If I Stay Signed Copy Giveaway!

Gayle Forman and Chloë Grace Moretz came to my mall awhile back and were signing ALL THE THINGS!!!  So, since I work at a bookstore, I bought a copy of the book to give to YOU readers and it's signed by BOTH Moretz and Forman!  EXCITING!!!

Why yes, that IS an actual copy of the book we're giving away.

This contest, though, we're going to make you really earn your contest entry.  We will be posting on the blog, as usual, and Facebook (as... mostly usual, though we've been less good about that as of late.)  You need to comment in one of those two places to enter.

So, rules:

- Your comments have to be at least two sentences long and something that might start a discussion.  "I liked this book.  It was good" does not count.  "I really like time travel sci-fi.  I think Octavia Butler is the best writer of our time" would count.  You're attempting to engage the opinions of others.

- You can not comment spam just to win.  However, if you end up engaging in a discussion with someone (including us), we will count each comment as an entry, as long as they abide by rule one and stay relevant to the post/discussion (if you start going off into a tangent about how hot Hugh Jackman is, I'll agree, but will no longer be counting your comments as entries.)

- Inevitably, all comments are up to our discretion if they are counted as entries or not.

- Comment has to be on a post within the last week (or so).  We're not going to go checking months and years worth of back posts just to see if you put a comment there.  Sorry.

- We will randomly pick a winner on August 22, 2014, the same day that the movie comes out!

- As per usual with these contest, contiguous US.  Sorry to all our international fans (and I know that we have a few.)  We just can't afford the shipping.  We will be shipping it USPS with no signature required.

- The winner must provide a valid address within one week of winning (that would be August 29).  Email us at reviewmetwice [at] gmail [dot] com.  If they do not, we will pick another winner.  If the SECOND winner does not claim it, we'll dispose of the book as we see fit (AKA I'll give it to my co-blogger or sell it on eBay.)

- Please keep it civil.  We love discussions on this page, and we're totally ok with disagreeing with people! (In fact, we think it makes it more interesting.)  However, if it starts to get inappropriate or mean-spirited, we reserve the right to moderate.  This applies to especially foul language, name calling, or anything else we deem to be really jerky.

Good luck!!

This is in no way endorsed by the movie, the actress, or the author.

If I Stay Meet and Greet

So, I'm late on posting today, and it's a busy week anyway, so I'm posting a picture of what I did today!!

That is Gayle Foreman, author of If I Stay (which we reviewed almost two years ago, because we're hipsters like that.), and the lead actress of the movie, Chloe Grace Moretz.  I got stuff signed by both of them!!

Sooooo, stick around for the movie coming out on August 22.  We just MIGHT be giving something special away. ;)

And the Oscar Goes To...

Ok, so who knows if any of these movies will get Oscars, but there are just SO MANY MOVIES this year that are based off of books!  I thought I would let everyone know the ones that are out, or about to come out.

If you didn't know that Divergent was out in theatres, you officially have been living under a rock.  Based on Veronic Roth's novel of the same name, Divergent looks like it could be killer (and I have heard it is, but I hardly ever watch movies anymore.  I should mention I JUST saw HP movie 7 & 8 for the first time a few days ago.)  Want to read the book first?  Then go read our review of it.

Ok, so TECHNICALLY it's not based on a book.  But it IS based on a fairy tale, which we've talked about extensively on this blog.  And Malificent (coming out in just a week) looks like it's going to be a fabulous "other side of the story" telling of the movie.

Who doesn't absolutely love John Green?  We certainly do, and not just for this book (though, we  liked that too.)  The movie promises to be sweet and amazing and, of course, a real tear jerker.  Also, there's a good chance it'll hold pretty true to the book.  John Green has done multiple interviews saying he didn't want the book made into a movie if it wasn't going to be done correctly.  The book was deeply personal to him, and it looks like he's held the movie up to the same standards.

This is one movie that I desperately hope they don't screw up.  The Maze Runner is an amazing book, and could potentially make an amazing movie, but it doesn't always work out that way.  Guess we'll just have to wait until September to find out.

