dimanche, avril 03, 2005 It's rare that a good book gets picked up to be made into a movie. Rarer still are the good movies made from books. Then we have the gold - the author who screams back (publicly) at the atrocities committed against her book. Hear Ursula K. LeGuin roar her discontent.I've seen the Earthsea series - it's a two parter, starring Iceman "Bobby" from the X-Men series (who otherwise goes by the name Shawn Ashmore) as Ged, the hero and protagonist of the series, and Smallville pretty-but-cannot-act "actress" Kristin Kruek as Tenar, the heroine. (Incidentally, Ashmore appeared in one episode of Smallville in Season 1 "Leech", where Clark's powers are transferred to him.) The series feels and looks like an episode of Dinotopia (a series which I do not watch, but I saw the trailers on teevee a couple of times), what with all the CGI islands in the sun, and the dragons. There's also a rather pallid imitation of Tolkien's Gollum here, Ged's nemesis, whom he creates by opening up the gates of hell or something, when he shows off in wizard school - yes, think Harry Potter versus Malfoy in that Snape-inspired duel. I need to reiterate that I have not read the books - actually, I don't even own them, come to think of it - and therefore cannot make any intelligent remarks regarding the integrity of the material to the book. But again, judging by what Ms LeGuin has to say, it probably wasn't very faithful to the source material. In case it seems like I've been doing a lot of slacking about and watching movies, well... I have. But, to my credit, I watched Earthsea two months ago! I just put the review in cold storage, hoping that I'd write about it after I read the book, but seeing as that's a lost cause, I decided to just put in my two cent's worth now. I've watched three movies this week - four if you count the VCD of Home Fries (starring Drew Barrymore and Luke Wilson), but I've also been working my ass off all other hours, trying to get my SPSS files to churn out pretty pretty graphs and pie charts and stuff (which I've managed to figure out!) in time for a presentation and term paper due on Monday, so there you have it - work hard, play harder. Today's movie was aided by Ms Veronica Ng, who is here on a visit from Melbourne, where she's getting all smart and sexy, working for one of Fortune Magazine's top companies to work for in 2004: PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Will she make partner in two years? Will she marry Mr PriceWaterhouseCoopers? Will she get another tattoo? And the most important question of all: Will she do my taxes for me, for FREE? :) Bon Voyage, babe! Have a good flight back to Melbourne on Monday. (And next time, bring your phone!) [Earthsea (and a farewell)] |
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