Movie Review: Ender's Game

Ender's Game
2013
Summit
Rated: PG-13
114 minutes

Movie Description: 

The International Military seek out a leader who can save the human race from an alien attack. Ender Wiggin, a brilliant young mind, is recruited and trained to lead his fellow soldiers into a battle that will determine the future of Earth. (description from IMDB.com)

Review:
So, I may have mentioned once, or twice, or hmmm...numerous times that Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card is one of my top five favorite novels of all-time. As such, I have to admit that I was *extremely* nervous when they first announced they were going to attempt a movie adaptation. As casting was announced and stills were released, though, and then finally the trailer came out, my anticipation grew until I could NOT WAIT for November 1st.

I am not a midnight release movie-goer, and yet, I seriously considered it for this movie. Happily, I had Friday off from work, so I did end up seeing it on it's first day in the theater!

I am pleased to report that I really, truly enjoyed the movie. Now, it was not as good as the book, but I'd expected that, so the movie lived up perfectly to the expectations I had for it. First off, the casting choices were STELLAR. Asa Butterfield gave an amazing performance as Ender, as didHarrison Ford playing Colonel Graff. I could not have asked for a better actor for either role. Without those two performances having the nuances and depths that Butterfield and Ford brought to them, the whole movie could have tanked. Then add in the excellent supporting cast and the movie becomes a blockbuster just from that respect!

While Sir Ben Kingsley, Nonso Anozie, and Viola Davis played their parts as the other mentors and role models in Ender's life very, very well, this movie is truly about the children who train to become the military heroes of tomorrow. Again, any of these casting choices failing could have been a crucial mistake and thankfully, these people knew what they were doing. Hailee Steinfeldwas *excellent* as Petra Arkanian. I can see why she'd previously been nominated for an Oscar!

Petra, Bean (played by Aramis Knight) and Alai (played by Suraj Partha) all hit just the right notes, first as competitors that distrust Ender, then as staunch supporters that will follow Ender all the way to the end. Watching these actors interact was a pleasure. Even the choice ofMoises Arias as Bonzo Madrid was spot-on. And though we didn't see a lot of her, Abigail Breslindid a great job as Ender's compassionate sister, Valentine.

In fact, that was one of the things that left me just a hair disappointed as I came out of the theater. Though I know how difficult it can be to pick and choose which aspects of a story are tackled in a movie adaptation, the complete absence of any reference to Peter and Valentine's subplot as influences on Earth's political government, leading to Peter Wiggin becoming the Hegemon (ultimate head of politics on Earth) I felt was glaring. Without this being mentioned at all in this movie, I don't understand how a sequel, if one is ever made, would be tackled as each story following this first one touches on Earth's politics fairly heavily...

I also understand that the timeline had to be tightened up and as such, the focus on the battle school virtual battles became a visually stunning and continuous plot for this movie, but I worry that viewers who have not read the book will not understand the emotional devastation that Ender faces as he becomes more and more isolated and feels more and more empathetic to the race that Earth is trying to destroy. In fact, the movie is restructured in such a way that Ender's isolation is hardly apparent and the empathy that Ender feels for the "buggers" is not apparent until after the culminating events of the movie.

However as a purely visual medium for a shortened/less layered version of the classic story, this movie was pretty epic. The battle room scenes were everything I hoped for, the blend of technologies and Earth and space vistas were breathtaking and I left eager for more.

My friends know that I'm pretty cheap frugal when it comes to seeing movies in the theater...and I liked this one enough that I'm considering going again... let that sink in, people. I may PAY to see this movie a second time. That's the highest endorsement I can give it.

Ender's Game - Movie Trailer

So, I know I've mentioned before that Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card is one of my all-time favorite books, well the movie is coming out this fall and it looks SOOO good! I can't wait to see it.

Check out the trailer:


What do you think?

Movie Trailer - The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

Cassandra Clare's hit series, The Mortal Instruments, is now being adapted for film.  The first movie (based, of course, on the first book, City of Bones) is coming out in August... Are you planning to see it??

Movie Trailer - Catching Fire

I'm sure you've probably seen this by now, but just in case you haven't...here is the first official trailer for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire coming out this November!!



What do you think? Will you be seeing it in the theater? I know I will be...

Movie Review: The Host

The Host 
2013
Chockstone Pictures
Rated: PG-13
125 Minutes

Movie Description: 

A parasitic alien soul is injected into the body of Melanie Stryder. Instead of carrying out her race’s mission of taking over the Earth, ‘Wanda’ (as she comes to be called) forms a bond with her host and sets out to aid other free humans.

