Based on the Book - New Movies, Movie/Book Lists, Reviews

Movies Released in December 2008

 

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The Reader (Limited Release) - Based on the book by Bernhard Schlink [DEC.10th]

GENRE: Historical Drama, Romance
STARRING: Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, Karoline Herfurth, Hannah Herzsprung, David Kross
DIRECTED BY: Stephen Daldry
TAGLINES/PLOT SUMMARY: Behind the mystery lies a truth... that will make you question everything you know. Almost ten years after an affair with an older women, Michael meets her once again. This time she is on trial as a Nazi war criminal. When she won't defend herself, he realizes that she may be hiding something worse.

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Che, Part 1 (Limited Release) - Based on Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War by Ernest "Che" Guevara [DEC. 12th]

GENRE: Historical Drama, Action, Biopic
STARRING: Benicio Del Toro, Demian Bichir, Santiago Cabrera, Elvira Minguez, Jorge Perugorria
DIRECTED BY: Steven Soderbergh
TAGLINES/PLOT SUMMARY: The true story of Che Guevara and the Cuban Revolution.

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  The Tale of Despereaux - Based on the book by Kate DiCamillo [DEC. 19th]

GENRE: Animated Family Adventure, Animals, Kids
STARRING: Matthew Broderick, Dustin Hoffman, Emma Watson, Tracey Ullman, Kevin Kline
DIRECTED BY: Sam Fell, Rob Stevenhagen
TAGLINES/PLOT SUMMARY: Small hero. Big heart. Small mouse. Big dreams. A little mouse with big ears, Despereaux refuses to live the cowering life of the typical mouse. After being banished by his fellow mice for being so different, he embarks on an adventure that shows how "big" he really is.

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Yes Man - Based on the book by Danny Wallace [DEC. 19th]

GENRE: Comedy
STARRING: Jim Carrey, Bradley Cooper, Zooey Deschanel, Sasha Alexander, Karen Bankhead
DIRECTED BY: Peyton Reed
TAGLINES/PLOT SUMMARY: One word can change everything. A once-negative man gets involved in a self-help program that challenges him to start saying yes instead of no. It changes his life... but not always for the best!

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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Based on the book by F.Scott Fitzgerald [DEC. 25th]

GENRE: Dramatic Comedy, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
STARRING: Bradd Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Kimberly Scott, Jason Flemyng, Taraji P. Henson, Tilda Swinton
DIRECTED BY: David Fincher
TAGLINES/PLOT SUMMARY: "I was born under unusual circumstances." Life can only be understood backward. It can only be lived forward. Follows the unusual life and love of a man whose life progresses in reverse. He looks younger the older he gets.

READ EXCERPTS FROM THE CURIOUS CASE... ON AMAZON.COM

 

Marley & Me - Based on the book by John Grogan [DEC. 25th]

GENRE: Comedy, Animals
STARRING: Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, Alan Arkin, Haley Bennett
DIRECTED BY: David Frankel
TAGLINES/PLOT SUMMARY: A couple adopts a new puppy that becomes a huge part of their lives and a great teacher of life's lessons.

READ EXCERPTS FROM MARLEY & ME ON AMAZON.COM

 

Revolutionary Road - Based on the book by Richard Yates [DEC. 26th]

GENRE: Drama
STARRING: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Kathy Bates, David Harbour, Michael Shannon
DIRECTED BY: Sam Mendes
TAGLINES/PLOT SUMMARY: How do you break free without breaking apart? A young couple seeks to break free from the mediocrity of suburbia by sarting a new life in a new place. They find out that a new life brings its own problems though.

READ EXCERPTS FROM REVOLUTIONARY ROAD ON AMAZON.COM

    

 

Twilight

Twilight - Based on the book by Stephenie Meyer 

 

RELEASED: Nov. 21st, 2008

GENRE: Teen Romance, Drama, Thriller
STARRING: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Billy Burke, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Cam Gigandet, Nikki Reed
DIRECTED BY: Catherine Hardwicke
TAGLINES/PLOT SUMMARY: When you can live forever what do you live for? A teenage girl moves to a new town and finds herself falling for a vampire. Their romance flourishes until a new band of vampires shows up  and threatens to change everything.

READ EXCERPTS FROM TWILIGHT ON AMAZON.COM

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After reading some of the more negative comments about Twilight the movie, I was not so sure what to think. Because of the book's popularity, I wanted to believe the best. I didn't want to believe, like some of the critics, that the only reason the film seemed to be garnering such excitement because of the crazed teenage fans.

 

Learning more about the book though and the story of Twilight convinces me that there must be more to it than that. The book is prime material for a film based on the action it contains and the kind of emotion it evokes. One of the negatives about the book for some - Bella's sappy internal monologues about Edward. Inner monologues usually doesn't translate well from book to film and quite often films suffer from their elimination. However, that does not appear to be the case for Twilight.

 

Meyer's page-turning action sequences make for some exciting scenes in the film. The steaminess and sexual tension created in the novel, in part by Bella's inner monologues, are maintained in the film instead by the chemistry and power of its actors as well as the beautiful cinematography. Thus the magic of the book continues on the screen - adjusting itself to the medium quite nicely.  

