I have been noticing a trend in movies these days that I find both intriguing and unsettling. And that is a theme of DARKNESS. I noticed it most recently when I was sitting in the Star Trek: Into DARKNESS movie and was thinking about the new Hobbit trailer that had the phrase BEYOND DARKNESS in it's title scheme. A few weeks later, I see Superman: Man of Steel. That movie was not the usual, happy Superman film; instead it was dark and dreary. And again, a few days ago I read an interview from Peter Jackson saying that the Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug will be much darker than it's predecessor and will not contain much humor. (Hence the "beyond darkness" I guess.)
For a person like myself, who LOVES conflict and darkness, this is great news! I love dark thematic material. My favorite stories are tragedies, my favorite superhero films dark, my favorite films full of battle and darkness. So yeah, I'm PUMPED. But at the same time, I'm a little bit unsettled by this turn in films. And it really hasn't been this "all of a sudden thing", you can actually really start to see the turn towards bleak over the past few years. But lately, it seems like Hollywood is marketing and pushing these dark thematic works. Even if you reflect upon the past year of Oscar movies there is a pattern of morbidity. Zero Dark Thirty: woman's fight to find Osama Bin Ladin, in which almost all of her friends die and is stripped raw with determination. Lincoln: uplifting story but the whole movie was filmed in this grey overlay. Argo: an intense drama, about a hostage crisis, where the people are avoiding death the entire time. Life of Pi: a shipwreck, cannibalism/animal slaughters, and starving to death (almost). Amore: woman gets Alzheimer and has her husband take care of her whilst she withers away and dies. Django: slavery. Les Miserables: do I need to say more. I could go on and on about how dark these movies were, and yes you could argue that morbid/intense themes make for a more critically relevant cinematic experience but to the extent that they have been lately it's odd.
I mean, what happened to the age (like the freaking 90s....) where cinema was sooo diverse? We had the Disney Renaissance, amazing romantic comedies (Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail), epic war movies and tragedies alike. Everything was balanced, you could go to the cinema with the opportunity to have your heart warmed or sob your guts out. It was beautiful time. Now the only options you have are mindless action movies, or movies that make you cry. Again, personally I think it's great. But at a cinematic standpoint..perhaps not so much.
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Sunday, July 7, 2013
My reaction to Inheritance. (Christopher Paolini)
I started my Inheritance journey back in 2006, when I was randomly roaming around my middle school library and a book with a dragon on the cover caught my eye. (I've always adored fantasy, so this was right up my ally). I pulled both Eragon and Eldest off the shelf, and began reading almost immediately. It only took me about two weeks to read both books, even at my young age, and it was no surprise that by the end of the duration I was absolutely in love with Eragon, Brom, Saphira and Arya.
At the time, I knew that I had awhile to go until Brisingr came out so kept the story alive in me by being excited for the 2007 film adaptation and by naming my new-pet mouse Arya. Unfortunately, the film was made and released during the writer strike so it was no where near what it could have been. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed seeing my favorite characters come to life.
Brisigr came out in Fall 2009, and I was EXTREMELY excited for it. But when I finally got my hands on it, I could not get into it at all. I tried like three times over the course of a few weeks to get past the first like 30 pages and it simply wasn't possible. I'm not sure if this was because of the slow pace, the huge gap between me reading the first few books and book 3. I lost interest in the series after that, discouraged by what I couldn't seem to get into. It wasn't until Fall 2012 when Inheritance was released that I got back into the series.
When Inheritance came out, I still wasn't feeling the series. But I have this HORRIBLE tendency to spoil things for myself, so I made the terrible mistake to read the last page of the book in Target. And my god was that once of the worst things I have ever done. I literally almost started crying in the middle of the store. (For reasons that I will explain and elaborate my feelings on later.)
I decided that the best way for me to get back into Eragon's world would be to re-read all the books before I read Inheritance. Given that I had not read Brisingr, I figured that would probably be a good idea. So I gathered my copies of the books and gave them a retry. I finished Eragon with great speed, it's in my opinion the best written one especially regarding the pace. From there I re-read Eldest, then started my third attempt at reading Brisingr. And it was a struggle. It took me a lot longer to get through that book than I initially planned on it taking. There is just something SO deterring about that book. But alas, I struggled through it and finished.
Once I picked up the fourth book, I was extremely curious as to how it was going to play out, especially since I knew how it ended... I actually really liked Inheritance for the majority of the book. I loved all the conflict in it, especially when Nasuada was captured and tortured. I was enthralled with how she brought out the good in Murtagh and how he came to love her. (I shipped it SO hard). Now the problems started coming towards the end of the book. As a reader, I was perfectly content with what was going on. It was perfect in my opinion, everything was turnout out to be good and okay... until the very end. My sanity downfall started with Murtagh leaving Nasuada cause he believed that he could never be with her and thought her being away from him would be better. AFTER ALL THEY HAD BEEN THROUGH!!! So that made me angry. But then Paolini had to go and make Saphire be buddies with Arya's dragon, so I started shipping that friendship. And of course Eragon and Arya were going swimmingly. But. He. Couldn't. Even. Give. Me. That.
