Movie/s of the week/fortnight
Two very different teenage movies this week.
Not long back I read Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go not knowing at the time that there was a filmed version of it, but I did decide I wanted to give it a go. I loved the book, love Ishiguro’s style, and was quite worried they might have frakked with it when adapting it. Luckily, they did a pretty good job.
I loved the casting of Kathy. I don’t know much about Carey Mulligan, other than she’s in Baz’s Great Gatsby, but she does a fab job. She very subtle, which is how that character has to be. Keira Knightley on the other hand plays the role she’s played too many times in my opinion, so I doubt it was a stretch: the spiteful best friend who wants the boy just because she can have the boy. Andrew Garfield as Tommy I was less than happy with. But then again, I didn’t like him in Spiderman either.
I did like Domhnall Gleeson in the movie who, even though I’ve never seen the latest Harry Potter movie, was obviously born to play a Weasley. And his on-screen girlfriend was also good. She was Andrea Riseborough and when I imdbed her saw she played Wallis Simpson in Madonna’s W.E. and this now has me curious about this movie.
There were several changes in the adaption, most I wasn’t fussed with (what’s new). The date stamps annoyed me a little. That’s one of the best things about the book, that the time it’s set is ambiguous. Most things are old fashioned (they have cassettes instead of CDs for example) and it adds to the other-wordly scifi atmosphere. Telling us specifically the date was unnecessary. As were the arm scans, which don’t feature in the book. You also find out who the kids are and what they are there for much quicker in the movie version. And Kathy falls in love with Tommy much faster. I guess they only had limited time... One particular change was annoying. They changed Kathy’s pillow hugging from imagining it was a baby and a teacher coming in; to imagining it was Tommy and Ruth coming in. I think Kathy wanting a child is much more interesting than Kathy wanting a boyfriend.
A lot of the other stuff is quite well done. The colours and costumes they use throughout suit its mood. And on a whole, the movie still elicits the same emotions and questions the book did. Yes, I did cry. Quite a bit. *sniff*
You know Bill and Laura are my life and I was thinking of the similarities between their relationship and Kathy and Tommy's way too much whilst watching/reading this. Which made me cry even more, of course.
Oh, another thing that was a big change was the lack of sex! The book version has Kathy being, for want of a better word, a bit of a slut (there’s reasons for this, of course!) and two of the teachers obviously being in a lesbian relationship. This was all watered down for the screen version. How bizarre!!!! You’d think including these details would have made it more hip for the youngsters!
I must mention the dvd extras included an interview with Kazuo Ishiguro (he also wrote Remains of the Day, btw) and now I have a real crush on him. So gorg and talented.
Never Let Me Go = 4 out of 5 for both the movie and the book.
Now to another very different teenage movie. And one I’ve had to watch not just the once, but about a million times in the last week or so thanks to my pre-teen daughter, Pitch Perfect.
*sigh*
There’s certainly a lot of sex talk in this movie, even if you don’t get to see it. (I've had to try and work out how to answer, 'What's penetration mean, mummy?' *sigh*) The premise is a new girl on campus is talked into joining a singing group and they enter a competition. Bring It On with singing basically. One nice thing about this movie, that is SO RARE in teenage or pre-teen movies is there isn’t any really bitchy girls in it. There’s one that’s not the nicest, but even she is not completely horrible or out to undermine everyone and everything like is the norm in these types of movies.
But the rest of it follows the strict teenage movie formula pretty closely.
The singing is entertaining at least. A lot of the songs are from the 80s (the boy in the movie is obsessed with The Breakfast Club and Don’t You Forget About Me features quite a lot, so I did squee a little at that, considering it was my fav teenage movie).
Apparently they cast it from kids who were singers instead of actors who can sing, if that makes sense, and therefore, all the ‘stars’ of the movie have wonderful voices and are quite talented.
And the whole thing is saved from being mediocre by, wait for it... an Aussie!!!!! Yes, Rebel Wilson plays Fat Amy, and she is just HILARIOUS. Every time she opens her mouth I laugh. Even when she’s being inappropriate. I love Rebel.
Pitch Perfect = 2/5, a point for Rebel, a point for the singing, a point for keeping my daughter amused for long long hours, but a point off for making me try and answer the penetration question.
