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Maddi Zoe (6 KP) rated Wonder (2017) in Movies
Feb 8, 2018
acting (2 more)
storyline
underlying message
Cute messages tugging at your heart strings
Based on the best-selling novel of the same name, Wonder, directed by Stephen Chbosky, is a wonderfully endearing and uplifting story about a boy, Auggie Pullman (Jacob Tremblay), who was born with Treacher Collins syndrome and has had several surgeries leaving him with facial deformities.
The movie starts as he is entering into fifth-grade, and actually going to school for the first time as he has previously been home schooled by his mother (Julia Roberts). He is understandably scared about not making friends, or being ridiculed by his classmates, but with the help of his Mum and Dad (Owen Wilson) he braves going to school and meets new people.
There are many moments of sadness, as you would expect, but there are also moments of great joy. I found myself crying from start to finish, riding on a rollercoaster of emotions.
There are a few mini storylines about other characters that get given the spotlight at different times as well, which is a nice change to when some films focus on just the one person, because we get to see other characters backgrounds, and why they act how they do.
The casting is brilliant, Tremblay plays Auggie excellently, bringing both emotion and sass to the character. He has been in a fair few things before, such as Before I Wake, but this role will definitely boost him into the spotlight.
Roberts and Wilson as the parents is also an excellent choice, Roberts gives an emotive performance, and it’s great to see Wilson in a serious role, whilst still bringing some light comic relief.
The cast has a lot of young actors, but there isn’t one that stands out as being stiff or unnatural, they are all brilliant and help to bring the feel of the movie together. The relationships between all the characters is brought to life really well by the actors.
The writing is brilliant, although it is based on a book so the story is there already, but the screenwriters, Chbosky, Steve Conrad and Jack Thorne, put it together for the screen really well.
There are some stand out quotes, that also come from the book, that make you stop and think, and the teacher, Mr Browne (Daveed Diggs), teaches the class about precepts such as ‘When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind’.
Overall, it’s a well-rounded family movie, that may change your outlook on some things in life. With such great casting, writing and direction, I’d be very surprised if it didn’t do well during awards season.
The movie starts as he is entering into fifth-grade, and actually going to school for the first time as he has previously been home schooled by his mother (Julia Roberts). He is understandably scared about not making friends, or being ridiculed by his classmates, but with the help of his Mum and Dad (Owen Wilson) he braves going to school and meets new people.
There are many moments of sadness, as you would expect, but there are also moments of great joy. I found myself crying from start to finish, riding on a rollercoaster of emotions.
There are a few mini storylines about other characters that get given the spotlight at different times as well, which is a nice change to when some films focus on just the one person, because we get to see other characters backgrounds, and why they act how they do.
The casting is brilliant, Tremblay plays Auggie excellently, bringing both emotion and sass to the character. He has been in a fair few things before, such as Before I Wake, but this role will definitely boost him into the spotlight.
Roberts and Wilson as the parents is also an excellent choice, Roberts gives an emotive performance, and it’s great to see Wilson in a serious role, whilst still bringing some light comic relief.
The cast has a lot of young actors, but there isn’t one that stands out as being stiff or unnatural, they are all brilliant and help to bring the feel of the movie together. The relationships between all the characters is brought to life really well by the actors.
The writing is brilliant, although it is based on a book so the story is there already, but the screenwriters, Chbosky, Steve Conrad and Jack Thorne, put it together for the screen really well.
There are some stand out quotes, that also come from the book, that make you stop and think, and the teacher, Mr Browne (Daveed Diggs), teaches the class about precepts such as ‘When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind’.
Overall, it’s a well-rounded family movie, that may change your outlook on some things in life. With such great casting, writing and direction, I’d be very surprised if it didn’t do well during awards season.
Kelly (279 KP) rated Year One: Chronicles of The One in Books
Jan 8, 2019
Interesting characters (1 more)
Use of fantasy mixed into the apocalypse
Post apocalyptic with a sprinkle of fairy dust!
Originally purchasing this based on my previous purchases, I have to honestly confess that I had never heard of Nora Roberts! How I have missed this author, I do not know. I have thoroughly enjoyed this book, and will definitely be reading the remainder of the series.
