When it comes to the romance novel genre, one can't go past Jane Austen. I've been studying this book for A Level English Literature, so I thought I might as well use it as a reviewing tool! **SPOILER ALERT**
Before it was published, 'Sense & Sensibility' was originally titled 'Elinor & Marianne'. If you have read S & S, you will understand why the first title makes a lot of sense.
Sense & Sensibility is a classic English love story with a few unconventional bits thrown in. First and foremost, it is a novel about family. The Dashwood sisters can't always understand each other, but they do love each other dearly.
Austen uses these 'similar but different' sisters to make a point. Elinor is rational and thinks the best of everyone, while Marianne is hasty and judgmental. However, they are not as different as they seem. Elinor has both common sense and "an excellent heart". Marianne's romanticism makes her stumble and her no nonsense nature is often wrong when judging people's character. Austen is showing that one should not be principled and cold nor unprincipled and flighty. Everyone needs a bit of Elinor and a bit of Marianne in them in order to function.
Characters: Elinor is a likeable person who knows exactly what to say in social situations. She has a kindness which extends even to those who don't deserve it [such as Marianne's caddish ex-lover John Willoughby]. Her restraint can get her into trouble - rarely showing her true feelings to anyone, even her family and the man she loves. She is much more relatable to the modern gal.
-Marianne is the cliched romantic heroine who doesn't think before she acts. At 17 years young, she has a lot to learn in life. She cannot stand fake people (an admirable attribute for the time in which the novel was written.)
-Colonel Brandon (Marianne's eventual husband) is portrayed as a kind ex-soldier with a dark past. However, he still comes across as a more likeable person than Elinor's love interest, Edward Ferrars.
-Edward is a really cowardly man. First he gets pressured into an engagement by Lucy Steele and then he spends four years not marrying her without the heart to tell her the reason he keeps making excuses is because he doesn't want to marry her! Marianne thinks he lacks charisma, but Elinor gravitates to him for reasons unknown.
Story: Here's a wee synopsis. Sense & Sensibility is about the Dashwood sisters and their fall down the social ladder after the death of their father. They are forced out of their house and have to move to another county. The book follows their love lives and relationship with family. Various problems arise which need solving, and there is the obligatory happy ending of which I shall attempt not to disclose the particulars ;)
The writing:Austen's run-on sentences are pretty legendary, so you can even play a game of 'spot the full stop'! It is a tad rambly (OK, a lot rambly!), but if you can stand the poor grammar and over long explanations, there are a lot of jewels to be had. For example: "It is not everyone,' said Elinor, 'who has your passion for dead leaves."
-There is also the mandatory declaration of love - "I come here with no expectations, only to profess, now that I am at liberty to do so, that my heart is and always will be yours."
There is a recent-ish movie version directed by Ang Lee starring Emma Thompson as Elinor and Kate Winslet as Marianne. It's a really nice watch, so I highly recommend it, although you should probably read the book first.
Four stars -a great read. Austen's not for everyone, but if you liked the movie, I can just about guarantee you'll like the book.
It's no secret to anybody who knows me well that I am a big fan of Taylor Swift. Seriously, I've been crazy about her since I was 14. Anyway... "Red" is her fourth studio effort and while different stylistically to her previous album, true fans won't be disappointed. Released in October 2012, this album went triple platinum within two months of its release (http://www.disneydreaming.com/2012/12/12/taylor-swifts-red-album-goes-triple-platinum/).
Photo taken from: http://blog.zap2it.com/pop2it/2012/10/taylor-swift-red-liner-notes-jake-gyllenhaal-gets-off-easy-plus-a-song-for-ethel-kennedy.html
As is typical of a 'TS' album, there are LOTS of tracks. There are 16 tracks on the standard edition, and another six on the deluxe (three songs not featured on the standard ed plus two demo versions and an acoustic version of songs already on the standard ed).
My personal favourites are: "Red", "Begin Again", "Holy Ground", "Starlight", "The Lucky One", "The Last Time" (With Gary Lightbody from 'Snow Patrol'), "Everything has Changed" (With Ed Sheeran) [I have a lot of favourites!!!]
