Oscar Live @ Fox Studios

This afternoon we had the 83rd Academy Awards shown live at Fox Studios Australia. Simple lunch was provided, along with drinks, tables, chairs, couches, and picnic rugs. My colleagues and I strolled along and spent extended lunch watching the show.

Imagine my delight when I heard Shaun Tan has won the Best Animated Short Film! There was definitely some shouting and throwing hands in the air! You might have followed when I mentioned his short film for the first time, when I reviewed the picture book, and again when it was nominated for 2011 Oscar. Ooh how I love it when I get to love something/someone far before everybody makes fuss.

“Our film is about a creature that doesn’t get any attention so this is quite ironic.” Tan said on stage.

This is an interesting article from ABC about the inception of The Lost Thing.

Apart from that, The King’s Speech won Best Picture and Best Direction, Colin Firth for Best Actor (The King’s Speech) and Natalie Portman for Best Actress (Black Swan). Both supporting actor and actress were for The Fighter which I haven’t watched (Christian Bale and Melissa Leo). Best Original Screenplay: The King’s Speech, Best Adapted Screenplay: Social Network. Best Art Direction and Best Costume: Alice in Wonderland. Best Animated Feature Film: Toy Story 3. Best VFX and Sound: Inception. Just the ones on top of my head.

A rather predictable, but quite satisfying year!

You know how I have a thing for Shaun Tan. So you can imagine how happy I am to find that The Lost Thing (which I posted about mid last year) has been nominated for Best Animated Short Film at the 83rd Academy Awards! Granted it is competing with Pixar’s Day & Night (if you saw Toy Story 3 in the cinema, the short would’ve been screened just before) which I think might be one of the best short animated ever, so it’s a toughie. But I’m happy nonetheless!

Moving on to my favorite category: Best Animated Feature Film. Pixar movies have been nominated, and more often won, every single year since the award category was started in 2001, so it’s no surprise that Toy Story 3 is there. In fact, I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t win. Toy Story and Toy Story 2 were out prior to 2001, so they never had a chance to win an Oscar. The series deserve to get one, don’t you think? Also Toy Story 3 is nominated for Best Picture this year, one of only three animated movies ever to be nominated for Best Picture (first was Beauty and the Beast in 1991 and Up in 2009). The Illusionist (French, from the guys who brought you The Triplets of Belleville) is a nice inclusion. How To Train Your Dragon is said to be the best DreamWorks to date, so that’s no surprise too (no Shrek 4!).

On a side note, I watched Tangled yesterday and enjoyed it immensely. It has everything you want or expect from a Disney movie: the songs, the happy ending. With Disney you know it’s going to be safe, everybody is gonna be happy at the end, which is not a bad thing! I do wish they go back to making awesome 2D style films like they used to. With the highly acclaimed Tangled, does it mean Disney is making a comeback? I surely hope so. The omission at the award kinda bugged me a bit.

Now on to Best Picture. There are ten nominees:

• Black Swan
• The Fighter
• Inception
• The Kids Are All Right
• The King’s Speech
• 127 Hours
• The Social Network
• Toy Story 3
• True Grit
• Winter’s Bone

What a great list. Just watched Black Swan last weekend so it’s super fresh in my mind. A disturbing psychological thriller with ballet as center stage. What a great combination. Go Natalie Portman. Watched the advanced screening of The Kids Are All Right on free tickets many moons ago, before all the critics’ acclaims and the buzz. The film was nice. I love it when you go with no expectation at all and be pleasantly surprised. Because of some bad timing I missed Inception and The Social Network at the cinema, but I’m dying to see those. The King’s Speech was just out in Australia, so I haven’t got a chance to catch that. Would really like to see 127 Hours too after seeing the awesome trailer and knowing James Franco is playing (not yet out in Australia).

For Best Actor and Actress in Leading and Supporting Role, Michelle Williams nomination for Blue Valentine made me desperate to see the film. Saw the trailer and bits and I’m curious, especially that she’s playing with co-star Ryan Gosling. Love those two folks, can’t wait to see them together.

Another one I should note is Jacki Weaver for her role in Animal Kingdom, a true blue Aussie movie. Jacki’s nomination signifies the first time in 14 years that an Australian actor has been nominated for playing an Australian character in an Australian film that’s set in Australia. (Last time it was Geoffrey Rush, who won the Oscar for his work in Shine.) (from popsugar) So that’s a biggie. Animal Kingdom received very high acclaims here. I don’t however have urgent need to see it as it deals with Australian underground life. Not exactly my type of movie. Can you blame me? For mafia movies, I just make exception for Godfather.

