Hello readers, happy Monday!
Whew, what a weekend. The weather’s gorgeous here in the upper Midwest (albeit in the cool side, I mean mid 60s for high in August!!) so I’ve been outside most of the time, even spending time of the MN State Fair all Saturday, though I’m no fair-goer by a long shot! We gotta make the most of our Summer now that the brrrr-free days are numbered. They say a cool Summer means a mild Winter, I sincerely hope that’s true!!
Anyhoo, glad to be in front of my laptop again bloggin’ away. I’ve never done this before but it’s my blog so I get to make my own rules =) Here’s my weekend roundup, flicks -related of course, no worries, I wasn’t going to start bloggin’ about what kind of chores I did Saturday morning ….
- First of all, thanks to CBS Three Rivers show fans, particularly Alex O’Loughlin’s and Daniel Henney’s who’ve visited my blog. I’m psyched to see the show’s premiere come October, but given there’s a plethora of medical dramas out there, I hope that this one has the edge over those. The organ donor/patient plot sounds intriguing, as long as they don’t get overly melodramatic a la Grey’s Anatomy. Acting-wise, Alex looks pretty convincing as the lead surgeon, and apparently Daniel has won Best New Actor award in South Korea so he’s not such a novice in the acting department after all. But without a well-written script, even their gorgeous mugs can only it so far, so I truly hope the writers do a good job here. Oh speaking of Mr. Henney, I had no idea he did commercials with Gwyneth Paltrow for a Korean clothing line. Well I suppose he was a model, which is always a good stepping stone to an acting career. Check out the clip below, ladies, let’s welcome his foray into TV. I sure hope he’ll be a mainstay.
- Rented Duplicity Friday nite. I won’t bother writing an entire review on it, let’s just say it’s pretty much ho-hum until about the last 15 minutes. Even the star power of Julia Roberts and Clive Owen couldn’t keep me interested, my hubby Ivan darn nearly fell asleep! Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti are pretty much wasted in a nearly incomprehensible plot and colorless characters. The flashback sequences in various locations is just plain distracting, Tony Gilroy is no Chris Nolan, who’s capable to utilize similar technique to perfection in Memento. Owen’s in still watchable though, and man, he moves and walks like a secret agent, which is why he’s still my top pick as Bond (I know, get over it lass, even the guy is not interested!) But overall the movie itself is downright vapid.
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A must-read novel One of my favorite weekend past time is frequenting my local Barnes & Noble, sipping my iced chai whilst browsing film magazines (I’m a film geek don’tchaknow). I passed by a table of books that’s been adapted to movies, A Time Traveler’s Wife, the Twilight series, My Sister’s Keeper, etc. Now I’m not a voracious reader (as much as I’d like to be), but the one book that I’m curious to see on the big screen is Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos I read about a year ago. It tells the story of a Philadelphia cafe manager Cornelia Brown and eleven-year-old Clare, who happens to be the daughter of Cornelia’s lover, told in the first person of both characters alternatively. It’s a charming and unconventional love story, and the de lost Santos’ writing is just awe-inspiring, both humorous and dramatic at the same time. If you haven’t read it, run, don’t walk to the nearest book store. The rights of the novel has been bought by Sarah Jessica Parker, I personally don’t see her in the role of Cornelia, but whatever. Now, the casting agent in me wonders who should play the impeccably dressed, Cary-Grant-like Martin Grace. I immediately think Mad Men‘s Jon Hamm! I mean the guy screams ‘refined and classy,’ and we all know he wears those period suits well. Now, how about the half-Filipino, golden-brown-skinned and green-eyed Teo Sandoval? He rivals Capt. Wentworth of Jane Austen’s Persuasion as a literary character I’m smitten with. Casting him would be tricky, I don’t think we have anybody in Hollywood that’d look right physically. I’m thinkin’ a male version of Aishwarya Rai (Bride & Prejudice).
What do you think, folks? What book would you like to see on the big screen and who should play the character(s)?
FLIXCHATTER FILM BLOG 
Actually when I think about it, I prefer to read a book that has not and will not be filmed (but of course most good books have been filmed nowadays). I like to have my own imagination of the characters and settings, and usually when it becomes real (being made in a movie), it’s less perfect than my own imagination, my blurry but perfect characters and settings.
Well Lis, original ideas are hard to come by so they’ll always rely on books to be adapted to movies. I agree though, the movies are rarely better than the books they’re based on and of course we’d always prefer our own interpretation of the characters. But there’s an exception though, when BBC made Marian Keyes’ “Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married” into a series, the Gus character is far better looking than described in the book. Well you know who played him =)