William Nicholson is the author of many plays, screenplays and books including the Wind On Fire and Noble Warriors trilogies for children and young adults, and The Secret Intensity of Everyday Life. He has worked on the screenplays for films such as Gladiator and Elizabeth: The Golden Age. His latest book, Rich and Mad (Egmont Books Ltd), will be published in April 2010. William answered a few of my questions about writing:

You write for books for younger people and older people. Do you have to consciously change your writing style much when writing for a specific age group?

I don’t consciously change my style when writing for younger readers, but I think maybe subconsciously something changes. I do have a strong sense of the sort of person I’m writing for.

You have created many memorable characters. How do you go about the process of creating a character?

I create characters by starting with an emotion, like anger, or compassion, or pride, and building up from there. I always want to know what my characters want, and what they fear.

How is your planning or construction of a plot affected by whether it is a novel or screenplay?

Plots for books can be much longer than plots for films. There’s about one-fifth of the material in a screenplay. Otherwise the plotting process is much the same.

How do you decide what your next project will be?

When deciding on my next project I usually look to do something that gives me a change of pace and mood, to keep myself fresh. From fantasy to reality, from something sad to something funny. I have a lot of possible projects lining up waiting for me. Often when the time comes I don’t do the one I expected, but pick the one that suddenly feels right.

What is the most difficult thing you have written?

The most difficult thing I’ve written is always what I’m writing right now, because I’m in the middle of it and I don’t yet see how it’s going to work out. Once the first draft is done things go much more smoothly.

It seems a long time since you announced your next book Rich and Mad. What is it like waiting so long for a book to be released?

It has been a long time waiting for Rich and Mad. My publishers were keen to get everything right about its launch. But in the meantime I’ve been writing away, so I actually have two books coming out this year – the other is an adult novel.

Saw Frank Auerbach’s Building Sites show at The Courtauld Gallery today. Strange mud sludge paintings – primordial, scatalogical and rather like an aesthetic ‘dirty protest’. But these paintings aren’t shit, they’re intriguingly constructed and worked over – just like the building sites he depicts: a mixture of playful digging into the sodden heavy London clay and then constructing something structurally sound and permanent. They have atmosphere and the surfaces are rather rewarding – you have to move back and forth to focus on what might be depicted in his artful sludge. Then a quick look at the permanent collection to see a William and Ben Nicholson painting both from 1937 hung together – an interesting combination of the Edwardian (dad) and early modernist (son) mentality.

Then on to the Hayward Gallery to see Ed Ruscha’s show. A strangely vacuous and unrewarding exhibition – cold and uninvolving and less than the sum of its parts. This is art that suffers from anorexia of the soul. I couldn’t find a useful way in and scooted around in 15 minutes flat. The work for me is not visually or intellectually involving. The only memorable image I found was of a clock face with a fishing rod painted over it. Overblown and overrated as an artist.

“If you could enter the minds and hearts of each person you meet in a day I think you would be surprised by the intensity of their feelings. I may think I’m the only one whose voyage is through wild seas but we’re all sailors in the storm.”

Sailing

Title: Gladiator
Year: 2000
Director: Ridley Scott
Writers: David Franzoni, John Logan & William Nicholson
Starring: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen
Music: Lisa Gerrard, Hans Zimmer
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor (Crowe), Best Costume Design, Best Visual Effects and Best Sound; currently #117 on IMDb’s Top 250
Length: 155 minutes
Synopsis: a Roman general becomes a slave gladiator
How I saw it: on video a couple times, most recently (rented from Netflix) yesterday
Subjective Rating: 4/10 (Eh).
Objective Rating: 2/10 (gets points for concept and acting) c. 1.7/4 (Indifferent)

Much of the movie is boring. The first hour or so is slow but promising, but then out of nowhere the main character is captured by a slave trader and it’s like a completely different movie. The second movie would have made a great action movie – there’s some very fun, badass fight choreography, and the story is too absurdly simple to justify anything else – but whenever it tries to be more (which is most of the time), it gets extremely hackneyed. The plot is obvious and recycled, the dialog is painfully corny, and the characters (which could have been very strong with this story) feel like they’ve been re-written by committee.

