Film Addict's November Film Choice

It's that time of the month again and this month, once again, someone else has picked this month's choice; this time, it is the woman that brought me into this world, my mother, and she has chosen Ruby Sparks for the Film Addict's November Film Choice as we have watched it recently together and she thoroughly enjoyed it.  Originally, I was going to ask her to pick one for April seen as it was her birthday but she couldn't decide in time so the offer was postponed until she chose one.

Ruby Sparks is a 2012 romantic-comedy drama film directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris who have previously directed Little Miss Sunshine which also stars Paul Dano from Ruby Sparks.  Some of the stars are Paul Dano (Looper, Prisoners), Zoe Kazan (What If, ), Annette Bening (The Kids are Alright, American Beauty), Antonio Banderas (The Legend of Zorro, Once Upon a Time in Mexico), Steve Coogan (Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, Philomena), Elliott Gould (Ocean's Trilogy, Friends), and Chris Messina (The Mindy Project, Julie & Julia).  Kazan also wrote the screenplay for Ruby Sparks.

As I like to mention whenever I do a request for the Film Addict's Film Choice, there is an extra point I talk about as chosen by the requester and that could be a character, part of the film, or something they liked and this time it is part of the film.

Rating: 7

Recommended To: Anyone

Favourite Characters: Harry

Favourite Part: Calvin: It's like...it's like I'm falling in love with her.
Dr Rosenthal: That's wonderful.
Calvin: No, it's not.  I can't fall in love with a girl I write.
Dr Rosenthal: Why not?
Calvin: Because she's not real.
Dr Rosenthal: Isn't she?
Calvin: No.
Dr Rosenthal: Are you sure?
Calvin: Yes.  She's some motherfucking product of my imagination.

Good Points: Interesting concept; well cast

Bad Points: Wraps up too easily; no logic to Ruby's existence

Special: When Calvin proves to Harry that he made Ruby up by typing that Ruby starts to speak French and she does

Meg Cabot - The Bride Wore Size 12

Meg Cabot has been one of my favourite authors since I was a kid but I always preferred her weirder books; I read the first Princess Diaries book but I just didn't connect with it as well as I did with the Missing or Mediator series.  Even now I prefer her unusual books, including the Heather Wells series.  While I've been disappointed by Cabot's attempts at vampires and myths on this blog, I really love this series because yet again, I have a soft spot for the main character's love interest.  My friends are probably right; tall dark, and sarcastic are my type.

The Bride Wore Size 12 is the fifth book in the Heather Wells series by Meg Cabot.  The Heather Wells series follows a young woman of the same name who used to be a pop star in her teens but she was fired because she wanted to sing songs she wrote herself.  The series starts when Heather gets a job as a residence house coordinator and then discovers that some of the girls in the residence house are being murdered so Heather takes it upon herself to investigate the murders and finds the murderer, putting herself in danger only to be saved by her landlord/crush/ex-boyfriend's brother, Cooper.  This format continues throughout the series with Heather discovering a crime and becoming involved in the investigation despite Cooper's protests and while she helps solve the crime, she puts herself in danger and Cooper saves her in some way.  Every time she and Cooper are thrust together through the series because of Heather's actions, their relationship becomes more intimate - culminating in them becoming a couple and eventually getting engaged which leads to the latest book.

Rating: 9

Recommended To: Cabot fans; cosy crime fans

Favourite Characters: Cooper - has always been my favourite character

Favourite Part: I don't know how bad until Cooper looks down at me, smiles crookedly[...], and says "Sure, I'll take a lemonade, Jess.  And sorry I didn't call, honey.  I was a little tied up."
He giggles.  Cooper, who never giggles.
"But Heather," I hear Nicole protest.  "You told me Cooper did call-"
"Shut up, Nicole," I snap.  Her eyes widen with hurt feelings, but I'm not in the mood to apologise.  I'm too busy checking her brother's wrists for rope burns, thinking he must literally have been tied up to be giggling at his own joke. - Page 271-2

Good Points: Funny and warm as usual; Heather's character development; Heather and Cooper; lots of colourful characters

