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Archive for the ‘Fantasy’ Category

Stephen King’s “The Green Mile”

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The Odd Life of Timothy Green

This made me laugh, then cry, then laugh, then cry again…. One of “those” movies.

The-Odd-Life-of-Timothy-Green-poster[1]

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

It’s a pretty long list of reasons why I’ve always been a huge fan of Tolkien’s books, one of the main ones being the way there is a million and one story lines happening parallel to each other. There’s a lot of important information, as well as major and minor characters in each of these streams, contributing to the depth and the complexity of the story as a whole, and making the whole Tolkien universe a lot more of an intriguing place.

That is why, when the 3 Lord of the Rings movies officially took over the world, I was one of the very few people not to be that big of a fan of them. I did of course enjoy watching the spectacular visuals of the movies and many other great aspects of them. But my problem was with the amount of information, story pieces and even some very significant characters [Tom Bombadil being the best example] that were removed, in order to fit books of that magnitude into 3.5 hour movies. In my opinion, these modifications have altered the story line, and have caused irreparable damage to much of what Tolkien was trying to communicate through his stories.

When last year I read that for the single “The Hobbit” book, three movies were in production, I had to smile. I’ve been very much looking forward to seeing the movies, and last week I finally got to watch the first part, “An Unexpected Journey“. As I suspected, having considerably more time means that the movie is a lot closer to the book than the LOTR movies. The important parts are all there, and the story hasn’t really been altered in any way. And then there’s of course all the visual gorgeousness and the lovely scenery, and the truly awesome collection of actors and actresses. On that note I must say I’m really happy with the choice of Martin Freeman as Bilbo, him being one of my favourite actors and completely perfect for the role too. Oh, and was anyone else excited to see “Being Human”s Aiden Turner as Kili? =D

So all in all finally there’s a Tolkien book made into movie that I’m happy with. Now waiting impatiently for the 2 remaining parts….

Couple of nights ago I finished reading “A Dance with Dragons“, book 5 of “A Song of Ice and Fire” by George R. R. Martin. Meaning that now I have to wait till next year [supposedly] to get my hands on the next book. Too much of a bloody cliff hanger…. *sigh*

Well, it’s been quite a trip. It’s an amazing universe GRRM has created, with characters that are believable and understandable, and plots and events that are impossible to predicts. Everything can happen, everyone can die… and apparently everyone does die… =P Heroes make disastrous mistakes and the most brilliant set ups go gloriously wrong, and then the devil saves the day….. And you can’t put the bloody book down. =)

Oh, and regarding the TV series… as great as the series are, they’re not nearly as good as the books, so if you’re a fan of the TV series just go and read the books… Especially in the more recent episodes the TV series has been deviating more and more from the books, somehow annihilating some interesting aspects of the story line.

So, now I’m going to go about finally finishing Codex Alera [which I’ve been stretching as much as I could! =P]. And after that… we’ll see.

Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

A friend was asking me today if I finally read “Inheritance“, the last book in the “Inheritance Cycle” by Christopher Paolini, and what I thought about it. I remembered I never wrote anything about it…

So yes, I read Inheritance some months ago and actually like it quite a bit too. As I wrote here before, the trilogy was not exactly among my favourites. But the 4th instalment really did save the whole thing. Even though the very end left me somewhat unsatisfied, but the 4th book was able to give a new depth and direction to the cycle.

I truly enjoyed reading the 4th book, and now I’m hoping that Christopher Paolini will, as he said, at some point go back to Alagaesia and show us a bit more about the future of the main characters. I don’t want to give spoilers here since a couple of friends are going to read the book soon, but lets just say that I would like Eragon to reconsider his choice of residence location eventually. 😉

Lady in the Water

So here’s another example of how my movie taste is so totally incompatible with… well… most people! Last night I watched M. Night Shyamalan’s true masterpiece [at least in my book], “Lady in the Water“. Apparently the rest of the world considers this movie a failure. I can’t for the life of me understand why. There aren’t many movies nowadays that have so much to say… so many messages to send, and it’s so disappointing to see how this rare one got beaten to death by the critics. I really truly enjoyed watching this movie, and I’m totally going to get me the book.

