SA Book & Challenge Lovers discussion

What did you think of the last book to movie/series adaptation you watched?

We can discuss them all here briefly, and just make a longer thread for a specific film if there's lots to talk about :)

Saw Alice In Wonderland about two weeks ago - very cool :)

I really like what Tim Burton did with the character. There are lots of references for those who've read the books, and you can see how Alice's character has developed (she's more sure of where she's going and who she is, but this time believes she's in a dream rather than a reality).

Some people, especially critics I think, have complained that it's not true to the books because it's not nonsense literature, but I think that's fine. Burton explained that the books just involve Alice wandering from one weird situation to another, and he wanted to give it a plot. It worked well, I thought.

And of course it's just really cool to look at, whether you see it in 3d or not :)

I watched Shutter Island this weekend. I'm probably going to be the only person to say this, but I was disappointed. It wasn't nearly as exciting as the book. As with most book to film adaptations, some of the details had to be sacrificed. This usually isn't a problem, because a good script will work around it, but in this case it made the story and the characters a bit dull for me. The book has you gripped all the way through. I the movie I thought too much hinged on the unveiling of the mystery.

However, I really like the way they ended the story. As in the book, the ending is somewhat ambiguous, but the movie makes the most interesting interpretation a lot clearer.

Hey Lauren, I watched Shutter Island as well, havent read the book tho, but intend to. About the ending, wow that was weird! The movie was great I thought (Probably cause I havent read the book) I love the way you dont know whats really happening. :)

I watch Vampire Diaries, and have read the books. Have to say I like the way they change things around in a series. To me a movie should be nearly the same as the book, but I series should differ, as it goes on longer. In the series Elena looks different, some of the characters are absent or replaced with others, it makes it interesting...

Glad you liked Shutter Island Niecole :)

I saw The Last Station last week - it's about the last year of the writer Tolstoy's life. It's got a good cast - Helen Mirren, James Mcavoy, Paul Giammatti - and overall it was a good film, although at times the characters motives are obscure, so you're unsure why they choose to do what they do. A bit annoying.

Totally worth it for Helen Mirren's brilliant performance though, and James Mcavoy is adorable as usual :)

Hehe, I want to go see this movie, I dont know much about Tolstoy, but I hear that the movie is good...
Tell me more about what its about? Who plays the character of Tolstoy?

Oh yes, Helen Mirren is brilliant.

(Did you watch The Queen?)

Ooh, yes, The Queen was great. I was totally expecting to be bored senseless, but I enjoyed it very much.

I didn't know anything about Tolstoy either, except that he's known as a realist writer and he wrote War and Peace. No doubt people who know more about him would enjoy the movie more, but I liked it anyway.

Mostly the movie is about the conflict between Tolstoy, his wife, and one of Tolstoy's followers, Vladimir Chertkov. Tolstoy is old, and Chertkov wants him to give the copyright of his work to the state in his will, so that his works will be free to the people, in accordance with some of the principles that Tolstoy teaches. However, Tolstoy's wife wants the copyright to stay with the family, so they will keep the fortune. She feels that she and their children are being robbed of their inheritance and she's trying to look out for their wellbeing. Tolstoy is very much torn, but as much as he loves his wife, they fight a lot and it's a big strain on him in his old age.

Christopher Plummer plays Tolstoy

Oh Christopher Plummer is a great actor!
The movie sounds very interesting, I'm looking forward to watching it.

Yes, I put two of Tolstoy's books on my reading list...

There's a comic so I guess this counts: went to see Iron Man 2 yesterday. Plenty of the usual action sci fi movie cliches, but still lots of fun to watch, and the humour makes it a much better movie.

Also, Scarlett Johansson's martial arts were awesome.

Yea i loved Iron Man 2!

I wasnt sure whether Id Like Iron man 2 so I went watching Robin Hood instead, but maybe I will go and see it after you both enjoyed it.

I watched The Back Up Plan last night, wasn't in the mood for thinking. Was Entertaining enough :)

Your friends were right about The Men Who Stare at Goats Lu. It had a few veyr funny moments, but overall, kind of lame. Should have waited for the DVD.

ah :( I hoped that you would enjoy it!