so i’ve been suffering from a bit of ADD lately

my brain is everywhere and finding/maintaining focus has been an elusive task for me. so i stopped fighting it and just started diving into seeing, hearing, listening to, reading and experiencing all the things i’ve wanted to do.

i signed up at a new athletic club near my home that overlooks the Pacific. it’s gorgeous, set right in the marina, with retractable ceilings over the workout equipment, ocean breezes throughout and everything you could want in a fitness complex. i survived my first yoga class and have pilates and swimming classes later this week. i could’ve gone the way of 24Hour Fitness, but i’m kinda over the whole low-budget college boy thing, and when i saw the indoor driving range, poolside cabanas, individual flat-screen TV’s on the cardio equipment, salon/spa and a calendar for the summer time margarita member parties, well… i was sold

i finished the book, “The Society of Others” by William Nicholson in one day. excellent story, super fast-paced and just the message i needed to hear about this time. i would definitely recommend it to anyone who’s feeling a little less than satisfied with the way things are going in their life. guns, police chases, travel, twenty-something angst, music and magic. good stuff.

and finally, i rented ONCE from the library after hearing from my friends, over and over again, that i just had to see it. totally broke my heart, but in a happy way. it’s a modern day musical, but not what you’re thinking. it’s more in the vein of some of the Stone’s early films, rather than a Sound of Music type thing. the guy’s voice is amazing and just the whole process of watching these two characters meet and form a band and record an album was amazing. and inspiring.

Author Rating: A

The Society of Others (read 5/07) Recommended

The back cover description calls this a “coming of age” story but I think that does the book a disservice. This review over at Amazon explains:

Thus begins an existential journey in which the young man is challenged to use his wits for survival, in a dismal landscape during a punishing winter. This is a country in a constant state of emergency because of “terrorism”, where people mind their own business, afraid to draw the attentions of the secret police. Cast into situations that demand a great deal of courage, the young man discovers a new appreciation for his former lifestyle and the people he left behind, desperate to escape this nightmarish paranoia, fear and incipient violence. Dropped like Alice down the rabbit hole, the young man is besieged with random brutality and ignorance, as well as the unexpected generosity of those willing to offer shelter and companionship.

[snip]

Much remains unexplained, though one could make certain assumptions. The dramatic ending is confusing, leaving me unsure if this is a Jacob’s ladder conundrum or a psychological crisis. I feel somewhat ambiguous about the novel, unsure if it is significant or simply entertains aspirations without quite reaching the intended metaphysical goal. It may be a quandary that only the reader can determine.

Lewis: That’s not why I pray, Harry.  I pray because I can’t help myself.  I pray because I’m helpless.  I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping.  It doesn’t change God.  It changes me.

- William Nicholson, Shadowlands

One of the highlights of last term was my interview with screenwriter/author William Nicholson.

My favorite, favorite part of the interview (and it was a really good interview) was when he talked about Henry James.

Now, I’m something of a James fan. But what got to me about the interview was how Nicholson addressed him as if he were a real person. That sounds weird, I know, but I’ve never felt that kind of temerity when it comes to great writers—

Especially with someone like James.

I’ve pasted that part of the interview below. It didn’t make the final cut in my article for TCS.

A little background: Henry James attempted a career as a playwright and failed quite miserably.

I read somewhere that most writers tend to be good at one genre. For example, Henry James was a horrible playwright. What do you think has enabled you to have success across genre and which genre do you prefer?

I think anybody could work across-genre. Henry James could have done it as well. The thing is—it’s no good to write the intensely, psychologically internalized novels he writes and then to think that they’ll transfer to stage, because they won’t. And that’s fine. So what he should have done is done his first draft, taken it along to some actors and said, “Tell me about this.” And they could then say, “Well, nothing’s happening here, Henry! I’ve got nothing to act! I’m just sitting here reading out a book, please give me something to act, drama means drama, things have to happen.” And he would have said, “Oh, what do you mean?” And if he’d followed that line for a bit, he probably would have written fabulous plays.

