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Hellboy II

Hellboy II

Date: Oct 15 2008

Themes: Friend, Pop Culture

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.

When you think about it, comic books and movies are pretty similar. Both are a combination of dialog and images. That must be why a lot of comic books, like Spider-Man and The Hulk, have been made into movies in recent years.

Everyone has heard of those comic heroes because they have been around for a long time. But have you heard of Hellboy? Like Wanted, Hellboy is a newer comic that has been made into a film. Well, two films, actually, the second one, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, came out not too long ago.

Hellboy is a demon created by the Nazis. But since they lost World War II, the Americans took care of him and raised him to work for a secret part of the government that investigates the paranormal.

Spirits and monsters can make for cool-looking movies. But Mason thinks Hellboy II may have focused too much on looks. Listen to him talk to Marni about it.

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.

Marni

Marni

Mason

Mason

Marni:  Just went and saw the new Hellboy.

Mason:  Why didn’t you ask me first? I could have saved you some pain.

Marni:  Well, because I loved…Hear me out! I loved the first one. My friend who works for Dark Horse Comics who works with Mike Mignola said it was insane and she loved it and so…

Mason:  That’s a pretty glowing review.

Marni:  Exactly. So I go, expecting to love it, and I was entertained. The people I was with, they didn’t like it as much as the first one. But I thought it was entertaining.

Mason:  It was just style over substance where the first film was exactly the opposite and that’s why it succeeded.

Marni:  I agree.

Mason:  But Del Toro was just drunk on the success of Pan’s Labyrinth, which don’t get me wrong, phenomenal film, and I loved the visual aspect that he brought to Hellboy II with some of the cooler scenes there.

Marni:  It was eye candy. A lot of eye candy.

Mason:  Totally eye candy. But the story got lost among that. Like the character of Hellboy that’s so endearing in the first place. The relationship felt completely glossed over. I couldn’t stand watching it.

Marni:  Yeah, it was kind of…It was a little cheesier than the first one. I don’t know, it could have been better.

Mason:  I literally was checking my watch at like an hour in thinking it had been about two hours. It was that kind of film.

Marni:  Yeah, that’s not a good sign.

 

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Discussion

Marni says she went to go see Hellboy II and Mason immediately knows that she had a disappointing experience. He saw it and wishes he could have warned her.

Although she admits it was somewhat of a let-down since a reliable source told her it would be good, Marni thought the movie was OK. She definitely liked the first one better.

Mason thinks that the director, Guillermo Del Toro, got carried away with making the movie look cool since another very visual movie he made, Pan’s Labyrinth, was very successful.

Who’s your favorite comic book hero? Has there been a movie about him or her yet?

 

Comments

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Aus_LT

Aus_LT

Lithuania

Hellboy was great movie, i like it very much.:))

04:29 PM Sep 21 2009 |

kevinguy10

kevinguy10

Brazil

Actually, there is one interesting comic book that has been made into a movie: X-Men Origns: Wolverine and other ones from X-Men. Some of the scenes are a real eye candy… I love it.

09:41 PM May 13 2009 |

utopiaheart

China

oh,My God,I have just found that I made a mistake!

10:03 AM May 09 2009 |

utopiaheart

China

oh,My God,I have just found that I made a mistake!

10:03 AM May 09 2009 |

utopiaheart

China

I have seen a lots of moives,but I have never this moive,maybe,I should go and see it soon!

10:01 AM May 09 2009 |

naef

Yemen

I didn't watch that film but I am gonna watch it soon

06:54 PM May 02 2009 |

bahus

bahus

Kazakhstan

I have seen all parts of Hellboy. I hoped to see more interesting things but i was upset.

03:45 PM Apr 29 2009 |

kateeeeee

China

so it is = =

10:57 AM Apr 29 2009 |

henriquekruz

Brazil

i have hellboy2 here, but i haven't wachted it yet

 

the first one must be better than this one 

 

02:29 AM Apr 29 2009 |

lyn_cat_pink

Viet Nam

i like Spider-man film, i don't know Hellboy:-/ :-p

03:15 PM Apr 25 2009 |

Eunice Zhang

Germany

Why are so many violence movies now?

12:55 AM Apr 15 2009 |

Creusa Schenkel

Brazil

I didn't see, not yet 

11:37 PM Mar 25 2009 |

hevidar

hevidar

Turkey

english baby is going to be better..

05:42 PM Mar 18 2009 |

yenyen0709

Hong Kong

I like Spiderman, who are eye candy on the movie, acted so brave and smart.

04:23 PM Mar 18 2009 |

meeshoo

Oman

My favorite comic book hero is Bat man. I liked his movie when I was a child.Wink

08:05 PM Mar 13 2009 |

yjcastan

Colombia

My favorite comic book hero is Magneto. He´s a character of the X Men!!!

12:53 AM Mar 12 2009 |

Benjamin Elizondo

Mexico

i like hellboy's girlfriend

11:03 PM Mar 10 2009 |

anastasia.h

China

love the fish man lots!
‘I can’t smile without you,I can’t smile without you…’Some people might say it cheesy,but I think it is actually romantic and vitually cool!

01:21 PM Feb 19 2009 |

bahus

bahus

Kazakhstan

I wish you saw this film but I don't think that you'll like it.

04:28 PM Feb 11 2009 |

jysfernandez

Brazil

I didn't see this film. I'm afraid. ajaja

01:50 AM Feb 11 2009 |

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