In Anticipation of The Mortal Instruments

I'll admit to being just as much of a cinephile as I am a bibliophile. Accordingly, I get extremely pumped for the release of movies to the point I'm like a school girl awaiting Justin Bieber's next tattoo. Lately the list of movies I've been dying to see have included a few screenplays based off books I was less than enthused about (i.e. World War Z, Beautiful Creatures, and The Mortal Instruments). As a writer, I've come to accept that everyone has different tastes when it comes to reading, and for some reason those three books were unable to hold my interest, even though by all means they should've as their subjects were right up my alley (well, technically gravel road since I live in the country). While the World War Z movie completely hit the mark I was hoping for, Beautiful Creatures completely missed it by lightyears, disappointing me to astronomical levels.

The Mortal Instruments seems to have the biggest built-in fan base of the three, leading me to believe it will achieve the biggest success. They're already filming the second book in the series (and p.s. I just stumbled across a major spoiler upon reading the storyline for movie #2 on IMDB, so if you're not familiar with the series, don't go there). I'm already a fan of Lily Collins (playing Clary), and Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace isn't so hard on the eyes (unless you're watching his stiff performance in Twilight). But it all comes down to the screenplay writing, and TMI's writer, Jessica Postigo, has virtually no resume in the cinematic world for us to consider.

Therefore, being the major audiophile that I also am (wow I have a lot of addictions), I go to the soundtrack. Many times I'm able to tell just how a good a movie will be just by considering how much time and money the movie spent on finding its musical talent, even though you don't always hear the songs in the actual movie itself (has anyone figured out this strange phenomenon?). To my dismay, the list of performers on this soundtrack is less than stellar, and the songs don't do much for me, which makes me extremely nervous. Add the fact that the trailer uses as great song, just as Mortal Instruments did (Florence + The Machine's Seven Devils), and I'm downright paranoid. BUT, after listening to the beautiful musical score by Atli Orvarsson, there's still hope.

RIP Cory :(

As a last resort, I looked into some of the comments on YouTube. Those who have seen the movie have really good things to say, with the exception of "they didn't follow the book", which obviously won't bother me one bit. So I still hold on to hope that this flick, with a vibe of Constantine meets Flowers in the Attic (if you don't get this reference, don't go looking into it unless you've read TMI), will end up being my favorite movie of the summer.

Finally, I leave you with the trailer. No only does the movie look crazy good, but it would appear they've spent a healthy amount of money on special effects (another sign of good things to come). Unfortunately, I won't get to the theatre until next Tuesday, but you can expect a review as soon as I form my completely biased opinion.

Zombie Discrimination

I FINALLY GOT TO SEE WORLD WAR Z!

I don't think I've been this excited about a movie release in years. I'm not even sure what I could compare it to. Zombies + Brad Pitt = are you freaking kidding me? Thankfully, the movie delivered just what it promised, and was amazing.

I just want to take a minute to address the zombie discrimination I've been witnessing. Many of the die-hard zombie fans have been against this movie from the start, as they say zombies are "supposed to be" painfully slow moving. While I consider myself a ginormous fan of all undead things animated, I was very open to the idea of them being raging fast. Anyone who has read The Day Zombies Ruined My Perfectly Boring Life knows I'm not a purist. We've been given these amazing minds that are capable of creating different things. Why not use them?

Then again, I've always been a fan of non-traditional ideas when dealing with fantasy—zombies who can actually heal themselves with love, angels who don't have wings and can just move really fast, vampires who can walk in the daylight with a special ring, vampires who sparkle in the sunlight—okay wait, that one was taking it a bit too far even for me. But I think if we're dealing with creatures that don't actually exist, it's okay to go beyond the usual stereotypes. Plus the idea of zombies coming at you in a dead run makes the idea all the more frightening.

I'm not going to delve into the scientific reasons on why I think this could actually happen as (a) I find science painfully boring, and (b) science and I really don't get along so I couldn't do it even if I tried, but check out this article on Cracked.com to see why they think raging zombies are possible.