But that takes a kind of surrender of the ego, which is hard to do, as you get older. And after all, he was a remarkably good novelist. The sadness I feel is not that his plays failed but that he minded so much. I want to say to him, “Look Henry, just relax, you’ve done well. You’ve done some good books. Enough already.” But that’s how people are, they always don’t respect the things that they get their success in and yearn after something else.

It appears that a Hollywood epic concerning the Battle of Hastings has been confirmed:

LONDON — Shine Pictures, the new joint venture between U.K.-based Shine Group’s Kudos Pictures and Arnon Milchan’s New Regency, has hired “Gladiator” scribe William Nicholson to pen a big-screen version of the epic, era-defining battle in 1066 between King Harold and William the Conqueror for the throne of England.

The Hollywood Reporter states that the film has been dubbed “1066″ for now and is expected to soon go into production. Fox will handle the worldwide release.

Nicholson said that the script focuses on the fraught relationship between the two greatest warriors of the age, King Harold of England and William the Conqueror. Starting as comrades, they became bitter enemies destined to fight to the death at the climactic Battle of Hastings. . .

Webster said that the film will be “an intimate portrait of two men told on an epic scale.” No budget details were disclosed but the full-scale costume drama is to feature two massive battles and a naval exchange and fits in with New Regency’s stated ambition to make big, commercial movies.

Read a lengthier Variety article here.

This is exciting news! Gladiator is a terrific film, and I hope we can expect the same sort of work with 1066.

The Guardian has an article about BBC’s Emma 2009. Apparently the BBC is only slowly purging it’s drama department of classic bonnet films; perhaps they decided fans’ withdrawal symptons could turn nasty.

A lot of times, when i read a new book, or even an old book, i’m struck by the greatness of the book, and how completely sweet it would look on the big screen.
i mean, i feel that way about most any book i read and feel strongly about.
i don’t really know why i want all my favorite books to hit the silver screen, probably because i know i’m one of the last vestiges of people who enjoy books, or at least thats how it seems.
all teenagers hate books now. its so depressing.
but you know what they do like? MOVIES.
I mean, hell, even the worst movies do pretty well (except for maybe Delgo, which i’m pretty sure was just one hugely epic fail. 2 people per showing? are you kidding??).
its because movies are so damn easy to understand. all it takes is a few hours of your time, and as long as you don’t fall asleep, you’re pretty much set.
unless you’re watching Memento. that takes like 4 straight days of watching and complete coherency.

Anyway, i know that whenever a book makes the transition into a movie, its met with mixed feelings.
i know when i first saw the Harry Potter movie, i was still in elementary school at the time, i HATED it.
of course my little brain couldn’t comprehend that you cant take a book word-for-word and put it into a movie, because you’d be in the theater for a day and a half (and people would still probably get mad because the actors didn’t say the lines EXACTLY correct)
but even then i could understand the whole “books don’t transfer into movies well” concept.
but i still want all my favorite books to be movies.
why? because even if it doesn’t follow the book exactly, some stories just need to be retold in a way that everyone can understand.

so. without futher ado, here are my list of books that should be made into movies, and movies that should have never been made.

WIN:

1. The Wind on Fire trilogy (by William Nicholson):
okay, this trilogy would be absolutly STUNNING on screen.
the story is oh-so-epic (i believe i’ve talked about it before, yes?), the characters are completely relateable, and its just a story that everyone should be exposed to.
The story details concepts like freedom vs. slavery, friendship, love, destiny, good vs. evil (which most books do talk about, but this one does an exceptional job), and family.
it would be a brilliant movie for adults and kids alike.
i mean, hell, its written by the guy who did the screenplay for Gladiator! the screen play for these books could be written by the writer himself, who could make sure that everything HE wanted would get in the movie, not everything that some dude who’s read the books once thinks should get in the movie.
but Nicholson has even said that he doesn’t want the books made into movies until everyone’s already read the book, or something along those lines. i read it awhile ago somewhere, idk where.
Alas, we are left without this gem.

