Let's Go to the Movies! (3)

Action and Adventure
The special-effects extravaganza Pacific Rim tells of a team of humans who pilot giant robots in a worldwide battle against an alien attack.

Real-life father and son Will and Jaden Smith costar in After Earth, the story of a father and son who crash land on planet Earth. The planet is no longer inhabited by humans as they were forced to abandon it 1,000 years earlier. As the father lies dying, the son must recover their rescue beacon against impossible odds.

In the action-drama White House Down, Channing Tatum stars as a Secret Service agent trying to save the U.S. president. A paramilitary force that has taken control of the White House threatens his life.

Those wanting more story-driven fare shouldn't miss the latest adaptation of F.Scott Fitzgerald's The Gatsby. Tobey Maguire stars as writer Nick Carraway, who is drawn into the flamboyant world of millionaire Jay Gatsby during the Jazz Age. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Gatsby in this tragic romance.

With so many great titles to see, film fans will be spending many hours experiencing danger, drama and laughter from the comfort of a theater seat.

Grammar Gym
Hi there, friends. Thanks for joining me here at the Grammar Gym. My name is Liz. In today’s article the writer mentions: Those wanting more story-driven fare shouldn't miss the latest adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. That’s our Grammar Tip sentence.

Notice the phrase “story-driven.” It describes fare. What kind of fare? It’s fare that is driven by a story.
“Driven” is usually used to talk about what we do with cars, like: He has never driven a car before. But in today’s sentence, “driven” means to be controlled by or to be strongly influenced by. So the sentence just means people who want to watch movies that are influenced by a story should go see F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. So we see story-driven fare.

What other something-driven adjective phrases are there? Well, a boss that only cares about money is a money-driven boss. A hungry tiger looking for food is a hunger-driven tiger. Or a learning program that focuses on being fun can be described as a fun-driven program.

If you turn to today’s Grammar Tip section in your magazine, you’ll find more examples there. And that’s it for today. This is Liz from the Grammar Gym. See you next time.

Info Cloud
Not only is the movie The Great Gatsby an adaptation, that is a film that is based on a play, a musical or in this case, a novel, it’s also a remake.

Right. It’s a new version of a previously released movie. This can be said because there are already three other major Hollywood productions of The Great Gatsby in existence. The last one being filmed in 1974.

But there are some die-hard movie fans who will argue that the new Gatsby movie is not a remake but rather a reinterpretation.

They say a remake needs to be based on a previously released film. And the new Gatsby film is not.
It’s based on the same source material as the other three Gatsby films – the novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925.

Right, meaning in 88 years, nothing’s changed. The new Gatsby movie has the exact same characters, plot, setting and title as the other three Gatsby movies before it.

The only difference being the actors and how they interpret their roles.

But maybe those fans are just being too picky. Why can’t a film be an adaptation, a remake and a reinterpretation all at the same time?

Language Lab
extravaganza n.盛大的活動或演出 [字根 extra - 超過]
/ɪkˌstrævəˈgænzə/a very large and expensive entertainment
- Each New Year's Eve, Taipei 101 will put up a magnificent firework extravaganza.
- The extravaganza of the Oscar award ceremony attracted the attention of movie fans around the world.

alien n. 外星人
from somewhere other than the planet Earth
- The movie "ET" talks about the friendship between an alien and a boy.
alien n. 外國人
 from another country: foreign
- These illegal aliens were expelled soon after they were arrested.

beacon n. 信號,
/ˈbi:kən/
a light that is put somewhere to warn or guide people, ships, vehicles, or aircraft
rescue beacon 自動求救, 讓別人可以辨識自己的求救信標
- The rescue beacon helped these victims be  easily located.
beacon n. 燈塔, 明燈
- The light house beacon near the coastal line lit up at dusk.
- Charlene is the beacon of life for her husband.

flamboyant adj. 過分的華麗
/flæmˈbojənt/
having a very noticeable quality that attracts a lot of attention  
- The club's flamboyant decorations became their trademark.
- Frank Sinatra's flamboyant tuxedos suited him so much.

inhabit v. 居住
if animals or people inhabit an area or place, they live there



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