) Jack o’ the Clover
5. What does the Nurse advise Juliet to do after Romeo is exiled?
(A) Follow her husband to Mantua
(B) Wait for Romeo in Verona
(C) Act as if Romeo is dead and marry Paris
(D) Commit suicide

6. Where do Romeo and Juliet meet?
(A) At Capulet’s feast
(B) At Friar Lawrence’s cell
(C) At Montague’s feast
(D) At the pier from which Malvolio is departing for Spain

7. Who kills Mercutio?
(A) Benvolio
(B) Sampson
(C) Romeo
(D) Tybalt

8. Which character first persuades Romeo to attend the feast?
(A) Mercutio
(B) Benvolio
(C) Lady Montague
(D) Juliet

9. What, at first, does Juliet claim that Romeo hears the morning after their wedding night?
(A) The owl
(B) The dove
(C) The nightingale
(D) The lark

10. To what does Romeo first compare Juliet during the balcony scene?
(A) The moon
(B) The stars
(C) A summer’s day
(D) The morning sun

11. Who discovers Juliet after she takes Friar Lawrence’s potion?
(A) Lady Capulet
(B) Capulet
(C) Paris
(D) The Nurse
12. Who proposes that a gold statue of Juliet be built in Verona?
(A) Montague
(B) Lady Capulet
(C) Paris
(D) Romeo

13. To which powerful figure is Paris related?
(A) Capulet
(B) Montague
(C) Prince Escalus
(D) King Vardamo

14. How and where does Romeo commit suicide?
(A) With a dagger in the orchard
(B) With a rope in the public square
(C) With a sword in Juliet’s bedchamber
(D) With poison in Juliet’s tomb

15. Who is the last person to see Juliet before she stabs herself dead?
(A) Paris
(B) Friar Lawrence
(C) Tybalt
(D) Romeo

16. Why is Friar John unable to deliver Friar Lawrence’s message to Romeo in Mantua?
(A) He is killed by a Capulet servant
(B) He is attacked by bandits on the road
(C) He is held inside a quarantined house, and is unable to leave
(D) Romeo is stopped in Padua and never makes it to Mantua

17. Why does the Apothecary agree to sell Romeo poison?
(A) He is poor, and needs the money
(B) He can see that Romeo is passionate
(C) He is afraid that Romeo will hurt him if he refuses
(D) He is a friend of Friar Lawrence

18. On what day do Romeo and Juliet meet?
(A) Saturday
(B) Tuesday
(C) Sunday
(D) Wednesday
19. With whom is Romeo madly in love for the first two scenes of the play?
(A) Himself
(B) Mercutio
(C) Juliet
(D) Rosaline

20. In what decade was Romeo and Juliet written?
(A) 1570s
(B) 1600s
(C) 1610s
(D) 1590s

21. Whom does Mercutio curse as he lies dying after a duel?
(A) The Montagues and Capulets
(B) Romeo
(C) Tybalt
(D) Romeo and Tybalt

22. In what area is Friar Lawrence an expert?
(A) Roman history
(B) Languages
(C) Plants and herbs
(D) Swordfighting

23. What term does the Chorus use to describe the lovers?
(A) ill-fated
(B) death-doom’d
(C) demon-haunted
(D) star-crossed

24. Why does Tybalt first challenge Romeo to a duel?
(A) He is offended that Romeo loves his cousin
(B) He is offended that Romeo shows up at the Capulet ball
(C) He is offended that Romeo bites his thumb at him
(D) Tybalt does not challenge Romeo to a duel; he challenges Mercutio

25. In what year did Shakespeare die?
(A) 1610
(B) 1594
(C) 1601
(D) 1616
______________________________________________________________

Mamma Mia! Listening and Text's vocabulary

Mamma Mia!

Stars of the film meet members of the band ABBA
Listen to the story
The ever so-beloved West End musical Mamma Mia! has finally been taken from the stage to the silver screen.
The film is based on the songs of legendary Swedish pop band ABBA and is an adaptation of the musical of the same name.
Mamma Mia! uses the music of ABBA to tell the story of Sophie Sheridan, a 21-year-old American bride-to-be, trying to find out the identity of her real father so that he can give her away at the wedding.
Since the premiere of the musical in London in 1999, over 30 million people have seen Mamma Mia! around the world and the theatre production has grossed $2bn in earnings.
Although the title of the musical is taken from ABBA's 1975 chart-topper Mamma Mia, neither the musical's nor the film's plot has anything to do with the story of the group itself.
The band ABBA was the winner of the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest and following that success their songs topped the charts worldwide until the early 1980s.
After a week of exclusive showing in the Leicester Square Odeon, one of London's most famous cinemas, the film was screened in cinemas across the country from 10th July.
Some people say maybe it is the mature A-list cast that makes the film work so well. Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard star as the three potential fathers with the Oscar winner Meryl Streep starring as the mum of the bride-to-be.
A film critic said the film is truly wonderful. It is sharp, hilarious and very beautifully shot.
If you are a fan of ABBA, a fan of the musical, or simply just a fan of Pierce Brosnan, then the film Mamma Mia! is a must.

Vocabulary

Listen to the words

ever so beloved: very popular
the silver screen: the cinema
legendary: very famous
bride-to-be: woman who is going to get married
give her away: the formal act in a wedding ceremony when the bride is presented to the groom, traditionally by her father, is known as 'giving away'
has grossed : has taken an amount of money before tax and other expenses
chart-topper: song which reached the top of the music charts
topped the charts: reached the number one position in the music charts
A-list cast: the actors in the film are from the top group of respected performers
shot: filmed
is a must: is something that should not be missed

Learn with movies Notting Hill

Learn with NOTTING HILL

In this section, we analyze parts of the movie script to learn and understand the use of daily English language.
Read the passages and try to understand them. Then, read the vocabulary explanation. Finally, read the passage again.

