When October Goes…

On October 31, 2012October 31, 2012 By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews11 Comments

Happy Halloween!

Today also marks the end of the Readers Imbibing Peril “challenge,” so I wanted to do a round-up, and some brief reviews of creepy autumn movies I never had time to review properly.

I’m happy to say I met my original plans for this reading experience (click for reviews), reading some Sherlock Holmes (The Valley of Fear), some Agatha Christie (Murder on the Orient Express), and Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. I’m also counting Susan Kay’s Phantom and The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M. Valente. And of course I participated in The Graveyard Book read-along.

Considering this is not my normal genre, not a bad list! Now, on to the screen…
where there’s a fair amount of overlap.

Northanger Abbey (2007): I like to watch a movie version of Austen before reading a new book by her; it’s not my usual practice for other books, but it helps me sort out Austen’s large casts of characters. I really enjoyed the movie version, which is a bit sillier than the book (and changes a few details) but is still pretty accurate–and enormous fun. I liked that it brought to life some funny moments that Austen skated past, and I loved that Sally Sparrow (Carey Mulligan) from Doctor Who‘s “Blink” was in this! It wasn’t really a very creepy movie (less creepy than “Blink”) but in a way that’s the point–it’s a creepy setting where nothing creepy is really going on.

Rebecca (1940): This is one of my favorite Hitchcock films. So mysterious, and it’s so brilliantly handled. Joan Fontaine is wonderful as the second Mrs. De Winter, Judith Anderson is terrifying as the creepy Mrs. Danvers, and I just love how Hitchcock makes Rebecca SO PRESENT, when we never see her at all. I can just imagine how awful this would be if they made it today–we’d probably get a bloody flashback of Rebecca’s death. Here, Olivier’s narration is so brilliant and so vivid. This is a wonderful movie for a cold dark night.

Murder on the Orient Express (1974): After reading the book, I was curious about the movie. I found it very accurate, in good ways and bad. Like the book, it takes some time to get started, and doesn’t really hit its stride until murder has been committed and Poirot begins his investigation and interviews. I enjoyed seeing Sean Connery and an almost unrecognizable Ingrid Bergman. Lauren Bacall was in a way lovely as well, but at the same time, terribly cast. Her character felt the most different from the book, and I liked the book version better–but I couldn’t see Bacall playing that part that way. Poirot himself seemed angrier and more forceful in some of his scenes, which I can’t say worked all that well for me. But I did love the way they handled his “here’s what happened” speech. A flashback would have been awful in Rebecca, but here it was a brilliant device to actually show the murder. Almost no blood, but it was still so creepy. This one couldn’t have been made in 1940–the censor board never would have stood for the ending.

I’m still never going to be a fan of horror movies or books…but I’ve enjoyed venturing into the shadow lands a bit! Perfect for getting me in the mood for fall.

A Whirlwind Webber Bible Story

On September 24, 2012September 24, 2012 By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews4 Comments

The only previous encounter I can recall with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was about eleven years ago in a high school religion class. Watching the movie again really should have been like a new experience. Instead, I found it was surprisingly familiar.

Joseph, of course, retells the Biblical story of Joseph and his eleven brothers, who sell him into slavery for the crime of being their father’s favorite. With his ability to interpret dreams, Joseph rises to greatness in Egypt. Because this is Webber, there’s a lot of music and production numbers along the way.

Possibly most striking about the play was the Andrew Lloyd Webber-ness of it all. It’s impossible not to compare it to the 1970s film of Jesus Christ Superstar–the mix of ancient and modern, mostly minimalist sets, flashy lights, over-the-top costumes, and…well, forget breaking the fourth wall, there pretty much wasn’t one.

The movie somehow has a similar feel while being very different in tone. I find JCS to be both insightful and dramatic. Joseph didn’t bring much new insight to the story, and it was almost never serious (with the exception of when Joseph first lands in the Egyptian jail, and sings “Close Every Door”).