2. Rant (by Chuck Palahniuk): Okay, obviously this would be a great movie.
well, as long as the director was good. preferably David Fincher, after his brilliant success with things like Fight Club and Seven (isn’t it spelled Se7en? which is weird because the word still looks like its spelled right, and the V is just a little weird, but the number 7 looks NOTHING LIKE a v, except maybe a demented sideways one. anyway). Fincher would be PERFECT to do Rant.
I can picture it all in my head too, y’know, one of those movies thats a fake documentary where all the people are getting interviewed. That format would be the only way to really do the book i think. But what do i know?
The story behind the book is completely fabulous as well, so its only right that it would get made into a movie. I mean, you’d satisfy all the indie kids, the bookish types, the action types, the sci-fi types, all the emo kids who’ve gone into the woodwork with nothing but their music collection and a few Palahniuk books to keep them company (at least thats what i did back when i dabbled in Emo). You’ve got a plethera of potential viewers, and i don’t think its even on the market for being made into a movie…….yet.

3. The Language of Blood (by Bruce Coville): Okay, this isn’t technically a book, its actually a short story. but I think that might make it easier to make into a movie, don’t you think?
alright, i suppose i should take a short recess and explain what this short story is, because i can nearly guarantee that none of you has even heard of the author, or the short story, or the book it came from (Oddly Enough is the title. check it out. i’ve read it so many times my pages are yellow already. its wonderful).
SYNOPSIS-ESQUE-THINGY: Alright, the story is told in first-person perspective, told by a character named Banang, who is retelling his story to a boy who is to follow in his footsteps. Banang’s story takes place in what appears to be a city long ago, or in an entirely different world. In this city, in order to keep it safe from harm, the Pyong Myar (basically a king) chooses a child from the city to learn the ways of the language of blood, that is, to become a vampire, and to drink the blood of a maiden every 6 months, in order to tell the future.
thats basically all i really want to tell you. Needless to say, it is a phenomenal story, and i still feel that way today, even though i’m pretty sure the book is wayyyy below my reading level (I got it when i was little-ish, probably like 8? maybe? something like that.)
its one of those books that you just HAVE to read over and over again, because you always find something new.
and i know that no one has heard of this book outside of me and maybe 14 other people (please oh please prove me wrong).
but that makes it ideal for a movie, because then more people will be exposed to the story.
it would be especially good these days when Vampires are an instant win. i’ve never seen a culture so obsessed with drinking blood. i’ll probably write a documentary book about this whole phenomenon when i’m old and in the “Back in my day” time of my life.
anyway, i strongly suggest checking out the book, because then i know you’ll understand what i mean when i say it would make  a GREAT movie.

okay.
time for the cranky part of the post.

FAIL:

1. Pride and Prejudice (by Jane Austen):
we’re talking about the Kiera Knightly version here. not the good, 4 hour BBC one with Colin Firth, because that one is the ONLY book to movie transition that i’ve ever seen that has gone seamlessly and the movie is as fantastic (maybe even more-so) than the book.
no.
Alright, Kiera Knightly and whoever it is that played Mr. Darcy were really great. they had great onscreen chemistry and whatever, and their acting was good.
But the entire attempt was awful in terms of the book.
I’m talking about the fact that apparently its okay to COMPLETELY DISREGARD the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Bennet (Elizabeth’s parents) were actually still a Lady and a Gentleman, and they did NOT live on a farm, they lived on an ESTATE, a place where animals did not run around the house.
stupid.
Overall, way to much was cut out of that whole fiasco of a movie, and while its still understandable, and still good as a MOVIE, it is a horrible interpretation of the book (at least in my opinion).