Bad Points: Old secondary characters weren't as prominent like in other books

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

As an avid reader and former media student, film adaptations and the way they are interpreted from the original source fascinate me because I like to see what is different and how (dis)loyal they are to key moments which is interesting as no two people see the world the same, even if it's imaginary; sometimes I am reluctant to see an adaptation if I really enjoyed the book a lot because I fear it may ruin the book for me but I know in the back of my mind that I have to put those feelings aside as I enjoy films too much.  I loved The Hunger Games books by Suzanne Collins because I liked the idea behind it: a young woman fighting to free her country from a tyrannical dictator who kills people on a whim as well as manipulating others to do it for him through various means so to control the population.  While I didn't see the first one in cinema because I was a poor first year student, I saw the last one and this one at the cinema with my family as the dates have coincided with my birthday (almost) so I thought I would share my thoughts and feelings on the film.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 is the third film in The Hunger Games franchise, an adaptation of Suzanne Collins's trilogy of the same name, and is directed by Francis Lawrence who directed the second film as well.  As the franchise has progressed, the cast has grown and includes Jennifer Lawerence (American Hustle), Josh Hutcherson (The Kids are Alright), Liam Hemsworth (The Expendables 2), Woody Harrelson (Zombieland), Elizabeth Banks (The 40-Year-Old Virgin), Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Boat That Rocked), Sam Claflin (Snow White and the Huntsman), Jena Malone (Donnie Darko), and Donald Sutherland (Pride & Prejudice) who were in at least one of the last two films of the franchise and Julianne Moore (The Kids are Alright) and Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones) have joined the cast.  Originally, Katniss Everdeen (Lawerence) and Peeta (Hutchinson) were taken away from their families and friends in District to compete in the 74th Hunger Games in Panem, a totalitarian nation which is divided into twelve districts and the Capitol, to fight for survival against 22 other twelve to eighteen year olds that have been chosen from the other distrcits to participate all as a punishment for a rebellion decades ago and now for the entertainment of the Capitol.  Normally, only one child is supposed to survive in the Hunger Games to win but Katniss suggests to Peeta, when they are only ones left, that rather than killing one another, they eat poisonous berries which forces the Capitol's hand.  So that they have a winner, they stop the teenagers before they eat the berries and name both Katniss and Peeta Victors, which sparks a rebellion amongst the districts.  The following year, during the Victor Tour are forced to continue their star-crossed lovers story that they started in the Games which they are reluctant to do; Haymitch (Harrelson) gives them some home truths as they continue to fight - that they will never be able to have a relationship with anyone else, Gale (Hemsworth) for example, because the Capitol and President Snow (Sutherland) would never allow it and kill all of those involved.  Snow orders Katniss to convince Panem and him that she and Peeta are in love over the course of the Tour but they fail to convince Snow; out of revenge, Snow changes the rules of the 3rd Quarter Quell/75th Hunger Games, decreeing that the tributes for the next games will be taken from the Victors of each district.  Katniss and Peeta end up back in the arena and form an alliance with Finnick (Claflin), Johanna (Malone), Beetee (Jeffrey Wright, Casino Royale) and Mags who are really there to get Katniss out of the arena so that she can be the face of the rebellion.  Under the guise of a plan to stop some of the other Victors, Beetee concocts a plan to destroy the arena so the rebellion can get them all out but Katniss and Peeta are not in on the plan so when it comes to getting out of the arena, Peeta is unfortunately captured by the Capitol while Katniss is taken to District 13 where the rebellion is being organised with the help of Plutarch Heavensbee (Hoffman).  The Hunger Games: Catching Fire finishes with Gale telling Katniss there is no District 12 anymore as Snow had it destroyed to hurt Katniss and Peeta emotionally, breaking their spirits.

Rating: 9

Recommended To: Anyone - loads of action, romance thrown in, and a little sad

Favourite Characters: Peeta - always love him and like his arc in Mockingjay; Katniss - relatable

Favourite Part: Haymitch: I like you better without all the make-up.
Effie: I like you better when you're sober.

Good Points: Expanded scenes; all the characters have got better and better; laid good ground work for the climax

Bad Points: Explanation about Snow's roses was lost amongst the action

Geek Alert - November My Geek Box

Fantastic!!

As of this month until I so choose, I am getting a double dose of geekery, the first in the form of Loot Crate which I have been getting since August and the second comes in the form of My Geek Box, a UK-based subscription service similar to Loot Crate and today I received my first My Geek Box.  A sidenote is that unlike Loot Crate, My Geek Box doesn't come with a badge so each post will be topped with a random GIF to do with the theme that month if you hadn't guessed.  Enjoy the Doctor dancing; it keeps distracting me.

Lauren Oliver - Requiem

It's been a while since I've read a dystopian book which has been refreshing, reading other genres and branching out to see whether I like other authors and styles, but the next in my pile was Requiem, the last book in the Delirium series which I started over a year ago now.  It is satisfying to come to an end of a trilogy/series because it brings a nice end to the main story while leaving your imagination running wild with endless possibilities of what the characters are getting up to later on.

