The Vampire Diaries – sezonul 2

Imbunatatiri. Multe. Nu ma intelegeti gresit, tot un serial cu scenariu tembel pentru adolescenti ramane, insa siropul este ceva mai piperat de actiune si intrigi complicate. Yay!

Elena ramane pe pozitii: ea il vrea pe fratele de treaba, nu pe cel sexy. Desi, daca stam sa analizam scenele dint recut, Stefan nu e tocmai de treaba. Intre timp, Nina Dobrev se distreaza interepretand-o si pe Katherine, care e mult mai cool.

Damon mai omoara cate un nevionvat, cate un varcolac, o salveaza pe Elena din cand in cand si isi face si 2 prietene. Oricati fani ar avea, cred ca Ian Somehalder se iroseste aici. Sa-i scrie cineva un scenariu pentru marele ecran, va rugam frumos.

Mai sunt destule personaje care se invart pe acolo in afara de astia 3, fiecare cu un capitol intreg de drame tarat prin fata celorlalti. Concluzia acestor plot-uri este ca au reusit sa o faca pe Caroline mai simpatica, insa pe Bonny nu prea, iar Jeremy, Tyler si Matt au ajuns, fiecare in felul lui, in situatii destul de nasoale. Jenna (spoiler alert) moare. Alaric devine wing man-ul lui Damon si se cam pierde in peisaj.

Poate in sezonul 3, acum ca a ramas singurul adult din zona, (Vampirii in varsta de sute de ani nu se pun daca se comporta ca niste adolescenti) va avea o poveste mai interesnat de spus.

Un mare plus la final: great evil dude – Klaus, care e un fel de vampiro-varcolac. Tipul asta il ia pe Stefan cu el, facandu-l sa se intoarca la originile lui criminale, in timp ce Elena ramane pe mana lui Damon. Probabil cu astia 2 nu o sa se intample nimic, pentru ca in serialele cu adolescenti chiar nu ai unde sa treci dupa tensiunea de dinainte de a devein un cuplu. Dar cat vor putea specula producatorii tensiunea asta…of of of.

A, si  marea surpriza a scenaristilor: fostele prietene moarte ale lui Jeremy se intorc la el sub forma de fantome. Inca nu stim de ce, cica ceva legat de “closure”. Fetele alea 2 mi s-au parut mereu plictisitoare, asa ca nu inteleg de ce se mai complica cu ele. Bring in fresh blood :P.

La noi inca nu a cumparat nimeni serialul, iar in momentul asta cred ca nici nu mai e cazul: publicul-tinta l-a vazut déjà pe net. Va las cu teaser-ul pentru sezonul 3 si cu marturisirea ca am ajuns sa trec Vampire Diaries la rubrica guilty pleasures:

Sezonul 1

Life As We Know It

Watch the trailer and you can say you’ve seen the movie. It’s a cute one, the one you get when you put two hot actors in a romantic comedy. So if you’ve seen all the Sandra Bullock, Meg Ryan, Hugh Grant or Tom Hanks ones, and you’re too lazy to search for something better, it will do.

Katherine Heigl has lost a lot of her fan base lately (she lost me when she made the character of Alex from Grey’s Anatomy go through yet another love drama) and her romantic movies go from bad to worst ( I know it’s mean to say, but she’s done only 4 since 2007, yet it seems like she’s been in more than a dozen). Josh Duhamel, as I’ve said it before, should go for the SWAT and Fast&Furious kind of stuff. Right now, he’s just the pretty boy who cheated on Fergie and got forgiven – so ya, he’s gonna bring people in.

Other actors worth mentioning, in little-tiny parts, are Josh Lucas, who’s star isn’t shining enough, sadly, and Christina Hendricks, a woman on the rise thanks to a lot of things, one of them being a huge natural chest that put her in a few sexiest something charts.

Now, I’m all for commercial movies that bring in the bucks. My problem with this one is the story: in 2004, there was this TV movie called Raising Waylon. Except for the fact that Waylon was somewhere between 7 and 11 years old, not a baby, and that this time the godfather was in a stable relationship and wanted a family, while the godmother wanted her freedom back, this is the exact same story!!! How could they do that? I’m not sure about the legal stuff, they probably bought everything and decided to change the story…more commercial, less believable.

Maybe I’m too attached to the original actors, Thomas Gibson and Poppy Montgomery, but their story was more true for me. I tried to find the trailer for Raising Waylon, didn’t find one and I’m not sure the movie even has one. However, you can find the entire movie, divided in a few clips of course, on youtube. Better check that one out before catching this „new and improved version”.

PS: In the TV one they had some amazing cupcakes!

Pride and Prejudice (1995) – BBC Series

Pride ad Prejudice is, as I am sure I’ve made clear before, a delightful book. And every time I read it, I have the feeling that the end will be too short, although the author gives us a pretty good insight of the happiness and bliss that our beloved characters are to have for the rest of their life. In comparison, the movie mentioned in the previous post is way too short (too short for me, that is :P).

Therefore, I just had to watch the BBC series as well (again). There is that feeling of “old movie” you get when watching it, but Colin Firth makes it go away most of the times. And apparently this version had its own controversies at the time. The most important one is the infamous lake scene:

If you search for clips for any of the two versions, or simply for “Pride and Prejudice”, you will probably find this particular clip in the upper left corner, at related videos. It’s not a bad thing that TV channels understood youtube is a very good place to advertise. This scene is more inappropriate than even the “American ending” of the 2005 version, as Mr Darcy is walking around in his underwear. He may be covered head-to-toe, but that was considered, at that time, underwear.