2. Twilight (by Stephanie Meyer): If you weren’t expecting this to be on here, you either think i’m blinded by Robert Pattinson’s attractiveness, or i’m plainly retarded.
The acting was a complete and total Joke. Bella had only one expression the entire time, Edward’s speech wasn’t smooth and beautiful, he had to stop and restart a thousand times and he said um about a million more times, and he was working much too hard to hide his british accent, and failing miserably.
the movie cut out a ton of important things, and they didn’t develop the characters at all, except for Rosalie, who was phenomenally done, and Carlisle was pretty good too. Charlie was well done as well, i liked that.
However, why did they keep showing the evil vampires hunting? stupid! you could have spent more time doing things like, DEVELOPING BELLA’S AND EDWARD’S RELATIONSHIP MAYBE? In the book its way more gradual and they’re just trying to figure each other out. in the movie its basically “omg i want to kill you WAIT NEVERMIND YOU’RE MY LIFE NOW!”
the cheesiness of the entire thing was too much to bear, and while a lot of that can’t be avoided because its hard to bring the characters to life, a lot of it was just because the actors interpretted it wrong, and i feel like a lot of that is Catherine Hardwicke’s fault. how can you be watching all of that stuff and say “OKAY great! lets move on!” Bella needed more acting coaches or something, and they should have let Robert Pattinson keep his accent, or teach him how to hide it better. Yeah, he’s attractive, but when he’s a bumbling idiot on screen it detracts a lot from that.
i could go on for hours and hours, but honestly, its not even worth it.
i was horribly disappointed in the movie, not even lying.
The books can get away with some occaisional bad writing (Twilight was not a literary masterpiece. Meyer definitly improves as time goes on, but her first writing attempt isn’t exactly writing genius) and all of that because the story is completely beautiful and amazing.
The movie didn’t even do a good job of portraying the bare bones of the story, which is what a movie needs to do.
normally book to movie failures are only failures to those who’ve spent a lot of time with the books and know the books well, and they’re wonderful movies as long as you can look past the differences with the book.
this one? nope. its a fail, a complete and total failure.
hopefully new moon won’t be as bad. i will be so so sad if it is.
and feel free to send hate mail for that last rant if you feel the need, i would love for someone to prove to me that it actually was a good movie.
and if you agree with me…lets bitch and moan together!

Anyway, this post is at 1813 words right now (or it was, its going up and up, obviously) and i think thats a cue for me to cut it off.
so i will.

Jango continues the story of Seeker, Book One of the Noble Warriors series. Sit back and envision yourself entering a mega cinema with stadium seating. Settle back in your seat with your large bucket of popcorn and 44 oz. Coke to get ready for a major summer blockbuster movie: Jango!

William Nicholson is the screenplay writer for Gladiator and Shadowlands, both of which were nominated for the Academy Awards, and Jango feels like it is also written for the big screen with big name movie stars for its characters. The story picks up with the training of the three young Noma Warriors: Seeker, Wildman and Morning Star. They are close to completing their preparation as revered Noma Warriors, but not before they each encounter their final test which will reveal weakness in two them and greatness in the third. Friends during their training, they each now face their separate destinies, which will take them to far away places and unexpected battles which rival scenes from The Lord of the Rings.

Wildman has powerful aspirations of self glory, which eventually get him kicked out of the Noma, and Morning Star discovers her long standing smoldering love for Wildman, and has to decide if she will run off with Wildman and leave her calling as a Noma Warrior or not. Seeker has a far more deadly calling as he alone heads off to fight the Nomma’s enemies: the Orlan Army and the Axer Army who are both warring for the control of Anacrea, the home of countless noble but humble villagers, and the destruction of Seekers’ beloved Noma Society.

Jango is filled with mystical creatures and dark powers vying for the souls of man and evil leaders with aspirations for immortality and eternal dominance over every living thing as their goal. The players are all in place, the battle field is chosen, but who will step up to fulfill their destiny and save the day? Oh, and what on earth does the title Jango have to do with any of this? You’ll have to read to find out!

Jango is a nominee for the 2008 Teens’ Top Ten. To read more about the Teens’ Top Ten program, click here. To request this book from the library, click here. And don’t forget to place your vote during Teen Read Week, October 12-18, 2008.

Reviewed by Connie Harr from Holly Springs Public Library

I got the book called the Society of Others as part of my book hunting.It was written by William Nicholson who is the co-writer for the movie gladiator.I didn’t know anything about the book when i started reading that.I like it that way.When you read the reviews before reading the book most of the times you will know more than what you need to know and that spoils the fun of finding things out yourself.

Society of others is a dark,funny,cinematic,thriller-like,intelligent,philosophical novel.Writing a philosophical novel is a difficult task.You must take care the reader doesn’t get bored.And this book pulls it off very well.

