2011: A Look Back

This time last year, I decided to set up a little blog. A place for me to jot down what I thought of books and films I'd been enjoying. One year on, and the site is far more successful than I could have imagined and has turned into a place not just for my ramblings, but for everyone to share their opinions and debate to their heart's content! So as 2011 draws to a close, here are my favourite things from this past year.

What have your book and film highlights been in 2011? As always, comment away! Enjoy xxx

FILMS
2011 has been an impressive year at the cinema with massive hits from comic books to classics and brilliantly original screenplays. But it all started out with The King's Speech and Black Swan back in January - two completely different films that were both staggeringly good to watch. Later in the year, there were some more arty, occasionally darker films to marvel at rather than enjoy. The violence in Tyrannosaur - Paddy Considine's directorial debut - was intense but entirely overshadowed by the phenomenal performance given by Olivia Colman. Tilda Swinton also gave a quietly torturing performance in the bloodstained We Need to Talk About Kevin.

ADAPTATIONS
We Need to Talk About Kevin was one of the biggest adaptations of the year - but not the only one. There was also One Day, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, The Help and the final Harry Potter instalment - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two. While The Help and We Need to Talk About Kevin did brilliant jobs with their original source text, it was the final Harry Potter that stood out and for all the wrong reasons. The team behind the final film opted for 3D spectacle over plot and lost all the fitting ends to the beloved characters. It was a sorry end to an incredible series.

BOOKS
While 2011 was the year I managed to read The Help and We Need to Talk About Kevin - two incredible books - the book of the year has to be Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton. It held its own, even given the high standards set by Lupton's staggeringly brilliant debut Sister back in 2010. It was a lot to live up to but Lupton managed to prove just how talented she is with her second book. I look forward to book number three...
Though released a few years ago, 2011 was also the year I read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, a brilliant piece of young adult fiction set in a dystopian future. The book has been made into a film for release in 2012 and I am hugely excited to see it on the big screen.
A piece of quality non-fiction came out in 2011 in Dani's Story by Bernie and Diane Lierow. It is heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once and looks at the struggle the Lierows had in adopting Dani, a young girl who had been removed from her family home due to severe negligence.

INTERVIEWS
In the last year, I have had the great pleasure of chatting to some brilliant people in the world of film and book, but the highlights have to be getting to pose my questions to two brilliant authors - Rosamund Lupton and John Grisham. Getting to hear Real Steel director Shawn Levy and star of Fright Night David Tennant talk about their films at Empire Big Screen Weekend was also brilliant fun.

FUN
Sometimes, films and books get overlooked because they are silly and not to be taken seriously - though this does not make them bad. For pure unadulterated enjoyment, highlights have to include the Hugh Jackman robot film Real Steel and hilarious romp My Sweet Saga by Brett Sills. Marvel film Thor was also suprisingly entertaining and saw newcomer Chris Hemsworth pull off arrogant, funny and charming with apparent ease. Kristen Wiig also proved her worth by starring in and writing the massive hit Bridesmaids which mixed gross-out comedy, humour, touching sentimentality and heartbreaking sadness with class. But the clear winner by a mile was the JJ Abrams/Steven Spielberg summer hit Super 8, which had me hooked from start to finish. It was an adrenaline fuelled ride with incredible young stars, amazing effects and a dark and twisted storyline to match.

#MTOS Book to Film Adaptations: The Questions

On Sunday November 13th, I will be hosting #MTOS with a theme very close to my heart.... book to film adaptations. So this week our Movie Talk on Sunday is not just for film fans - it's for book-lovers too.

It seems that many films nowadays are based on books, whether it be comic book adaptations like Spiderman, Captain America and Superman, modern-day novels such as The Help, We Need to Talk About Kevin and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy or classic novels like Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre. But are they any good?

Remember, there are no right or wrong answers here - it's a discussion. So let's get chatting...

1. What is the best book to film adaptation ever made?
2. What is the worst book to film adaptation ever made?
3. What does a great adaptation need to be a success?
4. Why do you think film-makers are choosing to adapt books instead of taking on a new screenplay?
5. Is it easier to convert comic books, children's books or novels into films?
6. Have any films managed to be better than the original book?
7. What book would you like to see made into a film?
8. What book should never be made into a film?
9. Do you agree with the decision to split long books into two films, as with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Breaking Dawn?
10. Should authors be involved in book to film adaptations or leave well alone?

So see you on Sunday at 8pm GMT for this book vs film chat... and don't forget to use the hashtag #mtos.

For more information on what MTOS is, please click here.

Amanda x

BIFA Award Nominees Announced

The nominees have now been announced on Twitter by Moët BIFA (The Moët British Independent Film Awards).

The nominations include Submarine, Tyrannosaur, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Albatross, Jane Eyre and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. All in all, it's been a great year for British Cinema and long may it continue. There seems to also be a great mix of fresh new screenplays and book to film adaptations.

Personally, I would love to see Paddy Considine and Olivia Colman get recognised for their incredible work in Tyrannosaur and must say a massive congratulations to Jessica Brown Findlay for her nomination for Albatross, though I am sad to see Tamzin Rafn hasn't made the list for her brilliantly witty and original screenplay of the same film.

The hardest award to call may just be the Best Supporting Actor category as Tom Hardy, Benedict Cumberbatch and Ezra Miller all brought phenomenal acting to the screen.

See what you think of the list below. Is your favourite on there? 