Eclipse is coming out soon! Can't wait to see what they did with it!

I'm also waiting for Eclipse...
Not to be a damper on things, but I generally think the books of the Twilight Saga are better than the movies, not that Rob Pattenson isnt lovely to look at, I just think some of them dont act so well...

But I am looking forward to seeing Dakota Fanning as an evil vampire again!

Watching it on Friday :)

Ah you lucky duck!

Do yourself a favour and watch this EPIC trailer: http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/movie...

Niecole wrote: "I'm also waiting for Eclipse...
Not to be a damper on things, but I generally think the books of the Twilight Saga are better than the movies, not that Rob Pattenson isnt lovely to look at, I just..."

I would agree with you Niecole. I think the acting is pretty bad. And I dont like the way the vamps look, I thought they were better in Twilight.

Hmmmm... I just browsed this topic for the first time and I'm wondering what you girls are saying after Eclipse?

I went to watch Eclipse when I was in Cape Town, the first thing that I noticed was there was alot more men at the cinema, whether this is due to there being more action, or their girlfriends dragging them along Im not sure, but it was nice to see.

Eclipse is not my favourite of the books, New Moon is, but all in all I enjoyed it. I find with the exception of Twilight that the they tend to cram too much into the films, there is just way too much going on. The cinematography was good and apart the CGI was good apart from a few parts. I have never liked the way the vamps look in NEW MOON or ECLIPSE, I prefer the Twilight look, less artifical, and the acting leaves alot to be desired. There was more action which is a bonus, but could have been better, but like I said once before that this was rated PG13 so theres only so far they could go in horror dept.

Id give it 7/10 average

I loved it! Probably a 8 :)

What did you think Sonette?

I haven't watched New Moon how would you rate it compared to the others?

The acting was much better in Eclipse compared to Twilight where I thought it was just... bleh?
Emma is spot on with the vamps looks aswel, I was disappointed when I noticed that they just didn't meet my expectations.

They did however keep to the story line ok considering how much info is in the books.

Think I'd give a 5.3/10

I was bored and watched New Moon the other day.

There was an awesome Thom Yorke song on the soundtrack.

Have watched Eclipse yet Lauren?

There is a Twilight spoof film called Vampires Suck which I actually saw at the movies today,it actually looks quite funny.

I also saw the trailer, looks funny :)

Lu wrote: "Have watched Eclipse yet Lauren?"


LOL, no, definitely not!

The Thom Yorke thing was the only thing I liked about New Moon. And umm... Victoria has cool hair. And you're spared the torture of reading Meyer's atrocious writing.

Lol Lauren there's a book about Edward maybe if you read it you'd like him more :P

I don't blame you though I wanted to punch him almost all through the series. Jacob I like though. Did you read The Host? I know you hate Meyer but The Host is nice... Weird.. But nice. I have a tendency to like strange, weird books that no one else likes.

Do you mean Midnight Sun? I read a little of it for a discussion on another site - it also sucks. I don't think I could ever like Edward. He's an arrogant sexist bastard who looks and feels like a corpse and goes to high school over and over again.

I've only read Twilight in full, but I've read extracts from the other books, and Meyer's writing doesn't improve at all. So I don't think I'll like The Host, or anything else that woman types.

I also loved the Host!

Lauren wrote: "Do you mean Midnight Sun? I read a little of it for a discussion on another site - it also sucks. I don't think I could ever like Edward. He's an arrogant sexist bastard who looks and feels like a ..."

Lauren ...dont sit on the fence will you? Just tell it like it is lol

Fancy hugging a corpse though..urghh gives me the shivers just thinking about it. Oh and how come vamps dont get rigamortis?

Emma wrote: "Oh and how come vamps dont get rigamortis?"

LOL, because they wouldn't be sexy!

I also wondered how Edward is supposed to get an erection if his heart doesn't beat and his blood doesn't circulate. Or is it perhaps cold blood? Is his penis also ice cold?

