IELTS Speaking for Success - 🎞 Going to the cinema (Part 1) + Transcript

Episode Date: August 17, 2026

Get access to our episode archive: https://successwithielts.com/ Is going to the cinema a thing of the past? Rory explains why he prefers watching films at home and shares some high-level vocabulary to describe movies that are a 'complete shambles'! Tune in and have a great day! - Book a class with Rory here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://successwithielts.com/rory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Transcript: https://successwithielts.com/ Find an IELTS Speaking Partner: https://links.successwithielts.com/ieltspartner Our social media: https://linktr.ee/successwithielts © 2025 Podcourses Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, mid-sized business. We see your big ambitions, but how do you achieve the wins you want when your technology is holding you back? SAP Grow is built to grow with your business, no matter its size, with AI embedded at its core, working across every system, all ready to go from day one so you can hit the ground running. Bring it with SAP Grow. AI Cloud ERP for any size business. Hello, lovely. I'm Maria. Next Hogwarts defense against the dark arts professor, Rory Duncan, and we are the hosts of the IELT Speaking for Success podcast, the podcast that aims to help improve your speaking skills, as well as your listening skills along the way.

We've started this podcast to give you gorgeous grammar and super vocabulary for your high IELD score. Your band nine score. Oh, Rory, what are you? What Hogwarts? What? Professor, what? No, hopefully you will appreciate the joke, because in the Harry Potter books, there's a department called Defense Against the Dark Arts,

and every year there's a new professor. So this year I've decided that I am the new professor. Oh, I see. Dark Arts Professor at Hogwoods. Right, dear listener, yes, it is an IELs podcast, and every time we have an episode, Rory makes up something strange about himself. Today, he's a professor of dark arts from Hogwarts.

Harry Potter. Right. Okay. Have you seen any Harry Potter movies? I'm ashamed to say that I stopped watching them after, I think,

the fifth one. Oh, yeah. My first, not my, but the first Harry Potter movie, I think, is the best. I really like it. Dear listener,

are you a fan of Harry Potter? Do you like films? Just, we're going to be talking about films. today. Films, movies. Okay, yeah, let's go. What films do you like? I'm a big fan of science fiction and horror, but I'll watch anything really as long as it's well done and not an absolute shambles or a money grab or something like that. How often do you watch films? Oh well, to be honest, it's a lot less than I used to. I can't even remember the last time I set foot in a cinema. I suppose

it must be like once or twice a year. It's usually only of something really good as on, which is pretty seldom these days. Do you prefer to watch films at home or at the cinema? Definitely from the comfort of my own home, or my friend's home, since we usually get together to watch things. It's just easier and cheaper.

We might not get the latest blockbusters or anything like that, but they're usually out on streaming services in a matter of months, so it's not exactly a big deal. Do you often go to the cinema with your friends? No, not really. It's normally like once a year, if that. We don't really go out like proper movie buffs or anything. Hear that?

It's your money calling. It wants a promotion. Elevate your savings with the Scotia high-interest savings account. Always earn high regular interest rates that grow the more you save and invest. Conditions apply. Visit Scotia Bank. com slash h-I-S-A to learn more. Scotia Bank, you're richer than you think.

As you know, we now release all of our premium content for free, and it's available for one month. After one month, it goes into our super secret archive. To sign up for the archive, click the link in the description below. See you soon. Films, films, films, movies or films, delisuner. And there are many types of films. Absolutely. Types, we call them genres.

Yes, not generis. Genres. Because it's French. And we have genres, sub-genres. But usually we talk about action films. So action genre. And action films, they include fights, drama, danger, car crashes, stunts. stunts like when a person jumps from a helicopter on top of the mountain,

then they kill 10 people on the way in the air, in the mid-air. It's all very realistic ways of performing. Yeah, you can get very specific. Like, this action films include heroic bloodshed. This is a sub-genre or military action. about wars Spinoge Well, disaster adventure

Superhero They are all like action films But we just say action films Animation is becoming more and more popular Animation genre Or you can say I like animation I don't like animation Or I like animated movies

Animated films Yes, animated films Then we have comedy I love comedy movies Ha-ha, ha-ha, dark comedies also, like a sub-genre, romantic comedy. I like romantic comedies. You know about like couples, love. And the drama that happens in them?

