“Good Morning England” is a comedy germano-franco-British carried out and written by Richard Curtis in 2009.
The film is inspired by the true story of Radio Caroline, a boat anchored to the limit of British territorial water to face the interdict issued by the authorities to prevent the free radios from emitting. This film tells the life of a crew of Djs which diffuse of Rock’n’roll and of the pop music in the United Kingdom.

I liked much this film first of all for his originality, it is very humorous. Moreover, I like much the music rock’n’roll of the Sixties!! So, if you are like me, I advise it to you!!!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnQc3lO4JDs[/youtube]

http://www.google.fr/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekexchange.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F04%2FLegion-quad.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekexchange.com%2Fsyfys-dominion-to-play-sequel-to-legion-111887.html&h=1350&w=1800&tbnid=s8OF8RFt0Fr2BM%3A&zoom=1&q=l%C3%A9gion&docid=djjBqCjBhjMYYM&hl=fr&ei=eylzU9rNIsqU0AWJxoCACw&tbm=isch&client=firefox-a&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=422&page=1&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=0CF4QrQMwAg

What happen when God loses faith in mankind ?

The story takes place in a roadside restaurant.There are 7 characters, when an old woman comes in the restaurant and asks a raw steak . The waitress who is pregnant, wonders why, and I understand, because we must be really crazy to ask a raw steak when you are old
So, after she was served, the old woman tell at the waitress that she wants to kill her baby, and mainly… Burn her baby! Afterwards, she becomes an angel, and kills one man in snatching a piece of his neck!

•••

Ok, that’s crazy! And that’s just the four first minutes of the film! The following is really great! We discover that an Archangel Michael wants to rescue the world even if he must derogate from the rules of God, who ordered the destruction of all Humans! I won’t tell you all of the story.. would not it be funny
If you like the Supernatural, Fantasy, Thriller, Horror Movie, Action Movie I recommend you this film!

? Look out, sometimes this is really boring and repetitive. ?

Dead poets society is Peter Weir’s movie, an american director. The main character is Todd Anderson ( we can’t really say that he’s the main character indeed but he’s the most likeable). He arrives in a prestigious school at the beggining of the film where he meets rather reach and skilled at school young men. All his teachers are careful and authoritarian man exept one of them: his literature’s teacher : Mr Keating. His first words are « Carpe Diem ».
Teaching a class without dreams, without others ambitions that one’s of their parents, he wants his students to become more sensitive. The poets society is a society created by Mr keatin and his friends when they were younger and the boys rebuild this society in spite of their conditions ( their parents’ disagreement, the condemnation of their school…).

This movie is another story of freedom and youth but it also explore their limits, it shows that sensitivity often leads to tragical ends. Can we think that our society is adapted to this kind of freedom? I think we should wath this film because of its poetry.

There is an italian-japanese serie based on Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle. It has started in 1981 , but it was stoped cause of rights of author , and took up again in 1984.

In this serie , the all characters are anthropomorphous animals. Sherlock is a fox and Watson is a dog. The professor Moriarty , him , is a wolf.

It’s an old serie , but I’ve saw some episodes and I’ve found it good. To see !

The Chronicles of Narnia is a film that I particularly like, it link to Alice in Wonderland because here also we are in the wonderful. Again we can talk with animals and also fight with them.
The characters are endearing especially little Lucy, she’s the first person who comes in this strange world.
Moreover, it was written by an Irish writer CS Lewis, a close friend of JRR Tolkien the writer of The Hobbit.

Hamlet was adapted in japanese anime too , in an OAV from the manga Black Butler. It’s an special episode in the serie , and each character have to play a character of Hamlet.

The main character of the manga , Ciel , plays the role of Hamlet , and the typical sentence  » To be or not to be  » is present of course.

In my opinion , this adaptation isn’t really good , but it’s funny.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the second film of the new story of Spider-Man and the fifth of the studio Colombia Pictures who speaks about this hero.

Spider-Man is an hero who was created by Marvel Comics

The movie went out in 2014 and was realized by Marc Webb.

In that movie Peter Parker ( Spider-Man ) has graduate. His life is very chaotic and he spend his time has to fight the evil in New York and sees little Gwen his girlfriend because he was haunted by the memory of his dead father. But one of his old friends Harry Osborn is back at New York. His father is died and herited from his company.

Between stories with Gwen Stacy, a new monster Max and his friend Harry, Peter is going to discover the reason of the disappearance of his parents.

This movie is magnificent, the effects are very good and fall (double sense) is very sad.

Clearly this film is amazing !

On january 2006, Ilan Halimi was kidnapped. He disappear 24 days and when he was found, he was almost dead and die in the ambulance going to the hospital. He was just 23 years. For 24 days he was tortured and maltreated because of his belonging to the Jewish community.

He was  kidnapped by a group of muslim of the Parisian surburb, directed by Youssouf Fofana. It’s called « the gang of barbarians » because of their abuse of violence. They ask for a ransom because they were conviced that the Jewish community was rich and will paid for the life of one of them.

For a long time, authorities refused to admit that it was an antisemitic action and says that it was only for money but, Ruth Halimi, mother of the victim, strongly believed otherwise. So, She wrote a book named « 24 days, the truth about Ilan Halimi’s dead » with the help of Emilie Frèche, a young writter to denounce and make aware of  the presence of anti-Semitism in a society supposedly tolerant: she would like to said to other social minorities to be careful: wickedness still exist despite appearances.

It has just been adapted to film by Alexandre Arcadi with the wonderful Zabou Breitman on the play of Ruth Halimi. It is a great film that takes a slape in your face. It really makes you feel ill at ease and almost shameful for the behavior of some people because of prejudices introduced by the evolution of our cultur.

I recommend to all the movie «Django uchained», if you have not already seen it.

It’s a movie directed by Quentin Tarantino, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz and Jamie Foxx as the main actors.

 This happens two years before the Civil War, the superiority of whites over blacks is alive at this moment ! I find some moments really enjoyable, the characters are endearing and I think that thestory-board itself is very good. Good viewing

This film is one of the two film adaptations of the novel by Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice. This adaptation stays faithful next to the film. What’s more, he’s less boring than the another adaption made by BBC.

Keira Knightley is very beautiful in the version of Joe Wright even if the actress ( Jennifer Ehle) as Elizabeth in the film of BBC corresponds better in this role, for me. Whereas, I find the two actors as Mr Darcy are perfect both : Matthew Macfadyen is very handsome, and Colin Firth is very charming!

The advantage with the Joe Wright’s vision of Pride and Prejudice is that the film isn’t long, and that the aesthetic of the film is greatly good implemented.

So, I let you discover the one or another of this two adaptations and tell me, according to you, which is the better.

V for Vendetta is a political thriller film directed by James McTeigue, and released in 2006. The famous Wachowski brothers made the screenplay, with Hugo Weaving as V, and Natalie Portman as Evey Hammond. The film is based of the Vertigo/DC Comics comics V for Vendetta, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd.

We are in 2038, in London. The founder of « The Norsefire » facist party, Adam Suttler control the United Kingdom. The society is heavily oppressed : citizens are muzzled, because they are afraid of the secret police of the party called the « Fingermen » ,medias are censored, , political opponents, immigrants, muslims, homosexuals and other « undesirables » are imprisoned in concentration camps, tortured, and killed. During the night of the fourth of november , Evey Hammond is saved of a rape by a mysterious man wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, and presenting himself as V. He will teach her a life without fear, and will offer her the opportunity to create a new world, whereas he will accomplish is Vendetta, a revenge for everything he has suffered in the past.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7k0sXeIBu8[/youtube]

You must say « But what is the link with English literature ? ». If you have seen the film, you must know why. V is a quite cultivated character, and throughout the film, he speaks using Shakespeare plays quotes (McBeth, Hamlet, Richard III, Twelfth Night). He also has a great cinematographic and musical culture.

I just loved this film, because, first, in my opinion, it conveys a great idea (of liberty, revolution..I can not mention them all!), the screenplay is really good (for a blockbuster), V’s home is amazing, and I really loved the actors play ! Even behind a mask, Hugo Weaving gives life to an expressionless face, just with his voice, the way he moves, for me he does a great job ! And Natalie Portman interprets really well Evey’s character, with emotions (especially at the end). And as I always say : I love the soundtrack ! Very simple, but very nice ! So I suggest you to watch the movie, and discover the reason of V’s Vendetta.

It is a novel, written by Stephen King in 1996 before to be a huge film three years later in 1999. It tells us the story of Paul Edgecombe, who is the head of a death row in a prison, and his meeting with John Coffey who is a death row inmate after having been accused of murdering two little girls, but Coffey isn’t like the other criminals he is very generous but the most important thing about him is  that he disposes extraordinary healing powers.

