Which is Better? The Maze Runner

Finally! This post series is back! The movie was on HBOGO for a while, but then was taken off, and now it was put back again! It was a double feature of this movie and Scorch Trials (which will be discussed in another post), and I was very much entertained by The Maze Runner.

I was very pleased with the adaptation of the novel. The Maze Runner was a straightforward YA dystopian novel where the end of the world happened, but it's a mystery through the eyes of a young protagonist. Usually YA have a female protagonist (the one) but this time it's a guy.

Who has the personality of a foot, but we'll continue on.

The characters are expertly cast with Thomas as the blandly handsome one who the audience is supposed to identify with and Mr. GOT and Love Actually as Newt. He has definitely 12 year old face but since they were looking for young actors, he suited the role. It took me a moment to recognize the actor for Alby (Sens8), but he did a really good job of playing "younger."

I thought the maze, the glade and and the Grievers were really well imagined. Dashner wrote vague enough so that the reader could imagine it in their own way, and the movie also rendered something that's not offensive. The maze is imposing and confusing with lots of foliage and dead ends, though I wish they kept in the parts where Thomas outruns the Griever and climbs up the vines, and then the Griever learns and follows him the second time.

Much of the book was condensed in the movie, but the major plot points were hit. It was even a bit suspenseful because even the movie altered some of the action scenes in the book to just major ones.  

I wonder if The Maze Runner would have been better as a TV show. I understand that it was a movie, but a lot of the personal relationships and the strengthening of these friendships fell by the side, so when that pivotal moment when Chuck jumps in front of Thomas and sacrifices his life for Tom, you don't really feel the awfulness that you do in the book. It would have been more emotionally wrecking to build up that connection to Alby, and him being ripped from the reader's hands two/thirds of the way through the book.

I really liked the way they characterized Gally. Someone who wants order and believes in how things have always been done, but isn't necessarily a bad person. 

Before I saw the movie, I couldn't imagine why, or how they would change the book for the movie, since it was pretty action packed and clearly visualized. Sure, there were some things that were changed and sped up, but overall, pretty good. 

The Nerve-wrecking Thing About Choosing Your End of the Year Top Books...

I've never been the one to recount or accumulate yearly memories for the end of the year celebration. Maybe it's because it's easier, at least for me, to see the bad than the good, and I end up getting depressed on what went wrong for me, my friends and my family. Cynical and Negative? Absolutely. So I learned very quickly that there wasn't a major pay off and any sort of resolution I made for myself in the start of the New Year also bombed incredibly. Therefore, instead of waiting for the New Year to start thinking positive and doing better for myself, I just try to actively to do it during the year, with varying degrees of success.

Josh, however, does the opposite and does it in a more light hearted way. When he and I started dating, he posts his top 10s on facebook. Top 10 movies, top 10 albums, top 10 shows. I read what he wrote and he and I would talk about. He would ask me what my top 10s were, and I would... avoid the subject.

Choosing your top 10 seemed intimidating even though there aren't any stakes involved and no one will be hurt if you don't rank your favorite things in order from least favorite to most favorite. So, this year, I decided that I would rank my top 10 books and top 5 movie/show adaptations that I liked. I told my husband, who so very dearly wanted to talk with me about them... and promptly made me want to not do it.

It's not his fault at all. However, when he brings up individual episodes of shows that you and he both watched together as an adaptation (that you had no idea it was an adaptation or you haven't read the book/comic of that show yet) and you don't really remember watching the episode all that much, you feel intimidated. I found myself questioning where my memory has gone, where can I find it and how I can get it back, if he's so in tune to certain episodes and I barely remember what we watched last week.

Initially, I was going to avoid doing it at all. I'll start anew next year and then by the end of 2016, I'll be prepared. However, we all know how that goes. Why would this resolution turn out any differently?

When I talked to my friends, they suggested starting somewhere a bit less overwhelming, like a top 5 book, or as my friend Ashley suggested, and she does know me very well, books that I disliked this year. I think it's good practice for my future "Top 10s" posts.

Stay tuned for which books I thought were noteworthy!

Which is Better? Hannibal by Thomas Harris

Alright, I've started, and re-started, and re-re-started the post for this blog, and I can't even begin to introduce this monstrosity of a story that managed to be published as a book, and then turned into a film adaptation. I'm just at a lost for words. They all needed a good thing to remain a good thing with Silence of the Lambs.

So, the sequel of this movie does not have the original director, original main lead or the original script writer. This bodes well. Anthony Hopkins came back as Hannibal Lector cause man gotta eat! I'm also sure that playing someone like Hannibal is really fun, even though I still think he's a Gary Stu.

They took out a few characters, like Margot and Jack Crawford. They weren't really needed in the film, as they just added flavor to the book. Jack Crawford's story in the book is pretty sad, and I loved how they interpreted his character for the show. Margot... I thought she was a poorly written character to begin with, so I was relieved that that they didn't include her in the movie, because I can only imagine how they would interpret her.

They also left alone Hannibal's surgeries... only to disguise him with big... hats. That's right. The most wanted man in the world remained uncaught because he wore big hats and sunglasses in the movie.

There are other similarities and differences between the book and the movie. The stuff in Italy is mostly the same, with the rescue of Hannibal by Starling after she is put on administrative leave. There isn't mention of Mischa, the sister that was cannibalized by Nazi deserters when he was a young child.

However, what I really want to discuss is the ending of the book, and the ending of the movie. I'm relieved, as I think everyone involved in the movie that Harris agreed to allow the movie script to be completely rewritten. The ending... absolutely blew in the book, as I reviewed. Even though I think the story is crappy, the ending of the movie was a heck of a lot better than the book. So in the movie, Hannibal rescues her after she is wounded after rescuing Hannibal from the Verger Farm.

They run off and Hannibal, a licensed medical doctor, treats Starling's wounds. At one point, she awakes to find an evening dress and invited down to dinner. She does... to find Knedler there. She watches horrified as Hannibal feeds Knedler's brain to him. She tries to attack him and he overpowers her. They kiss, and Clarice manages to put handcuffs on them so he won't get away. The police are on their way to the residence, and Hannibal wields a meat cleaver to cut off his hand.

Clarice still remains true to her character by still desiring to catch the bad guy and not completely give into Hannibal's sociopathic charms. At least Clarice didn't do a 180 character turn where she decides that Hannibal is her end all be all, and HEY, LET'S HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH A CANNIBAL. Like, Clarice, he defo is on the run from the law and broke out of a mental institution. Maybe you should, idk, get away from him?

There isn't much else to say about this, except Silence of the Lambs is my favorite book and movie out of the entire series. I wished, like I think everyone else wished, that the book was better and that the movie had better material to go off of.