IELTS Cue Card 12: A Film You Watched At Home Or In A Cinema
IELTS Speaking Cue Card with Sample Answer. A Film You Watched At Home Or In A Cinema Cue Card. IELTS Speaking Part 2 With Model Answer.
A Film You Watched At Home Or In A Cinema
You should say:
- What is the name of the movie/ film?
- What is the theme of the movie/ film?
- Why do you like it?
- and describe the story of the movie in brief.
Follow-up Questions:
• Describe a war movie you like.
• What’s the difference between the movies or your country and Hollywood movies?
• What do you think of the violent films?
• Why movies need computer techniques? Any example of movies using computer techniques?
• Which parts of a movie are the most important and how to improve it?
Tips for answering this cue card topic:
1. Talk about a movie that you have watched as this would help you describing the story of the movie.
2. You should know the names of the main actor, actress, genre, producer and director of the movie.
3. Describe the story in brief. Do not start describing the details of the story from the beginning as you will run out of time before finishing the whole story.
4. Mention some of the following reasons for the question
VOCABULARY:
moviegoer: [noun] a person who goes to the cinema.
sci-fi: [noun] science fiction; based on imagined scientific discoveries of the future, such as space travel or life on other planets. Example: Sci-fi movies have become more popular since space travel has become possible.
stuck on Mars: the man was unable to escape from the planet. Example: we were stuck in traffic and so we arrived late for work.
dust storm: [noun] a storm that carries clouds of dust in the wind over a wide area. Example: a lot of plants die after a dust storm passes through an area.
crewmates: [noun] all the people working on a ship or, in this case, a spacecraft.
fought for his life: [verb phrase] he made a great effort to stay alive. Example: The man was badly injured in the accident, but he fought for his life and he recovered later in hospital.
brutal: [adjective] if an environment is described as brutal this means that it is very dangerous and it is difficult for a person to survive.
devised: [verb] NASA invented something new to rescue the man. Example: a new system has been devised to control traffic in the city.
astronomy: [noun] the scientific study of the sun, moon, stars and planets.
trailer: [noun] a series of short scenes from a film or programme, shown in advance to advertise it. Example: after watching an exciting trailer, I decided to go to see the film.
plot: [noun] the events which form the story of a book, play or film. Example: the book has a plot about a prisoner who escaped.
hooked: [adjective] enjoying something so much that you want to see or do it.
ingenious: [adjective] very clever at inventing new ideas. Example: many ingeniousresearchers are working on ways to combat cancer.
portrayal: [noun] the act of describing or showing something or somebody in a book, play or film. Example: the actor gave a fantastic portrayal of a clever detective in the film.
botanist: [noun] a person who studies plants.
hostile: [adjective] a hostile environment is unsafe for humans, because there are many dangers. Example: in the hostile environment of the desert, you must take a lot of water with you.
threatened his existence: the many dangers and difficult conditions on Mars were a danger to his life.
relentlessly: [adverb] in a way that continues strongly, without giving up. Example: the soldiers relentlessly pursued their enemies after the battle.
hopeless: [adjective] without hope Example: after searching for the lost plane for many days, the situation seemed hopeless and it seemed that the rescuers would never find it
Model Answer 1:
As a frequent moviegoer, I watch a lot of films. One of the movies that I enjoyed the most recently was The Martian.
The movie was based on a novel of the same title by Andy Weir. Just like many other sci-fi films, it was about man travelling in space, however, this time, our main character was stuck on Mars due to a dust storm which nearly killed him. All of the crewmates thought that he was dead, so they went back to Earth without him. But fortunately he was still alive, thus two and a half hours of the movie told the story of how he fought for his life in the brutal environment of Mars, until NASA devised a plan to rescue him.
My best friend is a big fan of astronomy, so she had read [2] the novel before. That‟s why she insisted on me going to see the movie with her. After watching the trailer and reading the plot, I was hooked. It was maybe the best two and a half hours of my week so far.