Review: 

Overall I pretty much loved the movie. I thought they did a great job adapting it to the screen...but I know that part of my reaction came from having read the book first. I read some reviews that thought the movie didn't have enough action and was too focused on the emotional relationships between characters (with too much kissing...LOL), but those people have obviously never read the book. The book itself delves pretty deeply into the relationships between the characters precisely because the author was trying to define what makes us human, and what love truly looks like.

Visually, the movie was stunning. The alien creatures were fascinatingly both beautiful and well, alien. Their appearance once they took over the human hosts was well defined through calm demeanor, slower movements, and sort of a 1950's vibe in clothing and interpersonal interactions...I loved, too, how the Seekers were only ever in white and drove around in pure silver vehicles. It induced an almost clinically cold feeling when you were watching their scenes.

I thought Saorise Ronin did a fantastic job as Melanie/Wanderer.She was almost like two different people when she was acting the memories of Melanie's life and then when she was actively inhabited by Wanda. They did a great job with her voiceovers (everytime Melanie spoke inside Wanda's head). There was no awkwardness like the actress couldn't quite match up the timing. It really was as if she had two personalities interacting throughout the movie.

While at first I had been unsure of the casting for Ian (Jake Abel - who I tend to think of as an actor who plays not-so-good guys...) I found myself completely sucked in by his character...again. Ian is the first ever adult book crush that I had. *Spoiler Alert* In fact, one of the biggest problems I had with the movie was that they altered the scene that absolutely melted my heart where Ian holds Wanda in her true form and still finds her beautiful... I missed that moment!

*Spoiler Alert!*
The only other problem I really had was the transition from Wanda being in Melanie's body to the new girl at the end. While I was reading the book because I was so emotionally invested it did not feel quite as jarring or perfectly poised to solve all of the characters' problems... but when you see it in the movie, it almost feels like a cop-out. Oh, you are choosing to sacrifice yourself and leave so Melanie and her family can be happy? Oh, Look! We found a new body for you... you have to take it or she'll die... and look, now you and Ian can live happily ever after... It just was too...pat...an ending. (And Emily Browning, while I love you in everything else you've done, I wasn't quite feeling you in this role...sorry!)

However, aside from those small issues, I found myself totally sucked into a fabulous story again and I will absolutely be buying this on DVD when it comes out. :)

Movie Trailer - Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters

While I didn't *hate* the first Percy Jackson movie, it definitely did not live up to my love for the book...This trailer for the second movie, though, looks like they've made some improvements!! I can't wait to see it and find out. What do you think?

Movie Review: Beautiful Creatures

Beautiful Creatures

2013

Alcon Ent./Warner Bros.

Rated: PG-13

124 Minutes

 

Movie Description:

Ethan longs to escape his small Southern town. He meets a mysterious new girl, Lena. Together, they uncover dark secrets about their respective families, their history and their town.

 

Review: 

This movie was good. I really liked it and will probably see it again...even though they did change some BIG things from the book!

 

All right, without trying to ruin this for anyone, I will try to disclose how I felt about the changes without giving too much away. Let's see if I can do it!

One: A huge revelation about a character's secret identity is revealed about one third of the way into the movie...allowing viewers to build the story upon that reveal...BUT I loved how in the book, I was pretty sure that was going on, but did not find out for sure until the LAST third of the book. I thought it was much more dramatic in the book, though the revelation scene in the movie was well done, too!

Two: Although the movie still features one of the coolest libraries I've ever seen in fiction, I was saddened that they combined two characters in the movie, cutting out the awesome librarian from the book series. I suppose this was to make it easier for viewers to keep track of characters, but it also inadvertantly changed Ethan's mother's backstory in a way I wasn't too fond of... *and* the library itself is a little downplayed in the movie. *My librarian heart is breaking.*

Three: When Lena must finally face what is going to happen on her sixteenth birthday, she decides to handle the situation all on her own. A HUGE change from the book. This change sets in motion a bunch of littler changes, including the entire moral character of one of her cousins, and allowed for a very different ending to seem to happen. Thankfully, in truly movie magic fashion, and a very dramatic way, the moviemakers pulled through at the last moment and things work out again...though it will make for an interesting start to the second movie...

