Wow.
This movie was so boring.
I'm sorry to be so critical, but... honestly? At least half a dozen people left the theatre as it played (and it was a small theatre) and more just slept... I could hear a guy in my row snoring. The costumes, I grant you, were beautiful. But the characters had no chemistry, I didn't even like them, and I certainly didn't care about the things they cared about. Which means as a character-driven drama it failed. Failed miserably.
Also, it was two and a half hours long.
Zzzzz.
Saturday, 22 March 2008
Thursday, 20 March 2008
Book: Illumination Night
Title: Illumination Night
Author: Alice Hoffman
Thoughts: I sure will be sad when I run out of Alice Hoffman books. The thing is, I don't love all of them. Some stories I just can't get behind. Illumination Night wasn't one of those. It was a delicate story with just enough of the magical realism I so enjoy in her books. Sometimes you feel as though you're reading a grown-up fairy tale. Sure her usual themes of infidelity and rebellious teenagehood were present, and sometimes I get sick of those, but I really enjoyed this book. It was a lovely tonic while I recuperated from the flu!
Author: Alice Hoffman
Thoughts: I sure will be sad when I run out of Alice Hoffman books. The thing is, I don't love all of them. Some stories I just can't get behind. Illumination Night wasn't one of those. It was a delicate story with just enough of the magical realism I so enjoy in her books. Sometimes you feel as though you're reading a grown-up fairy tale. Sure her usual themes of infidelity and rebellious teenagehood were present, and sometimes I get sick of those, but I really enjoyed this book. It was a lovely tonic while I recuperated from the flu!
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
Book: The Bright Forever
Title: The Bright Forever
Author: Lee Martin
Thoughts: I liked a lot of things about this book. I'm always on the lookout for books that use multiple POVs well, and Martin really had his POV voices down pat. The reader doesn't get to hear every character, but the characters chosen are good ones. There was, in my opinion, a little too much 'playing to the camera' for lack of a better term: a character saying something along the lines of 'well, you'll understand when I tell you my story' or 'but we haven't reached that part of my story yet' etc. Overall it was touching and well-written, but it was no The Lovely Bones.
Author: Lee Martin
Thoughts: I liked a lot of things about this book. I'm always on the lookout for books that use multiple POVs well, and Martin really had his POV voices down pat. The reader doesn't get to hear every character, but the characters chosen are good ones. There was, in my opinion, a little too much 'playing to the camera' for lack of a better term: a character saying something along the lines of 'well, you'll understand when I tell you my story' or 'but we haven't reached that part of my story yet' etc. Overall it was touching and well-written, but it was no The Lovely Bones.
Sunday, 16 March 2008
Movie: The Other Boleyn Girl
Well. The book was better.
The problem, I think, with doing a movie based on this book is that even though the events are historical and epic and lend themselves to film story-telling, the book was more intimate. A lot of that intimacy was lost in the scope of 'ooh! castles! Eric Bana! ooh! pretty girls!'
Sometimes when I watch too many Hollywood movies, I start to see the terrible stereotypes everywhere. Here is the 'good sister' here is the 'bad sister' here is the 'weak dad' here is the 'chummy brother'. It's as though everyone only ever gets one word to describe their character, and heaven help them if the want to bring anything more to the table. "No! I said you are the good sister and THAT IS ALL!!"
Sometimes Hollywood drives me nuts.
The problem, I think, with doing a movie based on this book is that even though the events are historical and epic and lend themselves to film story-telling, the book was more intimate. A lot of that intimacy was lost in the scope of 'ooh! castles! Eric Bana! ooh! pretty girls!'
Sometimes when I watch too many Hollywood movies, I start to see the terrible stereotypes everywhere. Here is the 'good sister' here is the 'bad sister' here is the 'weak dad' here is the 'chummy brother'. It's as though everyone only ever gets one word to describe their character, and heaven help them if the want to bring anything more to the table. "No! I said you are the good sister and THAT IS ALL!!"
Sometimes Hollywood drives me nuts.
Friday, 14 March 2008
Books: Alice MacLeod, Realist at Last
Title: Alice MacLeod, Realist at Last
Author: Susan Juby
Thoughts: At first I was like "What? Are you serious? Smithers?" because it would never occur to me to set a novel in Smithers, BC. After I wrapped my head around that, though, I actually enjoyed this quick little teen read. Juby has a nice voice--perhaps a little older than 16 years old, though--and I was amused from beginning to end. I wouldn't mind reading the earlier books in the series, and will look for them in library.
