Movie review: 'The Fault in Our Stars'

PLOT:

Hazel and Gus are two teenagers who share an acerbic wit, a disdain for the conventional, and a love that sweeps them on a journey. Their relationship is all the more miraculous given that Hazel's other constant companion is an oxygen tank, Gus jokes about his prosthetic leg, and they met and fell in love at a cancer support group.

*** Don’t read if you haven’t read the book.

But if you haven’t read the book you totally should because HOW COULD YOU NOT HAVE READ THE BOOK? ***

This past Wednesday I was lucky enough to be invited along to the Melbourne Central Hoyts advance screening of The Fault in Our Stars – thanks to those lovelies at Penguin TeenAustralia. This was pretty huge, because TFiOS (as it’s affectionately known) isn’t widely released in Oz until June 5, and the audience was made up of booksellers and bloggers which lent a great feeling of YA-nerdiness and camaraderie … though ‘camaraderie’ might not be quite the right word. Majority of us had obviously read the book – snot-snivel-cried through the book, more like – and were probably all wary of being emotionally wounded by the beautiful tragedy that is John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars bought to life on the big screen.

The Actors

Perfection. That’s the first word that comes to mind when I think of the casting for this film – absolute perfection.

I already knew Shailene Woodley could hold her own with contemporary YA movies, since she shone as Aimee in the adaptation of Tim Tharp’s book The Spectacular Now.  But as Hazel Grace Lancaster, Woodley really outdoes herself – she’s refreshing and real, bringing strength to the character that was so vital and tender. What I love most about Woodley though is that I can’t quite put my finger on what makes her so damn compelling … she’s just very real, it doesn’t feel like she’s acting at all because she lives the character so much. Hazel looks sickly – the oxygen tank she carries everywhere, her measured walk and pale complexion – but Woodley has made sure that Hazel’s witty humour rings true, and the occasional voiceover reveals how thoughtful she is, and brave, constantly thinking about her imminent death and the destruction she’ll inadvertently cause to those she loves so dearly.

Ansel Elgort as Augustus Waters wasn’t as sure-footed in the beginning for me, and no wonder. Elgort has the hard task of playing the boy of many fan’s dreams – Augustus ‘Gus’ is too good to be true, and I imagine that’s hard to cast let alone play. At first Ansel Elgort sounded too much like John Green for my liking - Augustus Waters’s dialogue could have been interspersed with any of Green’s VlogBrothers videos. Particularly the “it’s a metaphor” scene (which I didn’t love in the book either) – the whole time I just kept thinking how much Green’s voice was coming through a little too loud and clear for my liking. But then John Green fell away and only Augustus was left – Elgort eventually shrugged the character on and he fit as well as that lovely, worn brown leather jacket he sported throughout the movie. He’s baby-faced and charming, with a smile to rival Heath Ledger’s in his hey-day. Elgort also plays the character with a natural easiness that riffed beautifully off of Shailene Woodley’s Hazel Grace. And of course the highest compliment for Elgort’s performance was that he’d made the audience love him so much as Augustus that the end hurts all the more.

Nat Wolff as Augustus’s best friend Isaac. I don’t really have a lot to say about him, actually. He was good, and funny – I laughed at lots of his scenes. But I think he got overshadowed by all the other talent in the movie. I think he’ll have more opportunities when he headlines the adaptation of Green’s Paper Towns.

The other stand-outs for me in this movie were the adults – Willem Dafoe as cantankerous author Peter Van Houten, the incomparable Laura Dern as Hazel’s mother and True Blood’s Sam Trammell as her father. These three were also perfectly cast, and in roles that are all about complimenting the teen stars, they did a marvellous job. Laura Dern got the first tears out of me in her role as a perpetually positive mother of a dying child. Sam Trammell was so good and nuanced, and as my friend Adele (aka Persnickety Snark) pointed out, his most moving scene was all conveyed in a single look (he was so good, in fact, it made me realise how poorly utilised he is on True Blood). And Willem Dafoe knocked it out of the park as Van Houten – he’s vile, but brings a tenderness to the role better than was written in the book even.