What books to movies are you most looking forward to?

Changes from Book to Movie

This is one of those posts you'll most enjoy if you've already read this week's review book. I don't want to exclude anyone, so go read the book! Then read this post. There aren't really spoilers, per se, but it won't be very interesting unless you know what I'm talking about.

So what am I rambling about, you ask? Well, How I Live Now is a movie now! And a damn fine one, if you ask me. But some changes were made that, if you think carefully about them, make perfect sense.

Edmond is the older one. Daisy's cousin/love interest in the book is one of the twins... but in the movie, he's the older cousin. So there are no twins, and the older one has the name Edmond. This cuts down on the number of characters involved, and it makes slightly more sense that she would fall for the one protecting them all, watching out for them, etc. Also, she's picked up at the airport by Isaac.

Joe. Joe was totally made up for the movie. At first, I was like "if we had to get rid of Osbert, why did we add a neighbor kid?" But then I saw where Joe's story led, and I realized it was a great addition, and you wouldn't necessarily want his story to happen to someone in the family.

Leah is eliminated. In the book, Daisy has a friend in America who blathers on about high school girl nonsense until communications are cut. She doesn't exist in the movie, and I think that's a good thing.

The goat is eliminated. Without getting too specific, the goat's story is one of my favorite things of the book. And the goat doesn't exist in the movie. It's not required, but it's good, and I suppose Joe and his story "replace" it fairly well.

Otherwise... it's pretty close to the book. Which I suppose might be easier both because (1) the book's plot and characters lend themselves better to a direct adaptation to film, and (2) it's an indie movie, so they didn't overprocess it into a lack of recognition. (Case in point: If you didn't show me the title of the movie World War Z, I would - at best - guess that it might be a companion story to Max Brooks' work. Which I suppose it is anyway. But it is not "based on the novel.")

By Its Cover - Richard II by William Shakespeare

Welcome to a special edition of By It's Cover.  BY IT'S ACTOR!!!

Really, let's face it, there are a million and one covers to Richard II.  Annnnndd, since it's 10 PM the night before this post is due to go up and neither I, nor Alex, has actually written up the BIC, it probably means we're not really looking forward to it this week (because there are a million covers... and they're all kind of boring.)  So this week, I'm just posting a bunch of pictures of actors who have played Richard II (mainly because there's no one around to stop me.)

Alex may join in if she likes with any actors I missed... or maybe actresses.

This is Ben Wishaw.  He played Richard II in a very recent BBC version of the play.

Derek Jacobi played Richard II in 1970.  Probably a little old for the part, but very distinguished, nonetheless.  He was also on an episode of Dr. Who in 2007.

Mark Rylance portrayed him in 2003.  Again, Richard was very young, but I'm getting the feeling Hollywood is missing that point... as they usually do with these kind of things.

Waaaaiiiit a second, that's a girl!  Indeed it is!  Fiona Shaw (AKA Aunt Petunia), played Richard in a 1997 version of the play.  I don't know if it was any good, but it's certainly an interesting take on the whole thing.

At the risk of sounding lazy, I'm only going to add that Cassy did a great job and I have nothing to add!

By Its Cover: World War Z

The book cover (on the left) does its job beautifully. It tells you the title (and subtitle) clearly, and gives you a feel for the tone of the story (a little scary, a little suspenseful, and full to the brim with zombies, as evidenced by the splatter, obviously).

The movie poster (right) focuses on the typical "one man against the world" feel you usually get with zombie movies, which is the exact opposite of what World War Z is. The book is a conglomeration of stories from very different people from around the world. It is not the harrowing tale of one American man kicking undead ass (note the gun strapped to him and his super serious expression, like he's thinking "I must save literally everyone").

I'm with Alex on the book/movie analysis.  There's a reason that no single person is featured on the cover: it wasn't about one person.  It was a book about how people came together, how they beat the seemingly impossible odds.

