Wednesday Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Shockingly, I enjoyed this flick. I was a teenager when I saw the original Planet of the Apes movies with my uncle who loved them and a bit of his geeky, sci-fi loving ways rubbed off on me. When Tim Burton did that remake like ten years ago I was excited to see it and horrified when I left the theatre. It was so bad I wanted to find an experimental mind erasing machine and wipe it from all memory! Not to mention the time waste!

But this new movie is not a remake or awful at all. It is actually a prequel to the Heston version. And it has a lot of references to the 1968 version that fans of the original will enjoy. However, the plot implies something different happened to cause the rise of the intelligent ape population on Earth than the original implied but it was still plausible.

More of today's fears, our fears, than the fears of the 1960s. Therefore, I’d give this move 4 out of 5 stars. The action was a lot of fun and the acting was definitely not Saturday sci-fi B movie but much better!

Books to movies

For the purposes of this, I'm talking fiction. Non-fiction/documentaries are in a totally separate category.

All this talk about Hunger Games being made into a movie (and I do mean all this talk, it's permeated everything!) got me thinking about what's lost (and gained?) by turning a beloved book into a movie/series.Game of Thrones, Pillars of the Earth, Dexter, True Blood, Murdoch Mysteries, the Stieg Larsson trilogy, not to mention the many many adaptations of Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, etc. (For more try this site.)

I like to think I have a pretty good imagination and don't need a movie to show me what I've already pictured for the setting. Plus there are the drawbacks of lost scenes, composite characters, the movie/show going off in a different direction than subsequent books, and bad casting.

But there are positives. There have to be!

The number one pro I can think of is that you get to see everything on the page, all the description and background on the big screen. Or in the case of a series, the expansion of a beloved universe. But what else? If I've read the book and loved it, why would I take the chance on seeing the movie that may or may not be up to the book's standard?

Or is that the point? To see it there, to take that love of a book to another level?

Wednesday Review: Stieg Larsson

Subtitles can go either way. They make you watch the whole movie, cause you have to sit there and read every stikin' line of a truly wonderful epic (Hero, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Curse of the Golden Flower) but they also sometimes drag on (Inglourious Basterds which I enjoyed but it needed some serious editing).

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl who Played with Fire were awesome. I haven't seen The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, but once it comes out January 25, I'm there.

I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo when it first hit American bookshelves 2 years ago and loved it. I couldn't finish it fast enough, not because I wanted it to end, but because I wanted to know what happened next. Actually, I listened to it. Why? You try pronouncing some of those names and places. It's easier when someone else does.


I devoured the other two in the trilogy just as fast and let me tell you, it's a darn shame there'll be no more in the series. They were just that good.


If you haven't read the books, watch out for those graphic acts of violence, and read for the mystery, the girl, Lisbeth, and the Swedish culture. Fascinating all round!

I don't agree with Hollywood about remaking this already stellar movie. I *heart* Daniel Craig don't get me wrong, but there's no need to make a Hollywood-ized version that will probably add unnecessary things in and take out what made this book and movie so awesome to begin with.

Hollywood, why not try a werewolf story instead? ;)

Tuesday Comings and Goings

Today I'm over at Unusual Historicals talking about Errol Flynn. Stop on by! All this month we're talking about Hollywood's version of history.

OK, OK, really I'm talking about Rafael Sabatini and his high seas adventures that Warner Brother's made into movies staring Errol Flynn. I think someone else played Captain Blood, too, but I don't count those. Because how can you compare the incomparable Errol Flynn to anyone?!

Captain Blood, The Sea Hawk, even Scaramouche staring Stewart Granger and Eleanor Parker.

Wednesday Reviews: The A-Team (movie)

As a child, I was a big fan of The A-Team. Every Saturday I watched it on whatever station it ran. The last season aside, it was a great show I never tired of. It was what it is, and considering it involved mysteries, guns, war, lies, thugs, bullies, and yes even sex, it was still the kind of show that never loses its appeal.

Favorite line? Murdock's: (not quoted but from memory) Those who will be back will be coming back. But those who won't be back, won't be coming back. Now I say this because if you aren't back, then you won't be back. Understood?

(It's the one with the soup kitchen.)

With a great deal of reservation, I watched the trailers for the movie. And fell in love. I HAD to see it, like pay for it in a movie theater which I rarely do ($10 a ticket? Out of your frakkin' mind).

It was so worth it!

In one of the few remakes I can applaud, it took the qualities I loved from the original and modernized them. The humor was there, the comrade between the 4 of them, everything that made me tune in week after week to watch a show whose episodes were so similar that even as a kid I could tell that.

I didn't mind that they took some of the iconic pieces from the show and did away with them. I liked the fact that they added them in! I liked that even the music was used, albeit in a slightly different manner. I loved BA's reasons for not flying. I loved the antagonistic friendship between BA and Murdock. I love Hannibal's plans, and I swear Liam Neeson channeled George Peppard.

Bradley Cooper? Never heard of him before this (I didn't watch The Hangover though I may now) but yum. Just...yum.

All in all, while I'm no fan of remakes, this one was spot on. Two thumbs up, definitely.

Movie review: Clash of the Titans (2010)

Saw the new version on opening day. Wish I hadn't. I've said before that remakes are rarely as good as the original. (A-Team is coming out in June, and I might be tempted with that. The trailer looks really good. Course so did the trailer for this.)

I had high hopes I tell you! But I lost valuable writing time! I could have saved myself the money, too, though luckily I didn't pay for the 3D since I've heard it wasn't worth it. Movies made 3D after the fact rarely are.

Clash of the Titans disappoints!

I was a big fan of the orignal; hey I was a kid and I thought all the neat claymation effects were cool. I had really high hopes for the CGI 2010 version and boy was I let down. To begin; the mythology is WRONG half the time. I hate that - don't these people at least go on Wiki and look things up? The guy playing Perseus had no depth. Okay, sure this is an action movie and character development is usually on the thin side but Clash was on the invisible side!

The story of Clash of the Titans (original) centered around a hero's journey to go from simple man to demigod and test the limits of your smarts, strength and determination. The only limit testing in the 2010 version was my patience! Sam Worthington's performance was beyond hollow and bordered on being a cardboard cutout. The kraken special effects even disappointed!

"Release the kraken!" is an immortal line in cinema and the 2010 Clash of the Titans reduced it to "Release me from this seat!"

Remakes

Some remakes should NEVER be done. Dukes of Hazzard? I didn't bother it looked so stupid and I loved that show. 12 Angry Men? Manchurian Candidate? Never captured the essence of the originals. Even High Society, which I like for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is Celeste Holm's (a hugely talented and under appreciated actress) song with Frank Sinatra Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and Frank's bit with Bing, Well did you Evah! but it doesn't compare with Philadelphia Story.

I just discovered they're remaking Captain Blood. IN SPACE! I'm shocked, appalled, and very uneasy about this. They'll never make it as good as Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland.

In space. Please.