The Soundtrack

Ed Sheeran, Birdy, The Radio Dept., Ray LaMontagne … the music fit perfectly, and was also perfectly understated. The songs were never the focal point, but rather nice window dressings to important scenes. I’m definitely buying this movie soundtrack.

The Adaptation

In some ways this is the closest book-to-movie adaptation I’ve ever seen, and that was both a good and not-so-great thing. I will say that the screenplay writers, Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, clearly wanted to hit all the fan’s favourites and they did just that. Every line you love is in this movie, rest assured. The biggest cut I can think of is the stuff about Augustus’s dead ex-girlfriend (probably for the best) but otherwise it feels like all 318-pages were pretty much put into the movie. Some choices were really smart for how they chose to convey them – like Augustus and Hazel texting each other, and writing emails – it was communicated visually and very well indeed. But there weren’t many surprises in the film, I will say. It was so true to the source material (right down to using the book cover typeface in the credits) that you could pretty much follow scenes by the chapters in the book. I’m not saying that’s a tragedy (heck, in a book-to-movie adaptation that’s a good mark to hit) but I feel like they treated the book a little too preciously. The real enjoyment came from watching the actors breathe life into those characters, rather than the fact that the movie was such a straight-up, page-by-page tribute to Green’s book.

The Location

The trip to Amsterdam is filmed beautifully. I particularly liked that director Josh Boone (who’s next going to direct a Stephen King adaptation for the big screen) paid attention to the little details of the city – sometimes the camera is trained on rooftops rather than the picturesque canals. And even though the city becomes a character in itself, and a mighty pretty one at that, Boone still kept close-ups of Woodley and Elgort even when he had a gorgeous backdrop he could have got lost in. The filming inside Anne Frank’s house is particularly marvellous (though I still think that’s a funny place for a first kiss).

The Feels

I cried. I sat next to the lovely Kimberley Santos (aka Pop Couture) who really cried. During certain scenes I cast my eye around the darkened cinema and saw people blowing into tissues, wiping tears away with their sleeves and doing under-eye swipes. Of course I cried. But I wasn’t sad by the end of the film, the same way I wasn’t deeply depressed by book’s end. Because Shailene Woodley’s Hazel and Ansel Elgort’s Augustus Waters were so vivid and gorgeously realised, because their love story was so beautifully re-told … and because their story isn’t about cursing and hating your fate, but being thankful for what you are given, no matter how little or too late.

The Verdict

Fans will be thrilled. The book will find a whole new audience. Every John Green novel will probably be seeing the big screen in due course (Paper Towns is already being slated for 2015 release). I thoroughly enjoyed it, and embraced the feels.

Thank you to Penguin Books Australia and particularly Penguin Teen Australia for inviting me along to the screening! 

(Word of advice: watch Penguin Teen's 'Survival Guide' for watching the TFiOS movie!)

'The Spectacular Now' movie review

For Sutter (Miles Teller), a charming high-school senior and budding alcoholic, the ‘now’ is all that matters. It is where he can live in the moment and be the life of the party. But after a post-breakup bender, he meets shy Aimee (Shailene Woodley) and the pair forms an unlikely bond, as Sutter pines for his ex and searches for an estranged father.  

With strong performances from the young cast, which won a special jury award at this year's Sundance Film Festival, James Ponsoldt's The Spectacular Now dodges cliché to deliver an accessible, powerful and honest coming-of-age story. 

Today I went to a screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival, and saw the book-to-film adaptation of Tim Tharp’s young adult novel ‘The Spectacular Now’. 

It was only January this year that I read Tharp’s 2008 book, after hearing that an adaptation was in the works. And I pretty much fell head-over-heels in love with the book, even while having my reservations about its big screen adaptation.

