The Malazan Fallen discussion
Malazan Chatter (General stuff)
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I did! It was really great but it isn't the kind of film that usually get nominated for foreign film. Jaded critics will see its joyous tone as cheese and silly. Do you like watching French films? Have you seen Romantics Anonymous or Holy Motors(if you like a surrealistic films)? Two of the recent French films that I really really liked.
No, I suppose not... but still; it was worthy. Yes, I do. I like european film, in general. I haven't heard of Romantics Anonymous, but Holy Motors is supposedly very good. I'd definitely like to see it!
Apropos of French film, and surrealistic film, Delicatessen is great. You should see it, if you haven't already.
I loved Les Miz the book! The movie was very good, altho I have to say that I had the privilege of seeing the original cast on Broadway and preferred hearing Patti Lupone belting out some of her song instead of whispering half of it like Anne. Definitely want to see Life of Pi, and I had wanted to see Southern Beasts back when it opened but no one had heard of it and wanted to see it with me. I never got to go by myself but now of course I've got many willing partners to see it. I much prefer foreign films myself and this intl group will guide me to the good ones. Yay!
european movies?i'll add a list of my absolute favorites
- Goodbye Lenin: gorgeous movie set in East Berlin at the time the Berlin wall came down. i'll link the first trailer with english subtitles i can find, though the trailer does not do the movie justice at all. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIjSa...)
- Amélie Poulain (Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain): the most magical french movie ever made. it's gorgeous.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G7Ck...
- Festen: the Danish know how to do a family party (sarcastic smile). fabulous movie though! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5Uoz...
- Mifune: but my favorite Danish movie is Mifune though. the relationship between the brother who ran away and his mentally disabled brother is amazing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6PsT...
and last but not least, one in English, in one of its most gorgeous accents the country produces, with the fabulous Pete Postlethwaite. it's about the time Tatcher decided to close the mines in England. i promise you, you'll never look at a clown the same way. (oh, and it's not a bloody trumpet, it's a bloody euphonium! :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxU9q...
L'Appartement (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115561/) is one of my All Time Top 5 Films in the World Ever! A great tortured romance in which Vincent Cassel is compelling as a guy supposed to be getting married but is distracted when he becomes obsessed with finding the girl he let get away whom he glimpses in a cafe.
Almodovar is always worth watching. The Skin I Live In (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1189073/) from 2011 was fantastic and Anotonio Banderas was better than I've ever seen him.
Continuing a theme, Penelope Cruz is a revelation in Almodovar's Volver (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0441909/) which is the best 100 minute soap opera I've seen.
For an adult but very powerful look at relationships with a magical-realism feel try Sex & Lucia (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0254455/). Don't watch with children or your mother.
For the German version of a Cold War thriller where very little happens but at the same time everything is on the line, I loved The Lives of Others (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405094/) and for a truly fantastic film about childhood which happens to have vampires in it, Let the RIght One In (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1139797/) is wonderful.
If it's action your after, the Russian film Night Watch (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0403358/) has apocalyptic battles between supernatural beings in modern day Moscow.
And those are just a few from the last ten years (apart from L'Appartement which is 1996).
aaa Almodovar! my favorite of his is Todo Sobre Mi Madre. i haven't seen most of the others you mentioned, so will have to check them out!
Many great movies listed here! Goodbye Lenin!, Volver, Amélie, The Lives of Others...I'll add Lola Rennt by Tom Tykwer (who most recently collaborated with the Wachowskis on Cloud Atlas).
And then, I'll stray from Europe and recommend;
- Cidade de Deus by Fernando Meirelles (who also directed the terrific The Constant Gardener)
- Amores Perros by Alejandro González Iñárritu
- Oldboy (the original) by Chan-Wook Park
And last but not least return to Ang Lee (Life of Pi) by recommending Se, jie/Lust, Caution.
Can't link trailers atm, or describe them more thoroughly since I'm on the road, but they should be available on YouTube. :)
I love Amores Perros! And of course Gael Garcia Bernal who I will watch in anything. However, I preferred the writer, Arriaga's, collab. with Tommy Lee Jones, Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada more than 21 Grams or Babel which were a bit navel-gazey for me.Lust, Caution was very interesting, well acted and beautiful but I admired it more than I liked it. I felt disengaged in a way and held at a distance. It was also too long.
