Just read Stephen King’s It will be turned into a 2-part film by director Carey Fukunaga of True Detective fame.
There was an early 1990’s made for TV version. I recall being scared crapless by it. I’d probably laugh at it now. It did star the late great John Ritter aka Jack Tripper.
Many of you recently noted under one of my posts that you rank this as one of your favorite novels. What do you think. Will Hollywood do It justice?
Ha, see what I did there? I’m so witty…
“My regrets are about the people I couldn’t save—Marines, soldiers, my buddies. I still feel their loss. I still ache for my failure to protect them.”
– Chris Kyle, American Sniper
Chris Kyle – Husband. Father. Navy Seal. Most Lethal U.S. Sniper. Punisher comic-book fan. Self-declared bad-ass. Let’s talk about the film based on Kyle’s autobiography.
I recently saw it and was blown away (no pun intended). Actor Bradley Cooper was recently on The Howard Stern Show, discussing how he gained forty pounds of muscle to play the role, and man did it show. Cooper turned in a solid performance that did Kyle justice, and he’s definitely an Oscar contender.
Kyle’s friends and fellow soldiers nicknamed him, “The Legend.” The name starts out as a joke, but soon it fits as he starts racking up one enemy kill after another. Soldiers say they literally feel better when he’s watching out for them through the lens of his rifle scope. The terrorists hate him, putting out a $180,000 bounty on his head. Kyle jokes, “Don’t tell my wife. She might collect on it.” Self-Deprecating humor is one of his trademarks throughout the film.
Kyle takes an active role in a unit chasing after a terrorist nicknamed, “The Butcher.” As shown in the film, the Butcher has a penchant for running around Iraq with a power drill, which he tortures Iraqis when they dare work with U.S. forces. Also dogging Kyle throughout the film is a sniper known as Mustafa, an Iraqi who once went to the Olympics as a marksman, but later joined the terrorists in fighting against American forces.
The movie follows Kyle through four tours of duty, showing the stresses he experiences on the battlefield, as well as the toll it makes on his life back at home. His wife is unhappy that he keeps returning to battle, and he is suffering from out of control blood pressure.
I’ve read some reader reviews of the book, many positive, some negative (no writer gets off without at least some negative reviews unfortunately). The negative reviews claim Kyle comes across as having a big ego and being full of himself, that he just enjoyed being “a bad-ass.”
Well, here’s the thing – He was a bad-ass. The man made Chuck Norris look like a choir boy. (No offense, Chuck). And according to the movie, he was his own worst self-critic. Rather than be content with all the soldiers he did save, he often focused on those he died, wishing he could have saved them. And when he was home, he felt bad for being home, feeling he needed to be back in Iraq, back in the fight.
Eventually, he does leave active duty and returns to civilian life, but he’s haunted by the war, and still feels he should be helping his fellow soldiers.
Finally, a psychiatrist tells him there are plenty of returned soldiers in the US that could use his help. Kyle begins volunteering with wounded soldiers, taking them out for target practice. The idea was to help struggling veterans feel empowered by working on their marksman skills.
Thankfully the movie does not show it, but Kyle died when a veteran with mental problems he’d volunteered to help shoots him. Very sad to think about how this man cheated death over and over in Iraq only to be murdered by someone he was trying to help.
The book’s a good read, the film’s fast-paced and full of action, both worth your time. Check them out!
Thankfully, the movie doesn’t show it, but sadly, Kyle died when he was shot by a veteran with mental problems he had volunteered to help.
For me, I’d have to say The Dresden Files. I know there was an attempt at a TV show that didn’t take off, but with the right people behind it, I feel like a Dresden Files movie would be pretty spectacular.
How about you? What book would you like to see turned into a movie?
SPOILERS AHEAD
One could argue that Yann Martel’s Life of Pi has a choose-your-own ending.
Did Pi really travel across the ocean, learning to peacefully coexist with a ravenous man-eating tiger along the way, a clever allegory that opposites don’t necessarily have to cancel one each other out and people can learn to live their lives without destroying each other?
Did Pi lie to the authorities who questioned him because it was easier than it would have been to insist that his incredible story was true?
Was Pi’s claim of sailing with Richard Parker the Tiger a lie? Did he, in fact, suffer a terrible fate in which his mother was killed and he made up the story about the animals to avoid thinking about it?
Personally, I thought the Richard Parker version of the story was very uplifting, and then to add in the possibility that it never happened was a little disappointing. But the dual ending possibilities could be a litmus test. Positive people probably gravitate to the Richard Parker version. Negative people say “a boy and a tiger never could have survived on a raft together, the boy would have been eaten in 2 seconds. The version where Pi’s mother is killed must be the true version.”
All I can say is the novel is a good read, very original, and the movie really brings it to life.