Now I know, I know. Whenever the word “adaptation” is uttered, it’s a bat-signal for fans to come up with their long list of demands and iron-clad rules for the Director/Script Writer to follow. And then the endless whinging or championing of casting announcements . . . I get it. Us bookish-types get tedious when there’s cross-pollination going on. But I was genuinely curious (and maybe a bit hesitant) for Tharp’s book to become a film – mostly because it’s so not your typical YA novel (dare I say, it’s the ‘anti’ YA?) and so much of its charm lies in protagonist Sutter’s internal voice, that reveals him as an anti-hero even while his outward clownish and chillaxed displays herald him as a king amongst his classmates. It’s a complicated text, to say the least. 

I actually went into the movie with two small ‘hesitancies’. The main one being that the movie poster (lovely as it is) makes the film look like a romance. And my second concern was for the ending (and hoping it would remain intact). . . Now, having seen the film, I can say one is handled beautifully, but it’s affect on the other is also a weakness in the end.

Within the first few minutes I had a sudden lightning bolt idea – that Miles Teller was like a young John Cusack (even while ‘The Spectacular Now’ is the antithesis to those 80s teen flicks, and Sutter Keely is like a grittier, and far more interesting counterpoint to Lloyd Dobler). There’s just something about Teller – a charismatic, smart-assed panache – that captured Sutter keenly and within seconds. Where it took Tim Tharp a lengthy opening scene showing Sutter’s potential by rescuing a little kid, Miles Teller has audiences in his corner and on his side from the get-go. And that’s very important for Sutter’s character; because viewers are meant to be as dazzled by his chilled, jokester schtick as his friends and classmates, until we start scraping away the facade later on in the film . . . 

But if I thought Miles Teller was a dream cast for Tharp’s Sutter, I was bowled over by Shailene Woodley as Aimee – and what those two bring together. 

Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley very importantly look like regular teenagers. Woodley spends the film entirely make-up free and in oversized t-shirts, sometimes puffy-eyed and with a mane of hair that she’s always yanking into a messy ponytail. 

Miles Teller is engaging and instantly likeable – but he’s no Zac Efron (thank god); rather, he looks like a variation of some kid everyone went to school with or that you see hanging around the train station.

 And when these two are together their chemistry comes more from normality than sparking heat – it’s as though director James Ponsoldt just left a camera rolling and happened to capture the awkward bumbling of these two teens. It’s a little bit glorious. There were so many times when I felt Aimee’s vicarious awkwardness, as cool kid Sutter starts paying her attention and she desperately tries to subdue her geek-streak. And, what few sex scenes there are, benefit from being filmed on the knife-edge of awkward – as the camera remains in close-up, even through spontaneous laughter, condom opening and heavy breathing. It’s a blessedly awkward scene, devoid of Hollywood gloss, but that Ponsoldt doesn’t cut away to billowing curtains is brilliant and refreshing.

But Woodley and Teller’s down-to-earth looks and natural repartee also made glaringly obvious what wasn’t gelling so much in the film. Like Sutter’s girlfriend, Cassidy. Fans will probably be upset that Cassidy is played by the slim Brie Larson, when Sutter in Tharp’s book makes a constant (sometimes uncomfortable) point of calling her his “beautiful, fat girlfriend” all the time. Brie Larson is only a couple of years older than Woodley, but she looks too sophisticated beside Sutter and Aimee’s ‘everyteen’ appearance. And where Woodley and Teller play it beautifully natural (indeed, I often wondered how much of their interactions were scripted) Brie Larson was too “on” – she acted too hard opposite two leads who excelled at being deceptively unaffected.

With Miles Teller doing such a good job of being an average joe fuck-up, it wouldn’t have worked for Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber’s screenplay to stay too true to Tim Tharp’s narrative voice for Sutter. Throughout the book Sutter reels off this New Age thinking theory, like about how; “We’re not the Faster-than-the-Speed-of-Light Generation anymore. We’re not even the Next-New-Thing Generation. We’re the Soon-to-Be-Obsolete Kids.” This is reconciled somewhat by Sutter writing his college application and answering a question about overcoming hardship, and which we get to hear in voiceover. But also what we lose from Tharp’s interiority we gain in Teller’s smart-arse remarks and thinking-on-his-feet bullshit. 

