Movies

One of my favorite actors is Denzel Washington. I like his movie Training Day very much.

Wonder Woman, This Means War, and other matters…

Gal Gabot
Chris Pine

Chris Pine
Tom Hardy
Reese Witherspoon

Today we watched the trailer for Wonder Woman, which is starting in June in the U.S.A. but in August in Japan. Chris Pine features in the movie, so we also watched This Means War, in which Chris Pine costars with Tom Hardy and Reese Witherspoon. This Means War is already 5 years old, but I still remember it well. The scenes where Chris Pine and Tom Hardy sabotage each other are very funny.

Have you heard about the FA Cup final? It was the last match of the 2016-17 season in England. It featured Arsenal against Chelsea, and everyone thought that Chelsea would win, because they were very strong this season. But Arsenal played extremely well and won the Cup. That is a consolation for finishing 5th this season, the first time in 20 years that they haven't finished in the top 4. Finishing in the top 4 means that they won't play in the Champions League next year.
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Forest Whitaker

One of my favorite actors is Forest Whitaker. He is best known for the Oscar that he won for The Last King of Scotland.

Wonder Woman, and other matters…

Today we watched the trailer for Wonder Woman, a DC comic that is scheduled to come to theaters this summer. It looks very exciting, and it's unusual to see a female star of a superhero movie. The trailer begins with Wonder Woman waking up a man, played by Chris Pine, who is lying, perhaps dead, on the beach. Perhaps he was washed up from a shipwreck. She asks him, "Are you a man?". He thinks that is strange, and asks her: "Haven't you ever seen a man before? What about your father?" She explains that she was created by Zeus and lives on an island of women, so he is the first man she has ever seen. In any case, she has to leave the island to help end a war in the outside world.
The movie is scheduled for August 25th!

Bu the way, have you seen Arrival? It's an excellent movie, and I recommend that you go to the cinema to see it if possible. The director is Denis Villeneuve, all of whose movies are very interesting, and the images are very beautiful.
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The Three Billy Goats Gruff

"Stop there! I am going to eat you up!" yelled Troll.
"Wait for my brother. He is bigger and much more delicious than I!" cried Little Billy.
"What a fine idea," said Troll, licking his lips. And with that, Little Billy crossed the bridge. (pp. 6-8)

On trying to cross the bridge, in order to get to the other side where the grass is sweeter, Little Billy's trick works well, and it also works for Middle Billy. But what about Big Billy? You probably know the story already, but he is much bigger and strong enough to fight a troll.

Findley, Violet. (2006). The three billy goats gruff. New York, NY: Scholastic.

Vocabulary

clomp: ドスンドスン

The Founder and other matters…

Ray Kroc
McDonald
franchise

Today we watched the trailer for The Founder, a movie starring Michael Keaton that tells the story of the founding of McDonald's as a chain of hamburger restaurants. McDonald's had been founded in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant, and had changed to a hamburger restaurant in 1948. Ray Kroc joined in 1955 and moved to expand operations; he also purchased land and made the McDonald brothers leave the business.

You can watch this movie from the end of July at Denkikan.

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The Elves and the Shoemaker

The shoemaker put the leather on his table. The next morning, he found two fancy pairs of shoes!
"Wow! I will sell these at the market," he said. And so he did.

This is a very easy retelling of the traditional story The Elves and the Shoemaker. A shoemaker and his wife are very poor, and the shoemaker is down to his last piece of leather. But when he wakes up in the morning, a fancy pair of shoes is already made. He sells them, uses the money to buy more leather, and then the next morning he finds two more pairs of shoes.

This continues for some time, and the shoemaker becomes rich. Eventually, they discover that a pair of elves have been making the shoes. They make some clothes for the elves, and the elves stop coming.

Unlike many traditional stories, there doesn't seem to be any big lesson to be learned from this story. The shoemaker and his wife appear to be honest people, but they don't do anything special to earn the favour of the elves. When they do something to repay the elves, the elves stop coming. But it is a very pleasant story throughout.

Findley, Violet. (2006). The elves and the shoemaker. New York, NY: Scholastic.

Vocabulary

tattered: ぼろぼろ

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The Founder, and other matters…

Today we saw the trailer for The Founder, a movie starring Michael Keaton. It's based on the true story of the founding of McDonald's. Michael Keaton plays Ray Kroc, who was originally a partner of the McDonald brothers but managed to take over the company. The McDonald brothers had the original idea of fast food; they said their burgers would be ready in 30 seconds. Ray Kroc had the idea of franchising the business to make it bigger and make more money. Laura Dern plays Ray's wife. The movie is scheduled to start playing at Denkikan on July 29th.

The English Premier League season has now finished. On the last day, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester City all won their matches, which means that Manchester City come 3rd and Liverpool come 4th. Arsenal, for the first time in 20 years, will not play in the Champions League next year.

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Churchill, and other matters…

Today we watched the trailer for Churchill, a movie about the former Prime Minister shortly before D-Day, who hesitated to send soldiers to invade France because he worried that it would not be successful and many soldiers would die. General Eisenhower and Churchill's wife persuade him that he needs to go ahead with the plan.

Have you seen Guardians of the Galaxy 2? It has started playing at the local theaters now. If you enjoyed the first Guardians movie, probably you will enjoy this one, too. At Denkikan, Café Society, Woody Allen's latest movie, is still playing. It stars Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart.

