Movie Review: The Help

About a month ago, a marketing person contacted me via my Book Club contact info offering free passes to an advanced screening of The Help. She found our Book Club page and saw that we read The Help as one of our selections. Of course, everyone (mostly) in my Book Club jumped at the chance to see the movie early. Everyone loved the book and we had planned to go see the movie as a group when it came out anyway.

We got there super early (2 hours) because we weren't sure how many people would be showing up and we wanted good seats. Well turned out we were the first ones there. Yay! Hahaha. It was quite an interesting crowd, the ages varied but was definitely comprised of an older audience. Like, my parent's, grandparents even, age. We were some of the younger people there. We didn't care, we loved the book and were stoked to see the movie!

I have to say as far as movie adaptations go, I thought this was excellent! Not as good as the book, the movies rarely are, but still an excellent movie. Emma Stone (Easy A) plays one of the lead roles, I have to say she was not at all how I pictured Skeeter however, I LOVE Emma Stone and I thought she did the role justice.

The movie included all the major parts of the book that readers would expect to see. One storyline that they trimmed from the movie was the Skeeter/Stuart storyline. She still dates him in the movie, however his whole pedigree, family, and previous engagement are all but eliminated from the movie, whereas their relationship played a more prominent role in the book.

The one storyline that I would have liked to see more of was the Celia-Johnny-Minny trio. That was one of my favorite story lines in the book and while they do include some of it, they didn't include enough for my liking.

Like the book, The Help made me laugh and cry; it is a heartwarming, uplifting tale of family, friendship, love, loss, and fighting prejudice. If you haven't read The Help, the movie release is a great excuse to read the book then see the movie. You can't go wrong with either!

The Help will be in theaters on August 10th.
Rating:

Eclipse First Impressions

Saw Eclipse last night at midnight. I really wasn't too excited for it. Had to work today, knew I'd be super tired. Wasn't sure the movie would be worth it.

For the record I really disliked Twilight when I first saw it. I could. not. stand. Kristen Stewa
rt. I thought the acting was atrocious. Felt New Moon was a step in the right direction but still had quite a few irksome things.

Really enjoyed Eclipse. I should probably preface this "review" with the fact that it's been years since I last read Eclipse. I don't recall all the specifics from the book, so I can't speak to how close they stuck to the book. However, there were several scenes that I know they got right.

Anyway here are my initial impressions on Eclipse as posted via Twitter this morning:

Eclipse impressions #1 Acting - Gets better and better! K Stewart = less annoying, Rpatz= less creepy, Taylor Lautner = best part of movie!

Eclipse Impressions #2: Cullens - all look slightly less weird. Except for Emmett, what did they do to his hair?!

Eclipse Impressions # 3: Sparkles - Minimal

Eclipse Impressions # 4: Edwards Hair - Sans rats nest!
(In response to @kmont's comment: Maybe they thought it was time for Edward's hair to get a little competition? A hair-off?)

Eclipse Impressions # 5: TEAM JACOB. Seriously Jacob was fab in this movie.


Tara of 25 Hour Books also posted her thoughts on the movie. She said it stuck really close to the book. I also agree with liking the flashbacks/back stories on the Cullen's (I also liked the tribe history too!). I thought the first 2 movies when they did flashback they were a little ridiculous. These were more well done.

Overall, the best in the movie franchise so far, IMHO.

An Abundance of Austen

So I have a confession. It's an embarrassing one for a former English major and a current librarian. It's downright criminal.

Here goes: until last year I have NEVER read any Jane Austen.

Whew. That's quite a load off...

We read Pride and Prejudice as one of our book club selections. And beyond that I haven't read any of Austen's other works... yet!

Now, I've always enjoyed period movies and I LOVED the 2005 theatrical release of Pride & Prejudice. I know, I know some die hard fans of the 1995 BBC version probably cringe at anyone other than Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy and I know there are serious Kiera Knightly haters out there but, in truth, I've enjoyed ALL the version of Jane Austen movies/mini-series I've seen. Granted I haven't seen a ton. And I turn to the ladies of Lights, Cameras, History! for guidance on what period movies are worth my time and which ones to skip.

So last night I just finished the newest BBC adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, which I enjoyed immensely. I have to say I think I liked it a little more than the 1995 movie with Emma Tompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman. I think for one reason I have a hard time seeing Alan Rickman as a romantic hero. All I picture him as is either the evil Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves or as Professor Snape in the Harry Potter movies. So, the Colonel Brandon in this version was a little easier for me to see as a sexy older suitor for Miss. Marianne Dashwood. Also, I'm not a HUGE Hugh Grant fan so I kind of liked the BBC's Edward Ferras better as well! Although I thought Emma Thompson made a fabulous Elinor Dashwood.

I also watched the BBC's newest version of Persuasion earlier this month as well. I really liked that too! I wasn't really familiar with the Persuasion story so it was all new to me. And Rupert Penry-Jones as Captain Wentworth? *SA-WOOOON* I'm thinking of getting The 39 Steps because he's so yummi-licious! And no, I haven't seen the much beloved 1995 film version of Persuasion. But it's on my list!

I have to say I'm glad I'd seen the film version of P&P before having read the book. It's a little easier to figure out whats going on. You'd think that because my focus area in college was medieval literature I'd have an easier time reading Austen, but....not so much. It took me awhile to get through it. But I'm glad I did. I'm looking forward to many more Austen tv/film adaptations followed by readings of the books.

I've NEVER seen any version of Emma and have no idea what the plot of Northanger Abbey is, so I'm looking forward to being enlightened.

I'm also looking forward to checking out some other BBC and Masterpiece Theater productions of Bleak House, Jane Eyre, and Northanger Abbey.

As for North & South...well, I think I owe Kristie(j) a whole post on that ;) ! As a matter of fact, I think North & South opened me up to the wonderful world of BBC productions! Hmmm, think I might need another viewing of N&S... SOON! :)

So does anyone have any favorite Austen books? TV or film adaptations? Other period films to suggest? Do share!