"Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke

      Meggie, a bright young girl, lives alone with her father Mo, who is one of the best bookbinders ever. When Meggie was young, Mo would always read aloud to her and her mother Resa, but one night as he was reading a book called Inkheart, strange things started happening. Unbeknown to him, Mo has a special gift which allows him to read characters out of a book and bring them into reality, but this gift comes with a heavy price. Every time he reads aloud and something comes out, something also must go into the book. On that fateful night, Mo read three characters out of the book the evil Capricorn and Basta, and the skilled fire-eater Dustfinger, but for that Resa was sent into the book. Nine years later Capricorn is set on destroying all copies of Inkheart, and also wants Mo so that he can read more things into reality. Meggie finally discovers her father's secret and together with Dustfinger and her Aunt Elinor, they fight to stop Capricorn from putting the world in chaos and shadow.

     The book is written by the acclaimed German author Cornelia Funke. The movie is directed by Iain Softley and stars Brendan Fraser as Mo, Andy Serkis as Capricorn, Eliza Bennett as Meggie, Paul Bettany as Dustfinger, Helen Mirren as Elinor, Sienna Guillory as Resa, and Jim Broadbent as Fenoglio. The book is absolutely fantastic, but the movie is stuck in mediocrity, because of all the cuts they had to make from the book.

     I actually saw the movie before I read the book, and at first I though the movie was amazing and I loved all the characters, but then I read the book and I was totally blown away by the detail of characters and the intricacies of the plot. In the end, the book was so much better with better plot twists, a grittier storyline, and it definitely didn't have the boring happy ending that it had in the movie. It is regrettable when a good book is brought into the movie realm, and all you get is a movie that barely delves into meat of the real plot. 

     Now this is not to say that Inkheart the movie is bad. Far from it actually. I loved the casting job they did! Each character was perfect for their role! Andy Serkis is brilliant as always! I mean if he can play Gollum, he can play anybody! Helen Mirren fit exactly what the role called for and Paul Bettany brought the anguish and pain to Dustfinger just like the book. Jim Broadbent brought Fenoglio to life with his awkwardly charming humor! My only real problem with the movie is the change in plot! Now I realize that there had to be cuts made to the book so that it didn't end being a four hour long movie, but there just some things you don't cut out. I don't care if it's a two part movie, as long as it sticks to the book as much as possible.

     Most movies that are based off of books fail to bring across the depth and personalty of the book. To name a few that stuck pretty closely to the books: The Hunger Games, The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. To name a few that failed even worse than this on at sticking to the book: Beautiful Creatures, Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Eragon, and Percy Jackson! I still have yet to watch Divergent and I haven't read the book yet either, so I will wait to pass judgement. Two of the next possible book to movie translations I'm really looking forward to is Ransom Rigg's book Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, which will possibly be translated into a movie by none other than Tim Burton himself. The second one is James A. Owen's book Here, There Be Dragons which has the possibility of either being a TV Show or movie, and James is in talks with the Lord of the Ring's producers for that! 

     I would give the book a 9.5 out 10 and I would give the movie a 6 out of 10! Make sure you follow me on Twitter and like my Facebook page!! Thanks for reading!

Peace,

Jake

    

"Snowpiecer"

     It's A.D. 2031. Life on earth has become nearly extinct, because of a failed attempt to cool down the earth and stop global warming. All those who are left alive are on a massive train called Snowpiecer, which traverses the earth in 365 days, and is now home to the remnants of human society and culture. The train has two classes the rich, who are all at the front of train with all the luxuries that money brings, and the poor and destitute, who are left to suffer in the tail of train. Curtis, a well respected man in the tail of train, has had enough of being treated like scum by the people in the front of train. He leads a revolution, with one goal in mind.... fight to the front of the train. Along the way he must counteract all that Minister Mason and the people of the high class throw at them. Sacrifices must be made, and Curtis is prepared to do whatever it takes to bring order and justice to the inhabitants of Snowpiecer.

     Directed by Joon-ho Bong this film stars Chris Evans as Curtis, Kang-ho Song as Namgoo Minsoo, Tilda Swinton as Minister Mason, Jaime Bell as Edgar, John Hurt as Gilliam, Ed Harris as Wilford, and Octavia Spencer as Tanya. This film really took me by surprise! I was expecting a mediocre post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie, but this definitely is not the case with this movie.

     This movie was actually released August 1st of 2013 overseas, but wasn't released in the U.S. because of a conflict between the director and The Weinstein Company. The owner of The Weinstein Company, Harvey Weinstein, wanted twenty minutes cut from the film and also wanted opening and closing monologues added to it. Joon-ho Bong would not budge and eventually Harvey Weinstein caved in and allowed a limited release in America. However, the popularity and buzz surrounding the film is causing the film to get a wider release with 150 theaters picking up the film.

     Snowpiecer is based off the French graphic novel series Le Transperceneige by Jean-Marc Rochette. Joon-ho Bong, a native South Korean, brought together actors from all over the globe, and this is his first English speaking film. I really loved this movie, and I can't wait to see it again! It was such an interesting and different story line! If you get the chance to see it, I would highly recommend it!

     I would give this film a 9 out 10! Make sure you follow me on Twitter and like my Facebook page!

Peace,
Jake