Now, for what didn’t work for me: the end.

Look, I’ll be the first to admit that the end of Tharp’s book is somewhat ambiguous (I've since discovered, after hearing two friends’ ideas of what happened versus my own) and it’s somewhat bleak. In part, James Ponsoldt’s movie adaptation is about making Tharp’s book more accessible and audience-friendly by injecting some hope and smoothing the rough, dark edges. Where I read the book as being about Sutter hitting rungs on his way to rock-bottom, Ponsoldt’s movie is about giving Sutter ways and means to climb those rungs back out again. So my initial reaction to the film’s ending was a nose-wrinkle . . . but I have since amended my opinion to think; ‘Don’t judge a book by its adaptation’ (that’s not mine, I saw it on a bookshop badge). Tharp and Ponsoldt are discussing a young man’s spiral in very different ways, but that this is a movie about a teenager with a serious drinking problem and convincing happy armour is important in itself. So too is the fact that neither Tharp nor Ponsoldt treat Aimee and Sutter’s story as a romance; for Sutter it’s the kick in the ass he needed, for Aimee it’s something that will hopefully make her stronger. 

Immediately after watching ‘The Spectacular Now’ I wasn’t sure how I felt. That I loved Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller was a given, so too director James Ponsoldt’s down-to-earth teen film approach. But the ending felt somewhat cliché (when Tharp’s book is anything but) and it didn’t seem to follow Sutter’s learning curve . . .  but then I thought about it some more, and I decided I really wanted to see the film again. It’s definitely one to watch more than once, and a must-see if you haven’t already. 

Interview with Melina Marchetta

I’m a 2013 columnist for Kill Your Darlings, writing about all things children’s and young adult. And this month, my column was Melina Marchetta-centric. Thanks to the lovely people at Penguin Books Australia, I was able to shoot off some pertinent questions . . .  my KYD column focused on the ‘Jellicoe Road’ movie adaptation, but I actually asked a few more questions that had to be cut-down for word-length. 

So, here is the Melina Marchetta Q&A in its entirety. 

And a very big thank you to the incredible Ms Marchetta for taking the time to answer my very detailed (some would say, long-winded) questions! 

Voila! 

• 

Q: First of all; what can you tell us about the ‘On the Jellicoe Road’ movie adaptation? I know you’d been writing the script for three years, and you’ve recently mentioned that Sue Taylor is onboard as producer and Kate Woods as director. What other little tid-bits can you reveal about the movie’s status? 

There’s probably very little I can tell you except to say that we have sent it to an actress who could possibly be Taylor Markham and that the ball doesn’t really start rolling until we cast her and Jonah Griggs. From a production side, Goalpost films are also on board. They recently had the success of The Sapphires, which was such a wonderful film. We’ve also got US producers involved so it’s definitely happening, but there’s a lot of waiting for the right people and we’re not interested in making this film without the right people. Kate Woods is coming from LA to stay with me next week so it will be a Jellicoe talk fest for the whole ten days while I show her every single film/TV or image of actors and actresses that I’ve taped or downloaded or saved.

Q: I read somewhere that you started writing a version of ‘Jellicoe’ back in 1993. It went through a few transformations, but always there was Taylor Markham (and a boy in a tree?). It’s amazing that you’ve had this story for some 19 years, and that Taylor is the character that’s been with you the longest. Is there going to be some catharsis in bringing this book to the big screen? Will you finally feel like Taylor is untethered, or do you think there’s still more to ‘Jellicoe’ and you’re not quite done with this fertile setting just yet?

