Tag Archives: movies based on books

2009 Movie Review

‘The Lovely Bones’ is haunting at times but lacks emotional impact — movie review

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Who’s in it?: Mark Wahlberg (The Funky Bunch, The Departed), Rachel Weisz (The Mummy, Brothers Bloom), Stanley Tucci (The Terminal, Captain America: The First Avenger) and Michael Imperioli (TV’s Soprano’s)

Who Directed it?: Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Heavenly Creatures)

Damn, Peter Jackson, I was really looking forward to this one.  But no, you had to go and let me down, didn’t you?  I haven’t read the book by Alice Sebold so I can’t make comparisons between the two but watching the movie you could just tell it wasn’t all there.  Not that its a bad thing.  After all, when you’re adapting a book into a movie, it’s nearly impossible to get it all on screen.  Some shit just doesn’t translate from book to screenplay to motion picture. Continue reading ‘The Lovely Bones’ is haunting at times but lacks emotional impact — movie review →

2009 Movie Review

‘The Men Who Stare at Goats’ (2009) — movie review

Who’s in it?: George Clooney (Ocean’s 11), Ewan McGregor (Revenge of the Sith), Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski) and Kevin Spacey (The Usual Suspects)

In this one, Ewan McGregor plays a reporter trying to do a story on a psychic spy (Clooney), who prefers to call himself a Jedi.  Get it?  Cuz Ewan played Obi Wan?… Well in The Men Who Stare at Goats, he spends nearly this entire movie trying to prove that Clooney is full of crap and Jedis don’t exist.  It’s funny because most of the time he has this smug look like, it’s all part of the joke.

This is the real beauty and perhaps the downfall of this movie. It’s great if you’re in on the joke but the filmmakers throw so much at the audience, they are only going to catch so much. Continue reading ‘The Men Who Stare at Goats’ (2009) — movie review →

2009 Movie Review

‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs’ is pretty standard family fun — movie review

Who’s in it?: Bill Hader, Andy Samberg and Will Forte (all from SNL), Anna Ferris (Scary Movie) and Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser, M.D.) and Mr. T (enough said)

Based on the children’s book by Ron and Judi Barrett

The following blog has been rated G because after all, it is a kids movie we are talking about here…

I really don’t know what to say about this one.  I mean it’s friggin’ Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.  The truth is, after some of the crap I’ve seen at this point, a children’s flick was in order- and this one pays off.  but like I said, it is what it is.  An animated kids movie based on a book about food that magically falls from the sky. Continue reading ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs’ is pretty standard family fun — movie review →