 

Book and movie seem to be on fairly equal footing. So enjoy them both! You decide which one should come first!

 

 

MOVIE:           J = 11            K = 4              L = 9

MOVIE POSTER WORTHY	COULD GO EITHER WAY	OUCH!
Ty Burr of The Boston Globe Read the whole review J "a darn good hunk of pop moviemaking" J "unerringly faithful to the source without being hamstrung by it" J "a cinematic amplification"	K "a better movie than the book was a book" K "walks a wickedly smart line between indulging the corn[iness] and keeping her distance" K "best when dealing with intimacy rather than plot"	L "caves into the necessity of story reluctantly and unconvincingly"
Michael Phillips of The Chicago Tribune  Read the whole review                 J "intelligent strengths" J "faithful to its source material" J "better written than the book" J "an eye toward actual teen dynamics"	K "tones up her heroine"	L "the superfast running effects… look genuinely cheesy"
Bill Gibron of Filmcritic.com Read the whole review		L "a spotty spook show romance" L "Twilight's need for faithfulness [to the novel] flummoxes anything remotely resembling entertainment" L "one boring, overbearing phenomenon"
Kirk Honeycutt of HollywoodReporter.com Read the whole review J "an exquisite look in terms of cinematography and design" J "costumes and décor are always just right" J "actors [are] exceptionally good" J "considerable potential for this apparent franchise"		L "guys will have to tolerate [the film]" L "heavy doses of camp" L "anti-climactic" L "the first film was the weakest"

 

BOOK:            J =  10           K =  4             L = 4

BOOK JACKET WORTHY	GOOD, BAD, INDIFFERENT?	WISH THEY HADN'T SAID THAT
Simone Snaith of LAist.com Read the whole review J "will suck your average reader right in" J "intriguing" J "sexy"	K "nothing literary fans will deign to read"	L "occasionally outside the suspension of disbelief"
School Library Journal Read the whole review J "realistic, subtle, succinct, and easy to follow"
Norah Piehl of TeenReads.com Read the whole review J "a remarkably sensuous novel" J "charged with erotic energy" J "Meyer certainly leaves her own imprint on the [vampire] genre" J "its pacing is steady and compelling until the end" J "a gripping blend of romance and horror that will entice fans of both genres"
Film critics who weighed in on the book -- Michael Phillips of The Chicago Tribune Read the whole review Ty Burr of The Boston Globe Read the whole review J "[Meyer] located the missing link between gothic fiction and Goth"	K "tones up her heroine"       K "canny, inelegant [writing style]" K "it's all about sex without being about sex at all"	L "tends toward froth and fulmination"     L "[Meyer] struggled to put her characters' galloping emotions into print" L "the love scenes meandered endlessly"

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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas - Based on the book by John Boyne

 

GENRE: War Drama, Coming of Age
STARRING: Vera Farmiga, Jack Scanlon, David Thewlis, Rupert Friend, Cara Horgan 
DIRECTED BY: Mark Herman
TAGLINES/PLOT SUMMARY: An 8-year-old son of a Nazi makes friends with a boy in the concentration camp near his home.  

 

After reading the reviews, it's pretty clear to see that John Boyne's The Boy in the Striped Pajamas goes over much better in print than on film. The story of the Holocaust through a young boy's eyes is much harder to read than to watch.

 

In words Boyne is able to share with the reader Bruno's 9-year-old perspective - his very thoughts. We can know how he thinks and feels about his new friend Shmuel who lives on the other side of the "Out-with" (Aushwitz) fence and wears the striped pajamas. However, to watch the friendship develop on film is difficult because, knowing what we know about the Holocaust, it's hard to understand why Bruno doesn't "get" what's going on. 

 

Reading this story seems to make all the difference. In the book, the reader can get lost in Bruno's life in a way that the movie just can't pull off. The great suspension of disbelief required to watch the movie is not as necessary for the book. Bruno's world is our world in words and his beliefs become ours for the short time we're there. Not so on celluloid.

 

Don't count the movie out completely though. Both movie and book have been viewed as controversial because of the subject (the Holocaust) and the target audience (young readers). The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is billed as a Young Adult novel - probably most appropriate for grades 9 and up according to the School Library Journal. The movie is rated PG-13 for some of its mature themes.

 

Despite the controversy, the lessons and perspectives of the story, both in print and on film, can be valuable for the conversations they may start. Adults and kids alike may learn a great deal from this new perspective on the Holocaust. Consider taking advantage of either version for the educational and emotional impact it may offer to you or your children.

