The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

A story about a teenage wizard facing off against a dark lord beats one about a sparkling, lovesick vampire anyday.

So my teen fiction love affair remains unwavering at present. I wish I could say I was attempting to move on and be a grown up with my reading but I'm not. I like living sqaurely in my literary-youth. And because of that I was very excited to find this brilliant article on new teen movies ariving soon.

The Next Harry Potter or Twilight?

This little article is great - I was excited to find that Wake by Lisa McMann is being made into a film - although I think it's kind of funny that everything is supposed to be "the new Harry Potter/Twilight".

Nothing beats Harry Potter. And I shall be a Gryffindor till I die.

Actually, I'd probably be a Hufflepuff, but, you know, I like the idea of all that partying.

A toast to Hell.

Do know what? Even after my rubbishing of this film on twitter, the longer I go since watching it, the more it sticks in my head. I can’t decide what’s grabbed me but I’m pretty convinced its the chance to read and adore the book part of this franchise before anyones even seen the film.

Tomorrow, When the War Began (or TWWB, as I’m now going to refer to it, it’s just too long otherwise) is the story of a group of Australian teenagers who decide to take a camping trip into the bush before school starts up again. While away, a foreign power invades and proceeds to take control of their town and the entire country. As the teens discover what has happened, they vow to fight back, refusing to let another nation come in and take away their homeland.

The movie was one I thought was pretty interesting when I saw the trailer a couple of months back. I had never heard of the books (although they are hugely famous in Australia) and it wasn’t until I looked into the film after watching it that I even knew they were books first. And it always sparks my interest to hear that. So I got around to watching the film, which was released over six months ago in Australia, and although I was nowhere near disappointed, it did feel a little low budget.

See this is what Hollywood does to us people. It ruins our ability to enjoy any kind of independent film that isn’t a small, intelligent drama. I like indie films, really, but having an action (I suppose that’s what it is?) indie film is very odd. That being said, I think they did well for having nowhere near the kind of budget I would imagine the Hollywood execs would have poured on it. Wonder how long it’ll take them to pick it up/do a remake? Actually, scratch that. They’d never do a film about America being secretly invaded and overpowered and a bunch of kids saving them. If they did, I would love to see it though.

The film = not great because of the lack of budget/special effects, but it was very entertaining. I wasn’t bored, wasn’t in the middle of anything else while watching the film, and, although the acting wasn't stellar, it was funny to watch what was essentially a very long, and surreal, episode of Home and Away unfold on my screen.

(Side note: Most of the actors have actually been in Home and Away or Neighbours before)

There is a second in production, due for release 2012, and that’s just as well because there are seven books in total and it would be great to see them all done. I don’t think the plot is thick enough for a full seven films but it would be cool for them to all be done by Australian production, with the same cast, however many they made.

There’s a big rise at the moment in really amazing teen book franchises and with Harry Potter and Twilight ending, there’s a big market for some new films to come out. Hunger Games has finally done some casting, the first in possibly many Lorien Legacy films came out earlier this year (I Am Number Four), and the Gone series, Wicked Lovely, and Forest of Hands and Teeth (which I’m reading now) have also been optioned for film.

It is a good time to be into the teen fiction.

It's the end of the world as we know it.

So this weekend, I did a Disaster Movie Marathon. I was in the mood for a little carnage and apocalyptic terror, so I dug up some old favourites, and one new film, and settled down on Saturday for some survival-of-the-fittest drama.

First up, was The Day After Tomorrow. Now, this film didn’t so much split the critics as simply send them running. I’ve not really ever heard more than mediocre things about this film. I watched it for the first time a few months ago and really enjoyed it. It’s like 2012 (considered, but dismissed, for this marathon) in that it’s not particularly good, but it’s not exactly bad either. The plot is pretty thin, the characters one dimensional and the outcome entirely predictable. Thing is, with these kind of movies, that’s exactly what you want. You want to know that the good guys sacrifice or survive and that life triumphs over everything, even a new Ice Age.