I have put the trailer of the movie below the article for these who have never seen it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctRK-4Vt7dA[/youtube]

I saw a big part of that film at school last year, it is an adaptation of the  non fiction book of the same name written by jon Krakauer in 1996. The plot is about a young american  student named Christopher McCandless who has obtained his degree and is destined for a great future but he will blow it all away, because he rejects the society, so he abandones the american dream for an adventurous life. The scene i remember the most, is the scene when he is in the restaurant with his family after having his degree. When his father proposes to buy him a new car, Christopher refuses and says « what’s wrong with my old car, i don’t want a new car » this scene really presents the character of Christopher who don’t want to be a part of the society.

Sorry i have not found the restaurant scene so i picked the firs scene of the movie, i hope you wiil enjoy!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i80VmofNXW4[/youtube]

« Harry potter and the sorcerer’s stone » is the first episode of the Harry Potter saga to be relesead on the cinema. The books have been written by J.K  Rowling,  the first book isn’t entitled « Harry potter and the sorcerer’s stone » but « Harry Potter and the pilosopher’s stone ». This is one of the only differences between the movie and the book in this one because in the other one’s the story is not as much respected as in the first one, that’s why i only talk about the first film and not about the others. Every sceen is meticulously respected for exemple, the scene with the sorting hat who locates the first year students is totaly respected, when the hat takes his time to choose Harry’s house, he hesitated to locate him into slytherin but finally after Harry’s request the sorting hat sends him to Gryffindor.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fA3dbvRCui0[/youtube]

It was a film released in 2009, produced by Clint Estwood. The movie was starring Morgan freeman, Matt Damon and many other well known actors. It’s a drama film but also an history film.

This film shows us, that the sport unites everyone, that there is no differences between black and white people, that their live with the same hopes and dreams

I hope, you will like the video because i did!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXRqGm0h-X0[/youtube]

After started studying the poem « Funeral Blues » by WH Auden, I would like to talk about « Four Weddings and a Funeral » where the poem is recited by one of the characters in the film at his lover’s funeral.
This film is a massively successful British romantic comedy. It staged the misadventures of a group of friends seen through the eyes of Hugh Grant, who is obsessed by Carrie (Andie MacDowell). So this film is between weddings and funerals. This is for me the romantic comedy bringing all those that followed.. There are very good actors, humor and tenderness. To see!

To see the trailer : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHyCtw6BB20

Hello !

Have you ever seen Ray, this movie which focusing on 30 years of the life of Ray Charles? this film was directed by Taylor Hackford, and I personally loved it ! 

Ray Charles was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s. he was a musician and a composer. In this film, we can see the dark times of his life.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1rJvSF3l6k[/youtube]

Looking into this blog, I have read an article about The Vow, a movie with Rachel McAdams, an actress who I particularly appreciate.

Consequently, now,  I would like to talk about an other movie starring her and Ryan Gosling. This movie is entitled The Notebook, (« N’oublie Jamais » in french) and it was released in 2004.

It is the story of a woman who have the Alzheimer’s disease and who live in a retirement home. Each day, Noah reads her the same book. This is the book where Allie has recorded its own story when she learned her illness. Not to forget her feelings, she wrote, and Noah reads to her her own words.

Behind them, we will discover Allie (the old woman) in the thirties, madly in love with a young man, Noah (the reader). Her mother will do anything to keep her, her situation is not considered good enough.
After years of separation, at the end of the Second World War, Allie is ready to marry a rich lawyer. When she reads the newspaper, she learns the return of Noah, the mood takes him again. Escaping a life of convenience, the two young people meet and discover that their love remained intact. They spend the rest of their lives together, until Allie lost memory..

I must say that the end of this movie is not really cheerfull and I could cry each time I see it ahah. But, for people who like drama and romance, I really recommend you to watch it !

And you ? Have you seen this film ? what is your opinion ?

Few month after the end of the 7th season, I would like to share my favorite series with you.

Doctor Who is a british sci-fi serie beggining on november 1963. It tell the storie of an alien who look like a human. He is a time traveler and save humanity of alien’s attack. It’s actually the oldest series in world: 26 season were distributed between October 1963 and 1996before the BBC stopped it because of a lack of audience. Fox takes the concept in 2005 and continue the storie of this strange character.

It is named Doctor Who because one of the most important plot of the serie is the name of the doctor: only two characters know it (the doctor and his wife) and this question regulary come back « doctor ? but, doctor who ? »

The doctor survived 33 season (26 before 1996 and 7 after 2005) because of one of the particuliarity of the characters is his ability to resurect in an other body twelve times, so there is twelve actors playing the same role but with little differences of characters. My favorite one his the one of the season 5,6 and 7 : Matt Smith. He is complitely neurotic,has a strange sence of humour (second degree, black humour, uses the literal sense of the words…) and always wear a bow tie, wich makes him the most charismatic doctor of doctor who !

Unfortunatly, the next season (that beggin in september) is about an other doctor ( normaly the last one: Matt Smith was the 11th). It will be hard to mourn Matt Smith, but I swear, I try hard!

You know certainly the famous Hannibal Lecter who is a character in Thomas Harris’s Novels or you know the adaptation of these novels to the cinema.

 Since a moment i look the series developed by Brian Fuller in 2013.  The story is based on novels. The character Hannibal is played by Mads Mikkelsen. In the series Hannibal is a psychiatrist.  Will Graham has the capacity to think as a killer and he is recruited by the FBI. But his gift is very hard to support for him.  So the FBI decided that Will would be followed by doctor Hannibal Lecter.

It is a very beautiful police series who is very surprising. There is a very good casting. Mads Mikkels is a perfect Hannibal. A very strange atmosphere with many suspense. A very good  realisation with an exceptional esthetic. But some scenes are violent.

I would like to talk about a film that marked me : This film is Virgin Suicides directed by Sofia Coppola in 1999.

This story takes place in a quiet American city of seventy years. Cecilia Lisbon, thirteen tries to commit suicide. She has four sisters, pretty teenage girls. This incident lights some new day the lifestyle of the whole family. The story is told by the intermediate vision of neighborhood boys obsessed by the mysterious sisters, portrayed with cynicism teenage life. Gradually, the family confines itself to itself. And , quickly, the girls are forbidden to leave from their home. But, the boys want to wear secour at these mysterious girls.

Virgin Suicides is for me a film that you feel more than we understand. Because these girls are so mysterious and this film affects us in what is more tragic, more pathetic but also more tender. Morroever, Sofia Coppola films very well the pain of living which has no explication.
The original soundtrack (made by Air) goes very well with the film.
For me, it is a masterpiece.
I know it’s not an easy film but you should watch it, it is a very good film.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8LCLCUJYd8[/youtube]

I would like to share with you my new treasure.

I discovered a film by Jim Jarmusch was directed in 1995. It is a exceptional western. The soundtrack composed by Neil Young who is great musician. In this movie Young improvised the music. This film is  in black and whrite and the shots are wonderful.  The story takes place in 1870,William Blake (Johnny Depp) a naive young man goes in the lost city who is very strange  for work in Mr Dickinson’s compagny. But when he arrives the job is alrealdy took. He meets an old prostitute and the problems  begin. He becomes a rebel, he is pursued and he is hurt. So he meets Nobody an indian who is rejected by his tribe. This man thinks that William Blake is the poet and he decides to save his soul. 

The director in his film we show an interpretation of the death. It is  special.

The landscape is beautiful. The music is rock’n’roll. This film is very original.

The Help is an America drama film starring Emma Stone, written and directed by Tate Taylor in 2011. It’s the film adaptation of Kathryn Stockett’s novel.
This story happens in 60’s  in a town in Mississippi. There is a white woman called Skeeter, she just finishes her studies of journalism and she would like to become writer. She is interested in black housemaid’s living conditions. She looks for positive or negative testimonies concerning them. At the time, these black women look after children’s education and housework. Subsequently, Skeeter meets Aibileen and Minny who are two black housemaids, one is insolent and the other obedient. She asks them to tell their story to make a book. But it’s choking to ask that because black people aren’t allowed to tell their experience, it’s a taboo subject. Then a friendship grows between these three women. Skeeter is totally different of the others, black and white can’t see.
Thanks to this story, the audience can feel what black people have undergone at this period of America. This film includes emotion, nonsense and caricatural points but also humor.
I saw this film some time ago and I find that it’s an interested story to show the state of mind of America concerning black people, even if nowadays there is still racism. Moreover, I find that this movie is pleasant to watch and the actors play well!

The films Sherlock holmes and A Game of Shadows by Guy Ritchie, with Robert Downey Jr (Sherlock Holmes) and Jude Law (Dr Watson) are the last films today with the character of Arthur Conan Doyle.

The first release tell how Sherlock Holmes and his friend, Dr Watson succeed in the arrest of Lord Blackwood after a serie of muders. But Lord Blackwood say that he will come back to life, after his hanging, to revenge him. So after his resurrection unexplained, the city of London panic.