Readers, I’ll let you in on a secret. Hell, there’s only like three of you reading, so it will still remain a secret after I’ve told you.
The Bookshelf Battler is a fan of the Rocky movies.
In particular – Rocky 1-IV, and VI. I like to pretend V doesn’t exist. If you’re not an Ancient Roman, I’m trying to tell you I like Rocky 1-4, not 5, and 6.
Six had the potential to be very bad. It was released in 2006 as Rocky Balboa and even then, Stallone was past his prime.
But to his credit, Stallone didn’t do what many aging stars have done – demand that the audience turn a blind eye and see him like he’s some kind of young superstar, like he was in his glory days. He wrote his age into the plot. In the film, Rocky is old, down on his luck. Adrian’s deceased, he’s lost all his money, his grown-up son hates him, and he runs a lame restaurant that people go to just to listen to him stop by their tables to tell a few boxing stories.
After a computer simulation pits him against a popular fighter, a match is arranged for them to go head to head and the measure of Rocky’s victory is laid out – to be considered a success, he doesn’t have to win. He isn’t expected to win at all. He just has to survive for awhile in the ring. Essentially, by fighting the fight and not dropping dead, Rocky wins.
The movie brings the franchise around full circle, to the initial movie where Rocky did not win the fight against Apollo Creed, but actually found success just by going toe to toe with him in the ring when everyone thought the nobody would pretty much be murdered instantly by the famous fighter.
In my opinion, when Rocky gave his infamous speech to his son, he defined the entire series:
Rocky Balboa’s Inspirational Speech to His Son
“You ain’t gonna believe this, but you used to fit right here. (Shows palm of his hand). I’d hold you up to say to your mother, ‘This kid’s gonna be the best kid in the world. This kid’s gonna be somebody better than anybody I ever knew.’ And you grew up good and wonderful. It was great just watchin’ you, every day was like a privilege. Then the time come for you to be your own man and take on the world, and you did. But somewhere along the line, you changed. You stopped being you. You let people stick a finger in your face and tell you you’re no good. And when things got hard, you started lookin’ for something to blame, like a big shadow.
Let me tell you something you already know.The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!
Now if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth! But you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain’t you! You’re better than that!
I’m always gonna love you no matter what. No matter what happens. You’re my son and you’re my blood. You’re the best thing in my life. But until you start believing in yourself, you ain’t gonna have a life.”
– Sylvester Stallone in Rocky Balboa (2006)
Let me just repeat one part:
“You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!”
In other words, getting knocked down is inevitable. It is going to happen. You can’t feel bad that it happened. You can’t say, “Woe is me, if only I was like one of those lucky people who didn’t get knocked down.” This is just what life does. You didn’t fail when you got knocked down. You failed when you stayed down.
I remember sitting in the movie theater, listening to an old Sylvester Stallone say those words, and they made me feel inspired to take on the world. And, sadly, there have been many times when I’ve ignored Rocky’s advice. Life would toss a right-hook to my face, send me straight to floor, and I’d say, “Hmmm, what a nice, comfy floor! I think I’ll stay here for awhile!”
But aside from that, at my lowest moments, I would not turn to a classic poet, or a Rhodes Scholar, or a Nobel Laureate. I’d click on YouTube and find the clip of Rocky giving his son that speech. And it would leave me feeling inspired.
The success of Rocky Balboa allowed Stallone to bring back Rambo. More or less, he followed the same formula. Don’t portray Rambo as an old man pretending to be a youthful tough guy. Present him as an old man, hiding out in the jungle, trying to get away from his past. I can’t say it inspired me to the extent Rocky Balboa did, but it was an acceptable film.
Then came The Expendables. Again, the same formula – old timers playing old timers. People who criticized it didn’t get the point. It wasn’t made for them. It was made for 1980’s era action flick fanboys like yours truly. High action. Low plot. That’s how we liked our action when Reagan was in the White House.
But I have to say, the recent Expendables 3 didn’t do much for me, and I fear another Rambo installment might be pushing it when it comes to cashing in on the audience’s good will. Stallone can only go to the, “OK I’ll admit I’m old” well so many times. Every time he trots out one of our favorite characters, he runs the risk of overextending beloved franchises. The idea that Rocky is going to star in Creed, a film about Apollo Creed’s son as a boxer, worries me as well.
Oh well. At least I’ll have Rocky 6 and Rambo 2.
WARNING: I don’t know who you are. Actually, I do. You’re one of the three people who read my blog. If you are looking for ransom, I don’t have any money. But what I do have are a very particular set of SPOILERS, spoilers I have acquired over a two hour period spent watching a movie you haven’t seen yet. Spoilers that can ruin your movie going experience. If you click this post off now, that will be the end of it. But if you don’t, I will spoil this movie for you.