The only issue I had with the crazy-fast zombies in World War Z was the crazy-fast camera work that went along with them. While I get that the idea is to get you right in there so you're able to physically experience the anxiety of having a deadly human in your face, there were times I couldn't see anything. At all. And I think that's when the cinematic experience goes too far (think Cloverfield). Maybe one or two of these scenes would've done the trick without losing site of the leading man, and requiring a heaping dose of Dramamine.

Don't get me wrong—I'm not arguing that my side is right, and the purist are wrong. As I've said many times before, I'm glad there are people with different preferences, and think this world would be an extremely boring place if we were all the same. Bottom line, World War Z was extremely satisfying for this non-traditional, walking corpse fan.  Check out my full review of the movie on Two Chicks Blogging.

Coming To a Theater Near You

Whenever my three favorites (books, paranormal and movies) come together, I get a little bit anxious and a whole lot of excited. Can there be anything more thrilling than seeing your beloved characters coming to life before your very eyes? I know at times it can be a major letdown when there's bad casting or if favorite scenes are cut, but you have to keep in mind that there is a time limit to how long you want your butt placed in that uncomfortable chair while stuffing your face with junk. While the books cover every little detail, on the big screen we are given the bare bones.

With the plethora of upcoming flicks I have discovered in the past few weeks, I just may explode. Here is a rundown of the three that have me fan-girling like a fool:

Warm Bodies

Since I am looking forward to this movie the most, it's up first. A Twitter friend told me a while back to read this book. I put it in my queue and kind of forgot about it. Then the movie trailer came out and I was totally kicking myself for not listening to my friend sooner. I devoured this delightful read in a matter of a few days and became a big fan of Isaac Marion. I wrote my own zombie book The Day Zombies Ruined My Perfectly Boring Life when I was craving something unusual and wanted a realistic heroine who wasn't prepared to shoot guns and run for her life. Warm Bodies takes the unusual one step further by telling it from the point of view of a zombie who only goes by "R" (he doesn't remember everything from life before he turned). When he meets a girl (and eats the brain of her boyfriend, thus absorbing some of his memories) he slowly begins to evolve into a regular human again. The book had some very light-hearted and comedic parts to it, but there was a deeper story of humanity and love that really sucked me in. If you haven't read the book, I suggest you drop everything and do so now. The trailer makes it appear that they did a good job of following the story in Isaac's book.

World War Z

Interestingly enough, I recently started reading this book and can't get into it as much. Part of the problem was probably that I just finished Warm Bodies, which is more of an adventure while this book is told as a report of events as they happened. Still, the preview for the movie look insanely good. I read somewhere that the creators of this movie felt zombies would have a primal instinct, much like a lioness chasing her prey, and let me tell you, these zombies definitely have that! If you haven't seen the trailer yet, these zombies are crazy fast. While I lack any kind of athletic skills, I still think I could outrun the traditional zombie so long as I wasn't injured. If I saw a zombie coming at me on a dead run, however, I ask to be shot by someone immediately. This movie has potential to be a big blockbuster, considering the growing number of The Walking Dead fans. And it doesn't hurt that Brad Pitt is looking as hot as ever with his long hair, either.

The Mortal Instruments

Again, this was a book I couldn't really get into. It was okay, but I think that I had just read a string of paranormal books and was getting burned out by them. After seeing the trailer, however, I've decided to give it another chance and have returned it to my to-read list. The movie looks to have a bit of a Constantine feel to it (one of my all-time favorite movies), only the main characters are young. I love the idea that there are certain things in this world others can't see. As an added bonus, there is a battle with honest-to-goodness vampires, not the sparkling kind who want to be your boyfriend.

I'll admit, I'm both thrilled and insanely jealous to see these books come to the big screen. After all, having your story come to life is the ultimate compliment. Are any of these movies on your "must see" list, or are there other book adaptations coming out in 2013 that you are looking forward to?