In the second release, Sherlock holmes faces professor Moriarty. This man want death and destruction. Across France, Swiss and Germany Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson unlock the mysteries of Pr Moriarty.

I find the facias expressions of Robert Downey Jr present an excentric Sherlock holmes with his fads. It make humours with his behaviour. I prefer the first than the second release but this last is very interesting for his set and his costumes.

And you what do you think about this two films?

Nosferatu is an adaptation of the gothic novel Dracula, written by Bram Stoker. The silent film was directed by Murnau (a German director) in 1921, and released in 1922, starring Max Schreck as (the vampire) Count Orlok.

Because it was an unauthorized adaptation of the Bram Stoker’s novel, Murnau decided to change characters names and some details of the story, so we can say that Dracula’s story inspired the director.

Thomas Hutter and the Count Orlok

Nosferatu ; The Bird of Death

The story takes place in 1938, Thomas Hutter, a young man, was sent in Transylvania to sell an house to the Count Orlok. During the journey, people, who heard him say the name of the Count, were totally scared and discouraged him to do the travel to the castle during the night, because of the werewolf. When Hutter arrived at Count Orlok castle, he noticed a strange atmosphere. And, when he met the Count, the young man suspected him to be Nosferatu the vampire (because of his strange behaviour). One evening, when the two men signed the agreement to buy the house, Orlok discovered the portrait of Hutter’s wife, Ellen. And, during the night, Hutter discovered Count Orlok true nature (his suspicions were true) : he was Nosferatu, the Bird of Death.

But what happened next ? I let you discovered !

Nosferatu, the film

It is the third film adaptation of Stephen King’s 1974 novel of the same name. The movie contrary to the novel is not circled around the religious aspect but it circles around what can happen if you push someone to an extreme. And that’s what happens at the end of the movie when everyone is laughting at her at the ball, she cannot control her power anymore because she has accumulated too much hatred and is consumed by it so that she can’t control herself anymore.

The Hobbit, is a film co written fantasy saga, produced and directed by Peter Jackson, inspired by the british novel The Hobbit written by J.R.R Tolkien. This project is the continuation of the adaptation from the trilogy « The Lord of the Ring » also produced by Peter Jackson.

The video bellow the scene shows how the animation supervisors worked on the animation of the fantastic characters in this case we are talking about the troll’s, the system used is the motion capture stage. So that when they are framing the shot they can see each other because their motions are translated into the camera. This shows us that the team has experience, because they work with each other for a long time now. I think that this saga will dazzle us in the years to come.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQcgX108xw[/youtube]

 » Shakespeare in love  » is a movie realised by John Madden in 1998. The scenario of Tom Stoppard, is inspired of an episode in the life of Shakespeare dating in 1593.

The movie’s story takes place in London. Shakespeare is still a young playwright collapsing under debt. Harassed by his patron, Shakespeare promises to give him a new play entitled   » Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate Girl « . But he has no inspiration to write this play. However Lady Viola, a young noble woman, worshiping Shakespeare for his sonnets, dream to meet him and become an actress, but the theater is forbidden to women at this time. So, she disguises as a boy and wins the role of Romeo. But W.Shakespeare will quickly discover the indentity of this young girl and falls in love with her. Thanks to this love, the inspiration of Shakespeare will return, and he will finally find the plot and the new title of the play  » Romeo and Juliet « .

The story has many characters who really existed, but it is largely fictitious. In fact, we‘re not really sure of the reality of the fact evoked in this movie, because the story of William Shakespeare still has this day not totally full for the historians.

In English class, we saw Invictus by Clint Eastwood realised in 2009. The story happened in 1995, South Africa organised the World Cup Rugby. At this period Mandela began to be president of country. He staid 27 years in jail and he spent his life to struggle against apartheid. He thinks that thank to sport black and white people could be a national union. There is a team called Springboks, it’s a symbol for a long time of white people of South Africa ; “one team, one country”. White people govern apartheid. Mandela would change mentalities to make live the Rainbow nation.

I’d like to introduce a film that I love, called « Three meters above the sky » given it is a Spanish film here his title in Spanish « Tres metros sobre el cielo » its French title is « Twilight Love ». The film was directed by Fernando Gonzalez Molina in 2010 with major players Mario Casas and Maria Valverde.
This is the story of an impossible love between Babi, a girl of 17 years, from the high society and Hugo (nicknamed « H »), a rebellious young man, carefree, ill at ease, Which used to date only girls who not respect themselves and participate in illegal races … So are complete opposites, they fall in love. And follows a story like no other.
I found the movie very sad and at the same time so exciting.

Birdy is an american movie made by Alan Parker in 1984.

The main characters are Birdy played by Matthew Modine, and his friend, Al, played by the famous Nicolas Cage.

In fact, I watched this movie one hour ago and I want to write an article about it because it was a real slap for me.

It’s the story of two young friends, Al and Birdy. Birdy is mad about birds and he dreams of the possibility of flying : it’s the only thing he likes. However, the two men have to go to the Vietnam war and they come back totally differents : Al is disfigured and Birdy stays in a hospital, alone, looking at the window without speaking and dreaming, he wants to run away and fly. Al is very sad when he sees his friend like that, and he wants to help him.

This movie is very touching, we can see the relationship of these two characters who are very close. It is also tortured and destabilizing, I think it’s a real masterpiece.

You should watch it, I know it’s not an easy movie, and it’s not the kind of movie we can watch during an evening with our family but it is a very good film.

William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet is a movie of Bad Luhrmann made in 1996.

Romeo is played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Juliet by Claire Danes. In fact, it’s the story of Romeo and Juliet but it takes place in the 90’s…

It’s exactly the same story written by Shakespeare : the Capulet and the Montaigu can’t stand each other, Romeo and Juliet can’t live their passionate love etc. I think the original story is very good, very romantic and interesting, but the movie totally destroys this universe and the film director made something so boring and bad !

I can’t bear this movie ! Do you ever watched it ? What is your opinion ?

Jane Austen is always a literary phenomenon and her work cannot be overlooked thanks to the themes she talks about in her novels (criticism of the 19th century english society) .

However, she also found spectators at television thanks to very close adaptations of her novels by the BBC. We can note: Pride and Prejudice in 1995 which played a big role in Colin Firth‘s career, Emma in 1996 with Kate Beckinsale, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park and Persuasion in 2007, and Sense and Sensibility in 2008.

The creation of these adaptations relaunched the interest for Austen’s novels in United Kingdom like in other countries. A new form of tourism was created thanks to them: the Austenian tourism, which consists in visiting locations to follow in heroes’ footsteps.

Andrew Davis is the scriptwriter who adapted the largest number of novels for the BBC.

Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle in Pride and Prejudice (Simon Langton, 1995)

It’s not a secret, Sherlock Holmes is the most famous private detective of the world and also the most adapted on screen. A lot of films and series refered to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels and short stories (like Guy Ritchie’s movies with Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law or the series Elementary). But I would like to talk about my favorite adaptation wich is incredibly well written by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat and diffused on TV since 2010.

The famous detective is incarnated by Benedict Cumberbatch and Watson by the most famous Hobbit of the world: Martin Freeman. Their performance are perfectly well done and pretty original. The screenplay is ingeniously transposed on the 21th century and we find some Holmes’ famous case (like The Study in pink or The Hounds of Baskerville)

We can see on screen a police series who seems finally be original, ambitious, and full of irony.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/FYheFyrahng[/youtube]

In the Disney « The Lion King« , the viewer sees the relationship between Simba, the young lion and Mufasa, his father. So, the two stories are similar: Scar (Claudius =), the wicked uncle, trap Mufasa (= Hamlet’s father / Polonius) who dies. Scar can then reign on the lion’s earth. After the murder of his father, Simba (= Hamlet) ran away because his uncle accused him of being responsible for the death of his father. He finds refuge with Timon (= Rosencrantz ?) and Pumbaa (=Guildenstern ?), a meerkat and a warthog, which makes this story comic. The same cowardice found at Simba as in Hamlet.. Another common point : thinking about death ; very present in Shakespeare, is also found in the words of Mufasa when he explains to his son the « cycle of life » (the body that turn into grass and the ancestors watching us from the stars).

So I don’t know if we can say that « The Lion King » is a kind of addaptation Hamlet, but in any case, I think there a few similarities with the play.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/5ZqxOb2tJIo[/youtube]

The story of the most famous love of all times, transported in the 20th century in Los Angeles. The gang members Montagues and Capulets fight in the streets and there are a lot of murders. Led by his friend Mercutio and his cousins, Romeo, son Montague, went to a party given by Capulet and falls in love of their only daughter, Juliet. In the center of the war between their two families, Romeo and Juliet swear an indestructible love, which will end tragically.

