Reactions to the Wild Things Trailer

Slate's XX Factor on the realease of the Where the Wild Things Are movie.

Part of me is in agreement with the XX Factor posting. But then, part of me is really excited to see how this experiment turns out. There are many children's book that I never want to see translated to film. That's one reason I still haven't seen Bridge to Terabithia. I'm not sure why I'm cautiously at peace with CGI Wild Things. But that's the best way to describe it for now.

More Coraline Reviews

here and here.

The reviews are coming in for Coraline

There's a review up over on Slate. I am cautious. I'll have to see it before I make any judgments but this worries me:

It's impossible to get into just why and how Coraline's last third falls apart without giving away too much of the story. But it's not revealing to say that Coraline's enchantment with the alternate universe needed a more gradual rate of decay for the shift to be convincing.

I was discussing with Josh about this earlier. I said that the previews made me think that Coraline's initial foray into the Other Mother's world is too pleasant in the movie. Josh argued that that's true to the book; Coraline likes it there at first. I don't know. I felt like from the very beginning, the Other Mother's universe was slightly threatening and sinister. I guess that speaks to the genius that is Neil Gaiman. He manages to create a world that is both delightful and full of unease.

Can you tell I'm ecstatic he won the Newbery?

Movies based on children's books to look out for/make you cringe...

What's with the stop-motion animation? We should see a stop-motion movie version of Coraline in February of 2009 followed by Wes Anderson's take on Roald Dahl's The Fantastic Mr. Fox in November.

Inkheart will be in theaters in January of '09 (How long has it been since Brendan Fraser has been in a good movie?) and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is set for March. Spike Jonze's adaptation of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are is slated to be out in October. I'm cautiously excited.

And Tim Burton's taking on Alice in Wonderland sometime in 2010. Even though I didn't care for his vision of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I actually think this might work well. Burton does love those repressed characters and so, in some ways, may be perfect for Alice.

Oh and I almost forgot (how could I?!) about the big one. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was delayed until July of 2009. Sigh.

Of course I saw the Twilight movie...

And there's a pretty good review of it up on Slate.

My own issues with the characters and writing aside, I can see why Twilight is such an appealing story. And the story only really appeals because its about vampires. If Bella has been right on her first guess, if Edward were a superhero bitten by a radioactive spider rather than a vamp who's always fighting the urge to bite, there probably wouldn't be nearly as many teenage girls swooning over the books. No Edward has to be a vamp because vampires are very much a metaphor for sex. Being around Edward is risky for Bella because he might hurt her or kill her or more dangerously turn her into a vampire which would (as Edward seems most concerned about) derail the trajectory of her life and deny her the rites of passages (prom, college) that he thinks she should have. Hm, sounds like a teen pregnancy to me. So I think whats really appealing to the girls that rabidly love Edward is the idea of a guy who is willing to forgo his own desire in order to keep the girl safe. Which is why Twilight is at its best when Edward really does seem to want to kill Bella. Once he assumes the role of protector as he has by the end of the book, eh then he get's kind of boring.

Ok he's cool but his hair is still obnoxious!

I'm sitting here watching the Today show and since the Twilight movie is bringing back the mall mob scene, they have Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart on. Of course Meredith drags them out to talk to their adoring fan who are all screaming about how they love Edward Cullen and asking stupid questions like "How similar are you to the moody teenage vampire love-god you play?" But the best part was when they asked the girls why they liked Edward so much. I love how Pattinson jumped right in one poor girls face pressing her for an answer. He was all yeah but what exactly to you like about him anyway? And the girl couldn't come up with an answer. Finally kinda shrugging and saying she didn't know.

What she should have said: Not his stupid hair!

I can't remember the last time I went out to a movie but...

I caught a bit of The Seeker: The Dark is Rising on TV last night after Valeska and I watched Atonement. I only saw a few minutes and most of the time it was on I was explaining to Valeska why the movie is nothing at all like the books. It seemed like such a bland, generic movie, I couldn't get into it at all.

Oh and yes Atonement was good but Keira Knightley drives me nuts. I feel like her acting consists of straining her neck and gulping down air. Too bad too, because she always has these great roles. Though maybe she could have made a good Bella since she's so good at looking distressed. Oh well.

It's not that I have a thing against Sex and the City...

Hey, I'm pretty sure I've seen every episode multiple times. But this is just sort of disturbing.

I mean wasn't the fact that these women were no longer in their twenties the drive behind the show? Eh, I guess not?

I'm still planning on renting the movie.

And then a movie I totally do want to see...

Chuck Palahniuk's book Choke has been made into a movie and it comes out Sep. 26th. I've read all of Palahniuk's books except, oddly enough, for Fight Club (but I did see the movie) and though I like them well enough, I find it easy to tire of the whole transcendence through the grotesque. But Choke is one of my favorites. It has one of the funniest, sickest scenes I've ever read. A scene which I really hope they didn't cut out in the movie, but I'm guessing they probably did.

And now I kinda want to see the movie...

So I am reading the Midnight Sun Commentary over at Occupation Girl (If you don't mind spoilers read it! It's great for inducing fits of "I'm glad I haven't had cofee yet this morning because I'm sure I'd snarf it all over my keyboard" laughter.) and while on her blog I came across this quote from Robert Pattinson about playing Edward Cullen.

"When you read the book," says Pattinson, looking appropriately pallid and interesting even without makeup, "it's like, 'Edward Cullen was so beautiful I creamed myself.' I mean, every line is like that. He's the most ridiculous person who's so amazing at everything. I think a lot of actors tried to play that aspect. I just couldn't do that. And the more I read the script, the more I hated this guy, so that's how I played him, as a manic-depressive who hates himself. Plus, he's a 108-year-old virgin so he's obviously got some issues there."

