Her Fearful Symmetry

 

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger:

The story revolves around two different sets of twins. The latter twins are 21 years old and haven’t really decided what to do in life or how to go about it. They are content with sitting at home and watching the tube, reading and enjoying each others companies. The other twins are the mothers of the younger twins. Elspeth and Edie are twins who let a horrible secret keep them apart for years. Julia and Valentina are a product of Edie and her husband Jack. While on her deathbed Elspeth bequeaths her apartment and all her worldly belongings to her nieces. So Valentina and Julia make the valiant decision to move to England and inhabit the home of an aunt they never knew. There’s all the side story of the other residents of the building, Robert, Elspeths lover/life mate. Martin and Marijke a couple whom are basically the silver lining of the book. Without them the book would be a dreary history of a cemetery, selfish people and body robbing oh and twin things.

Bitch Please!

This is where the book ends being interesting and begins to get boring because the story seriously starts to get boring. The man upstairs Martin has OCD and he can’t leave his apartment the annoying twin Julia goes to visit him and discovers that she likes him immensely so she keeps going to keep him company. Here’s the thing the guy Robert who was in love with Elspeth is afraid of going to see the twins and avoids them and finally goes to see them and falls in love with Valentina. Remember I had just read Flowers in the Attic so this was the overall theme of the week. Uncles marrying nieces. What I hated most about this book was that Elspeth who was dead came back as a ghost. I wanted the twins to go on an adventure and figure out the dark secret their mother was hiding and then live a fulfilled semi separate life. But Valentina my initial favorite sister turned out to be selfish and stupid. *Spoiler Alert*

Valentina is a fucked up bitch, in her desperate attempt to leave Julia’s side she decides to kill herself with the help of Elspeth’s soul. She deserved to never figure out how to get back into her body because she was selfish. She didn’t care that she was making her parents heart break or that she was going to abandon Julia. I hate Elspeth for knowing beforehand she was never going to let Valentina back into her body and befriending her anyway. I hate that Julia was left alone and sad and couldn’t move on with her life. My favorite part of the book was Julia’s interaction with Martin. I definitely liked the idea of a man living with OCD and aided by a young curious girl who was determined to help him trump his fear and reunite his wife. In fact I vote for Ms. N to take this story and revamp it with different names and then make it a book. It would have been better than what she eventually presented in manuscript. This was really frustrating to read. I didn’t like how it ended, not even how Valentina figured out how to be free. I wish I hadn’t read this before Cather in the Rye and after Flowers in the Attic. Vomit.

Skyfall

Skyfall

Daniel Craig as James Bond

Judi Dench as M

Javier Bardem as Raoul

Ralph Fiennes as Gareth Mallory

Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny

Bérénice Lim Marlohe as Sévérine

This is another Bond, James Bond. story, I've actually never seen a Bond movie all the way thru til now. This was a predciatable Bond movie. He dies, revives, fucks a girl, gets an assignment after much debating wether he wants to do it again knowing full well he loves his job. Then he has a weird tiff with M who seems to be masochistic cuz she likes it, then he goes kills the villan but wait the villans alive and then he rescues a girl and saves the day. Did I miss anything? Oh yeah he fucks two girls per film right. Well it was Bond executed but the thing that really saved this movie. Javier Bardeem and another horrible hairdo. The first 30 min of the film are all about how to get to the villian. Oh sidenote the first 5 minutes are Adele's melodic voice singing the Bond theme and tell me when did movies decided to open with muic videos? I mean the girl with the dragon tattoo (american verison) did it ... another Daniel Craig movie.. maybe its Daniel Craig? Well anyways the movie is kind of boring (don't kill me 007 fans) till Javier Bardeem as Raoul Silva makes his entrance wearing a ridiculous blonde hairdo and sporting a little gay in his step and well all over mannerism. He's kind of a super smart, traumatized, psychopath you can't help but like until he starts killing. Kind of a lighter, no make-up wearing joker. He's the reason this movie worked honestly, it was getting boring and depressing. I'm kind of sad I paid for this movie when I know it'll be on syfy or fx in like a year along with its counterparts. However it was entertaining and watching the faces on the Bond wannabes next to me was pretty fun.

Day 43: My Fair Lady

My Fair Lady: 1965: Winner of the 37th Academy Award


Starring:

Rex Harrison as Professor Henry Higgins

Audrey Hepburn (Marni Nixon, singing) as Eliza Doolittle

Stanley Holloway as Alfred P. Doolittle

Wilfrid Hyde-White as Colonel Hugh Pickering

Gladys Cooper as Mrs. Higgins

Jeremy Brett (Bill Shirley, singing) as Freddy Eynsford-Hill

Theodore Bikel as Zoltan Karpathy

Mona Washbourne as Mrs. Pearce, Higgins' housekeeper

Isobel Elsom as Mrs. Eynsford-Hill

John Holland as Butler

From the memorable first scene where Eliza is selling little peonies for men’s coats to the last scene. My fair lady is the utmost example of Cinderella. Eliza has nothing in the world, the gentleman has too much money and too much time , so he bets he can make Eliza a woman and not some bedraggled forgotten girl selling flowers. Her transformation is astonishing but so is the process behind the scenes. He begins to love this creature he has created, love her because even though she has become a lady she is still Eliza but like a mature version now. This movie made me love Audrey Hepburn. Audrey is good example of someone going from a rough and tumble beginning and ending at the top of the ranks despite all odds. The rags to riches story that e all hear off and secretly dream of. Hollywood has this ideal close to heart because any movie with that premise and with the right actors are almost guaranteed an Oscar. For example, “Million Dollar Baby” “Rocky” and “Gi-Gi” to some extent are movies that have one on that premise with some boxing thrown in. I like this movie and it has been on my to get list for quite some time. If you love Audrey Hepburn you will love this, and who doesn’t love Audrey Hepburn?

