Kıran Kırana

Kıran Kırana Bu kısacık kitapçığı severek takip ettiğim bloglardan birinde tavsiye edildiği için aldım ancak benim için hayal kırıklığı oldu. Tercüme de mi bir şey oldu yoksa gerçekten bu kadar kuru ve intikamcı mıydı bilemiyorum. Aslında pek merak ta etmiyorum.

The Burning Plain

The Burning Plain  I can't believe I have never heard about this one and only was aware of its existence through watching trailers on another dvd. And I liked it very much. First off I like all the three lead actresses. Charlize Theron is to me an ideal beauty but she is also smart and talented. I never really cared for her but started to after watching Young Adult (she was flawless in that one, seriously flawless). I like Kim Bassinger too. I think she is pretty and she is a good actress. And Jennifer Lawrence, I don't really care for her entertainment persona (although she is miles better than some other entertainers out there) but I love her acting. She is very talented and won me over as soon as I watched in The Winter's Bone.  And no matter how the film, she is dependable -so far-.

And the story was very good too. I saw everything coming but that didn't matter. I wanted our main character to finally find happiness and was rooting for her all the way.

Recommended if you are into a not so cheerful but an interesting story. 

City of Ashes

City of Ashes Ok this sequel did not change my mind about how these series of YA novels are not really for older readers (or anyone who has actually read some novels before reading these) Their popularity escapes me. I thought we had hit the lowest with Fifty Shades of Grey and this is about the same level of prose but with the additional world building. Anyway not really recommended and I decided not to pay more for these.

The King's Speech

The King's Speech turned out to be a good film. And not just because I love Colin Firth as Mr.Darcy and cannot shake that no matter which character he acts as or how good his performance is.

I liked the script in the film best and I liked the fact that there were many close up shots on the actors (who all did a fine job).

All in all not a film I had seeked out when it came but glad that I have watched it.

And I think it is important to note that I have watched it on three hours sleep and never once yawned during. 

La Refugee

La Refuge is the last of the three dvds loaned to me by my co worker. And I liked it very much. The director's visual sensibilities and mise en scene fits me well and this time I was even able to guess the lines before they are uttered by the actors (this is not always a bad thing).
Ok I wouldn't call it a masterpiece but it was a good viewing experience.

Hayalet Ağrı

Hayalet Ağrı Ayça Şen'in bütün kitaplarını okudum. Gazete yazılarını da severek takip ederdim. Bu kitabı okumak keyifliydi. Ancak yazarın eserleri o an gerçekten alıp götürse ve düşündürse de, bende kalıcı etki bırakmıyor. Bunun neden olduğu konusunda da hiç bir fikrim yok.

Resim de ve filmde sürrealism çok sevdiğim bir akım değil (filmde istisna olarak şu an aklıma sadece Bunuel ve Tsai Ming Liang geliyor, Michael Gondry bir de belki biraz) ama farkettim ki edebiyatta ufak dozlarda gayet hoş buluyorum. Kitabın bu yönünü çok sevdim.

Sonuç olarak gönül rahatlığı ile tavsiye ederim, hayatınızı değiştirmez belki ama okuduğunuz süre zarfında duyguları dürtecek, beyni bir iki hoplatacaktır.

Ricky

Ricky was one of the films whose dvd were loaned to me by a co worker. Despite actually liking Francis Ozon films when I come across them, I do not actively seek them out. This one was just as adorable as its dvd cover. Nice little story of love, trust and making a family. And we have the flying baby of course and that was handled very well both in theme and in special effects.
And I couldn't help but watch the behind the scenes and the baby was so adorable laughing and enjoying himself surrounded by apprx. 2 dozen people around him filming.

All in all it was a pleasant viewing experience and I'll recommend if one has spare time.

Off Season

Off Season was a novel I was after for a long time. I have seen the film The Woman (and liked it a lot) and apparently it is a sequel/spin off of sorts to this novel (they made a film out of this one too but the reviews were really bad).

I can't really explain why fiction macabre appeals to me so much. But I like it when it is good and this one is. It is not on par with Richard Laymon (the master of macabre RIP) however it does have certain charm (I wonder whether this is the right word - heh) and I enjoyed it a lot. I liked the kick ass female characters too.

But ultimately this didn't have impact of the Laymon novels on me. After the first book I read, I wanted to read more right away. Mr.Ketchum's Red seems interesting (a different subject matter from this one) and I'll purchase it without hesitation if it comes my way but I wouldn't desperately seek it out.



SPOILERS!

Loved the end of the novel, I felt sorry for Nick and the boy in the cage but it felt organic and just like something that can actually happen. This one is a director's cut of a book version so in the afterword by the authour I have found out that Nick lives in the edited first edition. Seriously. He mentions some other cuts made to tone down the violence a bit (and this is kind of stupid since why would you want to publish a macabre book and try to cut the violence and gore?) but saving Nick is just plain interference with creativity. Anyway I'm glad that I have read this version.