One of the reasons I like this film is, apart from the ridiculous out-of-nowhere-ness of the disaster, climate change is, in my opinion at least, probably what will snuff us out. I’m holding up a serious doubt card for aliens at this point and with the way we screw around with the world, it wouldn’t be surprising if the world decided to screw us back.

Even with my overwhelming doubt for the alien theory, my next film was Independence Day. I adore this film for many, many wonderful reasons. First off, Will Smith is a god and Jeff Goldblum, a comedy genius. Also, almost all versions of 90’s nostalgia are fine with me and this is one of those films I can remember watching as a child. It’s got more cheesy bits than a large pizza but it also has some awesome one liners (I could’ve been at a barbeque!) that more than make up for it.

I then moved onto my only new film (well, new to me) of the day with War of the Worlds, Spielberg version. Before watching it, I didn’t actually know it was a Spielberg film, just that it was a Tom Cruise film and that was enough to put me off. That’s before I even took into account all the reviews.

It’s got a bad rep this film. And I’m sorry to say, but it really deserves most of that bad rep. It’s not horrifying. I mean, I sat through it. I didn’t want to turn it off, never to darken my sight again, which I have done with some films (Ghost Rider *shudder*). But at the same time, I didn’t really find anything to like in this film. Cruise was bland (as always), and I don’t even remember any of the characters names, which is never a good sign. I watched it because War of the Worlds is such a classic story and I thought I should see it in full. I’m glad I saw the movie because I definitely got a better understanding of H.G. Wells epic tale, but if you’re already familiar with it I can’t see this being a necessary addition to your knowledge.

Last, but my no means least, was Deep Impact. This movie has an ongoing rivalry with Armageddon; both released in ’98, both ‘a meteor’s going to crash and kill us all’ movies, and both packing a few solid stars. Armageddon definitely won the box office race, but Deep Impact is, by far, the better of the two films.

Hailed as more scientifically credible, Deep Impact does seem more realistic in how the disaster is dealt with. The preparation and logistics of controlling the population and ensuring mankind’s survival are much better executed than in, for example, 2012, in which it only seems to matter if you have enough cash to buy your way to safety. The characters are genuine and though the same inaccuracies prevail as in every film of this genre, I think the audience are more inclined to overlook them due to the high quality of everything else. Out of my four marathon titles, it was the only one to make me cry and I think that’s due to caring more about the characters in Deep Impact than in any of the other films.

 

As for my favourite film out of the four, it’s a tough call between Independence Day and Deep Impact. I think it’s telling that the two films I like best out of the genre were both made in the 90’s. I genuinely think that, even with all the enhanced special effects and even greater dangers we actually face from real life disasters, the 1990’s produced better movies in the disaster/apocalypse genre than we do today. Maybe it’s because of that greater danger; we can’t make the movies too real or it’ll hit home, just how close we really are to destroying ourselves without Mother Nature’s help.

I have a voice!

I’m sorry to say, but I broke my Charmed marathon the other day. Couldn’t help myself I’m afraid. The King’s Speech was too much of a draw, it called to me and I replied. And I’m very glad I did because the film was very, very good.


Colin Firth aka So-perfect-as-an-actor-it-hurts played Prince Albert, later to become King George VI, struggling with a speech impediment. His wife, played by Helena Bonham Carter (she was brilliant), introduces him to Lionel Logue, Geoffrey Rush, who works to help ‘Bertie’ conquer his stammer.

I can’t really write a proper review to be honest because I genuinely just enjoyed the film. Period drama often leaves me feeling like this; simply contented to let the film just wash over me. I didn’t find anything wrong with the film, but I didn’t find anything outstanding about it either. Firth’s performance was excellent and deserves the many awards nods it has received but, then, it is Colin Firth; he’s damned good at pretty much everything. I would recommend a watch, because it is a very nice film and it definitely left me with the warm and fuzzies.

These are dark times. There is no denying.