Let me just stop for a second to explain something before I get to my biggest complaint about this damn novel. Ever since I was in 6th grade, I have loved Eragon and Arya together and wished it to happen EVERY SINGLE DAY FOR SIX YEARS!! That is a LONG time to ship a pair of people you knew it your gut should be together. And this may seem extremely petty that I got so upset about this, but seriously having everything beutiful and expected TORN AWAY from you after six years is freaking heart wrenching. I digress, back to the story. So everything was going peachy, Arya told Eragon that maybe after this was all over they could be together, which made me literally tear with happiness. Then Eragon, that little idiot says NO. AFTER ALL THOSE YEARS OF PINING AFTER HER HE SAYS NO?!?! He wants to go and raise dragons away from everyone else.... that made me extremely angry. And then it just ends with him sailing down a river away from everything he has known and loved. Like what??? (Funnily this was foreshadowed in the first book.) So I was freaking pissed and cried myself to sleep.
* I finished this book November of 2011 and am now writing this review cause it made me so angry even till this day *
Fortunately, I also texted my one of my best book buddies my reaction so I'll type out what that said. And that was recorded like RIGHT after I finished, so enjoy!
"So I finished. And I honestly can say that I haven't cried at the ending of a series since Hunger Games... till now. I was depressed from 735 onward, I cried at 800 for like 5 minutes then was even more depressed till the end of the book, of which I sobbed (like ugly crying) at the last page. My fav pages were 490-496. They revolve around Nasuada and Murtagh of coarse <3. But u know Paolini couldn't even give me that! Oh no romance would just be TOO much for him! No Murtagh just kinda dissaperars and Nasuada just keeps reigning. So another big heartache. But it's NOTHING compared to the Arya/Ergaon thing. That, to be, is absolutly HEARTBREAKING. How dare Paolini do this to me?!? 6 YEARS OF WAITING, 6 YEARS!! And they don't get together?? No. Eragon has to go off and train the new dragons. Does he decide to do this in Agalasia? No he goes off into no mans land where he is never to return. Nbd, just leave behind everyone that you love. Whatever. Even after Saphira and Mr. Green Dragon start hanging out... They don't get to be together either. So no relationships work besides Ronan. And don't even get me started on the whole Hero thing. Does every hero that has a great burden thrust upon him have to be "damaged" and go off on their own?? In LOTR, Frodo goes into the West, in HG Katniss goes off to D12 to live and raise her family. In Eragon, he goes out of the realm. And that may be all symbolic and shit but WHAT THE FUCK. Do NOT make me go through 6 years of Eragon and expect me to be okay with him just leaving EVERYONE behind. I am NOT okay with that, at all. It is not bittersweet, it is bullshit. If Paolini knew he was going to end it that way, (and I know he did) then he should have never ever hinted and hinted at their relationship and gotten readers hopes up. That is NOT fair, at all. Actually it is cruel. and then to go make Murtagh fall in love, then wisk that away too? What is he trying to do?? I'm only one person! I don't like to go to bed depressed, tear streaked, and heartbroken. It's not a good thing for me! Why can't he just have a good freaking happily ever after?? It really wouldn't have downgraded the series at all."
Moreover, this book destroyed me. But I would rate it 4/5 stars anyway.
At the time, I knew that I had awhile to go until Brisingr came out so kept the story alive in me by being excited for the 2007 film adaptation and by naming my new-pet mouse Arya. Unfortunately, the film was made and released during the writer strike so it was no where near what it could have been. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed seeing my favorite characters come to life.
Brisigr came out in Fall 2009, and I was EXTREMELY excited for it. But when I finally got my hands on it, I could not get into it at all. I tried like three times over the course of a few weeks to get past the first like 30 pages and it simply wasn't possible. I'm not sure if this was because of the slow pace, the huge gap between me reading the first few books and book 3. I lost interest in the series after that, discouraged by what I couldn't seem to get into. It wasn't until Fall 2012 when Inheritance was released that I got back into the series.
When Inheritance came out, I still wasn't feeling the series. But I have this HORRIBLE tendency to spoil things for myself, so I made the terrible mistake to read the last page of the book in Target. And my god was that once of the worst things I have ever done. I literally almost started crying in the middle of the store. (For reasons that I will explain and elaborate my feelings on later.)
