8 posts tagged “movies”

I haven't been posting as I go for the 50 in 365, but I have been reading. Sooo here is the backtrack for what I've read in the last two months.

#1-3

The Gormenghast Novels

The Gormenghast novels are really three books, Titus Groan, Gormenghast and Titus Alone. Incredible books, especially the first two, which chronicle the story of a very odd castle and its strange inhabitants, including the just born Titus Groan, the 77th Earl of Gormenghast. It's a well-written gothic fantasy of sorts, although it can hardly be called fantastic in that there is no magic, just an amazing cast of characters.

I highly highly recommend these books. The BBC and WGBH put out a mini-series a few years back that is based on the first two novels. I think that the mini-series would have been confusing to me if I hadn't read the books, but I thought that they did do justice to the story and they did a great job with casting. Netflix them AFTER you read the books.

Now You See Him: A Novel

I've read quite a few other books as well...

#4  After Gormenghast, I read Eli Gottleib's Now You See Him. It's not the type of book I would normally buy but I scored a free reviewers copy. It's a short, easy read. Interesting literary mystery novel if you like those sorts of things.

#5   I was looking for a book on my great reading list that I could take with me on a business trip I took in January. Joe convinced me to bring Great Expectations, which I, shockingly, have never read. In fact, I've never read any Dickens beyond certain passages handed out in writing classes in college. This is very strange to me, being such a literary freak and such a fan of British literature in general. Dickens' collected works are on my list to read, definitely. I really enjoyed the book but found it hard not to picture Ethan Hawke, Gwenyth Paltrow and DeNiro as characters. I hardly remember that movie but reading the book brought it back and it was difficult not to think of those actors as I was reading.

#6  I picked up Love in the Time of Cholera at the airport in Oakland, CA on my way back from that trip. I hadn't read it yet, nor have I seen the movie, but wow, what a beautiful story. I do want to rent the movie...can anyone tell me if the movie does the book justice?

#7 The Glass Castle was interofficed to me by a colleague who knows I like books. I don't typically read many memoirs but this one threw me for a loop. It's written by a now-successful journalist who was raised by parents who were rather fucked up but still loved their kids. The story chronicles the story of how they lived, in shacks, often without food or money or clean clothes. I was absolutely riveted.

Finite and Infinite Games

#8  Another book that I read, Finite & Infinite Games by James Carse, was a slim volume that I picked up as a result of some random blog post I read about cognition. Basically Carse presents a philosophy of looking at the world, either as a finite game or infinite game. Children play infinite games...neverending games without rules or boundaries. Adults define, place rules around and create finite games, which in turn create stress in our lives. I like the idea of figuring out how to let go a little, how to take life less seriously and how to shape the world into a game that I want to play rather than to play the finite games of others around me.

Incredible Good Fortune: New Poems

#9 If you love poetry, you must pick up Ursula K. LeGuin's Incredible Good Fortune. It's been a very long time since I have read a book of poetry that has pleased me so much. The poems are delightful, smart, charming and they are incredibly accessible.  I love the magic that weaves in and out of her words, as much here as in the many wonderful stories she has published throughout the years.

Walked by Meg Ryan today. She was standing on the sidewalk near a ton of movie trailers lined up along the Boston  Public Gardens. I had snagged a spot at the end of the blocked off street where there were just a few spaces open. No one was really around as I walked by the dozen or so trailers. Looking into the makeup and wardrobe trailers is cool--being able to see in is a treat.

As I said, it was pretty quiet along that sidewalk. It wasn't blocked off so I just walked past all the trailers along my way. Then I noticed a security guard sort of lingering near one of the trailers. Two women were standing near him talking. Lo! and Behold! It was Meg Ryan chatting with a dark haired woman with MASSIVE curlers in her hair. Three of them, I think, standing in a huge triangle around her head. I didn't really recognize her but in checking out IMDB to see what the movie was, I'm pretty sure she was talking to Debra Messing. And no, Meg Ryan's face wasn't all botoxed up and her lips looked perfectly normal, which was good. She's a beautiful woman who doesn't need to mess with all that crap.

