The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish Film Version)

July 16th, 2010

Lisbeth Salander, the most complex female character in film in a very, very long time.   Mikael Blomkvist, an ambitious journalist for a monthly magazine called Millenium.   The Vanger family.    None of these people have much in common, but it all comes together brilliantly in the film.

Background of the movie.  Mikael Blomkvist had just been on trial for libel in the Wennerstrom Affair.    After he is sentenced to three months in jail, he resigns from Millenium.   During the time between his sentencing and serving his time, an eccentric old man, Mr. Vanger, hires Mikael to do some research on a long stale case, involving the disappearance of Mr. Vanger’s niece, Harriet.   It is believed that she is dead, and the murderer is never found.   Mikael’s job is to solve the murder.

Meanwhile, Lisbeth, is a 24 year old woman, who as a child underwent severe trauma and was deemed mentally unstable and hospitalized.   Lisbeth has trouble relating to and trusting people, and is considered an outcast of society.   While she has been released from the facility, she continues to be under guardianship.  Currently working freelance as a professional computer hacker, she lives independently, and has made a few friends.  Things change for Lisbeth when her guardian falls ill,  and is assigned a new guardian, who withholds her money and takes advantage of his position.

Lisbeth had formerly conducted some research on Mikael Blomkvist and continued to have an interest in the man.  She finds him out at the Vanger complex and helps him to solve (or not) the murder/disappearance of Harriet Vanger.
Of course, there are villians a plenty in the movie, and plenty of suspense.  The movie is over two hours long, but it just flies by keeping you in suspense.  You root for this unlikely pair of heroes.  Lisbeth is not a very likable person, but you like her and root for her none the less.

The movie is not upbeat or uplifting.  It doesn’t provide a message to society.  It’s dark.  It’s intense.  The time flies by however, as you are held riveted to the screen at every possible moment.

Currently, the movie is no longer playing in theaters, but is available to rent.   Renters have the choice of watching it subtitled or dubbed.  Your choice.  Doesn’t matter.  Just see it.

For those of you who have read the book but have not seen the movie, shame on you!  Seriously.  :)   The book does simplify the storyline, but it will not bother you.

For those of you who have NOT read the book, you will still enjoy this movie.  And if you are a reader, I recommend you read the book.  It will add so much to the movie.  Read it first or second, it doesn’t matter.

This is the RARE movie that adapts a book and keeps it just as good as the book is.

VERDICT:  See this movie NOW!

*I will not be reviewing the books that that this movie and the subsequent movies are based on, due to the time lapse since I have read the books and my beginning this blog.  I can only say … read them all!  And read them soon.  You will not be disappointed!

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Toy Story 3

July 16th, 2010

I do have to say that I didn’t expect this movie to be as good as Parts 1 & 2.  Part 3 always declines in quality, doesn’t it?  Well, Toy Story 3 broke that trend.

The premise is that Andy, the little boy in the previous films, is going to college.   He has to decide what he is taking with him, what to give away and what to put it in the attic for long term storage.  So he goes through his toy box and throws Woody in his college box and puts the rest in a trash bag.   A bit of confusion ensues and the toys end up in the trash for pick up and Woody, of course, has to rescue them.

They end up at Sunnyside Day Care Center and boy are they happy!  They will be played with every single day except weekends.  They think they will be happy at the daycare center.  Boy, do they turn out to be wrong!

We meet some new toy characters.  Barbie finally meets Ken.  Big Baby, Lotso,  Trixie and Mr. Pricklepants are also introduced.  We also meet a sweet little girl named Bonnie, the daughter of the daycare center.   Not all of the characters are what they seem though!

Sinister plans, adventure and love are the main plot points and the ending will have you in goosebumps, if not tears.

Do NOT miss this movie.   The 3D effects are awesome, but I don’t believe necessary to the movie.  I also predict a Toy Story 4: The Next Generation.

VERDICT:  Rush out and see it if you haven’t.  A fun time for the entire family!

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The Book of Eli

February 8th, 2010

I didn’t expect much from this movie, what with the horrible review from Entertainment Weekly and Rotten Tomatoes.com.

However, the movie exceeded my expectations and I really liked the movie.

Simple plot:  Post-apocalyptic America.  Denzel Washington is the lead as Eli.  Eli has a King James Bible in his possession that he reads every night on his way across the US to deliver it to the right person.  He doesn’t know who that person is, he is going on faith that he is heading the right way.  The Bible is supposed to help save the world, or something and there is another guy looking for it.  He runs a small town that, of course, Eli walks through.

