The Time Paradox

You know those movies where there's a big, epic adventure, but then something tragic happens, and at the very end, the main character gets to go back in time and stop it all from ever happening?  Sometimes, the whole movie is everything to do with going back in time to change the past.  And sometimes it's actually a good movie.

It happens in books, too.  There are also the stories of love transcending time: the lovers that belong to different decades, centuries, or even millenia.  These never end well, and annoy me to end!  You know as you pick up the book that it can't have a good ending, but the first few pages make it sound so worth it...  Ha!

The Clearing, for example.  I know I've already posted a review of this book, but I would like to say just again how awful it was.  Really!  It was disappointing, and the end was just a--"Oh!  I have to end the book now, but I don't have a mind-blowing resolution...  I'll copy everybody else!  The main character dies!"  (Oh, were you planning on reading that book?  No, I didn't thinks so.)

It all comes down to three things: the ending, what was changed, and how it was addressed in the rest of the story.  These three things are what determine the quality of a time-related story, in my opinion.  I'd like to give you a couple of great examples of this story type.

One of my absolute-favorite movies, this story does it right!  What I love about this one is that nobody is travelling through time... it's just letters transported two years into the future/past by a magic mailbox that never gets explained.  I think I like this time-related story most because it's about the romance, and not really the concept of time-travel.  The photography helped, too, as did the beautiful writing. :)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban!  I have to admit that, without a doubt, I think Harry Potter is the only book I've ever read that does the time-travel thing well, as well as the only film that included all the details I wanted.  What I love most about how J.K. Rowling approached this one is the little details she throws in the last few chapters.  Before Harry and Hermione give three turns to her time-turner, there are details in the action that are later explained by the time travel!  I have to ashamedly admit that it's been a long time since I've seen or read it, and I therefore cannot recall all of the specifics.

Neither of these movies use time travel as a way to erase the entire story.  I hate those!  When you get to the end, you're like, "Okay, so it never happened..."  I also love that the story was more important than the action.  Action is important, but it can't smother the actual plot, or it gets tiresome.

What do you think about time stories?  (No, I haven't seen Doctor Who, though I hear it's really great.)

Phoebe in Wonerland

It took me a long time to convince myself that it is okay to post more blogs, because this is my 84th blog post.  The number was at 83 (my favorite), so I didn't want to ruin that.  Haha.

Pheobe in Wonderland was a beautiful film.  You know how much I appreciate writing in movies, and it was certainly well-done in this one, but I have to give some major kudos to the actors.  They completely blew me away!  I was so invested in the main character's dilemmas and joys that I could hardly stomach pausing the movie for eight hours so I could go to work.  It's on Netflix instant play, if any of you are interested.  It's definitely worth your time, and it's a family-friendly movie, too.  Very clean, and even a little instructional.

The photography could've been better.  But, I respect that it was probably a low-budget film (even though it was actually in theaters--did you ever hear of it??).  For what they had, though, it was great.  It helped tell the story, and at times is was really cute.  I loved getting into the little girl's head.

Where are my manners?!  I have yet to tell you what this movie is even about!

Phoebe, a fourth-grade student and daughter of an author writing about Through The Looking-Glass, lands the lead role in her school's production of Alice in Wonderland.  Her patient, strange drama teacher helps her learn a little about acting and a lot about life, but the more stressed out she becomes, the more she begins to see the characters from the book come to life and speak to her.  Her parents aren't sure how to handle her new behavior, and even Phoebe doesn't know what's happening to her.  What she does know is that she was born to play Alice.

It's really intriguing, and Elle Fanning is such a talented little actress.  I can't wait to see more from her!

I give it a 9/10.

Water for Elephants

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen was... well, amazing.  And entirely frustrating.

I saw the movie in mid-May with one of my best friends, and walked away knowing that it was one of the most spectacular films I had ever seen!  The characters were real and relatable, the filming was beautiful, and the darkest parts were so incredibly intense!  I can't wait to see it again (hurry up, redbox!), and I think it might actually wind up in my collection.

Therefore, when I saw the book in Target the other day, I couldn't resist picking it up.  It was a good price, it had Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon on the cover, and the movie was great, so the book's supposed to be better, right?

For once, I really have to say that the movie did some things better.  Let me say this--Sara Gruen is truly one of the best writers I've ever read.  The way she relates a person's opinion along with their train of thought is so well-done!  Her descriptions are detailed, but not too lengthy.  I love the way she brought in all of her research and the tiny details and anecdotes she picked up from what she learned of circuses from the time period.  I really admire the amount of research she had to do for this book.  For several nights, I felt like I could be falling asleep on a train circus.  She really drew me into the world of the story.

This story is set in the summer of 1931 aboard a train circus.  Jacob Jankowski, a Cornell-educated almost-veterinarian, jumps a train in the middle of the night and ends up being roped into working for The Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth.  There he gains unlikely friends, becomes very attached to an elephant, and is helplessly drawn to his boss's wife, Marlena.

At first I was frustrated with the way the book was structured--an old man recalling the summer of 1931 almost absent-mindedly.  By the end of it, though, I really liked it.  It wouldn't have transferred well to the big screen, though, which is why I guess they used the end of the book for the whole movie.  Clever and effective.  I like both ways.

My only qualm with her book is the amount of sex it has in it.  I am very grateful that the movie was rated PG-13, because I thoroughly enjoyed it.  While the book was also great, I was annoyed by frequent side-tracks from the actual plot to mention something sex-related.  None of it was at all necessary.  Yes, there is one scene in the book that is somewhat important to the plot--the night Jacob and Marlena actually have the affair--but there is a way to write that gracefully, and Sara Gruen definitely did not.