The Academy Awards will take place on Sunday 27 February with Anne Hathaway and James Franco (nominated as Best Actor himself for 127 Hours) as youngest Oscar hosts. Take a deep breath everyone.

1) Cloud Atlas (book by David Mitchell)

There isn’t much information on this one yet apart from rumours of impressive cast. Imdb says it’s out in 2011, but knowing how imdb works, don’t really count on it.

2) Jane Eyre (book by Charlotte Bronte)

First knew from Claire. Mia Wasikowska is playing! After watching her in The Kids Are All Right and Alice in Wonderland I can’t wait to see more of her performance. Check out the trailer.

3) The Invention of Hugo Cabret (book by Brian Selznick)

Martin Scorsese seems like an odd choice to direct this film based on children book, but we never know. I have flipped through the book before and the charcoal illustrations in it were astounding. Can’t wait to see how they would visualize it in a movie.

4) The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (book by Georges Rémi)

Actually I don’t know if there’s a Tintin book based on this particular story. I read Tintin books when I was small and lost track which one is which. The film is worked on by our neighbouring studio in New Zealand, the same studio who did Avatar with James Cameron (who happened to visit OUR studio last week, just saying… yes, THE Cameron). Directed by Steven Spielberg, using the same mocap technology with Avatar, I’m intrigued.

And now for the most exciting one of all!

5) Winnie the Pooh (book by A.A. Milne)

With Australian bad luck we might get the movie played here in 2012, but no matter, I’m going to wait. Did you get teary too watching the trailer? Did you? The 2D traditional animation is so perfect (I’m gonna scream if another person compares it with Yogi Bear). And the music! So true!

Oh simple thing, where have you gone? Why don’t we go somewhere only we know?

You will get more Pooh from me this year!

Did I miss any movie I should know about? Let me know!

Stevens is an old-fashioned butler who has been working his entire life at an old style English house (mansion to be exact, or castle? Anyway, it’s huge). Being a butler is not just his job, it’s his entire life. He has extreme pride for what he does, who he works for, and who he is for his profession. Because of his extreme, rather odd views of things, he is somewhat socially imbalanced, and that causes him to be caught in all kinds of interesting situations with the people around him.

The basic premise is not what I would call my kind of story as it deals with upper class society in a wealthy country, albeit it’s the butler who gets the spotlight. Having said that, I was totally absorbed into Stevens’ thoughts and life from beginning to the end. This is a book that is heavily based on characters rather than plot, and what a great characterization Ishiguro has done. Everything about Stevens is so believable, so well-developed. And the ending will surely take your breath away. It did mine. It was so tragic, so devastatingly heartbreaking.

Jess, my book fairy who passed me the book, described it as “pitch perfect” and I couldn’t agree more. What really stood out for me, apart from the language, was the technique. It felt like Ishiguro has painstakingly rewritten and edited the book, again and again, honing it to perfection. No word was wasted, no gesture was not meaningful, no speech was unnecessary. It was so clean, so lean, so articulate. Yes, it was pitch perfect!

As the basic story is not one that is close to my heart, it probably won’t end up as my favorite book of all time. (Maybe it will maybe it won’t. Only time will tell.) But as a novel, it is amazingly accomplished. Give me another Ishiguro’s anytime of the day. I’m sure I’ll end up reading all his books eventually. I would therefore give The Remains of the Day the perfect 5 stars. I’m not sure if that makes sense. Can you think of a book in which the basic story is not close to your heart but you think it works perfectly as a novel? What’s the next Ishiguro would you recommend? The Unconsoled, An Artist of the Floating World, or A Pale View of Hills? Any that you feel strongly about from the three?

1989, 258pp

First Line
It seems increasingly likely that I really will undertake the expedition that has been preoccupying my imagination now for some days.

Memorable Passage
“There was, for instance, the question of cost. For even taking into account my employer’s generous offer to ‘foot the bill for the gas’, the costs of such a trip might still come to a surprising amount considering such matters as accommodation, meals and any small snacks I might partake of on my way. Then there was the question of what sorts of costume were appropriate on such a journey, and whether or not it was worth my while to invest in a new set of clothes.” ~ p10

Challenges/Projects
Read the Book, See the Movie, The Man Booker Prize, 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, Reading the World

Also reviewed by
Steph & Tony Investigate! | Arukiyomi

The Film (1993)

The film was nominated for 8 Oscars in 1994 for Best Actor, Actress, Costume, Art/Set Direction, Director, Picture, Music, and Writing. (too bad it didn’t win any. But their competitors of that year were Schindler’s List and The Piano. Tough competition!)