The way the book is discovered by evil man is a whole different plotline, but eventually it is found out that Eli has this book and is planning to take it out West.  So the evil man gets his henchmen and they go out and follow Eli.

I won’t say more, as I fear that I will give away the entire storyline.  There is a nice little plot twist in the end.  The movie is a thriller, and thrill it does.  It is very well written and directed.  All the actors are fabulous.  Mila Kunis is great in this movie, deviating from the characters she usually plays.  You can read her face and know what the character she is portraying is thinking.  The cinematography (I believe its called) is great.   I imagine a world like this to look a lot like it does in the film.

Doesn’t matter if you are a person of faith or not, the movie does not offend, and don’t look for plot holes, just go with the story.   The only plot hole I can think of is that it took Eli 30 years to make his journey.  It does not take 30 years to walk across the US.  Maybe he was where he started from for many years before heading out, I don’t know.  But I let that go and just went with the story.

Verdict:  A-    See it sometime, DVD or Blu-Ray is fine

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Last Night in Twisted River, John Irving

February 8th, 2010

There is nothing I like more than a long novel, with a good plot.   Add in a multi-generational story, and I am hooked in.  In that regard, this book did not disappoint.

The simple storyline is about a father, Dominic, and his son, Daniel, and their friend Ketchum.  One night, Daniel mistakes the local town’s sheriff’s girlfriend for a bear and kills her.  The rest of the story deals with the actions they take immediately afterwards and for the next 50 years as they flee from Twisted River.  Irving takes us on a journey, from New Hampshire, to Boston, to Iowa, to finally, Toronto.  Along the way, we meet many interesting characters who played a part in Dominic and Daniel’s lives in all of the cities.

A friend of mine once told me that all of John Irving’s books had a bear and wrestling in them.  Now, I don’t know if that is true, as the only books I’ve read prior to Twisted River was A Cider House Rules, The Hotel New Hampshire, The Fourth Hand and A Widow for One Year.  I loved the first two of those books and I was fairly disappointed in the latter two, although they weren’t horrible.   There is wrestling in this book, but the bear is more metaphorical.

Twisted River is definitely more on par with Cider House and Hotel, though.   One of my main criticisms of the book was the lack of development of the female characters.  I would have loved to have gotten to know Carmella better, for instance.  It’s true, yes, that the women weren’t in the story line for long, but they could have been developed further.  And why the obsession on size?  Don’t we get enough of that in the media?

The other problems for me were the extensive use of both names, the 9/11 and political ranting, Lady Sky’s storyline was a bit contrived and there was unnecessary dog killing.   Irving used the name Dominic Baciagalupo many, many times instead of just one or the other.  Let’s face it, that name doesn’t just roll off the tongue as easily as John Smith.   And as the characters changed names it got worse.

Overall, though, I really enjoyed this book and I recommend to anyone who has ever read John Irving.  If you haven’t then don’t start with this one.

Verdict:  B;  borrow or buy in paperback unless you are a die-hard Irving fan

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Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl, Stacey O’Brien

January 29th, 2010

As an animal lover, I love to read books about animals.  They don’t have to be about cats.  They can be about dogs, cats, rabbits, wildlife, etc.  When I saw this book featured on the table at Border’s, I picked it up simply on the picture alone.  I guess I judged a book by its cover.  But I am glad that I did.

Tender, sweet, informational and highly readable is how I would describe this book.  The basic premise is that the author, Stacey O’Brien, a trained biologist is working in the owl center at Caltech.  Caltech usually releases their owls, and the other animals they rehab, into the wild.  But one day, this little barn owl with a broken wing arrived.  He would never be able to survive  in the wild and Stacey was asked to adopt him.  So she did.

The story progresses throughout Wesley’s 19 year life.  Barn owls in the wild don’t usually live long (learn why in the book), so Wesley gave the biologists a lot of new information.

We follow Wesley through his attempts to fly, hunt and learn to swim.  We watch him grow from a baby to a beautiful adult.  His interactions with the world around him, Stacey, and other humans is fascinating.

A big positive of this book is due to the fact that Stacey never forgot that Wesley was a wild animal.  She never pretended otherwise.  We learn a lot of interesting facts about owls, but it is by no means dry.  It is a light, easy read with plenty of humor.

Verdict:  Read this book, as soon as you can.  I give it an A.

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The Best of 2009

January 29th, 2010

I have not reviewed most of these movies and books and probably won’t.  The fact that they are on my top of the year list should be good enough.  :)

Now for my Top Movies of 2009, in no particular order:

Note:  I have not seen the following movies that are up for all kinds of rewards, so they are not on my list for that reason:  500 Days of Summer, Inglorious Basterds, Hurt Locker (which I can’t imagine I’ll ever see), Invictus.

