This actually works out perfectly, because neither Truly Becoming or New Romantic have read Jane Eyre. (you guys should really talk to them about that - Jane Eyre is mandatory reading! ;)
Okay, trailer first:
I have loved Jane Eyre for a long time, and it enhanced into an obsession after I saw the BBC version of it in 2006. I would spend the weekend curled up on the couch watching that film and then read the book and then watch the movie and then read the book, and so on. So when I heard they were doing a remake I was kind of terrified. And then when I saw that they had cast two people I didn't know as the leads I was even more terrified. How can you beat Toby and Ruth? Why bother with a new one? The 2006 one had my heart! Little did I know that left in the hands of director Cary Fukunaga this literary masterpiece would turn into a cinematic masterpiece as well. (In my mind)
What I loved about this adaptation:
Michael Fassbender.
Seriously, for me, Michael was the perfect Rochester. Although I saw, and repeatedly watch the 2006 one with Toby Stephens and Ruth Wilson, I always felt like Toby was a little too - nice? In the book Rochester is a mean son of a gun, but Toby's Rochester said everything out of humor to Jane. When I read the book I am always distinctly afraid of Rochester, he's like literature's first bad boy that your incredibly attracted to, but he's a little bit of a loose cannon so maybe your afraid too. Anyways, Michael Fassbender, you have my heart (as Rochester - not in real life) especially at the end, with the beard and the tears...ahhh swoon.
The language:
I was afraid because this was a modern interpretation (and not produced by the BBC) that it would loose the language that is so uniquely Jane but it didn't! I was so pleased to hear some of my favorite lines from the book spoken in the film. Mia Wasikowska was an incredible Jane. Loved her so much.
The cinematography, the pacing, I could go on and on....
Oh my gosh, this is EXACTLY how I imagined Jane, kind of desolate and yet utterly beautiful at the same time. The pacing and the script of this film were also incredible. I did notice a LOT of similarities with the 2006 version (which I also loved) but somehow this one seemed a little bit more haunting to me. There was hardly every anything truly lit up in this version of the film, which I felt like really enhanced the Gothic overtones of the novel. Gothic style books usually have elements of the creepster style vibe, and the lighting and set, along with the lovely lovely music (you can buy the score here, I recommend it) makes this one of my favorite Jane Eyre adaptations. (Although the 2006 is the closest second ever!)
So there you have it. If you love Jane Eyre, and you love movies, I recommend this one.
I mean seriously, who doesn't want to stare at Michael Fassbender for two hours?
Once again it's Thursday and we find ourselves comparing the movie and book, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins today.
New Romantic's Thoughts
I read the Hunger Games Trilogy wayyy before there was talk of a movie (I'm talking first came out). My friend from work wouldn't shut up about it so I was instantly hooked. I loved every minute of those books (you can read my review on The Hunger Games Here.)
When I found out there was going to be a movie, I was thrilled. I went pre-opening night, bought a t-shirt and wore it with my orange jeans and orange TOMS. I was the girl on fire; or I tried to be. First initial thought on the movie; I loved it. But once you go back and read the book again, you remember things that should of happened but didn't.
The main thing I found lacking was the scene where Peeta looses his leg at the end and is being kept from Katniss and she's screaming and pounding on the glass separating them. I think this was a crucial moment in the book that shows us that Katniss might (I say might because I am definitely NOT a Peeta fan.) be developing feelings for Peeta. Totally left this part out.
I thought the movie could have been longer. (I am one of those nut jobs that love the 3 hour plus movies, think Lord of the Rings extended edition). The movie left out a lot of things I thought would have been in the movie (Madge), and weren't.
I really liked how we saw some scenes from Katniss's point of view, like the part where she is suffering from the trackerjacker poison and the camera is all blurry, yes I liked that, or the part after the explosion and her ears are ringing and you can hear it too, yep liked that too.
I guess I'm immune to violence or something, because I thought the fight scenes were too vauge. Yes, they had to watch it because of the rating, but I think they could of shown a bit more.
The pacing was wayyy too fast for my taste. It was like a gun went off and we ran a 100m dash and we were finished just like that (snaps fingers). Back to what I just said, they could of added more.
I loved the cast. I thought they did a fantastic job casting Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss. She's perfect. I wish Peeta would of been taller and more burly but that's just me. And I wish Gale had more screen time.
Even though I was very nit-picky with the movie, I will definitely be buying it for sure!
Truly Becoming’s Thoughts
I read The Hunger
Games, long before the movie came out, and let me say I really loved The Hunger Games both the book and the
movie! There are so many things: I loved
that it was from Katniss’ point of view.
I liked the way the Capitol was portrayed, especially Stanley Tucci as
Caesar Flickerman! He was exactly how I
imagined him, and very funny! I LOVED
the cast. I thought they did an awesome
job, all of them. My favorite part was
when Katniss was hallucinating after being stung by the Tracker Jackers, it was
awesome! The only things I did like were
1. Rue’s death didn’t feel long enough for me, I imagined more mourning in the
book and 2. When Peeta threw the bread
at Katniss, it definitely wasn’t even close to how I imagined.
Overall I loved the movie! (and of course the book!) I can’t
wait to buy it on DVD!
Hopeless Wanderer’s Thoughts
Okay, let me just say.
