The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (#2) (2013)

★★★½

I forgot to review this movie right after watching it, and now I can't remember much. I guess that's a bad sign. Actually, my rating is probably skewed because we watched this on video late at night after the kids went to bed, and I kept falling asleep! I remember being kind of confused about the man character - I had almost forgotten about him from the book - and it was kind of weird to see Legolas thrown in there, too.

Gravity (2013)

★★★½

*** Warning: This review contains spoilers!! ***

With its dramatic soundtrack, Gravity was certainly suspenseful, but mostly, it was a visual film.

Big words come to mind in describing this movie. Existential... Metaphorical... Sandra Bullock's character died a metaphorical death when her daughter died, but still she managed to cheat actual death. Given a second chance, she had a re-birth (complete with in utero imagery) in overcoming her daughter's death. Given new life - literally and figuratively - she physically takes her first steps on earth as a new person.

The images of people actually being "lost in space" - in more ways than one - was pretty unsettling.

The Secret Garden (1993)

★★★½

Of course, after reading the the book, I had to watch a film adaptation! I managed to talk Isabelle and Sebastien into watching it with me, and a nice, cozy time was had by all.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Professor McGonagall cast as Mrs. Medlock, but then I was disappointed to see that Mrs. Medlock was a bit harsher than I imagined her to be in the book. As might be expected, there were quite a few deviations from the book, mostly for the sake of moving the story along, I think. A few new details were thrown in, maybe to add drama and poignancy. It was too bad, but understandable, that Martha's mother was left out entirely.

I liked seeing a grand, full-color representation of the gorgeous secret garden.

Though the ending itself was just as it should be, I didn't like that in order to get there, this movie version had Mary relapsing into a bout of contrariness. Her transformation in the movie was not quite as dramatic as it was in the book.

The acting (by the children) was sometimes less than natural, and at times the pace just seemed slow.

Ramona and Beezus (2010)

★★★½

Isabelle was the one who actually gave this movie the 3 1/2 star rating, and when I asked her why it wasn't so great, she said, "The beginning wasn't very interesting." I agree! It started out kind of slow, and we had no problem pausing it in the middle to eat dinner. Returning to the movie after dinner, it gradually got better so that by the end, I was really enjoying it.

Even though the Ramona Quimby books span ages four through ten for Ramona, Ramona is nine years old in this movie. Still, the movie manages to include plenty of Ramona's misadventures from the entire series, and they are all tied together really well.

As you'd expect, there was plenty from the books that was omitted. I didn't mind Daisy being left out, but I did miss Yard Ape.

Actually, any disappointment I may have felt about omissions was probably made up for by the clever additions. In the books, Beezus, as Aunt Bea's namesake, seemed to have more of a connection with Aunt Bea. In the movie, Ramona also had a connection because they were both younger sisters. I liked that Beezus and Henry Huggins were into each other in high school. (Henry gradually just faded away in the books.) Uncle Hobart was more likable in the movie, and he and Aunt Bea's relationship was more fleshed out, though his profession wasn't exactly clear in the movie. Mr. Quimby was well portrayed, and I like the way his job situation was resolved in the movie.

In the movie, a bigger deal was made about the Quimby family having to move so that Mr. Quimby can accept a job farther away. In the book, it was just a possibility, but in the movie, the house was actually put up for sale. Isabelle said her favorite part of the movie was that the Quimbys got to stay in their home.

The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)

★★★½

*** Warning: This review contains spoilers! ***

I remember being very excited to see this movie in the theaters, and then being very disappointed. After re-reading the book - and seeing the French mini-series - I actually ended up enjoying this re-watching more than I thought I would.

Of course, the original 1,462-page story is really too much for a standard 2-hour movie, so some condensing of the story and omissions of characters is expected. Making Fernand the son of a count actually turned out to be a smart way of making Mercedes into a countess without having to spend any time on Janina, which was completely left out. No Haydee! A significant omission, but one could easily suspect the she would not be needed in a Hollywood version of the story.