1.  Zombieland (I do think this was my favorite)

2. The Informant!

3.  Up!

4.  Monsters vs. Aliens

5.  The Hangover (no, this was my favorite)

6.  Up In the Air

7.  Coraline

8. Avatar

9. Ponyo

I guess I don’t have a #10.

Best Books of 2009.  My top 10 of the 77 I read this year.

(Note:  These are books I read this year, not necessarily the year they were published)

1.  Under the Dome, Stephen King

2.  The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Steig Larsson

3.  The Girl Who Played with Fire, Steig Larsson

4.  The Art of Racing in the Rain, Garth Stein

5.  Homer’s Odyssey, Gwen Cooper

6.  The Story Sisters, Alice Hoffman

7.  Lost & Found, Jacqueline Sheehan

8. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, David Wroblewski

9. Handle with Care, Jodi Picoult

10. Shanghai Girls, Lisa See

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Julie & Julia, Julie Powell

October 22nd, 2009

I really wanted to like this book.  I read it when half asleep on my flight to Kauai, when I wasn’t sleeping.  I thought once I landed and had some sleep it would get better.  But it didn’t.

I must explain why I didn’t like it.  I expected this to be a book all about cooking and the author’s adventures in working her way through The Art of French Cooking, Part I.  I expected each chapter to be about a different recipe. Instead, it also included much about her personal life.  And that is the problem.  That part of her life wasn’t interesting.  I found Julie to be very whiny and just not very pleasant.  Also, the writing wasn’t that great.   Maybe I would have liked it more had I been a blog follower, but somehow I doubt it.  And if I would have read reviews, I would have known what it was about.  I probably still would have bought it though.

Even though all of the recipes included meat, the cooking parts were the most enjoyable, with the exception of the killing of live lobsters part.  That was a little rough to read.  And there were parts that were amusing and funny.

Mrs. Powell received some flak about her language.  But that didn’t really bother me at all.  It was her attitude that bothered me.

Overall, although this wasn’t the worst book I’ve ever read, I can’t really recommend it to you.  Unfortunately.

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Homer’s Odyssey, Gwen Cooper

October 22nd, 2009

Sometimes, the unexpected turns out to be the best gift ever.  That summarizes this book perfectly.  Many of us multi-pet owners have animals we didn’t go searching for, but instead, they found us.  And it happened to Gwen Cooper.

We first meet Homer as a little three week old kitten, who was taken to the veterinary clinic of Dr. Patty Khuly, who maintains a website here:  http://www.dolittler.com/   Dr. Khuly took one look at this pathetic little bundle of fur, who was so sick many veterinarians would have made the decision to euthanize, and just saw something special in him.  She gives him medication, performs surgery on his eyes and when he is healthy, she looks for a home for him.

Young 20 something Gwen Cooper, working in a non-profit agency for pennies, and living with a friend, has two cats of her own already when she gets a call from her veterinarian, Dr. Khuly.  Dr. Khuly wants Gwen to consider adopting this kitten.  Gwen reluctantly agrees to meet the kitten, but “no promises”.

You know what happens here.  She falls in love.  She takes him home.  Many of her friends thought he would not be able to live a normal life.  But he proves everyone wrong. He is spirited, courageous, mischievous and very smart. He might not be able to see, but you’d really never know, especially when he is jumping onto tall buildings, er, bookcases.  He wins everyone over.  Even the “non-cat people”.

Realizing that she needs to find a place of her own and make more money to care for her cats properly, she embarks on a journey to find better employment.  She finds it in NY City.  She lives in Miami.  The story of how she is able to move the three cats to NY is funny, in the way it would be in real life.

The hardest part of the book to read was the part about 9/11 and how she couldn’t get home to her cats. Her panic was real.  Anyone who has had a pet will be affected by this chapter. You FEEL her worry.   It has a happy ending, and you really know it does as you are reading the book, as there is half the book left, but it will still make you hold your breath anyway.

The writing in this book was superb.   I couldn’t put it down.  This book did make me cry, at the beginning, when Dr. Khuly takes in Homer.  It made me laugh.  Homer reminds me a lot of one of my cats and also a little bit of my one-eyed cat.   Homer didn’t know he had a disability and he lived life to the fullest and he made Gwen do the same, as she changed her life for the better.

A lot of these pet stories tend to delve too much in the author’s personal life, but in this book, although there was some of that, I didn’t find it distracting to the story at all.

And just one more thing.  Homer is still alive today, so you won’t have to read about his dying at the end.

Verdict: A+; a quick read, perfect for the plane.  Buy this book and share it and eventually it will land in your permanent collection.

