I consider myself a peaceful person. I love a nice, calm, quiet atmosphere.
So you may find it surprising to know that I really enjoy watching disaster movies.
You know the kind. They can be filled with asteroids, UFOs, earthquakes, tsunamis,
and other natural disasters. Well, I can't say that I enjoy seeing cities get
destroyed, but I do find the action in disaster movies to be exciting.
More important, I really like seeing how people survive terrible events by being
smart and kind. At the beginning of a movie you, can't always be certain who's
going to live and who's going to die, but in American movies the main
characters usually survive. Hollywood knows that we like happy endings,
so those characters who work together and take risks to help others usually
survive in the end. In this lesson I'll share my top 5 favorite disaster movies,
and as I do, we can practice using confusing prepositions. Prepositions like
in and at help us form time markers or sequence markers so we can tell the
order of events in a story. I said, "At the beginning of a movie, you can't be sure
who's going to live and who's going to die. We use "at the beginning of" + a noun.
At the beginning of what? At the beginning of the movie, at the beginning of the film,
at the beginning of the story. With this prepositional phrase, we're referring to
a point. At what point? At the beginning of the movie. The same pattern holds true
for "at the end of" what? At the end of the story, at the end of the film, at the end
of the movie. For example, at the beginning of
typical disaster movie, everything is fine, but at the end of the movie the
world is a mess. So you remember how I said the good people usually survive in
the end? We use "in the end" with no following "of" phrase. "In the beginning"
pairs up nicely with "in the end" when we tell a story. "In the beginning" is similar
to "at first" or "initially." For example, in the beginning everything is fine, but in
the end half the world has been destroyed, but the main character is
still alive. Okay. Let's start with number 5 on my list twister, and I'll try not to
give any spoilers -- things that will spoil or ruin the surprise
if you haven't seen the movie yet.
Twister isn't an end-of-the-world movie, but the powerful tornadoes create a lot
of destruction. In the very beginning, we meet the main character Jo as a little
girl . She loses someone very close to her in a tornado and this event shapes her
life and her career as a storm chaser.
Note how we can use "very" for emphasis in these time markers: in the very beginning,
at the very beginning of the story.
You'll also hear the phrase "start at the beginning" or "start at the very beginning."
In this use with a verb "start" we don't need an "of" phrase. For example, let's
start at the very beginning and watch the scene from her childhood.
Number four, 2012. In terms of the plot, this isn't the best disaster movie, and to be honest,
from beginning to end the acting isn't very believable, but the special effects
are pretty cool. There are way too many characters introduced, so
you know some of them will die by the end of the movie, but I think you'll be
happy with the way things turn out. Personally, I was very amused by Woody
Harrelson's crazy role in this movie, and I felt that the Chinese family that
helps the American family survive comes across as very genuine. "From beginning to end"
is like "from start to finish." You don't need any articles in these
phrases. You just need the prepositions "from" and "to." From beginning to end, the
special effects are pretty cool. If you want to emphasize that something happens
before the end of the movie, you can use the preposition "by." By the end of the
movie, some people have died others survive. I won't tell you who.
You can use "by the end of" + a noun: by the end of the movie. Or you can
simply say "by the end" if it's clear what you're talking about.
Number three, The Day After Tomorrow. My kids and I have watched this disaster
movie many times. Right from the beginning, you know the main characters
won't die. The American climatologist and his family survive the new ice age, and
they do that by being strong and brave. There's also a love story going on, so by
the end of the movie, a teenage romance is in full bloom. For emphasis, we have
the phrase right from the beginning. It's similar to "from the very start." Let's
pause and review all the variations we've seen so far.
Okay. Let's finish my top five list. Number two,
Independence Day. I've watched this movie so many times I've lost count. Will Smith
is very funny throughout the film, but some of the secondary characters almost
steal the show. That means they grab your attention and
are very memorable. There's no question that from beginning to end this movie is
full of American patriotism. Bill Pullman may not be the finest actor who ever
played an American president, but he probably delivered the most memorable
speech as the President of the United States in a movie. Independence Day has
its sad parts, but in the end the people you want to survive do survive. And the
people who die die as heroes.
And finally, number one, Deep Impact. This is the disaster movie that makes me cry the
most. By the end of the movie, I'm always sobbing as more and more people die.
The family relationships are very strong in this movie and it makes you want to be
with the ones you love the most if you ever have to face a crisis, like giant
asteroids hitting the earth. What moves me the most in disaster
movie, especially this one, is seeing how people hold on to their humanity in
extreme circumstances. I also have to say that Morgan Freeman is my favorite
American president on screen. If a giant asteroid were about to hit the Earth
I would appreciate hearing his calm voice. So have you seen all the movies on
my list? Which one is your favorite? If you haven't seen them yet, I bet you can
find them online, and if there's another movie you'd like to suggest, post the
title in the comments. In the end, it doesn't really matter what kind of
movies you watch as long as you enjoy them. Listening to different speakers of
English is really good training for your ears. By the way, did you understand my
use of "in the end" just now? We could use "in the end" to state a conclusion.
It's like saying, "All things considered..." A more conversational expression would be
"at the end of the day." At the end of the day, you can watch whatever films you
want. It's all good practice. At the end of the day, almost any movie in English
can help you build your understanding, your pronunciation, and your vocabulary.
Take the time to watch movies in English and watch a movie multiple times.
The first time just watch and enjoy. Try to understand as best you can without
captions. Then turn the captions on and you can pause and look up new words,
words that you can't guess from context, from the situation. You can watch
interesting scenes multiple times until you understand them very well. Then turn
those captions off and watch again. Once you're familiar with the movie, you'll
enjoy watching it without captions from beginning to end.
I hope you found this lesson useful. Please remember to like this video and
subscribe. As always, thanks for watching and happy studies!
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