Today on the elllo podcast, Win from Vietnam, Michael from Norway and Goron from Italy talk about Hollywood movies and films made in 3D. This is lesson 1351 on elllo.org. Go to the website for the complete lessons with downloadable audio and printable worksheets.

Below is the transcript to the interview.

Michael: Hello, my name is Michael. Next to me I have Goron from Italy and Win from Vietnam, and today we are going to discuss movies and specifically we are going to discuss about Hollywood movies. Do we like Hollywood movies? What is typical in our own countries, and so on. So, were going to start with you Goron, please?

Goron: Oh, I would say that generally, I like Hollywood movies. If I want to be, without thinking anything, I just like to lie down on my couch and just eat something and drink and watch a movie, I would choose a Hollywood movie. They are pretty fun. They are well done. They have a huge budget for those kind of movies, like the last superhero movies about Ironman, Spiderman, Avengers. all those kind of movies. The plot is really weak, but you know, you have this like visual effects which the impact on your is strong, and you just think that, at least I think, "Well, how did they do that?"

Michael: Yeah, I would give a good example there. You have Avatar. You know the story, it's a huge cliche. 

Goron: Yeah, we heard about this story before. 

Michael: I knew how the movie would end, but you know, just going there to see the good 3D effect that movie had, I think it had good 3D. It really immersed you in this whole world. You know, you saw those flying things in the forest.

Goron: But if you think it was recorded by a 3d camera because the camera was a million dollars, but the other 3D movies are really crap, because everything was post-production, so you can tell, oh this is 3D, and it's dark and you have to wear glasses, and if you already have glasses, it's uncomfortable so it seems like a technology that is trying to steal your money.

Michael: It was a huge hype. They were charging more for it, and everyone tried to get on the 3D bandwagon. All of the movies went into 3D and it became more normal for there to be 3D movies in the cinema than the normal movies, but I agree totally with you. They went to far. Avatar was made from ground up. The idea was to make in 3D and they really worked hard to provide a great experience, while the other movies. It's just not the same.

Goron: The technology is not ready yet.

Michael: And I also agree with you, you know, that there is movies that you watch for the story, which are really good, and you love them. You don't have to have then in 3D. They don't have to be. You just focus on the story, but then you have like, you know, even Transformers, with lots of explosions, lots of effects. It's entertaining in the other way.

Win: I mean, it depends on how we look at entertainment. Some day, you could, I mean you want to watch something emotional, romantic, and some days you just want some really easy stuff. But I'm just saying Hollywood isn't all about blockbusters and effect-heavy movies. I think Hollywood has made some really good thinking, some really good food-for-thought and it's not that all bad.