Professor Humbert:  ”What makes you think I’ve stopped caring for you?”

Lolita: “Well, you haven’t even kissed me yet, have you?”

Title:  Lolita
Director:  Stanley Kubrick
Release Date:  July 12, 1962
Rating:  TV 14
Genre:  Drama, Romance
My Rating:

I have a confession to make.  About a month ago I began reading Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita.  The idea of reading it sounded very ‘mature’ to me and I was in the process of expanding my reading material.  I was only 8% into the book when I had to put it down.  While Nabokov’s writing was very ingenious, I had trouble with the subject matter of the book.  Now I’ve mentioned in a previous blog post that I was abused as a child.  So you can imagine how this might play out … a woman, like me, reading a book about a man who falls in love with a 12 year-old girl.  Some would call his actions pedophiliac, while others may find it romantic.  I subscribe to the former argument.

So I decided tonight that I would give Lolita a second try.  I decided that I was going to watch Kubrick’s 1962 version of Lolita.

The movie did not start off slow, which I liked.  It did it’s job.  It introduced the characters and gave you brief knowledge of their personalities and behaviors.

Then I met Lolita.  There was almost something very mysterious about her … perhaps it was her innocence that made her stand out or even the way she wore her sunglasses, as if to hide her true self from the world.  Either way, there is truly something about Lolita that demands your attention.

Throughout the movie you watch this young girl go from a girl to a sassy vixen.  Yet, it’s tastefully done.  I have read many complaints about this movie that it was “too subtle.”  Yet, I feel that in order for this movie to be made into a movie, it had to be subtle.  Themes like this don’t just fly in our society … even in 1962, when this film was released.  Another thing that allowed for this movie to be made was the fact that they added 2 years to Lolita’s age, making her 14.  In the beginning, you even see her at a high school dance.

James Mason and Shelly Winters were outstanding in this movie.  I even give credit to Sue Lyon who was most likely only 15 years-old when this film was made.  To play someone so grown-up can be difficult, but I think that she did a wonderful job doing this.

This movie is creepy.  At least, the subject matter is.  However, I think that it’s definitely worth watching.

Movie Challenge:  4 down, 6 more movies to go!

“Get busy living, or get busy dying.”

Title:  The Shawshank Redemption
Director:  Frank Darabont
Release Date:  December 23, 1994
Rating:  R
Genre:  Crime, Drama
My Rating:

I watched The Shawshank Redemption with full knowledge that this movie is rated number one on IMDB, as well as various other movie rating sites. I was also aware that this was quite possibly going to be the third movie in a row that I have rated five stars.  I was not going to watch it for this reason.  However, I was “conned” into watching it by my boyfriend who insisted that I would absolutely love this movie.

The Shawshank Redemption, according to IMDB is about “two imprisoned men [who] bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency.”

The movie stars Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman.

Some background about me:  Last year, I was part of the Criminology club at the University I attend.  We visited maximum security prisons all over the country … but mostly here in Illinois.  Last year, I walked through the cold halls of Stateville Prison, as well as a women’s maximum security prison in Dwight, IL.  Both left me feeling a little ‘weird’ and ‘unsafe’ the rest of the day.  Mostly because the people that I met in these prisons all looked like your average person walking down the street.  There was no distinguishing these men and women as felons, that is, of course, for the different colored jumpsuits that they wore.  The irony of all of this is … even though I was surrounded by prisoners, it was one of the times in my life where I was actually the most safe.  There were security guards all over the place.  Literally nearly every direction I turned there was someone watching over the prisoners.

Now I’m not claiming to be a prison expert.  I’ve only been in a prison on three different occasions.

With that being said, The Shawshank Redemption was not as realistic as it could have been.  However, I realize that for the purposes of Hollywood, you sometimes need to stray away from what is real.  Real is boring.  People don’t like watching what is real.  I feel that this movie had the potential to give the brave people who work in prisons a bad name.  While yes, I’m sure that there are some horrible people out there in this field of work.  People who abuse their rights as well as the prisoners day in and day out.  I’m sure that there are prisoners out there who fear the people who are there to keep them safe and everything under control.  I’m sure.

And that is my only complaint about the movie.

The rest of the movie was fantastic!  The storyline was adapted from a Stephen King novel titled, ‘Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.’  I have not read this book, but it appears to be a very well-written novel, after looking at a snippet of the book.  Of course, this is Stephen King.  He rarely disappoints.

