So much for getting my blogging groove back last week, huh? That plan backfired. I have nearly 1000 posts in feeds that remain unread--yikes! I think I'll be doing a lot of skimming, but I really want to catch up on what's going on with everyone and what you've all be reading and so on. As for me, reading has been kind of slow this month (what in the world have I been doing??), but I have read two really wonderful books that I hope to post about in the very near future. Needless to say, I miss blogging and interacting with all of you. I hope everyone's been well... happy, healthy and reading lots of great books!
Last weekend my little girl turned twelve. I can hardly believe it. To celebrate her birthday, she had a dinner, movie and sleepover party. Originally we planned to see the Justine Bieber movie, but it was no longer playing in any of our local theaters by last weekend, so I was spared. :o Instead, we saw Red Riding Hood. As a fan of fairy tale retellings, I was actually looking forward to seeing this one, but a little leery when I noted it wasn't getting such good reviews. Turns out I really liked it! I thought it was suspenseful enough without being too scary or gruesome and the romance part was subtle enough to not overpower the fact that this story is indeed a grim fairy tale--not a Disney romance. Although there was one scene for which I wished I had octopus arms so I could cover each of the girl's eyes. No nudity, but it was suggestive. Thankfully it lasted all of 30 seconds or so.
One of my favorite parts of going to the movies is seeing all the previews. For once, I walked away wanting to see almost all of the previewed movies, several of them based on popular novels that I have not yet read.
movie poster
book cover
The first was Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. I have seen this book everywhere over the last couple of years from bookstores to Target to the library, etc., and more recently when my book blogging friend, Michele told me she recently read it with her book club and loved it. Now that I saw the preview for the film version, I finally want to read the book, too!
movie poster
book cover
Another preview I saw was for the movie Something Borrowed based on the same titled 2005 chick lit novel by Emily Giffin. Hilcia read and reviewed this book several months ago and because she liked it, I thought I might give it a try even though I was hesitant because of the nature of the story. Basically the main character of the story is in love with her best friends boyfriend-fiance. You know that's just setting up for heartbreak and disaster, right? It looked like it in the movie, too. Frankly, I'm still hesitating about the book and the movie.
Have you read Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin? What do you think?
The third preview that grabbed my attention--although this one is not based on a literary work-- was for an upcoming dark fantasy film called Suckerpunch. Have you heard about it? It looks really bizarre, but that's kind of its appeal, I think. Set in the 1950s, a girl named Babydoll had been horribly abused and gets admitted to a mental institution where she transports herself into her own fantasy world to search for a way to escape the hospital. I'm not sure if the fantasy world is real or in this girl's head, but maybe it doesn't even matter. The special effects look amazing and the whole package looks like a strange, far-fetched, but thrilling ride. Of course the twelve year olds in the movies with me all thought Suckerpunch looked creepy and even my teenager gave me the weirdest look when I told her I wanted to see it. Apparently, you have to be a cool grown up like me to be suckerpunched by psycho girls in weird outfits, excessive makeup and wielding fantastical weapons while fighting their way through some grim alternate reality in order to escape institutionalization. Who knew?
The trailer:
Suckerpunch will be in theaters March 25.
Who else wants to see it?
I'd also really like to see the latest film adaptation of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, but it seems it's only playing in select theaters and none of those select theaters are in my neighborhood. I'll most likely wait until it's available to rent from redbox or netflix.
Another book to movie adaptation that I'm looking forward is Beastly by Alex Flinn that opened earlier this month. The book was one of my favorite young adult reads of 2010. I'll probably end up renting this movie down the road as well.
What book to film adaptations are you looking forward to?
Twelve was difficult for me with Lili... I was an emotional mess :(
Lili and I are going on a date to see Sucker Punch. We saw the previews a while ago and we want to see it. She also wants to see Beastly. She read the book and wants to see the movie to compare.
You didn't miss much with the Bieber movie. Lili was bored; although he's her future husband and all ;), she said she could've done without O_o
Wanna go with to see Sucker Punch? We may go this weekend... gotta see what else is up.
Christine, your baby is 12! Happy Birthday to her.
I've been wanting to see Red Riding Hood and haven't had a chance, it just looks good. I'm so glad you enjoyed it.
I've also seen Water for Elephants everywhere and never wanted to pick it up... I'm still not sure I want to, but I do like the actors in the movie so I may watch it. And, I can't wait to see what they do with "Something Borrowed." Griffin did such a great job with the writing, I'd like to see how or if it translates to the big screen.