MOST PROMISING NEWCOMER (ON SCREEN)

• Jessica Brown Findlay for ALBATROSS
• John Boyega for ATTACK THE BLOCK
• Craig Roberts for SUBMARINE
• Yasmin Paige for SUBMARINE
• Tom Cullen for WEEKEND

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Felicity Jones for ALBATROSS
• Vanessa Redgrave for CORIOLANUS
• Carey Mulligan for SHAME
• Sally Hawkins for SUBMARINE
• Kathy Burke for TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Michael Smiley for KILL LIST
• Tom Hardy for TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
• Benedict Cumberbatch for TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
• Eddie Marsan for TYRANNOSAUR
• Ezra Miller for WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

BEST ACTOR

• Brendan Gleeson for THE GUARD
• Neil Maskell for KILL LIST
• Michael Fassbender for SHAME
• Gary Oldman for TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
• Peter Mullan for TYRANNOSAUR

BEST ACTRESS

• Rebecca Hall for THE AWAKENING
• Mia Wasikowska for JANE EYRE
• MyAnna Buring for KILL LIST
• Olivia Colman for TYRANNOSAUR
• Tilda Swinton for WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

BEST SCREENPLAY

• John Michael McDonagh for THE GUARD
• Ben Wheatley and Amy Jump for KILL LIST
• Abi Morgan and Steve McQueen for SHAME
• Richard Ayoade for SUBMARINE
• Lynne Ramsay and Rory Kinnear for WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

BEST DIRECTOR

• Ben Wheatley for KILL LIST
• Steve McQueen for SHAME
• Tomas Alfredson for TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
• Paddy Considine for TYRANNOSAUR
• Lynne Ramsay for WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

BEST BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM

• SENNA
• SHAME
• TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
• TYRANNOSAUR
• WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

Jane Eyre: Book vs Film

For fans of the classics - Jane Austen, Charlotte and Emily Brontë etc, there is little debate over the best adaptations. A personal favourite of mine (and numerous others) is the TV five-part adaptation of Pride and Prejudice - the TV phenomenon that transformed Colin Firth into a sexual god overnight in the infamous lake scene. But it wasn't just Colin all wet and broody that did it. The cast was perfection - irritating, plain, beautiful, proper, embarrassing. Each character was just as the book portrayed it and apart from cutting the book a little short and ending the show a touch early, it was incredibly true to the book.

Now imagine if you watched Part 1, 3 and 5 of that. It's all brilliant, you can't fault it exactly - the scenery, the outfits and of course the acting are all great. It just feels like there's something missing. A lot of emphasis is on certain characters but not a lot on others. Parts have been left out and though everything you're seeing is perfection, there's just not enough TIME to really get into it all.

This, for me, is how this latest in a long line of adaptations of Jane Eyre felt. The story is of a young orphaned girl who is sent off to a school, where she then becomes a teacher. She then moves onto Thornfield house to become Governess to young Adele and, having never even conversed with a man, meets the bitter and abrasive Mr Rochester.

Jane, played by Mia Wasikowska, is a complex character with a hard past that explains her far better than actions can. Her relationship with Mr Rochester (Michael Fassbender) is equally complex as they are both surprised by one another, grow to respect each other and then... well you know.

Amelia Clarkson does a brilliant job of showing the 'passionate' Jane as a child, hardened by the loveless care of her Aunt Reid, but still not afraid to use her own voice.

Mr Brocklehurst: And what is hell? Can you tell me that?

Young Jane: A pit full of fire.

Mr Brocklehurst: And should you like to fall into that pit, and to be burning there forever?

Young Jane: No sir.

Mr Brocklehurst: What must you do to avoid it?

Young Jane: Keep well and and not die, sir.

 

The book, controversially perhaps, was a little too much for me at times. The dialogue is superb - especially the conversations between Jane and Rochester. I just adore the harshness and honesty of their exchanges and the hidden meanings in their propriety (or not in the case of Rochester!). But the book has pages and pages of descriptive text which I found myself unwittingly skimming over.

For those unfamiliar with the book I will try not to give too much away. There are three quite distinctive chunks. Firstly, Jane is sent to Lowood school for girls where she later becomes a teacher. Then she goes to Thornfield to become governess to Adele. Then she meets St John and his sisters. This is all done in chronological order.

Directed by relative newcomer to the big screen Cary Fukunaga, the film had a somewhat bizarre mixture of cuts. The school is trimmed right down, St John gets to be the main focus as the film starts with him finding her and taking her in. That just leaves Jane's time at Thornfield. It's a slightly bizarre but not altogether terrible restructuring of the book, starting with Jane Eyre fleeing a house, getting caught in the rain and stumbling across a little cottage in the middle of nowhere. St John (played by Billy Eliott himself, Jamie Bell) takes her in and he and his two sisters look after her. Her life is then shown to the audience using flashbacks which goes a certain way to explaining the dramatic cuts (some of which - I acknowledge - were of course necessary).

Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? - Jane Eyre

Judi Dench as Mrs Fairfax seemed a little bit mis-cast. The woman is CLEARLY an incredible actress - it's not just anyone who can pull Elizabeth I off with ease - but her occasional northern accent left a little to be desired.

That there is some nicety to Jane's time at Lowood school is ignored in this adaptation and I think, every adaptation that has ever been done. It's far more dramatic I suppose to focus on the negative. I was quite surprised when I read the book, having already seen adaptations, to see that there are nice teachers and enough encouragement and affection shown toward Jane in her early years at the school to spur her into becoming a teacher herself. This is always overlooked. 

The biggest issue I have with it is the lack of drama in the big reveal. There was very little build up, the events are there but Jane seems subservient not curious. She never asks questions, is never told that it's just Grace Poole and not to worry. This is not in her nature, and this is not all that scary.

All in all though, the film is brilliantly made. The acting is superb, the score is moving, the scenery is stunning. It boils down to a matter of timing. There simply is not enough time to really explore the two main characters, their relationship and what made them each who they are. Had this been made into a five-part series, it would have rivalled Pride and Prejudice with ease.

Film - 3.5/5 FOBLES
Book - 4/5 FOBLES