Posts Tagged ‘movie adaptation’

My immediate reaction after seeing any adaptation is to compare and contrast the two mediums. In the case of director Baz Luhrmann’s movie version of The Great Gatsby, there is surprisingly few disparities. Both the film and the book tell the same story of a newly-wealthy Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) who chases after his lost love – the beautiful Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan) – but faces dire consequences. Yet Gatsby’s story is not his own. Wallflower narrator Nick Carraway (Tobey Maquire), who is Gatsby’s neighbor and Daisy’s cousin, tells of the complicated events as they happen. And as they happen, it became clear to me just how relevant they are.

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Short Take: Though the supernatural plot can be a bit tedious, the appealing performances from its young stars make it worth the ride.

Director: Richard LaGravenese

Screenwriter: Richard LaGravenese, Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (book)

Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert, Jeremy Irons, Emma Thompson, Viola Davis, Emmy Rossum

Runtime: 2 hours 4 minutes

Ethan Wate (Ehrenreich) has spent his whole life in Gatlin, and as he enters his junior year he is desperate for any kind of excitement. It finally arrives in the form of the mysterious Lena Duchannes (Englert), who bears a striking resemblance to the girl who has been haunting his dreams for the last few months. Lena is the youngest in a line of witches, or “casters.” And while she and Ethan quickly fall in love, a family curse threatens to turn her into an agent of evil. Read the rest of this entry »

Greetings everyone! Although it has been a few weeks since its initial release, we here thought it a good idea to continue talking about The Hunger Games. Although The Avengers has taken the world by storm, Suzanne Collins’ movie adaptation still continues to impress with a worldwide gross of $635 million and climbing. Its RottenTomatoes score is a very respectable 84%, so this is a rare summer occasion when critics and audiences seem to agree wholeheartedly. The film’s popularity certainly intrigues us, but what has still been left unsaid about it interests us even more. So rich is the film, we thought, that even with our first Double Review covering a myriad of angles we still have plenty to discuss. Below is the latest Conversation between our writers Cliff Bugle and Marisa Carpico, which we hope you’ll join via the comments section below. For those of you who have been debating internally about going to see The Hunger Games we hope our musings give you the extra incentive you need to give it a go and experience it for yourself.

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