As I wrote, I have read the book "The Reader" a couple months ago, and I had been looking forward to watching the movie.
I think it's a great movie. Although I didn't cry when reading the book, the movie caused eyes to water.
However, I'd prefer the book to the movie. Because, in the movie, I thought the early years of the leading character was described a bit flimsily.
The leading character is Michael. The story consists of two parts, his young age and adult age. As long As I read the book, I thought the main part of this story was his young age and the leading character was obviously a young Michael, not an adult Michael. He had many kind of complicated feeling toward a woman whose name was Hanna. Hanna did, too. The book described them very well.
On the other hand, the filmmaker described the movie with another approach. They put the adult Michael on a leading character, and described the story of young Michael as just a page of his youth. It's a pity.
Whenever I watch movies after readng original books, I'm a bit disappointed. It can't be helped. It's hard to condense a story into an only two hours movie, especially if the book is a masterpiece.
All actors were great, especially Kate Winslet who acted Hanna. She won the Oscar for best actress in a leading role.
I heard that the filmmaker pushed her to the best supporting actress nomination, but the Academy recommends the best actress nomination. She was great in the movie.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
I'm not feeling very good.
I'm not feeling very good today. I wonder what is a cause.
I went to watch the movie "The Reader" today, but I'll write about it tomorrow.
I'm going to bed.
I went to watch the movie "The Reader" today, but I'll write about it tomorrow.
I'm going to bed.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Talking on Skype
I talked with one of my friends on Lang-8 on Skype yesterday. It's the first time for me to talk on Skype fully.
At first, we communicated on IM, then we talked. He spoke Japanese very well with good pronunciation. I wish I were you!
In contrast, my English conversation skill is terrible as usual. My weakness has been conversation, especially listening, since a long time ago. It hasn't been changed.
I have been using English almost at work, but in a new project I'm joining next month, I don't need to speak English. It means I wouldn't have any opportunity to speak English. It's a critical situation for me to improve my English, isn't it?
So, I think I should have more opportunities to speak English outside of work, like talking on Skype. I wonder if I should look for more people I can get together with on Skype to improve each language.
We tried to do video call on Skype. I could see his video, but he couldn't see mine. I changed the setting of video, but it didn't work. I wonder why. I should get used to using Skype as well as speaking English. haha.
At first, we communicated on IM, then we talked. He spoke Japanese very well with good pronunciation. I wish I were you!
In contrast, my English conversation skill is terrible as usual. My weakness has been conversation, especially listening, since a long time ago. It hasn't been changed.
I have been using English almost at work, but in a new project I'm joining next month, I don't need to speak English. It means I wouldn't have any opportunity to speak English. It's a critical situation for me to improve my English, isn't it?
So, I think I should have more opportunities to speak English outside of work, like talking on Skype. I wonder if I should look for more people I can get together with on Skype to improve each language.
We tried to do video call on Skype. I could see his video, but he couldn't see mine. I changed the setting of video, but it didn't work. I wonder why. I should get used to using Skype as well as speaking English. haha.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Movie: Terminator 4
I went to watch "Terminator 4 (Salvation)" yesterday. It was awesome!
The visuals were really powerful. And the battle and action scenes continued in almost all of the parts, so I hardly had a chance to breathe. Those were too powerful, so I was scared and sometimes I had trouble keeping watching a screen. Although I don't like movies filled by battle and action scenes, I think it was a great movie. It was a definitely different movie from the past Terminators.
A special note of the movie is Marcus Wright. I think it's fair to say that this is a movie of Marcus Wright, not of John Connor. John Connor was as if he was just a supporting role.
I didn't know Sam Worthington who acted Marcus, but thanks to this movie, he must become a famous actor.
When I saw the face of John Connor in the movie, the first thing I thought was why he didn't have scars on his face. Haha. He was supposed to have scars, wasn't he? I could understand it at the last of the movie though.
A 9 year-old girl whose name was Star appeared in the movie.
Her facial expression was very cute and I was very impressed by her. And I bet she will be a key person in Terminator 5.
There was a pity. When John Connor got a serious injury at the end of the movie, I easily could see what would happen next.
Terminator 1 was made as a low-budget B film, after all, it become a big hit though.
I like the past Terminators, but I deeply felt that the Terminator series have grown up well. haha.
--- Addition ---
There was another one that has also grown up.