Food and Picture Books

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is getting made into a movie, with Andy Samberg. It doesn't sound like it's going to be very faithful to the book but still, pizza and ice cream raining down from the sky is just fun!

Various things on my mind...

1. Pics of the cast from the Twilight movie are up on Stephanie Meyer's website. I'm sorry but looking at those pictures made me giggle. For some reason, reading about a family of sparkling vampires is much less silly than looking at pictures of them.

2. Thanks to Bookshelves of Doom I have found my dream house. Check out the staircase/bookcase. Yum.

3. In local news the penguins are starting trouble again. But at least they have people standing up for them though. School Board Vice Chairman John Stevens said in a written statement “Parents determine what is appropriate for their own children and how to guide their children as they learn and grow,” and that “The schools should not be an instrument of censorship."

Ah. So there are some sane people on school boards!

4. I just finished reading Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin and Extras by Scott Westerfeld. Loved Memoirs. Didn't care for Extras. Zevin writes teenagers really well and Memoirs reminded a lot of the Jessica Darling series by Megan McCaffrey. Extras was a whole lot of superficial characters riding around on hover boards. It was like one very long Quiddich match. I know some kids like that sort of thing but I was never that kind of reader.

So Excited!

Starting on January 13, PBS's Masterpiece Theatre will broadcast all six of Jane Austen novels, including four new adaptations and a biopic!

I'm a bit facinated by the way Jane Austen flares in popularity every few years, usually because of some new movie based on her work. Back in the highschool days, I remember being inspired to to read Emma after watching Clueless.

Coraline Sneak Peek

Sneak Peek Here.

Not sure what I think of this yet. I have read Coraline so many times that I have a clear picture in my head of what the story should look like and I know I should probably stay away from the movie. BUT... I know I won't be able to stay away. I hope that at the very least I feel the way I felt about The Golden Compass movie, which was that it was a fun movie to watch.

Speaking of movies, I saw Sweeny Todd yesterday as part of our "Jewish Christmas" which also included latkas for breakfast and chinese food for dinner. It was great gorey fun and now I've been singing about the worst pies in london all day!

Viewing The Golden Compass

I saw the movie of Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass last night. It's been getting some pretty terrible reviews with most critics complaining that it waters down the complexity of Pullman's books. And yes, the movie falls short of the brilliance of the book but that is almost always the case. Which is why I feel the need to speak up in this movie's defense.

I remember reading the His Dark Materials trilogy, of which The Golden Compass is the first book, in college and marveling at how complicated the plot was. So, when I heard that they were making the Golden Compass into a movie I didn't really expect that they would be able to pack in everything from the book. Even ending the film about three chapters early (which was annoying to me as a reader but understandable as a movie viewer), there's just too much.

But really what I'm getting at is that if I wanted to have the perfect experience of The Golden Compass I would read the book again. Nothing is going to match that. But I think that the filmmakers tried hard to stay faithful to the story. And though it wasn't perfection, I enjoyed sitting through their effort.

Oooohhh!

After all the bad movie versions of children's books this gives me hope. I cannot wait!

I'm almost glad they won't share the same title!

Interesting interview with Susan Cooper on NPR. I am pretty sure that I am not going to see The Seeker (the new title of The Dark is Rising movie). When I saw the movie commercial I didn't even recognize it as The Dark is Rising. I understand movies and books are two different mediums and things that work in books might not work on film. But still, sometimes I think movie studios set out to destroy beloved books!

Poetry Friday

I saw the new Harry Potter movie last night. I am so impressed with how the movies have really created this universe. Oh and Snape! I have such a literary crush on Snape. Mr. Darcy, Mr. Rochester, and Snape...I love those brooding, slightly mean characters. My new Harry Potter theory is that Snape is Harry's real father. Before anyone gets up in arms, I KNOW it's not true, but wouldn't it make the story a bit more interesting?

As for poetry this Friday, I am posting a poem by another children's fantasy writer. I love the last two lines in this poem. Not as much as I love Snape...but almost.

Fat Is Not a Fairy Tale by Jane Yolen

I am thinking of a fairy tale,
Cinder Elephant,
Sleeping Tubby,
Snow Weight,
where the princess is not
anorexic, wasp-waisted,
flinging herself down the stairs.

Read the rest of the poem here.

A bit late for Poetry Friday but let's give it a go

This weeks poem is Travel Advisory by Michael Dumanis. You can read the poem here. No particular reason for picking it other than the fact that I like poems that boss me around. Seriously. Ever since my high school English teacher Mr. Haness had us read David Wagoner's Staying Alive, I've had an affinity for bossy poems.

Anyway, in other news, I went with Josh and his buddies to see the new Transformers movie. Now, as low as my expectations were, and let me assure you they were pretty low, that movie was disappointing. It wasn't funny enough to laugh at, there wasn't enough action to keep my mind sufficiently numbed, and it was full of offensive stereotypes. I should have known better when the 18 year old page at the library warned me it was bad. I mean, if a teenage boy hated the movie then really there's not much hope. I thought I had nothing better to do but really ANYTHING would have been better.

She leaves fire and destruction in her wake...

So the Georgetown library where I would have worked had I taken the DC Library job burned down today. Also on fire early this morning was the historic Eastern Market building, where Michelle and I happened to be all of yesterday. Coincidence or arsonist stalker?

Didn't do much this past weekend aside from the trip to Eastern Market and helping Michelle pick out an awesome bike. I did get to see Hot Fuzz with Josh and Erin on Friday which was hilarious. I rarely laugh out loud in movies and I did in this one. Oh, and I managed to redo the wristband I was trying to knit for Josh's niece so you can actually tell what it's supposed to be! Much better huh?