Dir: Alfonso Cuarón
Writ: Richard LaGravenese & Elizabeth Chandler, based on book by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

• Liesel Matthews … Sara Crewe
• Liam Cunningham … Capt. Crewe/Prince Rama
• Vanessa Lee Chester … Becky
• Eleanor Bron … Miss Minchin
• Errol Sitahal … Ram Dass
• Kelsey Mulrooney … Lottie

Sara Crewe lives a spoiled life in India with a devoted, doting father, until World War I intervenes, and he enlists, sending Sara off to boarding school in New York to keep her safe. There she must adjust, whereas before she had free rein to do as she pleased, now she must submit to rules and regulations that she doesn’t understand. And, most difficult for her, she must keep her imagination in check. But Sara isn’t a selfish, “poor little rich girl”, she is bright and kind, and soon makes friends with most of the other girls, from those in her class to the scullery maid. She is also the only one who can really get through to Lottie as they have both lost their mothers.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: A Little Princess, Alfonso Cuarón, awwww, based on book, childhood, Eleanor Bron, Elizabeth Chandler, Errol Sitahal, family film, Frances Hodgson Burnett, imagination, Kelsey Mulrooney, Liam Cunningham, Liesel Matthews, loss, New York, poverty, Richard LaGravenese, soldier, Vanessa Lee Chester, WWI

Related posts

• Letters from Iwo Jima (0)
• Jarhead (4)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (17)
• Children of Men (4)
• A Long Long Way (0)

Author: Sebastian Barry
ISBN: 0571218016 DDC: 823.914
See also: Library Thing ; Three Monkey’s Interview ; Dublin’s One Book One City ;

He was born in the dying days.
It was the withering end of 1896. He was called William after the long-dead Orange King, because his father took an interest in such distant matters.

It seems to have taken me ages to finish this book. I’ve been dipping in and out for a while now. Nothing to do with the book itself, more to do with my lack of attention, because it is a very good book. Gripping would be the cliché. But true nonetheless.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 823.914, 9 Stars, A Long Long Way, IMPAC winner, Ireland - 1900s, Ireland - WWI, Irish soldier, Joe O’Reilly, lyrical writting, poignant, Sebastian Barry, soldier, War, war is hell, well-written, WWI

Related posts

• Suite Francaise (2)
• Monstrous Regiment (0)
• Merry Christmas (Joyeux Noel) (0)
• Birds Without Wings (0)
• We need to talk about Kevin (11)

A Life in Conflict
Author: Tim Collins
ISBN:0755313755 DDC: 956.70443092
See also: LibraryThing ; Revish ; Guardian’s digested read ; Interview in the Guardian

25 May 2003
The tip-off came from a Fleet Street contact that Saturday evening: something serious was brewing in the media, something ‘pretty big’. I’d been under the cosh for the last week after being accused of war crimes, so I wondered how much bigger it could get.

So, do I admit at the start or the end of this review that I was anti the Iraq war? Does that political inclination mean that my opinion of this book is biased? I’m not sure, I do however know that this book did not get off to a good start with me, as the dedication is “to the soldiers of Ireland who left their native land to fight for the Crown so that small nations might be free.” That grates. It is meant with the best of intentions, or at least I suppose so, and I’m guessing he is talking about in modern times, but it still grates. After all, Ireland is one of those small nations that had to fight against the Crown so that she might be free.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 956.70443092, biography, Iraq war, non-fiction, Royal Irish Regiment, Rules of Engagement, soldier, Tim Collins, War

Related posts

• Jarhead (4)
• Zero Point One Six: living in extra time (0)
• While Green Grass Grows (0)
• Time Added On (4)
• The Squad (0)

Dir: Zack Snyder
Writ: Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnston, Michael Gordon and based on the graphic novel 300 by Frank Miller & Lynn Varley

• Gerard Butler - King Leonidas
• Lena Headey - Queen Gorgo
• Dominic West - Theron
• David Wenham - Dilios
• Vincent Regan - Captain
• Michael Fassbender - Stelios
• Tom Wisdom - Astinos
• Rodrigo Santoro - Xerxes

I have a feeling that how you feel at the end of seeing this film will be hugely coloured by your mindset before the film began. Personally I loved it. Wonderful visuals and a great story. Wasn’t overly impressed with the characterisation, but you can’t have everything.

The film begins with a voice-over, and this narrator pipes up throughout the film, sometimes describing the action that we are watching on screen. I have no doubt that some will find this redundant, but, given the ending and who the narrator is I think this device actually works really well. Plus he does add to the melodramatic, over the top atmosphere that make this such a good film.

Overblown and over the top, almost pompous in its grand vision. And yet it just works. Somehow they’ve managed to draw the viewer in, using dialogue and visuals that could so easily have done nothing but remind you that this is a highly stylised film. The visuals are often lacking in realism. The characters are larger than life, the action is brutal, the culture hugely strange. And it is great.

