Book and Film Recommendations

[TinyLove_CJ]

  A discussion and recommendation thread for books and films! 

 

  Read or watched something that totally blew your mind? Can't contain yourself after reading something by your favourite author? Want to debate if the book is better than the film?

 

   Then this is the thread for you! 

 

   Anything at all that you've been reading or watched on the silver screen, feel free to recommend it all here.

 

  I may have to restrain myself from talking about my own favourite books and author too much. We'd probably need another thread... Or another website! It's only because I can talk about these things for hours (which I have done! 😅).

[TinyLove_CJ]

   I'm starting this thread off by taking back what I said about the Ghostbusters remake (2016). I watched it again recently and it's actually a good film. It's not great but it's not bad either. It has loads of references to the original Ghostbusters films and plenty of funny moments. Some of the original cast even make a cameo appearance and I'm not just talking about the humans! 😁 👻
   This is a stand alone film so you don't need to have seen the originals (but why wouldn't you?). 
  The script writing for the dialogues could be better, and the overall story could have had more of a firm structure to it, but I would recommend this film for anyone wanting a good laugh. It's also the reason why I'm a little bit in love with Kate McKinnon! 😍 
   The original '84 and '89 films will always be the best though! And this November Ghostbusters: Afterlife will be out in cinemas! (again with some of the original cast). It follows on 30 years after Ghostbusters II so it is actually Ghostbusters III and has nothing to do with the 2016 remake.

 

Here's the trailer for it:

 

 

 

If you can buy a baby Stay Puft man then I want one! He is equal parts cute and creepy and I love him.

[TinyLove_CJ]

Highly recommend that everyone watches Anything's Possible, not just because of Mika's song Who's Gonna Love Me Now? But because of the important message behind it and the endearing love story.

 

 

 

You can read my review here:

 

Anything's Possible Review (slight spoilers)

 

[Fitbritt02]

I finally got the chance to see this movie last night! I thought it was really sweet and I appreciated that it touched on topics that aren’t spoken about often enough these days. Of course I was disappointed about how short the use of the “who’s gonna love me now” song was! I would definitely recommend this movie 🍿 

@TinyLove_CJ your review was so insightful! 
I love the idea of this thread and I’m shocked to see how underused it is! 

[silver]

I think it's possible that we talk about books and films in other threads, and tend not to think of a dedicated thread.

 

Sadly I can't offer much in the way of film reviews as I live so far away from any cinemas now.  I have to wait until things crop up on TV

 

[Fitbritt02]

That’s a good point! I just happened to stumble across the thread because of the recent post. 
 

I don’t think I’ve been to the theatre since before the pandemic but it feels like I’ve watched almost everything on Netflix lately 

[TinyLove_CJ]

This doesn't have to necessarily a thread for new books and films, feel free to discuss absolutely anything you've read or seen that you would recommend to others! 😊

[silver]

In that case:  Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of books.  I was always put off by the garish paperback covers, but read an interview where they quoted some passages from his books, including a description of the character Death.  Death is the archetypal skeletal figure with scythe,  a voice that goes right through you, with a magnificent white horse which he calls ..... Binky. 

 

So I started reading the series, and they turned out to be very funny, but with some very serious insights into human nature.  It has heroes, villains, witches. wizards, dragons, elves, trolls, dwarves - all the normal ingredients of fantasy novels, but not how you would expect them to be.  It starts as a sort of satire of fantasy novels, but develops into a coherent little universe of its own.  Hard to single out any particular title, but Pyramids can be read as a standalone volume.  The later novels - especially Thief of Time, and Night Watch - deal with some complex issues about time, morality, and death by chocolate.

[TinyLove_CJ]

1 hour ago, silver said:

In that case:  Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of books.  I was always put off by the garish paperback covers, but read an interview where they quoted some passages from his books, including a description of the character Death.  Death is the archetypal skeletal figure with scythe,  a voice that goes right through you, with a magnificent white horse which he calls ..... Binky. 

