Tag: films

Daddio

I had a little thought and I risked waking my husband up just to scribble it down.

“what’s going on” he says when I turn on the lights in the bedroom at 11:34pm, just twenty six minutes to midnight, I should be asleep… It is Monday in the morning after all…another new week for the hustle and bustle.

…but I sit up and I’m writing this.

Earlier in the day I had a conversation with my cousin. She wanted to know if she should see the movie I had just put up on my WhatsApp story.

Her exact words were “Is it a must watch?”

I’m going to say exactly what I told her:

“It Depends…I loved the chemistry between the characters…it wasn’t romantic but they clicked.
The conversation is top notch.
The expressions are on another level…they take you deep into their thoughts with them.
It’s just the two of them…
…No one else…
1 hour and 39 minutes.
Sean Penn and Dakota Johnson.
I love it”.

We talk a bit more and she wants to know:

“Do I need a drink for it?
Do the girls need to be sleeping to concentrate?”

She’s got two girls under ten years of age.

I tell her “You don’t necessarily need a drink… but it’s not a bad idea…and yeah, you need full focus…no distraction….some of the stuff they talk about may get you thinking about some of your own stuff and decisions”.

It sure got me thinking about my relationship with my dad…and a few other stuff…

This is more or less a review of the movie Daddio.

I’m a lover of movies with conversations…so you bet I love this one. It’s a beautifully written script.

It left me with a lot of questions though, and no answers …I guess we can’t always have the answers to our questions… life’s questions.

Pairs

George Clooney and Julia Roberts have always seemed like a beautiful pair for me.

My favourite Hollywood pair remains Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, I fell in love with the pair in the movie The Wedding Singer and then in  50 First Dates and then in Blended  but I really loved and enjoyed the humour and chemistry between Clooney and Roberts  in Ocean’s Eleven and Ocean’s Twelve.

As a movie lover, and especially a lover of period dramas, romcoms and the likes, one thing that draws me to a movie is the pairing of the hero and heroine.

Only a few days ago, I came across another poster with the names Clooney and Roberts smiling back at me. I didn’t hesitate to click on it.

I must admit that the movie didn’t stand out as much as I expected it to but I totally connected with the emotions and unspoken thoughts Clooney kept sending out in the movie. He played a divorced dad who had to work hand in hand with his ex-wife (Roberts) to prevent their daughter from getting married to a Bali local.

The pair who never seem to see eye to eye on any matter must learn to work together on this one thing they both agree on. Clooney’s character calls out to me as he seems to be a person who is in touch with his feelings and is also honest with himself as well.

Overall, this new movie ‘Ticket to Paradise’ is okay and can be viewed on a calm evening with friends or alone.

A few other pairs that drew me into a movie are:

  • Julia Roberts and Richards Gere – Pretty woman
  • Gabrielle Union and Morris Chestnut – The Brothers
  • Issa Rae and Lakeith Stanfield  – The Photograph

Some pairs didn’t sit well with me are:

  • Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds – The Proposal
  • Salma Hayek and Matthew Perry – Fools rush in

One on-screen pair I still can’t place in my head but totally love is the Renee Zellwerger and Collin Firth from Bridget Jones Diary, maybe the mix with Hugh Grant and then Patrick Dempsey just made my head spin.

Have you any on-screen pairs you love? Share them with me, I would love to know.

Anastasia

I was raised by a catholic mother. She made sure my siblings and I went through all the processes required to be a “full catholic” ; baptismal classes, baptism, communion classes, first Holy communion, confirmation classes and confirmation. I didn’t get to complete my own process, I didn’t get confirmed and because of that, I have only one English name while my sisters have two each.

They have two because upon confirmation, a person is usually given a new name, different from the one given at baptism. This name is supposed be a name of a saint. Although lately, I have heard some confirmation names that don’t sound any bit like any Saint I have heard of. I guess everything is changing these days, even church rules.

In 1988 I was baptised and I was given the name Anastasia. I loved it with all my heart. Somehow, some time in my path to disvover myself, I began to dislike the name. I shortened it to one of the cool versions I had heard and then I became Stacey. Hmmmm.

I have found my child self once again lately in some things I have been participating in, and one of the things that this found child misses is the name Anastasia. I love the name all over again.

As it is, our minds work in line with the universe. The universe perceives and receives our thoughts and words and it sends similar things our way… and for some time now, I have been seeing a lot of things about people called Anastasia, but the one that caught my attention the most is a certain fake Anastasia, Anna Anderson Alias Franziska Schanzkowska. She was known as an imposter.

She gained popularity by claiming to be Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia.

The real Duchess Anastasia was assumed to have escaped an assassination of her entire family. She was the youngest daughter of the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland and Grand Duke of Finland. He reigned from 1st November, 1894 to 15th March, 1917.

Movies tell the best stories, so I will recommend you look this up and enjoy.

Anastasia : The mystery of Anna

You can watch this movie on :

  • Amazon Prime video
  • Apple TV
  • Showmax
  • And a few other streaming services

The movie has a number of Emmys and Golden globes.

If you are a reader, I will recommend the book titled ‘The Riddle of Anna Anderson’ by Peter Kurth

Is there something you thought you didn’t like but lately, seems to appear on your “I miss you” list?  What steps did you or have you taken to get it back? Or is it too late?

I’m wondering about my Anastasia and how I can reconnect with the name and the girl again. I miss her.

Adapted for television

The first time it happened was with Robert Ludlum’s ‘The Bourne Identity‘. I remember feeling a big wave of confusion and disappointment. This was about 20 years ago.

Then it happened again. It literally ruined the book for me. I watched the entire Hulu TV series ‘Little Fires Everywhere’, regretting every minute of it. I had just finished the novel with the same title a few days earlier. Shortly after I started reading it, I had found out that it had been developed for television…and so I thought it would be a wonderful idea to give it a shot. Like I said, I regret that decision.

Being my usual curious self, i decided to find our why these adaptations needed to have these changes at all. It turns out, reading and viewing are two completely different things and must be presented differently. One point I agreed with was the fact that if a book was to be made exactly as it was written, it would be boring for many because people watch television for entertainment and not to be bored.

Lately I have learned to take adaptations with an open mind, I have seen a few unnecessary changes in some adaptations but i must admit that I have come accross some very interesting ones too.

No matter how open my mind has become, I seem to have a problem with a particular change I have encountered in a Television adaptation. The creators of the beautiful TV series ‘The Chosen’ thought it would be wonderful idea for Simon the Zealot (one of Jesus’ disciples) to be the brother of the man by the pool of Bethesda. In as much as this makes for a good twist, it seems to be messing with my head. I found myself searching high and low for any clue to where this may have been mentioned previously in the Bible. I guess I will have to live with it.

I have made a small list of some of the books that have been made into movies that I really liked;

  • Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
  • The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly
  • The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
  • The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks
  • Normal People by Sally

Read some or watch some, either way you will love them.

Which ones have you seen or read? What do you think about them?