It was so strange to see them. I literally nearly brushed shoulders with them because the sidewalk was a bit of a mess and I had to move around them. There was no one else around. I wanted to play the FAN but there are few instances where you can play the fan and not be the ANNOYING FAN (Joe and I talk about that everytime he sees Malkovich in Harvard...we decided there is nothing you could say to him without looking like an asshole) so I kept walking. She looked pretty much just like she does in the picture to the right. Her hair was a bit curlier though.

Turns out the film is The Women, starring a whole slew of well, women:

Filming in Boston

	Eva Mendes	...	Crystal Allen
	Meg Ryan	...	Mary Haines
	Debra Messing	...	Edith Potter
	Annette Bening	...	Sylvia Fowler
	Jada Pinkett Smith	...	Miriam Aarons
	Candice Bergen	...	Mary's Mother
	India Ennenga	...	Molly Haines (attached)
	Gloria Crist	...	Editorial Assistant

And of course, Eva scored the best name. But wow, what a cast! They've been filming for a few weeks now. The trailers take up major parking spaces downtown, which is a pain. It's great to see more movies being filmed here these days. For a long time the high costs of dealing with the various unions was a barrier to production taking place here but it seems to be changing up. I don't think we'll be on the same level with NY or LA but celebrity sightings are definitely more common these days.

YOU MUST SEE THIS MOVIE

Joe and I finally watched Pan's Labyrinth last night. I'm very sad that we didn't manage to see it in the theater--we never end up going out for movies because Joe hates dealing with crowds. Certain movies, such as this one, definitely need to be seen on the big screen or you lose the incredible cinematic effects. It is so beautiful, so dark and so enchanting that you really need to feel the immersion. Being able to pause so you can go grab the laundry or go to the bathroom just yanks you out of the story.

That said, it is a very powerful film. I think that it is rare to find a story that ends with both incredible sadness and yet, incredible happiness. The conundrum at the end is just sheer brilliance.

I wondered if this movie had originally been a book that had been turned into a screenplay but no,  Guillermo del Toro created it as a movie from the start, which makes sense in how the piece as a whole is so cohesive. It's rare that a movie is ever as good as the book, and this movie was so amazing that to have it based off of a book would have been curious. It would also have pleased me to no end because now I'm jonesing to read a story just like this one. I love dark fairy tales, horrific magical bits that have sweetness only on the very edges. I want a follow-up, I want a sister story, I want to know more about the underworld of which Ofelia longs to be a part.

If you haven't seen this movie yet, you simply must. It is moving, it is charming, it is disturbing, it is full of both hope and despair and overall, it is just an incredible demonstration of master storytelling.

I'm really excited about the Golden Compass, which will be out just in time for Xmas. There is always something wonderful about magical movies coming out in that time frame. Although some might think me blasphemous for saying so, I think the entire season is rather magical--everything down to the stories of Christ, to Santa, to the elves and all of the wonders that surround Solstice. But until the movie comes out, you can visit its beautiful website and find out more about your Daemon. And tell me if mine is accurate. :)

I used to know someone who played ping-pong and would probably love this movie! Oh, Christopher Walken, I bow at your feet!

On the Road (Penguin Classics)

Jack Kerouac

I just finished Jack Kerouac's On the Road, which is one of the books on my massive list. This year the classic is celebrating its 50th anniversary of its first printing. I don't think I liked the book, to be honest, but it has made me think a bit, not because it was a particularly intellectual novel (I don't think it was at all) but more because I'm pondering all the reasons why it was such an influential novel in general.