Author: Susan Juby
Thoughts: At first I was like "What? Are you serious? Smithers?" because it would never occur to me to set a novel in Smithers, BC. After I wrapped my head around that, though, I actually enjoyed this quick little teen read. Juby has a nice voice--perhaps a little older than 16 years old, though--and I was amused from beginning to end. I wouldn't mind reading the earlier books in the series, and will look for them in library.
Book: The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters
Title: The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters
Author: Elisabeth Robinson
Thoughts: Okay, I'll admit it: I have a real problem with epistolary novels. Letters. Diary entries. I find these things difficult to get behind. Occasionally a novel transcends this problem (The Josephine B. books come to mind) but mostly I find it hard to care about the characters when you're never getting anything but their words. And, especially as in this book, only one character's words.
Robinson almost had me with this novel. I still struggled and put it down half-way through... but I picked it up again. I enjoyed her use of language and was many times jealous of a beautiful turn of phrase. I cried a little.
I am really curious to see what comes of this second novel she is apparently working on.
Author: Elisabeth Robinson
Thoughts: Okay, I'll admit it: I have a real problem with epistolary novels. Letters. Diary entries. I find these things difficult to get behind. Occasionally a novel transcends this problem (The Josephine B. books come to mind) but mostly I find it hard to care about the characters when you're never getting anything but their words. And, especially as in this book, only one character's words.
Robinson almost had me with this novel. I still struggled and put it down half-way through... but I picked it up again. I enjoyed her use of language and was many times jealous of a beautiful turn of phrase. I cried a little.
I am really curious to see what comes of this second novel she is apparently working on.
Movie: Be Kind Rewind
My husband, who is notoriously hard on movies when it comes to the star scale (1-5), gave this movie a 5. Since this never happens, I probably built it up a little before heading off to see it on my own. I thought it had a bit of a slow start, but once the action of the piece finally started, it was both amusing and thoughtful. Essentially it was a film about coming together to celebrate shared experiences and shared loves, both with cleverness and with a touch of sentimentality. I think I could have done with a teeny bit less of Jack Black being Jack Black, but overall it was a great film.
Monday, 3 March 2008
Book: The Secret Garden
Title: The Secret Garden
Author: Frances Hodgeson Burnett
Thoughts: As soon as I finished reading A Little Princess, I happened to find The Secret Garden in a thrift shop and I snapped it right up. It was just as delicate and descriptive and lovely and inspiring. I love her characters! I want to read every book she has ever written... that's how much I enjoyed these two books, be they intended for children or not. I've often said I think books for children have to be more compelling than those meant for adults because children make for a cruel audience. If you don't keep them consistently and constantly entertained, down the book goes, never to be picked up again.
Author: Frances Hodgeson Burnett
Thoughts: As soon as I finished reading A Little Princess, I happened to find The Secret Garden in a thrift shop and I snapped it right up. It was just as delicate and descriptive and lovely and inspiring. I love her characters! I want to read every book she has ever written... that's how much I enjoyed these two books, be they intended for children or not. I've often said I think books for children have to be more compelling than those meant for adults because children make for a cruel audience. If you don't keep them consistently and constantly entertained, down the book goes, never to be picked up again.
Book: A Little Princess
Title: A Little Princess
Author: Frances Hodgeson Burnett
Thoughts: I don't know how I missed reading this book when I was a child--everything about it was lovely. The prose is light but still evocative and descriptive. I understand why it was made into a film--Burnett is adept with descriptive language. I started smiling about five pages in and didn't stop until the end. I love a book that makes me smile.
Author: Frances Hodgeson Burnett
Thoughts: I don't know how I missed reading this book when I was a child--everything about it was lovely. The prose is light but still evocative and descriptive. I understand why it was made into a film--Burnett is adept with descriptive language. I started smiling about five pages in and didn't stop until the end. I love a book that makes me smile.
Wednesday, 6 February 2008
Movie: The Silence Before Bach
I think, perhaps, this film thought it was cleverer than it actually was. The music, of course, was amazing. Even the way the little vignettes tied together in a sort of fugue-like fashion was kind of neat (though my husband points out that in a fugue there is simultaneity, which was not the case here). Mostly, though, the film suffered from a case of the borings. It didn't engage quite enough to carry off what it was doing. If you're going to present an agonizingly long, boring shot of something you'd better damn-well make sure your audience is already so engaged they won't notice.
See: The New World. Some people thought that movie was boring. I was so engaged from the first moment I would have watched that actress read the phone book. The whole New York City phone book. All five boroughs. If such a thing existed.
See: The New World. Some people thought that movie was boring. I was so engaged from the first moment I would have watched that actress read the phone book. The whole New York City phone book. All five boroughs. If such a thing existed.
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