Therefore, I have a dilemma.  It was a wonderful book, but I honestly can't--with a good consious, at least--recommend it to anyone.  Too many f-bombs, too much nudity, too much.... just too much.  It really makes me sad.  I have half a mind to take a black marker to those unnecessary bits.  Then I could hand it to all of my friends and squeal, "READ IT!  It's soooo good!" like I so desperately want to do.

Everyone should see the movie, however.  Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon have great chemistry, and it's pretty clean.  Not a whole lot of cussing (though I can't blame him for letting one slip when he almost lost his arm to a lion).

A Film Viewing Experience

As part of my Film Application process, I have to go through an interview where I tell about a film viewing experience.  When I sat down to write the writing sample for next week's creative writing class, I decided I'd try to put on paper what I wanted to say in my interview.  It came out a little more nostalgic than how I think I'm going to actually tell it, but here it is in all it's glory, haha.  Honestly, when I was asked about a film viewing experience, this is the very first thing that popped into my head.  I wish I had a better memory.

I almost cried when I read through it after writing it.  Gosh, I'm so homesick.

            I was eleven years old, and entirely too ecstatic to be at the movies on a Saturday morning, just Daddy and me.  I didn’t know what we were there to see, but it really didn’t matter.  We watched TV together all the time, but we never went to the movies all by ourselves!  It wasn’t that I was excited to get away from my mom, or anything.  I liked going to the movies with her, too.  I think I was just happy to do something special with my dad that I’d never done before.  He held my hand all the way from the truck to the lobby of the dollar theater.

            He bought us tickets to something called Star Wars II.  As we sat down right in the middle of row, Dad explained to me what clones were.  Then, he quickly tried to tell me what had happened in a previous movie—or was it movies?—so I wouldn’t be totally lost.  I didn’t really understand any of it, but it was interesting.  When the movie actually started, I had no idea what was going on most of the time, but it had a lot of action and running and shooting, so I liked it alright.  It was my very first experience with science fiction, and I was definitely intrigued.

            It wasn’t the movie that made it special, though.  We were the only ones in the whole theater, so I sat with my legs draped across his lap.  I could ask aloud why something happened, and what something meant, and my dad could answer, because there wasn’t anybody around us to bother.  We had a great big bag of popcorn all to ourselves, a bag of regular m&ms and a bag of peanut m&ms that we took turns trading.  Honestly, I only remember one scene from the entire movie, and nine years later, I still don’t understand Star Wars.  Mostly, I just remember that I went to the movies with my dad, just the two of us.

Beastly

Oh, I have been waiting for this movie to come out!  Tonight I went to see it.  :) 

Beastly is based on a book of the same name by Alex Flinn.  I read the book a few years in high school.  Of course, I love everything Beauty and the Beast-related, regardless of how good or bad it is, but this movie really was spectacular.  I haven't seen every version of this story, but I will say flat-out that this is by far the best live action representation I have ever seen!

I loved the script of this movie.  Yes, it was based off of a book (and did a pretty dang well doing it), but the movie added some details that made the movie closer to the original story than even the book did.  I loved that.

The acting was fabulous.  I'm sad Will wasn't shown more, but I loved the phases each character had to go through.  I also like that we got to know Zola better.  I did, however, understand these characters more clearly than I did in the book.  That was a rather pleasant surprise.

The cinematography and lighting were pretty good.  They could have been better, but I really liked the "magic" scenes.  It didn't look animated at all.  In fact, I don't think they animated those scenes at all, it was all camera and editing work.  That was impressive.

His appearance was... interesting.  When I saw the first pictures of his tattoos and scars a few months ago, I thought, "Oh NO they're going to RUIN this!"  But, actually, they made it work.  I thought it was interesting that the witch put words and tattoos on him in addition to the slash-scars to make him ugly.  It was a rather unique portrayal of the Beast.

Overal rating of this fabulous movie: 9/10.  :)  Definitely one that I want to eventually add to my library!

GO SEE IT!

P.S. I Love You

The first time I watched "P.S. I Love You," I hated it. It's a long story why, so just accept that I really didn't like it. Then, the other day, I decided that I should give it a second chance.

After watching it a second time, there are still parts of it that kind of bug me. But, I think, when it comes down to it, I actually do like it.

There's one quote in the movie that really hit me, and I fell in love with it. "I bet you've had a hard time walking into a room full of people on your own, right? Yeah. I know that. I know what it is not to feel like you're in the room until he looks at you or touches your hand or even makes a joke at your expense, just to let everyone know... you're with him. You're his."

I didn't cry, but I almost did. It seems like a lot of romantic movies make me cry these days. Is that pathetic? Yes, it is. But that's okay, because soon enough, he'll be here again.

And no, I'm not going to end this post with "P.S. I love You."

But I will end it with my favorite Gerard Butler quote of the movie: "I know what I want because I'm holding it in my hands. You."

We're all mad here.

"I was just thinking about what it would be like to fly."
"Why ever would you be thinking about something so impossible?"
"Why not?  My father used to say that he believed in six impossible things before breafast."

"I just had a vision of all the women in trousers and the men were all in dresses."
"I think, perhaps, that you ought to keep your visions to yourself.  When in doubt, silence is best."

"Alice!  I'd know him anywhere."

"Curiouser and curiouser."

"Meow."

"I'll take you to the Hare and the Hatter, but that's as far as I go."

"Tell me, why is a raven like a writing desk?"
"I have absolutely no clue!"

"You could stay."

You know, I really didn't like the animated version.  Perhaps it was the music that I didn't particularly like.  But I LOVED the new one. :)  It was so... ridiculous!

Sometimes I believe in six impossible things before breakfast.