Films I'm looking forward to seeing
I don't know if there was a single movie released in 2008 that I was looking forward to. Well, "Mamma Mia" perhaps. But other than that, my cinematic interest has been at a low this year.
Which makes it all the more interesting to me that I already have two films on my "to see" list for 2009. 'Course, I might change my mind before they actually arrive on the big screen, but that's kind of a pessimistic thought so I prefer to look on the bright side.
The first is "Men Who Hate Women", based on the novel by Stieg Larsson. Though the English release title will most likely be "the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", which someone had the moronic idea of naming the book in it's English translation. The girl in the title is the female lead Lisbeth Salander, who is no more prominent to the plot than the male lead, so I don't know why she was singled out for the title. And the dragon tattoo is only one of many that she has, and not the one actually relevant to the plot. I guess someone just thought it sounded cool. I think they should have bothered giving it a good title if they felt they had to change the original.
Anyway, I just loved the book, and I'm usually very picky about "detective stories". Especially set in friggin' Sweden. But this book was well deserving of the hype that surrounds it, and it would definitely make for an interesting movie. If they can get the pacing right.
However I am extremely disappointed in the casting of the male lead. Mikael Blomqvist in the books is handsome, charismatic, forceful and has got a lot of presence. No offense to Michael Nyqvist who was cast, but he is none of those things. He's more of an adult "boy next door" type. I strongly believe that the only reason he was cast is that it seems to be against the law not to cast him in a Swedish film these days. He's in friggin' everything. He is a fine actor, but he's about as far from Blomqvist as one could come.
I pretty much expect this movie to be highly disappointing. The book can certainly be made into an awesome film, but Swedish films tend to be non-awesome, no matter what the source material. Still I can't wait to see it, if only to satisfy my curiosity. And I'm really curious as to how Lisbeth Salander's Crowning Moment of Awesome will be on-screen. Salander is really what I'm most looking forward to seeing depicted on-screen. She will either fall flat or be awesome, is my guess. Larsson wrote her as an adult Pippi Longstocking more or less, so that should be entertaining to see. And the friendship between Salander and Blomqvist was one of the things I loved the most in the three novels Larsson finished before his death. Given how little they actually interact, they manage to have one of the most interesting relationships in any book/s I've read.
The second film I'm looking forward to is "Angels and Demons". Again I don't quite know why. I have next to no respect for Dan Brown as an author (I've actually read all four of his books, but I blame it on lack of other things to read at the time) but with that said A&D is the best out of the books he's produced. And the one that seems most suited for the big screen. Honestly, disregarding the laughable factual errors and Brown's personal layout of Rome, it's a really good book up until a certain point (I won't say more than that, don't want to spoil anything for those who haven't read it). After that though it's rather absurd. Especially the "twist ending" given that the twist is really an un-twist only Brown never does his homework... I'll stop there.
But anyhoo, it will be interesting to see it on-screen. I mean, yay, Rome! And Tom Hanks is always good, and it will be fun seeing Stellan Skarsgård. Though as much as I love Ewan McGregor, he's so not the camerlengo I pictured in my head. Actually he would fit better as Blomqvist; too bad he doesn't speak Swedish or he could have switched roles with Nyqvist.
Side-note... I told my mother about the silk sheets and how I don't like them. Her response? "Ugh, I know, I hated those things. That's why I gave them to you." Well thanks mom.
Quote of the Day
"To Sally, who showed me the benefits of the sport of golf."
- from "Men Who Hate Women"
Which makes it all the more interesting to me that I already have two films on my "to see" list for 2009. 'Course, I might change my mind before they actually arrive on the big screen, but that's kind of a pessimistic thought so I prefer to look on the bright side.
The first is "Men Who Hate Women", based on the novel by Stieg Larsson. Though the English release title will most likely be "the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", which someone had the moronic idea of naming the book in it's English translation. The girl in the title is the female lead Lisbeth Salander, who is no more prominent to the plot than the male lead, so I don't know why she was singled out for the title. And the dragon tattoo is only one of many that she has, and not the one actually relevant to the plot. I guess someone just thought it sounded cool. I think they should have bothered giving it a good title if they felt they had to change the original.
Anyway, I just loved the book, and I'm usually very picky about "detective stories". Especially set in friggin' Sweden. But this book was well deserving of the hype that surrounds it, and it would definitely make for an interesting movie. If they can get the pacing right.
However I am extremely disappointed in the casting of the male lead. Mikael Blomqvist in the books is handsome, charismatic, forceful and has got a lot of presence. No offense to Michael Nyqvist who was cast, but he is none of those things. He's more of an adult "boy next door" type. I strongly believe that the only reason he was cast is that it seems to be against the law not to cast him in a Swedish film these days. He's in friggin' everything. He is a fine actor, but he's about as far from Blomqvist as one could come.
I pretty much expect this movie to be highly disappointing. The book can certainly be made into an awesome film, but Swedish films tend to be non-awesome, no matter what the source material. Still I can't wait to see it, if only to satisfy my curiosity. And I'm really curious as to how Lisbeth Salander's Crowning Moment of Awesome will be on-screen. Salander is really what I'm most looking forward to seeing depicted on-screen. She will either fall flat or be awesome, is my guess. Larsson wrote her as an adult Pippi Longstocking more or less, so that should be entertaining to see. And the friendship between Salander and Blomqvist was one of the things I loved the most in the three novels Larsson finished before his death. Given how little they actually interact, they manage to have one of the most interesting relationships in any book/s I've read.
The second film I'm looking forward to is "Angels and Demons". Again I don't quite know why. I have next to no respect for Dan Brown as an author (I've actually read all four of his books, but I blame it on lack of other things to read at the time) but with that said A&D is the best out of the books he's produced. And the one that seems most suited for the big screen. Honestly, disregarding the laughable factual errors and Brown's personal layout of Rome, it's a really good book up until a certain point (I won't say more than that, don't want to spoil anything for those who haven't read it). After that though it's rather absurd. Especially the "twist ending" given that the twist is really an un-twist only Brown never does his homework... I'll stop there.
But anyhoo, it will be interesting to see it on-screen. I mean, yay, Rome! And Tom Hanks is always good, and it will be fun seeing Stellan Skarsgård. Though as much as I love Ewan McGregor, he's so not the camerlengo I pictured in my head. Actually he would fit better as Blomqvist; too bad he doesn't speak Swedish or he could have switched roles with Nyqvist.
Side-note... I told my mother about the silk sheets and how I don't like them. Her response? "Ugh, I know, I hated those things. That's why I gave them to you." Well thanks mom.
Quote of the Day
"To Sally, who showed me the benefits of the sport of golf."
- from "Men Who Hate Women"