Oh, many congrats to you girl!!! 12 is a good age to be.
And I'm glad you liked Red Riding Hood, since I'm pretty sure my sister will drag me to see it.
I do love previews, is one of my favorite parts of going to the movies.
I'm not very interested in Water for Elephants, it's not really the kind of book I turn to or the movie I go great lengths to see, they probably won't even show it in my country.
But I am very pumped to see Something Borrowed, I just read the books (Something Borrowed and Something Blue) and really liked them,had a few issues with them but morality wasn't one of the surprisingly.
Sucker Punch preview started showing her too, it looks interesting but I dunno if I would pay full price to go see it.
:D
And I'm dying to see Jane Eyre but I don't know if they'll show it here either :(
I actually liked Something borrowed. Ideally I wouldn't like a character who steal her friends bf. But something about the way the story was told that made me connect with the main character and ended up hating the friend. I can't remember their names anymore but the plot was still fresh in my head. I ended up reading Something blue, the story of the friend. I enjoyed this even more and rooted for the friend -- the one I hated back in Something borrowed. I think this was the first time I enjoyed reading a story in First POV.
Happy 12 to you little girl! Soon, she'll be a teen!
Thanks for the review. I was rather hesitant to watch any movies lately, but now I will put Red Riding Hood (my love of fairytales) and SuckerPunch on the list.
I'm on the fence about Red Riding Hood - I keep changing my mind :) As for Suckerpunch...yes! It looks like a bit of a trip, but one I want to go on *grin*
Happy belated Birthday to your newly turned 12 year old! We don't go see many movies, though I talked my hubs into taking our Son to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2 sometime this weekend. *g* I am curious about Beastly. And We ALL want to see Sucker Punch, but will probably wait until it's on DVD.
Happy birthday to your daughter, Christine! I hope she had fun :) and woohoo on being spared of the Justin Bieber movie LOL.
Hmm, I saw the preview of Something Borrowed and it feels like they changed a few things in it ^_^; Either way, like you, I've always been wary of the storyline, so low probability that I'll go see it. Plus, I'm not a fan of Kate Hudson.
Oh, parts of Beastly was filmed in Montreal apparently (if I'm not wrong LOL) and my sister has two friends who were figurants in it! :P How cool is that? LOL.
Karyn Bosnak wrote a really dang funny book called 20 Times a Lady. The movie comes out this September, but I think it's called What's Your Number? or something like that. It's about a woman looking for her ex-boyfriends. It was a really funny book. I'm looking forward to that one. :P
Ahhh, 12, I have 4 girls, 2 have passed the 12, got one there for only a couple of more months and the last girl just turned 11! They can be such drama ;) I want to bring the 11 yr old to Red Riding Hood too! The big ones can't stand the lead girl in it, but I still wanna go. Not too much into Sucker Punch.
I can't wait for Water For Elephants! Read the book 1st!! That's the July choice for my other book club, just touching. Julie got the ?'s up on her blog, I posted the link on mine. April's book is gonna change since Julie and Marce weren't gonna read it.
Hey everyone! Thanks so much for taking the time to comment. I'm sorry I still haven't been around much.
Mariana... middle school girls can be so challenging at times. SO challenging.
Hilcia... I'm still debating about reading or seeing "Something Borrowed"...
Linda... another vote for the book! Thanks for letting me know you liked it too. Did you get to see "Suckerpunch"? I didn't.
Alex...Glad to know you weren't put off by the morality issues in "Something Borrowed." I haven't seen "Jane Eyre" anywhere near me, either! It'll probably end up being a netflix rental.
Natalie... we are overdue for a get together. B&N soon?
Little_Alys... thanks for visiting--it's so good to see a comment from you! :D
orannia... If you're on the fence about "Red Riding Hood" maybe wait for it to come out on dvd. I still hope to see "Suckerpunch"!
Brandy... We watched the first "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" on dvd a while ago. I wasn't too impressed by the main character to tell the truth. I liked his friend better!
Michelle... So lucky that you got to see "Jane Eyre" NOw I really want to find it playing somewhere...
nath... That is VERY COOL that some of your sister's friends are in "Beastly"!!
ames... Oh, I'll have to look into the Bosnak book. I love a good funny book! Thanks for the rec!
Paula.. FOUR girls!? I'm in awe. Two is quite the handful. LOL
I'll definitely read "Water for Elephants" first before seeing the movie. I overheard two ladies talking about it in the gym locker room the other morning and am inspired to read it soon.