You had to be very bold to transpose the story of Romeo and Juliet in the world today. The bet has been very successful. Actors, especially Leonardo DiCaprio, playing very well. Of course, Claire Danes changes a little Juliet’s personality in the play, but it still has a very charming side, and makes the film most modern. The scenes are very well filmed. The decorations are beautiful (the beach to the streets of the city). The film may appears very kitsch and tacky today because it tells the lifestyle of the 90s but it succeeds in translating the Shakespeare’s texts  in the twentieth century. And this makes a timeless story.

Masterpiece.

      INVICTUS

 « I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul »
 (extract from William Ernest Henley’s poem « Invictus », 1888)

The film Invictus was directed by Clint Eastwood, in 2009. We can find two well-known actors who play the main characters : Matt Damon (the Springbok’s captain called François Pienaar), and Morgan Freeman (the South African President, Nelson Mandela).

South Africa host the Rugby World Cup, in 1995. At the beginning of his term as president, Nelson Mandela see in this sporting event, the opportunity to unite his contry. In fact, the Springbok’s team (the national rugby team) was a symbol of the white rule in South Africa and also a symbol of the apartheid regime (that is the segregation between the Whites and the Blacks in South Africa). The two leaders, Mandela and Pienaar, aim to unite the « rainbow nation » (with racial groups) behind a common goal : the championship.

I think the project of unite this country behind the Rugby World Cup was one of the biggest challenges for South Africa. This film is very interesting and the two main actors have a lot of talent. They are credible and very moving. I think that Morgan Freeman is admirable in the part of Nelson Mandela and this film is very realistic because of the amazing ressemblance Morgan Freeman with Nelson Mandela.

I really like this film and I would advise you to see it !

It’s official ! Paramount Pictures advertised the release on the big screen « The Little Prince« , adapted from the novel by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

The director Mark Osborne (who directed also « Kung Fu Panda », « Spongebob ») provided the release in France, in late 2015. This film adaptation of the book by Saint-Exupéry is the first, seventy years after his publication. The Little Prince will be the voices of James Franco, Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams and Jeff Bridges.

In my opinion, I have some doubts about the result but I think it’s a very interesting project. This film, like the book, will probably rich and full of fantastic adventures !

Much Ado About Nothing is an American film directed by Josh Whedon in 2012. It’s a new adaptation of the play written by William Shakespeare after Kenneth Brannagh in 1993. In Messina, Leonato, the Governor, learns that Don Pedro intends to visit his house. The Duke’s party arrives with Count Claudio, who had before the war been attracted by Leonato’s only daughter, Hero. Another of the visitors is Benedick, a bachelor, who enjoys speaking his mind in witty argument with Hero’s cousin and companion, the Lady Beatrice.

In this adaptation, the plot is the same but many modern elements are added. It’s a black and white film but there are, from time to time, a few strokes of colour. If the trailer is very rythmic, the film is a little tedious in parts because there are many cues, and sometimes any movement. However, all the cast is excellent, the music is just wonderful, and the situations are very interesting.

Only Lovers Left Alive is a recent film directed by Jim Jarmusch. The director revisits the myth of Adam and Eve and also the story of Dracula.

The scene takes place between Detroit and Tanger. Here, the two main characters are vampires. Adam is an underground musician who is depressed by humans activities. He meets again Eve, his wife, who is an enigmatic woman. Their love story been going on for many centuries. But their existence will be disturbed by the arrival of Eve’s sister, an undisciplined teenager.
Adam and Eve don’t know if they can survive in this modern world that fall around them…

This film is romantic and also gothic. In fact the story is a review of our society.
The main actors play very good and the sound track is very lively. More over, films techniques and the atmosphere are very interesting.
Only Lovers Left Alive is a real success!

Hi ! I would like to talk about the movie Pride and Prejudice directed by Joe Wright and starring by Keira Knightley, Matthew MacFadyen and Talulah Riley.

In a small English village in the reign of George III, Mrs.. Bennet wants to marry her daughters to provide them with a peaceful future. The arrival of new neighbours, Mr. Bingley and his friend Mr. Darcy will result Jane and Elizabeth in tumultuous love affairs. Elizabeth will discover love by meeting the beautiful and aristocratic man, M Darcy.

However, both will ignore their pride that ensue before falling into the arms of the other.

I have seen this movie and I enjoy it ! I could see it numerous times and I particularly enjoy Keira Knightley in the role of Elizabeth !

And you, have you ever seen this movie ?

I’ve seen Pride and Prejudice, the 2005 movie. This romance film is directed by Joe Wright and is based on Jane Austen‘s novel which has the same name (published in 1813).

This movie is very pleasant. The actor play very well and moreover the landscape and the costums are what I especially liked. It is realistic, romantic and it is about familly.

I recommend you this film.

Have you ever watch this film? And the 1995 movie? Which one do you prefer?

Trailer : [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJA27Jujzq4[/youtube]

Yesterday I went to the cinema and I watched Divergente directed by Neil Burger. It’s an adaptation from the teen’s saga Divergent written by Veronica Roth.

The movie takes place in a post-apocalyptic Chicago. After a devastating war, the Government divided the society in five factions: Abnegation (Altruistes) for the selfless; Amity (Fraternels) for the peaceful; Candor (Sincères) for the honest; Dauntless (Audacieux) for the brave and Erudites (Érudits) for the intelligent. Each years, all the teenagers who’s got sixteen have an aptitude test which determined the faction which they are best suited. After that, they decide to stay in their family’s faction or to transfer to anoter faction. This choice is definitive.

Beatrice Prior, a sixteen-year-old Abnegation has her test, it reveals that Beatrice is indicated for three factions: Abnegation, Erudites and Dauntless. In fact, she is a rare person called Divergent. Unfortunatelly this kind of people are pursued by the Government because they are uncontrollables. Beatrice chose Dauntless and changed her name for Tris. How will she do to hide her secret and moreover, to stay in life ?

The movie is amazing. It fits greatly with the novel, every characters are respected and every actors plays perfectly. There are a lots of enlighted shots and a beautiful atmosphere based on lights and shadows. Moreover, it is a good critic of the tomorrow society.

I advise you to watch it realy fast !!

I watched the film of « Pride and Prejudice » by Joe Wright and it’s a good adaptaption of the book. I haven’t read the novel who revolve about the importance for young women of find a husband. This story deals with five girls who should be married and around the relationship between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.
I find that Jane Austen portrayed with humor the behaviour of middle-class and upper-middle families and we can see that in the film this humor is present. So, the film a good adaptation of the novel. Moreover, the actors plays very well and they are in their character. Keira Knightley in the role of Elizabeth is good actress ! Also, the musics in this film are beautilful  as « Dawn ».

Trailer : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dYv5u6v55Y
« Dawn » by Dario Marianelli : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wGzDFbjFko

I have seen this film few weeks ago but I have to admit that it really affected me. The Place beyond the pines is different in the way that it was realized. The plot is devided is 3 parts.

The story’s beginning is about Luke, a gifted motorcycle stunt who work in a funfair and who decided to find his ex girlfriend, Romina, that he left few months ago. They finally meet but he discovers that Romina has remade her life with another man and that he have a son but Romina never wanted to tell him. Beyond the fact that Luke still loving her, he decides to change his life to earn money, to bring a brighter future to his family, especially his son. One day he meets Robin, a garage owner, who tells him how to find the money that Lukes needs : he has to rob banks. Robin explains him that seeing that he his a really gifted moto rider, he can succeed and help his son. Luke accepts and starts to become a robber. He understands that he can become rich and he starts to looking for more. But one day, after an umpteenth rob, things go wrong. Avery Cross, a novice policeman, is determinated to find Luke and stop him. After a long chase, Avery get hurt but kill Luke.

In the second part, we can follow Avery’s recover. The town consider him as a hero by killing a criminal. But in fact, the policeman feels guilty : he knows that he could have avoid this murder and learns that Luke had a son who was the same age as his son. We starts to follow him in his daily life and he perceives that the whole police station is corrupted. Disgusted, he tries to restore the truth in vain. The time passes and Avery feels more and more oppressed by his relatives and people that he thought they were his friends.

In the last part, that takes place years later, we meet Jason, Luke’s son, and AJ, Avery’s son. Both go at the same school and finally starts to being friends. But one day, Jason and AJ are caught smoking drugs and Avery learns that Jason is Luke’s son. Few months later, Jason discovers his father’s past and how is father get killed…

This film is really interessant because the 3 parts are perfectly linked and the plot is really well done :  The fact that the murder’s consequences are moved on their sons is really subtle and interesting : it renforces all the feelings toward the characters. I loved the whay that the director has chosen to follow Avery during his mental breakdown, we can feel the regrets, the bitterness in Avery’s mind and his guiltiness. I also liked the corrupted policemen concept ; it improves dramatic tension and in a way, it bring a kind of realtistic feeling. The riding scales are really impressive too ;

By the way, if I have to talk the cast… How can I hate it when I saw that Ryan Gosling played Luke ? How ? I mean this man must be my favourite american actor : he is mysterious and absolutely touching. This role was perfect for him, a man who just wanted to bring the best to his family and who was determined to do everything for that. Ryan (Or Luke I don’t know anymore haha) is a kind of ideal man to me.