Requiem is the third and final book in the Delirium trilogy by Lauren Oliver, a series I've been reading for a while and the second book, Pandemonium, was the first book I reviewed on my blog as well.  The Delirium trilogy is set in a time where it is believed people can contract a disease called amor deliria nervosa, falling in love with someone is considered a disease, and the entire population are put through a procedure to "cure" deliria; the focus of the trilogy is Lena, a young woman who fell in love with a young man called Alex who is considered an Invalid as he was born in the Wilds and just pretended to have gone through the procedure.  In Delirium, Alex gives Lena another option, run away with him to the Wilds which she is unsure on up until seven days before her procedure when she decides to run away.  After some problems, including being caught meeting together, Alex rescues Lena and they attempt to escape.  While Lena succeeds, Alex lets himself be captured so Lena is safe and is shot in front of Lena.  Even though she is shocked, she runs away to the Wilds so Alex's sacrifice is not a waste.  After Delirium, in Pandemonium, Lena is in the Wilds, trying to help those that have taken her in to also save the rest of society from being "cured.  Lena goes undercover in society into the DFA (Deliria Free America) so to help people but is captured along with Julian, the leader of the youth division of the DFA and the son of the man leading this strange land.  She is able to escape capture, bringing Julian with her, and she starts to fall for him when they begin to trust one another as she brings him into the world Alex brought her into.  Lena and Julian get back to the rebel camp in the Wilds she went to originally and Lena finds out that not only is her mother still alive, after she was supposed to have died in prison years ago, but so is Alex.

Rating: 7

Recommended To: Dystopia fiction fans

Favourite Characters: Alex - still the same guy despite what he thinks

Favourite Part: Before we can come, Alex whirls around and takes two steps back to me.  I'm startled to see that his face is twisted in anger.
'What the hell was that about?'  he demands.  When I can only stare at him, he goes on, 'You could have died, Lena.  If it wasn't for me, you would be dead.'
'Is this your way of asking for a thank-you?'  I'm shaky, and tired, and disorientated.  'You could just learn to say please, you know.' - Page 121

Good Points: Julian adapting to the Wilds; dual narrators alternating chapters; more focus on the war between the resistance and the government

Bad Points: The love triangle; underwhelming ending

Geek Alert - November Loot Crate

Is this a battle?! Are we in a battle?!
[paraphrased from Dean Winchester]

It's Loot Crate time!!!  Once a month, a box full of random geek and nerd items arrives on the steps outside my house and it's always exciting to find out what is in it because it's always weird and wonderful, even if I'm not sure on the theme.

Oliver Cunning - Backstage Pass

Whenever I read a non-fiction book, I have the urge to alternate between it and a fiction book for some reason, maybe I need to have some form of escapism, go into a fictional world all of the time.  So while reading A Moveable Feast, I started to read Backstage Pass to provide a contrast between reality and fiction.

Backstage Pass is the first in Olivia Cunning's Sinners on Tour series which focusses on the metal band Sinners; like Michelle A. Valentine's Black Falcon series, each book in the series focusses on a separate band member.  Many of Olivia Cunning's books focus on musicians and their love lives due to her love of music that she's had since she was a kid, seeing Styx for the first time, and that is combined with her love of romance fiction; it's a wonderful concept and many have done it but each have their own twists on the concept and I can't wait to read Cunning's variations.

Rating: 9

Recommended To: Adult audience

Favourite Characters: Brian - very sweet and loveable

Favourite Part: "Just love me, Myrna," he whispered against her lips.  "Please."
She turned her head to break his kiss.  "What did you say?"
He stared over her head, swallowing several times.  "Make love to me,  Myrna.  Please." - Page 268

Good Points: The characters and their personalities; the story; the relationships explored were interesting; great combination of different elements; better than Black Falcon series

Bad Points: Not a lot of story in comparison to the amount of time the couple spend together

Don George - A Moveable Feast

Sometimes I get bored and search on the internet for books that may spark my interest even if it's from an author I've never read.  I like to read about other people's travels because I like to get inspired for my own plans to travel, something a lot of people apparently do in their 20s.  I have a number of guide books from Lonely Planet because I like their writers so when I found this collection, I bought it immediately even though I've only picked it up now as it intrigued me.

A Moveable Feast is an anthology edited by Don George who is a frequent editor for Lonely Planet, a travel guide publisher; Don George has edited a number of Lonely Planet's travel anthologies Better than Fiction - a collection of stories from novelists on their travels, By the Seat of My Pants - a collection of funny stories that have occurred while travelling, and The Kindness of Strangers - a collection of stories that explores unexpected human connections and kindness around the world.  A Moveable Feast is his collection of stories from writers that were deeply affected by some kind of food during their travels.

Rating: 7

Recommended To: Non-fiction fans; those that like to travel; foodies

Favourite Part: Mango Madness - Amanda Jones - Page 173-8

Good Points: Most of the stories were interesting; the variety of places; stories were relatively short

Bad Points: Some stories didn't fit; not a lot of female writers; all experienced writers