All told, I wouldn't be surprised if there were more characters omitted than included - no Caderousse, no Bertuccio (who was replaced by Jacopo, whose role was increased), no Benedetto, no alter egos for the Count of Monte Cristo, no Maximilian and Valentine love story, no Franz or DeBray or Beauchamp. The only young person was Albert, whose story was given an unexpected twist.

Danglar and Villefort were minimized, and Edmond's revenge on them was much less complex than in the book. Fernand was the primary antagonist, and he was made into a womanizing gambler with no sense of honor at all - quite a change from the character in the book.

Despite all the differences from the book, I really enjoyed the first part of the movie. I loved that the movie progressed chronologically, and we saw Edmond at sea, we saw the love between him and Mercedes, and we saw the hope of his future as he was promoted to captain. Edmond's imprisonment, and his developing relationship with the Abbé Faria, was portrayed so well that it was just all that much more disappointing when, after Edmond escaped, the story veered farther and farther from the book.

I thought the casting of Edmond was perfect - he made a believable transformation from naive young sailor to worldly count. Mercedes, though, didn't have the dignity or the beauty I expected. Guy Pearce was maybe a bit over-dramatic as Fernand.

The ending, though far from the one laid out in the book, was about what you'd expect from a Hollywood production. I really didn't mind, but being such a huge fan of the book, I just can't bring myself to give this movie more stars. Still, it was entertaining, and not bad.

The Hunger Games (2012)

★★★½

A rare case in which I enjoyed the movie more than the book. I wasn't entirely comfortable with the premise of the book, but it does seem to work better as a movie. I don't know, maybe I hold books to a higher standard than movies.

I might even have given this movie 4 stars if they hadn't left out my absolute favorite scene from the book - District 11's gesture towards Katniss, and Katniss's response.

I actually really enjoyed the way the Capitol was over-stylized, and I liked the Gamemasters' control room (which was not at all in the book). I thought the movie improved on the book in a number of ways, including the way the mockingjay pin was incorporated into the story (its significance was questionable in the book), the introduction of the primary Gamemaster character, and the toning down of the book's crazy sci-fi wolves. Also, Katniss and Peeta's relationship just unfolded much more naturally and less frustratingly in the movie than it did in the book. I liked the casting. I didn't like the frequent use of the shaky camera trick.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (#1, 2001)

★★★½

It feels a bit nostalgic, watching this movie after already knowing what's in store for everyone. Harry, Ron, and Hermione look so young! Everything seems quaint, though the novelty factor of this being the first movie to bring the wizarding world to life still had me ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the visuals.

The Bourne Identity (2002)

★★★½

This could have been a great action-thriller movie, if not for the particularly annoying obligatory superfluous love interest. Matt Damon's role and the premise of the story were great, but Marie was introduced as a flake, and I was never able to warm up to her, even when she managed to be useful.

The Social Network (2010)

★★★½

I read enough articles about Facebook when this movie came out to know that The Social Network took a lot of liberties. Generally speaking, it bothers me when I can't tell fact from fiction in a movie that is supposed to be "based on a true story" but is more like "inspired by a true story". Justin Timberlake impressed me (my expectations were probably set rather low), but every time a Winklevoss spoke I thought it was Brendan Fraser. The non-linear storytelling and the cutting between scenes of two different lawsuits was a bit confusing at first and took some getting used to. In the end, the movie left me feeling sad over the relationship between Saverin and Zuckerberg.

Emma (1972 TV Mini-Series)

★★★½

This mini-series, made in 1972, had the same production quality as other BBC mini-series made in the 1980s. I'm glad I decided to go back and watch all screen adaptations, regardless of their year of release. (Originally I planned only to watch screen adaptations made no earlier than 1980.)

While Mrs. Weston seemed a bit young for her role, several other characters were very well-cast. Specifically, I really enjoyed Mr. Woodhouse, Mr. Knightley, Harriet Smith, Mrs. Elton, and Frank Churchill. I rather think Frank Churchill's cheery and relaxed demeanor stole every scene he was in, especially since the production as a whole was kind of serious and slow. In both the mini-series and the book, everyone good-naturedly humored Mr. Woodhouse's fretting, but in the mini-series, unfortunately, people seemed to lose patience with him, and many scenes ended by having someone walk out on Mr. Woodhouse while he was in mid-sentence! Poor Mr. Woodhouse.