Year One is the first in the three novel series - The Chronicles of The One. The novel itself definitely has undertones of Stephen Kings ‘The Stand’, and follows a similar format with the bulk of the worlds population being wiped out by a mysterious infection, leaving behind the survivors, who quickly divide into a good/ light side or bad/dark side. Unlike The Stand, which to me had slight biblical undertones, the unique selling point of Year One, is the addition of the uncanny’s, magical beings who have been living amongst us, some knowingly different, others benign until the doom releases their powers. I felt this added a new twist to the common post apocalyptic format.
I felt that the characters were varied and relatable within the story. Nora Toberts clearly spent a lot of time creating a varied population for cast, which helped their reactions within the story become more believable.
There is a lot going on within the story,which jumps between places and people as well as over the course of months, but as a reader I found this was necessary for the plot to develop. Surprisingly, despite all of the jumps, the story is still a relatively easy read. Throughout the narrative, I also find that Roberts gives very clear clues as to the direction that the next books will take, through the dreams/ visions of the characters.
The weakest part of the novel for me was the start, which is why I have only scored this a 9, rather than 10. It is probably me being picky, but I would have preferred another 50-100 pages giving me a little bit more background to some of the characters prior to the doom. I felt the background for some of the characters was there, but for others was a little sketchy, although ultimately this did not stop me engaging with them in the long term.
Overall, I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys fantasy and, or post apocalyptic novels. It is an interesting, enjoyable and easy read.
Year One is the first in the three novel series - The Chronicles of The One. The novel itself definitely has undertones of Stephen Kings ‘The Stand’, and follows a similar format with the bulk of the worlds population being wiped out by a mysterious infection, leaving behind the survivors, who quickly divide into a good/ light side or bad/dark side. Unlike The Stand, which to me had slight biblical undertones, the unique selling point of Year One, is the addition of the uncanny’s, magical beings who have been living amongst us, some knowingly different, others benign until the doom releases their powers. I felt this added a new twist to the common post apocalyptic format.
I felt that the characters were varied and relatable within the story. Nora Toberts clearly spent a lot of time creating a varied population for cast, which helped their reactions within the story become more believable.
There is a lot going on within the story,which jumps between places and people as well as over the course of months, but as a reader I found this was necessary for the plot to develop. Surprisingly, despite all of the jumps, the story is still a relatively easy read. Throughout the narrative, I also find that Roberts gives very clear clues as to the direction that the next books will take, through the dreams/ visions of the characters.
The weakest part of the novel for me was the start, which is why I have only scored this a 9, rather than 10. It is probably me being picky, but I would have preferred another 50-100 pages giving me a little bit more background to some of the characters prior to the doom. I felt the background for some of the characters was there, but for others was a little sketchy, although ultimately this did not stop me engaging with them in the long term.
Overall, I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys fantasy and, or post apocalyptic novels. It is an interesting, enjoyable and easy read.
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Flatliners (2017) in Movies
Sep 29, 2021
The undiscovered country… which they shouldn’t have returned to.
The movies have depicted the hereafter in varied ways over the years. From the bleached white warehouses of Powell and Pressburger’s “A Matter of Life and Death” in 1946 and Warren Beatty’s “Heaven Can Wait” in 1978 to – for me – the peak of the game: Vincent Ward’s mawkish but gorgeously rendered oil-paint version of heaven in 1998’s “What Dreams May Come”. Joel Schmacher’s 1990’s “Flatliners” saw a set of “brat pack” movie names of the day (including Kevin Bacon, Julia Roberts, William Baldwin and Kiefer Sutherland) as experimenting trainee doctors, cheating death to experience the afterlife and getting more than they bargained for. The depictions of the afterlife were unmemorable: in that I don’t remember them much! (I think there was some sort of spooky tree involved, but that’s about it!)
But the concept was sufficiently enticing – who isn’t a little bit intrigued by the question of “what’s beyond”? – that Cross Creek Pictures thought it worthy of dusting off and giving it another outing in pursuit of dirty lucre. But unfortunately this offering adds little to the property’s reputation.