I'd like to draw special attention to this last song - "Everything has Changed". The music video is absolutely darling and one of my all-time fave TS videos (not to mention hands down the best one from this album). It's simple but catchy and I simply LOVE Ed Sheeran! A musical match made in heaven in my humble opinion! You can view the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1oM3kQpXRo
As is pretty standard for Miss Swift, the subject of 99.9% of the album is love. Because of this, much is made of Taylor Swift's "unlucky in love" status in the media. I think this is a bit unfair. I'll elaborate on this just briefly :)
1) Taylor herself has stated that more often than not, the "sightings" from the press have no basis. Plenty of the guys she has supposedly been linked to have never been romantically involved with her.
2) If Taylor was not famous, it is unlikely that someone like her would be judged. I am sure there are a lot of people out there who are "serial daters". I am not agreeing with this philosophy, but I'm simply stating that her celebrity status is affecting people's perception of her.
But I digress :) This album is a definite "onward and upwards" for Taylor, with her managing to keep current, with a techno track ("I knew you were trouble"), some pure pop ("22"), a quirky break-up song ("We are never ever getting back together") and more typical country/pop TS ("All Too Well", "State of Grace" etc.)
The lyrics are contemplative and heartfelt. Many critics have described her as a "Poet Laureate" for the generation and I think this would be a fair analysis. Musically, I like her song-writing style, but they tend to have a bit of the "sameness" to them. All of her songs have a similar structure and chord progressions which can put people off. If you can stand a few repeated musical ideas (heck, Lloyd Webber's been doing it forever!), Taylor is an artist well worth listening to. One can at least appreciate her ability to be relatable without selling herself short with crude lyrics or swearing.
If you liked Taylor's previous albums, I would be surprised if you disliked this. However, I concede that she is not everyone's cup of tea, so like everything in life, my rating is purely subjective.
Three and a half stars. My comment would be above average but not brilliant. It's not quite in the league of "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"(!), but I would recommend to anyone who likes a catchy tune.
This may be a bit late for most of you, but I think that as one of the most important movies of the year, I think it would be good for a little review of this :)
**SPOILER ALERTS**
This is the first movie adaptation of the musical version of Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables".
This review is going to be broken down into five categories - the singing, acting, costuming, scoring and story.
The Singing: Being a singer myself, this is the area I'm going to be most picky about!
-Russell Crowe & Hugh Jackman. OK singers, just not really up to the vocal standard needed for these two incredibly difficult roles.
-Anne Hathaway (Fantine) amazing amazing amazing. That is all!
-Amanda Seyfried who stole the show in 2008's "Mamma Mia" disappoints as Cosette. The part of Cosette is really designed for a classically trained soprano, and she doesn't quite get up there.
-Eddie Redmayne (Marius) was a surprise choice for the part and his singing was more than I expected (a great improvement from Nick Jonas' interpretation in the 25th anniversary version!)
-Samantha Barks (Eponine) who was in the 25th Anniversary version of the musical and also played Nancy in the national tour of "Oliver!" in the UK, is outstanding (although not quite as good as in her concert performance of the part).
-Aaron Tveit (Enjorlas) - what an amazing voice! I bet the producers who didn't hire him for "Glee" are kicking themselves!
-Helena Bonham Carter...where does one begin! She didn't even attempt to sing! Luckily the part of Mme Thenardier is not known for its beauty, so she gets away with it.
-Pleasantly surprised with Sacha Baron Cohen's vocal prowess.
I did like the authenticity of singing live. The chorus was much better than many stage show productions. Overall, though the singing was not great by any means, it did not significantly detract from the film. I would not recommend purchasing the soundtrack though, as on their own, these performances are underwhelming.
The Acting: Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Aaron Tveit. Oscars all round! Russell Crowe wasn't quite mean enough for me, and Amanda Seyfried was just plain air-headed. The Thenardiers weren't big enough characters to properly judge their acting prowess (although I do love me a bit of Helena Bonham Carter).
Costuming: Fantastic. Liked everything bar the pink dress Anne Hathaway wore in the factory scene. Eponine's outfit was nice, as it stayed true to the spirit of her traditional costume but brought its own unique feel.