Bradley Cooper is also an excellent actor, I think that he was really made for this role ; someone who dreamed of becoming a symbol of truth and peace in the Police but realized that this world was not that nice.

Oh and a word about Dan DeeHan (Jason).. We have to follow this guy, he is really talented. Even now I don’t understand how he can be so fragile and so strong in the same character. I will have to see his other films.

Yesterday evening, I’ve watched Snow White and the Huntsman and I think is a good idea to speak us about it.

So, it’s an American fantastic movie based on the fairy tale Snow White by the brothers Grimm. The film is directed by Rupert Sanders and it’s written by Evan Daugherty, Martin Solibakke, John Lee Hancock and Hossein Amini. This movie has two Oscar nominations : for Best Visual Effets and Best Costume Design at the 85th Academy Awards. 

I recommend you this movie for his special effect, his modernity and moreover the play of the actors. Snow White, plays by Kristen Stewart and the Hutsman, plays by Chris Hemsworth, are the two means characters who play very well. We can see the fury of the Snow White’s evil stepmother, the Queen Ravenna plays by Charlize Theron, the humor of the dwarves, and the love, too.The landscape is magnificent and the adaptation is trusted.

Trailer : [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-UMNSVX7_I[/youtube]

Behind the scene : [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-UMNSVX7_I[/youtube] (I think it is interesting to see the play of the actors and it show us interesting things.)

Enjoy!

Carrie is an American horror and supernatural movie. It’s an adaptation of the Stephen King’s novel which has the same name. This film is directed by Kimberly Peirce.

Trailer : [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdoVioPv0fs[/youtube]

I recommend you this movie! It’s very interesting. The horror scene is an extra to show nastiness, prejudices, mockery and violence of some people.

Alice in Wonderland is a film directed by Tim Burton and written by Linda Woolverton (from the novel by Lewis Carroll) for Walt Disney Pictures, with Johnny Depp. The film was released in the United States in 2010. After the adaptation in full-length animated Alice in the Wonderland dated 1951, the studio commissioned Tim Burton to direct a new adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s novels, entitled The Adventures of Alice in the Wonderland (1865) and On the other side of the mirror (1871). This is a fantastic animated film.

Alice Kingsley is a girl who is nineteen years old. She has a boundless imagintation which attracts her a lot of trouble. Her father’s death affected her so she became quite cold and sarcastic. An afternoon, Alice is sought in marriage by Hamish Ascot, an arrogant Lord and very little seductive. At this moment, Alice see a strange white rabbit that has a pocket watch. She follows him. Alice runs away. She said that this marriage arrives a little too quickly. She arrives in front of a curious dead trunk tree. Alice falls in a rabbit hole, in darkness. She arrives in a world opposite of his own : the Wonderland. She will meet a cast of strange characters (the famous White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, the March Hare, the Dormouse, the twins Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee and in particular, the Mad Hatter whose real name is Tarrant Hightopp) and find themselves confronted the paradox, absurdity and strange… Alice doesn’t know what happened to Wonderland. She learns that the Red Queen with his Valet red, took power by releasing the Jabberwocky, a frightening monster. Alice will have to ally with the crazy Mad Hatter and the White Queen in order to get rid of the tyranny of the Red Queen and restore justice and peace.

In my opinion, this adaption is the better because of her special effetcs for example. This film directed by Tim Burton uses a combinaison of actual shooting and the animation technique. The result is surprising and amazing !

I’m sorry but if you like Tim Burton and if you think that he’s a genius of the cinema, you probably won’t like this article . The thing is I like less and less Burton’s movies. he has his own world and some interesting ideas but we often find  the same elements :the staging,  the music (often made by Danny Elfman),the characters (always alone, marginal and tortured). Johnny Deep is often present (in 8 films) as Helena Bonham Carter (in 7 films). The only movie that seems to be detached from this scheme is Ed Wood output in 1994 ( a black and white movie which chronicles the life of « the worst Hollywood’s directer »). It’s my favorit film of Mr Burton.

• I am much less admirative for Alice in wonderland ,output in 2010. Despite a quite well done comic, this movie is a perfect copy of his previous films ( except Ed Wood). We feel that Burton doesn’t try to innovate anymore and merely uses his usual visual and his favorits actors.
• Moreover, in this movie, the main character isn’t really Alice, but the Mad Hatter played by Johnny Deep again (to believe that Burton has a true « Depp-endance »).In fact ,he is the most accentuated character (always in my opinion), more than Alice. We can also find this in Charlie and the chocolate factory where the character of Willy Wonka (also played by Johnny Deep!) is much more important than Charlie.
• Burton takes some liberty with the original story of « Alice in wonderland », making it darker (representing « underland » rather than « wonderland »), to better match his world ( which is a good thing).

Even if the story is overrall well done and the visuals are remarkable (especially in 3D), I think this movie stay too little innovative and not equal Tim Burton’s first movies (like Edouard Scissorhands or Sleepy Hollow )

« 12 years a slave » is one of the movies who touched me the most in my life. That’s why it was impossible for me to not talk about it.

It’s the third film of Steve McQueen and the consecration’s one. After « Hunger » and « Shame » (which are really great movies), McQueen decided to adapt an autobiography written by Solomon Northup ( the movie’s main character) published in 1853. In his book, Solomon tells how he was captured to be sold as a slave while he was a rich free man from the north of the USA. We can follow his travels and his meetings until his release after 12 years of suffering and silence.

The actors are all wonderful especially Lupita Nyong’o which is incredibly upsetting in her role of a tortured young slave. Michael Fassbender ( i love him!!) incarnate perfectly the master which seems to ignore his slaves’ humanity. But The others plantation masters ( and their wives) are often much more complex, shared between their conscience and their desir of supremacy.

Thank’s to his editing , his sensational music ( made by Hans Zimmer who worked in Gladiator and many other success),and his amazing actors, « 12 years a slave » show to us a reality we would probably forget where freedom is never acquired. McQueen does’nt try to hide the truth, he expresses it explicitly and very violently.This film has already received numerous awards and he won the oscars for the best movie, the best adapted screenplay and for the best supporting actress for Lupita Nyong’o ( I’m so happy!)

If you have to watch a movie it’s this one. Made your own opinion!

« The vow » it’s a movie directed by Michael Sucsy. This movie resume a realy story of Kim and Krickitt Carpenter. It is a drama romantique movie. The wife find her memory after a car’s accident. Her husband does evrything to help remember their history and their love. I love this movie, it’s very dolorous for the husband and inspired the compation. Their love makes us dreaming.

Edward Scissorhands is an American romantic fantasy film directed by Tim Burton in 1990. Edward (plays by Johnny Depp) is an artificial man who has received a heart to love and a brain to understand, but, because of his creator’s death, he has never received hands, and was obliged to live with scissors as hands.

This is the story of a young man named Edward, who has scissors for hands.One day, Peg Boggs (plays by Dianne Wiest), an cosmetics saleswoman, visits a Gothic manor which seems to be abandoned. But, when she enters in the garden, she sees that all bushes are graven. Intrigued, she comes into the manor and discovers Edward, completely alone. Upon realizing he is harmless, she decides to take him to her home. Edward becomes friend with Peg’s son, Kevin, and her husband Billy, and he falls in love with Peg’s daughter, Kim (plays by Winona Ryder), even she is afraid of him. The innocent and naive Edward discovers gradually the life, and even if he is not loved of all , he trys to make his best to be accepted.
But, Peg’s neighbors are really sincere and nice with the young Edward ? And life is for him a paradise ? What happen next with Kim ? I let you discover by seeing the film !

If you love Tim Burton universe, you will love Edward Scissorhands ! The film is full of emotion and poetry, with a little touch of fun ! Even if at that time, Depp was young, he played perfectly the shy, sweet, tortured and innocent Edward ! It is fun because this film was the first – of a long serie – collaboration of Johnny Depp and Tim Burton Also, the soundtrack made by Danny Elfman is really beautiful ! (Main Title music and Ice Dance music). Burton considers Edward Scissorhands his most personal and favorite work.

I think it is one of the best film directed by Tim Burton, maybe because I it the first Burton film I’ve seen. At the end, I always pour a tear because Edward is so touching and moving ..

Soundtrack of Edward Scissorhands

James Bond it’s a fiction character. Initialy it was a novel written by Ian Fleming (former secret agent). This novel it’s directed at the cinema for the first time in 1954 and the last it’s Skyfall. In the movie encountered James in a paradise island, he pretends to be dead. At th end he save M. His childhood home encountered, his name is Skyfall like this name of the movie. The song Skyfall it’s created by Adèle for this movie.

