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.
