Day 17 - Books

I don’t know if it’s just that earlier in the year I wasn’t really reading books at the rate I have been this summer, but the last five books I read were amazing. So good that I’ve been reluctant to put them down unless I had to go to work or was too tired to continue reading. Those five books totaled over 3,000 pages, and I just tore through them.

Tonight I finished CATCHING FIRE by Suzanne Collins, the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy. The story ends with a good enough cliffhanger that I’ll be counting down the days until the final book hits stores (August 24th).

Books in a series seem to be my downfall this summer. Back-to-back I finished THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE and THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST. Back-to-back I just finished THE HUNGER GAMES and CATCHING FIRE. Before those was THE PASSAGE. I'm in some sort of luck here because the second book of this series has not yet been written yet.

I guess I need to make sure the next book I choose to read isn’t part of a series. Only, looking at my stack, I notice that I’ve already started HUNGER by Michael Grant, and if I finish it I have LIES waiting patiently on the bookshelf. Another series (books 2 and 3 of the Gone series), another chunk of the summer?

Day 15 - The Movies In My Mind

Good books, the ones that truly capture the imagination, play out like movies in my mind. I’m not entirely sure if this happens for everyone, or if it is simply my love for literature and film combined with an overactive imagination that create such wonderful shows in my head. But when it happens – and it doesn’t happen for every book, even though I can honestly say it will happen for at least part of every book, for there is usually some redeemable, imaginative spark in all stories – it is magical.

After finishing THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST, I told myself that I was done, for a short while, with any book that would so totally capture my attention. The books (yes, I read many books at a time) I was in the process of reading were good, but I was not to a point in any of them where they had become impossible to put down. I thought I’d finally have the time to get some things done this summer.

Yet for some reason I found myself with the urge to read THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins. (The nice thing about having so many books on my shelves unread – easily a hundred, seriously – is that I have something for whatever mood strikes me.) I’d heard good things about it, critically and from my mother. Needless to say, I started the book this afternoon and could not put it down. I read it through non-stop, with the exception of a quick 45-minute break for supper. Even though the idea for the story isn’t exactly original – I remember watching a Japanese movie based on a book of the same name, BATTLE ROYALE, by Koushun Takami, that pitted school children against each other to the death on an isolated island – the characters, especially Katniss Everdeen, kept the story alive. And thrilling.

Knowing the sequel, CATCHING FIRE, is out in bookstores already, and that the third and final book in the series, MOCKINGJAY is due to arrive August 24th, means I can fully expect to find myself completely engaged in at least two more novels this summer.

I can’t wait.

Day 14 - The Girl Who Captured My Attention

After a marathon reading session today, I finished Stieg Larsson’s THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST. I actually had to run out and buy this book the instant I finished the second one in the Millennium trilogy, THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE. The series is just that good. (And I’m glad for once that I was late to the series because then I didn’t have the wait between books to deal with.)

The series starts off with THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, which was a captivating mystery. Crusading journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, teams up with a strange and gifted researcher, Lisbeth Salander, to solve the mysterious disappearance of a young girl many years ago.

Picking up a short time later, THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE and THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST, comprise a two-book, 1,300-page-plus, epic story of conspiracy, murder, and government corruption. There was not a day that went by that I could put these two books down. The two books are packed with suspense, action, and intrigue. I’d mention specifics – plot, characters, action – but wouldn’t want to spoil the shock and surprise for any reader.

What? Not a reader? Then by all means check out the movie versions of these stories. The Swedish versions of the films have already been released overseas, but are (slowly) being released over here. I’ve seen the first (out on DVD and Blu-ray Tuesday, July 6th) and am eagerly anticipating the second as soon as it opens wide enough to find a screen around home. American versions of the films are in the process of being made as I write, out in a few years.