I let go of Jellicoe the novel once it found its audience. That probably didn’t happen until it won the Printz in the US, but it was such a liberating feeling knowing that the novel was out in the world being read. With the script it’s different because it’s been such a long process, as film always is. I’m really proud of this film script and watching it one day on the big screen will truly be an emotional experience for so many reasons.  I say often that there will be some scenes that I won’t be able to watch. And yes, I’ll be finished with Taylor. But in saying that, I’m not finished with the setting. Cathy Randall (who originally was going to direct Jellicoe) and I are working on a TV production with Joanna Werner and Sue Taylor that is set in Jellicoe’s “fertile setting”. An isolated boarding school is the perfect place to let your imagination run wild. Whenever we pitch it, we say we want it to be West Wing for teenagers; fast smart dialogue and really complicated lives, with a lot of heart and not a lot of schmaltz.

Q: You’ve been experiencing beginnings and endings for these last few years. This year, of course, your ‘Lumatere Chronicles’ trilogy came to a close with the wonderful ‘Quintana of Charyn’, and three years ago you picked up Taylor Markham’s story again and started adapting the book, which was first published in 2006. I’m curious if you did any sort of writerly ritual to say goodbye to the world of Skuldenore (for the time being?) and if your characters always stay with you and talk to you, long after their books have hit the shelves?

The last thing I ever do with one of my novels is I listen to it.  The Froi and Quintana audio versions read by Grant Cartwright and produced by Bolinda Audio have been great for that. It’s almost as if I need someone to read my story back to me. I never ever think my characters are real people, but I do miss them.  I miss them being in my head when I wake up at 3am, and trust me, those Lumaterans and Charynites were such big personalities to have in my head.  I think the hardest characters to let go of, though, were the Finch-Mackees from The Piper’s Son.  I still miss their dark humour and their fierceness. And for the record, I’d be wrong to say I’m finished with characters. Tom Mackee made a fool of me in that way and so did Froi.  The only characters I won’t write about ever again are the Alibrandi lot and that has much to do with the fact that my grandmothers were both alive when I was writing Nonna Katia and I don’t want her getting any older.

Q: There’s actually quite a correlation between ‘On the Jellicoe Road’ and the ‘Lumatere Chronicles’. Your fantasy series is about people who are exiled from their homeland. While the contemporary ‘Jellicoe’ is about a displacement of a different kind, in Taylor Markham whose trying to piece together the puzzle of her past to understand who she is. Also interesting that ‘Jellicoe’ is based in a rural boarding school – filled with children who are separated from their homes and families. And they’re both, in a way, about what happens after tragedy – how people cope in its wake. Did you find that writing the ‘Lumatere Chronicles’ alongside the ‘Jellicoe’ script helped inform both works, that one had influence over the other and vice-versa? 

No, although I do love your connections. For me, Finnikin of the Rock came after Jellicoe because of the world building of Jellicoe and the descriptive language and the sometimes-surreal nature of that world.  I don’t think I could have jumped from the style of Francesca to the fantasy novels.  I actually think that The Lumatere Chronicles are more related to Looking For Alibrandi. All those novels are about displacement and Diasporas and the loss of language within generations of family and they’re about homeland and identity.

Q: I was lucky enough to attend your Melbourne Writers Festival event in August, held in the ACMI building and jam-packed with school kids. There was a great atmosphere from the audience that day, and many questions were asked about the ‘Jellicoe’ movie adaptation. I got the sense that all your young fans are very patient for the movie to come along, and very trusting in your vision for the adaptation. Do you feel that acceptance/eagerness from your fans? What has been the response from your fanbase (both here, and in America) where the ‘Jellicoe’ movie is concerned? 

The thing I love about working with Sue Taylor is how respectful she is of the readers’ passion for this novel, and she knows that it will be the readership that generates the interest for this project. It will be the readers who will get those who haven’t read Jellicoe to come along and watch the film.  What will be unavoidable is disappointing readers who have a set idea of what Taylor and Jonah and everyone look like.  What I discovered from Alibrandi was that it didn’t matter what I imagined everyone looking like.  It mattered that we cast the right actors and in Alibrandi, we certainly did. Nothing is certain in the casting of this film except that Chaz Santangelo who is Italian and indigenous will be played by an indigenous actor. And that I really want the cast to reflect the diversity of the novel, especially the present day kids in the story.  I’ll say it over and over again; the lack of cultural diversity in Australian TV shows and films is extremely weak. It’s what makes me so proud of Alibrandi and it’s what I’m loving so much about Redfern Now.