I decided that the best way for me to get back into Eragon's world would be to re-read all the books before I read Inheritance. Given that I had not read Brisingr, I figured that would probably be a good idea. So I gathered my copies of the books and gave them a retry. I finished Eragon with great speed, it's in my opinion the best written one especially regarding the pace. From there I re-read Eldest, then started my third attempt at reading Brisingr. And it was a struggle. It took me a lot longer to get through that book than I initially planned on it taking. There is just something SO deterring about that book. But alas, I struggled through it and finished.
Once I picked up the fourth book, I was extremely curious as to how it was going to play out, especially since I knew how it ended... I actually really liked Inheritance for the majority of the book. I loved all the conflict in it, especially when Nasuada was captured and tortured. I was enthralled with how she brought out the good in Murtagh and how he came to love her. (I shipped it SO hard). Now the problems started coming towards the end of the book. As a reader, I was perfectly content with what was going on. It was perfect in my opinion, everything was turnout out to be good and okay... until the very end. My sanity downfall started with Murtagh leaving Nasuada cause he believed that he could never be with her and thought her being away from him would be better. AFTER ALL THEY HAD BEEN THROUGH!!! So that made me angry. But then Paolini had to go and make Saphire be buddies with Arya's dragon, so I started shipping that friendship. And of course Eragon and Arya were going swimmingly. But. He. Couldn't. Even. Give. Me. That.
Let me just stop for a second to explain something before I get to my biggest complaint about this damn novel. Ever since I was in 6th grade, I have loved Eragon and Arya together and wished it to happen EVERY SINGLE DAY FOR SIX YEARS!! That is a LONG time to ship a pair of people you knew it your gut should be together. And this may seem extremely petty that I got so upset about this, but seriously having everything beutiful and expected TORN AWAY from you after six years is freaking heart wrenching. I digress, back to the story. So everything was going peachy, Arya told Eragon that maybe after this was all over they could be together, which made me literally tear with happiness. Then Eragon, that little idiot says NO. AFTER ALL THOSE YEARS OF PINING AFTER HER HE SAYS NO?!?! He wants to go and raise dragons away from everyone else.... that made me extremely angry. And then it just ends with him sailing down a river away from everything he has known and loved. Like what??? (Funnily this was foreshadowed in the first book.) So I was freaking pissed and cried myself to sleep.
* I finished this book November of 2011 and am now writing this review cause it made me so angry even till this day *
Fortunately, I also texted my one of my best book buddies my reaction so I'll type out what that said. And that was recorded like RIGHT after I finished, so enjoy!
"So I finished. And I honestly can say that I haven't cried at the ending of a series since Hunger Games... till now. I was depressed from 735 onward, I cried at 800 for like 5 minutes then was even more depressed till the end of the book, of which I sobbed (like ugly crying) at the last page. My fav pages were 490-496. They revolve around Nasuada and Murtagh of coarse <3. But u know Paolini couldn't even give me that! Oh no romance would just be TOO much for him! No Murtagh just kinda dissaperars and Nasuada just keeps reigning. So another big heartache. But it's NOTHING compared to the Arya/Ergaon thing. That, to be, is absolutly HEARTBREAKING. How dare Paolini do this to me?!? 6 YEARS OF WAITING, 6 YEARS!! And they don't get together?? No. Eragon has to go off and train the new dragons. Does he decide to do this in Agalasia? No he goes off into no mans land where he is never to return. Nbd, just leave behind everyone that you love. Whatever. Even after Saphira and Mr. Green Dragon start hanging out... They don't get to be together either. So no relationships work besides Ronan. And don't even get me started on the whole Hero thing. Does every hero that has a great burden thrust upon him have to be "damaged" and go off on their own?? In LOTR, Frodo goes into the West, in HG Katniss goes off to D12 to live and raise her family. In Eragon, he goes out of the realm. And that may be all symbolic and shit but WHAT THE FUCK. Do NOT make me go through 6 years of Eragon and expect me to be okay with him just leaving EVERYONE behind. I am NOT okay with that, at all. It is not bittersweet, it is bullshit. If Paolini knew he was going to end it that way, (and I know he did) then he should have never ever hinted and hinted at their relationship and gotten readers hopes up. That is NOT fair, at all. Actually it is cruel. and then to go make Murtagh fall in love, then wisk that away too? What is he trying to do?? I'm only one person! I don't like to go to bed depressed, tear streaked, and heartbroken. It's not a good thing for me! Why can't he just have a good freaking happily ever after?? It really wouldn't have downgraded the series at all."
Moreover, this book destroyed me. But I would rate it 4/5 stars anyway.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Downton Abbey
Unfortunatly I just recently comepletely delved myself into the Downton world, having only seen bits and peices of the show before now. But I do consider myself lucky that I could just keep pedaling through the episodes and not wait a week between them. And to be quite frank, I probably would have lost my mind if I had to wait.