 

So I started reading the series, and they turned out to be very funny, but with some very serious insights into human nature.  It has heroes, villains, witches. wizards, dragons, elves, trolls, dwarves - all the normal ingredients of fantasy novels, but not how you would expect them to be.  It starts as a sort of satire of fantasy novels, but develops into a coherent little universe of its own.  Hard to single out any particular title, but Pyramids can be read as a standalone volume.  The later novels - especially Thief of Time, and Night Watch - deal with some complex issues about time, morality, and death by chocolate.

 

I've been wanting to get into Discworld for ages! But there's 41 books and I have no idea where to start 😅 

 

Which one did you start with? And is there an order to them?

 

What got me into discovering Terry Pratchett was the BBC series The Watch (which I think follows Night Watch?), it's a bit mad, has perfect comedy timing but like you said about the books it has quite deep meanings behind it too. Would love there to be a series 2 but there's no news yet

[silver]

Yes, there is an order.  The first few books are quite short (The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Equal Rites, Sourcery) and then they get longer (and better).  The Colour of Magic is in a slightly different style, but once he finds his voice things get much more interesting.

 

I've actually not liked any of the TV adaptations of his work, apart from Good Omens, when I originally thought David Tennant was miscast but he turned out to be pretty good in the part.

[silver]

Of course there is/was a Terry Pratchett thread

 

 

[Fitbritt02]

On 8/9/2022 at 7:00 AM, silver said:

In that case:  Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of books.  I was always put off by the garish paperback covers, but read an interview where they quoted some passages from his books, including a description of the character Death.  Death is the archetypal skeletal figure with scythe,  a voice that goes right through you, with a magnificent white horse which he calls ..... Binky. 

 

So I started reading the series, and they turned out to be very funny, but with some very serious insights into human nature.  It has heroes, villains, witches. wizards, dragons, elves, trolls, dwarves - all the normal ingredients of fantasy novels, but not how you would expect them to be.  It starts as a sort of satire of fantasy novels, but develops into a coherent little universe of its own.  Hard to single out any particular title, but Pyramids can be read as a standalone volume.  The later novels - especially Thief of Time, and Night Watch - deal with some complex issues about time, morality, and death by chocolate.

I’ve never heard of this series before but it sounds very interesting! 41 books though, that’s intense! 😅 I’ll have to put this on my TBR list but it’ll take a long time to get through something like this. 
 

I have to admit I do the one thing you’re always told not to and I definitely judge a book by its cover lol I do read the description as well but this is probably not something I wouldn’t have picked up based on what I’ve seen online. You’re review makes it seem much more intriguing! Thank you for this introduction 

[silver]

I'm probably not the person to ask about films because I admit I tend to like sci-fi and action films (Star Wars, Avengers, Indiana Jones, Bruce Willis etc) and not so many "serious" films

 

And good cartoons/animation.  Probably my favourite in this genre is Aardmann Animation's "Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists!" (which is apparently known outside the UK as "The Pirates! Band of Misfits!" for some reason). 

[TinyLove_CJ]

@silver I love Aardmann films too! Can't pick a favourite between Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Wererabbit or Grand Day Out (a classic in my opinion!)

 

I've not watched Pirates! yet, I'll have to add that to my watch list, it looks like something I would enjoy!

 

Seeing as these are stop motion films, have you watched Frankenweenie? It's a Tim Burton production that puts a twisted tail on the Frankenstein story. It's also full of classic horror references that influenced Burton.

 

Another animation that I really love (but not stop motion) is Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie. I've lost count how many times I've watched that movie! 😅

[Fitbritt02]

@TinyLove_CJ I love the peanuts movie!! I agree, I cannot count how many times I've seen that movie. Have you watched The Snoopy Show on Apple TV? adorable   I actually have a snoopy tattoo on my foot lol

I am a sucker for anything animated.

I haven't seen Frankenweenie yet. One of the few Tim Burton films I haven't seen but if it's anything like the rest of his films I'm sure it's a gotta be good! I love his animation style. It was very interesting to see how they made The Nightmare Before Christmas in The Movies that Us on Netflix.

One of my favorite Disney movies is Wall-E! Not only does the movie touch on important issues of the planet but I was impressed with the emotion they conveyed with the main characters having such little dialogue. Tugs on my heart strings every time!

