Book/Movie Review: The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

 

This is one of those circumstances where I hate Young Adult fiction movie adaptations. Sure, the movie was good. Entertaining, kept my interest both times (well, the first time it grasped my interest, and the second time today kept it for the most part,) pretty people...MTV stylizations. Not too many special effects, which was nice, because it focused on the story. But the book was definitely much better in my humble opinion. Let's start with that...

The book is the first of a series. If you look in one place, it's a series of just three books, and if you look elsewhere there are more. I'm glad there are more. I'm currently about halfway through the third book. Yes, I started reading them August 28th. Yes, I read the second book in two sittings. Yes, I can't seem to really put the third book down. It's kept me up at night, because I just want to keep reading. I'm having a hard time going on websites to understand some of the things that are difficult to grasp because there are spoilers everywhere. One part of me wants to know...the other part wants to find out as I read for myself. Pretty much, yes...it sucks you in.

The story is simple but also complicated, which is good. A girl from Brooklyn named Clary whose mother is kidnapped and turns her world upside down. She learns of a mysterious hidden world of Shadowhunters (half angel-half human that fight demons) and Downworlders (vampires, werewolves, warlocks, pixies, fairies...zombies don't exist.) Turns out, she's a Shadowhunter herself, and a very powerful one at that. She meets a few others, Isabelle and Alec who are brother and sister (Alec is very annoying in the movie, but much better in the book.) The biggest one is Jace, who of course, she falls in love with...if you like that whole scrawny emo kick ass kind of guy. Problems ensue from there as they run into many situations while trying to find out why her mom was taken...all for the Mortal Cup. I don't want to say much more, because it will give away too much, and this isn't a spoiler sort of blog at all.

The movie follows pretty much the same premise. There were a few things that were different from the book, including well...pretty much the entire second half. It was still good, and it went along with where the book series is taking you, but well...it wasn't the book, and it wasn't AS good. Like I already said...very MTV, and not the good 80s and 90s MTV where there was actual music and it was worth watching. I totally get how it is geared towards teenage girls and blah blah blah, but why can't we have a really great book series that knows that it attracts many different demographic readers, so the movie series that will be based on the book is geared towards many different ones too? Is that really too much to ask of Hollywood?

Either way, here's the trailer for it. It's in theaters currently.

My review on the individual performances? Lily Collins does well as Clary and Jamie Campbell Bower gets the sarcastic and narcissistic points of Jace down pretty well. Lena Headey plays Clary's mother Jocelyn, and I can't help thinking every time I see her that she is what Keira Knightley is going to look like in ten years, but Jocelyn and Clary look similar, so it works. Kevin Zegers plays Alec, who is flat...hopefully that will get better with the next movie as his character develops more. Jemima West is Isabelle, who is a character I don't particularly care for in the first book, but she works it pretty well. Robert Sheehan plays Simon, Clary's best friend, and he totally fits the geeky friend part. Aidan Turner works well as Luke, Jocelyn's friend and a werewolf. And Jonathan Rhys Meyers...well...he totally fits Valentine because he's so ridiculously good at playing these extravagant characters who live in excess and expect to have every order followed. Godfrey Gao plays Magnus, who is probably my favorite character out of the whole series...can't wait to see what comes of him in future movies as the character builds with (literally) Alec and that whole story line.

No matter what your thoughts are, this is definitely a series to check out though. Just please don't only watch the movie and not read the book...because in my opinion, this is one case where the book is definitely better. Here's hoping they can gear the second film in the series better toward the universalness (is that a word?!)

Book: 4.5 stars

Film: 3.5 stars

Six Question Saturdays: Random Mix

Just random questions today...it's been a long couple days. To put it simply, it is becoming the life story of Marie that I seem to always come out as "second best." It's been that way since maybe middle school? Just getting really tired of it all...

Anyway, questions, shall we?

1. What's your favorite candy bar?
I really like Three Musketeers...but Swedish Fish take the top spot for regular candy.

2. What's the last movie you saw?
In theaters it was We're the Millers (really funny, highly recommend it.) On TV, I'm watching The A-Team right now.

3. How many books are you reading right now?
Currently I'm reading two. Winter's Bone (reading for free at Barnes and Noble on my Nook when I get there) and The Mortal Instruments: City of Ashes (the second in the series. I finished the first one earlier today, but need to see the movie again before I write my comparison review. They're quite different from each other. That will probably be posted in a few days, so stay tuned!)

4. What are you looking the most forward to in September?
I'm going to the Toronto Gluten Free Expo in the middle of the month. I was really excited about it primarily because it's at the same time as the Toronto International Film Festival, and I was hoping that some of my favorite actors and actresses would be there promoting movies that they were going to be in coming up, but sadly their movies aren't being shown there, or at least they're not on the schedule. But I'm still excited about getting to try and learning about new products coming out that will make being gluten free even better.

5. What would you do with $100 right now?
Buy new clothes and books. Most of my autumn clothes are too big now. (Yup, this girl now can buy jeans at the regular stores, and they're not even the largest size available in the store! Woo hoo!)

6. What are your plans for the holiday weekend?
Well...I'm working tonight. All day today I read my book and slept on and off, oh and complained about my mouth hurting (I had a root canal redone Thursday for the third time...tired of this tooth hurting!) Tomorrow, I'm finishing up redoing my bathroom. Already, I've taken down the wallpaper, painted, gotten rid of the 1960s vanity, lights and mirror, and had a new medicine cabinet and lights put in. One more coat of paint should totally do it, thank goodness! And Monday...no clue yet what's in the cards.

