The Book Thief Book 10/50

If you haven't read The Book Thief, you should. The characters are drawn brilliantly. The style is refreshing. The story is addictive. The narrator is unique. There is little about this book that I didn't appreciate (the font for the pagination was a bit hard to read, but that's getting picky).

As with movies I enjoy, books I love are equally as difficult to review. I do not want to spoil the experience of reading this one for anyone.

But I will tell you that I pretty much cried non-stop for the last 50 or so pages of this book. I recommend you have a box of tissues ready.

Attack the Block (2011) Film 32/50

Conversation with my friend Hoffmann while standing in line for The Room shortly before midnight last Saturday night...

HOFFMANN: Have you seen Attack the Block?
ME: No, what's it about?
HOFFMANN: It's about...well, I'm not going to tell you. Just watch it.

And so I did.

And I was glad he didn't give me much more than that to go on, too.

However, for those of you who'd like to learn a little more about the film prior to watching, read on. And to those of you who have seen it already, I'd be curious to hear your opinions on this film.

The Room (2003) Film 31/50

At first, I debated whether or not to list The Room among my fifty-fifty films, as this experience was more like a live comedy act than a film screening. But then I remembered that it's only April. At this rate, I'll make my fifty movies by the end of June. And so The Room becomes Film #31.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest Film 30/50

@MBlomkvist can u lend me ur copy of "the notebook"? #imissmydad

They took some liberties translating the third book into a movie. Not that they didn't do that with the other two films. But this one resembled the book not unlike how Demi Moore's version of The Scarlet Letter (1995) "captured" the spirit of the Hawthorne classic. By that, I mean, not at all.

Contagion (2011) Film 29/50

Gwyneth just found out that Brad finally proposed to Angelina. Chaos ensues.

So Contagion. That was a fun 106 minutes of my life that I'll never get back. Or rather, depressing. Keep getting those two mixed up. But you probably want the spoilers. Yes. Lots of contagious spoilers.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest Book 9/50

These books are long yet addictive. And I am now done with the Millennium series. At least, with the texts. The movies are an entirely separate challenge.

The final installment leaves off exactly where the second ended. So if you've not read the first two books, this review will be a bit of a spoiler for you. Consider that your one and only warning. But that's just for the first two books. I'll play nice and try to keep the exciting details of this book to a minimum.

On to the book...

The Cabin in the Woods (2011) Film 28/50

Like Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard? Then you will enjoy this movie. It has everything. AND a unicorn. Plus Tom Lenk as Ronald the Intern.

You should see it. It currently holds the title of "My Favorite Movie of 2012" (so what if it's only April). Gives just the right balance of scare factor plus laughter. And the laughter is intended. I swear.

The only thing it was missing was James Marsters.

I'm not going to give you the full autopsy on this one, as the movies I do enjoy are the ones hardest to write about afterwards. Just know that it's worth the price of admission if you enjoy horror/dark humor. Very dark humor.

The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009) Film 27/50

Varför så allvarlig?

(Yes, that's Swedish for "Why so serious?")

At least, it is according to Google Translate.

While this make-up job was in actuality mentioned in Stieg Larsson's book (published in 2006), I still maintain it's an homage to Heath Ledger's Joker. And nothing will ever change my mind about that. Nothing.

So the movie...

The Girl Who Played with Fire Book 8/50

Although slightly longer than The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, this book was a much faster read. And while there certainly could have been some major edits to this installment of the series, I enjoyed reading this book.

One of the things I found most interesting about reading this book was how I imagined the characters differently throughout the story. Having seen both film versions of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (something I had not done prior to reading the first book), I found myself picturing Mikael Blomkvist as Daniel Craig at some times (in truth, the majority of the book) and as Michael Nyqvist at others (mainly when Blomkvist did something lame, like punch a fist into the air in celebration). Lisbeth Salander, on the other hand, was imagined as more of an amalgam of Noomi Rapace and Rooney Mara. Go figure.

But you probably want to hear about the story.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Film 26/50

Before I can begin discussing this film, I need to explain a few things. First, I loved the book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. LOVED IT. Jonathan Safran Foer did a phenomenal job writing his novel, and I felt unbelievably conflicted when I heard that they were making a movie out it.

Then I saw the trailer. And I found myself even more conflicted. Tom Hanks? Sandra Bullock? For real? At least the unknown they had cast as Oskar looked like the boy I'd imagined while reading the book.

So it took me a while to get around to seeing this one. I'd heard mixed reviews. But I'm glad I eventually got around to seeing it. While I didn't love it as much as the book, it had its moments.

Drive (2011) Film 25/50

Hey girl, it took you long enough to see my movie, but I still love you.
Wanna go for a long, quiet ride with me?

For a movie about a Hollywood stuntman who moonlights as a getaway driver, Drive was surprisingly slow. At least for the first fifty minutes or so.

The Magicians Book 7/50

"It was about damn time something happened."

-Lev Grossman, page 297

This book is 402 pages long, and even though that line appears on page 297, nothing remotely exciting happens until page 338. Seriously.

I'll just warn you now...I'm going spoil the living daylights out of this book. If you haven't read the book, I do not encourage you to try. However, if that warning isn't enough to convince you to not read this book, then you should probably stop reading this review right now.

Onward to the spoilers.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) Film 24/50

Oh, James Franco. Aren't you adorable trying to convince us that you're smart enough to cure Alzheimer's. I do, however, completely buy that you would cause the downfall of humanity as we know it. Go figure.

So Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Once you get past your disbelief that Franco is a scientist (assuming you can) and the fact that no actual chimpanzees were used in the filming of the movie (I'm pretty sure that one dog we saw was CGI, too), the plot is totally believable. To-tal-ly.

Allow me now to spoil the film for those of you who have not seen it yet:

Beginners (2010) Film 23/50

It's the classic story of Boy meets Girl, Girl has laryngitis, Girl brings Boy back to hotel room where Boy tells Girl his father came out of the closet after his mother died of cancer and then died of cancer four years later leaving Boy with cute Jack Russell terrier, Girl dies in tragic blimp accident.

That is, minus the whole "Girl dies in tragic blimp accident" part.