Suite Française

Suite Français was on TV and its plot seemed interesting. A romance between a married French woman and a married German officer during the occupation of France. How, I wondered how can a woman fall for a man like that? Regardless of his personality, the position he is in wouldn't allow any feelings to develop unless the woman in question has an unhealthy mind.

I was wrong. It is a beautiful story that worked for me on every level. They immediately recognise each other as kindred souls (he is actually a composer and she studied music in school) but the circumstances are never undermined or swept away. They lose their minds for a minute but never have sex (they were going to but both were rudely awakened before they even got together). I would have liked this story anway but the lead actors were both very good. Michelle Williams is not someone I care for but she always comes through and Matthias Schoenaerts is the same. This guy is interesting in the fact that he is a good actor but I think his career is held back by his physiqué. He is very tall and the camera doesn't really love him. But he is great in the part and I liked him everytime I watched him (fave performance Rust and Bones).

The story of the novel is even more chilling. The writer Iréne Némirovsky was an Ukranina Jewish woman who actually died in a consentration camp (Auschwitz) in WWII. I was already feeling too much after the film and finding out (neatly explained right before the credits) how it was written and how the author died before completing it (apparently she wrote only two novels of a planned 5 novels of the story) affected me. 

Rosemary's Baby

Rosemary's Baby got a new dress in this TV mini series adaptation. I love the novel, I like the original film (and love Mia Farrow's hair in it) and this one didn't do a bad job updating the story. It was entertaining. 

The Land Girls

The Land Girls on TV only attracted me because it was in English film and I, fondly, remember a novel I have read years ago about the land girls. Women who go to farms to replace the men who went to war in WWII. Anyway this one appealed more to my mother than myself I suppose. 

Big Hero 6

Big Hero 6 turned out to be really entertaining and emotional. I have shed unexpected tears over it. Highly recommended.  

Petals in the Wind

Petals in the Wind is this what people call serendipity? I had finished the novel and didn't think of seeking out the sequels but I saw this Lifetime film adaptation of the sequels.

Spoilers

At the end of the novel the children managed to escapte the attic with one casualty and they decided not to go to the police with the evidence of their mother's attempts to murder them using poison. (yeah)

Apparently they had a stroke of good luck when a housemaid finds them and takes them to her employer who likes them so much that not only he takes them in but adopts them and send them to good schools (the kids are all smart). We learn all this in the eulogy for the guy before even the credits end. Anyway the kids now have a chance to a normal life but they have been messed up badly and the elder brother and sister continue incest, the younger sister is unable to resist bullying and turns out to be have sexual issues (she is ok with boyfriend of her elder sister to fondle her and actually encourages the guy) and they still want to talk to their mother who refuses to speak to them. Anyway more horrors await due to the messed up nature of the kids who don't seem to respond well to the now changes life full of good opportunities and a nice use of their talents. It doesn't end well for either. 

Flowers in the Attic

Flowers in the Attic is a novel I have read years and years ago. Since I was a child that far back then, the novel obviously flew by my head. It is not a particularly good novel (not good enough to make me want to read the sequels) but the subject matter is horrifying. A mother for whom wealth and prestige mean more than her children (born out of incest) and those children who are locked up in the attic with only an overly religious, mean grandmother to supervise them. Anyway looking at the photo I realise that the cover art is horrible. Anyway these kids were normal kids with various talents but this experience had awful consequences both for their physce and physique.

I recommend as a timepass to be horrified at places. 

Killing Words

Killing Words is a film I only purchased because it was in Spanish and cheap. It is a suspense heavy horror film with a did he or didn't he twist that we are allowed to see earlier that he

SPOILER


indeed did.  Well it was talky and I enjoyed what little I could understand (maybe a word in a sentence) Other than that it was just mediocre. 

Women Who Flirt

Women Who Flirt was at the festival channel and I wanted to do some nostalgia, I rarely watch any films from Hong Kong or China now. But I do love Zhao Xun and romantic comedies so this one seemed right up to my alley. And it was. Despite not being very good, it was cute and entertaining and tears were shed during the end. Huang Xiaoming was handsome. 

Jersey Girl

Jersey Girl Ok this has got to be the worst screen cap of any film ever. Anyway this is one of my all time faves and not only because Ben Affleck, I find the story touching and everyone is acting great. Many many tears are shed during this viewing (as with all the other viewings of this film) 

Feast of Love

Feast of Love yeah these buch of screencaps are not very good. As for the film, the story is revolving around a few characters and focus changes as time passes. However this film felt a bit like that Adam  Sandler film "Click" a lot of things got fast forwarded in time and the editing was awkward. 