Wordless Wednesdays: Joy!

Book Review: "Serena" by Ron Rash

At the recommendation of a friend, I'm going to start posting book and movie reviews. They will be blunt, pretty short, but definitely honest.

Taking place within a massive lumber empire in Depression Era North Carolina, Serena by Ron Rash focuses on the Pembertons, George and Serena. George is completely infatuated by Serena, who is cut-throat beyond belief. Pretty much, she has a "fuck me if you dare" attitude that will not be crossed...and if you do cross it, well...good luck to you. George also has an illegitimate child with Rachel, a young girl living near the camp before he marries Serena, which causes a few problems when Serena gets pregnant but loses the baby. There are a few worthwhile supporting characters, and a few that you will mix up every time they start talking. And then there is the land, which is definitely a character in this book. The wildlife, trees, water, rocks, an eagle, snakes, and an elusive mountain lion. The Pemberton's want their kingdom, and they will stop at nothing to get it.

Now let's be honest...while I was reading this book, I was picturing the movie that is coming out (rumored, since there isn't even a trailer released yet) by the end of the year. It is set that Jennifer Lawrence is going to be playing the title character, which I could totally see. She has that awesome "devil may care" honest attitude that could definitely pull off Serena's blunt pointedness (is that an oxymoron?) It could definitely win her another Oscar, or at least nomination based on the character. Bradley Cooper is George, her husband, and again, I can see this if for any reason that their chemistry is palpable on screen. George is pretty much in awe of her the entire time, and well...watch the end of Silver Linings Playbook to see how Cooper looks at Lawrence like that...it will work. However, in thinking about the movie, it will all depend on the screenplay. There isn't a ton of dialogue in the book, it's quite internal in that way. My prediction? It will be one of two extremes...really really good or really really awful.

The only photo released so far to "prove" that this movie is coming out in theaters...eventually...some time...

In the meantime though, no one can wear a three piece suit quite like him...ahhhhh.

When I reached the final 15 pages of the book, my jaw was on the floor. It will cut you to the quick. It will annihilate you. You will scream (for screaming when finishing a book, please refer to the previous blog entry video clip.) But at the same time, you will love it for its craftiness, if that's at all possible. Like Serena states in the book, their [Serena and George] joining was when "fire met fire." This book will indeed set you on fire.

Marie's Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Next book? The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones...I've already seen the movie that's currently out in theaters, and am starting the book tomorrow. I need a night to recover from this one.

Book and Movie Endings...WTF?!

This is one of my favorite scenes from my favorite movie Silver Linings Playbook. (Quick note, if you've not seen it yet, what are you waiting for?! And if you've only seen it once and thought it was pretty good, watch it again...it gets better each time!) Pat, played by Bradley Cooper, finishes reading one of the books on his (ex)-wife's teaching syllabus and is upset with how it ended, so he throws it out the window and starts on this diatribe to his parents about how disappointing it was and how come there can't be more happy endings.

Well, I watched a movie the other day, that if I hadn't spent so much money on my wonderful MacBook Pro, I would have thrown it out the window along with the DVD just like Pat Solitano threw out Ernest Hemingway.

That movie was called Like Crazy and it sounded good enough from the blurb on the back of the case, so I rented it. Foreign exchange student falls for American guy, they get together, she breaks her visa like an idiot, problems ensue. They get together, split apart, back and forth a million times while breaking other people's hearts (of which I thought many times, just stay with the other people...they seem a lot better, plus look a lot better too, but anyway...) The end is a shower scene where they are both having flashbacks of the beginning of their relationship, where everything was good. Isn't that always the way when you are having issues in your relationship? You think of the times when it was great, and they're usually within that first part of the whole thing. What on earth happens?! But yeah...that's the last scene of the movie, and then it goes into closing credits.

Now, I realize that life doesn't get neatly folded up into a pristine package like a 30 minute episode of The Brady Bunch, but for goodness sakes...you want us to sit through a 90 minute movie that really has no funny bits, no real drama, just two whiney post-college kids who don't understand the importance of following international rules or their consequences for breaking them, and really a pretty lackluster love story...and that's what it ends with?! No resolution, no future, no hint of what could come? Movies like this frustrate me. They make me very uncomfortable. And maybe that's the purpose of the movie, to get you thinking like that, of what could have happened if they just followed the rules or whatever, but there should almost be a disclaimer on there somewhere that tells you that. "This movie will make you think in ways that you really won't want to, so be warned."

That said...if you want an amazing just-released book that doesn't totally tie up with a nice ending, but gives you hope for the future while driving you through the wringer while reading it, check out Matthew Quick's Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock. Same author as the book Silver Linings Playbook, and the man is a genius as far as I'm concerned with sucking you in right from the get-go. Don't give up with this book if it starts to make you feel uncomfortable, go with it, and he will get you out on the other side. After all, he hates books and movies that leave you hanging with a bad ending just as much as I do...

(Oh, one more quick thing...a peeve of mine in "romantic" movies. Why does there always need to be a scene of a girl getting her head lowered onto a pillow before the boom-chica-wow-wow starts? Who does that? If you'd like a funny video to explain that and other cliches that shouldn't be in rom-com movies, check this video out.)