So, there are many opportunities available to you to find enjoyment in these fantastic stories. Granted, they are dark, violent, and complex, and they may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you enjoy a good mystery and love experiencing the good guys stomping down hard on the bad guys, then you can’t go wrong with these three thrillers from Sweden. It’s just a shame that the author is no longer alive to provide us with what happens next.

Watchmen - Movie Review

Watchmen
Rated R for strong graphic violence, sexuality, nudity and language
2 hours 46 minutes
Adapted by David Hayter and Alex Tse from the graphic novel
Directed by Zach Snyder
Starring Jackie Earl Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson, Malin Akerman, and Billy Crudup

* * * ½ (Good/Great)

I never understood the label “Best Graphic Novel of All Time” attached to Watchmen. It was good – great, even – but still probably not cracking my top ten. So, this in mind, while expecting great things from the movie, I had less invested in this film than some of the more die-hard comic fans.

Did I enjoy the movie? Yes. Were there parts that were amazing, and parts that were cringe worthy? Yes, and yes. Would I recommend Watchmen? Yes, but it is not for everyone.

What didn’t work for me were the more superhero-y aspects of the film, which sounds strange considering the movie is a deconstruction of superheroes. I thoroughly enjoyed the parts of the movie featuring Rorschach and the Comedian, and even the excessively wooden Dr. Manhattan was not as glaringly cartoony and fake as the segments featuring the remaining cast of heroes. All of my favorite movies based on comic books (e.g. The Dark Knight, Spiderman 2, Superman Returns, and Iron Man) more seamlessly integrated the comic book aspects into reality. And I believe that is what made them as great as they were.

There is violence, gore (more than you expect to find outside of a horror film), and a bit of sex – all of the adult trappings of an R-rated film – but none of that changes the fact that this is a film tailor-made to please only a small audience – its appeal (due largely to the massive marketing push and phenomenal success of comic book movies in 2008) is not as all-encompassing as advertised, or hyped.

As a comics fan, familiar with the source material and the countless other stories of similar natures and themes, I can enjoy this movie for what it is: just another good – maybe great – look at the ugly, tragic, hopeful, and heroic lives of heroes. Will the average movie patron see the same? I don’t know. I’m so far removed from “average” when it comes to comic books and movie adaptations that I only see through comic panel-tinted glasses.

All that said, the opening credits are a lot of fun, and Haley’s Rorschach steals every scene. If you are intrigued by previews, and have the chunk of time to spend (and a tolerance for the harder R), there are worse ways to get a fix of superheroes in all their messiness.

Coraline Review

CoralineRated PG for thematic elements, scary images, some language and suggestive humor
1 hour 40 minutes
Written and Directed by Henry Selick
From the Book by Neil Gaiman
Voice Talents of Dakota Fanning, Terri Hatcher, Keith David, and Ian McShane

* * * * (Great)

Coraline in 3D was great. I’m a big fan of stop-motion animation – have been ever since Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas, also directed by Coraline’s Henry Selick. The addition of the 3D – here used more to add depth to the film (the very best use of 3D, in my opinion), rather than just pointless pointed jabs to make you jump (i.e. My Bloody Valentine 3D), gave the film an extra weight. My favorite sequence was the opening scene, in which the Other Mother is crafting a Coraline doll as the credits play out – literally – over the creepiness of the doll’s creation. (The Girl liked the scene with the hummingbirds; she’s a hummingbird fan.)

What made this film only a 4-star flick, was the – oftentimes – radical departures from the source material, Neil Gaiman’s book of the same name. Normally I don’t get too hung up on details such as this, but after having reread the book recently (for the fourth or fifth time), it became glaringly obvious the wonderful lines taken straight from the text. More lines – more faithfulness – should have been observed because, honestly, they didn’t need changed. I can understand the additions made to make the film the film it was, but some part of me would have enjoyed the film a bit more dark and original, like the book.

Still, I recommend this movie highly to anyone a fan of the story, or animation in general. If you can catch it in 3D – you’ll be all the better for it.