Stevens the butler was played by Anthony Hopkins beautifully, as well as Emma Thompson as Miss Kenton the housekeeper. The movie stayed very true to the book, it captured the mood very well, and the important scenes were played better than what I imagined while reading.

The setting in Darlington Hall was amazing. I got to see everything that was hard to imagine by myself: the summer house, dining room, kitchen, servants’ quarter, drawing room, library, etc. There were even a couple of nice extra touches that I don’t recall being mentioned in the book, like secret passages for the servants to go from room to room without being intrusive (so fun!) and the myriad of labeled bells connected to different rooms.

The Remains of the Day is a wonderful movie. Really well done. And for me the tragedy was even more apparent than in the book. Highly recommended.

Rating: 8/10

But really I just barely scratched the surface of what is in the book. There are many philosophical musings about love, life, relationship, politics, and the world. My did I enjoy them. The book is so so rich with ideas that I was in awe through and through!

The writing wasn’t exactly fantastic. The excessive parentheses especially annoyed me. Makes you wonder if they really came from Kundera himself in the original language. The book is translated from Czech by Michael Henry Heim, who is an award-winning translator. So I guess it was already in the best hand as far as translation goes. It also drove me a bit crazy when it talked about kitsch for several chapters. A few checks into dictionary and wikipedia didn’t get me very far. I’m still not sure if I understood.

But again, the ideas! How original! How thoughtful! How mind-bending! Anybody who could make politics seem so sexy must have exceptional talent! I chose to see the real strength of the book rather than the weakness–which now seems to be even less important. Boy oh boy how happy I was to finally try Kundera, who solidly earned his place on my favorite authors list. He must watch out because I’m going to go through his back catalogue!

I’d highly recommend the book for people who question lots of things in life, for those who experienced turmoil in their own country and might be forced to leave, or just those who enjoy discussions of out-of-the-box ideas. I enjoyed The Unbearable Lightness of Being immensely that I couldn’t give it anything other than

1984, 304 pp

First line
The idea of eternal return is a mysterious one, and Nietzsche has often perplexed other philosophers with it: to think that everything recurs as we once experienced it, and that the recurrence itself recurs ad infinitum!

Memorable Quotes

“Chance and chance alone has a message for us. Everything that occurs out of necessity, everything expected, repeated day in and day out, is mute. Only chance can speak to us. We read its message much as gypsies read the images made by coffee grounds at the bottom of a cup.” ~ p46

“She had come to him to escape her mother’s world, a world where all bodies were equal. She had come to him to make her body unique, irreplaceable. But he too, had drawn an equal sign between her and the rest of them: he kissed them all alike, stroked them alike, made no absolutely no distinction between Tereza’s body and the other bodies.” ~ p54

“Being in a foreign country means walking a tightrope high above the ground without the net afforded a person by the country where he has his family, colleagues, and friends, and where he can easily say what he has to say in a language he has known from childhood.” ~ p71

“What we have not chosen we cannot consider either our merit or our failure.” ~ p85

“The  goals we pursue are always veiled. A girl who longs for marriage longs for something she knows nothing about. The boy who hankers after fame has no idea what fame is. The thing that gives our every move its meaning is always totally unknown to us.” ~ p119

“The characters in my novels are my own unrealized possibilities. … The novel is not the author’s confession; it is an investigation of human life in the trap the world has become.” ~ p215

“Attaching love to sex is one of the most bizarre ideas the Creator ever had.” ~ p231

Project
Read the Book See the Movie, 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, Reading the World

Also reviewed by
bibliojunkie | arukiyomi | Mad Bibliophile | Save Ophelia

The Movie (1988)

The movie is played by Daniel Day-Lewis (of the Butcher in Gangs of New York) as Tomas and Juliette Binoche (who I knew from Catherine Earnshaw of the 1992 Wuthering Heights) as Tereza.

I thought Tereza was well-played, showing grace, youth, and innocence. But my gosh did I have problem with Tomas character in the film. I guess the main problem was, I did not find Day-Lewis sexy, so the whole Casanova thing he was meaning to pull did not work. The continuous smug smile on his face annoyed me as hell.

But you can kind of tell from the structure of the book, that a movie adaptation was not going to work well. The major (and the most crucial) portion of the book lies in the narrator and his philosophical musings, not the plot. Cinematic is great for showing plot and characters, but not deep inner thoughts.