I fall into the very small margin of people that saw this movie and were
more disappointed. I don’t really like
to talk about it because it usually just insights negative discussion and I know I’m in the smaller margin okay? I
get it. Let’s start off with things I
liked about the movie:
1. Cinna. Cinna was
perfect, and just how I imagined him.
2. Rue, Rue was sweet and cute.
3. The Captiol.
Everything about it. The train
that took them there, the way the people looked.
4. Effie Trinket.
Holy crap, Elizabeth Banks was the PERFECT Effie.
5. The look of District 12.
6. The main characters, I felt like all of the tributes
looked perfect, as well as Haymitch, Prim, and especially Seneca Crane (Wes Bentley you are hot ;)
7. The soundtrack and score.
What I didn’t like:
The pacing, the cinematography, the script, and special
effects. Let me say this: I feel like this had potential to be an
AMAZING movie. But there were so many
changes in it that were just to obvious and took away from too much of the
story for me. Peeta doesn’t loose his
leg? WTF?! Actually, EVERYTHING between Peeta and
Katniss was either downplayed or obliterated.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand that there are Gale/Katniss
shippers. I respect you. But she ends up with Peeta. And I think it’s going to be pretty weird when suddenly they’re married in the
third one. That’s something you have to
build up to. This movie didn’t. Really, honestly, it didn’t. And Haymitch’s notes when they were in the
Games? No. No. You take a ton of stuff out, and then add
random stuff it? That is not okay. You take literally three minutes of film time
to watch Katniss string an arrow and then you cut out the bulk of Rue’s
death. Not okay. The bulk of Catching Fire, relies on Peeta and Katniss acting like they’re in
love. Seriously, that’s basically one of
the two main plot lines that run through that book, so to not show it at all in
this film made me feel annoyed. I get
that she doesn’t like him and she’s only doing it to survive and that might
make Katniss seem heartless. But Katniss
isn’t really a character for everyone to love anyway. She’s strong and resilient, but I don’t want
to be like her! Ahh, I digress.
This is turning way too much into a rant. In short:
everything was going for this movie, but the final product relied so
heavily on everyone in the audience to have read the book that it was
disjointed, and clunky. Luckily, I had
read the book, but friends of mine who haven’t have been incredibly
disappointed and confused. Though,
honestly I encourage you to see the film and keep an open mind, like I said,
I’m the small minority. 90% of people I
talk to have adored this film and felt like it was an incredible adaptation of
the book, I’m just not one of those people.
I felt like it was really slow until the last fifteen minutes (about the
time everyone is dead and they’re fighting the wolf hybrids on the cornucopia)
when suddenly everything was over, even though there was still another quarter
of the book to get through. This book
isn’t that long, they could have had more scenes from the book in it. It would have been easy, I think that’s why I
am truly annoyed. They wasted so much
time that could have been used more wisely in other ways. I don’t regret seeing it, and like Truly
I’ll probably end up buying it because I did find the film entertaining, but I
didn’t feel like it was as accurate to the book as it could have been. (which
is not to say it wasn’t accurate at all, just that they could have added more
instead of taking so long to show monotonous things).
Every Thursday here at TPB we like to mix it up a little bit, instead of a review we're going to take a moment to look at something else involving books. And this week it's BOOK VS FILM week (dun dun dun!) This week we're going to be looking at I Am Number Four. Let's begin with the trailer, shall we?
Hopeless Wanderer's Thoughts
I felt like the film was a really faithful adaptation of the book. Having said that, I should probably let everyone know that I saw the movie first. I think this makes a big difference in accordance to how to see the movie. While reading the book I had the film's characters in my head, and the film's version of Paradise, etc. I was also able to pick up on a lot of things found in the book that were almost verbatim in the movie. Although the book, as do all books, had a lot more detail in it, I felt like the movie did the best that it could with the source material.
You definitely see the Michael Bay influence, and some parts of the movie look similar to Transformers and other Bay films. However, I felt like it was his influence that made this movie so much fun to watch. Six's entrance is INCREDIBLE. Seriously, every scene with Teresa Palmer was my favorite. I felt like she was the PERFECT Six. The same is said for my feelings on Dianna Agron as Sarah. In the book Sarah is held up as a such a perfect person, and Dianna Agron really capitalized on that.
Things were sped up in the movie, which I understood. The book takes place over a much longer period of time, and I get that cinematically it would have made the film kind of a bore. Overall I felt like the film and the book were both great, and they worked really well together.
New Romantic's Thoughts
I too saw the movie before I read the book. And of course with all books turned into movies, the books are 99% always better. However I Am Number Four pretty much tied with both the film and the book. I really, really enjoyed the movie. I mean who wouldn't with Alex Pettyfer in it? He was perfect for Four. And of course after watching the film, I read the book and envisioned everything like how the movie was. That's usually how it goes when I see the movie first. It's true that the book is better, and I enjoyed the extra plot, and detail that the book provided.
I absolutely loved Six played by Teresa Palmer. I love heroines that can kick butt. She was my favorite. And I loved the dog Bernie Kosar in both the movie and the book. Especially in the book. His story is told in more detail in the book. Who wouldn't want a cute dog that can change form as your guardian?Really loved the book and the movie!