So Harry Potter again. Just a quick buzz to say I loved it. So much. Bloody brilliant as Ron would say. The only slightly bad thing I have to say about it is that I feel they rushed through it a little bit. I know it was almost two and a half hours but what happened in the film takes up the large majority of the final book. The last battle isn’t one half, it’s actually a mere few chapters. I can see why they’ve done it. They can promote Part One as a quest story and then Part Two is a big old action fantasy film. I get it. It’s smart. But it’s aggravating when you feel things have been overlooked or missed out. I feel that way with most film adaptations, and with all previous Harry Potter films, but I would’ve liked to not have that this time.

However, all that said, what was lost in this film was minor compared to its many attributes. The cinematography and special effects were amazing (although there was a significant lack of the latter – saving it all for Part Two I imagine) and the actors have most definitely come into their own. Even though he wasn’t in it for long, Jason Isaacs in particular played the part of Lucius Malfoy brilliantly. I loved how Malfoy had become so unkempt and nervous because of Voldemort’s presence in his home.

Anyway, it’s still early in terms of the release so I’m not going to pick through the film because I can’t be fussed with “spoiler alert”-ing everything. I did love it though and am desperate to see it again, if only to satisfy my growing Rupert crush. In the mean time, I have succumbed slightly to PotterMania and am finding any and every source of HP related material just to keep myself sane until Deathly Hallows: Part Two. Once that’s over I have no idea what will happen. I might just curl up in a small ball and cry. Or invent new stories for the characters in my head. Possibly involving whipped cream.

The end is nigh...

Tomorrow, I go to see HP7 Part 1. I am extremely excited and have been psyching myself up for, oh, the past month or so.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to re-watch all six films and then this week decided to do so again. I also dragged out my copy of book 7 and devoured in all of a day.

I really like the Harry Potter franchise. I know I’m an adult and I should leave well alone but I can’t help it. When the series began on screen, I was the same age as the characters. I’m the same age as many of the cast as well and because of this I feel this weird affinity. My friends and I watched these films growing up, we had schoolgirl crushes on the male leads (I still have a big adult crush on Rupert Grint – Ron) and stuck photos in our lockers. They’re like an extended family, in a world that I wish I could join. I think every boy or girl has fantasies about escaping to a magical world but the boarding school thing heightened it for me too.

When I was younger, I loved Enid Blyton’s books about boarding schools. Malory Towers, The Twins at St Clare’s; I dreamed that I was one of them. And as I got too old to think of going to a school like that as a student, I decided I wanted to be a teacher, have my own boarding school and live there forever. I imagine it’s got something to do with escaping my dreary middle class life and doing something, if not exciting, then at least something no one else I knew had done. I’d go far away, on a big adventure. Also, the fact that everyone seemed to love and respect books and learning at these places enthralled me. I didn’t really know anyone growing up who read like I did and I was always seen as a bit odd by my friends because of it. It wasn’t really until University that I met people who really loved books and read just for the pleasure of it.

So you combine boarding school, magic, cute boys and, to me, you’ve got a pretty solid starting block. Add in all the villains and intrigue and the books take you on a brilliant, exhilarating ride. The films do that just as well in my opinion. They’re not as good as the novels of course. They leave too many important details out (as with almost every other book to film adaptation) and they haven’t really matured with the audience and the characters as the books did. But on the whole, they do give me the warm and fuzzies. I’m sad that soon it’ll all be over, gone but hopefully not forgotten. It’s is the ultimate guilty pleasure, the series that spawned special adult editions so that commuters didn’t have to hide their books on the train. It generated official clothing, video games, merchandise and a theme park, along with all the unofficial fanfiction, websites, podcasts and conventions hosted up and down not just the UK but the entire world. It has poured tourists into the country, desperate to see the places described in Rowling’s books. Even Kings Cross has erected a plaque to mark where every witch or wizard on their way to Hogwarts must cross into Platform 9 ¾. Whether people enjoy the series or not, they cannot argue that it has captured and inspired an audience around the world.