With a bag of skepticism before going in though, I thought the film was somewhat decent for its ambition (it’s nominated for 1989 Oscar for Best Cinematography and Best Writing for Screenplay Based on Material from another Medium). It’s watchable, even if only for setting and lifestyle of the time and place. But it’s skipable for the non-fan of the book.

Rating: 7/10

First thing I noticed was how little I know about UK in general. I had to look up Edinburgh and The Brownies (thinking surely this is not brownies the chocolate cake?). Set in 1930s at an all-girl school, there are Miss Jean Brodie and her set of six girls–her “crème de la crème”.  As a teacher Miss Brodie is highly opinionated about what should be taught, what is important, and what’s worth learning, often straying off the school’s curriculum path, to the horror of the school’s principal. The girls, as such impressionable ages (starting since they’re 10), for better or for worse devouring everything that is passed by their favorite teacher.

A couple of techniques Spark used in the book that really stood out for me were flash-forward (the reader is often given a glimpse of the future) and repetition. Now I dislike repetition in book (which is why I didn’t like The Road) so I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. For such a short book however, it helped to distinguish the multitude of characters. For examples, one of the girls is repeatedly described as the one “famous for sex”, one has “small, almost non-existent eyes”, one likes Math, one is good at gymnastic, and one dies in the fire.

I liked the intricacies of the characters and their relationships. As a small book, it contains a lot of ideas and an array of intriguing characters. So though The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is not earth-shattering for me, it whet my appetite for Spark’s works and I will look out for more in the future.

I leave you with a passage that echoes what I often thought as a teenager.

“Supposing that passion struck upon them in the course of the evening and they were swept away into sexual intercourse? She saw the picture of it happening in her mind, and Sandy could not stand for this spoiling. She argued with herself, surely people have time to think, they have to stop to think while they are taking their clothes off, and if they stop to think, how can they be swept away?” ~ Sandy, p46

1961, 170 pp

First line
The boys, as they talked to the girls from Marcia Blaine School, stood on the far side of their bicycles holding the handlebars, which established a protective fence of bicycle between the sexes, and the impression that at any moment the boys were likely to be away.

Challenges/Projects
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, Read the Book See the Movie

Also reviewed by
Arukiyomi | Books 4 Breakfast | Suko’s Notebook | A Work in Progress (this and other Spark’s books)

The Movie (1969)

There was a gap of a couple of months between me reading the book and watching the movie. I didn’t feel much about the book so I didn’t have high expectation. But after somewhat of a slow start, the movie almost suddenly became really really good! And I was left really impressed at the end of the movie! Maggie Smith was amazing in this role, like she’s born for it, like the screenplay was written for her! Little wonder then that she won Oscar for Best Actress in 1970 for the role of Miss Jean Brodie. It was the perfect cast.

But wait, there’s more! The girl who played Sandy (one of Miss Jean Brodie’s girl) was just as amazing! Unlike movies these days where people are usually cast for much younger roles, the girls here seem to be at the right age, like they are in the book (okay, I checked that Pamela Franklin, the girl who played Sandy, was 18-19 during the movie, so she’s actually older, but still.) In any way, she totally blew me away. What a shame that she doesn’t play another prominent role after this film and seems to disappear into obscurity.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable movie. It stays true to the characters and to the spirit of the book. The Brodie set was minimized into four girls instead of six, and a couple of girls were combined, but I think it worked just as well. Since the movie emphasized some of the scenes, I got to understand the characters even better than when I was reading the book. Odd I know. It rarely happens that a movie is better or on par with the book, but I think this might be just one of those cases.

Rating: 8/10

ps: There was nudity in the film. How shocking is that for a classic film such as this?

What a lot of people seem to miss though, is another Director, whose works are rather different with Miyazaki’s, but in my opinion, definitely not any less. A long-term colleague of Miyazaki and a co-head of Ghibli, Isao Takahata is Ghibli’s second person. His films are possibly less known to audience outside of Japan, but a couple of them are my absolute favorites, like Grave of the Fireflies, which I have re-watched many time, Pompoko, and My Neighbors The Yamadas.

Grave of the Fireflies is a heartbreaking film about brother and sister struggling to survive in Japan during World War II; Pompoko about shape-shifter racoons (in Japan there’s old belief that racoon can shape-shift into human form) struggling to prevent their forest home being destroyed by human’s urban development; and I would describe My Neighbors The Yamadas as The Simpsons of Japan, only instead of a very American family, it features a very Japanese family. With gentle humour and interesting Japanese daily life bits, you’ll be surprised how much you can relate with them. The Yamadas are your “everyday family”, hence the title My Neighbors (they can be anyone’s).

