The Woman In Black

      I hate scary movies! Why am I watching this? By the end of this movie that is exactly what I was thinking! The Woman in Black (2012) is a pretty good thriller. If you like thrillers. It’s Alfred Hitchcock (Psycho, Rear Window, The Birds, Vertigo) scary, very intense and creepy.  It isn’t Wes Craven (The Hill’s Have Eyes, Swamp Thing, Nightmare on Elm Street, New Nightmare) scary at all. So don't expect that.  

      Daniel Radcliff (Harry Potter, December Boys, My Boy Jack) plays a young, grieving lawyer named Arthur Kipps. His wife died during childbirth and he is now raising his four year old son on his own. I think Daniel really enjoyed this role. He did a wonderful job. He did this movie after he had been on Broadway. He starred in Equus, on Broadway. It was a very challenging role for him and from the buzz I hear, he did great. He really rose to the challenge.  I think it helped him grow as an actor and give him some separation from the Harry Potter saga.

      The Woman In Black is a very interesting story. It’s a very quiet movie, not a whole lot of dialog and what is spoken is quiet, and hushed. It does have a wonderful score that adds to the movie beautifully. The cast is quite small as well.  It is mostly up to Daniel to carry the movie. Roger Allam (V for Vendetta, The Queen, The Iron Lady) plays Mr. Bently. He works with Arthur temporarily while Arthur is in this strange little village. I really liked his character and what he added to the movie. I can’t leave out Liz White (Life on Mars, Vera Drake, Wild Bill) She plays the Woman in Black.  I am not sure if she does her own screaming in the movie or if that was taken from else where, but the screams are great. Very spin chilling.

      While I am not a fan of scary movies, I do like the intense situations at times. I like to be a little scared, and if I am going to be scared, I prefer the unseen. That is so much scary than a monster, or chain saw man. The fear of the unknown is a powerful thing.

The Host

      I was so excited for this movie! Not for the reason you may be thinking though.  Yes, it is a popular book, written by a very popular author. Yes, I have read the book, more than once.  I liked it.  It’s a good read. However, the reason I was following this movie, and was so excited for it, is because of Andrew Niccol (In Time, Gattaca, Lord of War, S1m0ne) Andrew is a writer, director, and producer. He does it all.  I really like In Time (2011) and Gattaca (1997). He wrote and directed both of these.  Having read The Host I knew, it was right up his alley and it would be good. I wasn’t disappointed.

      The Host (2013) is a very interesting story about life on earth after aliens have come and taken over. They not only take over the planet, but they take control of peoples bodies.  Humans become hosts to this alien species. There are pockets of resistance, of course. You always need opposition for a good story. The book is pretty long and goes into a lot of detail. Describing setting, background, building characters and relationships. In a movie you can leave all of that out.  We don’t need a lot of pages describing the underground caves that the humans are living in.  We can just see it.  We don’t need a lot of background story in a movie either.  It is common for a movie to drop side stories.  You have to figure out what the main story is and stick with that line of story telling. I understand these things, and so I am really ok with things being left out. As long as the main things are there.

      The movie stays very true to the book.  There is nothing in the movie that doesn’t happen in the book. The things that are left out aren’t crucial to the telling of Melanie’s story. So it worked.  The casting was great! William Hurt (The Village, Neverwas, Vantage Point, Into The Wild) plays Uncle Jeb.  Jeb is one of my favorite characters. Hurt played him just the way I had imagined him. He was wonderful, which is to be expected of Hurt. Diane Kruger (Unknown, Troy, National Treasure, Wicker Park) is the Seeker. She is another character that leaves an impression. Diane played her beautifully. I can’t really say I “like” her. You’re not really suppose to “like” her. But Diane brought her to life. Saoirse Ronan (City Of Ember, The Lovely Bones, Atonement, Hanna) plays Melanie and Wanderer. I haven’t seen her in anything before. She was really good in this though and I enjoyed watching her.  It’s a bit of a tough role. Melanie is the human, who is resisting her alien, who goes by the name Wanderer. It was fun to read the interaction between the two and I wondered how they would portray it in a movie format.  There is so much that takes place in her mind. They did a great job and the relationship between Melanie and Wanderer really comes across.

      In my opinion that is the most important thing in making a book into a movie. Does the feeling of the book come across? Can you get attached to these characters in just two hours the way you do in the long drawn out time it takes to devour a good book? Andrew Niccol has a gift for telling a story. I like his writing style, his character development and his directing style. He accomplished these things beautifully.