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Phasekitty What I'm Reading Now: Body of Lies Oct 11, 2008 4:21 PM I really expected to be less than thrilled by this novel and even contemplated skipping it altogether. After all, I'm not the biggest Scott/Crowe fan (I hated Gladiator , yup I said it and I feel better), and I'm not in the least bit excited for the movie so why bother with a book about the CIA and foreign operations and other political conspiracies that I have no room for in my brain this election year? But I picked it up anyway, just to read a few chapters and see if I could stick with it and it turned out that I could. Before I knew it, I was up until the wee hours of the morning, flipping through and wanting to know what happened next. The book follows Roger Ferris, a CIA agent who is wounded in Iraq and relocated to Jordan where he begins to track an Al Queda member known as Suleiman who is setting off car bombs throughout Europe. With his boss in D.C., Ed Hoffman, he devises a ruse that intends to get them inside of Suleiman's network. I'm about as politically ignorant as you can get and thought I'd have trouble swallowing all the details and understanding the nuances of the CIA plot, but it has completely sucked me in and I'm dying to know where it will take me. I'm just a few chapters away from the end and I can tell that this book has not finished twisting and turning. To be honest, I spent a good portion of the book thinking that Roger Ferris was Russel Crowe's character. It was only after realizing that there was no one else DiCaprio could be that I figured they must have beefed up Hoffman's character for Crowe. I'm anxious to see how they'll change the part of Ferris to adapt to DiCaprio, considering in the book he is described as someone who can pass for Egyptian and his heritage plays a big part in the plot. Also, there is a very strong American woman in this book that would have been a great role for a subdued actress such as Gwyneth Paltrow or Charlize Theron, but appears to have been changed considerably as an Iranian actress is portraying the role in the film. I find that to be a bit shocking given the importance of Alice (in the film she's now Aisha), and makes me wonder what else has been changed and if the movie will have the same twists and turns that I'm loving so much in the novel.
Phasekitty Book to Film: How to Lose Friends and Alienate People Oct 11, 2008 4:06 PM I’m not quite sure how Toby Young’s life story came to be a book or a movie, but luckily they got Simon Pegg to translate Young’s arrogance into comedy. The Book: Reading this book made me angry. Throughout Toby Young’s memoirs you want to reach through the pages and strangle him for being such an enormous idiot. And yet, he is presented with opportunity after opportunity that he continues to mess up in one way or another. Young’s memoirs follow him from the start of his career at The Modern Review in London to his years at Vanity Fair in New York and through his descent into oblivion after messing up every opportunity handed to him. The memoir reads like fiction, and would be a quick, funny read if Young didn’t go off on so many uninteresting tangents. It’s as though once the word restrictions of journalism are lifted he’s got so much to say, regardless of whether it’s relevant or not. His tendency to ramble and vast amount of name dropping cause him to come off as a bit of a pompous ass. Still, the story has a complete arc and taken with a grain of salt actually makes for an interesting narrative, and is really an inspired source for a film adaptation. The Movie: It’s impossible for Simon Pegg not to be funny, and he brings a sort of sympathy to Toby that the book lacks, yet it’s still very hard to relate to such a despicable character. The movie changes nearly everything- only Toby, now Sydney, and Graydon, now Clayton (Jeff Bridges), remain relatively the same, with a few anecdotes making it to film such as the incident in which Sydney asks a famous actor if he is Jewish and gay (in the book it’s Nathan Lane) and Sydney ordering a strip tease in the office on Take Your Daughter to Work Day. Other than that there are new characters, such as Alison (Kirsten Dunst) who plays Sydney’s unlikely love interest and Sophie Maes (Megan Fox) a hot young actress who Sydney relentlessly tries to land in bed. The film has its moments of being laugh out loud funny (most of which are lifted straight from the book), but when it comes down to it Sydney is not a character that we want to see rise to success and get the girl. What’s Missing: Almost all of the tangents from the memoir, plus a ton of characters including Alex di Silva, Toby’s good friend who meets great success in Hollywood as Toby falls from grace; Chris Lawrence, Toby’s office mate who he immediately bonds with and shares his love for all things British and James Bond; and Caroline, the little sister of a friend from London who comes to live with Toby and whom he falls helplessly in love with. What’s New: Alison is like a hybrid of Elizabeth, the smart successful fashion director of Vanity Fair, Aimee who co-heads the department that Toby works in, with a little bit of Caroline thrown in for the romance. The actress Sophie Maes mixes Sophie Dahl the supermodel who befriends Toby and becomes his roommate with the many actresses and supermodels who rejected Toby along the way, plus a little bit of Pippi, the assistant whose dog incident makes it to the film in the form of Cuba, Sophie's ill fated Chihuahua. Eleanor (Sophie’s publicist), Lawrence Maddox (Sydney’s boss), and Vincent LePak (the young, “it” director) are all completely new to the story. Also, the character of Elizabeth Maddox doesn’t exist in the book, but the characteristics and scenes they applied to her are that of Anna Wintour in the book. I think it would have been a cute little throwback had they gotten someone who at least looked like Meryl Streep (if not Meryl herself) and named the character Miranda. Overall Adaptation: I was pretty lukewarm on the memoir, but it had the possibility of being a great source of adaptation. However, the film left me feeling pretty lukewarm as well, but I did find Simon Pegg a tad less pompous than the original Toby Young and more of the bumbling idiot that Pegg plays so well.