Book adaptations to get excited about!

‘The Hunger Games’ movie is still ruling the box office. The adaptation of Suzanne Collins’s addictive dystopian young adult series is the most recent book-to-film adaptation success story. In fact, in recent years it has been these adaptations which have ruled the box office, and the box.

JK Rowling kicked off the money-making trend, when her ridiculously popular ‘Harry Potter’ series was turned into one of the most successful film franchises of all time. Stephenie Meyer’s ‘Twilight’ has been embraced by tween’s the world over, who were delighted with the adaptation of their favourite vampire love story (and Robert Pattinson as their leading man). ‘The Hunger Games’ is just another instance of popular reading translating into movie profits. For one thing, these books come with their own built-in fan-base, who rabidly anticipate the film’s release and lend some much-appreciated hype.

But it’s not just the movie box office that is being ruled by the book. Television has also been reaping the benefits of adaptation. From Cecily von Ziegesar’s ‘Gossip Girl’ series, to Charlaine Harris’s ‘Sookie Stackhouse’ (aka; ‘True Blood’). Not to mention the incredible surprise success of George R.R. Martin’s epic fantasy series, ‘Game of Thrones’.

I thought I'd try and get ahead of the trend, and look at some upcoming TV and film adaptations of popular books. Some of these I have read, others I am curious about since discovering their intended adaptation. All of them should be on your radar (so at the very least you can act blasé and superior upon release, when you say ‘of course it’s based on a book, duh!’).

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

‘Perks’ was the 1999 debut young adult novel from Stephen Chbosky, which continues to be a rite-of-passage read for young people. It is the modern equivalent of JD Salinger’s ‘Catcher in the Rye’, telling Charlie’s coming-of-age tale as he finds his first friends and confronts traumas of his past. The film has been highly-anticipated for a long time now – since the book came out in 1999, young people have been speculating that it would make a wonderful film (and easier to adapt than Salinger’s supposedly un-adaptable ‘Catcher’).  English Rose actress, Emma Watson (most famous as Hermione Granger in the ‘Harry Potter’ movies) is playing the critical lead female role, which has delighted fans. This one is guaranteed to be a popular indie film, and is slated for a 2012 release.

Puberty Blues

This is a special one for Aussies! 'Puberty Blues' was the 1979 novel by Gabrielle Carey and Kathy Lette (written when the girls were in their teens), it was made into a successful film in 1981. Channel Ten recently announced that they would be adapting the book for the small screen, and that Claudia Karvan was on board for the TV show. Now, once upon a time I wouldn't have cared too much about a 'Puberty Blues' remake. HOWEVER, since discovering Kirsty Eagar's incredible books, all of which explore the territoriality and male dominated world of surfing in some capacity, I am beyond psyched for this TV show! And I do like that Claudia Karvan is involved (it gives me hope that this will be a quality show with intense storylines). I think this is going to be a hit for Channel Ten - but only if they make it nitty-gritty (they should really read 'Raw Blue' to get further inspiration!) and don't aim to be a 'Home and Away' type show. 

Tiger Eyes

 

Based on the 1981 novel by Judy Blume, 'Tiger Eyes' is about a girl recovering from the death of her father, who was killed in a hold-up. She and her family travel to New Mexico, where she befriends a young man who helps her through her grief. I confess, I have not read 'Tiger Eyes' - but I am thrilled with the prospect of a Judy Blume adaptation! I can't believe Blume's books haven't been adapted into films before now!

 Life of Pi

The story of an Indian boy named Pi, a zookeeper's son who finds himself in the company of a hyena, zebra, orangutan, and a Bengal tiger after a shipwreck sets them adrift in the Pacific Ocean.

‘Life of Pi’ was the Yann Martel fantasy adventure novel, published in 2001. It won the Man Booker Prize for fiction in 2002, and for a few years there it was all anybody could talk about. The film will star Tobey Maguire (‘Spiderman’) and is being directed by Ang Lee (‘Brokeback Mountain’). This film is also expected for 2012, and I predict this one will be ticked for a few Oscars.