Thanks for letting me know about Julie's Q's being up for "The Persian Pickle"! I'll get to that asap. I'm glad April's book is going to change, too. I borrowed the Elizabeth Edwards book from the library and started reading parts of it and don't think I really want to read it cover to cover... I'll be around to check out the book club goings on soon! :)
Happy Belated Birthday to your daughter! I wanted to see Red Riding Hood, but I don't get out to see movies much these days. Maybe when netflicks gets it. Haven't seen the previews for the other ones. So many movies I've missed this last year! I still need to see Tangles. LOVE fairy tale retellings!
I did get to see Jane Eyre, though, which was a treat. It is showing by limited engagement, so I was both surprised and happy to see it playing in my very own neighborhood. My teen and I took in a matinee together last Sunday. We both enjoyed it very much, but I have to say I thought the last scene felt a bit incomplete. I encouraged my daughter to at least read the last two chapters of the novel to get a better ending.
Leave a comment! I love to hear what YOU think. [I apologize, but I've had to disallow anonymous users to comment on my blog due to an influx of spam. I'll change it back as soon as I can. Thanks for understanding.]
Last weekend my little girl turned twelve. I can hardly believe it. To celebrate her birthday, she had a dinner, movie and sleepover party. Originally we planned to see the Justine Bieber movie, but it was no longer playing in any of our local theaters by last weekend, so I was spared. :o Instead, we saw Red Riding Hood. As a fan of fairy tale retellings, I was actually looking forward to seeing this one, but a little leery when I noted it wasn't getting such good reviews. Turns out I really liked it! I thought it was suspenseful enough without being too scary or gruesome and the romance part was subtle enough to not overpower the fact that this story is indeed a grim fairy tale--not a Disney romance. Although there was one scene for which I wished I had octopus arms so I could cover each of the girl's eyes. No nudity, but it was suggestive. Thankfully it lasted all of 30 seconds or so.
Glad Anna had a good birthday!
ReplyDeleteTwelve was difficult for me with Lili... I was an emotional mess :(
Lili and I are going on a date to see Sucker Punch. We saw the previews a while ago and we want to see it. She also wants to see Beastly. She read the book and wants to see the movie to compare.
You didn't miss much with the Bieber movie. Lili was bored; although he's her future husband and all ;), she said she could've done without O_o
Wanna go with to see Sucker Punch? We may go this weekend... gotta see what else is up.
Christine, your baby is 12! Happy Birthday to her.
ReplyDeleteI've been wanting to see Red Riding Hood and haven't had a chance, it just looks good. I'm so glad you enjoyed it.
I've also seen Water for Elephants everywhere and never wanted to pick it up... I'm still not sure I want to, but I do like the actors in the movie so I may watch it. And, I can't wait to see what they do with "Something Borrowed." Griffin did such a great job with the writing, I'd like to see how or if it translates to the big screen.
I loved Water for Elephants and I can't wait for the movie. Suckerpunch also looks good and I'm eagerly waiting for it to open.
ReplyDeleteOh, many congrats to you girl!!! 12 is a good age to be.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm glad you liked Red Riding Hood, since I'm pretty sure my sister will drag me to see it.
I do love previews, is one of my favorite parts of going to the movies.
I'm not very interested in Water for Elephants, it's not really the kind of book I turn to or the movie I go great lengths to see, they probably won't even show it in my country.
But I am very pumped to see Something Borrowed, I just read the books (Something Borrowed and Something Blue) and really liked them,had a few issues with them but morality wasn't one of the surprisingly.
Sucker Punch preview started showing her too, it looks interesting but I dunno if I would pay full price to go see it.
:D
And I'm dying to see Jane Eyre but I don't know if they'll show it here either :(
I actually liked Something borrowed. Ideally I wouldn't like a character who steal her friends bf. But something about the way the story was told that made me connect with the main character and ended up hating the friend. I can't remember their names anymore but the plot was still fresh in my head. I ended up reading Something blue, the story of the friend. I enjoyed this even more and rooted for the friend -- the one I hated back in Something borrowed. I think this was the first time I enjoyed reading a story in First POV.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday by the way to your baby girl.
ReplyDeleteHappy 12 to you little girl! Soon, she'll be a teen!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review. I was rather hesitant to watch any movies lately, but now I will put Red Riding Hood (my love of fairytales) and SuckerPunch on the list.
Hope you're doing well!
A belated happy birthday to your baby girl.
