On The Searchers

Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) has just returned from an extended absence that began with the Civil War, but continued for some time under mysterious circumstances. His brother, sister-in-law, and the couple's children welcome him back with open arms, but Ethan seems to have a little trouble settling in. When Indians attack while Ethan and his adopted nephew Martin (Jeffrey Hunter) are elsewhere, the whole family is murdered except for Ethan's two young nieces. Ethan and Martin leave to search for their two family members, but it isn't long before Martin fears Ethan's hatred of Indians may cause him to do something drastic.

Generally speaking, I don't like John Wayne movies. I think he was a dreadful actor, and, to be honest, he played exactly the same character in all his later movies that I've seen. In this one, he's a particularly bad actor. He has this one line that he keeps repeating at different points in the movie that is just laughable. However, I enjoyed watching The Searchers because it isn't so much about him as it is about his nephew Martin.

Martin is an enjoyable character. He's only a decent actor, but his character is surprisingly well formed for a Hollywood movie. He has his own little quirks without seeming like an overly exaggerated character, and some of the situations he gets himself into are pretty funny. Best of all, he's young, inexperienced, and rather foolish, but he's still a brave hero. He puts the safety of his adopted sister above his own comfort, even though his girlfriend is furious with him for being gone for so long.

Although I really enjoyed Martin, I must say that the portrayal of Indians made me cringe a little. It's a typical Hollywood stereotype (for crying out loud, the bad guy's name is Scar, a sinister name if I've ever heard one), and Ethan's overblown hatred and disgust for Indians (though partly justifiable because of the Indians' raid on his family's home) is a bit over the top. Although, in defense of the movie, there are a few peaceful Indians as well, and the U.S. soldiers are sometimes portrayed as cruel toward Indians.

Note: John Wayne's son Patrick plays a young soldier in this movie. A little fun is poked at their relationship; Patrick plays the son of an officer, and the men keep giving him a hard time because of his father.

My Rating: OK (frightening situations, mild sexual content)

Regarding Sense & Sensibility

Two sisters, two entirely different personalities. Elinor Dashwood (Hattie Morahan) is "sense" to her very core. She allows her head to lead her heart, no matter what befalls her or her family. Her younger sister Marianne (Charity Wakefield) is "sensibility." She allows her emotions to dictate her actions every minute of the day, regardless of how it affects those around her. When tragedy strikes, the two sisters try to muddle through as best they can, hoping to pick up the pieces of their lives and find some measure of happiness.

I greatly prefer this adaptation to the one by Emma Thompson. For one thing, the characters are much nearer their proper ages. (While this might seem like I'm nitpicking, it's very distracting to watch a movie with a heroine who is supposed to be teenaged but looks like she's nearly forty.) For another, this one is closer to the book, although perhaps a bit more exaggerated. But then, that's what Jane Austen did best. If there was ever an exaggerated character, it was Mrs. Bennet from Pride and Prejudice.

While this adaptation is very close to the book, there are a couple difference. The biggest one is probably Edward Ferrars (Dan Stevens), who seems more handsome and less awkward than in the book. I was exceedingly disappointed in John Willoughby (Dominic Cooper), though. While his character is very close to my recollection of it in the book, the actor was a bad choice. He's not nearly as handsome as he should be, and his acting skills are perhaps not quite up to par. I much prefer Greg Wise in Emma Thompson's version.

The differences from the book notwithstanding, I love this movie. The scenery is absolutely beautiful, Hattie Morahan is perfect as Elinor (one of my favorite heroines of all time), and the writing is very good. While it doesn't come close to touching The Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, Sense & Sensibility is definitely one of my favorite Jane Austen adaptations.

Note: Based on the book by Jane Austen

My Rating: T (sexual content and references (all in the first scene, which I have never seen; it might deserve an MT rating), thematic elements)

Concerning Spider-Man 3

Life is good. At least, that's what Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) thinks. Sure, the door to his one-room apartment sticks. But he's at the top of his class, he gets to go around saving people with his superhero powers, his popularity in New York has never been so high, and he's about to propose to Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst), the girl he's loved for as long as he can remember. Unfortunately, things never run smoothly for long. Peter's best friend, Harry Osborn (James Franco), knows that Peter is Spider-Man. He also knows that Spider-Man was responsible for his father's death. Add that to a strange robber nicknamed the Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) terrorizing New York, Mary Jane's career troubles, and a weird black substance from outer space and you get a lot of trouble.

Spider-Man 3 is not my favorite Spider-Man movie, but it's probably the best one. The themes, visual symbolism, and graphics are superior to the first and second movies. The reason why it's not my favorite is very simple: The first two feel much more like superhero stories. Slow-motion action scenes, spidey-sense, and basic good vs. evil storylines all contributed to the good ol' action-figure hero feel. Spider-Man 3, on the other hand, is much more complicated.