I am writing this post because I am apsolutely in love with Downton Abbey, I think it is incredible; and if you have not started to watch then what have you been doing with your life??? And I am not only gearing this towards british crazed, period drama fans that eat this stuff up for breakfast. I mean just in general you need to watch this show, just for the story if your not a big classic fan.
Let me just start off listing everything that is fantastic about this show:
- Music
- Cast
- Story
- Cinematography
- Costumes
- Acting
- Set
And I think that covers it.. if u havn't noticed I mentioned everything vital in a show. So go go go watch!
Btw my favs are Mary, Matthew, Branson, Sybil, Gwen, Anna, and Bates. Thought u should know :)
I am writing this post because I am apsolutely in love with Downton Abbey, I think it is incredible; and if you have not started to watch then what have you been doing with your life??? And I am not only gearing this towards british crazed, period drama fans that eat this stuff up for breakfast. I mean just in general you need to watch this show, just for the story if your not a big classic fan.
Let me just start off listing everything that is fantastic about this show:
- Music
- Cast
- Story
- Cinematography
- Costumes
- Acting
- Set
And I think that covers it.. if u havn't noticed I mentioned everything vital in a show. So go go go watch!
Btw my favs are Mary, Matthew, Branson, Sybil, Gwen, Anna, and Bates. Thought u should know :)
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Finnikin of the Rock
I literally believe that Melina weaves her words and characters with magic because every sentence and plot line is soo intricate and beautiful that I am amazed on every page. It astounds me that she hasn't been given critical fantasy acclaim because these stories are incredible. I particularly loved the relationship between Isobea and Finnikin, they were both soo loyal to each other! I would reccomend this book to anyone who loves fantasy.
I figure myself to be vry lucky, because I just haphazardly picked this book off of my library shelf and went into it blind. I really only grabbed it because bk 2 was sitting next to it and it boasted 600 pages. Since I love series and long books I went for it, and I am very glad I did.
I figure myself to be vry lucky, because I just haphazardly picked this book off of my library shelf and went into it blind. I really only grabbed it because bk 2 was sitting next to it and it boasted 600 pages. Since I love series and long books I went for it, and I am very glad I did.
Book Review of Froi of the Exiles
I went into this book very wary. I didn't exactly like Froi in Finnikin but as soon as I delved into bk 2 and his mind, I actually liked him more than Finn. (Which sounds awful, but I really do like him!) I also would have to say that I enjoyed this book better than Finn because it was wayy more complex. Which I didn't think was possible. But it was. Specifically with Quintana, to me she is one of the most dymensional characters that I have ever encountered. Besides the fact that for most of the book she is carrying 2 souls inside of her, she still was soo intricate.
Another thing that I enjoyed in Froi, was still seeing the bond between Finnikin and Isobea. They are soo much in love with each other that it melts my heart. Umm what else... I don't really feel like telling u what the book is about because there is a summary right next to the book name on here so I would be wasting my breath. But what it doesn't tell u is about the ending. I don't want to spoil anything but lets just say, it mashes up everything that you believe to know. End of story! |
Embrace Review
Started his book this morning and barely put it down. I mean I had school and track but otherwise no. I was initially intrigued by the cover, yes I am one of those people. I'm ashamed but I won't lie. I have read alot of angel books so the mythology has always intrigued me.
I gave this book five stars for a few different reasons. First the writing is very good, which really just provides a good base for a book. Next, I really liked the characters. Violet and Linc especially. I connected right away to their relationship and I felt like they had a good one from the start. So it would be safe to say that when Phoenix was introduced I wasn't exactly a happy camper. He was very dark, and too intense. Don't get me wrong, I ALWAYS go for the bad guys but he had something off about him. U can read it to find out what. But I will have to admit that his hair is pretty wicked. Sorry for ranting about the men in the story but Violet's relationships with them are pretty crucial.
I cannot wait to get my hands in the next books in the series and I am really rooting for the Linc-Violet relationship. I think they belong together. So overall, great book.
http://www.amazon.com/Embrace-Jessica-Shirvington/dp/1402268408/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336520714&sr=1-1
I gave this book five stars for a few different reasons. First the writing is very good, which really just provides a good base for a book. Next, I really liked the characters. Violet and Linc especially. I connected right away to their relationship and I felt like they had a good one from the start. So it would be safe to say that when Phoenix was introduced I wasn't exactly a happy camper. He was very dark, and too intense. Don't get me wrong, I ALWAYS go for the bad guys but he had something off about him. U can read it to find out what. But I will have to admit that his hair is pretty wicked. Sorry for ranting about the men in the story but Violet's relationships with them are pretty crucial.
I cannot wait to get my hands in the next books in the series and I am really rooting for the Linc-Violet relationship. I think they belong together. So overall, great book.
http://www.amazon.com/Embrace-Jessica-Shirvington/dp/1402268408/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336520714&sr=1-1
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
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