ReplyDeleteI'm on the fence about Red Riding Hood - I keep changing my mind :) As for Suckerpunch...yes! It looks like a bit of a trip, but one I want to go on *grin*
Happy belated Birthday to your newly turned 12 year old! We don't go see many movies, though I talked my hubs into taking our Son to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2 sometime this weekend. *g*
ReplyDeleteI am curious about Beastly. And We ALL want to see Sucker Punch, but will probably wait until it's on DVD.
I hope you have a great weekend!
I saw jane Eyre and it was fantastic!
ReplyDeleteI read Water for Elephants and our bookclub is going to see it next month!
I DID NOT know they were making a Something Borrowed movie. I've never read her books.
Red Riding Hood looks like fun!
Hugs<
Michelle
Happy birthday to your daughter, Christine! I hope she had fun :) and woohoo on being spared of the Justin Bieber movie LOL.
ReplyDeleteHmm, I saw the preview of Something Borrowed and it feels like they changed a few things in it ^_^; Either way, like you, I've always been wary of the storyline, so low probability that I'll go see it. Plus, I'm not a fan of Kate Hudson.
Oh, parts of Beastly was filmed in Montreal apparently (if I'm not wrong LOL) and my sister has two friends who were figurants in it! :P How cool is that? LOL.
Happy birthday to your daughter!!
ReplyDeleteKaryn Bosnak wrote a really dang funny book called 20 Times a Lady. The movie comes out this September, but I think it's called What's Your Number? or something like that. It's about a woman looking for her ex-boyfriends. It was a really funny book. I'm looking forward to that one. :P
Ahhh, 12, I have 4 girls, 2 have passed the 12, got one there for only a couple of more months and the last girl just turned 11! They can be such drama ;) I want to bring the 11 yr old to Red Riding Hood too! The big ones can't stand the lead girl in it, but I still wanna go. Not too much into Sucker Punch.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait for Water For Elephants! Read the book 1st!! That's the July choice for my other book club, just touching. Julie got the ?'s up on her blog, I posted the link on mine. April's book is gonna change since Julie and Marce weren't gonna read it.
Paula
Tomes Devotee
Hey everyone!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for taking the time to comment. I'm sorry I still haven't been around much.
Mariana... middle school girls can be so challenging at times. SO challenging.
Hilcia... I'm still debating about reading or seeing "Something Borrowed"...
Linda... another vote for the book! Thanks for letting me know you liked it too. Did you get to see "Suckerpunch"? I didn't.
Alex...Glad to know you weren't put off by the morality issues in "Something Borrowed." I haven't seen "Jane Eyre" anywhere near me, either! It'll probably end up being a netflix rental.
Natalie... we are overdue for a get together. B&N soon?
Little_Alys... thanks for visiting--it's so good to see a comment from you! :D
orannia... If you're on the fence about "Red Riding Hood" maybe wait for it to come out on dvd. I still hope to see "Suckerpunch"!
Brandy... We watched the first "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" on dvd a while ago. I wasn't too impressed by the main character to tell the truth. I liked his friend better!
Michelle... So lucky that you got to see "Jane Eyre" NOw I really want to find it playing somewhere...
nath... That is VERY COOL that some of your sister's friends are in "Beastly"!!
ames... Oh, I'll have to look into the Bosnak book. I love a good funny book! Thanks for the rec!
Paula.. FOUR girls!? I'm in awe. Two is quite the handful. LOL
I'll definitely read "Water for Elephants" first before seeing the movie. I overheard two ladies talking about it in the gym locker room the other morning and am inspired to read it soon.
Thanks for letting me know about Julie's Q's being up for "The Persian Pickle"! I'll get to that asap. I'm glad April's book is going to change, too. I borrowed the Elizabeth Edwards book from the library and started reading parts of it and don't think I really want to read it cover to cover... I'll be around to check out the book club goings on soon! :)
Happy Belated Birthday to your daughter! I wanted to see Red Riding Hood, but I don't get out to see movies much these days. Maybe when netflicks gets it. Haven't seen the previews for the other ones. So many movies I've missed this last year! I still need to see Tangles. LOVE fairy tale retellings!
ReplyDeleteI never got to see Suckerpunch... did any of you?
ReplyDeleteI did get to see Jane Eyre, though, which was a treat. It is showing by limited engagement, so I was both surprised and happy to see it playing in my very own neighborhood. My teen and I took in a matinee together last Sunday. We both enjoyed it very much, but I have to say I thought the last scene felt a bit incomplete. I encouraged my daughter to at least read the last two chapters of the novel to get a better ending.