Not long back I read Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go not knowing at the time that there was a filmed version of it, but I did decide I wanted to give it a go. I loved the book, love Ishiguro’s style, and was quite worried they might have frakked with it when adapting it. Luckily, they did a pretty good job.
I loved the casting of Kathy. I don’t know much about Carey Mulligan, other than she’s in Baz’s Great Gatsby, but she does a fab job. She very subtle, which is how that character has to be. Keira Knightley on the other hand plays the role she’s played too many times in my opinion, so I doubt it was a stretch: the spiteful best friend who wants the boy just because she can have the boy. Andrew Garfield as Tommy I was less than happy with. But then again, I didn’t like him in Spiderman either.
I did like Domhnall Gleeson in the movie who, even though I’ve never seen the latest Harry Potter movie, was obviously born to play a Weasley. And his on-screen girlfriend was also good. She was Andrea Riseborough and when I imdbed her saw she played Wallis Simpson in Madonna’s W.E. and this now has me curious about this movie.
There were several changes in the adaption, most I wasn’t fussed with (what’s new). The date stamps annoyed me a little. That’s one of the best things about the book, that the time it’s set is ambiguous. Most things are old fashioned (they have cassettes instead of CDs for example) and it adds to the other-wordly scifi atmosphere. Telling us specifically the date was unnecessary. As were the arm scans, which don’t feature in the book. You also find out who the kids are and what they are there for much quicker in the movie version. And Kathy falls in love with Tommy much faster. I guess they only had limited time... One particular change was annoying. They changed Kathy’s pillow hugging from imagining it was a baby and a teacher coming in; to imagining it was Tommy and Ruth coming in. I think Kathy wanting a child is much more interesting than Kathy wanting a boyfriend.
A lot of the other stuff is quite well done. The colours and costumes they use throughout suit its mood. And on a whole, the movie still elicits the same emotions and questions the book did. Yes, I did cry. Quite a bit. *sniff*
You know Bill and Laura are my life and I was thinking of the similarities between their relationship and Kathy and Tommy's way too much whilst watching/reading this. Which made me cry even more, of course.
Oh, another thing that was a big change was the lack of sex! The book version has Kathy being, for want of a better word, a bit of a slut (there’s reasons for this, of course!) and two of the teachers obviously being in a lesbian relationship. This was all watered down for the screen version. How bizarre!!!! You’d think including these details would have made it more hip for the youngsters!
I must mention the dvd extras included an interview with Kazuo Ishiguro (he also wrote Remains of the Day, btw) and now I have a real crush on him. So gorg and talented.
Never Let Me Go = 4 out of 5 for both the movie and the book.
Now to another very different teenage movie. And one I’ve had to watch not just the once, but about a million times in the last week or so thanks to my pre-teen daughter, Pitch Perfect.
*sigh*
There’s certainly a lot of sex talk in this movie, even if you don’t get to see it. (I've had to try and work out how to answer, 'What's penetration mean, mummy?' *sigh*) The premise is a new girl on campus is talked into joining a singing group and they enter a competition. Bring It On with singing basically. One nice thing about this movie, that is SO RARE in teenage or pre-teen movies is there isn’t any really bitchy girls in it. There’s one that’s not the nicest, but even she is not completely horrible or out to undermine everyone and everything like is the norm in these types of movies.
But the rest of it follows the strict teenage movie formula pretty closely.
The singing is entertaining at least. A lot of the songs are from the 80s (the boy in the movie is obsessed with The Breakfast Club and Don’t You Forget About Me features quite a lot, so I did squee a little at that, considering it was my fav teenage movie).
Apparently they cast it from kids who were singers instead of actors who can sing, if that makes sense, and therefore, all the ‘stars’ of the movie have wonderful voices and are quite talented.
And the whole thing is saved from being mediocre by, wait for it... an Aussie!!!!! Yes, Rebel Wilson plays Fat Amy, and she is just HILARIOUS. Every time she opens her mouth I laugh. Even when she’s being inappropriate. I love Rebel.
Pitch Perfect = 2/5, a point for Rebel, a point for the singing, a point for keeping my daughter amused for long long hours, but a point off for making me try and answer the penetration question.