Scoring: The orchestra was awfully out of time (however, I concede that I did not really notice this on my first, or even second viewing). I enjoyed the new song "Suddenly" and some of the new transitions worked well.
The Story: I was (and still am) a huge fan of the musical. There is BUCKET LOADS which can be taken away from this incredibly moving story. Valjean, a criminal (petty at best) faces up to his past and is unable to let a man go to jail in his place. Javert has no understanding of grace, and would rather die than be forgiven for his misdeeds. He is unable to overlook Valjean's 'sin' despite the mercy he was shown. Fantine sacrifices her life and dignity for her daughter. Poor Eponine dies without the love she craved from Marius, but she is honoured by the students on the barricade. Five stars for the message alone!!!!
Not a children's film by any stretch of the imagination! (many of the Fantine scenes are unpleasant and the majority of "Master of the House" was bawdy.) I was more than a bit disappointed by the interpretation of "Master of the House". Although the lyrics were always pretty sus, the movie went above and beyond necessity.
Four stars - very enjoyable. The message of this movie is enough to overlook the flaws and when you watch the film, you become so engrossed, you forget the singing at all.
Seeing as Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of "The Great Gatsby" was released a couple of weeks ago, I thought it would be a good idea to review the book itself. However, if you have not seen the movie but want to...
**SPOILER ALERT** Maybe look away!
"The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald (First published in 1925)
I think before we go into any discussion of this book we should establish the major differences between the book and the movie.
In the book, Nick Carraway was not put under the care of a doctor to recover.
In the book, Jordan and Nick had a brief romantic relationship
In the book, Gatsby does not lose his temper and yell at Tom in the apartment when he wants Daisy to tell him she never loved him.
Baz Luhrmann's enormously extravagant party scenes were an excellent reflection upon the book's scenes. For example - "In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars." Somewhere else in the book, Fitzgerald describes the music being played as "yellow". Those unique colour descriptions had me sold for sure!
Despite the obviously lax morals of this book (not necessarily reflective of Fitzgerald's personal values, more likely a reflection of the times), there are a number of lessons to be learned.
1) Be sure your sins will find you out. George Wilson on the night Myrtle is run over says, "You may be fooling me, but you can't fool God."
2) Hypocrisy is rife. Tom is incredibly hurt when he discovers that Daisy is in love with Gatsby, yet he has been having affairs (with Daisy's full knowledge) for years.
3) Money means nothing. In this book, the rich are clearly not happy. Tom & Daisy's marriage is falling apart, with both of them in love with someone else, "Neither can stand the person they're married to." - Catherine, the Great Gatsby (Tom with Myrtle Wilson the garage owner's wife and Daisy with Gatsby, although this is learned considerably later in the book). Even the protaganist is not immune. Gatsby gives huge parties at great expense for anyone who wants to attend, but those who take advantage of his hospitality choose not to attend his funeral. It is a sobering picture and is reminiscent of the entire book of Ecclesiastes, which deals with life as being meaningless.
4) Carelessness is hurtful. At the end of the novel, Nick observes that "Tom and Daisy were careless people." Daisy who seemingly adored Gatsby, is a coward and cannot even bring herself to attend his funeral. Tom's lover was run over by a car and her husband committed suicide and yet he feels little. Tom and Daisy have no regard for the feelings of their small daughter named Pammy when they embark on their affairs. The first thing this couple does when tragedy strikes, is run away.
I know not everyone is a "read the book before the movie" type of person, but I think that this particular novel, is one that enhances a cinematic viewing greatly. It's not the end of the world if you saw the film first, I am just saying that it adds another layer to the message.
The language of the book is a little slow to understand at first, but after a chapter or so, you will ease into it.
Five Stars - Excellent. I think everyone should read this book.
Hello all!
This may seem a little "self-important", but since a few of you have enjoyed reviews of movies I have done in the past, I was thinking maybe I could start up a blog for two reasons:
1) I won't keep clogging up everyone's FB news feeds with my 2c worth!
2) Those who really want to see what I think can find all my reviews in one place
I am aiming to get up one book, one movie and one album review per week, but we'll see how that actually goes!
Happy reading :)
Emma x
