7 . Read the film review.
F
ilm
– The Matrix
Main actors:
Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Ann Moss
The story:
It is a dark time for the world. Neo is trapped in the train station, between the Matrix and the real world. Morpheus, Trinity and Seraph set out to rescue him. While this is happening, the Machines are approaching Zion with the intent of destroying every human there, but they do not realize that something is taking over the Matrix: Smith. The Machines reach Zion and the battle of a lifetime is about to begin. There is only one hope that can stop Smith and that is Neo. It’s like the Oracle says: “Everything that has a beginning has an end”.
Comment:
A wonderful sci-fi film. It has a lot of action and atmosphere. It’s an exciting movie.
8 . Write a review of a film you like and include a picture or a photograph. Use the text as a model. Lesson 16.
Types of art
P
ut
the words and phrases in the right columns:
album, cartoon, curtain, landscape, prompt box, illustration, documentary, drawing, short story, stage, western, guitar, cinema, fiction, exhibition, autobiography, art gallery, box office, horror film, composer, charts, bass, blockbuster, tour, writer, still life, performance, science-fiction film, bestseller, painter, poem, subtitles, musician, producer, interval, drums, contents, opera, designer, concert, singer, sketch, museum, page, dubbing, lyrics, applaud, thriller, author, cast, hit, volume, seat, play, action, band, novel, act.
Music |
Film |
Theater |
Literature |
Painting/sculpture |
|
|
|
|
|
2.People in art
Write who the people were/are:
1. a _ _ _ _ _ _ - Julia Roberts
2. c _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - Wolfgang A. Mozart
3. d _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - Steven Spielberg
4. g _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - Jimi Hendrix
5. p _ _ _ _ _ _ - Pablo Picasso
6. p _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - William Shakespeare
7. p _ _ _ - Adam Mickiewicz
8. s _ _ _ _ _ - Robbie Williams
9. w _ _ _ _ _ - J.R.R. Tolkien
3. ART
Cross the odd one out:
1. autobiography – novel – portrait – love story
2. photograph – opera – painting – sculpture
3. opera – choir – band – poetry
4. page – cover – author – festival
5. genre – thriller – comedy - horror
Reading
Read the text: Is it art?
Jack
‘I can’t believe the kind of rubbish that some people call art. Yesterday my girlfriend dragged me to a modern art gallery to see an exhibition she’d read about in the paper. It was five or six so-called installations made of bits of plastic, wood and paper that seemed just to have been thrown on the floor. It was a mess, basically – just like the floor in my sister’s house when my two-year-old nephew’s left all his toys out, but less colourful. Come to think of it, if you’d given those bits of plastic, wood and paper to my nephew, he could probably have created something just as good. I guess sometimes the cleaners end up throwing art like that in the bins at the end of the day, because they must find it hard to work out what’s an exhibit and what’s just litter. I think that if a painting or an installation looks like something I could have done myself in fifteen minutes, it doesn’t deserve to be called art. But when I say that, people like my girlfriend say I’m “uncultured”. I reckon a lot of the people who say they appreciate the kind of stuff we saw yesterday are just pretending – deep down they know it’s rubbish but they don’t want to be the first one to admit it because, unlike me, they’re afraid of being looked down on.’
Lily
‘Art, for me, is a very broad concept. I’d say any materials arranged in such a way as to stimulate a person’s emotions or thoughts can be art. Obviously this includes the traditional visual arts like painting, drawing and sculpture, and it also includes more modern forms such as video work and three-dimensional installations. I don’t like it when people say one form of art is ‘better’ than another. For example, people talking about fantastic installations in museums sometimes say, “But it’s just a simple arrangement of everyday objects – I could have done that.” They don’t understand that with many such installations, as with many modern paintings, the originality or beauty is in the idea behind them. Once the artist has the idea, it doesn’t really matter whether or not it is technically “difficult” to put the elements together. What I’d say to the people dismissing such works is, “Sure, you could have physically put those objects together, but you’d never had have the idea of doing it that way, would you?”
Everyone knows that a great painter like Van Gogh had fantastic technical skills, but for me that doesn’t necessarily make his work better than a painting or installation in a modern art gallery that is quite simple in technical terms – it’s just different.’
A. Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F), or if the text doesn’t say (D).
1. Jack thinks the installation he saw at the modern art museum was no better than something his two-year-old nephew probably could have done.
2. Lily thinks installations and video work should be considered art, but also that they are inferior to painting.
3. Jack believes some people are not honest about their feelings about the kind of art he saw at the modern art museum.
4. Lily thinks a work of art doesn’t have to be technically difficult to create in order to be good.
5. Jack dislikes art in general.
6. Lily dislikes the work of Van Gogh.
7. The installations Jack saw at the modern art museum were made from three different materials.
8. Lily thinks the reason some people don’t appreciate some installations is because they don’t understand them.
B. Answer the questions below.
1. Lily mentions five different art forms – what are they?
2. What is Lily’s definition of art?
3. What is Jack’s definition of what doesn’t constitute art?
4. In what way does Jack say the floor of the modern art museum is similar to the floor at his sister’s house when his nephew has left his toys out?
5. Where does Lily say the originality or beauty in many installations and modern paintings lies?
6. Why does Jack imagine some installations at modern art museums might be thrown away by the cleaners?
7. What does Jack say he is not afraid of?
8. How would you summarize the difference in opinion between Jack and Lily?
C. Complete the crossword below. If all the words are correct, the dead animal (4.3m long and preserved in formaldehyde) used by British artist Damien Hirst to create one of his most famous and controversial installations, in the 1990s, will read from top to bottom.
1. Lily doesn’t believe great ___________ skills are necessary in order to create a great work of art.
2. It seems Jack and his ___________ disagree about art.
3. Lily thinks the ideas behind simple-looking art installations can be very ___________.
4. Lily thinks Van Gogh was a ___________ artist.
5. The installations Jack saw were on the ___________ of the gallery.
6. Lily thinks people are often wrong to ___________ simple-looking installations.
7. Jack thinks the exhibition he went to was ___________.
8. Jack certainly wasn’t impressed by the ___________ he saw.
9. ___________ is an example of a visual art.
10.
It is safe to say Jack and Lily wouldn’t ___________ each other’s
opinions about art.