Zeynep'in Sekiz Günü

Zeynep'in Sekiz Günü İlgiyle izlediğim kötü bir film oldu. İşyerinden bir arkadaşım dvd'yi ödünç verdi, yoksa benim seçeceğim tarzda bir film değil. Fadik Sevin Atasoy şaşırttı beni. Performansını çok beğendim. Kendisini bir Antalya Film Festivali açılışında sunucu olarak izlemiştim ve gıcık olmuştum. Ondan beri hiç bir işini merak etmedim. Ama gayet güzel döktürmüş. Yazık olmuş o performansa diyebilirim zira film - genelde Türk dramlarında olduğu üzere - akmıyor. Hadi tek bu olsa yine bir derece, ancak gereksiz açıklamalar, çoğu yerde tuhaf mizansenler, kostüm tasarımının başarısızlığı filan derken güzelim konu batmış gitmiş. Ama karakterin başına gelenler beni ilgilendirdi. Ah caption almayı bilseydim şimdi burada koyardım. Kadın ne zaman sapıtıp çevresindekileri doğrayacak diye merak içindeydim filmin ilk 15 dakikasından sonra.

Neyse zaten her film sevmek zorunda değilim (ama sevsem iyi olurdu). 

Beyond The Hills (Dupa Delauri)

Beyond The Hills is an apparently much loved festival favorite and it gave me absolutely nothing. The story was tragic and acted well though it simply did not reach me (and this is probably my fault but how can one adjust their taste). I'm not much of a viewer for Eastern Europe films after all.

Anyway I wouldn't say that it is a bad film but it just was not for me. 

50 First Dates

50 First Dates is a film that I have seen many times and still like it just as much. It was a nice Sunday morning treat and made me want to watch The Wedding Singer again.

Dostlukların Son Günü

Dostlukların Son Günü Kısa öykü okuma seyahatimin ikinci durağı. Selim İleri'nin Oburcuk Mutfakta isimli denemelerini beğenmiştim. Bu kitabı da rafta indirimde görünce dayanamadım aldım. İyi ki almışım.

Öyküler genel olarak iki bölüme ayrılıyor. Bir kısımda Kemal isimli çocuk gözünden eski İstanbul'da çeşitli karakterler ve diğer kısımda yine tek bir karakter ve çevresindekiler ama bu sefer karakter bir yetişkin ve öyküler olay değil algı ağırlıklı.
Ben doğal olarak ilk kısmı daha çok sevdim. Sanki siyah beyaz eski Yeşilçam filmi tadında betimlemeler. Çok zarif ve kibar tasvirlerin korkunçlukları saklamaması, aksine daha güzel vurgulaması. Çok keyif aldım ve duygulandım okurken.
Bu kitapta favori öykü seçerken zorlandım. Ama düşündükten sonra görünüşe göre çoğunluğun (hatta yazarın bile) en sevdiği

ağır bastı. Bu arada öykülerde Kemal'in çevresindeki karakterler huy değiştirebiliyor. Mesela yukarıda ki "Gelinlik Kız" da Kemal'in annesi çok iyi bir karakterken

"Elbise Haritaları"nda korkuç bir insan. Bu hikaye ikinci favorim oldu. Ayrıca "Bütün İstabul Bilsin" de kalbimi sızlatan ve çok güzel yazılmış bir öyküydü (foto çekmedim ama bahsini geçireyim)

Alice Munro'dan sonra ilaç gibi geldi bu kitap bana. Selim İleri'nin diğer kitaplarını da radara almalıyım.

Dong Yi

Dong Yi  Finally it is over and after 60 episodes, this is probably going to be labelled as "guilty pleasure" in my review files. The only good thing about this show is the acting. But then again I love almost all the cast so I may be a bit biased here. The baddies especially show two types of acting, main villain "less is more" and her brother secondary villain as "the more the better". Other than the acting (and maybe the costumes) there is nothing good about it. The story (a well known one in Korean history) is told as if to a five year old. The conversations are extremely simplistic and the plot(s) become sillier as they near the end. The flashbacks in the large majority of the episodes show things that only happened 10 seconds ago. 
The comic side characters are not funny (well I have found them hillarious) the jokes are bad bad bad (yeah I had to type it three times) everything in it thought the viewer is a child who has not seen any sageuk before. 
Now I like the genre and as mentioned about I like the actors and I thought the naive but kind hearted messages hammered through our heads especially in the last 10 episodes are good ones. 
But save yourself the agony and stay away from this. I enjoyed it and shed tears over it but it didn't really deserve any of it. 
I'm so happy that I got this legal copy very cheap on e-bay, thank God. 

The Windup Girl

The Windup Girl turned out to be simply excellent. I wouldn't change a thing in it and was completely immersed.

The story is at a distant future in Thailand (a nice coincidence since I'm planning to visit there soon inşaallah). The most valuable thing in the world is energy and calorie. Food is scarse and it is monopolised by calorie companies who sell undiseased but not growable seeds to third world countries. Many cities are underwater but Krung Thep is still standing not only against the ocean but also calorie companies and managed to remain independent (by having one of the western gene geniuses and getting undeseased crops and fruits developed). 

