As Good As It Gets

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

As Good As It Gets is as good as I remembered it to be. This second viewing was welcome and I realised that it wouldn't be as good without the actors giving great performances. Everyone was good and I especially love Helen Hunt who looks like a real person. 

Death Note (2017)

Photo credit: metro.co.uk

Death Note (2017) well I was really eager for this one for some reason. I had the hope that they'll get it right. Well I was wrong and I'm not even talking about white washing. Firstly I think this is a story that can be adapted to different settings around the world. Light can easily be Chinese, African, Canadian, Caucasian, Innuit etc.  same goes for L. So my problems are not due to casting contraversy (it is not like the film adaptation of Avatar The Last Airbender where they RUINED the whole thing even before it started, God that film was a disaster even before it began).

Anyway my problems with this Death Note is that Americans got it wrong again. Right from the start.

Firstly Light is a charismatic genius who is respected and liked with a nice middle class family, a happy kid seemingly on the way to achieving good things in life. His problems are internal, outward he is all around successful and well adjusted. In this version Light is a kid who is anti social and his genius is shown by showing him doing and selling home works for the other kids. He is bullied and thought generally weird. An outcast. His family life is not good either. His dad is a cop (at least they kept this one) but his mother is killed in a traffic accident and the driver went free due to technical reasons etc. Do you see where this is going? They wanted to make Light into a more likeable character. The stupidity. One of the most interesting things about Death Note is how likable a character Light already is. The actor is also all wrong it is the kid who played the blind character in The Fault In Our Stars and I think they gave him a lead role in another John Green adaptation. He was really wrong for the role.

And then there is L. Well L is my favorite character in Death Note and I was a bit happy at first since they seem to get some things right with it but then he escalated into someone the original L would never turn into. At one point he was screaming with rage.

Also what was the point of Light and L chase, the whole ferris wheel scene. Spending money and putting some action to it does not automatically make it better. The kills reminded me of Final Destination and Ryuk was not even worth mentioning.

All in all this one turned out to be really bad. Not trusting his audience to get it, they messed up literally everything about it. Don't bother 

Gilmore Girls

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

Gilmore Girls I remember liking this show when I catch it on TV but no other in my family did so I watched a few episodes here and there without committing to it.  But since it was on Netflix I decided to give it a go and finished the whole seven seasons and the 2016 special four episodes.

And I really like it despite having some problems. Mainly the show not having a more eclectic cast. But the positives are a lot more and I enjoyed watching it to the extent that I watch a lot fewer films during my binge. 

Seven

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

Seven well I loved it the one and only time I watched it in theatre but it just was not the right time for a rewatch I suppose since I kept falling asleep in really high tension scenes (such as the chase in the rain and the box scene) however, even in my sleeply state I admired the mise en scene. I love David Fincher films and this one is no exception. It just was not the right time.

The Decoy Bride

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

The Decoy Bride turned out to be a nice little romantic comedy and I enjoyed it very much. I seem to like David Tennat more now and I always liked Kelly MacDonald and was happy to watch her as the female lead. 

The Night Watch

The Night Watch is the kind of novel that makes me so glad that I love reading. It literally took me and put me in its story regardless of when and where I was reading it. I liked the other two novels written by Sarah Waters that I have read (Tipping the Velvet and The Fingersmith) but this one seemed just to my taste. The characters, the setting, the mood, the feelings all came alive and I didn't even mind the backwards retelling which added to the magic of it all. I highly recommend. 

A Man Called Ove

A Man Called Ove turned out to be as good as everyone says it is. In fact I actually cried during various parts of it (and I listened to it during my walks and probably caused some heads to turn). The story of Ove is touching, emotional and positive. There is humour and there are various emotions running through. And the best thing is that the reader Mr. George Newbern is amazing. He fits right in to the tone of the novel and doesn't over do it. I love it when this happens and am very happy with this novel and the reading of it. Highly recommended.   

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows I & II

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows I & II are both films that I like. In fact I watched them back to back the other night and cried my heart out (yet again). I'll always like the books better but these two films don't get old. 

Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets this film was dull and I actually fell asleep during this second viewing. I love the book and Kenneth Branagh is great as Gilderoy Lockhart, however it is too long and gimmicky, nothing at all like the novel. Not that I recall all the films but this may be my least favorite Harry Potter film.

Blow Out

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

Blow Out really surprised me. Not that I'm not familiar with and like Brian De Palma's style. Especially the visuals (such as the one shown in the photo above), however I did not see that ending coming and I liked the fact that it possible to surprise me with an ending more than I liked the ending. Anyway John Travolta is a surprisingly good actor and his performance in this was really good. Nancy Allen's on the other hand was very similar to her Dressed to Kill performance. All in all I had a good time with this. 

First Love, Last Rites

First Love, Last Rites is a great short story collection. I simply stopped reading at the last story so that I won't finish and resisted temptation for a long time. However all good things come to an end. This one is definitely a keeper. 

Orphan X

Orphan X turned out to be a run off the mill secret state assasin turned good story. I enjoyed it of course but it is just not the best representative of the genre. It picked up speed at a certain point but it is not the sort of the book you can't put down. 

Ready Player One

Ready Player One turned out to be a winner on all fronts. Very good world building and characters with believable archs (at least as far as I'm concerned :) ) and a good source of 80s nostalgia if you are into films and video games. I'm only into films but I enjoyed this video game heavy novel and even finished the last hour before sleeping since I simply couldn't wait. I love when books turn out like that.

I'm especially glad to get the audible version since Wil Wheaton did a marvellous job and it was meta since Wheaton is actually mentioned in the novel as well.

