Dialogue

Ella: Megan Fox. That’s all I have to say.

Mason:  Not a big fan, quite frankly. You know that new movie she’s in, Jonah Hex, right?

Ella:  Oh yes.

Mason:  Yeah, I’m generally a fan of comic book movies…

Ella:  It’s a comic book?

Mason:  Oh, for sure.

Ella:  It looks like it’s a western.

Mason:  Yeah, it’s kind of like a mystic western, right? Jonah Hex is this dude who gains these mystical powers after whoever the character John Malkovich plays kills his family and scars Jonah Hex’s face and leaves him for dead.

Ella:  He’s like a cowboy with mystical powers?

Mason:  He’s like a demon cowboy, like Ghost Rider.

Ella:  Well, Megan Fox is in it so that’s pretty much what sold me. And the mystic stuff…

Mason:  ...also good. I would go for Malkovich, personally. He’d be the draw. But I don’t know, they whole thing is like he’s out for blood. He’s on this vengeance streak. It’s that kind of motivation. Those can be interesting stories.

Ella:  So it’s going to be a gory hotness, basically.

Mason:  Gory. Hotness. Hopefully it won’t delve into Wild Wild West territory, the Will Smith and Kevin Kline classic.

Ella:  I hope not.
Discussion

Ella is a big fan of Megan Fox, who stars in the new movie Jonah Hex. Mason isn’t so sure about Fox or the movie, which he tells Ella is based on a comic book.

Mason normally likes movies based on comic books, but doesn’t think Jonah Hex looks all that good. If he were to see it, it would be to watch John Malkovich, who plays the villain.

Both Mason and Ella agree that revenge stories can be interesting and that the movie will most likely be gory and sexy. They hope it isn’t too silly like the Will Smith movie Wild Wild West, which makes fun of westerns.

Have you ever seen a western? What kind of western do you like best? What sort of stories from the past do people like to make movies about in your country?
Grammar Point

Contractions and Abbreviations: Won’t

Mason says he hopes that Jonah Hex won’t be similar to the movie Wild Wild West. Won’t is a contraction of will not.

Usually, to make a contraction, we remove one or more letters from a word and replace them with an apostrophe (‘), as in when we shorten “He is a fan of westerns” to “He’s a fan of westerns.”

The contraction won’t is used to form the negative in the simple future tense. It should be followed by a verb, as in, “I promise I won’t see Jonah Hex without you.”

Which is correct, “You won’t to like this movie” or “You won’t like this movie”?
Quiz

   1.

      Johan Hex is a ___film
          * western
          * violent
          * comic book
          * All of these.
   2.

      Which actor does Ella like best?
          * John Malkovich
          * Josh Brolin
          * Megan Fox
          * Mason
   3.

      In the movie, Jonah Hex is attacked and ___.
          * left for dead
          * left dead
          * left to dead
          * leaved for dead
          * None of these.
   4.

      I __ be available for the next five days.
          * wo’nt
          * won’t
          * willn’t
          * will’not
   5.

      Which sentence does NOT contain a contraction?
          * Brad is Jessica’s boyfriend.
          * I wasn’t planning on going out tonight.
          * I can’t make it to your party tomorrow.
          * She hasn’t ever been to Mexico.

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