Friday Five: Books that Could Make Good Movies

There are some books that just lend themselves to a visual medium because the storytelling is so detailed, the characters are so vivid. These are movies I would like to see made into movies... soon!

1. Sabriel of The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix
2. Magic Kingdom for Sale- SOLD of The Magic Kingdom of Landover Series by Terry Brooks
3. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaimon
4. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore
5. Journey of Shadows of The Immortalis Trilogy by Dee Sutter teehee

 Love is love, no matter the back story. <3 DS

Friday Five: Five Movies Based on Books that are Not Terrible

As a general rule, most movies based on books are awful. Some are not so bad though.

1. The Green Mile- This Tom Hanks movie was great, so much so that I didn't even suspect that it was based on a novel until several years later when someone pointed it out.
2. Shawshank Redemption- This movie was played over and over when I was a kid. I don't know what the appeal was specifically but we loved it.
3. Bridge to Terabithia- I love the sweet simplicity of this movie.
4. Black Beauty- Any one of the versions of this movie is good. I like the one that came out when I was a child though.
5. The Shining- This movie came out before I was born but Steven King proves himself to be an amazing storyteller, as this is the 3rd of his novels-turned-movies that I have on the list. It is pretty telling I think.

Love is love, no matter the back story. <3 DS

Friday Five: Coming Movies

I'm not a big movie watcher but there are some great ones coming out soon. In no particular order, here are my 5 upcoming movies that I plan to check out.

A Thousands Words (March 9): Jack is a literary agent known for being able to make any deal, even if that means stepping on some toes. Jack's life is turned up side down when a Bohdi tree appears in his backyard and leaves fall with every word he says. Now he has to find some new ways to communicate or he is going to die with the tree.

The Decoy Bride (March 9): A movie star and a famous writer (David freaking Tennant) want to get married without the papparazzi interrupting their big day, so they go to a remote location. The location is discovered so they find a fake bride to try to keep the photogs busy. Only, the fake bride and the famous writer have chemistry. Could the movie star be left at the alter?

Detachment (March 16): Henry Barth is a talented educator but has chosen to keep that fact to himself. As a substitute, he is bounced from school to school, unable to form any bonds to anyone, and he likes it like that just fine. Until he gets to a school where the teachers are so awful that he becomes the role model teacher, takes in a kid from the street, and starts to connect to his students.

Snow White and the Huntsman (June 1): I posted about this movie a while back here. It looks fantastic as a spin on the Snow White story. Snow White is trained by the Huntsman to triumph over the evil queen! Can't wait.

Brave (Summer): I've been waiting for this movie since the first teaser pictures came out. Pixar's first princess movie looks to be amazing. Merida does all the right things at all the right things. One problem: she's not a boy. So she sets out to change her destiny and inadvertently sets off a curse in the process. Interesting. :)

Friday Five: Favorite Holiday Movies

I'm sticking with a holiday theme. :)

Top 5 Holiday Movies:

1. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Written by John Hughes. Automatically qualifies as #1 for that reason alone.
2. Hogfather. I have written about Terry Pratchett before. His Disc World series includes this story and it is a fantastic "alternative" version of a Christmas type story.
3. Prancer. This movie makes me cry every time. I considered Cloris Leachman's role as Mrs. McFarland her best until she portrayed Maw Maw in Raising Hope.
4. The Santa Clause. I discovered David Krumholtz for the first time as Bernard and crushed hard on him for years!
5. A Charlie Brown Christmas. This classic cartoon always gives me a feel good high.

Honorable Mentions in no specific order:
A Christmas Carol. This cartoon played every year when I was a kid. I have fond memories of yelling at Scrooge and then cheering for Tiny Tim.
Home Alone. Another John Hughes film. It only rates an honorable mention because I have to listen to Joe Pesci screech throughout most of it. No amount of John Candy, Macaulay Culkin, and Christopher Columbus can make up for that.
Babes in Toyland. This always played in school when I was a kid. I remember that because it wasn't a cartoon, a lot of kids didn't watch it. I did though. It was amazing.
Scrooged. Bill Murray plays Scrooge in this remake of A Christmas Carol. The story is slightly different, but its still true to the core of ACC. Plus, Bill is hilarious.
The Christmas Shoes. This was a made-for-tv movie based on a song of the same name. Kimberly Williams from The 10th Kingdom plays one of the lead characters and the role is tragic. It makes me cry.
Miracle on 34th Street. Mara Wilson's portrayal of Susan (the little girl) is brilliant. A great remake of a classic story.

Love is love, no matter the back story. <3 DS

Have a safe 4th!

Alright so some of you probably started celebrating on Friday (I did!) or yesterday, so this may be a bit late but I wanted to tell everyone Happy 4th of July and stay safe out there folks! Don't drink and play with fire, please. We did that as stupid teenagers and a friend of mine still doesn't have eyebrows!

The party is just getting started here at the house so people are arriving, that cats are refusing to come out of my bedroom, and I am a hot mess trying to play hostess. I am the designated (emergency) driver tonight so no drinkies for me. Once everyone gets here and I have all the keys, I'll be leaving the front of the house to them and retreating to my bedroom to console the kitties. I do believe I'll rewatch a couple awesome movies, do some editing/filing, and go to bed. Heaven help these people if they wake me up before dawn. Hehe.

So Netflix, please have A Knight's Tale, Ever After, and Happily N'ever After available for streaming. Sabriel, Sam, and I would greatly appreciate it!

Edit: 8/15/2012 Images removed. I don't want to be sued.