Good book= Good movie

I seem to have rented several flicks this weekend that star the practically-perfect-in-every-way Alexis Bledel, which is lovely, because I think that she is about the best looking female in the world, but it was a coincidence, I swear.  I am not stalking:)  I re-read the book that this film is based on over the summer, and found that I enjoyed it even more than when I first read it.  Tuck Everlasting (first published in 1975), by Natalie Babbitt, is a wonderful book, and I really believe that Stephanie Meyer took more than a little bit of inspiration for her Twilight series from this story.  It is perfect (both the story and writing are brilliant), and reminded me so much of being 13, and on the cusp of major changes, and having a wonderful summer.  I hope that you all seek this Disney movie out, and don't forget the book!

*Tuck Everlasting (2002), directed by Jay Russell, and starring Alexis Bledel, Sissy Spacek, William Hurt, and Sir. Ben Kingsley!  The cast was amazing, and this movie fully realized the magic of the story, far better than the Twilight film fared, I'm afraid.  The story centers on a stifled, privileged young lady who runs away from the confines of her home, only to encounter a mysterious, beautiful boy in the woods of her family's estate.  He is Jesse Tuck, one of the Tuck family, who have been blessed/cursed to live forever, after drinking from a spring in those woods.  Of course, the family doesn't want their secret exposed, and the story continues along that vein.  The romance is sweet and innocent, and maybe appeals so much to me because I fell for my husband when we were about this age, but it really has an idealistic appeal:)  William Hurt also does a commendable Scottish accent.

An unexpected surprise from the film: Sissy Spacek and Amy Irving both star as the respective mothers in the film, and were last seen together as Carrie and Sue in the Stephen King cult classic, Carrie.  I wonder if they are BFFs?  Hah.  

Anywho, check it out if you want to view a Romeo and Juliet/ Twilight type story, but not quite as played out:)

New in Theatres...

So, I went last night to see the new, hyped-up movie Twilight, based on the wildly-popular series of books by Stephanie Meyer (I have read them all, and they are really great:).  My husband is even enjoying them (he is just finishing book 2), and that is saying something for a mostly-popular-with-teen-girlies novel.  I had very mixed feelings about seeing a film based on a series that I have enjoyed so thoroughly, but as I had a chance to go with a fabulous bunch of ladies (you know who you are...holla!), and I really never pass up a movie-going venture, I went out on opening weekend to see the latest blockbuster.  

*Twilight (2008), directed by Catherine Hardwicke, and starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson.  Hardwicke is a really good director, and has several amazing films under her belt, especially focusing on modern, teenage themes (ie. Thirteen, The Lords of Dogtown, etc.), and has also done the production design for several great flicks, which gave me a pretty high expectation for the coolness factor of this movie.  While I did enjoy many aspects of the film (the casting was surprisingly good, except for the Rosalie and Jasper characters, and the sets were beautiful), other parts of the film were so distractingly wrong that I couldn't just enjoy the experience.  I went in with the plan of setting aside my preconceived images of the story, set up to be an optimistic viewer, and the strangest things kept getting in my way!  For a movie for the teen-set, the love scenes were totally awkward and stiff, giving only one moment to the god of chemistry, and the music (crucial to a film for this age-group) was so loud and disturbing, even through scenes of intense conversation, that I could barely concentrate on the plot at hand.  Over all, the two main characters were very well-cast and appealing, despite bad make-up and dialogue, and really bad special effects (I knew that this would be tough, given that so much of the book is Bella's internal monologue).  I am glad that I went to see this film, but I can't help but feel disappointed, considering that the film-makers got so much right, and such stupid things wrong:(  I fully expected a new vampire movie to go above and beyond the range of Interview With the Vampire, but it seems that technology has only gone backward in effect.

One more complaint, and then I will cease my whining:  Are there no natural blondes to be found in young hollywood?  I mean, is it too much to ask, in a film that requires several uber-beautiful, blonde, pale vampire characters, that one of them not have a wretched dye job?  It was as if they found the darkest haired, most brunette-y actors and gave them a bleach job from a drugstore box of Clairol!  Very strange, especially coming from the land of sunshine:)

Anywho, sorry for the downer, and I truly hope that you are able to overlook some of these flaws, and enjoy the movie.  Better yet, skip the movie, and enjoy the books!!

Tear-jerkers

I really have always loved a "good cry".  Just ask my mom:)

I am not so much in favor of the really obvious "tear-jerker" movies, like Terms of Endearment, Steel Magnolias, Fried Green Tomatoes, or An Affair to Remember.  Don't get me wrong, I certainly have enjoyed those movies, and others of that ilk, but I prefer the kinds of movies that make you cry from happiness:)  I mean, I cry a lot, and during movies like Love Actually, Little Women, Babe, A Very Long Engagement, Roman Holiday, Il Postino and Four Weddings and a Funeral, all of which aren't inherently depressing or tragic movies.  (BTW.  I just listed a bunch of my all-time favorite flicks there, so go ahead and add them to your Queue... they are all winners:).  Here are two of my favorite tear-jerkers of all time, and I hope that you stock up on the Kleenexes before you get in too deep...

1) Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), directed by Robert Benton, and starring the incredible pairing of Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep.  I mean, is that a dynamic duo, or what?  This movie is amazing, following a father and son, struggling to take care of each other, following the mother's sudden abandonment.  I can no longer enjoy french toast because of associations from this brilliant film.   Divorce issues are so scary, and this movie attacks the idea that mothers should always get first dibs on their children in a custody battle.  It is a total sob-fest, down to Hoffman defending the right of fathers to raise their children, and explaining why he is a good father to the court.   The conclusion is beautiful and mature, so definitely go for this one if you want to confuse your kids with sudden affection and enthusiasm about mundane daily activities:)  The crying over french toast must be really strange for my kiddo:)

2) Baby Boom (1987),

 directed by Charles Shyer, and starring the always-neurotic, mildly annoying Diane Keaton (sorry if I have deeply offended you on that one, but I can't like everybody!) and that studly Sam Shepard (btw. he writes wonderful plays... check them out!).   I really love this take on stay-at-home-mom-hood, as a SAHM myself, and I totally sympathize with the sudden isolation and need for creative outlets (making a huge homemade baby-food  corporation?  not quite... but I like to blog and make arts and crafts:).  So, the crying comes in for me as Keaton comes to love her life and her adopted daughter, despite the change in her ambitions.  When she comes home near the end, and the baby says, "Mama!", I lose it every time.  I also completely believe that any woman, given the chance, would fall in love with a veterinarian from Vermont as opposed to a Fortune-500 businessman.  So put that in your pipe and smoke it:)