While Miyazaki generally uses the Wow factor, Takahata painstakingly goes for realism (as seen in Only Yesterday and Grave of the Fireflies). I see Miyazaki as the highly imaginative popular kid, always surrounded by many other kids on the playground, while Takahata as the serious and more reserved kid, working hard at the craft that he believes in among the lesser crowds. The sweet thing is, they believe in each other’s talents.

As you probably know by now, I have a soft spot for Takahata’s works, I do. He’s not a Miyazaki so don’t expect him to be, but his movies are so full of heart I’m sure you’ll fall for them too. If you haven’t watched any of his movies, I encourage you to. Come back when you have and tell me all about it :)

Takahata-san on the left, Miyazaki-san on the right

I have been thinking to post about this for a while, when Tanabata’s Hello Japan August & September mini-challenge came up. I knew then I needed to participate. Thanks for hosting tanabata!

Don’t know how I missed this, but I was so excited to find out about this short a few minutes ago! The short is part of Sydney Film Festival last month and will take part in Melbourne International Film Festival later this year. It is based on Shaun Tan’s book The Lost Thing (1999). He’s been working with a Melbourne-based small team from 2002 to 2010 for this 15 minutes short. It’s 3D with 2D hand-painted textures. Like all Shaun Tan’s I think it’s amazing! Love! I haven’t read the book, but I will surely do so now, and also look for the film!

Find out more about the film from Shaun Tan’s website (many images from the book, concept arts, and the film)

The official website www.thelostthing.com (A very pretty site!)

Prior to reading, I knew there was a lawyer as main character and I was expecting court scenes. But there was no court scene until the second half of the book, which was a peak too short finished too soon for me. However, looking back, I don’t think the court scene or the lawyer were ever the main focus of the book. To Kill A Mockingbird is essentially a coming-of-age story.

The narrator of the book is 6 year-old Scout. We have the privileged to view everything from her eyes. She has an older brother Jem, and father she calls Atticus (mom died). The maternal role in the house is often held by Calpurnia, a black maid who’s been with the family for the longest time. There are a lot of characters coming into view soon after: neighbors, friends, teachers, extended family. It’s a small town so everybody knows everybody and everybody has their own role to fit into: doctor, sheriff, lawyer, newspaper editor, judge, reverend, field owner, and so on.

Later on we find out that Atticus is given the task to defend a black man in court for alleged rape of a white girl, so racism is obviously one of the main themes. But not only that, with inquisitive curious Scout, the book gets to question many things in the world. About poverty, school system, role of women and womanhood, justice, fairness (or the lack of them), and evils in the world.

I admit, during the reading of the book, I thought it was pretty flat. The first half of the book was mostly about two-three kids running amok in the neighborhood. It is well written book full of gentle humor and I enjoyed reading it but there were very few things that made me want to pick up the book once I put it down. I wondered if the greatness of the book is mostly for the Americans. It seems to be The American book if you want to know about Southern US in 1930s. Is it great for nostalgic reason for the Americans? Is it as great looking from foreigner’s point of view who has completely different background and history? I wasn’t convinced.

I watched the movie (more on that below) soon after reading the book and read other people’s reviews. I’m thinking there are a lot of elements contained in this one small book that it’s possible to not pay attention to them the first time around and get more out of succeeding reads. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the books seems to have high re-readability value. Also, the main characters are drawn very strong that I’m sure they will stay with me for a long time. I adored feisty Scout, moody Jem, and admired The Great Atticus. Which other book features a fist-fighting 6 year-old girl? She almost sounds too good to be true! Then there’s the role of Dill (Scout and Jem’s friend) who is based of Truman Capote, my favorite author (Lee and Capote were childhood friends. Lee went together with Capote for the research of Capote’s In Cold Blood). Therefore after much consideration, I’m giving To Kill A Mockingbird:

1960, 281 pp

It’s a worthy read. Definitely.

After finishing the book I just found out that there’s no better time for me to read it as this year is the 50th anniversary of To Kill A Mockingbird and there are celebrations all over. Both she is too fond of books and Capricious Reader are holding a month-long celebration in July. Have you read To Kill A Mockingbird? If you haven’t, there’s no better time than NOW :).

ps: Below is the Australian version of 50th anniversary of To Kill A Mockingbird by Random House. I like it!

First line
When he was nearly thirteen, my bother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.

