It’s easy to see where Divergent borrowed from other young adult franchises. As a movie adaptation of Veronica Roth’s bestselling novel Divergent, can check all the same boxes as the juggernaut that is The Hunger Games. Comparisons between the franchises are inevitable, but frankly, Divergent doesn’t make much effort to avoid them. Sharp-shooting female protagonist? Check. Dystopian North American Fascist regime? Check. Culture […]
Kill Your Darlings
Destruction is necessary for creation. Art comes at a price. This is the lesson of debut director John Krokidas’ Kill Your Darlings, which takes Faulkner’s philosophy of artistic ruthlessness to a murderous extreme. The title of Kill Your Darlings comes from a famous piece of writing advice from William Faulkner, advising writers to “kill your darlings,” to mercilessly […]
Rush
Rush. A short title. Onomatopoetic, monosyllabic. It doesn’t suggest a specific time, place or personality. It simply evokes a feeling. And at its strongest, Ron Howard’s latest film is just that: an uncomplicated expression of raw emotion. That’s not to say Howard doesn’t do a good job with the rest of the storytelling. Howard and […]
Austenland
Austenland is sort of the latest adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. I say “sort of” because it’s actually based on Shannon Hale’s novel Austenland, which was inspired by the 1995 film version of Pride and Prejudice, which was itself adapted from Austen’s actual novel. After being dragged through a book, a movie, another book, […]