This more complex twist to the movie is partly owed to the sheer number of "bad guys" in the movie. Harry, the Sandman, the black goop, and even Eddie Brock (Topher Grace), the rival photographer, are all bad characters that Peter or his alter-ego must fight. In the first two movies, it was just Spider-Man vs. the Green Goblin or Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock. Spider-Man 3 has Peter/Spidey fighting evil on all fronts - his personal life, his professional life, and his life as a superhero.

Besides the large number of bad guys, another reason for the complexity of this movie is the question that is posed and answered: Can people who lead bad lives be good, or are we responsible for the lives we lead? I'm quite pleased with the answer given by Spider-Man 3.

As well as asking what a "good person" is, this movie also contains a lot of religious symbolism. *Spoilers from here to the end* The most obvious symbolism is when Eddie goes to the church and prays for Jesus to kill Peter Parker. First he speaks about being humbled and humiliated, which is followed immediately by a shot of a crucifix on the wall. Eddie's humility is being compared to Jesus' humility in not only giving up His life, but in everything He suffered leading up to that point. Then the comparison ends and the contrast begins - Eddie pleads for Jesus to kill his enemy. Jesus' ultimate victory over death was not achieved by killing His enemies, but by sacrificing His own life. A quick glance at a crucifix would show how twisted Eddie's approach to justice is.

Soon after Eddie's prayer, Peter decides to free himself of the awful black goop that took hold of him in the form of a new Spidey suit through the hatred in his heart. He soon discovers that he can't pull it off. His black suit, which has almost taken on a life of its own, has attached itself to him so strongly that nothing he can do will loosen it. Until he accidently strikes the church bell. The rich sound of the bell ringing sends the black suit into contortions, and Peter is freed. His lack of clothing while he lies gasping in the shadows is most likely a reference to being born again.

After Peter rids himself of the suit with the aid of the church bell, the black goop finds another victim in Eddie, whose hatred for Peter consumes him. When Spider-Man tries to free Eddie from the villainous goop, he uses steel bars in a construction zone to make a bell-like sound. Eddie is freed from the goop, but almost immediately throws himself at it again - straight into an explosion. Peter was freed by a church bell. Eddie was, sadly, not entirely freed by steel bars.

My Rating: T (frightening images, mild sexual content)

Picture from coverbrowser.com

Brian Jacques, We Will Miss You

Brian Jacques, the beloved British author of the Redwall series, died Saturday. As the author of the only books I have ever read or heard of that can appeal to children just old enough to read chapter books all the way up to adults, he will be greatly missed by many fantasy book lovers.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.
May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed through the Mercy of God rest in peace.
Amen.

In Relation To Pride and Prescience

Written by Carrie Bebris; Book One in the Mr. & Mrs. Darcy Mysteries

Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet are now Mr. and Mrs. Darcy. But, to Elizabeth's vexation, their joint wedding reception with the new Mr. and Mrs. Bingley is marred by Caroline Bingley's engagement announcement. Miss Bingley and her fiance, an American named Mr. Parrish, seem determined to steal the attention of society away from the former Miss Bennets and their new husbands, planning an extremely elaborate wedding ceremony in London just one week after their engagement announcement. Elizabeth's vexation at Miss Bingley's pretentiousness is gradually lessened, however, as the vain young woman begins to act increasingly strangely - to the point of trying to kill herself.

I am not a huge fan of fan fiction. In fact, I think authors who write fan fiction are poor writers; a truly great writer would invent his or her own characters, without having to rely on someone else's creations. Stories are important, but it's the characters that really bring a book to life.

With such a low opinion of fan fiction books, I went into this one with trepidation. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy may well be my favorite literary couple of all time, and the last thing I wanted was to see their characters ruined. I was pleasantly surprised, at least with regard to Mr. Darcy. His character is portrayed faithfully; firm, honorable, and madly in love with Elizabeth (though perhaps he has a little better sense of humor than Austen gave him). Elizabeth is not as faithfully shown, however. A rather big deal is made of her wonderful perceptiveness at times, which is utterly ridiculous considering how unperceptive she turns out to be in Jane Austen's original story. Jane and Bingley are perfect, though I would have liked them to be in the story a bit more than they were.

While the characters are much like they're supposed to be, I'm afraid the writing style is not quite true. While I don't mind some sentences being modernized (after all, no one reads books filled with double negatives nowadays), I didn't care for the modernized dialogue. At select times it was excruciatingly painful. I highly doubt the expressions "handle it" or "check on" had been invented at the time of Austen's classic. If they were, they were not used among polite society.

The dialogue was a little tiresome; the story was more tiresome still. The resolution was much too obvious for my taste; I had almost all the details worked out little more than halfway through the book. Furthermore, I got the distinct impression that the authoress was intentially trying to imitate the kind of story one might find in a gothic novel. The book revolved around the supernatural, something that evidently showed up often in gothic novels. However, I highly doubt Austen would have approved of her characters being transplanted into these novels. After all, Northanger Abbey is practically a satire of gothic novels' mysterious and mystical elements.

My Rating: T (non-religious supernatural elements, slightly gruesome murder, thematic elements)

Picture from carriebebris.com