Reviews
On - drakon (2015)
Wow!
This was a perfect romantic feel-good movie. The camera work was beautiful. The special effects were wonderful; the fantastical interacted with the real seamlessly. The plot was great, I loved the transition from folk tale to 'reality.' I especially liked the development of the two main characters, Mira most of all. Her initial introduction had me thinking she was going to be a brat through-out and I was pleasantly surprised.
Emily of New Moon (1998)
Very disappointed
I just finished reading the series for about the zillionth time and decided to take a chance on the television series. I read reviews here and thought i should be alright until the second season. I was wrong. I am halfway thru the first episode and have already asked my husband not to bother getting the rest of the dvds on netflix. I am so disappointed. i'm going to try to finish the disk but the massive alterations. So far the only similarities i've found between the book and the series is a girl named Emily and a father named Douglas both with the last name Star. Scenes, characters, location, plot line etc are all changed. Oh wait they did get the names of the aunts and cousin correct but... the cat is wrong.
Sigh. Perhaps if i had never read the books i'd be OK with just watching this as a stand-alone piece. Even Emily's essential personality has been changed from the character i adored in the trilogy.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
My opinion
Most people already know the story so I won't recap. All I really want to say is that I have waited 25 years for this movie.. and I was not disappointed! If anything my dreams were exceeded. The casting was incredible, there is nothing about any of the characters that I would change. The scenery was fabulous. The special effects were great. I was worried about the use of so many CGI characters but at no point did I feel that they caused any distraction and their implementation was perfect (IMHO) I am a big enough fan of the series that I did go out and buy the BBC version (on VHS and then on DVD when it became available) simply to have SOME cinematic rendering of the text. It wasn't bad for a television series directed at children. But this movie does much more justice to the full grandeur of the book.
I am looking forward to the rest of the books in the series.
Mansfield Park (1983)
VERY enjoyable
After watching the more recent movie version of this movie, I must admit I put off watching this one for fear they would be similar. I'd read the book years ago and enjoyed it, although not as much as Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice. I finally got around to viewing this about a month after I'd purchased the box set and was VERY pleasantly surprised. It stayed very faithful to the book and unlike a few of the other reviews I read here, I did not find it at all dull nor did i find the acting lacking in any fashion.
I especially liked the development of the relationships between Fanny, Tom and Edmund. It was neat seeing them grow and mature over the course of the mini-series.
I was also impressed with the interactions between the Crawfords. The characters had always irked me a bit in the story but in this version they came across as more subtle.
13th Child (2002)
If only i'd read the comments!
I'm from the Pine Barrens region of New Jersey and have an interest in the Jersey Devil legends. When I heard this movie was coming out I was rather excited.. local folklore making it to the "Big Screen". We were expecting a bunch of snow this weekend so the spousal unit and i ran to the video store to rent some movies.. we saw this one in and decided to rent it... If only i'd read the comments here first. It was TERRIBLE! OK.. I can understand the well-known legend being copyrighted and so they went to an alternative version.. but SO far-fetched? Guns that shoot without ANY indication of discharge or recoil? Awkward camera angles which were supposed to give a feeling of suspense rather causing motion sickness. Blood remaining vividly crimson after over 24 hours aging time? Deer heads stuck on hooks and then miraculously losing the hole? And here let's toss in a sex scene with NO ties to the plot just to make sure we have at least one token female breast to please the masses. We did actually take the time and view the commentary and when Ms. Maryk commented on the incredible effects that went into making the monster I did have to laugh out loud. The creature wasn't so bad when viewed as a silhouette but the closeup scenes?! Yick.. and i don't mean because it was gory. i meant because it was so poorly done.
One small plus in the entire experience. The actor who played Ron's partner.. I believe his character's name was Mitch.. Did a very credible job.