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Lost & Found, Jacqueline Sheehan/Good Grief, Lolly Winston

October 11th, 2009

Two books.  Same underlying premise.  But very different.  The premise being woman’s husband dies, she has grief and the way to get over that grief is to move north, get a simpler job and fall in love again.

Jacqueline Sheehan’s Lost & Found takes place in Peak’s Island, Maine, where the protagonist, Rocky, a psychologist, moves to after her husband suddenly dies of a heart attack.  This is obviously a big shock and unexpected and Rocky finds herself unable to help her patients, so she takes a leave of absence and heads north.

She keeps her tragedy to herself, looks for a place to live and for a job.   The first friends she makes are Tess, a retired physical therapist with synthesia and her neighbors Elaine and her daughter Melissa.   She is given a shot at being an Animal Control Officer for the island, a job she is not really qualified for.    But with the friendships and the job, she begins to find a place of comfort and safety.

One day, she finds a black labrador with an arrow sticking out of his shoulder.  She calls him Cooper, and takes him in instead of taking to the shelter.  Cooper then becomes the main character, as he helps to heal Rocky and also Melissa, who has a secret of her own.  Rocky looks for the owner, trying to determine who it was who hurt the dog.  This mystery is also one of the themes of this book, and yes, the mystery does get solved and Rocky does fall in love again.

In Good Grief, Lolly Winston managed to describe grief so well that you felt it.  If you’ve lost anyone close to you, you will FEEL this book.  The main character in this book, Sophie, pretty much breaks down in a way we all fear we will if this would happen to us.   I have to admit being close to shedding a tear. Although a book can affect me profoundly,  I don’t usually cry openly when reading.

Sophie, a public relations executive in Silicon Valley, was no stranger to grief. Her mother died when she was 12, and now she had the unfortunate chance to watch her husband die, as he battled cancer.   When he died, she couldn’t function.  Before she actually got fired, she took a leave of absence and headed north to the small town of Ashland, Oregon, to stay with her best friend Ruth, and Ruth’s daughter, while she dealt with her grief.

Sophie struggled a lot more than Rocky, and after being unable to perform her job as a waitress in a cafe, she gets demoted to salad girl and then eventually to pastry, where she discovers her true passion.    Sophie also, as a result of the loss of her mother and having those emotions resurface, becomes a Big Sister to Crystal, a troubled pre-teen.  Their relationship changes both of them, which is surprising considering they are both a mess.  And they don’t have a dog to help them!

It’s only a few weeks after Sophie moves to Ashland when she tries dating again.  I cannot understand that part at all, as I cannot even imagine that in real life, Sophie would be ready to date again.  She is really having trouble dealing with the death of her husband.  Sophie does find love again at the end of the book, and it all takes place within a year.  I guess because its a novel, we have to let go of rationality and allow the time frame to be as such.  Although I do think it could have been written in two parts.  Part two being “Three Years Later” or something that would be more realistic.

Lost & Found had mystery and Good Grief had humor.  Both books were very good and very quick reads.  I highly recommend them both.  I give Lost & Found the edge, as I found Rocky’s “love story” a little bit more believable.

Verdict:  Lost & Found A; Good Grief B+

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Ponyo

August 30th, 2009

I have to admit right off that I am a big fan of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.  They are responsible for such films as Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle.   I am always excited to hear about a new release.   And Ponyo did not disappoint me in the least.   It is a retelling of The Little Mermaid, of sorts.

Ponyo is a story about a little magical sea creature, called a goldfish in the movie, but resembling a starfish.    Ponyo lives with her father under the name Brunnehilde and about a million little siblings.

On an excursion, Ponyo’s curiosity got the better of her and she snuck away from the family and ended up being washed ashore.  A little boy named Sosuke rescues her, renames her Ponyo,  and cares for her for a day. Ponyo and Sosuke bond, and fall in love.  Its a little freaky to think of a five year old boy and a fish falling in love, but hey, just let it go.

When Ponyo is reunited with her father, she tells him that she loves Sosuke and wishes to become human, even if it means losing her magical powers.   He, of course, tells her she cannot.   She manages to escape again after using her magic to take on a human form.  Adventure and hijinx ensue.  Eventually, Ponyo’s father gives in and says that if Sosuke can prove that is love is pure, she can remain human.

This movie, while not my favorite Miyazaki, is definitely one of the best movies I have seen this summer.  It’s geared more towards kids than the previous films, but that in no way takes away from the enjoyment.

Verdict:  See this movie in the theater, then buy on DVD or Blu-Ray.  I give it 5 stars out of 5.

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