In the unit 3, we saw an extract of Easy Rider. It’s an american road movie directed by Dennis Hopper in 1969. the two main characters are Wyatt (Peter Fonda) et Billy (Dennis Hopper). this film show the evolution of mentality in the 70′

At the beginning, Wyatt and Billy sell a large amount of drug and buy their motorbikes, they decide to leave Los Angeles to go to New-Orleans at the carnival. Billy puncture his tire and they stop in the farm. Then they continue with a hippie hitchhiker who drive to an hippie town. they stay some days and wyatt helps to plant a cereal and  the hippie tell « a simple food for our simple taste », this crue show a lifestyle of these people.

Later the pair enter in a parade in a small town and they are arrest by racist policemen who send them to the jail. They meet Georges Hanson (Jack Nicholson) a drunk lawyer. George helps them get out of jail and he hits the road with Wyatt and Billy to New-Orleans. One night while they come in the restaurant in the small town in Louisiana, Wyatt, Billy and George attract attention of policeman and an habitant who make fun of trio, make racist and homophobic remarks. The girls ( sixteen years old about) in the restaurant wants meet the riders but the policeman forbidden them. Georges observes that Americans talk a lot about the value of freedom, but are actually afraid of anyone who truly exhibits it. he tell « This used to be a hell of a good country. I can’t understand what’s gone wrong with it » he don’t understand the actual mentality. During the night the men find the trio asleep and hit them with the bat and they kill Georges.

When they arrived in New-Orleans  the bikers meet two prostitutes whom swallow a LSD pill in the cemetery (during the shot they swallow a true LSD pill), this experience is shot with psychedelic approach. It’s the end of his trip but Wyatt want continue to Florida, on the road two rednecks see the riders and when they arrive level with them, the local shoot billy with a fusil and he fall on the side. Wyatt turns around and put his jacket on his hurt friend. the pickup turn around and when they pass near Wyatt, a redneck shoot on the gas tank and he causing it instantly explosion of the bike. This film ends on this scene when wyatt and Billy are apparently dead.

this road movie won the first film award in 1969 at the Cannes film festival. I enjoyed the soundtack of this film and I like to the look bring this film on the hippie and bikers. this morality is that the people are jealous of people who are very free.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuO01-YXPKk[/youtube]

Few days ago a new movie was released on the story of Frankenstein. The last film was released in 1995 and today we have a new version in 2014 : I, FRANKENSTEIN  by Stuart Beattie. Apparently this film does not respect the book and is very different from the version of 1995 by Kenneth Branagh with Robert De Niro in the leading part. The story is very modern and inspired by Hollywood films and action movies. Critics are not favorable to this movie because it is not very original and don’t help us to know more about Frankenstein. It is better to go see the film for make his own opinion.

I will talk about Alice In Wonderland.
First, i like very much fantasy world. You know, supernatural powers, strange animals or land, mad story or impossible time for exemple. Second, i love Tim Burton’s movies. So, i just can love this movie a lot.

Tim Burton can transport all kind of people, all age with his beautiful work. We can quote Bittlejuice, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Frankenweenie, The Nightmare Before Christmas (my favorite) and Dark Shadows.
But for me, Alice In Wonderland is one of his best work. Yes, of course, the actors are just amazing, the basic history wonderful and the settings wondrous.. But this is the music that i love the most ! We can close our eyes, and only with the music, we are in Wonderland, with Alice, and we live what she lives and mainly how she lives the events.
Music made by Danny Elfman are just.. Wonderful.
This one is my favorite : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5VcWD2LI7U

It’s a 1903 british silent movie directed by Cecil Hepworth, it’s first adaptation of Lewis Carrol’s book. I enjoyed this movie event if it was damaged, the special effect were realistic for the time. In this movie only recognizes the best time of children’s book. 

when Alice dream who follows the rabbit in many doors, when she come in the garden and play with dog, the height effect with the dog are excellent. We also seen the royal procession where the queen invite Alice. She unintentional offends the queen and in the confusion she wakes up.

the duration of this movie is eight minutes which is short but for the time is exceptional. I crazy about of this old film

While watching Tim Burton’s film in class, some similarities appeared to my mind. I realized that Alice’s real life entourage and particularly their personality traits emerge in her dreams. The Red Queen is the symbol of her pseudo « futur » stepmother because of the red roses which are white. The White Queen remembered me Alice’s aunt Imogene because of her sweetness. Alice’s brother in law remind me of the Red Queen right-and and secret love Ilosovic Stayne because he is dirty-minded and unfair. Tweedledee andTweedledum are representation of Alice’s cousins. 

I also find this 1985’s movie version directed Irwin Allen for television. The animals of Alice’s dreams are simply disguised actors, for example, the Mock Turtle is played by Ringo Starr. In this movie, Alice is really well played by a 8 years old girl Natalie Gregory.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G58KEf0DtOs[/youtube]

Some time ago, I asked me why the story of Frankenstein generated so many adaptations in the cinema, in the literature, etc. I think that it’s the feeling of culpability, the tragic destiny of Frankenstein which touches the most the readers.

So, when I discovered the sequel of Frankenstein by James Whale  at home, I decided to look at it. This sequel, untitled « The Bride of Frankenstein », was released in 1935, four years after the first film (« Frankenstein »).

The romantic and the gothic dimensions are palpable in this adaptation. The first scene is consacrated to the presentation of the author and her cercle. Mary Shelley is showed as a rich and an elegant woman, dressed in white. Outside, the wind is blowing, the thunder is rumbling and the rain is beating against the windows. These elements are typical of the Romanticism and the Gothic. Moreover, a man in the room says : « That is the Romanticism, outside the elements are unchained, and we contemplate them peacefully ».

Mary Shelley answers that she is afraid by the thunderstorm, but her friend Lord Byron laughs and remembers her that she wrote a horrible story which deals with corpses and monsters.

That’s how the film begins : Lord Byron tells the story aloud to his friends, and the spectator follows it with his narrative.This narrative starts with the symbolic picture of a fire : the inhabitants of the village want to burn the monster (hidden in some ruins) because they think that he killed Frankenstein. But after a moment, the monster and its creator (Henry Frankenstein) wake up and surprise all the inhabitants.

In this film, the gothic atmosphere made a deep impression on me. There are many candles, a lot of fires… even the architecture of the buildings is really gothic. Of course, the black and white emphasizes this dimension.

There are some differences between this adaptation and the Kenneth Branagh’s one.(1994) : Henry Frankenstein collaborates with his teacher after creating the monster, and the beginning of the film is different (Frankenstein isn’t on a boat, and doesn’t tell his story to a stranger). Then the relation betwenn the creature and the old blind man is more touching : for instance, the monster even cries at a moment.

Finally, the creature is more human than monster, compared to the others films. It can be seen on the following picture :

Promotional photo of Boris Karloff from The Bride of Frankenstein as Frankenstein’s monster, Wikimédia Commons.

Everyone knows the story, and it’s one of my favorite movies. It talks about chocolate and candies, what’s more Tim Burton is the director. I think he is the most original director.

The factory’s world is wonderful and magic, everything can be eat same Mister Wonka but this is cannibalism. Willy Wonka isn’t a real hero, but he’s just a basic and a crazy man with a dream.

This chocolate factory is a mystery until the opening of these doors just for five children, thanks to golden tickets hidden among the Wonka chocolates.

Between real and fantastic, it makes this story interesting.

Have you ever seen the Hobbit, the film released in 2012? It’s the first one of the recent Tolkien’s cinema adaptation. I saw it at the theatre and I found it well done, even if it was a little bit too long (it lasts 2hours 45) !

I thought the pictures were sometimes linked too quickly, but the effects were clean, and the film sets were beautiful. The technology is probably responsible of a big part of the work, but the sets and the costumes are well chosen and done. The actors are good, and the spectator has sympathy for the characters, especially for the Hobbit.

I prefer this adaptation rather than the previous, because the special effects appeared me easily, and it spoiled me the pleasure to look at a film. So I had a good impression and it made me want to read the books. I had tried before, but I was young and Tolkien’s writing appeared me difficult. I think I will try another time, because he created a fantastic world, like some of modern authors who wrote stories for the youth ( Rowling, Bottero…).

Maybe I was influenced by the enthusiasm of my little brother who is an absolute fan, but I would advise you to see it!

If you like the study of the moment (which is Alice in Wonderland), you will certainly like, in the same category, fantasy movies as The Lords of The Rings, The Chronicles Of Narnia, or Harry Potter, which are all three really popular and recommended movies!

I recommend you to look at them if you don’t know what to do during the holidays!

