Nordic Noir discussion

Reviews have been mixed...what did you think?? What about the upcoming Hollywood version?

I loved the movies and thought they did a good job. Not so sure about the Hollywood version. I've heard they are making/made some changes.

I agree Martha..I don't know if I will even see the Hollywood version..although the comparison among the three of them would be interesting!

i doubt hollywood will do it justice - i can think of several sections that will likely be pretty-fied

I heard they are making Lisbeth more violent among other changes. Not really sure why that would be necessary. It is not a surprise that American filmmakers feel they can do a better job with the story. I will probably watch it just to see what they've done to it, but would like to boycott on principal.

i might get it on DVd, i'm still up in the air on if i'll do the theatre...i don't get the whole make Lisbeth more violent...that makes no sense

Dee wrote: "i might get it on DVd, i'm still up in the air on if i'll do the theatre...i don't get the whole make Lisbeth more violent...that makes no sense"

No it doesn't. I watched the Swedish movies with the sub titles and liked them.

i have the first one sitting in the DVD player - started watching it and got distracted...should probably get back to it

Sorry, but having read the first two books and watched the international movie, I think having a Hollywood version is 10 million bucks worth of irrelevence. The Swedish movie was excellent. Is it really so important to have American movie stars do it in English?

I agree, plus I have only seen a handful of movies that Hollywood hasn't screwed up with getting their hands on them!!

its all about the money...Hollywood got in on it because they think it'll be a blockbuster with the popularity of the book and the majority of the US who read the books but won't see the swedish movies will go and see...as potentially crappy as it will be...

I just don't even see Mikhail in Daniel Craig - not even close!

Me, neither, Dee ... very miscast.

you know, i've been trying to think of any hollywood-ized actors to play Mikhail though...and can't think of anyone...could be worse...at least they didn't pick tom cruise ;)

International film rights were optioned for my Inspector Vaara series. It will be a trilogy, planned much like the Swedish project based on Larsson's books. I have to admit, if Hollywood wants to do a re-make with pretty American movie stars with great hair and shiny white teeth, I'm happy to take their money.
Best, Jim

if you could pick an actor for Kari Vaara - who would you pick? out of curiosity

Meaning an American actor, I assume, I think Matt Damon. He's capable of (and has several times)handling roles that require complexity. Kari is a complicated guy.

yeah, I guess ;) i'm sure you have some finnish actors you could see in the role as well

So, here we go! this is why hollywood should not be able to get their hands on quality literature!

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/...

Actually, much as I hate to say it, that's a basic rule of screenwriting. If the book won't carry to film, change the story. The main reason being that what's inside a character's hate may not be visually translatable. That said, in the case, I would think the director would find a way to keep the ending intact. Could be that it's a minor change and he's stating it up front now to position the audience, so they don't leave the theater angry.

Yeah, but Jim..I may agree with you if this book hadn't been made into film already. But it has and they were pretty good and followed the books quite closely.

I think i'm going to reserve judgement until I see it...as with anything, the press takes one statement and writes a whole article on it - since the director didn't really expand on what is being done, we don't really know

See, I don't know I have seen way too many times where Hollywood has gotten their grubby paws on a book I have read and I watch the movie and say "WTH???" I would say really the only one I have seen it and said "Thank God" was The Magic of Ordinary Days

we're having that books to movies discussion in another group...I'm saying thank god about the princess bride - the movie is soo much better than the book, mostly because it cut a lot of extraneous info out

I haven't seen the princess bride.

Believe it or not, that's basic film school instruction. If the book don't work in the movie, throw the book out. There is a certain logic, for instance, trying to film the work of Proust would be quite a challenge. This case though, is pretty simple storytelling. I guess we just have to wait and see if it works. I noticed some people didn't like the trailer. I thought it was ok. Made me feel more comfortable about what's his face playing Blomqvist.

I saw the trailer the other night when I went to see the help and have to say, at least the way the trailer was edited, I'm intrigued. Still having some difficulty with Daniel Craig as Blomqvist, but we'll see...

Naomi - you got to watch the princess bride - Cary Elwes as Westley...its a classic (in a kid/love story kind of way)

The Princess Bride is wonderful.

I'm struggling with the fact that they made the people talk in English on the Hollywood version. The Larsson story is supposed to happen in Sweden, so English is just something pasted there over the bubbly Swedish. I love to imagine the story as I read a book, and in the imagination the language they speak or should speak doesn't matter. Or, I imagine them speak Swedish, which for the imagination doesn't matter since it's in English for my mind to understand. But in the film I'd love if it reflected the original, or at least the language it was supposed to be in the first place.

Now that would of course bring the problem of the subtitles. I can't think of many big Hollywood movies where the not-English-speaking characters would have spoken in their original language and that would have had the subtitles for the whole duration of the movie. Small parts are one thing (such as in Swordfish when the Finnish man spoke Danish).
Ameliè perhaps? I think it might have had subtitles, as I don't think they were speaking English there. Well, it's a French and not Hollywood movie but it still was quite popular over here too. Maybe because they didn't think the Americans as their primary target audience? It wasn't for the French only, so whichever (subs or dub) method is preferred for making it enjoyable somewhere else was up to other countries.