The Great Gatsby

Adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s beloved novel about Nick Carraway, who ventures to Long Island and becomes entangled in the lavish and tragic life of his neighbour, Jay Gatsby.

Of course this adaptation is highly-anticipated – it ticks all the boxes. It’s an adaptation of an American literary classic, which has enjoyed movie success in the past (Robert Redford’s 1974 film). It’s being directed by beloved Australian director, Baz Luhrmann who is again pairing with Leonardo DiCaprio (in the title role of Gatsby), and the cast includes old favourites (like Tobey Maguire) and hot-new actors like Carey Mulligan. Not to mention early set photos look spectacular (the 1920s costumes - *drool*!)

‘The Great Gatsby’ is one of my all-time favourite books. I first read it for my Literature class in high school, and I fell head-over-heels in love with Fitzgerald’s tangled shambolic love story (slash social commentary). Again Oscars will abound when this film comes out later this year.

 Goat Island

‘The Goats’ was the 1987 young adult novel by Brock Cole, about two kids who are stripped naked and left abandoned on a remote island by their bullying summer camp peers. Instead of succumbing to the humiliation the children, a boy and a girl, run away together and form a strong bond.

I had never heard of this book until the 2012 movie adaptation came on my radar. . .  but now I am intrigued. In a time when bullying has morphed and seemingly worsened (thanks, in part, to the ready brutality of cyber bullying) I think ‘Goat Island’ could offer a really interesting commentary on the consequences of bullying, and overcoming it.

Anna Karenina

Truth be told, I have little love for Leo Tolstoy’s epic and tragic tale of unlucky-in-love, Anna Karenina. I had about ten false-starts in reading the book, but could never get a happy reading groove going. However, I do like Keira Knightley. I saw her 2002 movie ‘Doctor Zhivago’ (based on Boris Pasternak’s book) and I really liked her in that. So I am looking forward to ‘Anna Karenina’, hopefully I enjoy the movie more than the book (blasphemous, I know!)

Uglies

‘Uglies’ is based on the Scott Westerfeld YA dystopian series – about a society where people are turned ‘pretty’ for the supposed betterment of society. Little is known about this adaptation – I’m still not even sure if it’s going to be a movie or TV show (the book series is a trilogy). I haven’t read the series, but I was gifted the lovely box-set a couple of years ago, and I think when more information about the adaptation comes out, my curiosity will get the better of me and I’ll finally get around to reading them!

The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Based on Carrie Ryan’s YA dystopian/zombie series, ‘The Forest of Hands and Teeth’ is sure to be a Gothic/horror splendour. I read the book back in 2009, and loved it! The first book introduces us to a world crippled by plague – where religion reigns once again, and everyone has regressed because of The Unconsecrated (i.e.: zombies). When I read the book, I did compare it to M. Night Shymalan’s ‘The Village’ crossed with ‘28 Days Later’ – it read with a very cinematic quality, and I think it’s going to be a brilliant movie adaptation (especially with TV shows like ‘The Walking Dead’ being so hot right now). I also love the title, and know from reading the book that there’s going to be some lovely/gruesome imagery to play with. . .  look out for this one, people! It’s going to be big.

Warm Bodies

Further proof that vampires are so 2010!, and zombies are the new supernatural du-jour! ‘Warm Bodies’ is a film based on the Isaac Marion YA novel about a zombie who falls in love with an uninfected girl. Yes, it sounds icky (especially if you’re a fan of ‘The Walking Dead’!) but I have heard nothing but great things about this book. I have been meaning to read it for a while now, and since seeing official photos of Nichols Hoult (who rose to fame in series 1 of ‘Skins’, and most recently for dating Jennifer Lawrence) I am doubly-intrigued. I think a love story between a flesh-eating zombie and a healthy girl will have a lot of undercurrents and room for a more thoughtful romance. . .  so I am really keen for this one to come out, and I’ll definitely be reading the book before seeing the film.

