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Films at home or at the cinema - which is better? | Improve your listening with Real Easy English

BeginnerBritish accentEasy English7 min

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  1. 0:00 Hi Phil.
  2. 0:01 Hi Georgie.
  3. 0:02 How's your week going?
  4. 0:03 It's going very well, thank you.
  5. 0:05 I watched a really good film last night.
  6. 0:07 Did you watch it at home or at the cinema?
  7. 0:10 I watched it at home on my sofa with my housemates.
  8. 0:14 Oh, was it good?
  9. 0:16 It was very good.
  10. 0:17 Now, I told you I watched a film last night at home, but in this episode of Real Easy English, we're talking about cinema.
  11. 0:26 So, the cinema is where you watch films, or in American English they're sometimes called movies.
  12. 0:32 And before we get started, let's just remind everyone that if you go to bbclearningenglish.com, there's a worksheet
  13. 0:40 where you can practise all the language that you'll hear in this episode.
  14. 0:49 So, Phil, do you go to the cinema often?
  15. 0:54 No.
  16. 0:55 No, I don't go very often at all.
  17. 0:59 What about you?
  18. 1:00 I don't go often, but I did go a couple of weeks ago.
  19. 1:04 I went to see an action film, a recent action film, and it was really spectacular.
  20. 1:10 And I'm not a big fan of action movies - action films.
  21. 1:15 I prefer films that are a bit less stressful, so I wouldn't usually watch action films at home,
  22. 1:24 but in the cinema it was really an amazing experience because you have the big screen.
  23. 1:30 You have amazing sound.
  24. 1:33 And I really enjoyed it!
  25. 1:35 I've not actually been to the cinema for maybe two years, I think.
  26. 1:41 Wow, Phil!
  27. 1:41 Why don't you go to the cinema?
  28. 1:43 Do you not like it?
  29. 1:44 I like...
  30. 1:45 I like the cinema as an event, so the last time I went, I went with my kids.
  31. 1:51 I can't remember what film, but it was a big thing for them to go and they were excited about it, but I don't know...
  32. 1:59 I like the big screen.
  33. 2:00 I like the sound.
  34. 2:02 I like the event.
  35. 2:03 But if you want to spend time with people, I think in a cinema you can't talk to anyone.
  36. 2:11 You sit in the dark.
  37. 2:13 You can't talk.
  38. 2:15 And it's not the best when you want to talk to people, when you want to get to know people, so I tend to watch films more at home, to be honest.
  39. 2:24 Yeah, but what about if you go to the cinema with people that you see very often and you don't need to catch up or find out about their lives?
  40. 2:32 You're just going to watch a film and to relax.
  41. 2:36 Yeah.
  42. 2:36 I mean, yeah, that makes sense because it is...
  43. 2:38 it is nice to get out.
  44. 2:40 It is nice to get out of the house and see it on a big screen.
  45. 2:44 There are also other downsides to going to the cinema.
  46. 2:47 My big thing with the cinema is that the seats are not very comfortable.
  47. 2:52 It's much more comfortable to watch a film at home because you might have a sofa, blankets - you can lie down.
  48. 3:01 You don't have to sit like we are now in a chair upright.
  49. 3:07 Yeah, it's really nice at home.
  50. 3:09 You have your snacks.
  51. 3:10 You don't have to pay for them as well.
  52. 3:12 I also think TVs that people have at home now are much better than they used to be.
  53. 3:16 When I was a kid, you had a tiny little TV and it was so different to watching something at the cinema.
  54. 3:22 But now I've got quite a nice telly.
  55. 3:24 So, Phil, you talked about going to the cinema as, like, an event.
  56. 3:28 So, something we do for special occasions.
  57. 3:30 I really feel that.
  58. 3:32 I love going to the cinema because you can buy snacks that you wouldn't normally eat.
  59. 3:37 Like, popcorn is something I don't eat at home, but I eat at the cinema.
  60. 3:41 And then going in a little bit early and watching the film trailers, which are short adverts for films that are coming up soon that are shown at the cinema.
  61. 3:51 Is there anything else you like about the cinema?
  62. 3:54 What is nice about the cinema is that you can have no distractions.
  63. 3:59 You just have the film.
  64. 4:00 You put your phone away.
  65. 4:02 At least you should put your phone away!
  66. 4:04 Some people...
  67. 4:05 some people in the cinema don't follow the rules, but hopefully everyone watching puts their phone away.
  68. 4:11 There's no distractions.
  69. 4:13 You can just relax and get involved in the film.
  70. 4:18 It's really nice.
  71. 4:19 It is really annoying when people in front of you or next to you are talking really loudly throughout the film.
  72. 4:27 It's OK to whisper.
  73. 4:29 So, that's when you whisper like that.
  74. 4:31 It's OK to do that every now and again, but if they're talking all the way through the film, that is really annoying.
  75. 4:38 Yeah, I can't stand that.
  76. 4:39 Phil, what kind of films do you like to watch at the cinema?
  77. 4:43 I think a film that takes you to a different place.
  78. 4:49 So, something that's quite spectacular - there's a lot happening.
  79. 4:54 There's a lot to see.
  80. 4:56 Or maybe a film that shows you a bit of the world that's interesting that you don't know that well.
  81. 5:02 I kind of like films like that - films that take you somewhere, that show you something you wouldn't normally see.
  82. 5:10 That's definitely good to watch on a big screen.
  83. 5:13 Yeah, I agree.
  84. 5:13 I wouldn't go to the cinema to watch a romantic comedy, a romcom.
  85. 5:17 I agree with you.
  86. 5:18 I'd like to watch something, yeah, spectacular.
  87. 5:28 OK.
  88. 5:29 Phil, it's time to look at some of the vocabulary we heard in this conversation, starting with 'trailers', which are short adverts for new films shown at the cinema.
  89. 5:39 And we also talked about popcorn.
  90. 5:41 Now, popcorn - it's a snack.
  91. 5:44 It's made of corn, and it's usually either sweet or salty, and it's very nice and you get it at the cinema.
  92. 5:53 We also heard 'spectacular', which is a very strong adjective to describe something that is very exciting to look at.
  93. 6:01 And we talked about 'distractions'.
  94. 6:04 Things that are distractions are things that make you look at something you might not have wanted to look at, like someone's phone screen instead of the film.
  95. 6:14 And the things that you watch in the cinema are called 'films', or sometimes called 'movies' as well.
  96. 6:19 OK.
  97. 6:19 And that's it for this week's episode of Real Easy English, but don't worry - we'll be back next week with another episode in easy English.
  98. 6:29 And don't forget to download a free worksheet to test what you've learned at bbclearningenglish.com.
  99. 6:35 Goodbye for now.
  100. 6:36 Bye.

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