The movie is about Brad Pitt being pretty, let's not lie to ourselves.  And it's very obvious that this movie is going to be all about him.  Once again it proves the point that the book is always better.

Adaptations of Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is an enormously famous, widely beloved, fascinating, timeless character that we don't seem capable of getting sick of. He has been adapted to the big screen and the little screen, among other media.

Film Adaptations

Sherlock Holmes (1916) In 1899, William Gillette wrote a stage adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. In 1916, that play was adapted to a silent film, and Gillette himself played Sherlock. It drew inspiration from four different cases, including this week's review book, A Study in Scarlet. Presumably, no copies of this film still exist.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and The Last Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1921-23) This was a silent, black-and-white film series comprising 45 short films and two full-length films, starring Eille Norwood as Sherlock.

Sherlock Holmes (1922) This film was released as Moriarty in the UK, and was a silent film starring John Barrymore as Sherlock. It was thought lost for a long time, but was rediscovered in the '70s.

The Sleeping Cardinal, The Missing Rembrandt, The Sign of Four: Sherlock Holmes' Greatest Case, The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes, and Silver Blaze 1931-37) This was a film series starring Arthur Wontner as Sherlock.

Sherlock Holmes (1932) was also based on William Gillette's play, this time starring Clive Brook as Sherlock. 

Sherlock Holmes (1939-46) was a series of fourteen films made in America starring Basil Rathbone.

There seems to have been a drought of Sherlock Holmes films after WWII, though, because the next Sherlock Holmes film was...

     

Sherlock Holmes (2009) starring the dashing pair of Robert Downey, Jr. as Sherlock and Jude Law as Dr. Watson, followed by the sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011).

In the intervening year between those two movies, there was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes (2010), a direct-to-DVD movie with - and I feel I cannot emphasize this enough - a T. rex on the cover. It was a mockbuster riding the coattails of the aforementioned 2009 film, and starred Ben Snyder, playing Sherlock.

TV Adaptations

Sherlock Holmes (1951) was a one-season, six-episode series on BBC starring Alan Wheatley as Holmes and Raymond Francis as Watson.

Sherlock Holmes (1954) was the first American TV adaptation of Holmes, with one season of 39 episodes, starring Ronald Howard (no, not Ron Howard) as Holmes and Howard Marion Crawford as Watson.

Sherlock Holmes (1965) was the BBC's second TV Holmes, with two series (seasons, in England-talk) and 29 episodes. Douglas Wilmer played Holmes and Nigel Stock was Watson.

Statue in Moscow of Holmes and Watson as portrayed by
Livanov and Solomin

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (1979-86) Russia got in on the action with five made-for-TV movies starring Vasily Livanov as Holmes and Vitaly Solomin as Watson.

Sherlock Holmes (1984) ran for 9 series and 41 episodes, covering 42 of the 60 stories Doyle wrote for his character. It was aired on ITV (Britain) and starred Jeremy Brett as Holmes and David Burke as Watson. It was a very popular portrayal of these familiar characters.

Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady (1992) was a made-for-TV movie starring Christopher Lee (yes, Saruman) as Holmes and Patrick Macnee as Watson. There were other made-for-TV movies in the same decade with the same stars, and there is surprisingly little information about these.

Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century (1999) made it a shocking 2 seasons and 26 episodes on Fox Kids in the US and STV in the UK, despite sounding absolutely terrible. It even got a nomination for a Daytime Emmy. Jason Gray-Stanford played Holmes and John Payne played Watson.

     

Sherlock (2010) is still on the air after two series and 6 episodes, and you've probably seen it - or at least stills from it on the internet. It stars Benedict Cumberbatch (yes, Smaug... and Khan) as Holmes and Martin Freeman (yes, Bilbo... and Arthur Dent... and Tim from the original The Office) as Watson. It was created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, whose names you may recognize from Doctor Who credits.

     

Elementary (2012) is also still on the air on CBS after one season and 21 episodes, and stars Johnny Lee Miller as Holmes and - our first woman version of the character - Lucy Liu as Watson. It is also the first American TV adaptation since 1954.