Basically, the gist of the story, if you haven't read it, is that a guy named Sal (who was basically Jack--it's a mostly autobiographical novel with the names changed) has a friend that he admires a great deal, Dean Moriarty, who is a bit crazy and inspires Sal to take spontaneous road trips all over America and even down into Mexico. I'll let you check out the Wikipedia summary if you want more plot details, but essentially it's a lot of running all over the place, boozing it up, hitting on chicks (and then abandoning those same girls), stealing cars, listening to jazz and trying to figure out where the next few $ to buy more booze and to get to the next city are going to come from.

The book was probably heavily censored-- barely any drugs figure into the book which seems unlikely if it is mostly autobiographical. Plus I imagine much of the sexuality was toned down as well. Viking is apparently thinking of releasing an uncensored version of the book at some point, which I would probably pick up to compare. I'm not sure I would like the book any more or less even with the extra details though.

The book is a signpost for the Beat Generation. Wikipedia describes members of the Beat Generation as:

...new bohemian ecstatic epicureans, who often engaged in spontaneous creativity. The style of their work may seem chaotic, but the chaos was purposeful; it highlighted the primacy of such Beat Generation essentials as spontaneity, open emotion, visceral engagement in often gritty worldly experiences. The Beat writers produced a body of written work controversial both for its advocacy of non-conformity and for its non-conforming style.

On The Road fits the bill, of course, both in how it was created (written in three weeks on one long roll of paper, no margins, single spaced, no paragraphs) and in the content of the story, which is chaotic, rebellious, carefree and in my opinion, very selfish.

At the time, I imagine it was a monumental novel in the sense that it completely defied the reigning moralistic majority in America in the early 50s. This was no Leave It to Beaver -- it was the polar opposite, which was strange and shocking to me when I considered what I thought of the 50s (or even further back, in 1947 when the story supposedly took place).

Neal Cassady and Jack Kerouac

Dean Moriarty, based on the real life friend of Kerouac, Neal Cassady, is both hero and pathetic fool. He throws away his money, women/wives and children whenever a whim or an itch gets into his head. I think that in many ways, my frustration and anger at this character is because I'm a woman and this is REALLY a man's man book. It's all about hanging out with the guys, finding a fun time, living life in the moment and forgoing all responsibility to anyone if it gets in the way of having that experience. It's probably also hitting a chord with me because my brother-in-law is playing the drunken asshole fool and throwing away his family at the moment--not nearly so drastically as Dean did, but the effect, I imagine, is the same on my sister as it would have been for his two wives and the kids he fathered along the way.

Overall though, boredom started to set in about 30 pages into the book. The story is circular--one crazy trip after another. It's all the same sort of thing, the boozing, the car stealing, the womanizing, just in different places all over the country. And yes, I get it...it was the poetry of living in the moment. But the moments didn't seem very appealing to me. It was dirty, grimy, sad and I couldn't find any joy in the book although over and over Sal seemed to revel in the various little joys of the people he met and admired. In the end, Sal came to a similar revelation, but it took so long to get there that I just didn't care. I found myself scanning a lot of the last half of the book and wishing that I had read it in college so I could have had better perspective from my professors and peers.

I find that I'm more interested in the lives and the influence of the Beat writers than I am overly intrigued by their writing. I'm not a Ginsberg fan (who had the role of Carlo Marx in the book) or Bukowski and while I liked Naked Lunch I think that was more because it was Cronenberg who did the movie, not because I would like Burrough's book (which the movie is only partially based upon). I just don't find the whole pack of sex and drug induced writings to be generally appealing to me. They rely so much on shock value that I find myself uninterested and unimpressed. But the lives those people led and the influence that they have had on overall culture and politics is highly intriguing to me. I find that I want to read the books not because of their own merit but because they may give me a greater understanding of what came as a result of those writings.

I also have to wonder, what sort of impact did the Beat Generation have on things like manners, the idea of keeping families intact, freedom of sexuality (the love 'em and leave 'em attitude becoming more acceptable), etc. I'm not someone who is terribly keen on the institution or the corporation but at the same time, that era was the breaking apart of some things that I wish our society still had. Little things mostly--that guys would take off their damn hats in restaurants, more courting on the dating scene (which IMHO doesn't cut into gender equality or have to cut down on sex--it's more about courtesy and thoughtfulness), families eating at the dinner table instead of in front of the TV, and the like. Hmm. Maybe I'm just getting old.