I am not going to divulge the story to you except for this: An uninterested guy makes a back packing tour to nowhere.Not nowhere exactly.Its just that he doesn’t have a destination and goes about hitch hiking without asking for the place names.Doesn’t it sound like an interesting adventure?

Society of others is a brilliant novel.It transcends from the realistic world to a bit of surrealism at the climax.And i didn’t have a problem with that. When you introduce surrealism the whole essence of the book shouldn’t be lost. The Alchemist was one book that i know of which made this mistake.Alchemist is an over rated crap according to me.
The other philosophical book that i started reading recently is Atlas Shrugged.Now you might very well recognise this book and its author Ayn Rand.Atlas shrugged is considered to be a master piece of Ayn Rand.But then i didn’t like it at all.I stopped reading it after reading the first 355 pages.
I had many problems reading that.Its central theme of objectivism sucks.Not just because its just similar to selfishness.Infact its more dangerous than that. Objectivism would create more problems than solve the existing ones.
There are books that i have read just for the beauty of the narration even if i didn’t like the story. Atlas Shrugged doesn’t qualify for such a read also. The style of Ayn Rand is pretty ordinary. The plot is cliched,sex introduced at random intervals just like item numbers in Desi movies.

It is a highly over-rated crap.Just like the Alchemist.

Lesson learnt: Crap can become popular.Learn to write perfect crap.

PS: I can lend you the Society of Others book if i know you.
But you will have to return it in good condition before i forget who i gave it to or before you forget that you got a book from me.

Yesterday was very intense. I left work early (I started early as well) to be able to go to a triple movie feature. I finally saw Elizabeth: The Golden Age, There Will Be Blood and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. [You may call me crazy for doing that.]

Elizabeth: The Golden Age was amazing. I actually like it better than the first part (which was excellent as well and it had Vincent Cassel in drag).
Shekhar Kapur has a perfect feeling for the use of light and the effect of light and light in general. He could have made a little less “shots through ornaments” (he likes them, see also Elizabeth) but that’s ok.
The acting was a-fucking-mazing. I knew Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush do act really good. I also knew Clive Owen could but rarely would (this time he did). Surprises were: Rhys Ifans (I like him and I know he can act but I didn’t know he was in this movie) and Jordi Mollà (who I didn’t know before but who had the incredible ability to scream “I’m a totally fucked-up maniac and nothing can stop me” without uttering a single word). With that cast, I also have to give out a honorary mention of Abbie Cornish and Samantha Morton who were noticed .
The dialogues were wonderful. Watching the movie I felt like I needed to take a pen out and write along. Or probably learn the screenplay (by William Nicholson and Michael Hirst) by heart.
Of course, the movie had some weak spots. I already mentioned the ornament shots. Then there was Archduke Charles, an Austrian who comes so the queen may see if he’s fit to marry. Anyway, Christian Brassington obviously doesn’t speak a word German (although he has a good German accent in English) but has to say a couple of sentences. I actually needed the subtitles to understand him because his accent was so bad. [Cate Blanchett had a better pronunciation.] That’s just embarassing.
And from the characterisation: Sir Walter Raleigh must have been one hell of a guy. First, he’s the perfect gentleman, funny, intelligent, knows how to tell a story, knows what he wants and has amazing green eyes (ok, those belong to Clive Owen). Then you might say he trips a little by sleeping with the queen’s chambermaid (or whatever you call the girls) [but I think that was only rational, not necessarily wise but rational - he knew nothing could happen with the queen]. Anyway, he gets Bess (the chambermaid) pregnant and instantly marries her and is happy with that. And after that he goes out and singlehandedly defeats the Spanish Armada.  That might be a little too much (but feeds my hope that somewhere out there might be a man who is a little bit like that).
Summarising: A wonderful film with wonderful actors and a wonderful script which has some minor faults. Plus: Clive Owen’s hotter than Joseph Fiennes.