This production might have gotten four stars, but I subtracted half a star specifically because it altered the Box Hill picnic scene too much. I can live with some of the liberties a screen adaptation is bound to take - condensing several scenes into one, moving a conversation from one scene to another, or introducing some character in a more abbreviated way - but by leaving Mr. Elton and Jane Fairfax out of the picnic altogether, the scene lost quite a bit of its significance. In the book, the fact that Frank and Emma's flirtations took place in Jane's presence gave the entire scene more meaning, and Jane finally broke her reservedness by responding - with her longest speech in the book - to observations of Mr. and Mrs. Elton's quick marriage. Those parts of the picnic scene are so central to the Jane and Frank storyline that I just can't forgive this production for leaving it out - especially since, as a mini-series, they had plenty of time to be able to work it in. It seemed almost as if they dawdled so much in the first several episodes that they then had to squeeze too much into the last couple.

Emma (2009 TV Mini-Series)

★★★½

Another mini-series. Thank goodness for the BBC!

This adaptation is light-hearted like the book, though it stops short of being funny. It starts with a narrator like those characteristic of French films, and he served his purpose well by filling in a lot of the back story. The story was faithful to the book, though a few liberties were taken, and some of my favorite lines and scenes were omitted. A couple times the screen version of a scene opened my eyes to the greater significance of some dialogue in the book, and I liked how the mini-series frequently incorporated small scenes to set up more important later scenes, even if the earlier scene was not in the book.

Even though the adaptation was true to the book, I wasn't completely won over by it, I think because of the portrayal of Emma herself. The actress playing Emma reminded me of Drew Barrymore, which was unfortunate, in my opinion, and she wasn't as elegant or as gentle-mannered as in the book. She came across as immature and confrontational and, to me, not as endearing. The actor playing Mr. Knightley did a good job, though it took me a couple episodes to warm up to him. Mr. Woodhouse and Mr. Elton were perfect, and I liked Harriet Smith more than I expected.

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

★★★½

If it weren't a Quentin Tarantino film, I'd say it was too farcical. I'm not a huge fan of Brad Pitt, but this was the best I've seen him. A lot of fun scenes, and I would have given it 4 stars, but I deducted half a star because it was so gory I literally had to cover my eyes.

Creation (2009)

★★★½

It's a given that Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species would have created a huge public debate on science vs. religion, but I had no idea that he suffered inner turmoil just trying to write the book and decide whether or not to publish it. The movie is based on a book, and I don't know how much of it is true to fact, but it does provide a humanizing portrayal of Charles Darwin as husband and father. It has a number of touching scenes.

A Prophet (Un Prophète) (2009)

★★★½

Kind of long. A disturbing, sometimes confusing, peek inside a French prison ruled by Corsican mafia.

New Moon (2009)

★★★½

I had forgotten quite a bit of the backstory from the first installment of the Twilight saga, but I guess the details weren't so important anyway. I have to admit, I can see why teenage girls love this movie - and not just because of the superfluous shirtlessness. What girl wouldn't swoon over imagining herself being wooed by two boys - one brooding and dangerous, yet sensitive, and the other buff and dangerous, yet sensitive? I enjoyed the soundtrack so much that I regret not being hip enough to actually know any of the songs.

Defiance (2008)

★★★½

Watching this movie was like watching Valkyrie: You have to figure that with the Nazis committing such atrocities, there must have been some people who fought back, even though I never learned about them in school. It's inspiring to finally learn their stories.

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

★★★½

Despite multi-tasking at the beginning, I got sucked in. Entertaining, and didn't require QUITE as much suspended disbelief as Iron Man.

Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

★★★½

Okay, I admit it, I think Will Ferrell is really, really funny! But this is not a typical Will Ferrell movie. It's like his version of Jim Carrey's "The Truman Show", in casting and in storyline. Starts out goofy, but takes a surprisingly poignant twist.

The Sum of All Fears (2002)

★★★½

Surprisingly entertaining. Ben Affleck is not bad, which is about as good as he gets. For an action/thriller, it had some unexpected, non-formulaic developments that kept me interested until the very end.