Friday, January 29, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
The Lovely Bones
My favourite film by Director Peter Jackson is Heavenly Creatures (regardless of the success of The Lord of the Rings), so when I read he had bought the rights to Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones I was enthusiastic. Peter Jackson and The Lovely Bones seemed the right fit and wanted to see what he would do with this wonderful book.
The reviews for the movie have been mixed. I think there are two problems. One, people could not get The Lord of the Rings out of their heads and their expectations ran toward an epic. The other problem is the story does not follow the usual plot line for a rape/murder story. How it should go... innocent child is raped and murdered, everyone does everything to catch the perpetrator, the perpetrator is caught and justice is done.
That is not the story The Lovely Bones tells. It tells a better story.
When I read The Lovely Bones, I thought, this is a book about grief. How people cope with grief, how Suzie copes with the grief of being dead, how her family copes with her being dead.
There is a risk of seeing a movie after reading a book that has been enjoyed and happily the movie worked for me. But it took me to a different place. For me the story in the movie is about how our bodies are less important than how we live our lives and the love we leave behind.
This is not a catch a murderer story, and sadly I think the trailers may have led people to believe otherwise. If you like to delve deeper than the good guys catch the bad guys then I think this story - book and movie - are worth a look and a read.
The reviews for the movie have been mixed. I think there are two problems. One, people could not get The Lord of the Rings out of their heads and their expectations ran toward an epic. The other problem is the story does not follow the usual plot line for a rape/murder story. How it should go... innocent child is raped and murdered, everyone does everything to catch the perpetrator, the perpetrator is caught and justice is done.
That is not the story The Lovely Bones tells. It tells a better story.
When I read The Lovely Bones, I thought, this is a book about grief. How people cope with grief, how Suzie copes with the grief of being dead, how her family copes with her being dead.
There is a risk of seeing a movie after reading a book that has been enjoyed and happily the movie worked for me. But it took me to a different place. For me the story in the movie is about how our bodies are less important than how we live our lives and the love we leave behind.
This is not a catch a murderer story, and sadly I think the trailers may have led people to believe otherwise. If you like to delve deeper than the good guys catch the bad guys then I think this story - book and movie - are worth a look and a read.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Sleep
At the end of the day, I close my bedroom door, my teeth are clean, I am clean, there is my bed, there is my book. Whatever else the day was, it is now perfect.
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Avatar in 3D
Avatar is both magnificent and ordinary.
It is lush, full of colour, light and wonder - truly beautiful and with 3D more fully realised than any 3D I have experienced.
It is exciting on the superficial level of explosions and killing sprees.
The story however, is rather ordinary. For the majority of audiences who want an adventure flick with their Jaffas, I am sure it is an extraordinary experience. For someone who appreciates some depth and interest in characters and a story with surprises, there may be some disappointment. Some guy goes native and falls in love and has to fight his own people...been there? The top boss solider is a cardboard cut out bad guy with no soul, no real motive and stacks of guns.
Still, I wouldn't say don't go. I expect if you don't see this movie in 3D at the movies you will have to spend the next decade explaining why you weren't there.
It is lush, full of colour, light and wonder - truly beautiful and with 3D more fully realised than any 3D I have experienced.
It is exciting on the superficial level of explosions and killing sprees.
The story however, is rather ordinary. For the majority of audiences who want an adventure flick with their Jaffas, I am sure it is an extraordinary experience. For someone who appreciates some depth and interest in characters and a story with surprises, there may be some disappointment. Some guy goes native and falls in love and has to fight his own people...been there? The top boss solider is a cardboard cut out bad guy with no soul, no real motive and stacks of guns.
Still, I wouldn't say don't go. I expect if you don't see this movie in 3D at the movies you will have to spend the next decade explaining why you weren't there.
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Sunday, January 03, 2010
Storm Gardening
Looking through the window, snow is picture perfect. I expect living with it is challenging.
Queensland's license plates used to say "The Sunshine State." It's true many are envious our our ceaseless sunshine. Living with it is not always as one would expect.
Take today, I have some big gardening jobs on my mind. I hope to get a little in first thing in the morning. I wake at 7.30am, early enough for a Sunday morning I think. It is already too hot to go outside. Certainly too hot for weeding and planting and hard work. Perhaps I will get some gardening in at dusk, if it is not too steamy.
Then, mid morning, a silver lining on the horizon. Dark clouds.
For someone closer to the poles, where perhaps it is snowing, this may be the oddest thing you hear today, but gardening in the rain is perfection.
Cold? No, I wipe the rain from my forehead and the sweat from my upper lip and somehow they even themselves out.
The soil is loose and the weeds come out like a balding man's hair.
My children come outside to tell me there is a storm warning. High winds and flash flooding. It is for nearly all of south east Queensland. Not specific enough for me.
I can hear thunder. If there is any lightening I will go inside.
Mid afternoon and I am done. My hair is red with mud and my clothes cling like glad wrap.
I step into the shower clothes and all.
Clean, on the veranda with a wine and some cheese and crackers, I can admire the luminous grass and the sparkling garden. A perfect summer's day, minus the sun.
If it wasn't for these flies.
But, that's Queensland for you. Beautiful one day, perfect the next.
Queensland's license plates used to say "The Sunshine State." It's true many are envious our our ceaseless sunshine. Living with it is not always as one would expect.
Take today, I have some big gardening jobs on my mind. I hope to get a little in first thing in the morning. I wake at 7.30am, early enough for a Sunday morning I think. It is already too hot to go outside. Certainly too hot for weeding and planting and hard work. Perhaps I will get some gardening in at dusk, if it is not too steamy.
Then, mid morning, a silver lining on the horizon. Dark clouds.
For someone closer to the poles, where perhaps it is snowing, this may be the oddest thing you hear today, but gardening in the rain is perfection.
Cold? No, I wipe the rain from my forehead and the sweat from my upper lip and somehow they even themselves out.
The soil is loose and the weeds come out like a balding man's hair.
My children come outside to tell me there is a storm warning. High winds and flash flooding. It is for nearly all of south east Queensland. Not specific enough for me.
I can hear thunder. If there is any lightening I will go inside.
Mid afternoon and I am done. My hair is red with mud and my clothes cling like glad wrap.
I step into the shower clothes and all.
Clean, on the veranda with a wine and some cheese and crackers, I can admire the luminous grass and the sparkling garden. A perfect summer's day, minus the sun.
If it wasn't for these flies.
But, that's Queensland for you. Beautiful one day, perfect the next.
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