Yeah, what are sitcoms, situational comedies, sitcoms? Yeah, that's more of a kind of series, though, isn't it? I think that's more like friends or something like that. You don't really get sitcoms in the cinema. Although The Simpsons was a sitcom and they have a movie, so it's not unheard of. Right, dear listener. So you can talk about Netflix. I watch, I don't usually watch films, but I like serious.

Serious, okay? Like friends, sitcoms, serious. So if you watch series, then you say serious. I watch series. Crime, I like crime genre, crime, gangster movies, detective films. Drama. I like drama. Melodrama.

All right. Medical drama. Legal drama, political drama. These are sub-genres. Oh, these are a religious drama. Oh. Interesting. Fantasy like Harry Potter.

Okay. And Rory told us that he enjoys sci-fi. So science fiction. I'm a big fan of science fiction. I'm a big fan of horror. I'm a big fan of comedies. Serious. Okay.

Well, not a film, but like many films. Shambles Well, okay A shambles is two things It can describe the floor of a butcher's or an abattoir Which is where animals are killed for food But it's usually used to describe something

Which is a disaster So if a film is a shambles Then it's terrible It's not very good The film is shambles Do you need an article? Actually you need an article You too, yeah

Or if we want to use it as an article the film is shambolic. Ooh. It's interesting because shambles has an S. So you might think it's plural, but actually it's like a state of confusion, bad organization, untidiness. So it's like a shambles for some reason.

So you can say that this film is a total shambles. This house is a complete shambles. Like disorganization, it's dirty. Our economy. is in a shambles, like in bad situation, bad organization. Rory, could you give us another example with the word shambles? Yes. So if a classroom is messy, then you could say it's a shambles. Or maybe if something is disorganized at work, like a presentation, the presentation is a shambles.

Other genres include historical genre, historical events, biographies. For example, there's a nice movie about queen. Oh, yeah. biography. You didn't say The Queen this time, that's good. Yeah, I... You learned her lesson. Yeah, I...

The Queen is Elizabeth II. The Queen is the band. All right, so... Yeah, and Rory told me off of that. Horror, like, ghost movies, monster movies, movies about werewolf. So it's a wolf, but a human wolf.

So wolf-like creatures, werewolf. That's a very nice. nice word to use. The listener, you can say, oh, I enjoy movies about werewolves. If you don't know what a werewolf is, we'rewolf. Just Google. W-E-R-E-W-O-L-F, a super important word for you. But either way, it will be movies about something. Yeah, vampires. There we go.

Zombie. Oh, yeah, this is sub-genre, zombie movies. I'm a big fan of zombie movies. I often watch films. I watch films every day, every winter. For example, you can say a lot less than I used to. So I used to watch films regularly, often every week. Now I do it less. So a lot less than I used to, Ben 9. When you're a mid-sized business, you need every competitive advantage you can get.

Like an AI solution that works for you, not against you. SAP Grow is built with AI. bedded at its core, working across every system, and it's ready to go from day one, so you can hit the ground running. Bring it with SAP Grow, AI Cloud ERP for any size business. And the last time I set foot in a cinema was last year. Set foot in. You put your foot in the cinema. So kind of the last time I went to the cinema was a year ago. The last time I set foot in the cinema was a long time ago. Although at the time this goes out, that will be a lie

because we are recording the day, no, two days before I go to the cinema. I'm going to see Disclosure Day, which is an alien movie. It's a science fiction film. Oh, but I remember you told me about Avatar movie. Oh, yeah, but like that was at the very beginning of this year. So that was like my one time.

Yeah, January. And then Disclosure looked good. I seldom go to the cinema. Rory here used a bookish word, seldom. Rory, seriously, do you often use this seldom? I seldom go to the cinema, seldom. Well, I don't use those words often, so it's just to emphasize the point,

which is pretty seldom or pretty rarely these days. Qualocation will go with pretty. It's pretty seldom. Pretty rarely. Pretty rarely. If you can't pronounce rarely, then say seldom. So it's going to almost never. I prefer watching films

from the comfort of my own home from the comfort of my own home I don't think that's an idiom but it's definitely a collocation or a fixed expression surely Sometimes we get together to watch things but usually I watch films at home Get together with my friends Sometimes we get together and go to the cinema

The latest movie I saw was It's not the last It's the latest, the freshest The latest film, the latest movie I saw Was a blockbuster Was a horror movie And usually I use streaming services Like Netflix, the N-word

Right, never see if you feel like You know, get in touch with us Go ahead, McDonald's, Nike, Gucci Apple, Amazon, you know You know where to find us It doesn't even have to be an English-speaking company It could be a foreign company A Chinese company

get in touch. So we go to the cinema. Go to the cinema. I sometimes go to the cinema with my friends. Or, Rory, what do you say? I watch films at the cinema or in the cinema. I think it can be boss, really, but I would say at the cinema. But you do watch films in a cinema as well.

