Coming out this weekend at a multiplex near you is the long awaited adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife,starring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams as Henry and Clare,whose love faces some rather offbeat challenges due to Henry's uncontrollable biological quirk that has him unexpectedly going back and forth thru time.
While I am glad to see this movie finally get released,I do wonder if it wouldn't been better to wait for a fall date. August is pretty much a cinematic dumping ground for film projects that studios have their buyer's remorse about and there is a good possibility that TTW may get hastily looked over and shoved aside here. It would be nice to be wrong about this,especially since the book was a marvelous,don't-want-to-stop read:
Some book to film versions do suit the summer(Harry Potter,for example)but others really have that slow savory flavor that autumn induces;the falling leaves mixed with chilly winds and the need for homemade vegetable soup. A good book or movie can be enjoyed at any time,any place but it feels so right to embrace more bracing fare during particular seasons.
Several upcoming fall films have that book club vibe,such as The Lovely Bones,with Peter Jackson bringing Alice Sebold's sadly fanciful tale of a young girl's murder that haunts both her loved ones left behind and the victim herself,watching from the afterworld. This seems like the perfect matchup between filmmaker and author,so I have a good feeling about this:
Another promising film is Cirque De Freak:The Vampire's Assistant,based on the YA horror series by Darren Shan. The plot lines are centered around a traveling carnival of truly inhuman entertainers,with young "Darren"(the books are supposed to be his secret journals)joining their crew as a half-vampire in training to John C. Reilly's bloodsucking ringmaster.
This may sound very cutesy,but I've read the first couple of books and believe you me,they are not watered down kiddie fare. How much of the content will be altered by going thru the Hollywood sieve is something that we'll just have to wait and see on this October:
Some Oscar bait is being set with Shutter Island,the adapation of Dennis Lehane's book that has Martin Scorsese at the director's helm and Leonardo DiCaprio as the leading man.
This is a period piece,with Leo's character being a Federal Marshall investigating the escape of a dangerous inmate from an asylum for the criminally insane based a remote island. The situation gets more complicated when a hurricane hits and suggestions of a hidden agenda by the staff start to pile up all over the place,with several of the dots making a deadly connection.
I haven't read this one,but perhaps that may be best before seeing the movie. Either way,Shutter Island seems like a real slice of sinister brain candy,with a delicious dab of mystery on the side:
The ultimate in serious Oscar contention will be The Road,based on Cormac McCarthy's futuristic Pulitzer Prize winning novel about the journey of a father and son into a post apocalyptic wasteland.
Based on the trailer,it appears that the role of the wife(shown in mental flashbacks by the father in the book)may have been expanded but then again,looks are deceiving. Regardless of that,the dark desperate spirit of the novel seems to be intact,plus Viggo Mortensen is as suited to this role as the porridge that Goldilocks chose.
This is strong stuff for some,but The Road is hearty mental fare well worth tasting in any format. Just take a deep breath before you swallow:
With any luck,The Time Traveler's Wife will do just fine-after all,Julie & Julia made to the second spot on the box office charts this past weekend,even with a few mixed reviews out there. While some of you may feel like this listing of upcoming fall flicks feels more like homework than fun,any one of them certainly beats waiting around to see which straight to the big screen superhero role Ryan Reynolds intends to snatch up next(what is up with that,seriously? Another topic for another time,folks):
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