I think it pisses God off when you walk by the color purple in a field and don't notice it.

I watched The Color Purple (it feels so wrong spelling it that way) again the other day and was shocked after watching Precious a couple of months ago by how much the latter is based on the former. Both have obviously been adapted from novels, however, Precious (from the novel Push by Sapphire) is such a blatant re-writing of Color Purple (Alice Walker) it makes me quite angry.

I have no problem with re-writings, especially if they are done well. Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea is a brilliant re-imagining of Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) and Margaret Attwood's The Penelopiad is an outstanding sing-song version of Homer's Odyssey. Thing is, Precious is not a re-writing. It's a simple copy of a much better and much more poignant novel. If you're going to use a novel like Walker's as inspiration, at least have the decency to change the plot a little and to credit the original.

I loved Push when I read it and though Precious was a great adaptation. Now that I've watched Color Purple again (I read the book about three years ago as well) I'm just disappointed that Sapphire chose to rip off a great novel. She's an exquisite writer and the character Precious is excellently portrayed, but Celie and herself are such similar characters, even down to having the same amount of children by their fathers. Both uneducated, underprivileged, black women who overcome their oppressive parental figures (In my mind, Mr. in Color Purple still constitutes a father figure - he treats Celie just as her father treated her) and become better people for it.

Both novels are worth a read, however, I am going to have to take back any brilliant things I previously said about Push in other blogs. It is well written and an important novel to read but I think it is unjust of the writer to plagiarise Walker and receive so much credit for it.

All that said and done, Walker wrote an amazing novel and Whoopi Goldberg's debut performance as Celie in the film version (directed by Spielberg!)is really brilliant. Read and watch them both.

Letters To God Trailer

You say goodbye, I say hello.

Hello fellow blogees and blogettes. Once again apologies but it has been a crazy few weeks and, unfortunately, this has fallen by the wayside. Anyway, I'm back now and will crack on regardless.

TV, Films and Books this week. I watched the trailer for Scott Pilgrim the other day and found my interest peaked. A colleague had been talking about the movie for ages and I finally broke and watched the very brief trailer and was pleasantly surprised. Definitely interesting.

Finished Stolen by Lucy Christopher this week and, considering it was a book I picked up on a whim, I really enjoyed it. The main character, Gemma, is kidnapped and the novel is comprised of a long descriptive letter to her captor. However, because Gemma's dialogue remains squarely in the past, we are unaware how her life has progressed; whether she has escaped, been rescued or learnt to accept her life. By the end of the novel, we are of course treated to the outcome, and I'm pleased that Christopher doesn't give away any of the plot before we need to know it.

I'm attempting, at the moment, six novels. Small Island by Andrea Levy, We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver and A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire are all so close to being finished and hopefully I'll have reviews for you next week. A Lion Among Men I've had for much too long and it's just getting ridiculous.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro was one I did finish though. And I am so glad I did. Ishiguro brings to life an impossible alternate reality that, although steeped in our own history, focusses on a entirely different future. Like I said before, parts of it truly are spine tingling and Kathy, the main character, makes us question completely what it means to be human. If you haven't already, it is a novel that deserves to be read.

My final book thought is on Push by Sapphire. The basis for the film Precious, it is simply sensational. Whatever your preconceptions about the book or the film, it is an essential novel for our times. Precious Jones is a beautiful yet destroyed young woman and it is amazing to watch her progress and her gaining of independence through her education. Sapphire is a truly spectacular writer and her characters jump off the page until you want to carry all of them away and to safety.

So it's been quiet on the book front for a while. Films and TV have been thriving however. I saw Alice in Wonderland the other day for example, and I must say I was very underwhelmed. Such a big hype, so many big names but such a small film. Burton seems to be walking a line between the absurd and the traditional and it, unfortunately, doesn't work in this particular film. Burton is a master of his craft but I think his style has become slightly stale. His films no longer shock because we expect the weird and the wacky. The films that shock now have to break different boundaries. Take Kick Ass for example (a film I am still dying to see). Seeing a child swear THAT profusely and kill without regret makes us sit up and pay attention. Not much else does.