Actually, is it even possible for this movie franchise to have a spoiler? By now, you know off the bat someone is getting taken.
I enjoyed the original Taken movie. I thought it was very original. I was surprised that Neeson, a traditional dramatic actor, was able to morph into an action star. The concept was original – the bad guys picked the wrong guy to mess with.
Seriously – have you ever just been walking around, minding your own business, someone insults you, you let it it go and walk right by, because you’re a normal law-abiding citizen, but secretly you hope that said rude person will be rude to the wrong person and said person will kick their ass?
What? No? That’s just me? OK, well I guess that’s why I thoroughly enjoyed the original Taken then. It was enjoyable to watch the fallout that occurred when the bad guys inadvertently incurred the wrath of Neeson’s character, a highly trained badass ex-CIA agent.
Taken 2? Well, they flipped it around a little bit. Neeson and his ex-wife get taken, and then their daughter has to help them escape.
Hollywood could have stopped there but recently we’ve received Taken 3 – The Search for More Cash.
Caveat – as action films go, it was pretty decent, and frankly, above average for what is usually released in January. January tends to be the month where Hollywood releases the films that are real stinkers. I can’t say this movie stinks, it just does in comparison to the original.
Because seriously – how many times can someone in this guy’s life be taken???
One note – Neeson’s character’s current husband is changed over to a) be played by a different character and b) be the bad guy. I’m not a fan of it when Hollywood does rewrites like that in the hopes that no one will notice.
Here’s what the pitch meeting was like:
PRODUCER 1: We’re going to rewrite the character of Stuart the current husband to be the bad guy.
PRODUCER 2: That’s fine. That’s something that only a lame, obscure book blogger with 3 followers would notice.
All in all – not the best of the series, but better than usual for what you get in the first month of the year.
God help me, I remember watching this movie when it first came out, and it seemed like there was enough time between then and 2015 for the futuristic world it depicted to come true.
Everyone is talking about it, since 2015 is finally here. If you want a breakdown of what the movie predicted and what actually happened, Gawker has it for you.
I’ll add my thoughts to the mix:
1) Flying Cars – I suppose it’s not wise to say something is “impossible” but I feel the term “flying car” is equal to “small plane.” We’ve had large planes for a long time now. And there’s an entire multinational infrastructure put in place to track them via radar to help them not crash into each other. After all, if you’re in a plane, can you see what’s above you? To the left or right? Underneath you? Behind? People get into accidents all the time just with their boring old land cars. If they invent flying cars, i.e., small, personal planes, then people would just be smacking into each other constantly. And while fatal car crashes do quite sadly, happen all to often, it is at least a possibility to have crashes that are just minor fender benders that one can walk away from. In a flying car, if your car crashes, that’s it, you’re plummeting to your demise. Hell, if you forget to fill up on gas or the engine conks out, you’re going to plummet to your demise and slam into the Earth. I barely trust the guys that work on my land car, but at least if my car breaks down, I can pull over and call AAA. If my flying car stops flying, I’m screwed.
2) Tablet Computers – Remember the old man that asked Marty for money to fix the clock tower? They’re here! They’re also awesome and believe it or not (forgetting about the occasional bug here and there) they actually work! I feel like if you took me out of the past, brought me to the future, and showed me an iPad, my jaw would drop.
3) Dehydrated Pizza – Not here yet. Dehydrated food does exist, but not to the point where you can store it and turn it into something yummy and delicious when you want it. I suppose when they figure that out, restaurants will go out of business, which in the case of McDonald’s, probably wouldn’t be a bad thing.
4) Handless Video Games – There’s a scene where two kids balk at Marty’s love of a game that requires the hand to hold a toy zapper gun – “Wild Gunman.” I’m not sure what the kids meant here. I have a theory they meant that one day there would be games that enter your mind and bring you into some kind of virtual reality. In theory, that’s awesome. On the other hand, there are games where you don’t need to hold a controller – i.e. the Nintendo Wii and X Box Kinect.
5) 3D Movies – I was actually surprised they made such a comeback. I assume its an attempt to keep the movie theater industry from losing out to digital downloads.
6) Self-Lacing Shoes – I’d love it if they could invent that. All that damn time lost tying my shoes when I could be doing more important things, like playing Parcheesi and curing cancer.
7) Video Conferencing – It’s been here for awhile, but aside from college kids, I can’t really imagine who uses it. I don’t want to worry about my appearance just to make a phone call, do you? Seriously, someone calls you in the middle of the night, do you really want to get on video in your pajamas?
8) Hoverboards – Clearly, this was the best prediction. They aren’t here yet, though supposedly great progress has been made. See my discussion about flying cars, though, as I think they’ll just result in a lot of people hover boarding into each other, filling the nation’s emergency rooms with hoverboard accidents.
9) Fax Machines – They’re big in the movie, but in reality, died out long ago.
