What Is This Thing That Builds Our Dreams

Of course The Lovely Bones won out in the end, with time constraints keeping me from Gilliam goodness.
As much as Where The Wild Things Are made me laugh and smile, mister Jackson managed to do the same things whilst bringing tears to my eyes. To see the life of little Susie beaing snuffed out so easily. And trying to imagine the emotions of her family through it all did not leave me untouched.
Granted, the movie did skim some parts of the book more than others, but the overall imagery more than makes up for it. The magical realism of Susie's heaven contrasts very heavily with that of the 'real' world, with flowing corn fields, crumbling vistas and whatnot.
Fare thee well, Susie Salmon, fare thee well.

All Of Nature Wild And Free

Last Tuesday my friends and I went to see Where The Wild Things Are at our local cinema.
Needless to say I enjoyed myself, as well as some of my more 'indie'-inclined friends.
The movie keeps true to the picture novel that it is based on. That is to say, the copule of minutes in the movie that actually depict said book. The rest is filled with a little character building on Max's part, with 15 to 20 minutes of film leading up to his departure to the island. He arrives in the dead of night to find the Wild Things thrashing their camp, apparently unhappy with the current situation.
By a "fiendish psychological spiel" (and yes, do read that as if a 10 foot giant is making the quotation marks) he convinces them not to eat him and crown him their king.
In an effter to unite the group, he coaxes them into building the best fort a kid his age can imagine. But of course, such endeavours never go without trouble and soon the group is back at square one, with Max revealed for what he is. After a teary goodbye, Max heads back home and all is well. Not perfect, but livable.

I just loved the movie. The expressions of the the Wild Things, the insecurity and imperfections they all have and most of all the impressive scenery of the island made me wish I was there. And most of all that I could lug one of those 10 feet all huggable monsters back home. Jim Henson's Creature Workshop did a great job in making them the most likable bunch of critters you could ever want to meet on an island.

Next up: The Imiginarium of Dr. Parnassus or The Lovely Bones, depending on time constraints.
Have no fear, Wizard and Glass still progresses, as well as a side dish of The Lost Symbol.

Light In Your Head And Dead On Your Feet

I whiled away this afternoon by visiting the new Sherlock Holmes.
Boy, Guy Ritchie sure knows how to keep the movie going.
Alas, no multiple interweaving storylines, like in Lock, Stock and Snatch, but the elaboration of Holmes' actions and the replaying of multiple scenes do give it that typical Ritchie feel. The flow jsut felt so natural for it all, with the fast paced action, Victorian rabble and strange steampunk inventions giving it that little bit of flair that the first couple of Holmes novels have.
This is why I love Conan Doyle's style of writing, especially the more gaudy 10ct novella style writing he has. A debonair Holmes, taunting his adversaries and comrades alike, slightly eccentric, with a John Watson who is in his prime as the sidekick that does nog mind getting involved in a bit of a brawl.
It all seemed a bit more like Arsène Lupin than Holmes.
Granted, they moved the roles of the supporting characters around a bit, with Mary Morstan being introduced as Watson's fiancée and Irene Adler reappearing to sweep Holmes off his feet, which makes it quite hard to place the movie anywhere chronologically, unless you would place it loosely around the time of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.

One more for the wish list, now if only The Brothers Bloom would get its release here.

Will You Be There Waiting For The Gates of Dawn

Lyman Frank Baum - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Heading into the book, I had a bit of an idea what to expect, but the story was indeed a bit more Grimm than most movie renditions make believe. Dorothy skips along the yellow brick road wearing silver shoes, which is a lot more sensible than ruby slippers if you ask me. And with the gruesome tale of how the Tin Woodsman became what he is today, nothing is as cosy or rose-colored as the Garland movie would make it appear.
After reading, I really wish Gilliam or Burton would make this into a movie, with all the grim and gritty imagery that comes with it.

From delightful and silly to delightfully silly

Lemony Snicket - Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid


What can I say? Daniel Handles simply regales us with small anecdotes and aphorisms, some of which are reprints from his Series of Unfortunate Events. It is a whimsical read, which can be finished way too quickly, but you'll enjoy yourself the enitre time.''




On an afternote, today marks the 5th anniversary of my grandfather's passing. He has left this world too quickly for my liking, but his memory will remain with me forever.

I've Listened to Preachers, I've Listened to Fools

New year, same old reviews
Stephen King - The Waste Lands


Part the third of the Dark Tower goes on without pausing, with Roland of Gilead slowly going insane as he finds out the hard way that time paradoxes are not something you want. And the only way to make it all better is to get the final member of their ka=tet, little old should-be-dead Jake Chambers from '70s New York. Interacting with the mechanical monstrosities that roam the path to the Tower, they end up at the home of Blaine the Mono, but his enigmatic personality is something to be revealed in the next volume, Wizard and Glass,



Douglas Adams - The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

And at the other end of the line was this small trifle. Arthur is still sarcastic, Zaphod hyperactive, Ford hedonistic, Trillian sceptical and Marvin knows it really does not matter. Business as usual with an escape from Vogons, dinner at the end of time and things that will come back to haunt them in the next three volumes.
Then again, less than two hundred pages is not that much space to get a full scale narrative going.

Tomorrow it will be time to kick it old school style, with my buddy Holmes, provided the sneak preview at the movie theater is not interesting enough.