World War Z

I know, I was supposed to blog about this movie while it was still in theaters, but my life has been a little overly busy of late. So I thought I would write about it now that it's finally out on DVD.

As someone who has been slowly making my way through the novel World War Z by Max Brooks, for some time now I must say I wasn't sure how I felt about it when I heard they were going to make a movie based on it. While I really enjoy what I've read of the book so far, it didn't strike me as something that would translate well into a movie.

To give a brief idea of why this is to those who haven't read the book and or seen the movie I need to explain a few things about it. First off the book takes the stance that it is a nonfiction, oral history of the zombie war (fascinating to write nonfiction about something fiction I think). The main character, or narrator of the book, really isn't in the story that much. Rather it is his collection of interviews from other people as he works to try and find the source of the 'zombie' creating disease. The narrator admits in the opening that his purpose for writing the book is because he couldn't include the 'human' element in the report he wrote up for his employer, the United Nations.

Now on to the movie version of World War Z which goes at things from a different angle. In the movie we have a character, Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) who is a former U.N. employee who is focusing on being a family man now. When the 'zombie' outbreak finally arrives in his part of the world he goes on the run with his family. After making it to relative safety he learns that he is expected to resume his former job and investigate what is causing this outbreak and where it originated.

There are certain changes which I understand being made between the two of course. For instance a movie that was just a series of interviews about past events probably wouldn't be all that interesting. Therefor I understand why it makes more sense to actually follow Gerry around as he is collecting the information, rather than getting it from him later second hand. Also without making the movie in a mockumentary style it would be difficult to capture the 'real' tone that the book takes on and again I'm unsure how that would have worked out as well.

After watching the movie, I think I would have to say that I still stand by my opinion that it wasn't a book that should have been made into a movie. Now that isn't to say that I didn't like the movie, because I thought it was pretty good for a zombie movie. It didn't have the usual feeling of if you've seen one you've seen them all to me. It just didn't feel like it really carried the same weight as the book. The book goes so much more in depth into the process of finding the source of the problem and traveling around that in comparison the movie just doesn't stand up. It also doesn't provide the opportunity to hear from as many people about how this has impacted their area of the world. The other thing I felt watching the movie, was that while I'm not sure it needed to be longer, I needed to feel that there was a little more passage of time throughout it because it actually seemed a bit rushed and it seemed like things came to a conclusion too quickly.

Personally while I would say that both the book and the movie World War Z can be fully enjoyed, it might be better off to view them kind of as two separate stories, because that's really how they seemed to me. So I wouldn't say that people should avoid the movie, just don't expect it to be too much like the book if you've read it. If you haven't read the book I recommend you do, but not necessarily before watching the movie because there are some drastic differences between the two.

- Lynx

Beautiful Creatures

It is much to my regret that I have not yet found the time to read the novel Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia. As such I cannot provide insight in this review as to how the movie compares to the book, but sometimes it is good to have the perspective of someone who doesn't know the story already anyways.

Beautiful Creatures (movie) focuses on a small town in South Carolina and a teenage boy named Ethan Wate. When a new girl, Lena Duchannes, moves into the town to live with her mysterious uncle, there are a lot of rumors and suspicion flying around. Some believe Lena and her family are evil, but Ethan is not one to follow the crowd and befriends Lena. Tensions rise as the two face challenges from all of those around them, and they must decide whether to accept their fates or find their own way in life.

Alden Ehrenreich did an excellent job in the role of Ethan, portraying him as a likable character who seems unfazed by all of the strange goings on around him. Alice Englert also did well as Lena, a character who seems troubled at her core by the relatable question of who she really is. There were also some fantastic performances in the more minor roles, with notable appearances by Jeremy Irons, Emma Thompson, Emmy Rossum, and Viola Davis.

All in all it was a very enjoyable movie that was easy enough to follow even having not read the novel. Hopefully it stuck fairly truly to the novel and now I will have to read it in order to find out. It would be a great film for any lover of the fantasy genre to see and I would highly recommend it.

-Lynx

The Host

Not being a fan of the Twilight movies I wasn't sure about another film based on one of Stephanie Meyer's novels. However, I have read The Host (book) and actually enjoyed it quite a bit so I thought I would give the movie a chance once it came out to rent.

Initially I wasn't sure how I felt about the movie. When it started it seemed like something that wasn't going to translate very well into film. Certain books just aren't meant to be movies as far as I'm concerned.

The real concern came with all of the internal dialogue which is an integral part of the plot of this story. The Host (preview) tells the story of a parasitic alien life form which has been placed inside the body of a young Earth woman, who is one of the few humans left unoccupied. However, the woman, Melanie, is still in her mind and fights against the alien, Wanderer. This leads to a lot of internal dialogue between the two of them which is difficult to convey in a movie without it seeming a little bit odd. While they did a reasonable job of portraying this, it still took me awhile to get used to it.

As I got more into the movie though I began to really enjoy it. The characters are intriguing and the plot is unique. While it certainly wouldn't be on a list of my all time favorite movies I definitely had fun watching it and was glad that I did. The movie also followed the book fairly closely and was probably the best translation of the book into film that it could be considering parts always have to be cut and changed for movies. My one concern would be that the movie might have a few elements which would be a little confusing to someone who hasn't read the novel. Overall though, I feel like everything was explained fairly well and it would probably be understandable even if one hadn't.

It is certainly a film worth watching if you have read and enjoyed the novel it's based on. Also anyone who hasn't read the novel, but is intrigued by the unique plot would probably enjoy this movie and have limited confusion about what was going on. Hope this helps to anyone wondering if they should see the movie or not.

-Lynx