Monthly Archives: August 2010

The Girl Who Played With Fire

The past two summers I’ve read one book from Stieg Larsson’s best-selling trilogy. And I must say, they do make good page-turning summer reads. This second one is focused much more on Lisbeth Salander, the computer hacker tough girl who helped journalist Mikael Bloomkvist crack the crimes in the first book. From that, she’s gotten rich off the Wennerstrom money and goes traveling around the world without telling anyone she knows. She even gets a boob job in Italy (in the book). But finds herself in trouble almost as soon as she returns to Stockholm — when her fingerprints are found on the gun at a multiple murder scene, leading her to go into hiding to figure out who’s behind it.

“The Girl Who Played With Fire” unlocks secrets behind Salander’s abusive childhood and how she came to be institutionalized for awhile. The murders, with a connection to Blomqvist’s Millennium magazine, deal with a loathsome gang of drug- and sex-traffickers. Like “Dragon Tattoo,” this book dwells on men’s violence toward women, which leads many readers to question is the sexual violence of these books just titillation and misogyny on the part of the author? Or is Salander a kind of feminist avenger? To which I’d say I’m more in the latter camp. Salander seems almost like an antihero superhero in the book, who has problems but confronts the bad guys and deals out justice in gutsy ways.

The Swedish movies follow the books pretty closely and do a good job. But they seem a bit more plodding than the fast-page-turning books. I liked both books almost equally well but perhaps found this one more suspenseful. The ending leaves Salander in a heap of a mess. All the more reason I’ll tune in next summer for the last book “Hornet’s Nest.” Continue reading

Posted in Books | Leave a comment

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

The news this week that actress Rooney Mara, at far left, has won the role of Lisbeth Salander in the Hollywood movie version of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” is a tad mind-boggling since no one much has heard of her work, unless you saw this year’s version of “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” Apparently the director of “Dragon Tattoo” met her during the upcoming movie about Facebook and says she’s great. After reading two of the books in Stieg Larsson’s triology, I have to say Rooney Mara doesn’t exactly come to mind as playing the whip-smart, computer hacker ruffian that is the heroin Lisbeth Salander. I’ve seen the Swedish movie version of “Dragon” and actress Noomi Rapace, above right, comes across as highly believable. I couldn’t believe how much Rapace seemed to embody the tough Salander. Will Rooney Mara be able to transform? Or is the U.S. version just going to be a cotton-candy adaptation of the book?

Remember there was a time when author Anne Rice was livid that Tom Cruise got the part of Lestat in 1994’s “Interview With the Vampire.” She said he was obviously “no” Lestat. But apparently after seeing the movie, Rice changed her mind and thought Tom was great with ole Brad Pitt as Louis. Perhaps she was just rolling with the publicity machine. But perhaps an open mind should be kept with Rooney as Salander. Sigh. If only it were that easy. Continue reading

Posted in Movies | Leave a comment

Eat, Pray, Love

Maybe it seems a bit surprising that “The Expendables” ($35 million) beat out “Eat, Pray, Love” ($23.7 million) this past weekend at the box office – just because the place was packed to the gills even a half hour before the show. Gosh weren’t there more chicks there than Lilith Fair? And besides how many weeks was Elizabeth Gilbert’s 2006 memoir on the bestseller list anyways …. like forever? I mean Sly’s “Expendables” looks from clips rather expendable, doesn’t it? Bunch of action-guy old farts. Sure, give me the animated “Super Friends” any day; you know, Aqua Man, Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman and Robin etc. (Especially Aqua …) But Sly, Arnold and Willis? — oh I’ll take a pass.

Anyways, “Eat, Pray, Love” was not really a painful affair, guys. It was quite entertaining to a point. I sat in an aisle where a number of women were heard to say they had read part of the book but not the whole (whiny) thing. I had read part of it too and I really did mean to finish it. Anyways, Julia Roberts does a good job as “Liz,” and the cinematography of Italy, India and Bali were quite fetching. I guess I liked Italy and India but started to tire around the Bali part. Perhaps, I admit, James Franco early in the pic did more for me than Javier Bardem near the end; I know that’s not the popularly held view among women in the age group of the book’s fanbase, but it’s sort of true. After all there’s good reason the young-ish Franco was on “General Hospital” and why Sean Penn kissed him in “Milk.” Think about it.

Anyways, the “E, P, L” soundtrack is a pleasant surprise. Two Neil Young songs! Two Eddie Vedder songs! One Sly and the Family Stone, and one Marvin Gaye! When you hear “Heart of Gold” come on during the movie – it’s just awesome.

I know some critics have clobbered “E, P, L” for being whiny, priviledged, soft, simplistic, self-absorbed etc. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called it “torture” to watch. I could think of other movies much more tortuous. I’m sure it wasn’t as full a picture or as witty as the book. But the movie followed the remnants: a women’s journey after her painful divorce. Like the book, I found some authentic substance and some good chick flick escapism to it. Continue reading

Posted in Movies | Leave a comment