March 2026

📙 Part 2: Describe a movie you watched recently that you felt disappointed about

Rory shares why a recent trip to the cinema was a 'real letdown.' Listen to find out which blockbuster film he thought took 'absolutely ages' and learn how to describe your own disappointing experiences.

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📙 Part 2: Describe a movie you watched recently that you felt disappointed about

IELTS Speaking for Success

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Art and MediaUsing TransitionsSoftening OpinionsNarrative TensesAdding Strong EmphasisIdiomsDescriptive Language

This episode's vocabulary

Stands out in my mind (idiom) – to be very memorable. → The most recent movie that stands out in my mind was the latest Avatar film.

Took absolutely ages (idiom) – took a very long time. → The film took absolutely ages to finish; it was over three hours long.

Engaging (adjective) – attracting and holding the attention. → The plot wasn't terribly original or engaging.

Stick out (phrasal verb) – to be very noticeable. → There are other reasons, but those are the two that stick out for me right now.

Satisfy an urge (verb phrase) – to fulfill a strong desire. → The film didn't satisfy that urge to see an interesting spectacle.

Spectacle (noun) – a visually striking performance or display. → Movies should be about seeing an interesting spectacle.

Terribly impressed (adverb + adjective) – very impressed (often used in a negative sense). → I don't think my friends were terribly impressed either.

Character development (noun phrase) – the process of creating a believable character by giving them depth and personality. → The main problem was that there was no character development.

Dull (adjective) – lacking interest or excitement. → The plot is dull and the characters are boring.

A drag (idiom) – something that is boring or tedious. → The movie just went on and on, it was a real drag.

A letdown (noun) – a disappointment. → I had high expectations, so the movie was a real letdown.

Ringing endorsement (noun phrase) – a very strong statement of support or approval (often used sarcastically). → The BBC called it the worst yet. What a ringing endorsement!

Shallow (adjective) – not showing serious or deep thought. → The movie was a shallow fantasy ride with beautiful but empty visuals.

Questions and Answers

Maria: Describe a movie you watched recently that you felt disappointed about. You should say when it was, why you didn't like it, why you decided to watch it, and explain why you felt disappointed about it. So when do we feel disappointed?

Rory: Our expectations are not met.

Maria: Yeah, when we feel disappointed, we are unhappy because something was not as good as we hoped. So, I was deeply disappointed because blah, blah, blah. I was unhappy about this film. Rory, give us your story.

Rory: Well, unfortunately, this has happened a few times, but the most recent one that stands out in my mind was when I went to see the latest Avatar movie. To tell you exactly when that was, I think this was about a month or so ago. It was winter and absolutely freezing, and there was nothing better to do. So I decided to go and watch it with some of my friends. Now when it comes to why I didn't like it, there were a couple of reasons. First of all, it took absolutely ages to finish. I think it's about three hours long. And that's a long time to just sit and watch something. So I was pretty tired towards the end. The plot wasn't terribly original or engaging either. It shouldn't take three hours to push the message that it's a good idea to care about the environment. There are other things, but those are the two that stick out for me right now. As for why I decided to watch it, despite the fact it was so bad, and I thought it might be even before we went there. I had thought it would be a fun way to spend time with my friends since we hadn't seen each other in a while. We all have very busy schedules and live in different parts of the city. So this seemed like a good idea. It just seemed that way though, because, of course, in a cinema, you can't really talk. So there were only a few times when we were able to look at each other when something really silly happened that took us out of the action or just made it difficult to focus. And I think that's why I felt really disappointed about it. It didn't bring us together in the way I thought it would or satisfy that urge to see an interesting spectacle, which is really what movies should be about. I didn't even enjoy complaining about it with them, at least not that much. So even that wasn't very satisfying. I think if I could go back in time, I'd try to choose something different instead. It wasn't my best choice.

Maria: And what about your friends? Did they enjoy it?

Rory: No, I don't think they were terribly impressed either.

