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Charlie Bartlett

Charlie Bartlett

Date: May 21 2008

Themes: Party, School

Grammar: Adjectives

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Story lines of new movies often resemble those of older ones. Before there was Old School, there was PCU, and before there was Van Wilder there was Animal House. A lot of Shakespeare’s works can actually be traced to older sources too.

Borrowing plot elements is nothing new. What matters is if you can tell the story well, whether the story is stolen or not. Devan noticed that a new movie bears a striking resemblance to a movie she’s seen before. She prefers the original.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

Log in to Listen

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Devan

Devan

Mason

Mason

Devan:  I’m so mad about that Charlie Bartlett movie that’s coming out.

Mason:  Why? Was it no good? Waste of your admission fee?

Devan:  Oh, I haven’t seen it, but I saw the preview and I’m not happy about it.

Mason:  How can you…I mean, previews are always terrible. How can you be ticked off about the preview?

Devan:  Because it looks like it’s a complete rip off of Rushmore.

Mason:  Well, actually the review I read kinda said it was a total rip off of Rushmore in all honesty, so…

Devan:  I mean, it’s the rich kid who goes to private school. He gets kicked out of private school. He goes to public school and becomes the hero of his public school. Right? Just like Rushmore.

Mason:  Yeah, I guess I didn’t really think about it. But doesn’t he counsel them and he becomes like the school kid psychiatrist?

Devan:  Yeah, but I think his character is supposed to be so similar to Jason Schwartzman’s character, but he’s not lovable like Jason Schwartzman, that actor. I just don’t like him. I can tell.

Mason:  It’s been a long time since Rushmore. I wouldn’t mind if there was another thing kind of touching in that world.

Devan:  Yeah, well, maybe I’ll give it a chance. But I still don’t know if I like it!

Mason:  It’s got such a pop culture-y message, right? Doesn’t the rich kid…His parents send to a psychiatrist to try and get his problems all solved with drugs and he ends up pawning the drugs off to other kids. Sounded kinda quirky and funny to me.

 

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

Mason can’t understand why Devan is upset about the new movie Charlie Bartlett. She hasn’t even seen it! How much can you tell about a movie from a preview anyway?

Apparently a lot. Devan points out that Charlie Bartlett has a really similar premise to Rushmore. Only she doesn’t think the actor who plays Charlie Bartlett is nearly as charming as the star of Rushmore.

Mason doesn’t mind that the two movies are similar. Rushmore came out ten years ago, so it’s been long enough that another, similar movie would be OK. Plus he likes one of the scenes in Charlie Bartlett where Charlie sells his prescription drugs to his friends.

What’s the last truly original movie you saw? What’s the last one you saw with a stolen plot line that you thought was done well?

 

Comments

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hinakhan

hinakhan

India

Laughingwould like to speak English but my English is still  bad Cryi  wanna speak English..

04:15 PM Jun 10 2010 |

hayao-a

Thailand

i would like to speak well english cuz i am very stupid about language

we are friendship, aren't we ??

12:22 PM Jan 30 2010 |

BяonZia

BяonZia

Kuwait

i really wanna thank you for this lesones

cuz i know my english isn't good well .. but i'm gonna do a practice everyday as i can ..

cuz i'm in art college and i want to specialization in english ..

Smile

07:36 PM Dec 05 2009 |

starriness

starriness

China

I agree with Mason that borrowing plot line is not matter.What's realy matter is that whether you can do it better!Wink

01:26 PM May 27 2008 |

aliena

China

yeah, i agree with you. As time goes by, the old movie seems outdated, compared with new ones which are more acceptable. But the meaning and spirits of old movies still have their market and potential.

I don't think rip off is a bad thing, what matters is whether you able to do it well

01:47 AM May 27 2008 |

Autrey

Mexico

Well, it seems to be a trend on cinemas.

 i think a movie can take a plot already seen, but usually get an interesting movie is more difficult because the plot has been used before.

In other hand some remakes are better built when technology it's used to improve some important parts. 

05:53 PM May 26 2008 |

epicatin

epicatin

Nicaragua

I think to make a rip off is not bad at all, because they can take a old movie and make it better with all the new things that technology give us but sometimes there are movies that don't need a cutting edge technology to be great.

Laughing

11:00 PM May 25 2008 |

su8405

su8405

China

what dose rushmore mean here ?

 

03:15 PM May 25 2008 |

yueyuezhu

yueyuezhu

China

Yeah, there might be more copies than you can accept as once there encountered a classical works certainly receiving highly success and plenty ecomonic income, continuous works will rip off and devote much more energy, money, employing shining stars to borden society effects, expecting big hit in movie or teleplay fields.
In my mind, most of these just a waste of money and time, and sometimes causing damage to environment, like the newly come out in china神雕侠侣,as really took place in my hometown and ruined the natural scenery indispensably. Which, made me really sick.
Anyway, every coin has two sides. Maybe I just go to extreme, actually.

03:08 AM May 23 2008 |

yueyuezhu

yueyuezhu

China

Yeah, there might be more copies than you can accept as once there encountered a classical works certainly receiving highly success and plenty ecomonic income, continuous works will rip off and devote much more energy, money, employing shining stars to borden society effects, expecting big hit in movie or teleplay fields.
In my mind, most of these just a waste of money and time, and sometimes causing damage to environment, like the newly come out in china神雕侠侣,as really took place in my hometown and ruined the natural scenery indispensably. Which, made me really sick.
Anyway, every coin has two sides. Maybe I just go to extreme, actually.

03:08 AM May 23 2008 |

Joelma

Joelma

Brazil

Ir´s good!

11:37 AM May 22 2008 |

r009andy

r009andy

Denmark

funny :)) rip off.

10:01 AM May 22 2008 |

F80

F80

United Arab Emirates

well …. i agree with dead i thing she's right .it's not a bad things to get some ideas from other movies & showing to us from  a different angle

12:24 AM May 22 2008 |

dearpesar

dearpesar

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

this is not just about movie…

even in music they rip off and i hate that

i just like the first perfomance and i expect artists new art if they are real artists

03:41 PM May 21 2008 |

alogigi

alogigi

United States

let s give it a try though

03:38 PM May 21 2008 |

Sarah Zhu

Sarah Zhu

Australia

Rushmore was a lovely movie.

03:31 PM May 21 2008 |

Bob Ishida

Bob Ishida

Japan

Some movies sometimes terrible for me. I don't know whether I just don't understand the movies or the movies are truely bad. Anyway, I usually decide to watch  a movie after getting some reputation about it. It's the way I choose movies to watch.Wink

02:37 AM May 21 2008 |

hutbiti

hutbiti

Viet Nam

Well, I've had a chance to see a famous  Chinese movie when I was a kid. That's  Journey to the West/ Monkey King. It's original. It's very fascinatingCool.  I also  saw  part 2 of that movie, but I feel the part 1 is more interesting than part 2. Anyway, it's a good movie for children & very famous in Vietnam. Smile

02:36 AM May 21 2008 |

Obey

Obey

China

good,o(∩_∩)o…

12:50 AM May 21 2008 |

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