It also won awards for;


Academy Award for Directing - George Cukor

Academy Award for Best Actor - Rex Harrison

Academy Award for Best Cinematography - Harry Stradling

Academy Award for Sound - George R. Groves, Warner Brothers Studio

Academy Award for Original Music Score - Andre Previn

Academy Award for Best Art Direction - Gene Allen, Cecil Beaton and George James Hopkins

Academy Award for Costume Design - Cecil Beaton

Day 25: Rebecca

Rebecca: 1940: Winner of the 13th Academy Awards



Starring:


Laurence Olivier as Maxim de Winter
Joan Fontaine as The Second Mrs. de Winter

George Sanders as Jack Favell

Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers

Nigel Bruce as Major Giles Lacy

Reginald Denny as Frank Crawley

C. Aubrey Smith as Colonel Julyan

Gladys Cooper as Beatrice Lacy

Florence Bates as Mrs. Edythe Van Hopper

Melville Cooper as Coroner

Leo G. Carroll as Dr. Baker

Wow, wow, wow! This movie has it all, the wry dry British Humor, thrills and chills and a love story. The plot is this a young woman (Fontaine) is a companion to a wealthy woman and is with her on a trip in Monte Carlo, there she meets the young aristocrat Mr. de Winter, who is now a widower thanks to his previous wife’s catastrophic death. As with any movie plot they fall in love. What you have to understand is that she is almost in every way very different to Rebecca his previous wife. Anyhow, this man takes her to his estate called “Manderly” and a series of very intriguing plots begin to twist. I don't want to say to much for fear that I’ll give too much away. I mean honestly you won't get the whole story until the movie is just about done. It is very similar to the movie Psycho, in the sense that you don't get the complete picture all at once, more like in pieces. The end is simply superb and I loved Laurence Olivier in this. I almost pardon him for the movie “Hamlet”, which was way boring. Also I think I might have liked this more because for the longest I couldn’t find a place that had it. Salinger and I went out to get stuff and randomly found a library and lo and behold three movies that had been as of yet not found stood staring at me like new found friends. Rebecca being one of them. This was Hitchcock's first American film and he won an Oscar for it! Go Hitchcock. This is my third Hitchcock movie seen. I never got to finish “Rear Window”. This is joining “My to get List. ” its one of those movies you watch on a stormy and rainy day, in the dark. It just gets you so excited and you can't help but try to anticipate whats going to happen next. This is one of the Academy's better choices. Furthermore considering I had a week of solid war movies of extremely long length I can faithfully say I am happy for a decently timed film with a good plot and no gun shots. Rebecca is a must see, trust me you will not be disappointed.

It also won an award for:
Best Cinematography, Black and White - George Barnes

Day 16: Chariots of Fire

Chariots of Fire: 1981: Winner of the 54th Academy Awards


Starring:

Ben Cross as Harold Abrahams,

Ian Charleson as Eric Liddell,

Nicholas Farrell as Aubrey Montague,

Nigel Havers as Lord Andrew Lindsay,

Ian Holm as Sam Mussabini,

John Gielgud as Master of Trinity College at Cambridge University

Lindsay Anderson as Master of Caius College at Cambridge University

Cheryl Campbell as Jennie Liddell,

Alice Krige as Sybil Gordon,

Struan Rodger as Sandy McGrath,

Nigel Davenport as Lord Birkenhead,

Patrick Magee as Lord Cadogan,

David Yelland as the Prince of Wales,

Peter Egan as the Duke of Sutherland,

Daniel Gerroll as Henry Stallard,

Dennis Christopher as Charlie Paddock,

Brad Davis as Jackson Scholz,
 
My first thought when I saw this movie was, wtf is this going to be about, I see some skinny as fuck dude on someone’s shoulders and I have no idea why he is there. Turns out this movie is one of those feel good movies that actually had a decent plot. So these Oxford college students are trying out for the Olympics and there leader is an angry Jewish guy. He is super fast and he wants to be the fastest in the world. Ok so there’s a Scotsman who actually is the fastest man in the world. They race and he just can’t beat him. Why? Because the Scotsman runs with all his heart and soul, while the other runs to prove something so with anger and contempt. Even though he has a just cause, he is making it a battle against the world instead of asking the world to help him win the battle. Anyway they both win medals but by then they aren’t competing against one another but as a team. I’m real glad I saw this now, considering that the Summer Olympics are upon us, only four months away, and everyone who knows me that I love to watch and will seriously harm you if you come between me and the red carpet at an Award Show and the Fashion after bash and the Olympics. Therefore I can deduce that this was a real good movie, and it didn’t have any competition besides “Raiders of the Lost Ark”
 
It also won awards for:
 
Original Music Score – Vangelis
Writing Original Screenplay – Colin Welland
Costume Design – Milena Canonero