Inheritance Cycle

Much faster than I myself anticipated I would, I just finished reading the 3rd volume in the “Inheritance Cycle” by Christopher Paolini. Mind you, this is why I love eReaders… I read the 3 volumes, each between 700 to 800 page, in a matter of about 2 month while I’ve only had the time to do this kind of pleasure reading while waiting for public transit and such situations. The eReader gives you the ability to use every spare moment as such. Anyhow…

The first volume, titled Eragon, I found a tad bit boring. The story went forward a bit too slow for my liking, and it was lacking some depth. The second volume, Eldest, was more interesting. Just a bit more. The third volume, Brisingr, is most certainly the best of the 3. It’s a lot more exciting, the plot finally finds its real direction and depth, there’s much better character development and altogether it’s fun to read. The only problem is that [although the 3rd book was released September 2008] the 4th and final volume won’t be out until November this year. I have no idea why there’s been such a huge time gap between the release dates of each volume of the series. So the 3rd volume ends at a terrible cliff-hanger, and now wait till the next one happens…. =P

The Inheritance Cycle in general isn’t one of my favourites in the genre so far, to be completely honest. However, it’s still one of the better ones, and worth a read if you have the time. I guess the main issue that I don’t enjoy about it, is the lack of originality. Influence from Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and many other big names in the genre is too obvious, it pretty much slaps you in the face.

I also have to mention that the movie that was based mainly on the first volume, Eragon, doesn’t really do the books any justice. Inheritance Cycle may not be the most amazing work of literature, but it’s a 100 times better than that trash of a movie they’ve made out of it, which doesn’t even visually resemble the descriptions in the text.

Of course my general view of the series may very well change [possibly improve] depending on how the last volume will turn out. If it ends up being as “good” as has been promised, maybe it’ll find it’s place among my favourites. 😉 So I guess I’ll just have to wait till November to find out….

Meanwhile though, I just started the first volume of “The Song of Ice and Fire” by George R. R. Martin. Yes, the same series that they’re basing the TV series “Game of Thrones” upon. The same one with so far 5 [and to be in total 7] volumes, each between 900 to 1000 pages. =D Huge undertaking, but I think I’m going to thoroughly enjoy this….

End of “Angel: After The Fall”

Back when the Angel TV series got cancelled, the fans of the series [including myself] were pretty disappointed. But not long after that IDW publishing and Joss Whedon came together, and in 2007 the first episode of “Angel: After The Fall” comic series was released. Since then I’ve been following the comics quite eagerly. In some ways I found them even more entertaining the the TV series were… so yes, you could call me a big fan. The series also had a lot of very cool spin-offs and side stories, my favourite of which was probably the “Illyria: Haunted” series.

Now, after about 5 years of pure awesomeness, the series is over. Last night I read the very last episode of the After The Fall story line, and tonight [if I can somehow manage the time!] I’m going to read the end to “Spike”, which is the very last spin-off of the series. So yes, no more After The Fall. That doesn’t make me a very happy girl. =/

I should say that I’m certainly not disappointed. The After The Fall series had a great story line, and a pretty fitting end. Unlike the TV series ending, with the comic series you get that feeling of closure. Everything has been truly well explained and concluded. But still, I can’t help but wish that there was more! =P

Mind you, this isn’t the end of Angel comics altogether. The publishing rights are being passed on to [or more like back to] Dark Horse Comics, and they obviously have their own plans for it. In about a couple of months, Dark Horse is realising an “Angel Omnibus” containing whatever they published during the time the TV series was still running [before the fall era!]. After that, as far as I can see, they’re starting an “Angel and Faith” mini series, which apparently takes place after the events of the Buffy Season 8 comics [Dark Horse’s].

I haven’t read the Buffy Season 8 comics yet, but I’m hoping to manage that sooner or later. And I’m looking forwards to Dark Horse’s Angel series. On the cons side, Faith was never one of my favourite characters at all… so… meh. But oh well, I guess I can only wait and see how that’ll turn out. 

