Little Children

Little Children by Tom Perrota is one of those fabulous novels that have been turned into better movies. I had seen the movie back in 2008. The movie starred two of my all time favorite actors; Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson. The movie revolves around two stay at home parents who have completed degrees in higher education. They have both conformed to the lives of the "dominant spouse" and when they find themselves they begin a romantic conection. The problems being to arise with the arivval of a knonw sexual offender.
This is where the movie and the book begin to defer.
The movie takes the character of Ronnie the sexual deviant into a more subdued manner, they don't acuse him of murder nor is he as repugnant as he is described in the book. Also the scene where he goes on a date is also thankfully excluded.
The truth is I really liked the movie and the ending was much more powerful, in the book the end was almost laughable. I mean you got the mom who has been a pseudo intellectual now playing Cinderella, the dad who has been for the most part a pretty face who was riding on his luck taking a turn for the better attempting to be a hero. Then you have the secondary characters the "perfect mom" riding in to finally break her own rules and quits becoming a conformist and the sexual deviant who just lost his mom becoming sympathetic to someone besides himself. The really is an asshole all throughout the book while in the movie you don't exactly forgive him or understand why he did what he did but you can sympathize with his character.
All in all the book was a quick read, but I would rather watch the movie.

Day 44: Crash

Crash: 2006: Winner of the 78th Academy Awards

Starring:

Don Cheadle

Sandra Bullock

Matt Dillon

Jennifer Esposito

Michael Peña

Brendan Fraser

Chris "Ludacris" Bridges

Terrence Howard

Ryan Phillippe

Larenz Tate

Thandie Newton

A series of interconnected lives through transparent means seem to be the leading basis for this movie. However this movie is more than just about how interconnected these lives are, but mostly about Human relationships and how society has ruined perfectly natural tendencies to just want to live in Harmony. Although one could argue that human nature also wants to feel pride and that’s where boundaries come in , but nevertheless this movie was great. I watched it on the television and the scene where the Hispanic father is saved by his 5 yr old daughter, made me cry so much I couldn’t stop. Imagine here’s a guy who’s had it rough, and he is being punished by this man because of his race, that was so riveting. I love this movie and even though Sandra Bullock was a downright git in this movie I totally loved her. Furthermore the small ironies of life where the guy who was abusing one person ended up saving her life that was so real. I was very happy when I saw them win and I felt that they truly deserved it. I don’t know if it’s just me but the seem to get better as they progress toward a better future in film. The turn of the century movie that started it “Dances with Wolves”. Crash really is a good movie with an unbelievable cast and maybe I love it all that more because one of the movies other star is my hometown of Los Angeles.

It also won awards for:

Best Editing: Hughes Winborne

Best Screenplay – Original Paul Haggis & Robert Moresco