Hey, everyone. Carley and I went out to dinner and a movie today. Traffic was crazy, the stores were crazy, the theater was crazy; and I fit right in. We went to see this really long movie called The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
I really liked it. Carley did too, though not as much as I did. This movie, of course, is taken from the best selling book by Stieg Larsson. Don't go to see it if you are expecting to see a Disney movie. It is harsh and raw. The guy writes a lot like I do. He just writes and doesn't try to follow a pre-set pattern designed to put the most fannies in the seats. It is a good strong 'R' rating or perhaps an 'MA'. (It is listed as an 'R'.)
Daniel Craig, (James Bond to most of us) plays an investigative reporter who has fallen on bad times. He has been sued over an expose which he wrote about a corrupt corporate type. The resulting judgement against Mikael Blomkvist (Craig) wipes out his life savings. Even his longtime affair with his business partner's wife fails to cheer him up, so he decides to take some time off and investigate the strange affairs surrounding another wealthy family. Part of the payment for this work is supposed to be enough dirt on the man who sued him to put the CEO away for life.
It seems that Mikael's new employer has a truly screwed up family. They all hate each other, and with good reason. They have more skeletons in their closet than a big city morgue. The main point of Mikael's work is to find out who killed the rich dude's 14 year old granddaughter about 35 years previously. As you can imagine, when Mikael starts to prod the bushes, some snakes crawl out. He finds that he needs a bit of help from someone who can browse into the affairs of people by computer hacking, bug planting and by any means fair or foul. And here is where the story takes off, because 'it' happens. 'It' is when, as a writer, you create a character who just unexpectedly takes over a story by their powerful personality, their compelling quirks and by the way they capture your heart and imagination. The character becomes so real to the writer that they crackle in your imagination and you would recognize them if you met on the street. I am speaking, in this instance, of Rooney Mara, starring as the hacker with the brilliant photographic memory, known as Lisbeth Salander. She is a 23 year old hacker and spy, tattooed and adorned with all sorts of body jewelry, enough to make magnets turn sideways as she walks past them. Her eyebrows are dyed blond. She wears a goth look that makes you want to adopt her and kill the wicked @#!**#@s who have, by their abuse, turned her into the hardened, tormented person that she is.
In my own writing, there has only been one time that a character has stolen a book from the central character like Lisbeth does. That was Karina in KGB Retirement Program. I sat in the theater today and thought about how I would love to see this lady play Karina, the Russian spy, in my book. But I digress.
Lisbeth starts to do her thing, and her thing is more than up to the task. She researches the central characters, or shall we say suspects, in the warpo family. Just because one of them has an underground vault with a gas system, closed circuit TV, torture devices and more bondage-type things than a love nest from an Austin Powers movie, doesn't mean they are guilty of a crime, does it? We shall see.
Lisbeth has her own troubles, barring the investigation. She is a ward of the state. Her allowance is in jeopardy due to a perverted administrator. Lest I give away too much of the plot, I will desist from further encroachment on the story line.
Let me say that I tried to read the book and nothing happened in the first 40 pages. Let me also say that this flick is 2 hours and 38 minutes long and at least 40 minutes could have been trimmed from it. However, I think it was different, riveting, freaky, satisfying and excellent. I hated the bad guys, loved the flawed good guys, especially Lisbeth, and I would rate this movie as a solid 4.5 stars out of 5. If you have to pick one movie to see this holiday season, this would be it. In fact, it is likely the best movie that I have seen at the theater in 2011. Let's face it, anyone who can steal the show from Mr. Bond is a force to be reckoned with.
I am CE Wills and I bid you good evening from the author's green retreat.
I really liked it. Carley did too, though not as much as I did. This movie, of course, is taken from the best selling book by Stieg Larsson. Don't go to see it if you are expecting to see a Disney movie. It is harsh and raw. The guy writes a lot like I do. He just writes and doesn't try to follow a pre-set pattern designed to put the most fannies in the seats. It is a good strong 'R' rating or perhaps an 'MA'. (It is listed as an 'R'.)
Daniel Craig, (James Bond to most of us) plays an investigative reporter who has fallen on bad times. He has been sued over an expose which he wrote about a corrupt corporate type. The resulting judgement against Mikael Blomkvist (Craig) wipes out his life savings. Even his longtime affair with his business partner's wife fails to cheer him up, so he decides to take some time off and investigate the strange affairs surrounding another wealthy family. Part of the payment for this work is supposed to be enough dirt on the man who sued him to put the CEO away for life.
It seems that Mikael's new employer has a truly screwed up family. They all hate each other, and with good reason. They have more skeletons in their closet than a big city morgue. The main point of Mikael's work is to find out who killed the rich dude's 14 year old granddaughter about 35 years previously. As you can imagine, when Mikael starts to prod the bushes, some snakes crawl out. He finds that he needs a bit of help from someone who can browse into the affairs of people by computer hacking, bug planting and by any means fair or foul. And here is where the story takes off, because 'it' happens. 'It' is when, as a writer, you create a character who just unexpectedly takes over a story by their powerful personality, their compelling quirks and by the way they capture your heart and imagination. The character becomes so real to the writer that they crackle in your imagination and you would recognize them if you met on the street. I am speaking, in this instance, of Rooney Mara, starring as the hacker with the brilliant photographic memory, known as Lisbeth Salander. She is a 23 year old hacker and spy, tattooed and adorned with all sorts of body jewelry, enough to make magnets turn sideways as she walks past them. Her eyebrows are dyed blond. She wears a goth look that makes you want to adopt her and kill the wicked @#!**#@s who have, by their abuse, turned her into the hardened, tormented person that she is.
In my own writing, there has only been one time that a character has stolen a book from the central character like Lisbeth does. That was Karina in KGB Retirement Program. I sat in the theater today and thought about how I would love to see this lady play Karina, the Russian spy, in my book. But I digress.
Lisbeth starts to do her thing, and her thing is more than up to the task. She researches the central characters, or shall we say suspects, in the warpo family. Just because one of them has an underground vault with a gas system, closed circuit TV, torture devices and more bondage-type things than a love nest from an Austin Powers movie, doesn't mean they are guilty of a crime, does it? We shall see.
Lisbeth has her own troubles, barring the investigation. She is a ward of the state. Her allowance is in jeopardy due to a perverted administrator. Lest I give away too much of the plot, I will desist from further encroachment on the story line.
Let me say that I tried to read the book and nothing happened in the first 40 pages. Let me also say that this flick is 2 hours and 38 minutes long and at least 40 minutes could have been trimmed from it. However, I think it was different, riveting, freaky, satisfying and excellent. I hated the bad guys, loved the flawed good guys, especially Lisbeth, and I would rate this movie as a solid 4.5 stars out of 5. If you have to pick one movie to see this holiday season, this would be it. In fact, it is likely the best movie that I have seen at the theater in 2011. Let's face it, anyone who can steal the show from Mr. Bond is a force to be reckoned with.
I am CE Wills and I bid you good evening from the author's green retreat.
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