Lauren... It's fiction lol... Not science. Who cares how he gets an erection. Personally I don't want to even picture RobPatz with an erection. Bleh!

Lauren wrote: "Emma wrote: "Oh and how come vamps dont get rigamortis?"

LOL, because they wouldn't be sexy!

I also wondered how Edward is supposed to get an erection if his heart doesn't beat and his blood does..."

Ok so now I have got weird visions in my head. But on the subject how can he produce sperm and then get Bella pregnant? I hated the fact that she got pregnant!

Maybe he was taking Vamp Viagra ;-)

Hehe! I'm glad I didn't write a book which you guys comment on... But yes, I sympathize. Also didn't like these aspects in the book. But what is the use of dating a vampire (awesome, strong, beautiful etc etc) if you can't see any action? So I suppose she had to get that in there somewhere?

Sonette wrote: "Lauren... It's fiction lol... Not science.!"

Well it still has to make sense. If Bella and Edward suddenly get killed by harpies, well, I'd be very happy but I'd want to know where the damn things came from :D

Emma wrote: "But on the subject how can he produce sperm and then get Bella pregnant? I hated the fact that she got pregnant!"

I saw this question asked on another site. If I remember correctly the argument - a quote from Meyer herself - was that vampire's bodies get frozen at the moment they become vampires - everything remains exactly as it is, for eternity, or until they are killed. So Edward would, like any other adult male, have some sperm in his testicles, and when he slept with Bella, he impregnated her with this.

I think it's hilarious that Meyer is suggesting, that in over a century, Edward never had so much as a wet dream, and he was keeping that little bit of sperm on ice for the love of his life, bwahahahahahaha!

Sonette wrote: "Hehe! I'm glad I didn't write a book which you guys comment on... But yes, I sympathize. Also didn't like these aspects in the book. But what is the use of dating a vampire (awesome, strong, beau..."

LOL, I'm not always this harsh. Most of the time I can forgive the odd plothole. But Twilight has SO MANY of them! Throughout the first book, and when I heard plot details from the other books, I kept thinking "What the fuck? Why? How?"

Oh my word! You guys can make a girl's Monday! I just feel so much better after this discussion.

We aim to please Sonette, seems that Edward did too :-)

Hehe!

Hhahah I love the comments!
I personally don't care how or why, aslong as I enjoyed the read :P

----- Not PG 13 :P

But now everytime I read it will have this image of a hard cold penis (for some reason blue in my head) of R Patz and that is just wrong I tell you! WRONG!

Sies

Ugh, gross Lu! Why did you have to mention the blue bit! I've been able to keep it sort of abstract so far...

On a funnier note, I remember someone asking if having sex with Edward is like fucking a popsicle :D

I think I'll try and replace the blue penis image with a red popsicle one.

Yeah because the image of a red penis is far better than a blue one? lol

Oh no! Now for some weird reason I have other visions, but now I have "The candy Shop" By 50 cent playing in the background. Yeah weird!

Lauren I think you should definately go and watch Vampires suck when it comes out. I think you would get some sick satisfaction from laughing at it, and you would probably the laughing the loudest.

Apparently there are some real Twi Hard fans that are appalled at this spoof movie.

No, not a red penis, a red popsicle! It was so much more friendly, and now I have to try not to get it mixed up with a bright red penis...

Candy Shop, hahahahahahahaha!

Hmm, Vampires Suck got a really bad rating on IMDB... In general I'm not a big fans of spoofs though, I never really find them funny.

What odd conversations we're having today. Weren't we trying to get more guys to participate? Talking about red and blue popsicle penises is probably not the best way to go, hahaha.

Ok i will never look at a popsicle in the same way now! Thanks :P

Lol sorry guys! :P

To get back to the thread topic... :)

I saw Mao's Last Dancer last night. Meh. Good story, great dancing, but they messed it up by making the film too melodramatic. I felt like I was watching a soap opera at times.

I didn't know they made a movie of it :/ I remember getting bored in the book towards the end.