Ali Baba ve Yedi Cüceler

Ali Baba ve Yedi Cüceler beni epey bir güldürdü. Ama çok boş salonda bir tek ben güldüğüm için biraz bastırmak durumunda kaldım ve bir sahnede kendimi kasıp sessiz kahkahalar atayım derken gözümden yaş geldi. Neyse Cem Yılmaz bence süper bir oyuncu. Ancak yönetmenlik konusunda o kadar iyi değil. Ne bileyim zaaflarına yeniliyor galiba bazı yerlerde, öykü ritmi bozuluyor vs. Cem Yılmaz'ı kendi yönetmediği filmlerde daha çok seviyorum. 

Konstantiniyye Oteli

Konstantiniyye Oteli bir market rafında görüp öylesine aldığım bir kitaptı. Zira o sıra yazarın okuduğum tek kitabı Kardeşimin Hikayesi idi ve onu da pek beğenmemiştim doğrusu. Ama bu kitap yazar hakkındaki "eh işte" görüşümü tamamen değiştirdi. Roman derken biraz tereddüt içerisindeyim zira hikayenin çoğu kısmı Konstantiniyye Oteli'nin açılışına davetli misafirler hakkında kısa öykülerden oluşuyor ama bunlar gayet güzel bir şekilde öyküye ve diğer karakterler gerektiği zaman bağlanıyor. Ben çok etkilendim ve beğendim. Hemen diğer romanlarını okumak istiyorum. 

Volver

Volver is yet another film I have rewatched due to starting to learn Spanish and I loved it once more (this is my third viewing) again cried and cried. Pedro Almodovar is one of my all time fave directors who all filmography I like. This one I highly recommend everyone, especially to women. 

Hunger

Hunger is a film I purchased because I liked Shame and whatever parts of 12 Years A Slave. And the film is very good. With limited dialogue it shows the painful story in history and in both sides too. Recommended (unless you are not into painful dramas that is) 

The Way of Kings

The Way of Kings ended up being a delicious mistake. At one point I have read a few contemporary fantasy novels and gave up on the genre due to the fact that these more often than not ended up being a part of long series and one has to purchase all at some point. I thought this was not very appealing. Nevertheless I gave in to Game of Thrones when a salesperson at the only bookstore in Hilo insisted that I'll like it and I did, enough to purchase all the books and now am eagerly waiting for the next one. I didn't think I'd fall for this again but I have read Elantris - a single fantasy novel- and liked it. Also in the electronic environments I tend to lean towards long novels (a misguided attempt to have more value for the money) and I gave in to temptation to put a long novel in Kindle (it also feels great to be able to carry a novel that would normally give you a hard time - War and Peace caused me to have muscles) anyway and I have decided to give this a try on a long car trip with colleagues which started at 05:00 a:m. And I was hooked.

This novel is in some ways similar to Elantris but better. I liked the AU and the stones and soulcastings, Radiants etc. I especially liked the hero. The heroine is not my type of person but she is not bad. Anway this is supposed to be a 10 novel series and there are only 2 books out. I have got the second one in audible now (yeah, but I saved money on it since it was included in the store credit of my colleague). And I can't wait to start to it this evening :)

Highly recommended but only if you are willing to invest time and money. Otherwise try Elantris. 

Girl In Translation

Girl In Translation is one of the bargain novels I got from the audible discount. And I started it but dropped after a few minutes for some reason. This time I continued and was amply rewarded. The reader was using a Chinese accent at some points and it worked for me. I liked the heroine of the novel and was very happy or sad for Kimberley as the novel progressed. I highly recommend.

Black Widow (1987)

Black Widow treated me better with this second viewing, even though I knew the twist beforehand. Two great female leads, exciting locales (Hawaii - insert deep sigh), smart script and I was a happy viewer. 

A Million Ways to Die in the West

A Million Ways to Die in the West has for some reason, bombed at the box office. Even though people like Seth Macfarlane on TV. He is decent looking too but he is not a leading man and he is not really a good director. But he is a good storyteller and I like his jokes so I had a decent enough time with this one but I'll hesitate to recommend. 

Mindhunters

Mindhunters is a serial killer whodunnit with one of the most awkward and unintentionally funny fight scenes I have ever seen on film. Sometime into it I have realised that I had seen it before but it didn't leave much of a trace. Anyway this was just timepass. 

Everly

Everly is a horror action filmed at a single location. Starring the very very pretty Salma Hayek and with a subject matter that would appeal to many of the females who are watching. She just kills a lot of people, fights brutal emotional and physical torture while trying to save her daughter and her mother from the people who imprisoned her and used her as a sex slave for five years. Go Everly. 

Music and Lyrics

Music and Lyrics I liked it just as much this second viewing. Hugh Grant is great as a washed up 80s has been and Drew Barrymore is delightful as the budding song writer with first world problems. It is by nowhere any Notting Hill or About A Boy (both wonderful rom coms starring Hugh Grant) but I like its modest approach. 