The characters are rich and they all were very interesting to me and I liked the way the female ones were the best ones (complex and capable). 

We have calorie man, the refugee Chinese old man, who lost everything in Malaya to fundementalists and barely was able to escape, the ex Muay Thai champion Ministry of Environment officer Jaidee who is not taking any bribes (very rare) and his side kick Kanya (who may have secret agendas of her own) and titular windup girl Emiko who is a genetically enhanced almost human (made in a lab) designed to serve Japanese sensibilities. She is a translator, secretary and companion (!) for her master. But her master was tired of her or something and discarded her in Krung Thep at the end of a trade visit. She is grabbed by a nasty sex club owner and forced to turn tricks every night there. 

I had no idea where the story was going and I didn't want it to end but I liked the ending and will seek more books of Mr.Bacihalupi.  

388 Arletta Avenue

388 Arletta Avenue is a horror film where a sick psycho killer first observes and then kills a family of two (and their cat). The film is filmed through the pov of the killer and the cameras he inserted around his victims.
Well I never liked Nick Stahl and the whole thing was boring. I actually fell asleep at some point for a few minutes and found that I didn't miss a thing. Not recommended. 

The French Lieutenant's Woman

The French Lieutenant's Woman is a film I wanted to watch solely because I like Merly Streep and period films. It turned out to be differently filmed in a film within a film way where we get to meet the actors' and their affair during filming (as fictional characters) and the film itself. I can't say I cared for this approach but finished the film, warts and all. 

Open Water

Open Water is not really a very good film but it served all my kinks since I actually was in a shark cage watching those very sharks (Galapagos type, if I'm not mistaken) and was frozen with fear. I was not aware that those would freak me out so much so that I hung on the far away corner with my limbs curled up and couldn't even move to the other end to get out. And worst thing was that sharks, like cats seem to gather around the one person who was not eager to see them. I closed my eyes and all but seriously, it was a very very scary experience, one I wouldn't want to repeat again.

So in this film two divers are left out by mistake in the ocean and nobody even realises that they are gone until the next morning.

SPOILERS!

Of course the film ended in the logical way with the two unfortunates eaten by sharks but I hoped at least one would make it you know.

Anyway I don't think this would mean much to someone who is not afraid of sharks but it got me pretty freaked out. 

Jack The Giant Slayer

Jack The Giant Slayer turned out to be better than I expected. I love Ewan McGregor and enjoyed the film's twist on the fairy tale. Visuals were very good and all in all I had a good time with it. 

Like Father, Like Son

Like Father, Like Son was the first film at my own little weekend film fest and I LOVED it. Hirokazu Kore-eda is a director I'm sympathetic towards to but this film surpassed my expectations with its melo story line and not visibly manipulated tugging of the heart strings. I must have shed a lot of tears because I felt dehydrated in the end. But was a happy viewer and thinking of buying it on dvd. 

Too Much Happiness

Too Much Happiness is the title I have chosen from amongs the several lying on the book shelf. Getting a Nobel does wonders for one's exposure. I have never even heard of this writer before. Well, not much of a short story reader here and usually I only read short stories written by fave writers but slowly getting into it by trying things (got a few Turkish short story books and wonder if they'll be any good).

As for the book it was alright I suppose. Certainly the prose deserves awards but this is not a writer whose books I'll seek out. She is good just not for me.

My favorite story in the book was

50/50

50/50 Joseph Gordon - Lewitt is so adorable that my liking of looking at his clean, dimpled face caused me to like this film more than I otherwise would have. The director, by using close up shots also helped me along and since this film is about a guy with a terminal illness and how he deals with it, lots of tears were shed by me. 

Prowl

Prowl Now this horror film is a decent one. I liked how the story is told and despite a few silliness over the course, the main things like the story, the visuals and the characters (especially the main one) were solid. I'll not pass if another film of this Norwegian director Patrik Syversen comes in my way. 

A Good Day To Die Hard

A Good Day to Die Hard  it is not as good as the original but it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Old Bruce is still better than a lot of young actors (including the one who played his son in this film). And the action scenes were very good, especially the car stunts. 

When A Stranger Calls

When A Stranger Calls  yet another mediocre horror film. Still I watched it to the end, that's something I suppose.

Max Payne

Max Payne  Not really my thing although some of the visuals were nice I suppose. They left the door open for a sequel but this one is so flimsy that I doubt anyone will seek to make one. Although maybe a different, more story oriented version would be better imho.

Bir Gün Tek Başına

Bir Gün Tek Başına Üçüncü kez okudum. Yine beni aldı götürdü. İki ana karakterin ikisini de çok sevmiyorum ama Vedat Türkali bana onları öyle güzel anlatıyor ki neyi neden yaptıkları hakkında düşünerek yolumu buluyorum onların iç dünyasında. Her okuduğumda bundan film olur diyorum ama hemen sonra romanın en etkileyici kısımlarının iç ses olduğunu hatırlayıp vazgeçiyorum. Günsel için kesinlikle Beren Saat ama Kenan'ı oynayacak bir aktör halen daha bulamadım.