Books and Movies
Nov. 7th, 2005 12:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieFinished Where the Truth Lies and it was just as good until the end. One of those books you feel sorry has ended. Right away, I reread the bits I like and now will seek out Swing, another novel by this author. Because I haven't fallen for a book and its style so hard in a long long time. Now, I am actually annoyed at the movie because the book is so much better (and rather different in tone).
It's interesting because I realized one of the things I love most about the book is that I adore the heroine (and one of the things the movie screwed up the most was making her an adoring groupie rather than a career-oriented, ambitious journalist that she was). It's a cure for all those hideous chick lit books. You know the ones? The badly written, hastily plotted novels with incompetent, insecure heroines who are shallow, clumsy and insecure and somehow end up with Prince Charming anyway. How ironic that Where the Truth Lies, written by a man, is such a perfect antidote: O'Connor is a capable, competent, attractive, intelligent woman. She has flaws and screws up on occasion, but not because she is some ditz. Her sense of ethics might be skewed but there is nothing wrong with her brain. Nor is she on the hunt for a Prince Charming (though she does end up with his somewhat tarnished brother), or defining her life goals by men. Hooray for smart women in fiction!
Of course, all the other characters, from "bit parts" of people she meets in the course of seeking more info, to important ones like Lanny and Vince and Reuben and Mrs. O'Flaherty are perfectly written characters too. They feel like real people.
Also, it's not every book that has a drugged out orgy involving Alice from Disneyland.
I also have a whole other bunch of quotes from it. And after reading a scene in the book where O'Connor chains herself naked to a bathtub of a guy she likes but who she isn't sure isn't a murderer as a precautionary measure against her own murder (long story) before confronting him, I decided that this is exactly what Veronica should do next time she accuses Logan of something. I think they'd make up much quicker.
Also, I compiled a list of all the movies still to come out this year that I want to see, in order:(most to least).
1 Chronicles of Narnia: Come on. Fantasy epic that looks that good simply will top my list. At least from the trailer, this looks like the kind of movie Harry Potter should have been.
2 King Kong: Big Ape, Adrian Brody, and Peter Jackson. That's three really cool men. I am so there opening day.
3 Munich: I love when Spielberg does "serious" and this could be very very good as it deals with the Mossad trying to hunt down terrorists who killed Israeli athletes during Munich Olympics, while having understandable issues about the mission.
4 Walk the Line: Love the trailers, and Joaquin looks great and hey, love story and funky outfits. Plus, Oscar buzz. So there!
5 The New World: the trailer is beautiful and dreamlike, and the movie is period and even Colin Farrell looks good. Can't wait.
6 Water:Indian movie about opression of widows. Good topic, plus John Abraham is yummy.
7 The White Countess: Merchant-Ivory in 1930s Shanghai with Ralph Fiennes and Natasha Richardson? Yes please. Please, please, please.
8 Memoirs of a Geisha: I found the book a bit lacking, but it certainly has a potential for a pretty, good movie. And yes, the comma is intended.
9 Match Point: Woody Allen looks as if he is out of his slump. Also, this looks more edgy than funny, and has the delicately feral Jonathan Rhys-Myers.
10 Rent: I am a sap for a musical. Even if it's a La Boheme rip-off.
11 Aeon Flux: bring it on, the absurdist violent distopia of skimpy clothes!
12 Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer in a take on film noir? Thak you, TPTB!
13 Brokeback Mountain: Two gay cowboys. Hmmmm. I love Ang Lee and this has been getting crazy reviews. Still, can it overcome the curse of the seventies hair?
14 Jarhead: Yay for cool trailers, and anti-war war movies.
15 The Passenger: I love Antonioni.
16 Syriana: Interesting subject matter. Heck, I have no idea why I want to see it, but I do.
17 Capote: The story (Capote goes to a small town to write about impact of murders that happened there) is interesting, but it's the review from Flick Filosopher that really made me take notice.
18 Casanova: Well, I can't refuse a period movie. Unless it's Pride and Prejudice.
19 Breakfast on Pluto: Cillian Murphy as a transvestite? An Irish transvestite? This I gotta see.
It's interesting because I realized one of the things I love most about the book is that I adore the heroine (and one of the things the movie screwed up the most was making her an adoring groupie rather than a career-oriented, ambitious journalist that she was). It's a cure for all those hideous chick lit books. You know the ones? The badly written, hastily plotted novels with incompetent, insecure heroines who are shallow, clumsy and insecure and somehow end up with Prince Charming anyway. How ironic that Where the Truth Lies, written by a man, is such a perfect antidote: O'Connor is a capable, competent, attractive, intelligent woman. She has flaws and screws up on occasion, but not because she is some ditz. Her sense of ethics might be skewed but there is nothing wrong with her brain. Nor is she on the hunt for a Prince Charming (though she does end up with his somewhat tarnished brother), or defining her life goals by men. Hooray for smart women in fiction!