Yeah. So we watch films at home. That's always at home. We watch films at the cinema. So that's okay. But you could say I watch films in my home or in my friends. Henshomes. But again, that's like specifying about the location specifically here. Exactly. Now we are ready for a joke.

Are we? We've missed things. We've missed things. Yes. I talked about movie buffs. That's a collocation, first of all. And there are people that like film. My word. Oh, a movie buff. Yes, dear listen. That's a ben-nine word buff. So a buff is a person who knows a lot about something and is very interested in something. So, for example, and a film buff, a computer buff, knows everything about computers,

an opera buff knows everything about operas. Yeah, so you can say, like, oh, I'm not a movie buff, but I enjoy horror films, comedies, and historical dramas. Or I'm a movie buff. I go to the cinema every week, for example. And also, when you talk about something in a short period, of time, it's a matter of something. So, a matter of months,

which is to emphasize that it's only a few months until something is available on streaming. It could be the film only takes a matter of minutes to watch, or a matter of hours as well. I can't believe you tried to con people out of the great vocabulary. I'm horrible. I'm truly dreadful.

I'm a horrible past, dear listener. I'm so sorry. We'll make it up to you in part. Oh no, no, no. Now we're going to make it up to you with a joke. The joke, right, yeah. But, Rory, You need to teach a piece of vocabulary. So we have films, and in the past, we used film rolls. So what is a film role?

Oh, wait. Now, do you mean the material or the people? Not the people, not the people, material. Okay, so if it's a film role, then this is like a disc of film that the movie is recorded on. That's why films are called films. Yeah, you know, like they are black and it's kind of like a round thing, a piece of film paper. This black paper and on this paper we have a film. So a film roll, like sushi roll, you know, yum, yeah, yum.

So the joke, the joke, the listener. Two mice. We have a mouse, one mouse and another mouse. This little animal, you know, two mice, one mouse, two mice. One mouse, two mice. So two mice are eating a film roll. And one says, hmm, I liked the book better. Oh, okay, yeah.

So two mice are eating a film roll, a film roll. Yum, yum, yum. And one says, ooh, I liked the book better. Because usually we read a book, then we watch a film. And you say, oh, no, the film is horrible. I enjoyed the book better. But in this joke, mice are literally eating a film roll. They're eating a film.

And one says, I liked the book better because they ate the book as well. They're mice. This works on other levels as well because a roll in my country is like a kind of bread that you eat as well. Oh, a film roll. Yeah. So it's working on many levels. That's a clever one. I like that.

Oh, that's a nice joke. Right, you listen. Thank you very much for listening, sending you love, joy, and super grammar with vocabulary. Bye. Bye. At Desjardin Insurance, we know that when you own a nail salon, everything needs to be perfect from tip to toe. That's why our agents go the extra mile to understand your business and provide tailored solutions for all its unique needs. You put your heart into your company.

so we put our heart into making sure it's protected. Get insurance that's really big on care. Find an agent today at Dejardin.com slash business coverage. What films do you like? I'm a big fan of science fiction and horror, but I'll watch anything, really, as long as it's well done and not an absolute shambles or a money grab or something like that.

How often do you watch films? Oh, well, to be honest, it's a lot less than I used to. I can't even remember the last time I set foot in a cinema. I suppose it must be like once or twice a year. It's usually only of something really good as on, which is pretty seldom these days. Do you prefer to watch films at home or at the cinema? Definitely from the comfort of my own home,

or my friend's home, since we usually get together to watch things. It's just easier and cheaper. We might not get the latest blockbusters or anything like that, but they're usually out on streaming services in a matter of months, so it's not exactly a big deal. Do you often go to the cinema with your friends? No, not really. It's normally like once a year, if that.

We don't really go out like proper movie buffs or anything.