I see how the subtitles can be annoying, and sometimes they are that. I hate if I understand both languages present... But for any proper import - Korean, Icelandic, you name it, it works when it's done properly, and you get more of the character when they speak what they were supposed to speak in the first place. So you don't have to learn the language to enjoy the movie, and they still sound like they should.

I've seen movies and TV series for years dubbed when I lived in Italy, so I was used to hearing the characters speak in a wrong language. Drifting Clouds didn't seem weird when they spoke in dubbed Italian in the movie. The dubbing didn't bug me at all in that example. But if they made the movie so that the protagonists spoke in Italian (or English, or anything else) when they filmed the movie, that would have been just wrong. Maybe the dubbing doesn't disturb me that much as I know that in the original they did speak a different language than what I'm hearing when I see it dubbed, whereas the movies where it was made using a wrong language is trying to pretend it's something else. Any ideas how to switch off this horrible sub/dub/original problem and just enjoy the movie? (Other than with sufficient amount of alcohol that is)

Naomi wrote: "Yeah, but Jim..I may agree with you if this book hadn't been made into film already. But it has and they were pretty good and followed the books quite closely."

Yeah, I agree with you. The book was followed and it went really well. I was pointing out what they teach, but as your comment makes the most poignant argument to leave the story as is: it's already been proven that it can be done well.

Anna wrote: "I'm struggling with the fact that they made the people talk in English on the Hollywood version. The Larsson story is supposed to happen in Sweden, so English is just something pasted there over th..."

In Finland, foreign TV and movies are subtitled. When I first moved here I hated it. Now, after getting used to it, I don't like viewing without them, because I never miss anything if I'm reading and listening at the same time. Also, it helped me learn Finnish, and it teaches kids English while they watch TV. It drives me crazy when I go to Spain or Italy, watch the tube and everything is dubbed.

I've been used to both the dubbing and the subs. But I can't imagine the horrors of dubbing movies in Finnish - it'd be awful, plus it'd be impossible to even remotely lip-sync. Or to lip-read. It would only work if also the source language sounded more or less like a machine gun in slow motion and had very long dialogs.
But the subtitles have never worked for me when I understand both languages. If I understand just one of them, then it's fine. I just have to try to ignore one of them, usually the subs.

I finally watched the Swedish version of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo last week in netflix. Pretty accurate (and the subtitles didn't bother me since I would't be able to understand mostly anything said in Swedish anyway), and much of the feel of the book there. To my surprise my hubby hasn't read the books yet, so it was fun to make a bunch of comments during or after the movie, "wow, they cut at least a hundred pages here.. read it and see what happened".

my mom is a french teacher and she swears by watching disney movies in french to teach her younger kids - she had le roi lion (I think it is - the lion king) and several others that she used to use

James wrote: "Anna wrote: "I'm struggling with the fact that they made the people talk in English on the Hollywood version. The Larsson story is supposed to happen in Sweden, so English is just something pasted ..."

I like subtitles, the only complaint I have is they change to fast you can't look at the movie. Then in slow parts they seem to never change.
I usually have to see it twice to make it work.

Dubs drive me batty, but I don't even notice the subs anymore, just follow them unconsciously. The exception being going to the movies and the subs are in both Finnish and Swedish. Then I can't help but to try and process all three languages at once. Sometimes it makes it hard to watch the movie.

extended preview of GWTDT - what do you guys think?

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/09/22...

The trailer looks really good...I am still so distrusting of Hollywood screwing up a great book though. I will more than likely go see it though, since the trailer looks really good.

i wasn't sure if Rooney Mara could do Lisbeth, but she looks like I imaged her (before I saw anything for the swedish version)

Yeah, I thought the same thing. Although, doesn't it look like the tattoo is much smaller than what SL described in the book?

I'm really excited for the movie, although that may be because I didn't see the Swedish ones. Honestly, the casting picks for Blomkvist and Salander look exactly like I imagined them. I don't know.. I have faith in David Fincher. He's a good director. I really hope the movie lives up to the books or I will be disappointed. I don't agree with making Lisbeth more violent, though -- I hope they don't do that.

The Swedish versions have been nominated for some international awards ... is there an international academy awards? I don't remember what they were called, but both of the main actors have been nominated.

i went to see the new GWTDT tonight...overall I was impressed...gaphic like the book, specially some of the scenes...a few things were changed, but I don't want to talk about them unless others have seen it...I think Rooney Mara did a great job as Lisbeth and Daniel Craig def. grew on me as Mikhail as the movie progressed

Fantastic. I am going to see it next week. I also want to go see Warhorse, but need to figure out a time to see it when there won't be 50 million kids in the theatre and I will still be up!!

i want to see warhorse as well

i'll be interested on your take, since you've seen the swedish versions of the movie and I haven't

Alright..I read Warhorse and really enjoyed it. I want to see what Steven Speilberg does with it and if Hollywood screws it up.