Category Archives: Movies

Book Talk: The BFG, A Movie And Book Review

Posted in Book Talk, Books, Movies by

Book Talk is a sporadic feature where I talk about non-book review but bookish things…and today’s post is all about The BFG!

Book Talk

And as a warning, there are some spoilers for both the movie and the book!

The Movie:

I saw The BFG a few days ago, because it looked awesome in the trailers, and I remember reading Roald Dahl as a kid, so I knew I had to go see this movie adaptation.  Sadly, I couldn’t remember if this was one of the books I read by Dahl as a kid, because the movie didn’t jog any memories of reading the book.  So either I never read it or I read it but don’t remember reading it.  Either way, it was new to me.

I loved it as a movie, and even though I’m not a big fan of 3D, it was totally worth it in 3D.  I’m serious, guys, it worked really well in 3D.  Things weren’t jumping out at you, but there was a lot more scale and perspective and I felt a lot more like I was actually in the movie, and I don’t know that you would have had that experience in the non-3D version.  Maybe you would have but not to the same degree.  But I really felt like we were immersed in Giant Country.  And I’m not going to lie, I cried at the end.  I loved the movie, especially the scene where Sophie and the BFG go to catch dreams.  It looked really pretty, and I wish we saw the actual dreams just going around. But I also liked that they were balls of light.  And I really liked how his house looked!  It was just really pretty to watch.

With the BFG himself, you see how small everything is in comparison to him, and that’s partly why I liked it. You felt small, but in a good way.  And in comparison to the other giants, you see that he’s really not that big himself. Overall, it was just really pretty to see, and I definitely recommend seeing it theaters if you can.  As it is, I don’t know that it will be in theaters for very long, because it seems like there aren’t a lot of showings of it…

I also really liked it as an adaptation!  With any adaptation, there were some changes, but overall, it followed the book pretty closely.  I really wish we saw the dreams, especially since there are dreams described in the book.  I know I already kind of mentioned that, with when they go to catch the dreams, but seeing the dreams would have been really cool.

The BFG CoverThe Book: The BFG by Roald Dahl, illustrated by Quentin Blake

Originally published in 1982 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux|224 pages

Where I Got It: I own the e-book

Series: None

Genre: Children’s Fantasy

What It’s About: Captured by a giant! The BFG is no ordinary bone-crunching giant. He is far too nice and jumbly. It’s lucky for Sophie that he is. Had she been carried off in the middle of the night by the Bloodbottler, the Fleshlumpeater, the Bonecruncher, or any of the other giants-rather than the BFG-she would have soon become breakfast.

When Sophie hears that they are flush-bunking off in England to swollomp a few nice little chiddlers, she decides she must stop them once and for all. And the BFG is going to help her!

What I Thought: I really liked it!  It’s such a cute story, and even though it’s one of the Roald Dahl books I never read as kid, I’m glad I finally got to read it.  I remember liking some of his other books, and it’s such an imaginative one.  I will say that some of the gifts described at the end of the book were stereotypical, and that bothered me. And for some reason, the book didn’t seem as magical as the movie did, which makes me hesitant to re-read some of Dahl’s other books, because I feel like the magic and creativity of his books might not have the same effect on me as an adult as they did when I was a kid.  It makes me wonder if maybe I’m too old for Roald Dahl, which makes me a little sad, because generally, I don’t think you’re too old to read anything.  But in this case?  Maybe it’s possible.  I’d still recommend it as a book, because I really like the overall creativity and the conversation that the BFG has with Sophie about how giants don’t kill each other, and how kind the BFG is to Sophie.

My Rating: 4 stars.  I really like the story, but it wasn’t as magical as I thought it would be.

Book Talk: Insurgent, The Movie (And Soundtrack)…With Spoilers

Posted in Book Talk, Movies by

Book Talk is a sporadic feature where I talk about bookish but non-book review things, and this time, I’m talking about Insurgent! Be warned, there are going to be major movie/book spoilers ahead.  You have been warned!

Book Talk

I really liked Insurgent, but not as much as I liked Divergent.  It’s great movie and a great adaptation, but for some reason, I’m just not as enthused about it as I was Divergent.  I saw it a couple of days ago, and while I really liked it, something about it seemed off, and I can’t pinpoint why.

I didn’t mind the changes they made for the movie.  It’s very streamlined and condensed, but I thought they did a great job with that.  It’s been a while since I’ve read the books, but I didn’t realize how much was cut until I started re-reading the book when I got home from the movies.  Like, most of the time at Amity and Candor were cut, as was the time back at Dauntless. And even some of those events were at Candor instead of Dauntless. I didn’t mind it, because the movie had a lot going on and something had to go.  It does make me curious about how some of the events in Allegiant are going to be handled with such a condensed movie.  But since there’s this trend where book trilogies become four movies (which I assume is going to happen with Allegiant), maybe there will be a little more they can put into the movies.

Because so many of the faction/faction-less scenes were cut from the movie, things were changed, and they actually made a lot of sense.  And were actually interesting.  Like, the scanner technology that knew what faction you were and if you were Divergent and how Divergent you were.  And all of the scenes in Erudite to get the information is easily solved by the simulation box that can only be opened by a Divergent.  Which does also explains why they’re looking at the percentages, because they need someone who’s Divergent enough to open the box.

Given they never mentioned that Tris is immune to the different serums, they really needed to explain it and set it up for Allegiant.  Actually, I didn’t mind that they didn’t explain it, since the percentage thing kind of implied that Tris is really special, while also setting it up to be explained in Allegiant.

It is a very different movie than Divergent, which I expected since it has to wrap up things from Divergent while setting up Allegiant.

I feel like I really need to talk about the soundtrack really quick!  I loved the Divergent soundtrack a lot (it’s been out for a year, and it’s still played on repeat quite frequently) but I didn’t really fall in love with it the way I did with Divergent’s soundtrack. Don’t get me wrong, all of the songs fit the movie and book so well.  They definitely go together very well, but it just didn’t grab me the way I thought it would.  I don’t know if it’s because I don’t have a lot of listening to music time right now (which is a completely different story, and entirely possible) and made myself listen to it in the middle of the night because that’s the only time I could get myself to listen to it or other reasons I’m too lazy to think of right now.  Given I’ve been in a low-energy funk lately, it could be that.

It is half the length of the Divergent soundtrack, and while the songs go well together, there was something about it that seemed like they weren’t as carefully chosen as it’s predecessor.  And I felt like the soundtrack wasn’t as integral to the movie as Divergent’s soundtrack was.  But maybe the Insurgent score is super-awesome- I’ll definitely have to give it a listen if I can manage to carve out some music time.  And after actually buying it, of course.

Overall, I really liked Insurgent, and it really was a good adaptation of the book.  The soundtrack went well with the movie too, but I do wish you had some of the songs scattered throughout the movie the way you did with Divergent.

Hope everyone has a happy Monday!

Book Talk: Mockingjay, Part 1, With Spoilers!

Posted in Book Talk, Movies by

Book Talk is an occasional feature where I talk about book-ish non-review topics.

Book Talk

Today is all about Mockingjay, which I saw yesterday!  I’m not super-picky when it comes to movie adaptations, but The Hunger Games movies have been really, really good!

First, the non-spoilery part!  I really liked the movie, and thought it was pretty true to the book.  There are changes, of course, but I thought they worked really well.

Now, it’s time to get spoiler-y, so read at your own risk!

So, after seeing Mockingjay, I decided to re-read the book, since it’s been a while since I’ve read it.  (Admittedly, I only read part of it, because I kind of stopped a few pages after where they decided to split the movie into the 2 parts).

I think the biggest change was how we didn’t see most of survivors from District 12 in the movie- just her mom, Prim and Gale. Which was fine, because there’s enough going on.  All of the stuff with her prep team wasn’t in the movie, and a lot of their story (plus a lot of the story that features District 12 people) were incorporated into Effie’s story, which I liked.  They had to make cuts and changes, and they did make sense to me.  Having Effie…I just love Effie, and while she’s still her, she a more muted Effie. I do wonder if we’ll see her prep team at all, but I doubt it, since the movies really focused on her relationship with Cinna.

The two scenes that really got me were in District 8- in the hospital- and when Jennifer Lawrence was singing The Hanging Tree. And I really loved seeing some of the rebellions in the districts, particularly the District 5 rebellion.  Although…they had her sing The Hanging Tree, but not Rue’s Lullaby from the first movie?  I’m still annoyed that wasn’t in the movie.

I also liked actually seeing the propaganda spots and the mission to get Peeta, Johanna and Annie out of the capitol.  When I first heard that they were splitting this book into 2 movies, I wasn’t sure how it would work, but so far, I’m actually glad that they did. There’s not a lot of action in this one, because of where they ended it, and it’s really setting up the last 100+ pages (or, part 2).

I was also curious about where they were going to end the movie, which is Katniss watching looking in on Peeta in the hospital wing.  It did seem like a good place to end the movie, but there was part of me that was hoping they wouldn’t end the movie with Peeta choking Katniss, which did seem like a possibility for a few seconds.  I’m glad they didn’t end it there, and gave us a little bit more.

I’m really happy with the movie overall, though.  I didn’t recognize Julianne Moore as President Snow, and it drove me crazy that I couldn’t figure out who it was.  I don’t pay a lot of attention to casting news, and while I’m sure I heard that, it also didn’t stick.  I liked the cast they went with for the new characters, and I really liked Pollux!  I think he’s my favorite minor character in the movie, and Jennifer Lawrence was completely awesome as Katniss.

I’m definitely looking forward to the 2nd part of Mockingjay!

Book Talk: If I Stay, The Movie

Posted in Book Talk, Movies, Music by

Book Talk

Book Talk is a new feature where I talk about book-ish things that aren’t book reviews!

Today’s discussion is about If I Stay, which I saw yesterday in theaters yesterday.

Here’s the non-spoilery part of my review: I think fans of the book will like If I Stay.  For those who haven’t read If I Stay- you will like this movie if you like books/movies  that deal with similar topics…but if that’s not your thing, you may or may not like this movie, so maybe read some reviews of the movie before making up your mind.

Now, onto the part where I spoil the movie- so if you don’t want movie spoilers, stop here! (Or skip down to where I talk about the soundtrack- there’s a note there saying that spoilers are done).

So, I liked If I Stay a lot!  It’s weird, because I thought it was a great adaptation, but as a movie…not so much.  I mean, I still liked it, but it’s one of those books that seems hard to translate to the big screen.  With all of the flashbacks, and the amount of time you spend in Mia’s head…I wasn’t sure how well it would work in a movie, which is so very visual.

There was a lot of voice-over narration by Mia, which wasn’t annoying.  At least to me, but other people may be annoyed with it. And, as you’d expect, there are changes made to the movie.  Like, the name of Adam’s band is Willamette Stone, and not Shooting Star, like it is in the book.  And the distraction used to get Adam into the ICU is different- those are the only two major changes, but there are a few minor ones throughout the movie.  And of course, not all of Mia’s flashbacks made it into the movie.  Which I didn’t mind, because that would be a lot of flashbacks.  And I get why quite a few of them are so focused on Adam and her relationship with them, but I do wish that some of the flashbacks were more focused on her family.

Still, I get the idea of focusing on why she should stay, even when she has so many reasons to go.  And the flashbacks really stood out, because you really do see how much her life is going to change if she stays, and what she’s no longer going to have if she stays.

And the music!  The music was awesome, and I loved that we got to see Willamette Stone play!  And I loved that we saw Mia play the cello- which actually makes me curious those scenes.  Like, did they get shots of Chloe Grace Moretz holding the cello, and then have someone actually play the cello, and then do whatever it is they needed to do to make it look like Moretz was playing the cello?  Because I kind of feel like that’s what was done…although, if she really could play the cello like that, I’d be really impressed (but I also think we would have heard about that).  Still, whoever is playing the cello did a great job.

Overall, I felt like the movie stayed pretty true to the heart of the book, and one thing that really surprised me was the ending of the movie.  So, the movie ends with Mia waking up, and choosing to stay- just like it happened in the book.  I really was expecting there to be another scene after that, but I was also glad that the movie ended the way it did in the book, because anything else would have felt so inauthentic.

I will say that lead to one of my favorite moments, because the screen goes white as she’s deciding, and everyone was waiting to see what would happen, and then she woke up, and then the screen went to black, and everyone was just kind of sitting there…and when the credits started rolling, you could hear someone say “No!”  And then we all laughed…and the mood definitely shifted after that, because you could hear all kinds of sniffling going on in the movie, so it was good to have that moment.  Which isn’t all the surprising, really.  Oh! There were quite a few funny moments throughout the movie, which was actually really nice, because it balanced the overall seriousness really well.

Now that I’m done talking about the movie…I thought I’d talk about the soundtrack to the movie, because with a movie-centric movie, I can’t leave it out!  

The soundtrack is great, I wholeheartedly recommend the soundtrack.  Movie soundtracks aren’t something I’m typically drawn to, but I knew I had to check out this soundtrack in particular, because I knew the songs would be awesome, and I’m glad I wasn’t wrong.  You can’t go wrong with any of them, and the ones by Willamette Stone (Adam’s band) are particularly great. But I thought I’d share a few of the songs that really stood out to me as great choices.

1- Promises by Ben Howard.  This song gets me so emotional every time I listen to it, and it’s such a good choice for the soundtrack.

2- Halo by Ane Brun and Linnea Olsson.  It’s a great cover of Halo- and at first, I didn’t even realize that it was Halo, but I couldn’t figure out why it seemed so familiar.  I also love that it’s accoustic, because it fits Mia and her cello so well.

3- Heal by Tom Odell.  It’s such a beautiful song, and it’s perfect for both book and movie.

Hope everyone has a happy week!

Book Talk: The Giver Totally Surprised Me, But In A Good Way

Posted in Book Talk, Books, Movies by

Book Talk

Book Talk is a new feature here at Reading Books With Coffee, where I talk about bookish topics that aren’t book reviews!

Today…I am talking about The Giver as a movie!  Before I get started on what I thought of the movie, I thought I’d explain a little about my thoughts on movie adaptations of books.

I’m definitely in the minority, because I’m big on movie first, book second.  I hate going in with every last detail hanging over my head, and the last thing I want to do is go into expectations of how the movie should be.  I’m pretty relaxed about changes made, because it’s something I have no control over, so why spend the movie talking about how this is different and that thing is all wrong, and why on earth would they do THAT?!?!?!  (However, that’s my preference, and everybody should go into a movie adaptation however they want).

And now, there are going to be spoilers for both book and movie (but mostly the movie), so if you don’t want spoilers, this will be where you’ll want to stop reading.

When I first heard The Giver was being made into a movie, I was surprised, curious, happy and nervous.  I loved the book as a kid, and it held up pretty well when I re-read it as an adult a couple of years ago (see my review here).

There are definitely changes- the two biggest being the characters are several years older in the movie than they are in the book, and Fiona and Asher, who are BFF’s with Jonas, have different jobs.

Let’s start with the characters being a few years older- this really worked for me, because it made the story much more believable.  Being the one person who has ALL the memories is not an easy job, and it’s one that has to take its toll.  After re-reading the book this week- after seeing the movie, of course- it’s actually hard to believe that an 11-year-old would be able to handle the things that Jonas has to deal with.  And it’s no wonder that the previous Receiver-In-Training asked to be released. I felt like everything explored in the book was explored differently (in a good way) because the characters were older.  Like Jonas and Fiona- there are hints of romance there (which I did see in the book) but feelings of romantic love were better suited with 16-year-olds.  And I felt like everything Jonas learns about his community and his reaction towards what they did, and what things used to be like were there but much more subtle than they were in the book.

It’s not as jarring as it was in the book, and a lot of that has to do with Jonas being older.  Older, movie Jonas experiences things very differently than younger, book Jonas, and I found that the story works really well no matter how old the character is.

As for Fiona and Asher having different jobs- it works, given how everything unfolds, especially in Asher’s case.  Speaking of Asher and Fiona, I liked that Fiona had a bigger in the movie than she did in the book, and that you do see how her relationship with Jonas changes over the course of the book.  She did seem open to what he had to say, and that she was willing to help him, even if it meant she would get into massive trouble. We’re talking Release to Elsewhere trouble.  Asher, on the other hand…I just didn’t love movie Asher at all. It was like he had some issues with Jonas, and I couldn’t help but wonder what his deal was.  However, Jonas does change, because he knows of things like love and war.  I wonder if Asher didn’t like the changes he saw in Jonas, and was acting differently because he felt like he was losing Jonas.

I LOVED that part of the movie is in black-and-white, and that you get random splashes of color throughout the beginning part of the movie…and that it’s black-and-white until Jonas starts receiving memories from Giver.  Going from black-and-white to color really added to what was going on, and it highlights what this society is missing out on when they erased memories.  It adds to the feeling that this society is not as perfect as it seems.

I actually loved seeing Jonas react to the different memories he received, and what he experiences really changes his relationships with people- particularly his friends and family.  I loved the scene where he showed Fiona what sledding was like, and I love that we get those moments.

His parents were colder than I remembered, and I wished that we had that one scene in the book, where it’s dinner and his sister and parents are sharing their feelings, and Jonas knows that they aren’t experiencing true emotion.  That scene in particular stands out as one that highlights how isolated Jonas is becoming as the Receiver, and how isolating of a job it is. We sort of get that throughout the movie, particularly with the Giver living so far apart from the community.  And I think Jonas’ changing relationship with Asher shows that as well.  It did seem to be very subtle, and shows up in other ways, but part of me still wishes that we had more of that.

The only other thing I didn’t like was that Rosemary wasn’t a big part of the movie.  You get the basics of her story, but our real introduction to her came at a weird time, and I felt like her story really influenced the selection of future Receivers.  It’s a shame that you don’t really see how much has changed in the last 10 years as far as what it means to be a Receiver, and why certain rules were in place.  Especially since Taylor Swift seemed like an AWESOME Rosemary.

Actually, I thought the movie was cast really well!  Jeff Bridges really stood out as the Giver, and I can’t imagine anyone else in that role- and I can honestly say that about ALL of the actors cast.  Meryl Streep was awesome, and Odeya Rush, who plays Fiona, and Brenton Thwaites, who plays Jonas were also great choices. There was something so sweet about Odeya as Fiona, and I felt like Brenton brought a sense of joy and wonder to receiving the memories.

Oh, the memories!  One of my favorite scenes of the entire movie was when you saw the memories come back to this community.  You don’t get it in the book, where I had never thought about what happened to them when they had to deal with the memories.  But I LOVE that they included it in the movie.

And one other interesting thing is this scene between Giver and the Chief Elder, where Giver is telling the Chief Elder that he knows she feel’s Rosemary’s loss.  Which I thought hinted that there was something between Giver and Chief Elder.  It didn’t go any further than that, but it was interesting because it added something to their backstory.

Overall, I thought it was a great adaptation, especially given that I only had a couple of issues with the movie.  It has everything awesome about the book, and it felt like it was made with a lot of care to the original story.  It really is The Giver brought to life, and that was the one thing I kept thinking during the movie.

I’ve only seen one review of the movie, which I like (and agree with very much).

And, of course, the two official trailers, below.  Enjoy!

Trailer #1 (All in color):

Trailer #2 (With the black-and-white scenes):

The Hunger Games: The Movie

Posted in Movies by

I saw The Hunger Games Monday night, so I thought I’d share my thoughts about the movie.  I wasn’t sure how tired I’d be Monday night after seeing it, so I decided it would be best to wait a day to gather my thoughts.  And as it turned out, I was utterly exhausted by the time I got home.  There’s no way I could have written anything resembling coherence.

There will be spoilers, so if you haven’t seen it, and don’t want to have the spoiled, you have been warned.  

I really liked it!  I thought it was a good adaptation, and was pleasantly surprised to see that it followed the book pretty well.

I loved seeing the scenes where they show the commentators for the Hunger Games as well as the scenes between Seneca Crane and President Snow.  And the scenes in the Game Room were a nice addition too.  And the districts watching the games!  Seeing a different side of things was a good idea, because you never really thought about the other side in the book.  At least, I didn’t.

It really made it feel like I was watching reality t.v., and when you think about it, the Hunger Games is the ultimate reality t.v. show.  For me, it really showed how ridiculuous reality t.v. can be.

Rue!  I cried, and I really wish I had some Kleenex with me.  Overall, a lot of the deaths were harder to take than I thought.  Rue’s especially, but also Cato’s.  And the initial bloodbath at the Cornucopia…reading it, I was all “whatever.”  But there’s a difference between reading and seeing.  Rue’s death was the saddest, and her death really brought to life the horror and the unfairness of the Games.  It’s really too bad they didn’t show the parachute from District 11.  I would have liked that.

Here’s what surprised me: the romance wasn’t as played up as much as I thought.  Which is good, because the books were never about the romance for me.  But there was a point where they didn’t play it up as much as it should have.  The point did get across though, so all in all, I think it worked out.

Other thoughts: Effie was unexpectedly hilarious.  The Capitol was cool, and reminded me of Star Wars.  The people who live in the Capitol looked ridiculous but not as ridiculous as I thought.  What was with Prim freaking out?  It’s like she doesn’t know what’s going on, but standing on the sidelines and actually having to participate are 2 very different things.  Still, she has to have some idea what’s going on.  Their mom was more irritating than I expected.  Haymitch was less of an ass than I expected…and also less drunk than I expected.

Is it just me or did the berry scene at the end of the film seem a lot longer in the book?  I thought the scene with Snow when he’s standing in the gameroom and then leaves was really creepy.  Lenny Kravitz as Cinna: loved it!  And why isn’t there a version of Rue’s Lullaby on the soundtrack?  Speaking of the soundtrack: after seeing the movie, I love the song selection even more.

All in all, I was pretty happy with it, and I really want to see it again!