10) Cubs Win the World Series – Poor Cubs. It was far fetched back then. It’s still far fetched today. Tablet computers are here, and flying cars will probably be here before the Cubs win the World Series.
SPOILERS AHEAD.
“Cheryl Strayed.” That’s not only the name of the author of the book Wild, on which the recent movie is based, but it is also the synopsis of the story.
Cheryl was no stranger to hardship. As a child, she and her mother suffered at the hands of an abusive alcoholic father. But Cheryl’s mother moved her family away to a farm, where they set up an idyllic life. At the start of the film, Cheryl and her mother are attending college together – Cheryl doing so after high school while her mother decides to go for her degree later in life.
Alas, the best way to make God laugh is to tell him your plans. At age 45, Cheryl’s mother is stricken with cancer and dies. Cheryl is left to make her own way and does not adjust to the change well. She cheats on her husband with any man who asks, and turns to hard drugs, even going so far as to inject heroin. She’s out of control.
An unexpected pregnancy (and though the movie is unclear on it, I assume an abortion), followed by her fed up husband seeking a divorce, prompts Cheryl to go on a quest to clear her mind- to hike the 1,000 mile Pacific Coast Trail.
Needless to say, it’s no easy task. She starts out with an enormous pack that is heavier than she is, learning along the way to abandon things she doesn’t need. She loses her boots and duct tapes her feet until she can get some more. She runs out of water and has to scoop up some from a fly infested puddle and treat it with iodine pills. One catastrophe after another occurs, but she refuses to stray off the path until she’s reached the end of the trail.
Overall, she finishes the journey having learned a good lesson – don’t stray from a good path and eventually your reward will come.
I’ve heard some comparisons to Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love – but the differences are clear, the biggest one being that Gilbert had money, while Strayed was operating on the last of her savings, had nothing by the end of the trip, and often had to beg the kindness of strangers just to get by.
I don’t want to veer (or stray) too far off the path to criticize Gilbert. (I mean, to each their own, but a man would never be able to pull of a book about how freeing it was to abandon his wife and travel the world). Personally, in my mind anyway, Strayed’s downfall, spurred by the death of her mother, was a bit more understandable and her quest to get to the point where she could stop beating herself up for past mistakes and rebuild her life was inspiring.
WARNING: Spoilers ahead.
Life – it’s all a matter of perspective.
The next time I pour a bowl of cereal and feel a fit coming on when I realize there’s no more milk, I’ll take a deep breathe and remember the choice Louis Zamperini had – jump out of his life raft and into water infested with hungry sharks, or stay in and risk being shot by a Japanese aircraft doing a strafing run overhead.
When you think about a situation like that, it kind of makes the little, everyday nuisances that we allow to drive us crazy seem trivial, doesn’t it?
How about when Louis, after spending so much time drifting in a raft at sea, only to be thrown in a brutal POW camp where he’s tortured and beaten, suddenly gets an offer from the Japanese government – read an anti-American statement over the radio and you’ll be allowed to live out the rest of the war in nice accommodations, with all the food and luxuries you want.
Naturally, we all say, “No, I’d never take that deal.” As a mere, humble book blogger, I’ll never find myself in such a situation, but I’d like to think I’d tell my captors where they could stick such a deal. Do any of us really know how we’d respond to such an offer until we find ourselves in that position? Heroically, Louis refuses the deal.
Overall, it is a movie about choices – forks in the road where Louis could have gone in one direction or the other. In his youth, he was an angry little punk who was a menace to his town until his older brother convinced him to channel his energy into joining the track team.
He becomes an amazing runner, good enough to go all the way to the pre-World War II Olympics (which, ironically, were held in Germany), leading to an eerie scene where American, German, and Japanese athletes are all standing around like friends – who knew at the time that would be the last time they’d be doing that for awhile. He’d hoped to return to the next Olympic Games, which had been scheduled to be held in Tokyo of all places, but we all know how that turned out.
It’s hard to find a more class act than Louis. His fellow POW’s are ordered to punch him in the face. He’s more worried about telling them it is ok and to not feel bad about it than he is about, well, his face.
I could go on and on, but you get the drift. The next time I’m late for work and ready to fling myself off a cliff because I can’t find my keys, I will think about brave Louis defying the Japanese POW camp Sgt. and lifting the beam over his head, and realize that I am a major wuss in comparison.
The movie is based on author Laura Hillenbrand’s non-fiction book of the same name. You might remember her as the author of another non-fiction work turned movie, Seabiscuit.
I’ve never read either book and unfortunately, I have a bad habit of never reading a book once they’ve made a movie about it. If you’ve read either one, or just want to commiserate about how Louis makes us all look like pansies when compared to his saint-like bravery, feel free to do so in the comment section.
Bookshelf Battle 