Ella Enchanted

Ella Enchanted is a nice little film with the story of reimagining of Cinderella and fusion style storytelling. I like it a lot. 

The Town

Town is oddly, not one of my obsession films. Sure I have a thing for Ben Affleck now and he directed, starred and co wrote this one but I'd have still liked it if he was not in it. The story is about a bad guy trying to get good and I love those. It has good cinematography many close up shots and I love Affleck's performance in it. Sure he is not the world's best actor but this role fitted him to a t. And he looked great too but as I said that is only the bonus. 

Breaking Bad - Season One

Breaking Bad I know everyone loves this show and it was also highly recommended to me by a colleague whose opinion I refer to from time to time. And inevitably I have already purchased the first three seasons thinking that I'd love it. I didn't. It took me ages to finish the first season (7 episodes).

At first I thought it was because there is a lack of hot men in the show. I'm attracted to no one. But then I remembered The Sopranos - one of my all time fave shows, one that I have watched more than once- and there is not a single person I'm attacted to in there either. Same goes for Sex & The City, I love it but none of the men in it appeal to me (and they were a varied bunch now that I think of it).

Anyway it must have been the characters. The story so far is about a 50 years old genius chemistry teacher who has a dominant wife and a special needs son (not mentally deficient) and he finds out that the has terminal lung cancer. There is treatment and it is expensive but more importantly his wife is 8 months pregnant and he wants to leave some money to his family after he dies. And giving the matter some thought he decides to engage in meth making partnering with an ex studen (who he flunked in chemistry). Ironically his brother in law (his wife's sister's husband) is a DEA agent and our teacher was inspired by him.

This season was a warm up. He only kills two people and manages to blow up an upper floor of a building. He starts treatment too (his wife insisted).

I probably just don't like the idea of a regular guy to be corrupted. Almost everyone in Sopranos was evil but they were already there. Here, this guy is a normal person and at the end of Episode 7, he has already made a solid deal with a crazy whole sale supplier and actually starts to feel good about the whole thing (as evidenced by his sex drive to his wife's delighted amazement) I already have season 2 and 3 so I'll keep on with it eventually I suppose. Maybe I'll grow into it.

Isolation

Isolation   wellll! My first attempt at reading fan fiction and it was not bad at all. After reading Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, I decided to be less sceptic about fan fiction. The thing is that I'm all about canon and AU in fan fiction kind of disturbed me. I guess I can be too rigid at times even when it comes to fiction.

Isolation was included at a list of favorite fan fictions and it is about the love and sweet erotica between Hermoine and Draco. Yeah ----- I know. Anyway one of my favorite romance tropes is two people being forced to share limited space and falling for eachother. And this uses that. The fic kind of follows through the events in the book but places Draco and Hermoine together. Reading this made me realise that I actually wanted Harry and Hermoine to end up together. Alas. What I liked the best here is the erotic tension and love scenes. I skipped all the parts that depicted the ones in the original novel but stuck to Draco's feelings and actions during the Hogwarts battle.

Yeah I'm 45 years old and I love Harry Potter - as evidenced by my choise of pajamas :)

You can start the whole thing at the link below and I will browse at this site for more of the same.


 Isolation

The Talisman

The Talisman well I had read the Turkish translation ages ago. It seems that I had forgotten a lot of things but remembered somethings rather well. Anyway I liked it very much yet again. Oh I rememeber that I have purchased a novel by Peter Straub after this and had trouble even finishing it. So it is all Stephen King on my part. 

The Hours

The Hours oh this is a terrible photo but oh well. This is my sister's dvd and I have borrowed it. For some reason I never was interested in this film. But having watched it and leaked through it, I can safely say that I liked it very much. All three actresses are faves of mine and they did a great job. 

Niyazi Gül Güldür Güldür

Niyazi Gül Güldür Güldür ne bileyim ben çok gülmedim bu filme. Ama sonuna kadar izledim. 

Paycheck

Paycheck is a film I had watched in theater solely because of loving John Woo. Now I re watched it because of my recent Ben Affleck obsession. He is very good looking in this one but that's about it. 

47 Ronin

47 Ronin was showing in Japan when I was there and I didn't go see it.  Well, having watched it at the comfort of my living room, I liked it very much. The story is still essentially captivating despite the supernatural elements and yeah I cried during this one too. 

Spectre

Spectre well it just was not that good. Casino Royale is probably the only Bond film (and novel) that I truly liked. 

King Kong (2005)

King Kong ok here it is. I don't really like Peter Jackson's directing. Heavenly Creatures is an exception. His big films are too long. As was King Kong. I don't really like Adrian Brody nor Jack Black, nor Colin Hanks, nor Andy Serkis. It is not a surprise that I have leaked during this one since the story is actually very sad. And I liked the special effects but all in all, it didn't change my mind about Peter Jackson. 