Oldboy is great fun. Have you seen The Raid (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1899353/)? An Indonesian action movie from last year that I wanted to see but missed.
Oh yes, I love García Bernal as well! I liked him in The Science of Sleep.I haven't seen Three Burials or 21 Grams. Babel is a good movie, but didn't blow me away. It felt a tad sleepy.
I suppose I'll agree with you there - I admired Lust, Caution. Loved the cinematography and the score. I also remember falling in love with the main theme which was a wonderful piano piece; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbVqiA...
Alexandre Desplat is such a gifted composer - I listen to anything by him and feel like I'm dreaming.
Oldboy rocks. The corridor fight scene is badass. Excellent. No, I haven't even heard of it, but it looks interesting - I'll try to check it out. :)
Oh and - I have now seen Les Misérables. It was spectacular! Anne Hathaway was mindblowing as Fantine. When she sang "I Dreamed A Dream"!... has anyone else noticed that Amanda Seyfried literally sounds like a bird when she sings? Her voice is incredible. And Eddie Redmayne as Marius! What a voice. So many powerful voices in this movie.
HBC and SBC were also memorable. I was so happy to finally get to see SBC in a serious film, where he could show off his acting chops as something else than a comedian. The Thénardiers certainly have a comic quality to them, but he played an ordinary man with foolish qualities, rather than a fool.
So many wonderful movies here for me to check out! In US we hear nothing about these unless they are nominated for an award. I used to be far more up on foreign films, but since I rarely go to the theaters anymore I don't read about films as much.Chaz - Have you read the Night Watch books? Great Russian literature in the form of urban fantasy, loved them. Haven't seen the movie, not sure I want to - ya know the book is ALWAYS better, heh.
Penelope is wonderful in VOlver isn't she? And The Lives of Others was excellent, as was Run Lola Run (as it's known in English).
I just requested Todo Sobre Mi Madre from my library, I've been meaning to see that. I don't want to see City of God as I think it will make me too depressed.
Kat - I couldn't get over Amelia's voice - it is so pure, my god, just beautiful. I can't believe she's not getting raves, simply gorgeous. Redmayne is getting the accolades he deserves, he was terrific.
Here's Patti as the original Fantine in London and Bway - no one else compares IMO - she's got the fragile, vulnerable, strength, everything. I get chills! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9y4G7...
Good thing you have us, Lori!I agree - Volver is undoubtedly one of her best performances.
Have you seen Pan's Labyrinth? It earned a lot of praise when it was released.
As for Seyfried - yes! I always knew she could sing, but she blew me away in Les Mis.
I like Patti's version, she's very talented - but I think I might prefer Hathaway's performance. It's so raw, and I loved that - it felt so desperate and emotional. Whereas Patti's is far more polished (but also, incredible).
As for broadway and unbeatable performances... Bebe Neuwirth IS Velma Kelly in Chicago. My dream role in a musical will always be Velma, tho. I just love her.
Well the fact that it is film means Hathaway can get away with whispering her way through parts of the song. Her performance wouldn't carry at all on the stage so this film version allows her to do something very different and her own. This is part of what makes the film great; Tom Hooper spends most of his time doing things that the theatre can't. It's all huge sweeping vistas or incredibly intimate close-ups neither of which can be achieved on the stage.Lupone is incredible but so is Hathaway and their performances are so different and individual.
Chaz - Very true. The close-ups are part of what I loved most about the film. The grand opening and the just as magnificent end were also incredible.
i haven't seen the movie, but i saw the musical a few times. i always get chills, especially with the 'can you hear the people sing?' and 'on my own'. aaarrrrgggghhhh.
Anyone depressed have a look at this on the site. http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...
I was just having a nose around and came across this, and man I couldnt stop laughing. I do hope some of these introductory lines get expanded into novels...
Re: Les Miz I agree about the different mediums, and each one stayed true to it's purpose.Pan's Labyrinth was wonderful! I always wonder what people think of the ending - fantasy or reality? Of course, being the romantic I am, I like to think it was reality. :)
David, I just woke up and only have had a few sips of coffee, I'm not yet ready to read anything from that group!
David - Hahaha! Lori - I'm also a romantic, and will go for reality.