I would talk about a movie that I particularly adore. This is Snow White and the Hunstman directed by Rupert Sanders, with Kirsten Stewart (Twilight), Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Charlize Theron (Dior). It is the adaptation from the tail Snow White written by Grimm brother. I find this movie well directed, there are a dark atmosphere all along and some touch of poesy when the Snow White is close to the nature. The dwarves bring a humorous side and the love story between the Hunstman and Snow White stay subjective so it break the stereotype of the Prince Charming.

As Kristen Stewart said in an interview of the magazine Première « …we took the tail and we underlined from black the line that Disney had colored before… » I am agree with this, the Queen appears realy vicious and horrible, Snow White seems to be more emancipated and robust and on the opposite of the tail, the Hunstman has a heart and feelings.

The film technics made by computer are still necesary to see what the director has in his head. It permits again to enter in the kingdom of Rupert Sanders and to settle the story in a faraway area and in an dark atmosphere.

I advise you to watch this movie !!!

Today I want to write about another adaptation from a fantasy novel. It’s the really famous story of Peter Pan or The Boy who wouldn’t grow up. The novel was written in 1911 by J.M Barry who is Scottish.

As everybody knows, the story is about Peter, a young boy who can fly and who lives in Neverland with Tinker Bell and the Lost Boys. He meets Wendy Darling, her brothers and bring them to his land where they will meet Tiger Lily and Captain Hook and live some fabulous adventures.

But I’m here to write about the adaptation directed by J.P Hogan and released in 2004. I think it’s quite interesting because we are used to know the Walt Disney’s animation version but this one is with real actors and I found that the effect is totally different. To me the story seems more real (I dreamed that the Neverland existed…) and there’s a real effort for the sets and the costumes. I was really surprised by the cast ; the childs are good at playing, especially Peter(Jeremy Sumpter) : his expressions seemed very realistic,he is really active and good looking (haha forget this argument). I liked Captain Hook’s role too, Jason Isaacs is really fun and his play is really convincing.This film is not boring at all even if it’s for kids; they are a lot of plot twists and the Tinker Bell’s character is really well elaborated; I think it was a good choice. We can easily believe in the story and appreciate it. By the way I noticed the soundtrack that is really nice but a little bit too much present.

Overall, it’s a good production that is timless.

This is my favourite scene from all the film : the fairy dance is real poetic moment broken by the doubt : Can Peter have real feelings although he is still a child ?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGz56SQ7EVE[/youtube]

Since we saw on friday the Tim Burton’s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, I wanted to write about another film from this director : Charlie and the chocolate factory. This film is an adaptation from the novel written by Roald Dahln in 1964, an english author.

The plot is about the fabulous adventure of Charlie Bucket, a little boy. One day, Willy Wonka, the owner of the biggest chocolate factory of the world announces that he has hidden 5 golden tickets in his Chocolate bars : if a child finds the ticket, he wins a visit in Willy Wonka’s fabulous chocolate factory. Charlie finds the last golden ticket and decides to visit the place with his grand father. During the visit, a lot of strange events are happening and the childs disappear one by one…
I have to say that I really loved this film; the sets are just incredible inside the chocolate factory, everything is colorful and huge like in a dream : they is chocolate absolutely everywhere, an huge pink boat and strange candies… The actors are really good too : Johnny Depp is just perfect as Willy Wonka : he is funny but quite mysterious and completely crazy, I think he was made for this role. There is Freddie Highmore as Charlie who plays very well too. The soundtrack is really nice too, it fits perfectly with the atmosphere of the film.

So if you haven’t seen it, you have to watch it ! Tim Burton succeeded in creating a wonderful whole world. You will like it no matter what is your age !

Here is the trailer :

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFVGCUIXJls[/youtube]

In class we watched Alice In Wonderland, a movie directed by Tim Burton.

Here we have a video that show us how this movie was made. This movie contains a lot of scene made with synthetic image so the actors had to play surrounded by a green screen imagining the other wonderful characters, this is a great performance.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYDTT7iRzuY[/youtube]

Frankenstein is a very good movie, the make up of the monster is very realistic and highly sought after. The scene where Victor Frankenstein create the creature and when the monster wakes up is impressive because it’s not expected that the monster is alive at the beginning.

I think Victor deserves what happens to him, trying too hard to played God, he gives life to one hideous creature. A hatred born of the monster to his creator. His ambition cost him the life of his wife and his brother. The human being isn’t made to relive again and no man can replaced God.

Pleasantville (1998) is a fantastic american film and a dramatic comedy by Gary Ross.

The story is about David and Jeninfers who are twins and totally opposed. To escape to his stressing family of the 90’s, David loves to watching TV and more « Pleasantville », a TV serial in black and white dated of the 50’s. Contrary to him, his sister is one with the modern world. Still, a day, they « come in » « Pleasantville » so they integrate the story and upset the characters in this one.

I find very interesting the game with the black and white or colours pictures in this film. And it questions about the changement: may be we don’t see that we do daily something bad, but we continue because it normal for you ; or we don’t do some things because it says that we mustn’t do that. To change, we must be very brave and question you. To achieve a good world it’s necessary. Moreover it permit to build you too.

You can remark in the tittle the french word « ville » so I think it’s refered to (of course) the french word of town but too that in France you find many city that their name finish with « ville » (like Tocqueville, Valcanville,…). Moreover « pleasant », it’s  to represent that in the world of the TV serial, all is perfect. It’s an utopian world. And may be, like Aldous Huxley said, when you achieve an utopian world you want to leave it because all it’s so perfect that it become boring.

So just live!

Like most of students, my first favorite version of Alice in Wonderland is directed by Tim Burton thanks to the modernity with special effects and a beautiful landscape. This film makes me laught and respect Lewis Carroll’s story. Moreover, the actors are great, like Johnny Depp who plays the Mad Hatter.

My second favorite version is the animated fantasy comedy-adventure film produced by Walt Disney Productions (1951) based on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. In fact, I love Walt Disney and this adaptation makes me laught, fun, and relate correctly the story. Wonder is here and the animated story is a good idea. I love this.

And you, what is your favorite version of Alice in Wonderland?

Yesterday I’ve watched The Great Gatsby and I think it’s a good idea to inform you about this movie.

The Great Gatsby is a 2013 Australian-American drama film and an new adaptation which it was a tribute F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel (1925). The film was co-written and directed by Baz Luhrmann.
This film is about a millionaire man called Gatsby (Leonardo Di Caprio) and his neighbour called Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire)

In 2014, the film was nominated for the two Academy Awards: Best Production Design and Best Costume Design.

Have you already watched The Great Gatsby? Or read the book? Give us your opinion!

For more information : http://thegreatgatsby.warnerbros.com/

I have decided to talk about a film I’ve seen three times. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty directed and stars by Ben Stiller in James Thurber’s classic story of 1939 is about a day-dreamer man who escapes his anonymous life by disappearing into a dreaming world. In his daydreams, Mitty is heroic, brave, and he is always the strongest.

Walter Mitty works at Life Magazine in New York, he is a negative asset manager. Because the monthly magazine turn into a online magazine, the transition manager put Walter in charge of releasing the last cover. A day, Walter received a pack from Sean O’Connell, a very old fashion photographer who takes argentic’s photos ( played by Sean Penn ) for the cover, but, the 25th negative, the « quintessence » of Life is missing. Walter is forced to find this picture and to broke his daily routine. Walter will travel to distant lands that he never before thought possible. 

He goes to Greenland then Iceland to find Sean at the Eyjafjallajökull’s eruption. He dove into a shark bay from an helicopter. He goes to an Afghanistan’s ungoverned area where Sean was taking photos of Snow Leopard during the magazine was move.

This movie is definitely very inspiring, you need to watch it.

« To see the world, things dangerous to come to see, to see behind walls, to draw closer, to find each other and to feel. That is the purpose of Life » 

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGWO2w0H2V8[/youtube]

The Spiderwick Chronicles is an American film directed by Mark Waters in 2008.
In reality, this film is inspired by a novels’ series written by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi.

I’m going to tell you the synopsis: After her divorce, Helen Grace decides to settle in her aunt’s old house with her children. It’s a new life that begin for them. But a strange discovery turns upside down. Jared, the most sharp of the three children, finds an old book. This guide reveals an incredible truth about a secret world inhabited by fantastic creatures hidden all around them. After that, Jared, his sister and his twin brother launch into a dangerous adventure protecting the book and many secrets.

Freddie Highmore, who plays in the film Charlie and the chocolate factory, interprets the character of Jared.

When I was a child, I read the book and I also watched the film The Spiderwick Chronicles. I think that it’s a good fantastic story with a lot of action.

Hello !

There is a new adaptation of the Mary Shelley’s story, entitled I, FRANKENSTEIN , by Stuart Beattie ! this film is in 3D, I think it can be a great version, but the story is different, you can see that here : http://www.cinemazarin-nevers.fr/film/i-frankenstein-en-3d-2014

have you  seen this movie?