WILLIAM: Hello! Hi!
ANNA: Hi.
WILLIAM: Oh, hi! It's William Thacker. Er... I work in a bookshop.
ANNA: You played it pretty cool here, waiting for three days to call.
WILLIAM: No, I've never played anything cool in my entire life. Spike, who I'll stab to death later, never gave me the message.
ANNA: Oh, okay.
WILLIAM: Perhaps I could drop round for tea or something?
ANNA: Yeah... Unfortunately, things are going to be pretty busy, but... okay, let's give it a try. Four o'clock could be good.
WILLIAM: Right! Great!
hi hola. Forma abreviada e informal de decir hello.
to play it cool Es una expresión fija que significa 'tomárselo con calma, hacer como si nada'.
to wait for something esperar algo. Note el uso de la preposición for.
in my entire life en toda mi vida
to stab somebody (to death) matar a alguien a puñaladas. El verb to stab significa apuñalar, clavar un puñal.
to give somebody a message dar un mensaje a alguien
to drop round visitar. También puede decirse to drop by.
unfortunately desafortunadamente, lamentablemente. El opuesto es fortunately, afortunadamente.
pretty busy bastante ocupado. Note el uso de 'pretty' como adverbio, cuyo significado es bastante.
to give it a try intentarlo. Es común escuchar 'Give it a try!' (¡Inténtalo!) o 'Let's give it a try!' (¡Intentémoslo!)
right! interjección para demostrar que se entendió lo que dijo otra persona o que se está de acuerdo. Equivale a '¡bien!', '¡correcto!'.
great! interjección para demostrar que se está de acuerdo o conforme con algo. Equivale a '¡grandioso!'

ANNA: That thing I was doing tonight, I'm not doing it any more. I told them I had to spend the evening with Britain's premier equestrian journalist.
WILLIAM: Oh, well, great! Perfect! Oh, no! It's my sister's birthday. We're meant to be having dinner...
ANNA: Okay, fine.
WILLIAM: But no, I'm sure I can get out of it.
ANNA: No, I mean, if it's fine with you, I'll, you know, be your date.
WILLIAM: You'll be my date at my little sister's birthday party?
ANNA: If that's all right.
WILLIAM: I'm sure it's all right. My friend Max is cooking and he's acknowledged to be the worst cook in the world, but you know, you could hide the food in your handbag or something.
ANNA: Okay.
to spend the evening pasar la noche
premier mejor o más importante
we are meant to be se supone que nosotros estaremos
to get out of something salirse de algo, escaparse
if it's fine with you si te parece bien
to be somebody's date ser pareja de alguien. El verbo 'to date' en este sentido, significa 'tener una cita, salir con alguien'.
to cook cocinar. El sustantivo cook significa 'cocinero' y no 'cooker', que en realidad significa 'cocina', el aparato que se usa para cocinar. De paso, recordemos que 'cocina', el ambiente de una casa, se dice 'kitchen'.
he is acknowledged to be es sabido que él es
the worst... in the world el peor... del mundo. Note el uso de la preposición in (y no of).

WILLIAM: Wait a minute... This is crazy behaviour. Can't we just laugh about this? Seriously, in the huge sweep of things, this stuff doesn't matter.
SPIKE: What he's going to say next is: There are people starving in the Sudan.
WILLIAM: Well, there are. And we don't need to go anywhere near that far. My best friend slipped, she slipped down stairs, cracked her back and she's in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. All I'm asking for is a normal amount of perspective.
ANNA: You're right. Of course, you're right. It's just that I've dealt with this garbage for ten years now. You've had it for ten minutes. Our perspectives are different.
WILLIAM: I mean, today's newspapers will be lining tomorrow's waste paper bins.
ANNA: Excuse me?
WILLIAM: Well, you know, it's just one day. Today's papers will all have been thrown away tomorrow.
ANNA: You really don't get it. This story gets filed. Every time anyone writes anything about me, they'll dig up these photos. Newspapers last forever. I'll regret this forever.
to laugh reirse. Para aprender distintas formar de reirse, vea la sección Ways of laughing.

huge enorme. Un sinónimo, aunque menos común, es enormous.
sweep of things cantidad de cosas
to matter importar
to starve morirse de hambre
to slip resbalarse. Para aprender distintas formar de caminar, vea la sección Ways of walking.

to crack one's back quebrarse la espalda
wheelchair silla de ruedas. La expresión to be confined to a wheelchair significa 'quedar postrado en una silla de ruedas'.
for the rest of her life por el resto de su vida
amount cantidad
to deal with something manejarse con algo
garbage basura, residuos. Algunos términos relacionados son: 'garbage man/collector' (recolector de residuos), 'garbage bag' (bolsa de residuos), 'garbage truck' (camión recolector de residuos).
to line cubrir los bordes
waste paper bin cestos de basura
to throw away arrojar (a la basura)
to get it entenderlo. Es común usarlo en frases como 'Do you get it?' (¿Entiendes?), 'I don't get it' (No entiendo).
to file something archivar algo. Como sustantivo, 'a file' es un archivo.
to dig up something literalmente, excavar, desenterrar. En sentido figurado, descubrir algo que estaba oculto u olvidado.
to last durar
to regret something arrepentirse de algo. Note que no se utiliza ninguna preposición después del verbo. Como sustantivo, 'a regret' es una pena, un pesar. Otras expresiones relacionadas son 'much to my regret' (con gran pesar mío), 'I have no regrets' (No me arrepiento de nada), 'I say it with regret' (Lo digo con dolor), 'We reg