 

@silver You mentioned the Avengers which I love as well! Any of the Marvel movies. Although I love the original Marvel characters and I am sad that we are coming to a time that we are starting to move away from those original characters. RIP Tony Stark

[TinyLove_CJ]

1 hour ago, Fitbritt02 said:

I am a sucker for anything animated.

 

Me too! 😁

 

I'll have to give The Snoopy Show a watch too! 

 

Tim Burton's movies must take a long time to make! I'm sure I read somewhere that making 4 seconds of a movie takes 12 hours a day of actual filming!

 

1 hour ago, Fitbritt02 said:

One of my favorite Disney movies is Wall-E!

I love this movie! It would be interesting to see what a sequel would look like but apparently the producers/directors are reluctant to do one because Wall-E took 10 years to make from initial idea to final screening!

 

There's a lot of animated movies I love I'll have to make a separate post later about some of my favourites.

[TinyLove_CJ]

On 8/12/2022 at 4:29 PM, TinyLove_CJ said:

Can't pick a favourite between Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Wererabbit or Grand Day Out (a classic in my opinion!)

Me: Can't pick a favourite...

 

Why on earth did I forget about Chicken Run?! I love that movie so much and can watch it again and again without ever getting bored! 😁 🐔 

 

21 hours ago, TinyLove_CJ said:

There's a lot of animated movies I love I'll have to make a separate post later about some of my favourites.

 

I actually prefer a lot of non-disney animation too, that's not to say I don't like Disney though, I do but I miss their classic 2D animation films.

 

Just a few of my favourites are:

> Home

> How to Train Your Dragon 1,2 and 3 (but not so much 3)

> Balto 1,2,3

> Ferdinand

> Paddington 1 + 2

> Brother Bear 1 + 2

> The Yogi Bear Movie

> Fox and the Hound 1 + 2 (but I prefer the first one)

> Finding Nemo/Dory

> Khumba

> Valiant

 

I also love anything and everything by Studio Ghibli. I have most of the films too. My favourite is Spirited Away but My Neighbour Totoro and Ponyo are joint second favourites! 

 

If anyone is going to watch Grave of the Fireflies for the first time make sure you have enough tissues to last you a week, or maybe two weeks actually. Took me a while to recover after watching that film 😥

Edited August 13, 2022 by TinyLove_CJ

[silver]

On 8/12/2022 at 4:29 PM, TinyLove_CJ said:

@silver I love Aardmann films too! Can't pick a favourite between Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Wererabbit or Grand Day Out (a classic in my opinion!)

 

I've not watched Pirates! yet, I'll have to add that to my watch list, it looks like something I would enjoy!

 

Seeing as these are stop motion films, have you watched Frankenweenie? It's a Tim Burton production that puts a twisted tail on the Frankenstein story. It's also full of classic horror references that influenced Burton.

 

Another animation that I really love (but not stop motion) is Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie. I've lost count how many times I've watched that movie! 😅

 

I love the Wallace and Gromit films too, just couldn't pick a favourite.  And How To Train Your Dragon - I love Toothless.  The 3rd film wasn't quite so good, but some of the animation was just stunning.

 

And Paddington.  When I was at school (6th form)  a Paddington Bear book was accidentally put in the 6th form library.  I think everybody read it - but no-one signed it out

[TinyLove_CJ]

A few more animated movies I love:

 

> Rio 1 + 2

> The Lorax

> Horton Hears a Who

[Fitbritt02]

OMG chicken run, I haven't seen that one in forever. Good movie.

 

>Home was hilarious

>How could you not fall in love with toothless! I agree the first two were definitely the better movies.

>Balto was great. Also reminds me of All dogs go to Heaven and Oliver and Company.

>Brother Bear, another good one I had forgotten about.

>The Fox and the Hound is one of my all time favourites!!

 

I've never heard of Grave of the Fireflies but I have to watch it now!

You guys have great taste!

