Movie: Fifty Shades of Grey

Movie Review: “Fifty Shades of Grey”

Reviewed by Gerti

A movie that has gotten a lot attention is “Fifty Shades of Grey,” based on the blockbuster book of a few years back by EL James. It stars Dakota Johnson as the hapless college student Anastasia Steele who was just helping out a sick roommate when she agreed to interview communications industry titan, Christian Grey. He is played by Jamie Dornan, and in true Cinderella fashion, he instantly falls for the guileless Steele, who is also being pursued by several other young men, but doesn’t know that either. Besides being clueless, all she’s lacking here to make her less sexy is coke-bottle thick nerd glasses. She’s a disaster!

Grey tries to charm her by meeting her at the hardware store where she works. Perversely, he picks up some sado-masochistic supplies while she’s helping him shop – rope, duct tape, etc. She doesn’t get the clues. Then he sends her a first edition of “Tess of the D’Urbervilles”, because she told him she was an English major because of the works of Thomas Hardy. He says he would have suspected Jane Austen, which will give Austen lovers a laugh. Then he gets her a new laptop, and eventually a car. Nice boyfriend!

With the story closely following the book, Grey gradually seduces Steele into his “singular” lifestyle, where she would be his submissive and he her dominant. And while she engages in a few introductory episodes with him, she whines frequently about their just being a normal couple, and doing normal dating things, like going out to dinner and the movies. But she also sends him mixed signals, like agreeing to a business meeting alone in his office and going over the “contract” that he wants her to sign to make their relationship official. She goes through the contract pages with him, having him take out things that are objectionable to her, but then teases him about signing it, and leaves without doing so.

Yes, there is a good amount of nudity, mostly hers, as he introduces her to all kinds of sexual behavior (apparently, she’s a virgin in the story). Thanks to Danny Elfman who did the music, it treads the thin line between sexy and silly, as his soundtrack makes it all seem romantic. Dornan plays Grey as conflicted about this relationship, first not wanting to drag Ana into the lifestyle, but then breaking his own rules whenever they are together. If only Ana could project the allure that has caught him in her spell… She generally comes across as cow-eyed and bumbling. We do hear that Grey had an abusive mother, and was then seduced by one of his mother’s friends. Yes, I guess that could all mess him up pretty good where romance is concerned.

Ultimately, however, I thought the movie actually handled the sex more tastefully than the book. I heard that audiences laughed at certain parts, but I’d love to know when, because I found the sex scenes more appealing than some of the dialogue. The film was more Cinderella soap opera than flat-out porn. But the themes here are not for kids or young teens.

Movie Review - Still Alice

Movie Review: “Still Alice”

Reviewed by Gerti

The movie “Still Alice” is based on the book of the same name by Lisa Genova. It stars Julianne Moore as Alice Howland, a 50-year-old woman whose life is overturned by Early-Onset Alzheimer’s disease. I read the book several months ago, and therefore was very excited to see the movie version, hoping it would put into poignant pictures what Genova had so terrifyingly described in her book, but the book is much better than the film.

The movie story is pretty much the same, but I am bothered by the petty differences, because I can’t see why they were changed. For example, in the book, Alice is a Harvard professor. In the movie version, she is a professor at Columbia, and therefore lives in New York rather than Boston. My husband thinks the change was made because the New York Film commission offered the movie makers more money, or was more accommodating, but still I find the change disturbing. In the book, Alice’s husband wants to move her to New York where he is offered a better job, so it is jarring for me to see her story start there.

Another change I think occurred because the screenwriter was a man, rather than a woman. The book was devastating to read because as Alice’s condition worsens, her husband draws away from her, saying about his move from Boston where she is comfortable to New York that it wouldn’t matter to her anyway, because she “wouldn’t know the difference” by the time they moved. That was a pivotal moment in the book, because while their kids are horrified that he can even think that way, it is a factual statement. Alice’s degeneration is so rapid, that she eventually doesn’t feel comfortable in the home where she’s spent the last several decades. But the screenwriter doesn’t use that line or that entire scene, and I think its omission is a mistake. While not critical to the action, the line is key to understanding the attitude not only of Alice’s husband about her condition, but about how her family and the world at large views Alice and her disease. With her memory failing, she is reduced by them to the status of an object, not given credit for emotion or decision-making abilities, even about her own care.

