Star-Crossed Teenagers

Beautiful Creatures is a love story between two teenagers Ethan Wate (Aldren Ehrenreich) and Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert) in Gatlin,SC.  Lena is a 15-year old witch who is destined to turn dark side on her 16th birthday and her family hopes to find a way for her not to.  Ethan falls in love with her and slowly finds out her secret and realizes that he has been dreaming about Lena for a long time.  There are some nice cinematography  throughout the movie, however the story is a bit slow at times and can put one to sleep.  The southern accent was so exaggerated at times that it was nerve wracking and I lived in South Carolina for a time.  This movie has been compared to the Twilight Saga and although I have read the books and have seen all the movies and agree that the writing in that series wasn't that great, it did give you more to keep you going with then this movie.  But that is this reviewers opinion.  The supporting casts, Jeremy Irons, Viola Davis and Emma Thompson who are tremendous actors couldn't do anything to put fire to this story and you can see how they committed themselves to this movie.  This movie is worth seeing the costumes and some of the graphics but little else.

An Unexpected Hero

Peter Jackson's The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey was surprisingly entertaining for me especially since I never saw any of the Lord of the Ring movies.  I also liked that the story was explained for novices like me and I was able to follow along and look forward to watching the trilogy movies.  The story starts off with Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit, sixty years in the future writing his story about his unexpected adventure with Gandolf the Wizard and thirteen dwarves who are trying to reclaim their lost dwarf kingdom of Eredor.  It was overtaken by Smaug the dragon many years ago.  The new dwarf king, Thorin, who has unresolved issues with the elves for deserting his people many years ago and a strong desire to regain the dwarves home, leads this group through Middle Earth where they run into many dangers along the way.  One of my favorite scenes is with the goblins.  The visual effects of that scene was fantastic and of course the cinematography was great throughout the movie.  With so many shots done aerially and the movement of the camera, looking at some of the scenes was a bit dizzying and some scenes can make you feel a bit uneasy.  The beginning is long but that's Peter Jackson's signature.  However, once you get pass that, it is a fun movie. The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey is definitely worth it's weight in gold literally.

A First for a Native American

Geraldine Brooks has done it again with Caleb's Crossing.  She is a dynamic writer and researcher.  Her historical fiction stories make you ache for more.  This time she goes from 1660 to 1715 at Martha's Vineyard and Harvard College.  A twelve year old girl, Bethia Mayfield and a Native American Indian named Caleb meet in her homeland of Great Harbor which houses a small band of English Puritans. They forge a forbidden friendship and teach each other the ways of their people to each other.  When tragedy strikes both families, Caleb and Bethia are sent away to school together.  Bethia, to clean and care for the boys at Cambridge and Harvard and to pay the way for her brother to get a free education.  Caleb who was tutored by Bethia's father attends Harvard with the colonial elite studying Latin and Greek.  Both characters struggle to get their voices heard during this period of time.  Women are not supposed to get formal educational training and Native Americans have to fight and accept christian culture and prejudice in order to gain a proper education for their future and their people. The outcome of these two characters and the people around them will have you thinking about them and their circumstances and our sordid past for years to cone. Caleb's Crossing is a reminder of our past and how history unfortunately repeats itself.

The Good Earth - China back to basics

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck is a classic and detailed story about a man named Wang Lang and his quest for wealth, peace and happiness during the pre-revolutionary time period in China.  In this story, Wang Lang is a determined young man who realizes the importance of land and family.  He is driven throughout his lifetime and maintains this attitude throughout the book.  O-Lan through her tragic and humble beginnings is the support that binds their family through good and bad times.  Ms. Buck took a beautiful country and its people and made it accessible to America. The way she describes the detail of the land and its people at a time of devastation made it hard for this reviewer to put the book down. Many Asian writers get wrapped up in the culture of their people then the actual story of the characters.  Buck holds on to the integrity of the characters and the country in which she lived and was able to honor this in her novel.  If you read The Good Earth years ago, it's time to read it again and if you have never read it, it is a wonderful book to start.

Hannah - revenge at it's best

Hannah, played by Saoirse Ronan was wonderful.  I like the fact that not only did she play a foreigner but she looked so European as well.  It just made the movie more authentic in my eyes.  The story about a genetically produced child trained to protect herself because she becomes too dangerous to have around anymore.  Hanna is taught through books and fairy tales and wants to get out and experience all she has learned.  She finds out things that make her more dangerous and sad and gives you a feeling that revenge can be sweet.  Eric Bana, who plays her father surprised me with his acting abilities in this movie.  There wasn't that much in the way of dialogue but he was threatening in stature.  Cate Blanchett played a tough selfish agent bent on keeping what she had done for her country and herself secret.  This story is not an "original" story but the acting and the closeup shots were incredible.  I wish there were more shots showing the scope of the countries they shot in, but you can't have anything.

Sucker Punch - Punchless...

The movie Sucker Punch is a fantasy based cgi movie that takes a young girl (baby doll's) life which is tragic and pitiful and is supposed to remove her from her unfortunate circumstances and give her a chance at happiness.  The story gets lost when she goes into this fantasy world kicking butt with her new found friends.  Things start to become complicated when she realizes that this journey is not only about her. The graphics in this movie was terrific, but the story fell short in what it was trying to accomplish.  Too bad the writers or the director didn't work as hard on the direction and the story or give the talented actors  much to work with as they did putting in the time to get the graphics right.

Rango - not a child's story

This animated film starring Johnny Depp started off a little confusing but you eventually realized he was entertaining himself while riding in the back of his owner's car. The story becomes too self-absorbed and too long. Graphic designers and animators will go crazy with the special effects which was absolutely beautiful. However looking at it as a story, it just missed the mark. The analogy was, "why did the chicken cross the road, to get to the other side" and what he finds helps him, helps his new friends and their lives. ILM can learn a thing or two about strong story telling from Disney and Pixar. Johnny Depp is one of my favorite actors and even with his tremendous talent, he could not save this film.

Year of Wonder by Geraldine Brooks

Year of Wonder is based on the great plague of 1666 in a small mountain village outside of London.  A bolt of infected cloth carried by an unknown man from London brought this deadly disease to this village.  The people of the village and  Anna, a young woman with a strong heart and constitution all decide to quarantine themselves within the village to stave off spreading this deadly disease.  However, as death reaches every household in the village, all the faith people have start to become non-existent and the village disintegrates in front of Anna's eyes. The year of the plague becomes the most challenging, and deadly year of history.  Geraldine Brooks again transports you with vivid clarity back to the 1600's and the devastation of this plague and the people involved.

Recommended reading:  People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks