The Host versus The City of Bones

Within the next ten months we are going to have two book to movie adaptations.

The Host as many of us know is by Stephenie Meyers, and is generally thought of as being slightly better written than Twilight. Saoirse Ronan is starring, and she's been quite a few book to movie adaptations: City of Ember, Atonement, and The Lovely Bones. I'm going to be honest and say that I never finished The Host. I got bored after the fifth chapter and stopped reading around the tenth. I've been told multiple times I need to go back and finish it, but I think I'm a bit Stephenie Meyer-ed out. I've put in my time with Twilight (we're seeing the last one on Saturday so watch for our review on that) and I'm ecstatic to be done. Thank goodness The Host is a standalone. So really, at least on my end, there's no pressure for this to be great. I like Saoirse Ronan, I think she's a very strong actress. There's rumors she should be cast as Tris from Divergent but I don't really see that happening now.

On the other hand you have Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments trilogy that features Lily Collins (who I don't think has starred in anything that has done super well, except for The Blind Side but she didn't carry that one did she?) as Clary. I loved this series. I think Cassandra Clare is a fabulous writer, and of course I'm super nervous that they've messed everything up. There's some really great actors in it though: Lena Headey, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Aiden Turner, and Jared Harris. Unfortunately all of these people are secondary characters and won't be really in it all that much. In other words we could have five years of this and it could just go from bad to worse. I'm trying to keep an open mind though, because I thought terrible things about the Hunger Games movie and that turned out quite awesome.

Get More: Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Jamie Campbell Bower, Movie Trailers, Movies Blog

Which one do you think will be better?

The Perks of Being a Wallflower Advanced Movie Screening

A few last overdue post from ALA!  After the conference was over I headed to LA and then went to Colorado and have only just returned, so I didn't get to write about the advanced movie screening of The Perks of Being a Wallflower we went to, or the Printz Awards.  That will come next.

So the evening of the 25th was quite busy.  My fabulous library director, Liz, had given me a heads up that there was going to be an advanced screening of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which does not come out until September.  We felt very special that we were in California and going to an advanced movie screening!  I'm surprised it wasn't more widely advertised.  I wouldn't have known about if Liz hadn't told me.  It was probably in Cognotes, but I never get around to reading Cognotes.

When we got to the theater (conveniently located down the street from out perfectly adequate hotel), there was of course a line, because there was a line for everything, always.  Luckily it was not a very long line, and the theater could fit 300 people so we had no problem getting in.

Breaking Dawn: Part 2 Trailer

Here it is.... in all it's glory. The trailer for the final Twilight movie. I would just like to say that I am relieved that the end is in sight.

The Host Trailer

On the wings of the Hunger Game movie coming out, The Host trailer is now available. I have to admit that I think this might be all right. But let's be honest a lot could go horribly wrong. Thoughts?

UPDATE TO HUNGER GAMES: BAH!

I feel like I need to update a previous post I did about the Hunger Games movie. I wrote my commentary before we saw the pictures, before the entire cast was announced, and before we saw the trailer.








Sigh. I'll admit, I am still not holding my breath for it to be Lord of the Rings amazing, but I am hoping it will be better than the Twilight series. It can't be all bad if Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, and Lenny Kravitz are in it, right? And my friend Laura has assured me that Jennifer Lawrence is a very gifted actress (and I believe everything that Laura tells me. She is much smarter than I am). So I guess I have to say that I am cautiously optimistic that it won't suck.

So there we go. It could be awesome but we'll just have to see.

Dude! It's the FREAKING HOBBIT!

I'm not sure if I have mentioned that I am a HUGE Lord of the Rings nerd. My dad read them to me when I was about ten and I've read them three other times since. I love the books and loved the movies, and I have been super psyched about The Hobbit movie coming out since 2009. So I have to share this with all of you, I know it's pretty hard core fantasy, but technically Tolkien intended it for children so it's still blog appropriate right?

Breaking Dawn: It's finally here!

It's that time once again, when all anyone can talk about is Twilight.  Breaking Dawn: Part One (sweet Moses we have to watch a part two, oi) is finally out. Of course the four of us are going to see it, we've come this far we have to see it out to the bitter end. We're starting early this year, so expect some sort of review sometime tomorrow early evening.

Who knows what to expect? For our friend Christina's sake I hope that it is the best thing ever. For my own sake I hope it's awesomely bad so I can giggle throughout. Regardless, you'll hear about it tomorrow.

*UPDATE*
 I am going to be honest and say that I can't do the movie review justice. So I'm going to make Arianna do it tomorrow. I will let you know that we thought the make up and acting has gotten better, but that doesn't mean that the movie is good. Jacob's chest is exposed within 15 seconds of the movie starting. The sex scene was built up for nothing.

Let me preface Ari's post with a little background information: in the past we've gone to the movie at night and out for drinks afterward. this was fine except we were all so tired that we didn't spend a ton of time together after the movie - something that we lamented the past three times we've gone. Not this time though, this time we had a plan. A plan that involved drinks.

We decided to meet before and have brunch, because if we were going to this movie we were going to be a little tipsy when we went. We went, had our meals, had our drinks and went to the theater. Arianna had brought us alcoholic candies to eat during the movie and we were planning to go out for drinks afterward. I would just like to state that we should have drank more prior to going to the movie...

Hunger Games Trailer

Not going to lie, I'm torn about this. Jennifer Lawrence seems like she'll rock it out, but the rest..... eh. Am I being too cynical? Has Twilight ruined me forever and made me pessimistic for all book adapted movies? Or am I just being realistic? Regardless this looks visually stunning, and obviously I'm going to see it regardless of what the critics say. What do you think?

Hunger Games Movie

It's finally that time, where the world starts gearing up to inundate you with media on a new movie series that will try and take the place of Harry Potter. Every time another book gets slogged through the the process of being recreated into a movie I try and give it the benefit of the doubt. There have been good ones: Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Help, and I'm sure there are others that I'm not thinking of at this moment.

But let's be honest, a lot of times they go terribly wrong. Terribly terribly wrong. So here's the first teaser trailer of The Hunger Games. And regardless of the fact that there are some amazing actors in this, I have to admit that I'm not holding my breath for it to be awesome. Perhaps with lowered expectations I will find myself pleasantly surprised?

What do you think?

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music

Heist Society Movie...

So you might remember a while back that I did a review on Uncommon Criminals by Ally Carter. It seems that the first book in the series, Heist Society, is being made into a movie. Drew Barrymore is directing it, and it's being listed as a thriller! Huh. Thriller was not the vibe I got off of it when I read it, but it should be a good twist on it. The same writer that wrote the screenplay for Whip It is also doing the screenplay for Heist Society.

It's finally here!

The Breaking Dawn: Part 1 is here. I have to admit the feeling of it reminds me a bit of number two, overly done and taking itself so seriously that it should be hilarious! Fingers crossed. If not at least the review that we post should be entertainingly scathing.

Who's excited?

Here at Wandering Librarians, we love ourselves some Muppets. I personally am so excited that Jason Segel has written it since he has a well documented love of all things Muppets (please marry me Jason Segel). The new trailer is up and about on the interweb, check it out. It's kind of awesome.

New Harry Potter Trailer

You all know that we loved the first part of the seventh movie (except for a few parts that made us giggle). The trailer for the last part is finally out. It looks exciting! Can't wait until July 15.

Hunger Games Movie: BAH!

I'VE UPDATED THIS POST. If you haven't heard, the Hunger Games series (you can read Arianna's review of the third book here) by Suzanne Collins is being made into a movie. I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of film adaptations of books because I feel that it's rarely done well, e.g. Twilight, Eclipse, New Moon. It's important as a start off point that you get the actors right, or so I'm told. But here we are again with another young adult book being made into a movie with another actress being put into it that just doesn't fit. Jennifer Lawrence from Winter's Bone is going to be Katniss. Wrong! I hate to say this but she's just too old! Old and tall and blonde. Do I think she can pull off the whole drama thing? Mostly. Do I think it's not going to help in general though? Yes. There's also a rumor that Alex Pettyfer from I Am Number Four and Hunter Parrish from Weeds are both looking to be Peeta. Bah.

Let's be honest, I'll go see the movie. I'll probably make Arianna, Jamie, and Alanna go with me. The only expectation I have is to giggle throughout the entire thing. My assumption is that it's going to be bad, maybe it'll surprise me but I doubt it.

Incarceron: The Movie

You guessed it! Incarceron is being made into a movie. There's not a whole lot of info yet, but I've discovered this: Taylor Lautner is going to be playing Finn. You might know Taylor from a little franchise called Twilight. No? Well then you need to get out more.

Gut reaction? NO!!! Sweet Moses NO! I'm not saying that he's a bad actor - young and inexperienced, yes - all out bad, no. But just not the correct physique, personality, or star power that Finn should be. Whoa, strong reaction to something not so terribly important. But a girl has to draw the line somewhere, and mine is Taylor Lautner. We are in an official fight.

News

The OED is trying to save little used words. Head on over and adopt one. Mine is 'woundikins,' which means 'mild profanity.' Appropriate.

Who knew that Daniel Radcliffe loves Tom Lehrer, like I love Tom Lehrer. The secret and deeply hidden science/music nerd in me loves this.

Speaking of good old Danny, I'm not sure if you've heard of a little franchise called Harry Potter? Word on the street is that the movie is coming out in exactly one week.

Jim Henson

Having grown up on Sesame Street, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and the Muppets, I had to check this out. Jim Henson created an experimental live short back in 1965, it was crazy! Someone must have loved it because it was nominated for an Oscar. Awesome. Time Piece is now available to view for free on Youtube.

The Help: The Movie

You might remember back in July when Arianna wrote a review of the audiobook The Help by Kathryn Stockett. If you need a refresher, it was AWESOME! If you haven't read it, do it now. As in stop reading this posting and get the book and read. Don't skip over anything, don't scan it, read it completely through. Then come back.

Anyways, they're making a movie out of it (because Hollywood can't leave well enough alone), and generally I'm a bit eh with some of the actors they've chosen. I think I'm mostly Debbie-downer about it because of Emma Stone. I don't know what it is, but I just don't picture her as Skeeter Phelan. Emma Stone's so pretty and seemingly charming. Just not what I pictured, but I guess that's why she's paid the big bucks to convince me and I'm just a lowly librarian making judgment calls on a blog. And let's be perfectly honest, are my objections going to stop me from seeing it? Probably not.

The movie comes out Aug. 12, 2011.

Page to Screen

More page-to-screen wackiness.

Danny Devito is set to voice the Lorax in a new 3D animated adaptation of the classic Dr. Seuss story. Betty White and Zac Efron also voice characters....and what's this?! The Office's Ed Helms will voice the Once-ler? I hope, for the sake of all Dr. Seuss fans out there, that this one is better than recent take on Horton Hears a Who. I remember my Kindergarten teacher's father coming into our class to read The Lorax. It was the first time I had heard that particular Dr. Seuss story, and I can still remember where I was sitting, and things I thought about as it was read aloud. Never underestimate a good read-aloud.

For now, I'm going to cross my fingers that my page-to-screen idealism holds. C'mon, Lorax...

It's Kind of a Funny Story

I read Ned Vizzini's bitingly lovely semi-autobiographical coming-of-age novel about teenage depression last year, and, I have to say, it easily became one of my favorite YA novels. The last passage is just so spot-on...gah. I just think it's wonderful. I read it in a weekend and cannot recommend it enough. In terms of realistically capturing what it feels like to be a teen and depressed, I'm going to go out a limb and say that few, if any, writers do that better than Mr. Vizzini. The heart of this story rings so true, and the heavier passages are so brilliantly tempered with heartbreaking levity, that it really stands up as an excellent read. Okay. Enough of my prattling.


The point of the post is to share with you the trailer for the upcoming film adaptation of It's Kind of a Funny Story, slated for release this September.

The film stars Keir Gilchrist as protagonist Craig, with a (surprisingly awesome) supporting cast featuring Zach Galifianakis as Bobby, Emma Roberts as Noelle (who is, disappointingly, NOT suffering externally the way she does in the book. Ah, well), Aasif Mandvi, Viola Davis, Jim Gaffigan, Lauren Graham, and others who are equally excellent. As the resident Wandering Librarian with a film degree, I'm likely going to frequently lament film adaptations of books, and poor casting choices of characters. Not here--I really like the look of this!

Check out the trailer. Is anyone else as excited about this as I am?