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and think that people who have not read the book will love it. I think readers will probably bemoan the same things that I did, but also realize that this made for a great *movie* experience. And now, I have to read book two!

Movie Trailer: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Hey Guys, I don't know if you've heard but they are turning the book, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky into a movie...and Emma Watson (Harry Potter) and Logan Lerman (The Lightning Thief) are two of the stars... I'm super excited to see it!



What do you think of the trailer? Do you think you'll check it out?

Movie Trailer: The Great Gatsby

Have you ever read The Great Gatsby? It's a classic...and they're making it into what looks like a great movie version...




I love the casting and the feel of the movie. I think it's going to be epic!

Movie Review: The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games

*Based on the book, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I am going to try to make this review as spoiler-free as possible for people who haven't yet seen the movie, but if you haven't read the book yet, you may just want to skip the entire review as I'm sure I'll end up ruining something for you...LOL.

After years of waiting for this book to be adapted into a movie, I finally got a chance to SEE the world of Panem in all it's dichotomic glory. The lushness of the Capitol, the devestation and poverty of the outlying districts...

 

In case you've forgotten, here is a basic description of the storyline:

Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Katniss' sister, Prim, is chosen by lottery, Katniss steps up to go in her place.

 

There were so many things that I loved about this movie...and I only had one very minor complaint.

Anyway, these are the things that I liked:

1. The casting - I thought that the entire cast was phenominally chosen. At first I had been skeptical about a few characters (Lenny Kravitz??), but the choices all turned out to be brilliant on screen. Jennifer Lawrence was wonderful as Katniss, managing to evoke all the right emotions, especially as with the movie, you don't really get to see inside her head like you do in the book. Both Peeta and Gale were well chosen and worked really well off of Katniss. The adults surrounding her? Epic. The way that Effie and Haymitch dealt with the kids and played off of each other was great. The use of Cesar as both comic relief and as an expository character (giving depth to the world and treating the viewer as a "viewer" of the games) was exceedingly well done. (He might even have been my favorite movie character, perchance...) ...And for all my earlier hesitance...I really loved Lenny Kravitz as Cinna. It turned out to be a great choice.

2. The world building - I actually thought that the movie enabled Collins to expand the viewer's perspective of the world A LOT. In the book, you are trapped inside Katniss' head, and it is fantastic and compelling and emotional as hell, but in the movie, you are able to FEEL what has been building in Panem for a long time. You are able to see what the President is doing to control his power over the people. You are able to get the mood of the country, its priviledged, its downtrodden. You see how the other Hunger Games tributes feel... There is just so much more explored here.

 

3. The use of camera work to deflect the violence - Okay. There was no way that I was NOT going to see this movie. It is one of my favorite books of all time and it has looked epic from the moment they started promoting it. That does not mean that I wasn't mentally steeling myself to make it through the violence of the Games. I was so pleasantly surprised with how they filmed this. Yes, there are kids fighting to the death. Yes, you know exactly what happens. Yes, you see a lot of it...BUT you don't SEE it. They filmed this with two different techniques that contribute to a lot of the violence being down played...actually three methods. One, a shaky cam, so that you see what happens, but it's so quick moving or blurry that you don't really know what you've seen until after it's off screen again. Two, almost like an old Alfred Hitchcock movie, they clip in and out of the violence. You see a sword flash during a wind up, then you cut to a falling body...without seeing the gory slash in between. Lastly, they utilized the cannon firing and visual display of fallen tributes to alert Katniss that someone had died without the viewer having to see the death at all. I was really pleased over all with how well this turned out. I knew what happened, I got the emotional devestation of it, but I didn't have to look away from the screen at all... KUDOS.

My only complaint with this film, and it is a minor one, is that I thought it lacked some of the character building that the book had... because we are seeing the whole picture and we weren't inside of Katniss' head, you missed out on feeling her confliction as she deals with her emotions inside the arena and her knowledge that they will have an impact if she makes it out. You miss seeing some of the cold calculation she must go through to figure out how to survive... Though I loved the movie and felt it was almost perfect, I thought that possibly, they could have added one or two lines somehow here or there that would have explained Katniss' thoughts without bringing in voice-over narration...

Overall, I thought this movie was AMAZING. I plan to go see it again this weekend...and if you know me, you'll know that means it was epic. I hate paying to go to the movies in general...I wait a lot until things come out on DVD, and I cannot remember the last time that I saw a movie in the theater twice. It may have been Harry Potter 4? I'm not sure. LOL.

What did you all think??