On to There Will Be Blood:
I was actually very disappointed by this film. I mean, Daniel Day-Lewis is great, as usual, as is Paul Dano who does a very good job not disappearing beside DD-L. But the film concentrates so much on DD-L that everything else is lost.
The “deathmatch” between him and the church is actually no match at all, there never is a single shred of doubt about the outcome and I felt like laughing all the time about the “exorcisms”.
Relationships live and die with Plainview’s feelings, the other person he has the relationship with has no say in it. (And no matter how dominant one person may be, relationships don’t work that way.)
And the music was horrible. It was intrusive and didn’t fit. The beginning of the credits deserves an award for Worst Chosen Music In A Film.
I guess, if I ever had the chance to make a movie with Daniel Day-Lewis, I’d try to get him into it as much as possible. So I understand why Paul Thomas Anderson did it the way he did. But he should have cut about half an hour of the film and could have tried to incorporate some other actors in this film as well.
Without DD-L there wouldn’t have been a movie. With him, there’s great acting but not much of a film.

So we come to Sweeney Todd.
In a nutshell: Another masterpiece by Tim Burton. I loved it. I loved the story, the music, the costumes (K. [German] wrote about Johnny Depp’s trousers, I have to point out his leather jacket) and the acting.
Let’s get the things I didn’t like out of the way: The opening credits. The blood was poorly animated, it looked much too sticky and he could have done better.
That’s it.
Of course, Tim Burton has this very distinct style and some people may call it repetitive but who cares? I love the way he uses colours, and the lack of them. As well as the way he uses the same actors to portray the same roles, gives it all a continuity. (Though I guess, Christina Ricci wasn’t available.)

spot the five differences… I know, it’s hard…

The lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler were just wonderful.

And in the darkness
When I’m blind
With what I can’t forget
It’s always morning in my mind

And there’s another quote (this time from the script by John Logan) I loved, Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham-Carter) says: “There could be an us, you know. It may not be what I dreamed of and it may not be what you remember, but it could be an us.”
I may be overinterpreting here, but I also liked the reference to Edward Scissorhands: Mr. Todd holds up the razor and says: “Finally, my arm is complete again.”
I laughed my ass off during the dream sequence. The striped bathing suits flat did it for me ((c) Anita Blake).
I don’t know what to think of Jamie Campbell Bower yet. He knows how to sing, that’s for sure, but I don’t think him that good an actor. And he looks weird.

Alan Rickman, of course, was great. And Sacha Baron Cohen as “Call me Davey” Pirelli had me almost falling off my chair. And Timothy Spall was the perfect cast for Beadle. (When I saw him, my first thought was “Mr. Croup!” but I mistook him for Hywel Bennett. Only my second thought was “Peter Pettigrew!“)
And Giles Anthony Stewart Head was there, if only for five seconds.

There are about a thousand more things I could write about this film, but I’ll leave it at that. I guess you know already what I’m feeling about it.

Check Availability of Jango in the Library’s Catalog

This is the sequel to “Seeker”.  Wildman leaves the Nom and is thought to be dead, and Star goes searching for him.The band the spikers together, making Wildman a warlord.Seeker receives strange powers, and goes on a quest to kill the savanters, the old people who controlled Filka and Similan.   If you read Seeker, this is a must.  It has romance,adventure, heartbreak and betrayal which makes it interesting and engaging.

Gloria

Check Availability of Seeker in the Library’s Catalog

Wildman, Morning Star, and Seeker, three very different teens, join together to fight a powerful weapon destined to destroy the Nomana.  Thought he Nomana rejected all 3, they are still devoted to its cause and will face grave perils, be reunited w/long lost loved ones and find themselves on their quest to destroy the weapon.

Gloria NHS

Quando os estranhos chegaram e deixaram a escultura do Cantor do Vento em Armanth, toda a gente estranhou. Quando os estranhos se retiraram, o Cantor do Vento emitia uma belíssima melodia. Morah roubou a voz do Cantor do Vento há muito tempo e Kestrel, uma rapariga que diz o que pensa, irá tentar recuperá-la.
Escrito por William Nicholson

Título: O Cantor do Vento
Autor: William Nicholson
Editora: Editorial Presença
Colecção: Estrela do Mar (volume 22)
Próximo livro: O Reino de Kensuke
A minha avaliação: * * *
Prós: Nenhum específico
Contras: Não encontrei

Espero que gostem,
Tenham boas leituras!