Of course, all the other characters, from "bit parts" of people she meets in the course of seeking more info, to important ones like Lanny and Vince and Reuben and Mrs. O'Flaherty are perfectly written characters too. They feel like real people.
Also, it's not every book that has a drugged out orgy involving Alice from Disneyland.
I also have a whole other bunch of quotes from it. And after reading a scene in the book where O'Connor chains herself naked to a bathtub of a guy she likes but who she isn't sure isn't a murderer as a precautionary measure against her own murder (long story) before confronting him, I decided that this is exactly what Veronica should do next time she accuses Logan of something. I think they'd make up much quicker.
Also, I compiled a list of all the movies still to come out this year that I want to see, in order:(most to least).
1 Chronicles of Narnia: Come on. Fantasy epic that looks that good simply will top my list. At least from the trailer, this looks like the kind of movie Harry Potter should have been.
2 King Kong: Big Ape, Adrian Brody, and Peter Jackson. That's three really cool men. I am so there opening day.
3 Munich: I love when Spielberg does "serious" and this could be very very good as it deals with the Mossad trying to hunt down terrorists who killed Israeli athletes during Munich Olympics, while having understandable issues about the mission.
4 Walk the Line: Love the trailers, and Joaquin looks great and hey, love story and funky outfits. Plus, Oscar buzz. So there!
5 The New World: the trailer is beautiful and dreamlike, and the movie is period and even Colin Farrell looks good. Can't wait.
6 Water:Indian movie about opression of widows. Good topic, plus John Abraham is yummy.
7 The White Countess: Merchant-Ivory in 1930s Shanghai with Ralph Fiennes and Natasha Richardson? Yes please. Please, please, please.
8 Memoirs of a Geisha: I found the book a bit lacking, but it certainly has a potential for a pretty, good movie. And yes, the comma is intended.
9 Match Point: Woody Allen looks as if he is out of his slump. Also, this looks more edgy than funny, and has the delicately feral Jonathan Rhys-Myers.
10 Rent: I am a sap for a musical. Even if it's a La Boheme rip-off.
11 Aeon Flux: bring it on, the absurdist violent distopia of skimpy clothes!
12 Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer in a take on film noir? Thak you, TPTB!
13 Brokeback Mountain: Two gay cowboys. Hmmmm. I love Ang Lee and this has been getting crazy reviews. Still, can it overcome the curse of the seventies hair?
14 Jarhead: Yay for cool trailers, and anti-war war movies.
15 The Passenger: I love Antonioni.
16 Syriana: Interesting subject matter. Heck, I have no idea why I want to see it, but I do.
17 Capote: The story (Capote goes to a small town to write about impact of murders that happened there) is interesting, but it's the review from Flick Filosopher that really made me take notice.
18 Casanova: Well, I can't refuse a period movie. Unless it's Pride and Prejudice.
19 Breakfast on Pluto: Cillian Murphy as a transvestite? An Irish transvestite? This I gotta see.
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no subject
Date: 2005-11-07 06:33 am (UTC)And don't argue.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-07 06:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-07 03:59 pm (UTC)Re: The Libertine. I was initially interested in it, because Rochester wrote some wicked poetry. But the advanced buzz on the movie has been tepid to say the best (and not about moral stuff which is...who cares, but about how good the script is or editing or what not. They do say Depp is good though).
no subject
Date: 2005-11-07 04:36 pm (UTC)(Depp is always good. He's also always good in otherwise sucky movies. That's like, 2/3rds of his career.)
no subject
Date: 2005-11-07 02:47 pm (UTC)FYI, Swing is out in paperback in January.
There are so many good movies coming out this fall. I am really looking forward to Walk the Line, Narnia, and Harry Potter(because of Ralph Fiennes). The White Countess will never play around here, so I look forward to that on video.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-07 04:02 pm (UTC)I think I'll wait for paperback of Swing then. Depends on how impatient I'll get :)
I am itching to reread WTTL already...haven't been that giddy over the book in a hugest time (and bored my husband silly over the weekend quoting random bits at him).
Oh, yes, Ralph. Love him. Don't want to see HP4 though because I saw the first 3 and didn't care for them, so I decided that's enough.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-07 05:02 pm (UTC)Trailers for "Walk the Line", "Munich", and "King Kong." I'm also looking forward to "The New World" and "Memoirs"--the latter primarily because chunks of it were filmed at a nearby marine reserve.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-07 05:27 pm (UTC)The marine reserve thing sounds cool!
no subject
Date: 2005-11-10 04:27 am (UTC)Walk the Line- I love Johnny Cash. He was the original music outlaw. Joaquin Phoenix looks like he's nailed the role too. Can't wait to see it.
New World- Two words, Christian. Bale. I'm so there.
And GoF, because I'm So. There.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-10 07:15 pm (UTC)