The Good Liar (Bill Condon), and other matters…

Ian McKellen
Helen Mirren

Today we watched the trailer for The Good Liar, a movie starring Ian McKellen and
Helen Mirren. Ian McKellen is known in recent years for The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Mr Holmes, and Magneto in the X-Men movies. Further back, he's known for Richard III and Scandal, for example. Helen Mirren is known for Gosford Park, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, The Long Goodbye, and many more movies. More recently, she has appeared in RED and RED II.

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The Good Liar

Ian McKellen (Lord of the Rings)
Helen Mirren (Eye in the Sky, The Queen)

Today we watched the trailer for The Good Liar, a movie directed by Bill Condon and starring Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren. It's about a swindler called Roy Courtnay who goes on a date with Helen Mirren. He pretends it's for a romantic relationship, but actually he knows that she is rich and he wants to take all her money. It looks very interesting, but I don't know when it will come to Japan.

The women's world cup is approaching its end. England reached the semifinals yesterday by beating Norway. I'm not sure who their opponent will be, though.

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Zombie by The Cranberries, and other matters...

The Troubles
Dolores O'Riordan

Today we watched some music videos. The first two were Zombie by The Cranberries. The first was the studio version with lyrics shown on the screen and the second was a live performance in Paris. The audience was very big and they were all standing, and they seemed very involved with the performance. I would have liked to see them live sometime, but the singer Dolores O'Riordan died last year. We also took a look at the beginning of Ridiculous Thoughts. The singing/wailing there sounds pretty good.

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Zombie, by The Cranberries and other matters...

Today we watched a music video. It was Zombie by The Cranberries, an Irish group. First we watched the song with lyrics, and then we watched a live performance in Paris. That was in 1999, and at the end of the song the singer said something about wanting peace in Northern Ireland. That was around the time of the peace agreement.

The Cranberries are the second most successful Irish group ever. The most successful one is U2. Do you know them? They became popular in the 1980s and are still successful now.

It has been raining quite a lot since yesterday. I guess the rainy season is here. Fortunately, the rain is not so heavy now. Hopefully, it will clear up tomorrow. It seems to me that the season is much later than usual.

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Men in Black: International, and other matters…

Chris Hemsworth
Tessa Thompson

Today we watched the trailer for Men in Black: International. It stars Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson. It begins on June 14th (today) in the U.S., and on the same day in Japan, too. It looks rather fun and exciting.

There has been quite a lot of sport going on. In France, the Roland Garros (French Open) tennis tournament was held. Rafael Nadal won his 12th title there. In football, the women's World Cup has been going on.

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Saving Zoë

Laura Marano
Vanessa Marano

Today we saw the trailer for Saving Zoë, a new movie directed by Jeffrey Hunt. It's about two sisters, one of whom is called Zoë. She is murdered near the beginning of the film and her sister tries to find out what happened.

I was hoping to watch Colette at Denkikan but it's only playing for another week, so I guess I'll have to wait for it to be released as a DVD. At the big movie theaters, Aladdin and Men in Black are playing now. I'm not so interested in seeing them. I wonder what else is coming soon?

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Ryuji Okada

Mai Hirakawa

Keiko Hibino

The correct total is 123 words!

Colette, Ad Astra, and other matters…

Keira Knightley
Dominic West

Brad Pitt
Donald Sutherland
Liv Tyler
Tommy Lee Jones

Today we watched two trailers. The first was Colette, which we watched a few weeks ago. The movie is now playing at Denkikan so I am hoping to find the time to go and see it. The second was Ad Astra. It stars Brad Pitt as an astronaut, and the son of an astronaut who died on a secret mission that threatens the whole Solar System. Other stars in the movie are Liv Tyler, Donald Sutherland, Tommy Lee Jones (as Brad Pitt's father, I think), and Ruth Negga. Actually, the name Ruth Negga wasn't familiar to me, but I notice that she stars in Loving, a movie I am planning to see sometime, and that she was also in World War Z, which I enjoyed. Ad Astra looks pretty exciting, but I'm guessing it won't come to Japan for quite a long time.

By the way, if you're interested in Colette, I hope you will also watch Gigi.

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Phrases and sentences for my self-introduction

(1) Okazaki is a thirty-minute train ride south of Nagoya.

My university is a fifteen-minute walk from my home.

(2) My father works for the city government, and my mother is a homemaker.

My father is a gardener, and my mother works at a photography factory. My elder brother runs training programs for companies.

(3) I come from Hida, in northern Gifu.
I come from Exeter in the south-west of England.




Kikuchi is a seven-minute helicopter ride from Kumamoto.

Colette, and other matters…

Keira Knightley
Dominic West

Today's trailer was for Colette, a 2018 movie starring Keira Knightley and Dominic West. As you probably know, Colette was a well-known writer at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. Gigi is one of her best-known books, later adapted into a musical. The Claudine stories are also very famous. The movie is only playing for a couple of weeks, and only a couple of screenings a day, so it may be difficult to get to see it. I wish it would play for a bit longer.

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