In class we watched Frankestein. The representation was very dramatic. We could understand what they said and the story. Helena Bonham Carter playing is very well. I find that she is a good actress. She plays always in films of Tim Burton and she is radiant ! She is also in « Frankestein ». Some scenes are sometimes long but this story is strange and interesting.
 We have seen the play of Frankestein with school and the film. I can compare and I prefere the play of Frankestein !

i,Frankenstein is one of the new fantasy movies from the begining of this year. It’s directed by Stuart Beattie, an australian scriptwriter and directer (he is famous for being the scriptwriter of « australia » in 2008).
A lot of journalist said that it was an horror movie, after seeing it I can say it was only a thriller. It can be entertainig if you like fantasy and action movies. it’s not really my case so i did’nt really like it althought the staging was suprising sometimes. I find the story was really superficial and without real interest. It’s only based on special effects unfortunatly and, for me, a good movie isn’t just some visual effects with a nice music. Moreover, the Frankenstein’s story doesn’t really interest me and , generally, i don’t appreciate films about Frankenstein ( except  « the bride of Frankenstein » which is really awesome).

Make your own opinion!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwtZgBFKlzs[/youtube]

I would like to present a film that I really liked : Into the wild. This film is from a writter-director Sean Penn. The story was based on the best seller by Jon Krakawer. And this film was inspired by the true story.

Just graduated from Emory University in Atlanta, the main character Christopher Mc Candless played by Emil Hisch, 22 years old, was promised a bright future. However, turning his back on the confortable existence without surprise that awaits him, the young man decides to take the road by leaving everything behind him. He breaks away from his student’s life. He sends the money he has saved to a charity organisation. He want’s to start a new life.
Thus, he leaves. He passes through the tumultuous waters of the Dakota, to Colorado through the hippies of California communities. Chritopher will then meen extraordinnary people. Finally, at the end of his trip, Christopher achieves his ultimate goal by venturing alone in the wild expanse of Alaska to live in total harmony with nature in loneliness.

This film is deeply,moving and captiving film. and Into the wild is not just an entertainment, it allows everyone to think to question his own destiny. The director takes us on board a high adventure profoundly original. Then, it’s a road movie which can hesitates between On the road by Kerouac and Jeremiah Johnson with Robert Redford.

I saw Alice in wonderland last year and I do not regret. I wanted to present this film in relation to the first adaptation we saw in class. It is an American film directed by Tim Burton in 2010 with the famous actors like Johnny Depp and Anne Hathaway. He realised a very nice adaptation of the work of Lewis Carroll. Tim Burton has used animations shots and at the same time the real shots. Thus, the effects are so realistic, and we truly believe to be in the Alice wonderland’s. Thus, the atmosphere is magical and the  » costumes » and makeup are also verry verry well done. Not to mention the actors who played verry well. It is for all these reasons that I advise you to see this film.

Vincent is a 1982 stop motion short horror film, written, designed and directed by Tim Burton. This is the story of a seven year old boy, Vincent Malloy, who dreams to become Vincent Price. Behind his quite appearance, he dreams to make diabolic things (like transforming his dog into a zombie, or transforming his aunt into a wax statue), and he’s obsessed by Edgar Allan Poe’s novels.

[dailymotion]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9flk_vincent-tim-burton-vostfr_fun[/dailymotion]

The film’s narrator is Vincent Price himself, the idol and inspiration of Burton. Gradually, the two men become friends.

Because it is a black and white film, Burton decided to work with light and shadow, that choice gives birth to magnificent shots (when we see Vincent’s dog’s shadow at 02:14)

I found this film both beautiful and scary, because of lighting effects and music. The characters are really scary, and have an unusual physic. In Vincent, we find the main themes of Burton’s film : Gothic, creepy and odd.

Tim Burton and Vincent Price on the set of Vincent

Saving Mr. Banks is an American-Australian-British film directed by John Lee Hancock in 2013. This story tells the meeting between P. L. Travers (Emma Thompson), a famous British author, and Walt Disney (Tom Hanks), business magnate and well-known American producer. He has been courting Travers for twenty years, seeking to acquire the film rights to her Mary Poppins stories. But the two characters are in perpetual disagreement because the author won’t discover a stupid animated film ridiculing her heroine. Suddenly, we learn that Mary Poppins is closely linked with P. L. Travers‘ youth.

It’s very interesting for the audience to learn the story of this famous film (with Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke) and the origins of Mary. We discover the figure of each famous character and we dream in the wings of Walt Disney Productions, during the flashbacks, etc. I was surprised when I saw Tom Hanks (his transformation is incredible…) . All the cast is excellent, particularly Emma Thompson who is a great actress.

The film directed by Robert Stevenson received 5 Oscars, including Best Actress.

Most of films produced by Walt Disney were inspired by existing novels or short stories belonging to Anglo-Saxon literature, like One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Dodie Smith), Peter Pan (J. M. Barrie), The Jungle Book (Rudyard Kipling) or Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll) for example.

I didn’t know the first movie « Alice in Wonderland » made ??in 1903 that we saw in class, but only one that was released in 2010, directed by Tim Burton. Progress is huge, cinema has changed very much since then, mainly due to the effects. Despite the lack of material, I found that the movie 1903 was quite well done, although it is clear that the recent adaptation is much better! In more than one century, progress is very visible!

Big Fish is Daniel Wallace’s novel appeared in 1998. The original title is Big Fish: to Novel of Mythic Proportions:  » a novel in the mythical proportions « .

I would like to talk to you about this book which was also adapted in a magnificent movie by Tim Burton. I have never red the book but I watched it last year with other classmate.

It is a fantasy movie, a comedy drama. Ewan McGregor is the central figure, he also played in the movie Frankenstein. His partner in these two movies is also Helena Bonham Carter!

Big fish is Edward Bloom’s story, a south America, at the end of his life, endowed to tell fantastic stories, who fell out with his son. He is going to tell his life of young adult to his son and his daughter-in-law, played by Marion Cotillard.

I like this story, which has a very beautiful morality, great actors and great director. If you haven’t seen it yet or not read, don’t wait longer!
The trailer : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEh2eRhZNkA

About the story of Frankenstein, we’ve seen a film too. It was rather a recent movie and I thought that elements well represent the book and romantism (the place of dance, colours representing emotions, red for example…) so it was interesting. The actors adapted them to the genre. Still, in my opinion, it is made to touch a wide audience and there was any details that make it very interesting, I think it’s just a distraying film

In class, we watched an adaptation of « alice of wonderland » it dated back to 1903. So I would like to introduce the Burton’s version from 2010. I liked this movie because he « respect » the original story by Charles Lutwidge Dogson. And His movie is comic but it is very moving. Special Effects are very spectacular and beautiful. I suggest to watch this modern version product for Walt disney pictures. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9POCgSRVvf0[/youtube]

Recently, we watched Frankenstein.
Unlike the others, I liked this movie. I think the players play very well. But, yes, some scenes are sometimes long, very long. But the film remains interesting to see and the action scenes are impressive. I like very much this type of story : strange and supernatural. I recommend this movie wich is different and creepy.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/l2U-iX9ChpY[/youtube]

In 2003, the young Catherine and her mother are attacked by a man. If Catherine manages to stay alive with the help of a strange creature, his mother died that night. Nine years later, she became a detective and is still determined to find the person responsible of her mother’s death. During an investigation, she follows the trail of a Vincent Keller, who died in Afghanistan in 2002. She discovers that he’s not dead, he lives since 10 years hiding to others. We learned that, under the influence of anger, Vincent turns into a raging, uncontrollable beast. Catherine agrees to protect his identity and secret if he helps to identify the murderer of his mother.

Although I hated the role of Kristin Kruk in the TV show Smallville, where I thought her character was too naive and irritating, I find that in this series, she plays a lot better the role of an « scornfull »  officer.

Then, the role of Vincent Keller is played by the actor Jay Ryan, I didn’t know before.
This film not only talks about the cutesy love story between the two main characters, but the leak of a man, whose experiences he suffered skidded.

It’s true that this is not the series of the century and many don’t like, but it’s a good occupation when you don’t know what to do in your evenings.

We read an extract of the Chapter 5 of Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley then we saw a film adaptation. The actor Robert De Niro played in this movie. I didn’t really like this film even if I like the story. Nevertheless I found that the actors had played well. Moreover I didn’t see the play of Frankenstein who took place on Monday, January 6th. If I had seen this play may be that I would have liked.

Last monday, in class, we saw Frankenstein, the movie made by Kenneth Branagh.

Some students really love this movie and I do too, the actors are good and succeed in showing their emotions without overact (Robert de Niro, who plays the monster, is really great). Moreover, there are no boring times and I think it’s a very good quality in a movie.

Thanks to this movie, I’m going to read the novel of Mary Shelley !