The film is also less impactful than the book because the book is written in first-person narrative, and since the film does not share that point of view, it really loses out as Alice’s condition worsens. One of the most poignant things about the book is that the reader sees Alice’s ability to define and describe her world become smaller. Her vocabulary shrinks, her ability to recognize even her family members shrinks, and that is so much more evident in the book than the movie.

Those critiques aside, however, “Still Alice” is a moving portrayal in microcosm of what it is like to lose your memory and hence “yourself”. Alice states in the film that she wishes she had cancer, because the world can sympathize with a cancer patient. Having Alzheimer’s though drives people away, as it takes from her everything it meant to be Alice. The movie’s ending seemed abrupt, and several scenes are not described clearly, but the 101 minutes flew by for me. I wish the film makers had given the book’s telling of Alice’s story more weight. Great acting performance by Julianne Moore, but lacking the depth and heart of Genova’s book.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Reading Level: Young Adult

Submitted by Gerti

I’m so proud of Northwestern University graduate Veronica Roth for this brilliant debut YA novel. Although teens consider it this year’s “Hunger Games”, that comparison does not mean it is bad. “The Hunger Games” is the story of a young woman’s struggle to survive in a dystopian world, and so is “Divergent,” but in Veronica Roth’s novel, the setting is Chicago, which makes this an even more interesting read for someone familiar with the city and its sights like Navy Pier and Millennium Park. Also in Roth’s favor is the fact that her heroine, Beatrice Prior, has a normal name. Sorry, Suzanne Collins. I think Katniss is a mouthful.

In THG, the brave new world is divided into 12-ish districts, and just about any teen can tell you which tribute comes from which district, and what that district makes or grows. In Roth’s world, there are five factions instead, and they are divided into specific virtues that the survivors of a war decided were important to keep around. Protagonist Beatrice (or Tris, as she becomes later) is from Abnegation, a grey-wearing, Amishesque group who believe that being selfless is the path to true peace. The other groups are Candor (for the painfully honest), Dauntless (for the insanely brave), Amity (for the friendly), and Erudite (for those who like research and reading). But there is movement between the groups.

Just as in THG, teenaged Tris is at this turning point in her life where she must choose what to be. In the Hunger Games, the districts have to send tributes to the eponymous “games”. In Roth’s world, each 16 year old has to undergo a series of mental tests which determine (to a large extent) to which faction they truly belong. Tris has had a hard time being selfless like her parent’s in Abnegation, and her test shows it. But she is something even rarer called Divergent (hence the title), which means that she has elements of various factions. Her test giver changes the results so this fact isn’t automatically known to her superiors, and warns Tris that she should tell no one about the results (not even her family), as being Divergent can be deadly.

Despite some qualms about leaving her family, Tris chooses Dauntless, and her new name comes with her introduction there as a Transfer. Like THG again, there is some training, there are some tests, but like Katniss Everdeen, Tris is able to learn and move from the bottom to the top of the ranks of new Dauntless candidates by playing to her own peculiar strengths. Like any young adult novel, Tris makes friends, faces down enemies, and has several opportunities for romance within her new faction. Of course there are symbols for each faction (think marketing opportunities!) and Tris gets a few tattoos which reflect her heritage and choices. The final scenes of the book involve her foiling an Erudite revolution against Abnegation involving a Dauntless army… and if that sounds too confusing, you must read the book! It is a thrilling trip into a dystopian post-war Chicagoland filled with teenaged angst and adventure. Can’t wait to read the next one!

Catching Fire the Movie!

Sunday night I went and saw Catching Fire and I loved it.  It has been a while since I read the books so I didn't spend the whole movie analyzing what was right and what was wrong.  For the most part it seemed like they followed the book.  If they made changes I think it just enhanced the movie.  Of course since this is a trilogy the ending leaves you hanging.

But never fear we only have another year to wait to see Mockingjay part 1!  I still can't believe they are splitting the book into two movies.  They just love to torture us.

If you have seen the movie leave a comment letting us know how you thought it compared to the book.

Calling All Vampire Academy Fans

I was very excited to see on People.com that Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series was finally coming to the big screen.  It looks like the movie will be opening at theaters on Valentines Day!  Guys if you want to impress your ladies take them to this movie.  We can only hope it is as good as the book.