This birdie is awfully cute, if you have Facebook and can view it.https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...
I wonder what, specifically, inspired the pattern. Flowers? It doesn't look very strong a camouflage.
This thread just added tons on my to-watch list! Nice. Very glad to find a lot of film enthusiast on this group!My favorite bit from both the musical and movie is the Do You Hear the People Sing(both human and ghosts version) part. For some reason, it reminds me of one of my all time favorite novels, Tigana. Empty Chairs at Empty Tables is a close second. There is something about being the lone survivor while all your friends died hits me. Is there a fantasy novel that has this kind of storyline? I would very much like to read that.
From the book, it has to be the Tempest of the Mind chapter(Who am I? in the musical).
What makes the Tigana connection for you? I'd be interested to hear. I enjoyed that book for the most part but I did have a couple of issues. Mostly with the Kay's writing style which annoyed me a lot.
Mostly the themes of patriotism and revolution against tyranny. Both revolutions, too, have leaders who are men who didn't get to enjoy their youth because of the oppression. What is it with Kay's writing style that annoyed you? I thought it was lyrical and beautiful.
I loved Tigana as well, and you're right about the pang of memory and being alone with those memories of all those who died and are only remembered by you. The yearning to be with those like you but are gone forever. And the hated monster isn't really a monster but a victim as well.
That makes sense but in Tigana the revolutionaries were a bit more covert and underground whereas in Les Mis I saw them as foolish boys playing at revolution and getting themselves killed for it as the hype themselves up into it. I must confess that this is only going on the film as I know very little about the 1832 Uprising.Lyrical and beautiful for you is overwrought and trying-too-hard for me. The book was drowning in words which didn't serve the story but felt to me like they only served GGK's ego. I felt that the overload of words didn't sweep me away but rather annoyed me and only obscured an interesting story and interesting characters.
Don't get me wrong, lyrical language can be really good but for me Tigana didn't achieve that.
A woman keen on keeping busy with numerous ideas and projects, this is my latest OH!-I-have-to-do-THIS!-idea.I bet it will take me a few years to find and read them all. Any of you guys who've read novels from the list? I've read some, but far from even a fourth of them, even though I'm familiar with many of the authors or novels. ->
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/94...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_100_...
I was looking through the Goodreads list and I was all pleased with myself for having read 9 out of the first 16 but then I started getting worried. In the end I have only read 2 out of the latter 84.
Those lists are so different! I read many of the first ones (but not P&P) and then I stopped looking. I've seen those lists before. So many books, so little time.
Mod
Chaz: Got it. It is great to hear a different perspective regarding Tigana. I will be moderating a standalone fantasy discussion one of these months for our local book club, you see, and I'm considering Tigana as one of the shortlist of books to pick for that month. Now I know what people, especially the very discerning literary ones who don't really read science fiction or fantasy novels, might not like about it. I'm curious, can you cite some fantasy novels with lyrical writing-style that didn't come across as overwrought for you?
Rob > That's odd, it's supposed to be the same list, I just linked both the wiki entry and the Goodreads-list. :)Chaz > Hehe. I haven't even read ten of them. I think more like five.
Lori > I know! I'm thinking it will take a "few" years to get through them. But if I give myself to read them before 35. Ten per year isn't naive... or is it? I dunno. We'll see.
Mod
The prologue.
It is a bit like reading an Erikson, you get thrown into that night before the battle scene with zero context. I have had to tell a couple of people to keep reading, because they told me that they read the prologue but didn't think it was the type of story they would normally enjoy. If I was running a book read with this I would 'explain' the prologue.
Mod
Generally I would advise people to try and press through chapter 5 if they are having difficulty. I think that's the scene with the shed in the forest and things get turned on there head and gets real interesting.
Rothfuss' Name of the Wind is another one I've just started reading that reminds me a bit of Tigana in that I am enjoying the storytelling more than the actual story. Not a lot has happened but it somehow still manages to be really really interesting - more character development, magic/world building than actual plot progression.
That was a great comparison, Lee! The prologue really have similarities with Erikson's style. Nothing make sense until you get to the scene in the Cabin in the Woods[sorry, can't help but pull that one. :D]. But isn't that a good thing for readers? I prefer that kind of beginning than the exposition-exposition-characters intro-more expositions pattern that seems to plague the fantasy genre. Spoon-fed world-building and characters just doesn't cut it for me.I would love to include The Name of the Wind but the theme given to me is stand-alone fantasy. I'm thinking of Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and Dyanchenko's The Scar.