Discussion

Maria: Right, dear listener. So you should choose a film that you were not happy about. Maybe you watched it, I don't know, two years ago, but you just say, yeah, recently I watched this film. So that's fine. Rory talked about Avatar.

Rory: And now we're gonna get sued.

Maria: Yeah, I know. Very dangerous. So, Avatar Three, Fire and Ash. Right. Avatar Two was called The Way of Water, Part Two, but Part Three is called Fire and Ash. Have you watched it? Yes, no, did you like it? Yeah, I've watched it.

Rory: Did you like it?

Maria: Yeah, and I kind of agree with Rory, but well,

Rory: But Maria also does not want to get sued, so we just won't talk about it too much.

Maria: Yeah, so it's okay if you enjoyed it, but I enjoyed the first Avatar and the second, but I think, yeah, the third is, yeah, slow and nothing new. But I liked new characters. It wasn't that bad, but yeah, a bit boring, I think. Sorry if your opinion doesn't match our opinion, dear listener.

Rory: Sorry if your opinion is wrong.

Maria: And you can start off with, unfortunately, this has happened a few times. So I've been disappointed with a couple of films. But the most recent one that stands out in my mind was the latest Avatar movie, or was the, and then the name of the film, and you should know the name of the film in English. So you can say, one film that stands out in my mind was ta-da-da-da. I watched it a month ago, a week ago. The card tells us to talk about a movie you recently watched. So recently, it's, well, a week ago, yesterday, one month ago, not like 10 years ago. But even if you watched this film 10 years ago and you were disappointed, unhappy, and you remember it, talk about it, just say, I watched it a month ago or so. Like I don't remember when exactly. It was winter, or it was a nice summer day, I had nothing else to do. There was nothing better to do. So it was cold, there was nothing better to do, so I decided to go and watch it with some friends. So Rory went to the movies. Yeah, I also went to the movies. And it's like three hours. And you know what? I went to this fancy cinema.

Rory: Oh, did you watch it in 3D?

Maria: In 3D, yeah, but the usual 3D.

Rory: Ah, okay. I watched it in 3D as well with the special glasses, and I should have said that to give me even more vocabulary to talk about it. I watched it in 3D and I was not impressed with the special effects. That was a bit disappointing.

Maria: No, I didn't have the glasses, but I could adjust my chair so I could lie down. And I was eating pizza while watching the movie. Can you imagine?

Rory: You were eating pizza in the cinema?

Maria: Oh, absolutely. Yeah, it was a, it's this fancy cinema, and you can lie down, you can adjust your comfortable, soft, kind of chair, bed, bed chair, like at home. I was drinking tea, eating mango, and pizza, and yeah, it was amazing. I was just like at home. Perfect. When it comes to why I didn't like it, there were a couple of reasons. So, first of all, you move to a different topic. When it comes to why I didn't like it, there were some reasons. So the introduction, and then you name maybe two reasons. First of all, ta-da-da-da-da, secondly, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And this gives you a nice organization. So first of all, it took absolutely ages to finish. So the film is too long.

Rory: And that's good for complaining about something bad. If something takes absolutely ages, it takes a very long time.

Maria: Yeah, and this movie takes like three hours. It's insane.

Rory: I don't know why it takes three hours. James Cameron, why do you need three hours?

Maria: It takes ages, it was too long. It's a long time to sit and watch something. So I was pretty tired towards the end. Then, the plot of the film, so the story of the film, the plot wasn't terribly original. So the plot wasn't original, wasn't unusual. It was boring. The plot wasn't engaging. Engaging, like exciting, it kind of didn't attract your attention. It wasn't pleasant. You can also say the characters, so people who are in the film, characters of the film were boring.

Rory: There was no character development.

Maria: So characters didn't develop. And you can say like, these are the main reasons that stick out for me now, that I remember. What other reasons can we name if you don't like the movie?