Soon, Arrival will arrive! Everybody says it's great!

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Manifesto, and other matters…

Today we watched the trailer for Manifesto. It's a movie starring Cate Blanchett—in all the roles! It's about art, but I couldn't really understand what it was trying to say.
Have you been following the football news in the UK? Liverpool, Manchester City, and Arsenal all won their weekend match, and Manchester United lost. That means that only one of Liverpool, Manchester City, and Arsenal will lose out on a Top 4 place. Arsenal need Liverpool or Manchester City to drop points.
Manchester United will play Ajax in the Europa League final on May 24th.

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Journey to Mars

Everyone gets ready quickly.
"How long before we hit?" Buck asks.
"A few minutes," you say.
"Can we go around?" asks Maki.
"No, we can't turn in time," you say.
"I was the best pilot in my class," Buck says. "I can get us through."
"Or maybe we can blast the rocks," Maki says.
"How?" you ask. "This space ship has no weapons!"
"Easy. We blast them with our extra fuel tanks."
"But then we won't have enough fuel to get home!" Buck says.

Buck is the pilot, and Maki is the science officer. I am the navigator on a spaceship heading to Mars. An asteroid storm is upon us, and everyone wants me to decide what to do. If I trust in Buck's skills, we may get hit and all die. If I accept Maki's suggestion, then we may survive the asteroid storm but not be able to get back to Earth.

I have read Journey to Mars a few times now. I think I've probably followed each story path once, but I often forget what I did before. Today, I died rather quickly! This story has a wide variety of endings. But a Wispa doesn't appear in any of them.

Raine, Paul. (2014). Journey to Mars. Tokyo: Atama-ii Books.

Hidden Figures, and other matters…

Today we watched the trailer for Hidden Figures, a movie based on the book of the same name about three black women who were important figures in the space program at NASA. The women were Katherine Johnson (played by Taraji P. Henson), Mary Jackson (played by Janelle Monae), and Dorothy Vaughan (played by Octavia Spencer). At the time, computers were not advanced at all, so NASA needed humans to calculate launches, landings, and orbits. The people who did that were
called "computers".

It looks like the movie has not yet been released in Japan.

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Hunter in the Darkness

"One of you must give your life. At night, you will wait for Aku. You will wear this coat of bells.
"When the vampire takes you," you continue, "we will follow the sound of the bells. Then, in the morning, we will kill him. This, I swear!"
You look around. The villagers look scared.
"Who will give their life, so that others may live?" you ask. (p. 6)

Hunter in the Darkness is another book in the Atama-ii Books series of interactive adventure stories. As you can guess from the above, it is a story of a vampire hunter and his/my quest to kill Aku, the strongest of the vampires. The vampire will not be killed easily, and sacrifices will be called for. I have read the story before, but each time I read only one or two story paths. Today, the story path I took led me to a kind of ambiguous success.

Habeeb, Ramy. (2014). Hunter in the darkness. Tokyo: Atama-ii Books.

Hidden Figures, and other matters…

Today we watched the trailer for Hidden Figures, a movie about black scientists who worked on the NASA space program to send the first astronaut into space. At that time, there were few women working at NASA, few black people, and even fewer black women. At first, most of the people there think that they are cleaners rather than scientists, engineers, or mathematicians. They have to go to special bathrooms set aside for black women, which are in a distant building, until the director of the program agrees that the bathrooms shouldn't be segregated.

In the Premier League, Tottenham lost, to give the advantage to Chelsea in the title race. Manchester City won, Liverpool drew, and Arsenal beat Manchester United. That means that Manchester City have a good chance of coming third or fourth. Liverpool are probably OK, but they are in a little danger still from Manchester United perhaps. Arsenal still have a chance of overtaking Manchester United to get into the Europa League.

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Kingsman, and other matters…

ACTORS
Colin Firth
Taron Egerton

Today we watched the trailer for the first Kingsman film, as well as the second one, which is yet to be released. The trailer didn't have many details, so I guess it is not completed yet. But the film has an all-star cast, with Elton John, Channing Tatum, Jeff Bridges, Halle Berry, Mark Strong, and Julianne Moore—and of course Colin Firth. The first Kingsman film was very entertaining, with its unusual blend of action and humor. I think that Colin Firth is the essential ingredient. In the first film, Michael Caine was also very good.

Which teams do you think will get into the top four in the Premier League? It is difficult to guess, because, although Tottenham and Chelsea are very strong, the 3rd–6th place teams all have many weaknesses. Liverpool lost their most recent game, as did Arsenal, and Manchester United and Manchester City both drew. I think maybe the table will stay as it is now, i.e. Liverpool and Manchester City to stay in the top 4.

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The Exception, and other matters…

ACTORS:
Christopher Plummer
Lily James
Janet McTeer

Today we watched the trailer for The Exception, a World War II thriller starring Christopher Plummer, who plays Kaiser Wilhelm, who is in exile in the Netherlands. A German soldier is sent to spy on him, but he falls in love with the Kaiser's servant, who is a Jew. He has to choose between following orders and protecting the woman he loves.

In the Premier League, Chelsea and Spurs won convincingly, while Arsenal lost and both Manchester United and Manchester City drew. Those results opened up the gap between the top two teams and the rest. Liverpool have yet to play, but they lost their previous game, so the teams who will finish in the top 4 are still unclear.

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