I did say last time that I had almost finished In Treatment Season 1. I am now on the final two episodes of Season 2 and am still enjoying it so much. It's great mostly because you feel like you really shouldn't be hearing what these people are saying, witnessing their breakthroughs and breakdowns. It feels illicit, watching their private lives unfold and for this reason I would recommend watching it alone. If you're with someone else, it breaks the spell.

I'm going to leave it there for today. Until next time.

Day Two in the Big Brother House

Isn't that supposed to start soon? The last one ever? Thank God, but you realise they will find another way to rehash it and bring it out as something else. Brilliant, just another new reality TV nightmare.

Talking of reality TV, I caught a glimpse of Project Runway today, for the first time ever. It was nowhere near as bad as I imagined. Next Top Model on the other hand...

Anyway, so this week. Not been a big week on the media front, I've been re-watching some old films and so reviews are pretty thin on the ground. Book wise, I'm almost finished Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. Both are novels, I have to admit, I only started because of the fact that they're best sellers, not that that's always a bad thing. But I genuinely barely even read the summaries before borrowing them from the library (Yes, I'm a big borrower. To be honest, when you read as much as I do I'd go bankrupt if I tried to buy everything that even vaguely interested me) and I've been pleasantly surprised. Never Let Me Go is nothing like what I expected (It's a Sci-Fi Novel in Drama clothing) and it reminds me a lot of 1984, Children of Men and, well, basically every dystopia future novel I've read. Also, Repo! The Genetic Opera the film because it some parts it feels actually quite spine-tingling, perhaps because a lot of the novel is looking back at the memories of a child.

We Need To Talk About Kevin is great. I love the letter format, especially when most of the text is focussing hugely on the past because it really makes you feel like the husband; you're the reader, remembering the shared past with the characters. I do feel that since reading Sixteen Minutes by Jodie Picoult (I know, I'm sick of her too now) that the idea of school shooting as the main plot device is extremely overdone. Obviously it's a topic many authors and film makers want to cover as it's hugely important and, unfortunately, is becoming more prevalent in American culture, but it is difficult to find a unique and yet still sensitive perspective on a devastating crime. Shriver has managed to interject something new into the old nature vs. nurture argument however, and this does add to the novel. As Picoult would say, What Would You Do?

DVD wise, It's been a quiet week. I finally bought a copy of Batman: The Dark Knight and watched that for the first time on DVD. I still maintain that film has around three endings and is much too long but the performances are outstanding and I'm hoping that there are plans for another. I did get a little free comic in the DVD as well though, which was nice.

New things I've watched this week...mostly I've been catching up on Survivors Season Two. I loved Season One but managed to miss all of Two on TV and on BBC IPlayer so had to rent it. Not as thrilling as number One but still with some great cliffhangers and once again leaving me yelling "NOOOOO!" at the Computer screen as episode six (the finale) finished. Why, I ask you, can the BBC not make a series longer that about thirteen episodes? Just because it goes on longer than a few weeks doesn't mean we'll all lose interest. American shows goes on for much too long (*cough* 24) yet they still drag in the ratings. Please give us a show we can really get invested in. It takes you at least three episodes to get into a show and then a good while after that to actually begin to care about the characters. I promise that if the BBC produce a decent drama/sci fi show lasting for more than a week, I will stick with it for at least seven episodes, just to prove a point.

So quick little update over. Hopefully, I will have a media filled week and will have much more to say next week. Also, I promise a big old review of In Treatment (I'm on episode 40, we're almost there!) and hopefully, a look at some more recent books.


Until next week.

the best laid schemes of mice and men...

Go often askew. As mine have done.

So with all the best intentions in mind of beginning this blog and updating regularly, I apparently couldn't even get past the first introductory post! Unfortunately, I've begun to really love that 150 character limit on Twitter. All expectations of witty and intellectual comments are null and void, which makes it a lot easier to sit down to write anything.