MOVIE:           J = 6              K = 5              L = 9

MOVIE POSTER WORTHY	COULD GO EITHER WAY	OUCH!
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times Read the whole review J "powerful impact"	K "an orderly story" K "gathers… tightly wound tensions and savagely uncoils them"
James Berardinelli of ReelViews.net Read the whole review J "the acting is strong" J "a fresh perspective" J "a well-made, serious effort"	K "designed to shock" K "the fairy tale aspect is both a strength and a weakness"	L "an artificial, fairy tale quality that… undermines the seriousness of the subject matter" L "a curious sense of imbalance" L "too convoluted to be plausible" L "pervasive sense of oversimplification and contrivance"
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone Read the whole review J "the power of the story and the performances… is indisputable"		L "the premise doesn't excuse lapses in logic"
Sean Axmaker of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Read the whole review J "a lesson film"	K "a simplistic perspective"	L "best of intentions" L "turn[ing]… Jews into extras" is the "inadvertent, appalling outcome" L "[the] results are unsettling" L "bungles its message"

 

 

BOOK:            J =  16           K =  6             L = 3

BOOK JACKET WORTHY	GOOD, BAD, INDIFFERENT?	WISH THEY HADN'T SAID THAT
Ed Wright of The Age Read the whole review J "a touching tale of an odd friendship" J "an effortless read" J "elegant storytelling with emotional impact" J "an ending that in true fairytale style is grotesquely clever"	K "will provoke questions"	L "some initial tonal clunkiness" L "rather implausible"
Alexis Burling of BookReporter.com Read the whole review J "a definitive novel about [a] much-explored… subject" J "truly a climax worth waiting for" J "different from just any old friendship… story" J "different from many (if not all) other Holocaust stories" J "a bundle of fascinating conjectures, questions and contradictions" J "a masterful storyteller" J "a worthwhile and profound journey"	K "controversial" K "will surely ignite any number of heated conversations"
Kathryn Hughes of The Guardian Read the whole review J "the slow revelation of detail… impresses" J "the great strength of Bruno's narrative is the way it is mired in the parochial preoccupations of a nine-year-old" J "a small wonder of a book"	K "an education in real time of the horrors of… Auschwitz"     K "borders on fable" K "nothing muffled or held back"	L "slight bumps in tone"
Fiona Ness of The Sunday Business Post Online Read the whole review/interview J "Boynes has broken the literary mould" J "informs our view of history"

Popular Movie Authors

This list is made up of authors who have had two or more of their books or stories made into movies. The listings are in alphabetical order by authors' last names and show the titles of the books (and the movies when they differ).

Please select the letter of the author's last name or browse through the complete list below.

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Movies Released in November 2008

SCROLL DOWN TO WATCH NOVEMBER'S MOVIE TRAILERS 

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (Limited Release) - Based on the book by John Boyne [NOV. 7th]

GENRE: War Drama, Coming of Age
STARRING: Vera Farmiga, Jack Scanlon, David Thewlis, Rupert Friend, Cara Horgan
DIRECTED BY: Mark Herman
TAGLINES/PLOT SUMMARY: An 8-year-old son of a Nazi makes friends with a boy in the concentration camp near his home.

NO PREVIEW PAGES AVAILABLE                    READ THE REVIEWS

 

House (Limited Release)- Based on the book by Frank Peretti & Ted Dekker [NOV. 7th]

GENRE: Thriller
STARRING: JP Davis, Pawel Delag, Heidi Dippold, Leslie Easterbrook, Julie Ann Emery
DIRECTED BY: Robby Henson
TAGLINES/PLOT SUMMARY: The only way out... is in. Two couples fight for survival in a house where a killer has trapped them.

READ EXCERPTS FROM HOUSE ON AMAZON.COM

 

The World Unseen (Limited Release) - Based on the book by Shamim Sarif [NOV. 7th]

GENRE: Foreign Drama
STARRING: Grethe Fox, Nandana Sen, Parvin Dabas, Sheetal Sheth, Lisa Ray
DIRECTED BY: Shamim Sarif
TAGLINES/PLOT SUMMARY: In the apartheid of South Africa an unusual friendship develops between two women. One is a traditional Indian wife. The other is a rebellious young white woman.

READ EXCERPTS FROM THE WORLD UNSEEN ON AMAZON.COM

 

Slumdog Millionaire (Limited Release)  - Based on Q&A by Vikas Swarup [NOV. 12th]

GENRE: Teen Drama, Comedy, Foreign
STARRING: Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Madhur Mittal, Freida Pinto
DIRECTED BY: Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan
TAGLINES/PLOT SUMMARY: A poor orphaned teen is close to hitting the jackpot on a Hindi game show. But first he tells his life story to police who accuse him of cheating. They find he's not in it for the money, but what is he hoping for?

READ EXCERPTS FROM Q&A ON AMAZON.COM

 

Twilight - Based on the book by Stephenie Meyer [NOV. 21st]

GENRE: Teen Romance, Drama, Thriller
STARRING: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Billy Burke, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Cam Gigandet, Nikki Reed
DIRECTED BY: Catherine Hardwicke
TAGLINES/PLOT SUMMARY: When you can live forever what do you live for? A teenage girl moves to a new town and finds herself falling for a vampire. Their romance flourishes until a new band of vampires shows up  and threatens to change everything.

READ EXCERPTS FROM TWILIGHT ON AMAZON.COM                     READ THE REVIEWS