Rory: Poor special effects, terrible dialogue, so what the characters say to each other is boring.

Maria: Yeah, stupid dialogues. Yeah.

Rory: Maybe stupid people.

Maria: Stupid people, boring, it's just boring, right? It's dull. It's just not interesting.

Rory: It's not exciting. It's not a good look.

Maria: Yeah, not exciting. Yeah. The plot is dull, the plot is boring. No special effects. And also the movie is very slow. So it's like it's, it's dragging.

Rory: Oh, it's a drag.

Maria: It's on and on and on. It's a drag. So it's very slow. As for why I decided to watch it, again, we are changing the topic. As for why I decided to watch it, I thought it would be fun. So we talk about the past. I thought it would be in the future. I thought it would be fun to watch it. Or, it's a great movie, Avatar. Yeah, I've watched two parts. Now I decided to watch the third. I like James Cameron's films. I respect him as a director. And James Cameron directed the film. And I didn't see my friends. So I decided to kind of to meet up with my friends. We went to the cinema. Or maybe you watch this film at home. I watched it at home.

Rory: Oh, that's a good point. It's not about going to the cinema, is it? It could be about anything.

Maria: Oh, yeah. Yeah. So you can say like, I felt disappointed. And also, dear listener, you can read the reviews. Just Google user reviews Avatar, Far and Ash, and read some reviews that real people write. For example, like, everything looks beautiful, but it feels empty. Oh. And really, people write a lot of things about Avatar. So the third part is an Avatar Two clone, but slightly better. A shallow fantasy ride. Shallow, like empty, not smart. Not the best Avatar, but my favorite. Disappointing. Ooh. Well, there you go, that fits. Yeah, lots of lots of disappointing reviews. Yeah, and I'm looking at IMDb.com. A popular website for movies. One of the people writes, "What happened to all the good writers?"

Rory: It is a bit of a disaster of a film. Well, I mean, it's all right. It's not the best. It could be better. It could be a lot better.

Maria: Read the reviews for the movie that you're going to be talking about, right? I felt disappointed, I was very unhappy. What else can you say? Disappointed in any synonyms?

Rory: It was a letdown, or I felt let down.

Maria: I didn't enjoy it. I complained about it. I didn't enjoy even complaining about it. The film wasn't very satisfying. So it didn't satisfy me. It wasn't very satisfying.

Rory: It was dull as dishwater. Sorry, that's a bit of a cliche. Maybe you don't want to say that, but it certainly does describe some parts of the film.

Maria: And you can also say like, I was disappointed and it was disappointing.

Rory: Maybe we want to emphasize the disappointment, so we can say it was a real disappointment or a real letdown.

Maria: It was a real letdown. Yeah, but still, this movie is quite popular and people all over the world, like, have watched it already, perhaps? Or are watching it and still...

Rory: I know. I don't understand why, though. It's just, it's not very, it's not original, it doesn't say anything new about the world.

Maria: No, but still, this Avatar and James Cameron. So.

Rory: Maybe other people will have different opinions.

Maria: Feel free to talk about some some other films. Yeah, you can read a review from BBC. Fire and Ash review. The latest sci-fi adventure. And the worst yet. Oh, it's okay. So BBC also thinks it's the worst. Amazing. What a ringing endorsement. Poor James Cameron.

Rory: Not poor James Cameron. He's made hundreds of millions. He'll be fine.

Maria: Yeah, they are, BBC also comments on dialogues, plot, and some spirituality.

Rory: Ooh. Very nice.

Maria: Well, dear listener. Thank you very much for listening. Okay? Hopefully, you're okay. You are not mad at us. And at our Avatar talk, if you are a super fan, okay? We also enjoy Avatar, all right? Especially the first movie. And the second. We'll get back to you in our next episode, speaking part three about films, all right?

Rory: Not disappointing ones, hopefully.

Maria: Bye.

Rory: Bye.

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IELTS Speaking for Success