A bit of Trivia from imdb: most fans of Mr Darcy are older women, and there was one patient of over 100 (woman, of course) who was forbidden to watch the series because it was damaging to her old heart. After seeing the entire series, I must say I found the lake scene simple in comparison to this one:

Look at minute 2:05, the way their eyes meet and his face literally goes form afraid to angry to satisfied, then finally happy and in love. Yes, there were a lot of scenes that were added to attract younger viewers, like the one when he takes a bath while she plays with a dog outside, but remember, all you puritan Austen fans, that this is a TV series. Even in 1995, ratings were important, and it’s scenes like these that made this version a cult favorite.

I’ll leave you with the beautiful ending they dared to produce (notice how at the end they actually kiss in public?):

Pride and Prejudice (2005)

After reading the book a few times in Romanian and once in English, I have to write this review in English….it just seems a lot more suitable to me.

The movie is from five years ago and I will do my best not to compare it too much to the miniseries from 15 years ago, the famous BBC one that put Colin Firth on the map. So, for the 2005 movie, here is the trailer:

The movie is really good. It mixes a little bit some parts of the book, which might offend Jane Austen’s incredible fan base (yes, I believe fan base is the appropriate expression in this case), but you have to understand that the movie is too long as it is. 2 hours is enough for the boyfriend dragged to it, and in these 2 hours they managed to squeeze every  important event, they haven’t left out any of the delightful elements that make this one of the most beautiful love stories ever imagined.

I particularly loved the dialogue at the first ball, a lot more than in the book, the events at Pemberley and Mr Bingley’s funny proposal. Although, when it comes to Pemberley, the scene that was added by the producers of the BBC series (not in the book!) has no  match to anything this new team could have ever thought of.  Just ask Bridget Jones.

Keira Knightley makes a wonderful Elizabeth (as she does with all her characters), and Matthew Macfadyen is pretty nice as well. I’m sorry I haven’t seen The Pillars of the Earth yet, I would really like to see him in a different important role, as I understood he has in that series. Because here, as adorable as he might be, he gave me the impression that he took on more than he could handle. It’s Mr Dracy, the perfect man described years ago, a guy high school girls have dreamed about long before Edward Cullen, and the character is already in everyone’s mind with the face of Mr Firth. And he will remain so, at least for another century (providing another Bridget Jones doesn’t keep him on, of course). Well, maybe I have been unfair to Matthew, the blue eyes are a nice touch for Darcy, and he does give him a very sweet look.

I shouldn’t mention the other actors, there are way too many important ones, but the one who caught my eye was Simon Woods. Where have I seen this guy before? I still can’t say. Maybe he just reminds me a lot of Paul Bettany (who, by the way, is not in the movie).

And now the controversy: all over the world, the movie ends with Mr Bennet saying one of the famous lines in the book as well: „If any young men come for Mary or Kitty, send them in, for I am quite at leisure.” All over the world, except for the US and Canada, where they also got this :

The fan base mentioned above got angry, as this scene is not in the book and, God forbid, Elizabeth and Mr Darcy should never bee seen so „smoochy-smoochy”. And why not? Why should Europe not get too see them together? And why make a special scene for the americans, would they really not see the movie because the ending is too abrupt? They never had this issue in 1995, BBC gave us a double wedding. Today, we are either shallow if we want too see a glimpse of the happiness the two main characters finally share, either too pretentious and feel offended by this change in the ending of the story.

My advice is to see the movie and then enjoy the „american ending” thanks to Youtube users. It would really be a shame to miss all of it.

The Vampire Diaries – sezonul 1

Trista perioada pentru televiziunile americane: finaluri de sezon si lupta pentru o continuare sezonul urmator. Serios, e la fel de intensa ca o sesiune: cum se termina, ce cliff-hanger folosesti, ce serial nou alegi pentru sezonul urmator, ce serial anulezi ( 😦 un post despre FlashForward in curand). A, si desigur, urmeaza vara, cu seriale mai putine, specifice perioadei.

Revenind la Vampire Diaries, serialul a fost un succes de la bun inceput, nu e nicio surpriza ca va avea si un sezon 2. Cum sa nu prinda la lume un serial cu tineri sexy, vampiri si incurcaturi romantice cu adolescenti? Probabil de asta si-au permis uneori sa aiba scenarii proaste, cu situatii de-a dreptul stupide. Pe final si-au revenit, lasand multe intrebari pentru toamna.

Pentru cei care nu stiu despre ce e vorba, povestea pe scurt: 2 frati vampiri, unul rau (Ian Somerhalder) si unul bun (Paul Wesley) au iubit acum vreo 2 secole aceeasi fata, iar acum au descoperit una care arata exact ca ea (Nina Dobrev). Usor de creat incurcaturi de aici.

Interesant este de urmarit ce post de la noi isi va permita sa-l cumpere (banuiesc ca este mai scump decat altele). AXN a luat deja Life Unexpected, produs al aceluiasi post de televiziune ca si Vampire Diaries, dar PRO TV este cel care difuzeaza Gossip Girl, serial aflat cam la acelasi nivel cu cel in discutie. Numai ca pe asta nu-l vad in week-end la pranz, asa ca ramane de vazut ce se va intampla cu el, daca si cum va fi difuzat si la noi.