Phasekitty What I'm Reading Now: The City of Ember Sep 29, 2008 5:28 PM I picked this book up at a Borders that was going out of business a long time ago on the vague notion that it was being made into a film and haven't thought about it since. Even in my great stack of books, I seriously considered skipping it, especially since there are three book to film adaptations coming out next weekend and two the following weekend. But I picked it up anyway when I saw the big print that's used so often in Children's Lit and figuring I needed a break from some of the heavy stuff I've been reading. I am so glad that I changed my mind about it. The book follows two kids as they start to question their world- an underground city built for a mysterious, but necessary purpose- and if there might be something more out there. It's a little bit like Brave New World and a little bit like Wall-E , but mostly it's a really cool and dark concept for a children's book and I love what I've read so far. My only regret in picking this book up is that there are two more in the series that I know I won't have a chance to read for some time. Adapting this book into a film will prove to be interesting. While it has great characters and an easy and visual plot, I can't imagine if it will be marketed as a children's film or an action film. It should fit nicely into a Spy Kids or Journey to the Center of the Earth kind of audience, but as far as I know it's being released next weekend (10/10) and I haven't seen a single poster. I vaguely recall seeing a teaser attached to a summer release, but can't remember who's in it or what it really looked like. I'd hate to think that this series will go the way of Lemony Snicket - great source material, great movie, but not enough of an audience to make the rest of the series. Either way, I look forward to seeing this film. With how much I'm loving the book, I can't imagine that the movie won't do justice to such an awesome story.
Phasekitty An I Am Legend Prequel? Sep 25, 2008 6:22 PM Rumors have been abundant, but Variety confirmed today that Will Smith will reprise his role as the scientist Robert Neville in an I Am Legend prequel. The film will "chronicle the final days of humanity in New York before a man-made virus caused a plague that left Smith’s character the lone survivor among a mutated mob in the city." Is it just me, or did we already see this stuff in the first film? I recall some intense flashbacks of a terrified NYC, a cute family, and one massive helicopter crash. We all know how this ends, and the film covered how it started, so why go back and rehash all the details? Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the first film, but I just see no reason for a prequel. Furthermore, the first film was based on a book of the same name , and sadly came nowhere near doing it justice. It left a bad taste in my mouth as being an adaptation in name alone. Will they try to incorporate more elements from the book that should have been in the original film, such as establishing the neighbor Bill Corman who eventually becomes the lead vampire? My guess is no. Just another missed opportunity in an attempt to make more money that further hurt the chances of this incredible story ever being told properly. :oy:
Phasekitty Book to Film: Appaloosa Sep 20, 2008 2:37 PM I’m a sucker for a good western. There’s something about the slow southern drawl, the sweeping desert beauty, the tough guys on horses, and the intensity of a good showdown that I find so engaging. The Book: Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch are two gunman who come to the town of Appaloosa to lay down order and reign in the terrible Randall Bragg who murdered the sheriff and instills terror upon the town. The two embark on lawfully bringing Bragg down, but hit a few snags along the way including a mysterious woman named Allie French. Even though Parker’s novel was written in 2005, it may as well have been written in the early 20th century in the era of silent films and John Ford westerns. Its slow and steady pace is perfectly suited for the screen and offers a visual style and well developed characters with smart dialogue. This book is a great read and a perfect western film all in one. The Movie: Ed Harris, who produced, co-wrote, directed and starred in the film, brings this story to life with an amazing cast and a near direct adaptation of the book. Nearly every line of dialogue comes from the pages of Parker’s novel and every action is precise to the word. Often such a direct adaptation does not result in a good film, but as westerns tend to have a slow pace about them, it translates well. It goes without saying that Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, and Jeremy Irons turn in fantastic performances and even Renée Zellweger, who I find to be hit or miss, easily transforms into the needy, backstabbing Allie. The pacing is slow at times, and Harris does fall victim to an adaptation cliché with Everett’s unnecessary narration at the beginning and end of the film. Also, there is a stumble in the development of the relationship between Virgil and Allie when she is teasing him about his past and Virgil gets upset and beats up a belligerent drunk in the bar. This scene doesn’t play as well as it does in the book and instead makes Virgil out to be an angry man with random bursts of violence, which is not the case. However, the film preserves the source material and the actors bring a great, dry comedy to the film that is not as apparent in the novel and truly brings the characters to life. What’s Missing: Not a whole lot- the first time Virgil and Everett meet, the crime that Bragg’s men commit upon arriving at Appaloosa (it’s mentioned by the sheriff in the first scene of the film), and some minor scenes between Virgil and Everett along the way. Most notably missing is the prostitute Katie's wisdom and relationship with Everett. She gets but three decent scenes in the film, though it feels like there was once more that may have ended up on the cutting room floor. In the book, she helps Everett to understand Allie’s manipulative ways and develops a sweet relationship in which he is considered more than just a client to her, but in the movie she is nothing but a glorified companion. She's not even mentioned by name, though Everett does have a touching scene with her just before the final showdown. What’s New: Harris’ adaptation is so precise that hardly a single detail has changed. The largest one is still rather insignificant where Whittfield is one of Bragg’s man who witnessed the murder and turns against him to testify, while in the book he is a deputy of Appaloosa who ran away once Jack Bell is shot and returns to testify against Bragg. Also, Russell, the Shelton’s cousin, does not show up until they arrive at Beauville, while in the book he’s with them throughout the encounter with the Indians. Overall Adaptation: It would have been easy for Harris to change the story to involve more action, more sex, and all in all make it a more acceptable Hollywood film, but he does not. This is a very respectable, direct adaptation that preserves its engaging story and transforms it into an instantly classic western.

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What I'm Reading Now: Body of Lies Book to Film: How to Lose Friends and Alienate People What I'm Reading Now: The City of Ember An I Am Legend Prequel?

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A place to dump my book to film reviews and invite you all to join in!