Anyway I wholeheartedly recommend. 

Rendition

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

Rendition was very depressing. Because it is a good film telling a story that will not be so unfamiliar if you have ever watched news during the last 10 years. There are two main stories and three main characters  and it is an excellent cast. I recommend this one. 

Fright Night (1985)

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

Fright Night (1985) turned out to be as entertaining as I remembered it to be. 80s, a good decade for us who were teens then. Although I was not as emotionally involved, I was nevertheless able to finish the whole thing without being bored.

Deep Blue Sea

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

Deep Blue Sea I liked this one a lot when I first watched it. And it stood the test of time and was suitably entertaining but not really good. Having seen sharks up close I know that a lot of the stunts in the film is only in film and some of the seemingly unbelievable kills are actually pretty believable. Anyway I was entertained. 

Doctor Strange

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

Doctor Strange is not a film I was that eager to watch since I'm not particularly into Benedict Cumberbatch. However I love Tilda Swinton and I needed some sort of escape and it was there so I gave it a try and was pleasantly surprised. First of all this one is for kids and it looks very colourful (not really my thing) but I enjoyed it very much. The actors were very good and I like how the arrogant neuro surgeon turned into Doctor Strange. Recommended. 

Howards End

Howards End turned out to be a great novel. I vaguely remember watching the film (am not sure about it, it may even be a trailer only) and no liking it, however the novel is enchanting and its themes relevant today. I like the novelist's point of view and enjoyed this novel very much.

Can't Cope Won't Cope

Photo credit: www.dailyedge.ie

Can't Cope Won't Cope interested me since I like female centric shows and at first I thought it was an English show but it turned out to be a rare beast, an Irish TV show with two female leads. And this is promoted as comedy but it is not very comedic. It is the tale of a friendship and the tale of one young woman who truly can't seemed to cope. The other female lead is stronger and more equipped on how to deal with life. 

Tutsak Güneş

Tutsak Güneş Sayın Kulin çok iyi bir öykü anlatıcısı (Adı Aylin'i okurken Metrobüs durağını kaçırdım o derece sarmıştı beni) ama edebi dil olarak beni doyurmuyor. Yine de kitapları alıp sürüklenmek garantili olduğu için her seferinde memnun bitiriyorum. 

Bu kitap ayrıca Türk Edebiyatında fazla yer bulmayan distopik bir roman. Bu yönüyle de epey farklı ve herkese tavsiye ederim.

Fatmagül'ün Suçu Ne?

Photo credit: sinematurk.com

Fatmagül'ün Suçu Ne? çocukluktan beri iki değişik versiyonunu izleyip sevdiğim bir öyküdür (Müjde Ar ve Hülya Avşar versiyonları) Bir şekilde bu diziye başladım ve evet 80 bölüm izleyip bitirdim sonunda. Diziyi çok beğendim. Benim için tek sorun erkek başrol oyuncusu oldu Engin Akyürek hakikaten bana çok itici geliyor bir türlü yakıştıramadım Fatmagül'e. Neyse bunun dışında verdiği mesaj ve olumlu hatta çoğu zaman iyimser bakış açısı ile bana gayet güzel uydu. 

Baskın

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

Baskın was not a film I thought I'd like but it was in my viewing list on Blutv and it was a crazy hot and humid day where I couldn't do anything but lie down and it seemed a good time to watch a horrow film. It was actually not bad. I liked the way we get to see the characters to talk and reveal something of themselves before the true horror began. And it was scary with decent effects that I actually had to cover the screen at one point. Recommended 

Relative Happiness

Photo credit: cinemabravo.com

Relative Happiness is the story of an overweight girl who feels slighted by the females of her family due to her weight and loves her father. She is after romance and first falls for the wrong guy and then finds her true love without actually changing anything about herself. I really liked this one and its attitude towards female characters. 

Suicide Squad

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

Suicide Squad  I only heard bad things about this and sad to say that I agree with them. This is a film made for 10 year olds or something. There were two things I liked Margo Robbie and Jay Hernandez. Just skip this and be glad. 

The Crow Girl

The Crow Girl, purchased on a whim while at Taipei, I had high hopes for this one. However I was severely dissapointed. It never seemed to end and it was a huge relief to finally finish it. I even considered DNFing it. I don't recommend. 

Assasin's Apprentice: Farseer Trilogy Book I

Assasin's Apprentice This is not a bad novel however I struggled to get into it and was not eager to resume listening the way I do with novels I like.

One of the main problems for me was the reading. It is most important for me is that the reading style and the novel to match. Usually the dramatic style goes great with high fantasy, however in this case the reader was too slow. And it damaged my experience. Anyway I don't plan on continuing the story. 

Approach with caution and don't get the audible version if you want to try this.

The Last Princess (Deokhyeongju)

Photo credit: variety.com

The Last Princess (Deokhyeongju) was not a film I've been particularly eager to watch. However it was there and I decided to record it since I have a fondness for South Korean films. They are the masters of melodrama as far as I'm concerned and I love melodrama. Anyway this one came out of the left field since I was not expecting to cry so much during its considerable length. It tells the story from one side and it is nationalistic however the melodrama is top notch. It is not really that good a film but totally worked for me. 

Snakes On A Plane

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

Snakes On A Plane has never interested me since I do not fear snakes and I love flying. But it was there on dvdigi and I thought I'd give it a try to see how bad it is. And it is bad. The casting is wrong, the whole thing feels trashy in a bad way and the CGI at some scenes were laughably bad. So skip this one.