 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Based on the Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows 2008 novel. This is another book that I heard nothing but good things about, and which has consequently been languishing on my TBR pile. I am so intrigued by this book (for the title alone!) mostly because when people told me to read it, they couldn’t quite explain what it was about . . . I think it’s always a good indicator when there aren’t enough words to describe why a book is so brilliant! But I do get the impression that this will be a hard one to adapt, and if done wrong the whole thing could fall apart (*cough* ‘The Time Traveller’s Wife’! *cough*). Still, this is another instance where I will push myself to read the book before the movie comes out.

The Host

Based on the Stephenie Meyer stand-alone book, which came out in 2008 (amidst the hubbub of ‘Twilight’). This is yet another book that I own but haven’t read . . .  and, to be honest, I never had any inclination to read it. However, the movie trailer has me intrigued. And the casting of Saoirse Ronan in the lead role adds a certain clout to a movie I would have otherwise been dismissive of (since Stephenie Meyer’s writing doesn’t exactly ‘wow’ me). The movie has been bumped to a 2013 release, but hype has already begun.

 Catching Fire

Undoubtedly the most anticipated film of 2013. This is the second book in Suzanne Collins’s ‘Hunger Games’ trilogy, and after the success (and craft) of the first film, fans are absolutely frothing at the mouth for the second instalment adaptation. And, having read the book, I know this second outing will be a doozy (not least of all because of Finnick Odair – loincloth, loincloth, loincloth!). Jennifer Lawrence showed her mettle in ‘Hunger Games’, and the adaptation proved yet another success for the box office – the second film will have a lot of expectation weighing on it, but I’m confident it will be as-good-as (if not better) than the first movie – bank on it.

Beautiful Creatures

Adaptation of the young adult paranormal series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. I absolutely loved the first book when I read it back in 2010. It’s set in America’s Deep South, about a small-town untrusting of a local witchy family – and the local boy who falls for a destined witch. The book had a lovely ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’ Gothic, paranormal feel- which sounds utterly hodge-podge and horrific, but made for a captivating novel. I was especially excited for this adaptation when it was announced that Jack O’Connell (of ‘Skin’ fame) would be in the lead role – but he has since been replaced, and I am slightly deflated but still excited for this sure to be brilliant adaptation.

American Gods

'American Gods' is the HBO television adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s highly-successful novel. I read ‘American Gods’ for the first time last year, and loved it. I described it as ‘Jack Kerouac meets Homer’, and I am so excited that the adaptation is being left in HBO’s capable hands. I can guarantee you ‘American Gods’ will be as successful as ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘True Blood’ for the cable network. The novel has everything – a tormented protagonist, mythology, mystery . . . . it’s hard to explain, but trust me – it will be glorious!

 Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Based on the photographic novel by Ransom Riggs, which was a surprise hit last year. I flipped through a copy of this and was really intrigued by the story – which couples black and white photos with the tale of a school for ‘gifted’ children (among them an invisible boy and two-headed man). There is really only one person who could do this adaptation justice – and that is Tim Burton . . . fingers-crossed that rumours of Burton being on board are true, because his magic touch could turn this into adaptation perfection.

 A Wrinkle in Time 

‘A Wrinkle in Time’ is the classic 1962 children’s fantasy novel by Madeleine L'Engle. This will be a hard one to adapt (but it has been done before), as anyone who has had the pleasure of reading the novel will know. . .  but I’m excited for this movie, because I think it will introduce a whole new generation to this beautiful classic.

How I Live Now

Based on the Meg Rosoff debut novel, which won the Michael L. Printz Award in 2005. Truth be told, I didn’t love this novel when I read it. It’s very short, but very odd (no quotation marks, for starters) but I actually think it might translate really well to film. It’s a novel about a girl who finds herself in the middle of a war (and in a complex relationship with her cousin – did I mention that it was odd?). I honestly don’t know who read this and thought “screen gold!” but I think if it’s done well, it could be great and a surprise hit.