After watching the movie, I was amazed at how ingenious and strong humans can be when it comes to a life and death situation. Mark Watney, the hero of the movie, was a perfect portrayal of a young, humorous, brilliant and skillful engineer cum botanist. Although the hostile environment of Mars threatened his existence many times, he relentlessly refused to quit. Instead, he overcame one problem at a time until he was successfully rescued. The message that I learned from the film is never to give up, however hopeless things seem to be.
IELTS Speaking Part 3: Details Discussion
Q. Describe a war movie you like.
Answer: I’m going to tell you about ‘Braveheart’, a war movie directed by Mel Gibson, who was also the leading character. The movie was released in 1995 and it was written by Randall Wallace. In the 14th century, William Wallace, a Scottish warrior, leads his people in a rebellion against the tyranny of the English King, who has given English nobility the ‘Prima Nocta’ – a right to take all new brides for the first night. The Scots are none too pleased with the brutal English invaders, but they lack the leadership to fight back. Wallace creates a legend of himself, with his courageous defence of his people and attacks on the English. The film was nominated for ten Academy Awards at the 68th Academy Awards and won five: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Makeup, and Best Sound Editing.
Other war movies you can say about: The Pianist, Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, Apocalypse Now, Good Morning Vietnam, War Horse, Downfall, Lincoln, and Imitation Game.
Q. What’s the difference between the movies of your country and Hollywood movies?
Answer: I believe that the movies in my country aren’t that good as Hollywood movies are. First of all, the budget is really low for the local movies and that is why there are very limited opportunities. Not all scenes are impressive and there are no special effects, something that dominates in Hollywood. Furthermore, the actors in local movies aren’t so famous and talented, on the contrary in Hollywood they are of worldwide fame. There are a large variety on the topic and theme of Hollywood movies. However, our local movies do not deal with a wide range of themes. Finally, Hollywood movies are released and enjoyed worldwide while our local movies are mostly made for us except some very few movies that get international attention.
Q. What do you think of the violent films?
Answer: I would say that it depends on the type of violence. To be more precise, I like movies with violent scenes because they’re interesting and include more actions. In those movies, the good wins over bad. It’s a kind of vindication and the message that good prevails over bad. I don’t like movies that involve rapes. In particular, I hate these movies. I would not say that it’s something that isn’t happening, but I think that promoting women’s humiliation and debasement is not a good thing. So, I would come to the conclusion that I partly like violent movies and specifically, it depends on the story. However, the unnecessary violence is not liked by all and I am no exception.
Q. What do you think of the violent films?
Answer: Well, computer techniques should be used to add some characteristics to movies so that they can be more impressive and believable. Especially nowadays this opportunity is much more in use than the past. Many things that were unfeasible are attainable now with the computer technology in movie industries. A remarkable example could be ‘Avatar’, a movie that was critically acclaimed and had a million views worldwide. The groundbreaking visual effects used to make humans look like extraterrestrial beings were amazing and that was the primary reason that the film broke several box office records and became the highest-grossing film of all time in England, Canada and the USA.
Q. Which parts of a movie are the most important and how to improve it?
Answer: It is an undeniable fact that all the parts of a movie are extremely important, but it seems to me that more attention should be given to the finishing of a movie. There are many examples of movies that were very interesting but the end was extremely boring and disappointing. In this case, I totally believe that the end negates all the good things that happened in the rest of the movie and leaves a bad impression on the viewers. So, my opinion is that the last part/ finishing part of a film should be of paramount importance and it can be achieved by providing a distinct and not vague message to the viewers and making things clear in their mind.
Tip: You can say about other things such as the beginning, the plot, dialogues, directing, special effects or even the acting. It’s up to you and your personal opinion.
Similar IELTS Cue Card Topics
If you can talk about the cue card topic “Describe your favourite movie” you should be able to talk about the following IELTS cue card topics as well:
- Describe a movie you have recently watched.
- Describe your favourite movie.
- Describe a foreign movie you have enjoyed.
- Describe a movie you would like to watch again.
- Describe a movie you watched with your friends.
- Describe a movie that was made based on a real event.
- Describe a movie that created based on a historic event.
- Describe a war movie you have watched.
- Talk about a film which was adapted from a book.
- Talk about a critically acclaimed film you that you watched.
- Describe the best film you saw this year.