Bridge to Terabithia

Bridge to Terabithia I saw the film first and liked it a lot (cried lots and lots) and when I saw the book at a secondhand book shop on line I just got it. And it was good. Again cried lots.

The Angel's Share

The Angel's Share was a bargain bin purchase. Not because I like Ken Loach or any of the cast. But I have recently came across the term (used for the 2% of the whiskey that dissappears from the distilleries, probably evaporating or something) and found it nice to see a film titles as such. And I liked it. First off loved watching actors who looked like real people and felt for our lead who was a nasty person but now trying to turn his life around because he has a girlfriend he loves and he is going to be a father. So we have four misfits who need to do some community service for petty crimes and lucky for them their supervisor at the programme turns out to be a very good guy.
I actually cried and ended up feeling good after the viewing. 

The Other Woman

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The Other Woman is the story of a successful career woman falling in love with a dream guy who turns out to be married (and lied about it). Interestingly enough she becomes friends with his wife and they both meet his third mistress and plan to make him suffer. Not only because he is a liar and cheater in his personal life but his professional life also. This one has a lot of potential. Good, likable actors, a good message and an interesting plot. However the director Mr.John Cassavettes doesn't have a knack for comedy. Most of the jokes fell flat and the efforts of otherwise successful actors failed. All in all I liked it but wouldn't want to watch it again. 

The Babadook

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The Babadook is one the horror films I have heard good things about and when I saw it available on Dvdigi I immediately set out to watch. And it was as good as they said.

Amelia is a widow who struggles with her 6 year old son. He has behavioural problems and an active imagination. Amelia doesn't really have any practical or emotional help since her sister is distant and condescending and only her neighbour who has Parkinson's disease offers some small help in her daily life.

She still suffers from the death of her husband (who died at an accident on the way to take her to the hospital to give birth) and is emotionally unequipped with the demands of her son. Never getting enough sleep, not finding satisfaction in her job as a nurse at an old people's home, missing her dead husband all adds up to her strain and at one point we do not know whether the Babadook is really there of just a representation of the things that give her a hard time. That was the most scary part and I was really worried about the little boy who actually started to act normally after his mother started to behave strangely. Loved the actors, loved the washed up cinematography and the special effects which were just the right dose (not showy).

I highly recommend this one. 

Citadel

Citadel was among the bargain bin books I chose from a web site. It ended up being alrihgt. However the reading experience was uneven with some parts really emotional and effective and some that literally put me to sleep. Also it is a powerful story that lost something with the involvement of the supernatural. In the end I admired the novel but didn't care for it very much. 

The Return of the King

The Return of the King the film was not as good as I remembered. Especially right after the novel it kind of stank. Oh I have cried don't get me wrong but it was more like 'I can't believe I'm crying over this lousy adaptation' kind of cry.

I think the best way to adopt these books would be as TV series with one hour episodes keeping everything in and getting a better cast (Cate Blanchett and Ian McKellen are the only two I really cared for). 

The Return of the King

The Return of the King completed the trilogy and with this I fell even stronger for it. I loved everything about the novel even better than the first time and have gotten used to the reader too. Highly recommended a classic and a masterpiece. 

Zoolander

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Zoolander is one of my all time favorite comedies. First off I love Ben Stiller ever since There is Something About Mary (which probably is my all time fave comedy film), I love Owen Wilson and everything about this one worked for me.

Oscar and Lucinda

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Oscar and Lucinda sounded intersting on paper and I love both Cate Blanchett and Ralph Fiennes. And I love period dramas and love stories. So what went wrong?

I think it is because of the adaptation. The book probably is a good work of fiction (I could tell) but it didn't translate well onto screen. Even though they made a lovely glass church and everything..

Boogie Nights

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Boogie Nights was on Digiturk on Saturday and I decided to record it to watch next day. It is the first PTA film I had seen and despite the fact that I had watched it with my mother, I didn't feel awkward even at the very end. We both kind of laughed and talked about special effects afterwards.

This viewing was much better the second time only it was ruined because they censored the last scene. Seriously? You have shown everything else and just snip that one off? It is not possible for me to understand this since the film was aired at 03:00 a:m anway.

It is, to me, a must watch but you have to make sure you see the uncensorded version (and yeah it makes a difference) 

Police

Police I saving since I guessed that I'd be in for a ride. Hole books are good if you space them out and I loved Phantom very very much. But this one turned out to be not as good. It is a twist fest. There are so many twists that after you get tired of them and annoyed to the brink, you start to guess them automatically (and yes, there are enough twist to get you through these stages). This is probably the worst of the series so far for me. 