Birthday Girl

Birthday Girl is a film that never interested me since I didn't really like Nicole Kidman back then. Now that I do, I gave it a try and I liked it very much. First off I liked the little oddness and perversion of the male lead. He is a bank clerk who purchases a wife from Russia. He is kind and nice but also likes kinky sex (tying women up during sex). I didn't see that coming. I also liked his reaction to the scam. And I liked the happy ending too. So all in all this was good timepass. 

Trainspotting

Trainspotting God I watched this one years ago in theatre and found that it is one of the films you are impressed with but wouldn't want to watch again. I guess inevitably I have become jaded in time because I didn't mind any of what was going on except the dead baby (I still was not able to watch that one). Anyway it is interesting and entertaining but a bit gross (both visuals and content) so watch at your own risk. 

Whatever Works

Whatever Works is a silly choice on my part since I thought I was getting the Woody Allen film, filmed in Rome. I must have clicked on the wrong one since this was what arrived. It is OK though since I love Woody Allen films, even the not so well liked ones and not surprisingly I liked this one. It is a crazy story and the acting is not that good from some but I enjoyed it very much and it was an optimistic film.

The India Fan

The India Fan is I think the first time I'm introduced to Victoria Holt and nom de plume for a very prolific writer. I like it very much because maybe the heroine is smart, intelligent, sensible but ready for new experiences and adventure. She suffers some but the journey of her finding love was interesting to me. And she is not the heroine where she is very pretty but for some reason not so by a lot of people in the novel. She is not pretty at all, in fact plain looking but the writer stresses the point that beauty is only skin deep and one should not depend only on it in life. In fact an extremely beautiful but shallow character has a terrible end. Anyway I liked it a lot and happy that I chose it at the second hand book fair despite the bad condition (it kept on disintegrating as I'm reading it) 

The Misfits

The Misfits I liked it but I can see how it was not well liked by a lot of people. It would have been a much better theater play despite the good cinematography and great shots of wild horses. 

State of Play

State of Play is the film version of the English TV series (which I saw and liked) and even though I knew the big reveal I still enjoyed it very very much. Good actors well cast and an efficient pace with great cinematography. Recommended even if you are not into the genre. 

Hable Con Ella

Hable Con Ella I had seen this one years ago in theater and liked it (no surprise since I seem to like all Almodovar films) I wanted to watch it because I'm learning Spanish on my own. Well apparently a rewatch did wonders for me since I liked it even better this time. There is a question on what is acceptable. We are shown the view point of a criminal who actually rapes a coma patient and gets her pregnant. He is a distrubed indiviudal but not really harmful. He is a nurse and really a loving person but obssessed with his coma patient (and he was obssessed with her before she became comatose). He takes care of her excellently seemingly oblivious to anything sexual. However after watching an erotic silent film he gives into his urges and probably didn't think clearly of the consequences at the time. He committed this heinous crime but we are shown that he is not evil. There is another smaller story but all in all I love this one (maybe not as much as All About My Mother, Tie Me Up Tie Me Down or Volver but still more than a lot of other films). 

The Loft

The Loft apparently is a US remake by the same director ( Erik Van Looy) of a Belgian suspense whodunnit with twists. Only a timepass for me. At least I was not bored. 

Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump does not get old for me. I like it just the same everytime I watch it. 

The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo (the US film)

The Girl With The Dragon Tatto This film only interested me because I like the director. Having loved the novels and being midly unsatisfied with the Swedish film, this one was definitely better made and I enjoyed the experience not really minding the small alterations. 

Biutiful

Biutiful I liked this film very very much. First off, many close up shots. Then I like how the story is told and how the characters are presented. The actors were all good, the cinematography poetic and in the end a winner as far as I'm concerned. 

Angel Heart

Angel Heart is sure a blast from the past for me. It is the first film I have seen on my own at a cinema in Istanbul and I had watched it more than once and now I realise not only because the film appealed to me. I liked the whole experience. And years later I like the film and remembering the memories. 

A Little Chaos

A Little Chaos is a film that appealed to me in so many levels. First it is a costume drama, then it is starred by Kate Winslet, it tells the story of a troubled woman trying to make her way in a man's world, it has great costumes and close up shots of actors.

I can't recommend to everyone since it depends whether the above are your cups of tea but if they are then go for it. 

District 9

District 9 directed by Neill Blomkamp is a good viewing experience. It has a certain message I agree with and managed to find a way to tell it with an interesting story, good action and decent actors (the actors not being familiar to me really helped). 

The Quartet

The Quartet is the story of retired classical musicians staying at a retirement home for old classical musicians trying to arrange a Verdi night to gather enough money to keep the home going. There is an old love story in there too. It was kind of nice for me since I like classical music and opera but overall it is not very good.