Even so, I'm going to attempt this. I make no promises and apologise for any extremely short posts. At least they're posts right? Anyway, I'll crack on.

Just this week, I finally got round to reading Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I wasn't holding out a lot of hope, especially when I realised it's a travel memoir. I will say I love Bill Bryson but I've never been compelled to read any other travel writing. A term at University of Travel Writing only convinced me of the fact that it was very difficult to write interesting and exciting travel books. You may have had the most wonderful time away in Singapore or Australia but it doesn't mean it will necessarily translate back in dreary old England. Thing is, Gilbert managed, for me, to make her writing feel much more personal than most travel writing. I have no desire to live in an ashram or study with a medicine man but she made both those experiences sound exquisite and profound. Italy I have visited and perhaps because my experience was vastly different to hers it made it very enjoyable to read. Gilbert has definitely made me see how visiting a country for a holiday and staying for as long as she did are very different and give you often completely conflicting views of a country or city. I've never really been interested in travelling before and although I haven't felt a huge peak in my interest since reading the book, it has made me understand the desire to see a country from that angle.

As always, I'm watching more films and T.V. than I really should. This week it was Driving Aphrodite, Adam, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and the BBC version of The Other Boleyn Girl. Also, I'm attempting to catch up with In Treatment with Gabriel Byrne.

Driving Aphrodite was (another!) Nia Vardalos number. Not saying she's not entertaining but I do feel sorry for her that is never cast in a film that at some point doesn't refer to Greece. In this one, she is an American teacher, living in Greece who has ended up working as a tour guide. Of course, she is hapless, without a clue and hilarity ensues. Complete with a host of racial stereotypes, it ticks every box if you want to switch off your brain for an hour and a half.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is a manga creation and it was only when the teenage characters referred to 'jerking off' did I realise it wasn't a Ghibli film. Apart from that, it has all the characteristics of a regulation Miyazaki masterpiece. Perhaps the animation is slightly under-par but otherwise it lived up to my expectations. I do have to admit, I watched it dubbed. I'm fine with subtitles in live action but I can't stand them in animation. And, as in the case of Spirited Away, the drawing is so beautiful I don't want to have to look at the ugly text at the bottom.

Adam, with Hugh Dancy and Rose Byrne, was a film I found really interesting when I first heard about it. A man living with Aspergers Syndrome (a condition I have witnessed) meets a woman who opens up the world to him and introduces him to things he has never even considered. Although not quite as good as I had imagined (to be honest, I probably expected something way too sensitive for Hollywood), it was interesting, if only to have a look at a syndrome that I've only observed in children. Hugh Dancy plays the title character very well and Adam's discomfort in social situations is brilliantly illustrated. I recommend it, especially if it's a condition you're unfamiliar with, as around 1 in 100 people in the UK have it.

BBC's version of The Other Boleyn Girl is a film I watched quite a few years ago and only recently bought. It still shocks me every time as it's really low budget for a BBC production and I hate the way the characters talk to the screen as if it's a confessional. However, it is more true to the novel than the recent Hollywood remake and that does endear me to it. It is truly disturbing in parts and although Mary Boleyn is portrayed as much more shrewd in it than in the novel, Anne's insecurities and humanity are allowed more of a forum. If you enjoyed the novel, it's an interesting adaptation to watch.

In Treatment is Gabriel Byrne's relatively new T.V. show about a psychiatrist and the relationships he builds with the patients he sees every week. A brilliant format, each episode focussing on one session and one day a week, we experience the shocks and the reveals as the character would. It is infuriating having to wait five episodes to get back to a storyline you find particularly interesting but as the series progresses, the story lines tend to merge. I'm about half way through the series at the moment but I will keep you updated! It's definitely worth a watch but make sure you've got the patience, it's 43 episodes long!

Well, that's all from me for today. What I'll try is a post like this once a week and we'll see how we go. Until next time.