Actor who played Kyle Reese is Anton Yechin.
He appeared the movie "Hearts in Atlantis" starring Anthony Hopkins. Yes, he is that boy.
The visuals were really powerful. And the battle and action scenes continued in almost all of the parts, so I hardly had a chance to breathe. Those were too powerful, so I was scared and sometimes I had trouble keeping watching a screen. Although I don't like movies filled by battle and action scenes, I think it was a great movie. It was a definitely different movie from the past Terminators.
A special note of the movie is Marcus Wright. I think it's fair to say that this is a movie of Marcus Wright, not of John Connor. John Connor was as if he was just a supporting role.
I didn't know Sam Worthington who acted Marcus, but thanks to this movie, he must become a famous actor.When I saw the face of John Connor in the movie, the first thing I thought was why he didn't have scars on his face. Haha. He was supposed to have scars, wasn't he? I could understand it at the last of the movie though.
A 9 year-old girl whose name was Star appeared in the movie.
Her facial expression was very cute and I was very impressed by her. And I bet she will be a key person in Terminator 5.There was a pity. When John Connor got a serious injury at the end of the movie, I easily could see what would happen next.
Terminator 1 was made as a low-budget B film, after all, it become a big hit though.
I like the past Terminators, but I deeply felt that the Terminator series have grown up well. haha.
--- Addition ---
There was another one that has also grown up.
Actor who played Kyle Reese is Anton Yechin.
He appeared the movie "Hearts in Atlantis" starring Anthony Hopkins. Yes, he is that boy.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Book: "The Reader" by Bernhard Schlink
(I read this book in English)
I read this book several months ago.
This story was made into a movie, and Kate Winslet who played the leading character of this movie, won the Oscar for best actress in a leading role. I didn't know about this book till then although it has become a bestseller in the world. I checked the sites of the movie and I found its ad copy, "5 million people cried reading the original." That's why I decided to try to read it.
First, I didn't cry.
The story is developing quite calmly without any surprising or exciting matters. However it was profound. And most people must think "why" at the shocking ending, but there was no answer to why in the story. Each person has to imagine "why" by themselves.
The movie will hit the screen in a week in Japan. I'm going to watch it.
I read this book several months ago.
This story was made into a movie, and Kate Winslet who played the leading character of this movie, won the Oscar for best actress in a leading role. I didn't know about this book till then although it has become a bestseller in the world. I checked the sites of the movie and I found its ad copy, "5 million people cried reading the original." That's why I decided to try to read it.
First, I didn't cry.
The story is developing quite calmly without any surprising or exciting matters. However it was profound. And most people must think "why" at the shocking ending, but there was no answer to why in the story. Each person has to imagine "why" by themselves.
The movie will hit the screen in a week in Japan. I'm going to watch it.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Book: "Holes" by Louis Sachar
(Reading this book in English)
It was very interesting story.
A main character is a boy whose name is Stanley. But other 3 episodes are also told in this story, about Stanley's great-grandfather, great-great grandfather and another one which is very important.
At first, those episodes seem to have nothing to do with each other, but there are many foreshadowings and the episodes link each other. It might be a commonly-used approach, but it's really superb and fun.
After reading this book, I read the brief plot of this story in Japanese. Then I found there were some links between each episode which I didn't realize when I read the book. Oops! One of them is revealed around the last part of the story. Before that, readers must be impressed with a lot of amazing links. Then when they read the last part, they must be surprised, "Oh, even this is linked!" Due to my poor English, I missed some fun parts. It's often the case for me.
I need much higher English skill to understand stories in English perfectly.
It was very interesting story.
A main character is a boy whose name is Stanley. But other 3 episodes are also told in this story, about Stanley's great-grandfather, great-great grandfather and another one which is very important.
At first, those episodes seem to have nothing to do with each other, but there are many foreshadowings and the episodes link each other. It might be a commonly-used approach, but it's really superb and fun.
After reading this book, I read the brief plot of this story in Japanese. Then I found there were some links between each episode which I didn't realize when I read the book. Oops! One of them is revealed around the last part of the story. Before that, readers must be impressed with a lot of amazing links. Then when they read the last part, they must be surprised, "Oh, even this is linked!" Due to my poor English, I missed some fun parts. It's often the case for me.
I need much higher English skill to understand stories in English perfectly.
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