 

>Fern Gully

>The Pagemaster

>The Land Before Time

>Secret life of pets

>another Disney movie but Emperors New Groove was hilarious

 

[silver]

On 8/12/2022 at 7:31 PM, Fitbritt02 said:

@TinyLove_CJ

 

 

@silver You mentioned the Avengers which I love as well! Any of the Marvel movies. Although I love the original Marvel characters and I am sad that we are coming to a time that we are starting to move away from those original characters. RIP Tony Stark

 

I like most of the original Avengers films, especially the Thor ones (well actually the ones with Loki).  I feel that the later films had much less interesting characters in them.

 

I'd forgotten the Guardians of The Galaxy films   I'd rather have a baby Groot than a baby Yoda.

[TinyLove_CJ]

On 8/11/2022 at 10:13 PM, silver said:

Probably my favourite in this genre is Aardmann Animation's "Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists!"

 

I got round to finally watching this at the weekend and it's such a good film! I can see why it's one of your favourites. The depiction of Queen Victoria is hilarious! 😂 

 

 

 

Another stop-motion film I would recommend (and watched again recently) is 'Isle of Dogs'. Created by Wes Anderson, he is a master of the stop-motion style, I still think he needs to work on the actual story telling (same goes for some other films of his) but the film is wonderfully made and if you love dogs you will love this film. 

[TinyLove_CJ]

  I have a free trial for Apple TV so decided to watch a couple of their films the other day.

 

The first being 'Finch'.

 

  I highly recommend this film, I think it's one of my favourite Tom Hanks film so far. In Finch, Tom Hanks is the only human actor and once again his acting is superb! The only other characters are two robots and a very good dog. I didn't expect to be crying at this film but for anyone else watching it I would have your tissues ready! It's very heartwarming and sad in places, but the comedy aspect surprisingly comes from the robot, not Hanks. Definitely a laugh-while-crying kind of film.

 

   Another film I watched is Wolfwalkers. It just has everything I absolutely love: wolves, strong females, friendship and did I mention the wolves? 😁  For me it's perfect in every way, the animation is beautiful and the story isn't overly complicated. Also has a very satisfying ending that made me want to jump into the screen and join them! If anyone is into Irish folklore or simply loves wolves then this film is for you! It is on Apple TV but it also recently got a DVD release in a trilogy collection of the other Cartoon Saloon films, which I would also recommend watching! (Song of the Sea and Secret of the Kells).

[TinyLove_CJ]

   A while ago I watched Everything Everywhere All At Once and was going to gush about how great the film is at the time but it slipped my mind! 😅

 

   It really is a great film, I absolutely adore Michelle Yeoh and think her acting in EEAAO is some of her best yet! I hadn't read any spoilers before watching it but had read that it can be seen as a very complicated film and way over the top with being too bizarre. With that in mind I wasn't sure if I would like it, and maybe I wouldn't even understand the film at all. I was not disappointed though! It IS bizarre and probably deserves to be watched more than once to understand the full picture. It's hilarious, thrilling and also sad in parts, and you really have to stick with it for everything to make sense. I think people will either love it or hate it but either way it will leave a lasting impression and probably more questions than answers.

 

And if there's a couple of things I can take away from this film it's that: 1. I should never trust people who keep adult toys at work, and 2. Never NEVER put everything on a bagel! 😁

[TinyLove_CJ]

   Not really a film recommendation (but there is a book connection), yesterday I watched the 25th anniversary special of The Phantom of the Opera performance done at Royal Albert Hall (aired on Sky Arts and can be watched online). I've never seen the musical myself at the theatre but my word that performance was wonderful! 

   10 minutes in and I was already crying at the music, then I cried at the end and then Sarah Brightman was a specail guest right at the very end after the show and she sings 'Phantom of the Opera', which made me cry all the more! 😭

  The music from Phantom is very special to me and even though I only watched this on TV I was still enthralled by every minute of it. I dread to think what I would be like if I do ever see it at a theatre, I'm gonna need a LOT of tissues!

   It's definitely something I would watch again and recommend to anyone if you're into your musicals! I really want to watch the film versions too to see how they compare as well.

 

   Now I did read the book by Gaston Leroux a few years ago and the musical definitely holds up to it. Some things are different and the book goes into more detail with the character development of the lead roles. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the book and found the story quite beautiful actually.