There were one or two instances when I did find myself thinking that the constant references to freedom and the evil tyrant were overdone and not a little incorrect given the fact that if you were a slave in Spartan society then life back then was pretty far from easy. But this isn’t really historical fiction, it is an action film, and as such it is almost perfect. I also loved the soundtrack. So much so that I did just try and buy it online, but the official website wants you to use iTunes, I don’t, so I was forced into borrowing it.

Top marks all around for a violent, visceral, blood-splattered film, and I can’t finish my review without saying, my god, did you see those abs?

IMDb | Wikipedia on the Battle of Thermopylae | Dark Horse | I am the Lizard Queen | Villagers with Torches | Stainless Steel Droppings

Tags: 10 Stars, 300, action, Ancient Greece - Sparta, based on comic, bloody, brilliant, David Wenham, death, Dominic West, Frank Miller, Gerard Butler, great story, historical fiction, historical inaccuracies, Kurt Johnston, Lena Headey, loved it, Lynn Varley, melodramatic, Michael Fassbender, Michael Gordon, poor characterisation, Rodrigo Santoro, soldier, Tom Wisdom, Vincent Regan, visually stunning, War, Zack Snyder

Related posts

• Pan’s Labyrinth (3)
• The Wind That Shakes the Barley (9)
• The Wars (4)
• The Proposition (4)
• Suite Francaise (2)

Dir: Clint Eastwood
Writ: Iris Yamashita, Paul Haggis, based on the book Picture Letters from Commander in Chief by Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Tsuyoko Yoshido

• Ken Watanabe - General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
• Kazunari Ninomiya - Saigo
• Tsuyoshi Ihara - Baron Nishi
• Ryo Kase - Shimizu
• Shido Nakamura - Lieutenant Ito
• Hiroshi Watanabe - Lieutenant Fujita
• Takumi Bando - Captain Tanida

I’m not sure what I was really expecting from this film; but I know I didn’t get it. The companion film to Eastwood’s Flag’s of our Fathers, this tells the story of the battle for Iwo Jima from the Japanese perspective. The story begins with the arrival of Kuribayashi who is taking command of the island’s defences, sometimes without the support of his officers. He does however seem to be well liked by the “ordinary” soldiers, as he stops the endless digging of the beach defences, and instead concentrates on higher up in the island.

Told through a number of different points of views, and with flashbacks, this isn’t as confusing time-wise as I found Flags of our Fathers. However, it still isn’t a great film. If I had to, I’d label it as a worthy film, but not really one that works as a film. Still, it deserved to be made, and the story is one that should be told, so the film makers deserve credit for that. It is simply that as a whole I didn’t care one way or the other about the characters, and never felt myself drawn into their story.

IMDb | Quiet Please | Bright Lights After Dark | PopMatters

Tags: 5 Stars, based on book, Clink Eastwood, Hiroshi Watanabe, historical fiction, Iris Yamashita, Japan - wwii, Japanese, Kazunari Ninomiya, Ken Watanabe, Letter from Iwo Jima, Paul Haggis, Picture Letter from Commander in Chief, Ryo Kase, Shido Nakamura, soldier, subtitled, Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Takumi Bando, Tsuyoko Yoshido, Tsuyoshi Ihara, USA - wwii, War, worthy film, WWII

Related posts

• Memoirs of a Geisha (5)
• The Kite Runner (0)
• Suite Francaise (2)
• Jarhead (4)
• Fearless (0)

Author: Irene Nemirovsky trans. Sandra Smith
ISBN: 0099488787
DDC: 843.912
See also: LibraryThing ; wikipedia ; Caribousmom ; Paris Parfait ; Erin’s Library ; Historical/Present

Hot, thought the Parisians. The warm air of spring. It was night, they were at war and there was an air raid. But dawn was near and the war far away.

Two novellas and some appendices make up this book. The two fiction pieces were intended to be part of a series of books about France during World War II, but the author, Irene Nemirovsky died in a concentration camp in August 1942, and that is what makes up the non-fiction element of this book. Of course the real like story of Nemirovsky, and how this book came to be published makes up a large element of the media coverage surrounding the novel, but the fiction element alone deserves attention. The background, and fact that it was written as these events were taking place, adds to the work as a whole.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 843.912, 9 Stars, air raids, concentration camp, death, France, France - wwii, French, Irene Nemirovsky, occupation, Paris, soldier, Suite Francaise, translated, War, well-written, WWII

Related posts

• Merry Christmas (Joyeux Noel) (0)
• A Long Long Way (0)
• We need to talk about Kevin (11)
• Letters from Iwo Jima (0)
• Blood Meridian (0)