On a bit of a different direction… in the entire After The Fall series, I found only 1 serious inconsistency, which is pretty interesting seeing how the episodes were written by so many different people. I sort of have a problem with the whole James turned Myresto Mor scenario. Anybody else find that weird? The James character was supposedly an angel for so long in the series, long enough to come across other angels as well as various representatives of the Powers That Be. So how did he suddenly turn out to be some sort of an evil demi-god? I mean, wouldn’t other angels or even more importantly the big parents notice that he’s just not one of the family?

I think I read somewhere that perhaps in a try to smoothen the situation, it was said that the Cordelia that came to Angel’s help as he was dying, was not really Cordelia. But I think we all know that it was Cordelia. And heck, she wasn’t the only one who would technically have easily been able to recognize James as a non-angel. But anyway… I try to think of Myresto as a new character altogether… and the plot was great enough to pretty much hide that little inconsistency.

I just hope that in the new Dark Horse Angel appearances, there’s going to be room for Illyria and Spike, since they really are bloody fantastic characters and my favourites in the series. I also would really like to see what Connor may do with his new found powers, but I’m afraid we may never know, if the Dark Horse writers try to not make any references to the ATF series. That would be a huge disappointment, so I’m hoping they’re not going to completely ignore everything that happened in ATF. 

Anyway… enough comic talk… time to get back to studying… =P

OH MY GOD! Really? Seriously? Could that possibly happen? That would be just beautiful! =D

Since late last night I’ve been reading here and there around the web about how David Tennant has been approached for a role in the upcoming 2 part Hobbit movies! Apparently so far this is just an offer and no one knows for sure if it’s actually going to happen, but if it does… my oh my! Awesomeness to the max! =D

For anyone who may not be familiar with David Tennant, he is the actor playing the role of the 10th Doctor, in the British sci-fi series Doctor Who.  I’m a pretty big fan of Doctor Who in general, and well, the 10th Doctor is most certainly my favourite incarnation of The Doctor so far. 😉 Davit Tennant is an amazing actor, and if he goes on to play a role in The Hobbit, that alone will be a reason for me to see the movie on the opening day.

Another great actor who has been offered a role is Martin Freeman, who recently played the role of John Watson in the British TV series “Sherlock”. Apparently he will be playing the role of Bilbo Baggins.

When I heard that the “The Hobbit” is going into production phase soon, I was very excited. I’ve always said that the Lord of the Rings trilogy movies are an extra simplified version of the books, and that they miss a ton of important facts and side stories and a whole lot of depth in comparison to the books. However, that’s only natural. There’s just no way to put a Tolkien book into a movie exactly as it is, due to the incredible amount of details in his books. With all of that in mind, I believe that the LOTR movies where quite fantastic from many different aspects [well, Duh! ;)], and I’m now very much looking forwards to seeing “The Hobbit”.

You can read more about the possible cast of “The Hobbit” here.

I wonder why I’m not hearing more noise about this movie. Has anyone seen it yet? I’m beginning to worry that this movie may just not be receiving the attention it bloody well deserves!

A few days ago we went to see the first part of the Legend of the Guardians. Well, to be more precise I took my mom to see it, due to her affection for owls. =D [For anyone who may not know, the relationship between my mom and owls is something like the one between me and the colour blue! 😉 ]. And of course being a real fantasy genre enthusiast, I totally had to see it too. [In 3D, obviously! =P]

Turns out, this is one of the cutest movies I’ve ever seen! Owls are beautiful animals, and I’m glad someone finally did something right with that! The characters of the movie are positively adorable! <3 <3 There’s tons of beautiful scenery, and the plot is quite a nice one too, if not terribly sophisticated. I’m definitely a fan, and will certainly go to see the next parts when they’re made. =)

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Hey, I'm Aasemoon, and this is my blog which has been around since 1998. Childhood toy project that ended up growing up with me. You can reach me here: aasemoon.blue

Zorbas is my kitten. You can see some pictures of him below. =)

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