But in movie news, I saw the American version of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo last Sunday.
It was awesome. Like I said in my earlier post, I was worried they would ruin the movie, since the American version is a remake.
There was some random arty something or other in the beginning credits of the movie, which was weird, but tolerable.
The rest of the movie was just... it was great. It was on par with the Swedish movie, if not slightly better than it.
One of the reasons I think this version of this movie was better, for the North American audience at least, because from what I understand Swedish humor is very dry humor. This movie had the type of humor that is typical of American movies. Although it did keep some of that dry humor.
Rooney Mara made an excellent Lisbeth. She pulls off a bit mentally unbalanced very well. Which is pretty hard to do without actually being a little bit off.
Daniel Craig also plays Blomkvist very well. I wasn't too sure about how he would work in this role; not because of his acting skills but because I couldn't reconcile his appearance with the one the books describe of him.
While there were some changes to this version of the movie, they weren't too bad, not did they alter the story line in an unforgivable way.
I would suggest this movie to mystery lovers, as long as they don't mind violence, sexual content, rape and vulgar language.
This was a triumph.
I'm making a note here: Huge success.
I cannot overstate my satisfaction.
Aperture science. We do what we must because we can.
School is almost over for my class for this semester (one more exam Monday), and I am truly happy. I'm not happy to be leaving our class though (I'll miss you, Section 1 D= ) I'm just happy to get a chance to slooooooow down (Powerthirst reference anyone?)
Also, during the break there are two movies that I am planning to see come hell or high water.
The first is Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which officially comes out on December 16th, but they're doing a 22 o'clock (that's 10 p.m., if you don't read 24 hour time) showing at the Empire Theater at Grant Park Shopping Centre on the 15th. Since school's done by then, I think I might have to mosey over and see that.
I haven't seen the first Sherlock Holmes movie (of this incarnation) since it was in theaters, but I remember it was really, really good. It has good acting, keeps you guessing, and it's pretty darned funny.
In A Game of Shadows they also have Noomi Rapace playing a character.
For those who don't know Noomi Rapace plays Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish version of the Millennium Trilogy. I've only had the chance to see the first movie from that series (in Swedish), but the one thing I've asked for for Christmas is a box set of the movies they have at McNally Robinson book store. Even if that doesn't happen, I think I'm pretty willing to spend a little bit to get the box set on my own.
Another thing to look forward to is the fact that Trent Reznor was part of creating the soundtrack. I'm a fan of Nine Inch Nails and their music, so I'm very hopeful for the soundtrack as well.
For those who haven't read the books in the Millennium Trilogy, I would suggest you get on that. Though they're very long (about 750 pages per book, if I recall correctly) they're worth the time. When I was reading the first book it took me a year to get it done, partially because I'd just picked it up on a layover in Amsterdam, and partially because the first 100 pages or so are really slow, and talking about Swedish economy. Once I got past that though, I finished it in a week.
I then picked up the second one to read on the flight to Greece to visit my father that summer. I finished it in about a week as well.
Leaving Greece that summer, I found the last book, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, in English, at a little kiosk by my gate for about 7 Euro. I didn't hesitate in buying it, and I finished it in less than two days.