I don't know about standalone. I tend to like my fantasy epic and/or gritty which tends to mean large, long series. Tigana was a little out of my wheelhouse because I read it as a book group read for Sword & Laser.
Mod
Me neither, but we were talking about your reading group :)
Now I know what people, especially the very discerning literary ones who don't really read science fiction or fantasy novels, might not like about it.
You know them better than me, but in my experience, people don't like to work when reading, spoon feeding is preferred. That is why so many people stopped reading Malazan. I bet you there is a ton of people who read the prologue of WoT in a shop and thought "wtf is that all about?".
So if they are a reading group who expects to be given the 'previously in battlestar galactica" prologue they may be 'discouraged' with Tigana.
I would definitely have to consider those. Thanks for the input! :)
Maggie wrote: "People either love or hate Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. It's so damned long!"I loved it! Not only was there a 'Jane Austen' quality to Clarke's writing, but the storyline and magic system was sophisticated and elegant--very much a lengthy adult fairy tale. I keep hearing that there is a sequel to JS&MN in the works; but, alas, it has been a number of years. She also has wonderful collection of short stories set in the same world. The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories.
Another for JS&MN, that's in my all-time top 10. Also, you might try Janny Wurts' To Ride Hell's Chasm. Dense writing, but lots of passion and good stuff to talk about. I can even find you a list of discussion topics that she put together for the reading group here.
I have a copy at home, but haven't come round to reading it. I bought a paperback copy years ago, but the size of the text was so small it became frustrating and difficult to read. It felt too heavy a project at the time, considering how thick it is...Still want to, though. Some time, at some point.
Kat wrote: "I have a copy at home, but haven't come round to reading it. I bought a paperback copy years ago, but the size of the text was so small it became frustrating and difficult to read. It felt too heav..."It's one you have to appreciate the journey more than the destination.
Seak (Bryce L.) wrote: "Kat wrote: "It's one you have to appreciate the journey more than the destination. "
This is true! :)
I like that!On another note... as for european film, Michel Gondry is back with a film this spring. I just saw the trailer, and I can't wait to see it. I think Gondry's fantastic, as are Tautou and Duris (Oh I love Romain Duris!). And then there's Omar Sy!
Mood Indigo / L'écume des jours
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESs9sE...
Anyone read the novel?
Oh! I just saw Kon-Tiki. It was a wonderful experience.It's a norwegian feature film nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign Language Film at this year's Academy Awards. It's the true story of how explorer Thor Heyerdahl crossed 4,300 miles of Pacific Ocean on a balsa wood raft in 1947. The raft was built by Heyerdahl and his fellow explorers, using materials and methods available to South Americans during the time which they would have crossed the ocean. The expedition was undertaken in an effort to prove his theory that South Americans could have settled Polynesia in pre-Columbian times.
Some stories are hard to believe, but this one is not only true, it is also great.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUnmjQ...
More about the expedition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kon-Tiki
Hullo! I found out that the TOR blog is also doing a Malazan Series Reread weekly post. I just don't know if it's safe for first time readers to read. I read the post for the first 5 chapters of GotM. Extensive analysis on each chapter and so far I've encountered no spoiler for the entire series. Might worth checking out. :)
Thanks for that - I'm going to read thru the ICE summaries!
I didn't know where to put this, but I thought I'd say thanks to everyone for the good times. I have to bow out of the reread since the bar exam is coming up and this discussion is way too addicting. I've been slavering over every comment, it's been amazing, but it's taking way too much time away from my studying and I gotta make this happen this time. You know, so I can support my family and stupid junk like that. :D
Mod
Good luck with the bar!
The Malazan Fallen
Books mentioned in this topic
The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories (other topics)Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (other topics)
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (other topics)
The Scar (other topics)
The Wise Man's Fear (other topics)
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Aaron - I know! She was six when they shot it. Quvenzhané Wallis. The eldest nominee ever is also nominated this year; Emmanuelle Riva. I think she turns 86.
Has anyone seen Intouchables? I was disappointed that it wasn't nominated for an Academy Award.