twilight saga: eclipse–the movie
i only saw it today so that should say how excited i was. but i would describe my drive to see it as more of a curiosity. in general, i thought it was better than the second one. but “new moon” was the worst book (or most boring, whatever) so i think all the movies in the saga will be better that it was. “eclipse” had a better storyline, better soundtrack, better acting, better special effects. i did enjoy reading that the wolves couldn’t have genitals in order to keep it a PG-13 rating. they just stuck extra hair “down there”. bella’s character/kristen’s acting annoy me and i snub my nose at pattinson’s portrayal of edward. he just doesn’t hit the mark for me. i’d sum it up by saying he’s just pansy-ish on screen and doesn’t capture the complexity and quiet strength of the book character.
i will say that i was extremely pleased with rosalie’s and jasper’s backstory. i’ve never seen nikki reed look more beautiful as rosalie and i thought the delivery of her lines was impeccable. she really is an amazing actress, just watch “thirteen”. i’m looking forward to her bigger role in “breaking dawn”. and jasper was such a cutie. i always wondered why they never really gave him a southern accent in the movies. and it was like BAM! there it was 🙂 i guess when he takes on a position of authority, the southern twang makes an appearance.
the fight scenes were quite entertaining and not nearly long enough. definitely not nearly long enough. i enjoyed the effect of when the vampires were torn apart–it sounded like breaking glass and twisting metal. bree’s appearances tugged at my heart. especially after reading “the short second life of bree tanner” and knowing how doomed she was. i was also impressed with xavier as riley. he acted brilliantly. which is why he gets to be my post image.
as far as the drama went with the love triangle, i couldn’t care less. i wanted to see more of leah and seth. i feel like i cared about everyone else except bella and edward. i’d say that the best parts of the movie for me were rosalie, jasper, and the action sequences. oh, and bella’s ring looked like a $5 piece of fashion jewelry. but that’s just me.
percy jackson and the olympians: the lightning thief — movie
first off, i liked it. two hours went by and i remained fully immersed. the action sequences had a lot of umph and power so i was glad they didn’t try to make it some soft pansy kid movie. well, it couldn’t be a kid movie since most of the cast was approaching mid-twenties and 12 year old percy was actually 18, but who’s nitpicking? i mean, annabeth’s blond curly hair was brunette and straight and grover’s gangly acne-ridden awkwardness was replaced by a stronger, older, comedic brandon t. jackson. but you know, alexandra deddario has beautiful blue eyes that are striking against her dark hair and actually perpetuate a sense of godliness and brandon t. jackson was an amazing comedic relief. and his CG goat legs came out great. so no harm done.
i heard that the director chris columbus replaced the chimera with the hydra because he thought the chimera was lame. but the hydra shows up in the second book. i guess he’s just going to leave it out of the second movie since it doesn’t play a huge role. and why make medusa beautiful (uma thurman)? but i guess the hydra was enough ugly for the movie. WHERE WAS CLARISSE???? THALIA????? and more importantly, WHERE WAS ANY MENTION OF KRONOS????? oh wait, i think they did mention him in the museum. it just kills me that a movie will fail at building an underlying thread when the whole story is already written out. instead, they will introduce a backstory all at once when it has less of an impact. i mean, when the trio are in the underworld, there’s no tartarus and krono’s voice trying to suck percy down. no shoes with wings trying to fly grover into the abyss. luke does give percy the shoes with wings but they aren’t used at all how they are in the book.
i have to say that my favorite part was the lotus casino and hotel. perfection. lady gaga songs and all. and the effect of eating the lotus flowers…you have to see it. i didn’t really like the camp on screen. they didn’t have separate cabins for each god. they even made it so that poseidon built a lodge specifically for percy only. the gods were made to be more influential in their children’s lives. and instead of the long standing rule that gods can only act indirectly with half-blood offspring, the movie made it so that zeus made this rule because poseidon was becoming too involved with percy. AND there’s no mention that “the big three” made a pact to never procreate again. AND there was no waiting for your possible god parent to claim you. everyone just accepted that percy was poseidon’s kid. i’ve learned long ago to separate my book and movie experiences so that if something does match up, i’m impressed. i’m excited to see the rest and hope that the liberties are at least kept on the same level as this one.
the lovely bones – movie
wow. good gracious. that was awesome. can i first say that the casting was utterly perfect. who knew marky mark could act? or at least show that much emotion? and emotion is one thing that the actors didn’t hold back on. i love it when actors really cry when they’re supposed to cry instead of just making pouty unhappy faces 😦 and they weren’t just crying. they showed anguish and it was beautifully and tragically done. saoirse ronan (pronounced seer-sha) as susie salmon is breathtaking. i knew saoirse was the ish after seeing “atonement” and “city of ember”. she’s my new hero. she was completely unafraid to embrace the entire spectrum of emotion that the story requires.
and reece ritchie who plays ray singh was a perfect match. in the few moments that he interacts with saoirse in the movie, he completely captured the fact that ray was in love with susie. ray’s feelings for susie could have easily lacked the depth it had in the book but reece pulled it off in a way that made me cry. we should all be so lucky. the way the movie progressed had me concerned about the part where susie inhabits ruth’s body and finally looses her virginity to ray. but peter jackson (in all your wisdom, i bow to thee) decided that in the movie version ray and susie would not kiss before she died, instead susie would possess ruth to finally get that first kiss from ray. it wasn’t lacking in the least. the rape was not shown at all which was another thing i was concerned about. what happened during susie’s brutal murder was implied, which made it all the more deceptive and disgusting.
susan sarandon as susie’s grandmother was a breath of fresh air, just as the character is in the book. brilliant acting. i’m already comfortable seeing rachel weisz in roles like she played in “the constant gardener” and “definitely, maybe” so i felt she captured the intelligent and untamed nature of susie’s mother wonderfully. and is stanley tucci creepy or what?! those fake teeth and that comb over do wonders.
the movie is also beautiful to look at. the effects were appropriate and blended seamlessly with the story line (although tons of people disagree). and the music wasn’t afraid to get crazy. it was effective in a way that amplified your perception of the scene. saoirse’s voiceover was done perfectly to help narrate through the passing of time. not even a trace of her irish accent. she’s amazing. especially when she delivers the line “these were the lovely bones that had grown around my absence: the connections — sometimes tenuous, sometimes made at great cost, but often magnificent — that happened after I was gone.” made me cry. sappy me.
my eyes burned fiercely through the movie. i’m not kidding when i say that reece ritchie plays a mean ray singh. when he delivers one of my favorite lines “you are beautiful, susie salmon” i cried every time. and yes, he gives the line more than once, yay for kleenex. and the ending when susie reaches her ultimate destination and meets the other victims…no words…just tears.
thank you peter jackson for staying true to the book, as you always do. and the liberties you took were perfect and no less genius than your previous adaptations (minus the king kong remake).
the bookend. 