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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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China

I saw the Hellboy 1 ,and I think it was just so-so.But the Hellboy 2,I will see it either.

11:48 AM Oct 15 2008 |

8rees

8rees

Japan

I loved  the 1st Hell boy film, and Guillermo Del Toro is the one of the most talented directors for sure.

I look forward to see the new one.

My favorite comic heroes are X-Men and Ninja Turtles which I watched on TV when I was a child.

11:26 AM Oct 15 2008 |

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