But if not dramatic, it is a fun production. Twelve brothers means plenty of production numbers, with many songs played for humor. Meanwhile, Pharoah and his court are channeling Elvis. My favorite songs were “Any Dream Will Do” (which I already knew, thanks to a Michael Crawford CD) and the lovely “Close Every Door.” Apparently the soundtrack has sticking power, as many songs felt remarkably familiar for something I haven’t heard in eleven years. Funny how songs live at the back of your brain somewhere.

This musical seems to be targeting a younger audience than most Webber plays–after all, the frame is about telling the story to a group of school children. At least, I would assume it was a younger target, except for all the scantily-clad dancers, and that Donny Osmond spends half the movie shirtless–which at least distracts from his very silly wig. 🙂 He rises above the wig, though, and does a very nice performance.

All in all, I don’t see it being a new favorite but it’s definitely another good light-hearted musical. And I bought “Close Every Door” on iTunes.

Discworld on Screen

On August 17, 2012August 17, 2012 By cherylmahoneyIn Summer in Discworld6 Comments

To take a different direction for Summer in Discworld this week, I thought I’d look at the movie adaptations of Discworld books. Books-to-movie adaptations are always a bit chancy, but on the whole Discworld seems to have fared well. They’ve all been TV miniseries which allows more screen time, and that usually means a more accurate rendition. And Terry Pratchett seems to have been heavily involved, which also helps!

I don’t have quite enough to say about any of them for a full review, so let’s do a round-up instead.

The Color of Magic: This is a two-episode miniseries (three hours) that covers The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic, which makes sense as they’re a continuous story. As far as I can recall it’s pretty accurate to the books, with some decent effects. There’s an impressive cast, including Tim Curry, Jeremy Irons and Christopher Lee (as the voice of Death). The most fun, though, was Sean Astin in a role not too far from his hobbit character. This is fun, although don’t expect too much, as it is based on two of the weaker Discworld books.

Hogfather: If you need a new Christmas movie, this is excellent in a weird sort of way. The Hogfather, Discworld’s Santa equivalent, has gone missing, and Death is trying to fill in. Pretty soon Death’s granddaughter, Susan, who just wants to be normal, gets pulled into the mess. Meanwhile there this a lunatic who makes assassins nervous, and he’s just a little too interested in the Tooth Fairy… I particularly love Susan (played by Michelle Dockery, Lady Mary on Downton Abbey) and Marc Warren as Teatime is wonderfully creepy. Both are excellent portrayals from the book.

Going Postal: This is wonderful, though it does diverge farther from the book than most. Moist’s character is a little simpler (with a more straight-forward path from jerk to honorable), and some of the funniest bits are left out (including Grout’s trip to the hospital, and most parts involving the wizards). However, they also play up the romance and Miss Dearheart’s character in a way that I think works very well, and much of the rest of the book is faithfully represented. Barring the slight simplifying of Moist, the characters are all brought to life well, and even if the Post Office didn’t quite fit my vision of a building stuffed with letters, it got close at times!

There are also two animated miniseries:

Wyrd Sisters: I’ve only seen the first episode of this one, which was enough to convince me that it’s following the book practically line-by-line. Since I just read the book in the last month, I thought I’d better wait a while before I watch a movie that’s such a close retelling–it’s like rereading something immediately. Still, that kind of faithfulness is something I generally approve of, so if you want all those great Discworld jokes, you’ll do well here. Don’t come looking for brilliant animation–it’s decent, not terrible, not approaching Pixar or Disney either. It looks like a Saturday morning cartoon, but at least the depiction of characters seems to be pretty accurate.

Soul Music: Similar animation, but also similar faithfulness to the book–and it has Christopher Lee as the voice of Death. There’s a lot that’s fun here, especially the Death of Rats! I also enjoy Death and Susan as characters, and they’re the major focus for much of this. This is earlier chronologically than Hogfather, if you have any interest in watching things in order. 🙂

All of these are available on Netflix, and all but Going Postal are streaming. If you’re going to just watch one, watch Hogfather or Going Postal, but I think any would be a good time. And if you watch any live action ones, keep a close eye out for Terry Pratchett in cameos!