Cape Fear

Cape Fear a Scorsese film I have not seen before and this gloomy Sunday was the perfect opportunity to give it a try. I liked it and also want to watch the original. Some shots such as Nick Nolte looking out from the mirror reminded me of Old Boy (dir. Mr. Park Chan Wook). Robert De Niro was delightfully over the top and despite the fact that I do not care for Nick Nolte nor for Juliette Lewis, I love De Niro and Jessica Lange so in the end the film turned out to be an involving viewing experience and one that I may want to re-visit in the distant future.  

The Language of Flowers

The Language of Flowers This one I got from an online bargain bin and I was not expecting much but I liked it a lot. Despite the fact the prose is generic, the story turned out to be a touching one -for me- and I was interested throughout. It is pretty first world but worked for me in the end. 

The Two Towers

The Two Towers the film is even worse adaptation than The Fellowship of the Ring. It is not a bad film but it just does not compare to the novel and I didn't like the liberties the director took. For instance Faramir is one of the few people who seems immune to the lure of the ring and doesn't even bat an eye lash when he was in a position to get it. He simply lets our little travellers go their course (only worried that they took the most perilious path imaginable). In the film Faramir struggles with himself and only lets them go their way in Osgiliard.

I had a bit of a crush on Faramir the first time I read the novel but now it is all about Frodo as far as I'm concerned.

Anyway the film and its liberties and also unnecessary whimsies (as Legolas skateboarding in Helm's Deep) and them turning Gimli into comic relief are all turn offs.  

The Two Towers

The Two Towers only cemented my love of Lord of the Rings. It is as if I'm reading the books for the first time and I'm so entertained and into it that I simply don't want it to end but keep reading because it is so good. I'm pretty much used to this reader and we are just fine.  

Liar Game

Liar Game interested me only because S.Korea remade it and there was a good buzz around it. Then my sister also recommended it so I bought it to give it a try. Well I need to remember my sister and my tastes are different. This drama is all about battle of wits after battle of wits staged as a game where you can win or lose money based on how smart you are. We have the "angel" female who is pretty, very honest and well intentioned. And we have the mysterious hero a moody ex-con with a golden heart but intent on revenge. Will our heroine's angelic light be able to save our hero from the darkness that revenge inevitably will bring? On the paper it sounds like my thing but despite loving "the angel" type this one just annoyed me. I do not care for the male lead either and all the convoluted calculations on how to win each stupid game left me with boredom rather than suspense. Anyway I think I fell asleep for about 10 minutes towards the end but still managed to see that ( SPOILER) angel conquered the stony heart of game master and his side kick, managed to save everyone from being bad people, turned hero to the right path and still ran after him like a little puppy.

Anyway I can see how it entertained lots of people but this definitely is not my thing and I don't even want to watch Korean remake now. 

The Ocean At The End of The Lake

The Ocean at The End of The Lake It seems very odd that I was introduced to Neil Gaiman's work through James McAvoy. I had a heavy crush for him and when I saw that he starred in a radio play audibook version of Neverwhere, I immediately went for it. However the colleague who lets me use his audiobook account downloaded another version, unabridged and read by the Author. Well nothing to do but give it a try and I LOVED it. Fortunately my colleauge loved it too and actually purchased American Gods which I too loved. So I when I saw this at JFK airport I had to get it.

And it is a wonderful novel. Too short for me but just enough for the story. A child who had a traumatic - and really scary - experience but received good help and gained kind friends. Highly recommended.



And I'm very happy that I had a crush on Mr.McAvoy :) since even though my film crushes are usually temporary (it seems only Edward Norton and Leonardo DiCaprio remain constant so far) my literary crushes usually last a long time (in fact I don't think I have ever dropped one) 

Rio 2

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Rio 2 is a very good follow up to the first film. Some parts of it reminded me of Meet The Parents but that didn't bother me and I had a ball with the characters I knew and liked. Recommended 

American Woman

American Woman is one of the novels I have picked up at a secondhand book store in San Francisco. The bullet holes are part of the cover art (heh).
I liked it. Despite the seemingly mysterious and action filled plot, the novel is dreamy and introspective with sentences flowing among the characters' psyches and descriptions of the environment. It is not the type of novel that one feels unwilling to leave but it is gripping while reading it. Recommended and I will be on the lookout for the author's previous novel The Foreign Student. 

The Fellowship of the Ring (The Novel)

The Fellowship of The Ring I liked the novel even better the second time. I didn't really like the audiobook narrator though. He did a great job and he even sings the songs but the voices he makes mix with eachother very often (like Gandalf's speech is so similar to Aragorn's) Anyway this is a pet peeve, I'm having a great time with the trilogy.