Coppola bought the movie rights to On the Road 39 years ago and for the last few years there have been reports that he's finally started making the film. A 2001 account mentioned that Brad Pitt had been cast as Sal but a 2005 article I found said that Billy Crudup had been cast with Colin Farrell as Moriarty. But since then? Nothing, nada.  I suspect that it has once again fallen by the wayside, which is a bummer. I think I might find more affinity with the story if I could see it on screen.

At some point though, I should take a trip up to Lowell, where he was born, and check out his grave site. I want to collect visits to author birthplaces, houses and grave sites and he's just so darn close that I don't really have an excuses. And if I ever manage to become a runner, I suppose I'll have to run the 5k too...

But mostly, about the book itself, I would tend to agree with Truman Capote, who, on commenting on Kerouac's method of free-flowing writing, said, "That's not writing, it's typing."  It was too rambling, too seemingly stream-of-consciousness (even if he was working from notes he took over the previous seven years). I just couldn't see it as a serious or a good novel, but in the end, it doesn't really matter if it was serious. It was influential in so many ways, and for that reason alone, I think that the story of Sal and Dean will sit with me for years to come.

Bridge to Terabithia

Katherine Paterson

When I was about 7 or 8, Bridge to Terabithia was probably my favorite book. When I saw that Disney was making the movie, I thought I should take some time to re-read it.

I found that I was completely confused. It was nothing like I remembered the book. In fact, I can't figure out why I liked it in the first place.

It was way shorter and easier reading than I remembered. I was such an advanced reader that I think this would have been pretty simple for me by the time I hit 10 yrs, even though the content is probably at the 10-12 yr level.

(WARNING--MINOR SPOILERS)

 I was surprised mostly though by Terabithia. It was entirely different than I recalled. In the book it was just an imaginary place, a treehouse on a river island. Jesse and Leslie are King and Queen but it's just pretend play. I didn't remember that at all. In fact, what I find so interesting is that in my head, I turned it into something entirely different. In my imagination, I went far deeper into Terabithia. When you swung across the rope to get to the island, you really did enter another world. There were magical creatures, kings and queens, adventures. It was, in my head, more akin to something that might have happened if you went through the closet in Narnia. As I grew up, that's what I recalled--a vague sort of magical world that those two went to in order to escape. I didn't remember anything else about the book. I didn't remember how troubled their friendships with other people were. I didn't recall Jesse's relationships with his sister or parents. I didn't remember how Leslie's family didn't have a TV. I didn't remember at ALL what happened to Leslie that became the turning point of the book. Instead, I recalled the world of Terabithia that I had created in my head.

I don't think I will go see the movie. It will destroy that last vestige of untrue memory that I had. A better memory of the book, I believe. I didn't cry in my memory. I had a hell of a lot more fun.

I went and saw The Illusionist yesterday. I enjoyed this movie a great deal. It was surprising, intriguing and entertaining. The casting was excellent. I've always liked Edward Norton since his Fight Club days and Paul Giamatti is amazing as usual. Joaquin Phoenix makes the best villain and this movie was no exception. I don't think I've ever seen Jessica Biel in anything before (I was not a 7th Heaven fan and I haven't seen the third Blade movie (too painful)). She really brought a lush sensuality to the entire story.  I highly recommend seeing this film.

I saw the movie at the Harvard Square Cinema, at the 11:45 showing. Was awesome because I was one of three people in the theater until about 5 min before the start. Then, of course, a young couple comes in and despite the fact that nearly every single seat in the entire theater was open, they came and sat right behind me and commenced with their giggling, forcing me to move down a few rows. WHY DO PEOPLE DO THAT?? It's like when you are the gym and all the machines are open but the person comes and grabs the machine smack dab next to you. One of my huge pet peeves.