Wonderland Turns Urban

On July 30, 2012July 30, 2012 By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews4 Comments

I’ve been meaning to review Alice for literally months–I watched it during the Once Upon a Time Challenge and have had it on my “To Review” list ever since. But don’t take the long delay as a bad sign about the movie. It’s actually excellent.

Alice is a version of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, retold for adults with a more urban, modern feel. It definitely feels like it’s targeting adults, although as I think about it, nothing’s really inappropriate for a younger audience. At the same time, it’s not the light-hearted, happy Wonderland of Disney. The real deciding factor on the target age-group may be Alice’s age. This Alice is a grown-up, and one with much more purpose than the wandering child of Carroll’s story.

Alice (Caterina Scorsone) is from the modern world we all recognize. Her life takes an unexpected turn when boyfriend Jack is abducted, right after giving Alice a mysterious and valuable-appearing ring. A strange man tries to steal the ring and when Alice chases him, she falls through the Looking Glass into a very odd Wonderland. She finds out that people from our world are being captured and taken to Wonderland, where the Queen of Hearts drains their emotions, which she uses to pacify Wonderland’s inhabitants. Alice joins forces with the Hatter (Andrew Lee Potts), who says he can connect her with a resistance movement who’ll help her find Jack.

As I type this, I realize it sounds very convoluted! Basically, Alice goes journeying through adventures in Wonderland looking for Jack, with Hatter and, later on, a White Knight as companions. Along the way, they get tangled up in much bigger forces opposing the Queen of Hearts.

The characters are wonderful here. Almost all the characters from the original are here in some capacity, but given a modern twist. Everyone’s human, but somehow embodies the original characters as well. Alice is tough, but vulnerable. Her father disappeared when she was young and she never stopped looking for him, something that gives her good depth as a character. She has trust issues and insecurities, while being a strong lead who takes an active role in her adventures.

The Queen of Hearts is a delightfully insensitive villain, played by Kathy Bates, paired with Colm Meaney as the King of Hearts. If the name doesn’t mean anything to you, you might know him as Chief O’Brien from Star Trek. If you can’t picture him as a villain, that’s okay, he’s not exactly. He really just wants to make his wife happy, and it’s just rather unfortunate that his wife is so horrible.

My favorite character, though, is the Hatter. Not at first, but he’s one of those who grows on you. And I’m such a sucker for heroes who claim they don’t care about anything even though it’s SO not true.

There are some dark moments in here, but also a lot of comic ones. There also must be quite a bit of CGI, because Wonderland is very bizarrely laid out. It’s sort of…vertical. I don’t quite know how else to explain it. A whole city of terraces and chasms but not even as logical as that makes it sound. Whatever it is, it’s really quite interesting.

This was originally a SyFy channel miniseries, with two hour-and-a-half episodes. I saw it on DVD and it was just put together as a three-hour movie, so I’m not sure what the original break between episodes was. Despite that, I do think the second episode was better. It’s good from the beginning, but it’s also a little haphazard at first. The second half has more focus, and the characters (well, Hatter) have become more engaging by that point. So if you start it and have doubts, stay with it!

There are a lot of Alice in Wonderland retellings out there, and this was a very different one. If you like Alice or if you like urban fantasy (because that’s definitely the feel), I’d recommend giving it a try!

Other reviews:
Fray’s Movie Reviews
Love Romance Passion
Divergent Musings
Anyone else?

Saturday Snapshot: New York, New York

On July 14, 2012July 19, 2012 By cherylmahoneyIn Saturday Snapshot21 Comments

As I’ve probably mentioned, one of my favorite things when I travel is to see places I’ve read about, or recognize from movies or TV. So New York was quite the experience, as that seemed to be happening to me every time I turned around! I counted media references in my trip scrapbook–over thirty. I won’t try to tell you about all of them… Here are just a few pictures I snapped with the thought, “oh, I’ve seen that!”

This bridge in Central Park is not only beautiful, but Patrick Dempsey strolls along it during Made of Honor, a very cute chick flick.

Bethesda Fountain, also in Central Park, figures in a great musical number in Enchanted. It’s also the iconic image from Angels in America. I recommend the first, not so much the second.