The movie is about friendship, freedom, loneliness, hope, and of course, redemption.

While most films about prisoners focus on alienation and the miserable lives they live, The Shawshank Redemption gives the viewers a glimpse at the brighter side of prison.  As I read on urgentessays.co.uk, “It  projects prison walls inside a human mind and shows how slavery and liberation, enslavement and redemption lies within.”

Remember that weird and unsafe feeling I told you about that I get after I visit prisons?  I can easily compare that feeling to how I felt after watching this movie.  It really takes you inside the prison walls and you can see how the characters in this prison live.

I recommend The Shawshank Redemption to anyone and everyone.

Movie Challenge:  3 down, 7 more movies to go!

SIDE NOTE:  I have got to stop choosing movies from the top rated movies lists.  I need some so-so movie recommendations.  If you know of any, let me know.  I’ll watch them!

Do you have a favorite YouTube video?

As you can probably tell from my title, my Mac’s internet is not working. I’m taking her to the Mac Hospital (the Apple store) tomorrow morning to see if they can fix the problem for me. I haven’t been able to watch any new movies or shows since I’ve been back at school. HOWEVER, I have been reading. Expect some reviews and other updates really soon.

Until then, I’m just going to focus on school and reading. Maybe I’ll even try to watch a show I’ve never seen before.

What is your favorite television show?

“She’s different in every way. “

Title:  The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Director:  David Fincher
Release Date:  December 20, 2011
Rating:  R
Genre:  Crime, Drama, Mystery
My Rating:

My boyfriend and I decided tonight that we were going to take our relationship to the next level.  We were going to go see a movie together – something we have never done in the year that we have been together.  I wanted to see The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and because he is so wonderful, he allowed me to go see it, despite what he wanted.

One thing is for sure … there is definitely good reason why this movie has such a tremendous fan following.  But nothing is perfect, so I will give you the good and the “not so good.”

The movie starts off a little slow.  The real meat of the movie comes maybe an hour into it.  Not to say that the first hour is boring.  By all means, it is not.  It is an extremely dialogue-driven movie.  So if you plan on seeing this movie (which I highly suggest that you do), expect a lot of verbal interaction between the characters.

Speaking of interaction, expect quite a bit of physical interaction in this movie as well.  Three scenes in particular.  Speaking as someone who has been abused, this movie has a strong potential to be triggering to survivors abuse/rape.  In the three scenes that I am discussing, there is 1.  a graphic rape, 2.  a coerced/borderline forced act of fellatio, 3.  a revenge tactic that consists of basically raping the perpetrator.  I believe I mentioned all of the scenes where these acts occur.

Parents, this is not a movie to take your children to.  There is an awful lot of nudity at various times throughout the movie (female backside and breasts are show, I believe the male’s backside is also shown).  Also, there are very realistic sex scenes.

The Great Transformation

Now let’s talk about Rooney Mara‘s (the girl who plays Lisbeth – the main character in the film) transformation.  First off, I think this girl deserves an Oscar for her performance.  It was absolutely flawless.  It was hard for me to imagine her as anything but the character that she plays in the film.  However, when I looked her up, I was pleasantly surprised.  She is absolutely beautiful.  And the accent that she has in the movie was not her real accent.  In fact, Rooney is from America.

As you can see, the transformation that Rooney Mara had to do for this film is extraordinary. I look forward to seeing more of her work in the future.  And it looks like she’s currently working on a film right now titled ‘Lawless.’  Acting along side her in this film are:  Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling and Cate Blanchett.

Movie Challenge:  2 down, 8 more movies to go!

• The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo:  A Movie Review
• The Fault in our Stars:  A Book Review
• New Girl:  A Television Review

And possibly …

• Hugo:  A Movie Review

Title:  Are You There Chelsea?
Creator(s):  Dottie Zicklin and Julie Ann Larson
Release Date:  January 11, 2012
Season/Episode:  Season 1, Episode 1
Genre:  Comedy
My Rating:

Tonight, I watched the new show, Are You There Chelsea?.  And I must admit, that my thoughts about what this show was going to be were not very good.  In all honesty, I was worried.  I really like Chelsea Handler and her work and I feel that this show could be a great thing for her.

The show is almost exactly like the book, from what I can remember of it, at least.  I’m talking, some of the dialogue was even exact.  Now this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  After all, the show is based after Chelsea Handler’s book, ‘Are you There Vodka, It’s Me Chelsea.’  I did like that they were able to sway away from the book a little bit as well.