Awards
1961 Pulitzer Prize

Quotes

“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.” ~ p18

“… one must lie under certain circumstances and at all times when one can’t do anything about them.” ~ p128

Challenges/Projects
Book Awards IV (book #11), Read the Book, See the Movie (pair #5), 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, The Pulitzer

Also reviewed by
Rebecca Reads | Serendipity | Graasland | Booklust | The Reading Life

The Film

The black and white 1962 movie starring Gregory Peck won him Oscar for Best Actor. It also won Best Art Direction and Best Writing. Mary Badham who played Scout was nominated for Best Supporting Actress and the movie was nominated for more categories.

In short, I thought the movie was great. Of course there are a lot of things that got cut, but you’d expect that for book to movie adaptation. In the movie Atticus and the court scene seems to get the most attention, not Scout and her growing up. But the mood and the general atmosphere stay true to the book, and Atticus in the movie is exactly like what I imagined him to be.

I love the scene where all the black people in the court balconies wait until everybody has gone except Atticus downstairs, and stand up as a sign of respect. A great cinematic touch. What I was really disappointed to be cut off was the part where Scout and Jem went to Calpurnia’s church. It’s probably one of my favorite scenes in the book, that shows the tension between the black and the white. In the movie with the omission of the church scene the kids suddenly meet Reverend in the court, who comes out of nowhere with no background story ever told, so it felt really odd.

After watching the movie I just realized that I watched Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday before, in which he played with Audrey Hepburn, my movie heroine. Two great movies in a row. Nods for Gregory Peck.

Rating: 8/10

Also reviewed by
Ripple Effects (with pictures of the DVD set) | Rebecca Reads (who hated the movie)

Blogging-wise, I’m trying my best to catch up too. I’m not able to comment to your every post or even five posts, but rest assured, I’m trying to read all that I missed during my being away. Be kind to me? :)

Meanwhile I just watched an awesome flick just last weekend that I need to share. So I might as well do my movie mini-reviews that I seem to have abandoned for a while!

Always: Sunset on Third Street (Always: Sanchōme no Yūhi)

Winner of 12 Japanese Academy Awards in 2005.

“In the shadow of that symbol of Japan’s post-war economic boom, Tokyo Tower, is Third street. It is a drama that follows the highs and lows, the romance and adventure of growing up in Tokyo in the Shōwa period of the 1950s.”

I laughed and I cried along the movie. Like many Japanese movies, it is often subtle, but I absolutely loved the daily life portrayal of the Japanese post-war, spiced with many unique heartfelt characters on Third Street neighbourhood. The movie is taken from a long-running manga so it is very comical at times (you decide whether that’s good or bad). The half-built Tokyo Tower always hovering in the background, it is a very beautiful, meaningful film.

Rating: 9/10

I couldn’t find a trailer with good quality, so here it is to tease you.

The Road

2009, from the book The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

I read The Road in 2008 and wasn’t really impressed with the book, though many people swear by it. I kinda expected to appreciate the movie more, but alas, my mind stays exactly at where it is. I’m still not impressed with the story and I still did not buy the ending. The visual stays very true to the book, where everything is grey grey grey (a good thing) and even one part of the book where it gets really gory is shown as well (not a good thing, because it was too disgusting). In conclusion, if you love the book I’d recommend the movie, as long as you can stomach it. If you don’t really like the book, well, don’t expect your mind to be changed.

Rating: 6/10

Bright Star

2009, nominated for Oscar 2010 – Best Costume.

The drama is based on the three-year romance between 19th century poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne, which was cut short by Keats’ untimely death at age 25.

I sooo wanted to post about this film when I watched it months ago, because the first time I saw the trailer, my thought was “How great is the costume?!” I quickly pointed that out to my husband. Soon after, I found out that it has been nominated for Oscar for Best Costume. How good my eyes were?! Today though we knew that The Young Victoria won for that category so my excitement got a bit stale. But to reiterate, the movie features great costumes (very fitting because the main female character is a seamstress), great setting (gosh the lavender!), and beautiful poetry. It almost made me want to read Keats’ poetry straight away (no, I haven’t picked poetry up since it’s not my thing, but very possibly in the future!) I can see myself re-watch this movie if only for the beautiful language, story, and setting. Well, isn’t that everything that makes a good movie? The downside is that it’s rather slow at times and for me personally the language needs some getting used to to digest (hence a re-watch is needed).

I love the girl who played Fanny. What a breath of fresh air among too many skinny girls on screen.

Rating: 7/10