Come Back To Me
12/13/07 | Movies, Trailers, My Writings | 0 Comments
Well, I’m back in Pennsylvania for about three-ish weeks… Meaning, I should have that amount of time to work on my novel. Considering I don’t have a car, and everyone else works, I guess I’m going to have a lot of time in front of my computer screen. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
Besides that, I’m excited to report that I have been seeing movies at a rate of about two a week (which is just fine with me!). What does that mean to you? Reviews!
WATCHED
It’s one of the perks of living in a major city, being able to see movies in limited release. Atonement was actually playing in this little theater in the middle of Cambridge, one that I would have never found had I not gone with someone who knew the way.
If you’re a writer, you’ll understand what I’m about to say. Have you ever walked out of a movie and just been filled with an overwhelming will to write? This was one of those movies. It was simply stunning, a truly amazing movie. The movie is about two hours long, but I wish it would have been three more. The images were stunning, the story so engaging, that I didn’t want it to end. My friend summed it up nicely by saying (the first words out of his mouth as the credits started to roll), “That movie is going to win so many awards.” I really hope it does; it so deserves it.
Based on the novel by bestselling author Ian McEwan, the story starts as 13-year-old Briony Tallis, a fledgling writer herself (with quite the imagination), witnesses certain things that she doesn’t quite understand but thinks she does. Through a series of extremely unfortunate circumstances, she ends up accusing Robbie (James McAvoy), her sister Cecilia’s (Kiera Knightly) lover, of raping her cousin. This results in him going to jail, and ultimately ending up in the army. Briony grows up to realize her mistake, and makes amends in the only way she can…
Breathtaking movie that had my heart pounding right until the very end…! And this movie has one of the best twists I have seen in many years; totally unexpected. A must-see once it opens in wide release… and keep a look out for it during Oscar season! I’m definitely going to have to read the book now!
Plus, I have just found out (a day after I initially wrote this post, by the way… notice the prediction of future awards above?), the movie has been nominated for an astounding SEVEN Golden Globe awards, including Best Motion Picture - Drama, Best Actress (Kiera Knightly), Best Actor (James McAvoy), Best Supporting Actress (Saoirse Ronan, who plays the 13yo Briony), Best Director (Joe Wright), Best Screenplay (Christopher Hampton), and Best Original Score (Dario Marianelli)! Congratulations and good luck! (Click here to see the rest of the nominations…)
Please, if you haven’t seen it already, watch the trailer for the movie…
Philip Pullman wrote an amazing trilogy of books called His Dark Materials, set in another dimension of our world, where everyone has a daemon (a corporeal part of their soul in the shape of an animal). I read these books a number of years ago, and have been waiting for the movies to be made. Well, after a number of production issues, they finally did it.
The movie is visually stunning, newcomer Dakota Blue Richards is the perfect Lyra (seriously, exactly how I pictured her), and they were incredibly faithful to the book. If there was one problem I had with the movie, it’s that they cut the last 40 pages of the book out of the movie. And, from the trailers, I know that they actually filmed and finished the shots, yet director Chris Weitz decided to cut them from the movie to end it on a happier, more optimistic note. Yeah, well, it kind of ruined it for anyone who read the book, because we were all expecting about thirty more minutes of action. Plus, if you’ve read the book, you know it ends with the perfect cliffhanger, one that would have driven audiences to see the second movie. What annoys me most, I think, is that (if they even make the second movie, which is up in the air right now) they’re going to have to spend the first 20 or so minutes of the next movie going through what was supposed to be at the end of Compass, which means less time to dedicate to an even more complicated plot of The Subtle Knife. I hope Chris knows what he’s doing.
For anyone who follows it, you know The Golden Compass was #1 at the boxoffice this past weekend, but made a very modest $25 million. (Atonement, by contrast, made an astounding $800,459 in just 32 theaters, an average of over $25,000 per theater!) Hopefully they’ll still make the second movie if this one doesn’t perform as expected (which I honestly don’t think it will).
I was never a huge fan of Steve Carell (I actually don’t like The Office), but have become intrigued with him recently after seeing Little Miss Sunshine (which was a really fantastic movie on its own). He’s actually a really great actor when he isn’t overacting! This movie is about a single dad, trying his hardest to raise three girls on his own and manage his career as the local “Dear Abby”-esque advice columnist. They go to his family’s house for the holidays, where he meets and spends the day with a woman he meets at a bookstore. It’s the first woman he’s been interested in since his wife died, but she turns out to be his brother’s girlfriend. Uh-oh! Well, it makes for some really hilarious moments. I think it’s on its way out of theaters, so definitely put it on your list of movies to rent when it comes out on DVD.
Until next…
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