I think throughout the show, I laughed a total of 5 times.  Yes, I counted.

The show started off a little rocky, but by the end I feel like I mostly enjoyed it.

Laura Prepon’s (the woman who plays Chelsea) acting was, in my opinion, very well done.  Of course, I did like her in ‘That 70′s Show’ also.  Chelsea Handler, I was a little worried about at first … but she turned out to be not that bad.

Do I think that it’s going to do well on TV?  Probably not.  But it was pretty entertaining and it did get me to laugh a few times.

Television Show Challenge:  1 down, 19 more to go!

“Times Are Hard.”

Title: Paper Moon
Director:  Peter Bogdanovich
Release Date:  May 9, 1973
Rating:  PG
Genre:  Comedy, Crime, Drama
My Rating:

I finally watched Paper Moon (1973) on January 10, 2012.  It is a movie that I have been wanting to see since early 2006, which is when I first read Tatum O’Neal’s (the main character in the movie) memoir titled ‘A Paper Life.’  In the book, she discusses her life as well as what was going on while shooting Paper Moon.  Some parts of the book were hard to read.  And it was sad hearing about parts of her childhood, but it is overall a great read.  But this isn’t a book review … this is a movie review.  And I’m going to give you just that.

Something you should know about me:  I have a hard time sitting through movies.  I have to take breaks and I sometimes find other things to distract me.  However, this movie was an exception.  I was glued to the screen throughout the entire movie.  It was absolutely brilliant.

The movie is about a young girl named Addie Loggins, played by Tatum O’Neal.  Addie’s mother has just passed away and the movie actually opens to the funeral for her mother.  Addie has only one relative – an aunt who lives in Missouri.  She hitches a ride to Missouri with a man (Mose – who is actually her father in real life) who was at the funeral.  This man may or may not be her father.  Mose is what many would call a crook.  Addie learns the ways of  Mose and becomes a miniature version of him … a much cuter version, of course!  It’s basically about this unlikely partnership that ensues between a young, precocious girl and a dishonest man during the Great Depression.

Movie Challenge:  1 down, 9 more movies to go.

Title:  Franny and Zooey
Author:  J.D. Salinger
Release Date:  January 30, 2001 by Back Bay Books (first published in 1955)
Age Group:  Adult
Genre:  Classic
My Rating:

I finished Franny and Zooey on January 5th, 2012.  It only took me a day to read the entire book, considering it was so short.  The author of this book was J.D. Salinger … you may remember him as the author of Catcher in The Rye.

Franny and Zooey is about a family of children (savant-like children) who discuss certain matters of life.  You meet the family and learn to appreciate each character individually.

Something that I was surprised by was that Zooey , in the book, is actually a 25 year-old man.  I think this surprised me because I know that actress Zooey Deschanel was named after this character.

Things I liked about the book:  The style of writing (which made it very easy to read).  The shortness of the book – again, a plus.  The dialogue was brilliant, to say the least.  It takes a genius, in my opinion, to create dialogue like this for geniuses.

Things I did not like about the book:  It takes place in maybe 3-4 scenes tops.  Also, I had a problem with the way Zooey treated his mother.

Book Challenge: 2 down, 18 more to go.

“If you don’t imagine, nothing ever happens at all.”

Title:  Paper Towns
Author:  John Green
Release Date:  October 16, 2008
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre:  Mystery, Humor
My Rating:

I finished Paper Towns on January 2nd, 2012 after reading it for only a day and a half.  John Green’s style of writing is so captivating … so down to earth.  Nearly anyone can relate to it.

This book is basically about a high school senior named Quentin and his fascination (borderline obsession) with a popular girl named Margo.  Margo is known for going on little adventures and the night after she had an adventure with Quentin, she goes missing.  Quentin takes it upon himself to find her.  I’m not going to give away the rest of the book … I think you should read it to find out more.

Things I Liked About This Book:  The writing style – so enjoyable to read!  The dialogue between the characters was brilliant.  The many quotes I pulled out of this book (amazing!).  The detail and the story line.  The characters were made to love.

Things I Didn’t Like About This Book:  I feel like IF ANYTHING, this book was missing some ingredient to give it the WOW factor.  I’m not entirely sure what that is just yet.

This is definitely not the last book by John Green that I am going to read.

Book Challenge:  1 down, 19 more to go