Vocabulary - Talking about MOVIES in English

Let's cut to the chase -- we all love movies. We love to talk about our favorite movies, but don't have the right words. In this lesson we'll go over some common movie vocabulary that you regularly hear, as well as some slang and Hollywood lingo that will help you understand your favorite stars talk about what they do. Take the quiz here:
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TRANSCRIPT

Hi again, I'm Adam. Welcome back to www.engvid.com. Today's lesson is about movies. Now, as far as I know, everybody loves movies; I love movies, I'm sure you love movies. And there're lots of words that have to do with movies that you might not be familiar with, but they're very good to know if you want to talk about movies with your friends or whoever. So that's what we're going to look at today, talking about movies. I'm going to give you a whole bunch of vocabulary, I'm sure some of them are not so new, some of them will be very new. We have some slang and some idioms that come from movies. A lot of good stuff. Let's get started.

We're going to start with this word: "genre". Can you say that? "Genre". A lot of people have a problem with this "g". So the way I explain it always is to say this word: "measure", like measure a weight or measure volume of something. Everybody knows this word, everybody knows this letter. "Measure", "je", it's between a "g" and a "j" and an "s"; it's a bit of a mixture. This sound: "measure", is the same as this "g", "genre". If you're French: "je". "Je t'adore" or: "Je t'amore". Good stuff. Right? So "genre", what is a "genre"? "Genre" is the type of movie we're talking about. Now, you know drama, you know comedy, you know action, you know sci-fi, science-fiction, documentary, etcetera.

Have you ever heard of a "chick flick"? You're thinking: "Chick flick, never heard of that before. What is a 'chick flick'?" Well, first, what is a "chick"? A "chick" is a woman or a girl, but don't say this to a woman or a girl. And if you are a woman or a girl, I apologize. I don't call women "chicks", but it happens. "Chicks", women. "Flick" is slang for movie. A "chick flick" is a girl movie or woman movie. Right? What it means is a love story or a romance, something that makes you cry. It makes you cry because you're so sad at the end, it makes you cry because you're so happy at the end; it's a very emotional movie. Usually, women go to see these movies. Men, not so much, they don't like them so much.

Men go to see the "bromance". What is a "bromance"? A "bromance" is a romance involving bros, brothers, two guys who might be a little bit too close to each other. They're not gay, they're just two good friends. Right? Two dudes hanging out and spending too much time together, we call that a "bromance". That's what the guys go to see. Chick flick, that's what the girls go to see.

Another one is a "romcom", a romantic comedy shortened; squeezed together: "romcom". So there you have three new genres to think about.

Now, here are a couple idioms that come straight from the movies. "Cut to the chase." Now, first: what is "the chase"? Many action movies, most action movies at some point in the movie have a car chase or somebody chasing somebody like cops and robbers. Catch Me If You Can, everybody's chasing Leonardo DiCaprio. So "the chase" is usually the most exciting part of the movie. So when someone says: "Cut to the chase", means: get to the point, get to the exciting part, get to what you need to say. Don't waste time. "Cut" means in the movie you cut to the chase. Right? To the point.

Another expression is: "That's a wrap." In the old days, when they actually used to have film in like the big rolls of film, when they finished a scene or when they finished the movie, they would wrap the entire reel (r-e-e-l), they would wrap it, package it, and ship it to... Do whatever they do with movies. So "That's a wrap", means finished, we're finished, we're done, let's move on to the next thing. So there you have two new idioms to worry about.

This is just an abbreviation for "miscellaneous", means just generally words that I thought about for movies. "A-lister". An "A-lister" is a very top level celebrity; actor, actress, musician, etcetera. "A-lister", they're on the best list; they get into all the bars, all the clubs, they make the most movies... Sorry. They make the most money. Everybody wants to be around them. A "B-lister", a "C-lister", a "D-lister", they're like down there. Maybe they'll get invited to like a puppy show or something like that.