Film Addict's February Film Choice

Please not this is about the British cut of The Boat That Rocked, not the American.

I was gutted at the beginning of this month when I found out that Philip Seymour Hoffman had died of a drug overdose because I loved his work and I loved him as Plutarch Heavensbee in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire so I decided to review a film that he was in this month as the Film Addict's February Choice.

The Boat That Rocked (also known as Pirate Radio in North America) is the 2009 British comedy film from Richard Curtis (About Time, Love Actually) starring Bill Nighy (a Curtis favourite who is also in About Time and Love Actually), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Capote), Nick Frost (Cornetto Trilogy with Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, Paul) and Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill, The Amazing Spider-Man) to name a handful of the actors.  Excluding Hoffman, all the other actors who portrayed the main characters were either British or Irish, making Hoffman stand out; while I was studying Media at school and university, one thing we discussed about British films was that they would tend to have an American actor amongst the top billing actors because they would make the film marketable to the American audience as well as the British.

Rating: 8

Recommended To: Richard Curtis lovers; 1960s music lovers

Favourite Characters: Simon - he was so adorable; the Count - got to love him

Favourite Part: Dr. Dave: Climb for America, sir.
[...]
If you fall, you will die.
[...]
Step away from the edge you silly bastards, this is madness.

Good Points: The tension between the Count and Gavin culminating in playing Chicken; great ensemble; the chemistry between each of the characters; the music; the inclusion of the station's listeners

Bad Points: Elenore - she was just a horrible character

Mercedes Lackey - The Fairy Godmother

Fairy tales are ingrained into our culture and recreated into our media over and over again, in our TV shows and films and even books, but they tend to stick to the same story.  After reading a couple of the Hero books which have a fantasy angle and what some would define as a basis in fairy tale/magic along with some other weird and wonderful books I have read in the past, Goodreads recommended Mercedes Lackey's Five Hundred Kingdoms series which is a new twist on fairy tales so I bought the first one because I am always open to the weird and the wonderful and sometimes even the downright freaky.

Lackey is known for her fantasy novels, including the Five Hundred Kingdoms series, and a lot of the novels she writes take place in the fictional universe of Velgarth and following reading The Fairy Godmother, Goodreads has since started to recommend a fair few of Lackey's books that are set in this universe which I may start reading eventually.  As mentioned, Lackey tends to set her books in the fictional universe of Velgarth but in this series, she sets the novels in the realm of the Five Hundred Kingdoms that is inhabited by princes, princesses, milk maids, stable boys, fairies, elves, and even more fairy tale characters.  The Fairy Godmother is the first book of this series that is very loosely based on the fairy tale, Cinderella, with Elena being taking on the role of Cinders with evil stepmother and stepsisters as well and a fairy godmother to boot.

Rating: 8

Recommended To: Fairy tale lovers

Favourite Characters: Elena - Cinderella turned Godmother

Favourite Part: "We're all mad, you know," Elena said aloud, looking straight at him.
"I had begun to suspect this," he said in all seriousness.
She broke into a smile, a completely unexpected smile.  She had never really smiled a great deal around him, and never at him before - or at least, she had never done so without a great deal of ironic mockery to her expression.  This smile accepted the joke as being on both of them, and invited him to share in it.  It hit him with an almost physical impact.  He managed to return it, but not without a struggle to get his heart and breathing going again. - Page 355

Good Points: The concept; the characters; the romance element

Bad Points: Missed Elena's mentor when she went

Nicholas Sparks - Safe Haven

I have read many Nicholas Sparks novels and he has captured my heart every time as well as broken it into millions of pieces and I've watched many of the adaptations of his novels so at least I know what to expect from him.  In 2013, Safe Haven was adapted into a film and though I haven't seen it yet, I decided to buy the novel because it was cheap at the time so now you get to benefit from my need to fill my bookshelves.

Safe Haven is written in the typical Sparks way, following both the female, Katie, and male lead, Alex, primarily as a third person narrator with an occasional contribution from another voice, the one perceived as the antagonist, in this case, Katie's ex.  Katie is a mystery to Southport after running away from her past while Alex moved here with his late wife years before following his successful career in the army to run his father-in-law's shop.  Both are reluctant to begin a romantic relationship with anyone: Alex because of his two young kids and his fear of forgetting his late wife or erasing her memory for his children and Katie because of her past and fear of being discovered.

Rating: 10

Recommended To: Romance lovers; Nicholas Sparks fans

Favourite Characters: Alex - protective, kind, loving

Favourite Part: At his touch, she flinched slightly before relaxing.  He heard her sigh, tired now.  Tired of talking.  Tired of the past.
"You did the right thing by leaving," he said.  His tone was soft.  Understanding. - Page 160

Good Points: Excellent plot; the kids; Sparks in true form

Bad Points: Katie's ex freaked me out

Mark Twain - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Recently I bought this truly beautiful book which is a collection of Mark Twain stories because I've always wanted to read his work, any of it, so when I found this collection I got really excited and bought it because it was relatively cheap in comparison to the recommended retail price.  I decided to read one of the stories every so often because it's huge and there are five stories altogether.  This will also allow me to review the individual stories with more detail like Gena Showalter's Dark Beginnings anthology.

Mark Twain's novels are American Classics and are rooted in the South and a lot of his work is influenced by his experiences and where he has lived; Twain worked as a riverboat pilot which is said to be the influence behind The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as well his living in the town that these stories are set in.

Rating: 5

Recommended To: Classic lovers

Favourite Characters: Huckleberry Finn - more likeable out of him and Tom

Favourite Part: "Huckleberry Finn, indeed!  It ain't a name to open many doors, I judge!  But let him I, lads, and let's see what's the trouble."
"Please don't ever tell I told you," were Huck's first words when he got in.  "Please don't - I'd be killed, sure - but the widow's been good friends to me sometimes, and I want to tell - I will tell if you'll promise you won't ever say it was me."
"By George, he has got something to tell, or he wouldn't act so!" exclaimed the old man; "out with it and nobody here'll ever tell, lad." - Page 147-8 

Good Points: Tom's imagination; Tom is more than a mischievous kid

Bad Points: Seemed random at the beginning