In this version, the lead role is headed up by Ellen Page (“Inception”) who is a great actress… too good for this stuff. Also in that category is Diego Luna, who really made an impact in “Rogue One” but here has little to work with in terms of backstory. The remaining three doctors – Nina Dobrev as “the sexy one”; James Norton (“War and Peace”) as “the posh boy” and Kiersey Clemons as the “cute but repressed one”, all have even less backstory and struggle to make a great impact.
Still struggling to get the high score on Angry Birds: from left to right Ray (Diego Luna), Sophia (Kiersey Clemons), Marlo (Nina Dobrev), Courtney (Ellen Page) and Jamie (James Norton).
Also putting in an appearance, as the one link from the original film, is Kiefer Sutherland as a senior member of the teaching staff. But he’s not playing the same character (that WOULD have been a bloody miracle!) and although Sutherland adds gravitas he really is given criminally little to do. What was director Niels Arden Oplev (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”) thinking?
In terms of the story, it’s pretty much a re-hash of Peter Filardi’s original, with Ben Ripley (“Source Code”) adding a few minor tweaks to the screenplay to update it for the current generation. But I will levy the same criticism of this film as I levied at the recent Stephen King adaptation of “It”: for horror to work well it need to obey some decent ‘rules of physics’ and although most of the scenes work (since a lot of the “action” is sensibly based inside the character’s heads) there are the occasional linkages to the ‘real world’ that generate a “WTF???” response. A seemingly indestructible Mini car (which is also clearly untraceable by the police!) and a knife incident at the dockside are two cases in point.
Is there anything good to say about this film? Well, there are certainly a few tense moments that make the hairs on your neck at least start to stand to attention. But these are few and far between, amongst a sea of movie ‘meh’. It’s certainly not going to be the worst film I see this year, since at least I wasn’t completely bored for the two hours. But I won’t remember this one in a few weeks. As a summary in the form of a “Black Adder” quote, it’s all a bit like a broken pencil….. pointless.
But the concept was sufficiently enticing – who isn’t a little bit intrigued by the question of “what’s beyond”? – that Cross Creek Pictures thought it worthy of dusting off and giving it another outing in pursuit of dirty lucre. But unfortunately this offering adds little to the property’s reputation.
In this version, the lead role is headed up by Ellen Page (“Inception”) who is a great actress… too good for this stuff. Also in that category is Diego Luna, who really made an impact in “Rogue One” but here has little to work with in terms of backstory. The remaining three doctors – Nina Dobrev as “the sexy one”; James Norton (“War and Peace”) as “the posh boy” and Kiersey Clemons as the “cute but repressed one”, all have even less backstory and struggle to make a great impact.
Still struggling to get the high score on Angry Birds: from left to right Ray (Diego Luna), Sophia (Kiersey Clemons), Marlo (Nina Dobrev), Courtney (Ellen Page) and Jamie (James Norton).
Also putting in an appearance, as the one link from the original film, is Kiefer Sutherland as a senior member of the teaching staff. But he’s not playing the same character (that WOULD have been a bloody miracle!) and although Sutherland adds gravitas he really is given criminally little to do. What was director Niels Arden Oplev (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”) thinking?
In terms of the story, it’s pretty much a re-hash of Peter Filardi’s original, with Ben Ripley (“Source Code”) adding a few minor tweaks to the screenplay to update it for the current generation. But I will levy the same criticism of this film as I levied at the recent Stephen King adaptation of “It”: for horror to work well it need to obey some decent ‘rules of physics’ and although most of the scenes work (since a lot of the “action” is sensibly based inside the character’s heads) there are the occasional linkages to the ‘real world’ that generate a “WTF???” response. A seemingly indestructible Mini car (which is also clearly untraceable by the police!) and a knife incident at the dockside are two cases in point.
Is there anything good to say about this film? Well, there are certainly a few tense moments that make the hairs on your neck at least start to stand to attention. But these are few and far between, amongst a sea of movie ‘meh’. It’s certainly not going to be the worst film I see this year, since at least I wasn’t completely bored for the two hours. But I won’t remember this one in a few weeks. As a summary in the form of a “Black Adder” quote, it’s all a bit like a broken pencil….. pointless.