Camelot (2011)

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Since I am a huge fan of the Arthurian saga, I am always on the look out for new adaptations of the myth. So as you can imagine I was very much excited about this show when I first heard it was coming out, but I am afraid that I was rather dissapointed because I did have much higher expectations.

 "You are not made of Kings, boy!"

Fist of all, I honestly did not like Jamie Campbell Bower as King Arthur. I mean seriously apart from the fact that he is a blonde, scrawny feminine male lead the boy cannot act. Seriously. He like empty of air and blood walking around trying to pretend that he is the one and future King. I totally found myself wishing Morgan -Eva Green- will kick his pathetic, blonde ass.

On the other hand Morgan was an amazing excellent choice. Eva Green brings something really new and fresh in the role of Morgan Pendargon and although you can see how seriously wrong she is about Igraine you can totally understand why and feel for her. I mean she was just a little girl whose mother was murdered by her own barbarian father and was send away in a nunery. Can you rwally blame her for hating Igraine? I definately cannot. She is a very human, kick ass, amazingly impressive Igraine. All she has to do is walk in the room and your blood is freezing! I did like her voice and how she spoke her lines and that extra edge which she puts in every word and how she drugs her voice. I do wish we had a little more information about what was going on on that nunery of hers and maybe just maybe a few flashbacks.

Now, Tamsin Egerton is very beautiful. So beautiful, I am feeling sorry that I did not like her Guinevere. I did not found her acting good and sometimes she looked like she was bored, but then again with that Arthur why she wouldn't be. I did not think there was chemistry between her and Arthur, but I did like her with Leontes and I have to admit that she was more alive with him. Another think is that I keep wondering how the writers where excactly planning to continue the story and lead her to meet the love of her life Lancelot without her being a total floozy that makes a habbit of cheating her husband. However I did like the way the built the story and how the distinction between how things really happened and how the legend of  King Arthur says they did. An excellent example is how the story of the Lady of the Lake and the sword in the stone was created.

Merlin and Igraine were interesting characters and well-portraited and there story was really worth watching and I do wish they had more screen time.

I actually enjoyed Camelot because I did like the way it told the story and because of the kick ass Morgan, but it could have been such a better show if they haven't miscasted Arthur and it would have been such a welcome surprise if I actually didn't wish Morgan to have it all, the Pedragon castle, Camelot, the crown and Guinivere so that she can show the little brat how things are done!

Jeune fille by Anne Wiazemsky

Jeune fille by Anne Wiazemsky

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


In the spring of 1965 the French director Robert Bresson asked a17 year old girl, Anne Wiazemsky, to be his leading lady in his next movie "Au Hasard Balthasar".
Forty years after her first cinematographic experience Anne is wondering if  he wasever in love with her.
"Jeune Fille" is a book immensely exciting in its amazing simplicity with well portraited characters and a story as interesting as only life can write. It describes the addictive, possesive and controlling relationship between Anne and Bresson and how that changed her life for ever. Those two had a chemistry despite their age difference and they had intense feelings for each other, but it never stoped them from hearting each other at various points. Bresson had a power over Anne and although he was known for treating his actors in a possesive, authoritan way he did go over the edge with her. They were leaving in the same house, with adjoying bedrooms and he tried to control every part of her life in and out of the set and he did try to stop her from developping any king of relatioship with other members of the crew, keeping her a 'prisoner'. Anne felt strongly about Bresson and admired him deeply and strangely enough he was the reason that her sex life started. She took a lover, someone from the crew in a desperate attemp to regain a little control over her life and escape Bresson's control. Bresson grew so possessive over her that on finishing filming Au Hasard Balthasar asked her for the role of Guinivere in "Lancelot du Lac" on condition that she will never film with anyone other than him. Of course this never came to pass but its an excellent example of their relationship.
This is a book about a girl leaving her safe world and middle class family in order to enter the dazzling world of cinema and the adulthood under rather strange but also amazingly interesting circumstances. I remembered how it was when I was her age and I found myself thinking that I was ,at times, like her.

“I have been happy with you”, Anne told him.
“Me, too. Living near you has given me a great deal. . . your youth has made me young. . . Often I was your age. . . You will understand later on . . . later”
And, thus it is later Anne Wiazemsky will write one of the very best books I read this year. A pure wonder, simple but absolute. An excellent piece of literature.



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Crazy Ladies by Michael Lee West

This is a story about 6 unforgetable southern women- Miss Gussie; her daughters, Dorothy and Clancy Jane; Gussie's granddaughters, Violet and Bitsy; and Queenie, who had been with Miss Gussie's maid.
The book starts with a young Miss Gussie trying to calm her daughter Dorothy who has a colic and ending up killing a serial rapist in defense of herself and this is only the begining of misfortunes, tragedies, wrong desicions, misunderstandings and wrong desicions that those 6 women will make in a story takes place over 40 years, from 1932 to 1972.
The characters are well drawn and what I found really interesting is that I found a little piece of myself in every single one. While I was reading the book I tried to indentify myself with one of the characters especially Dorothy or Clancy Jane and I realised that depending the occasion I was all of them. That made them real and I ended up to really care about them. Especially poor Dorothy who was so mitreated by everyone and especially by her own mother. She was so sad and unloved thatt it was no surprise that she ended up like she did. She was a little crazy but honestly who isn't.
The story was interesting and had some unexpected turns and it was writen in a very nice style. It's woman had her own voice so you could actually see the story from everyone's point of view. Quite post-modern now that I come to think about it.
I cjoose this book because I liked the title and because the summary reminded me of "Divine secrets of the Ya Ya sisterhood" which is one of my most favorite books and it is about southern crazy ladies as well. I really liked and it was easy to read and I highly recommended to anyone who is into that short of fiction, but it didn't superpass the "Divine secrets of the Ya ya sisterhood"

Winter in Madrid

Winter in Madrid by C.J. Sansom

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


The sroty takes place after the civil war and during WW2 in Spain. The author must have done quite a research and I think he captures the atmosphere of Madrid at that period quite nicely.
This had a potential to be a really great novel.I mean there was a war, a traitor, a reluctant spy, an abused woman and a love triangle, but unfortunately it didn't live up to my expectations.The story had potentials but I didn't like the way the author painted the characters.In my opinion he was far more concentrated in the historical events so the characters of the book elude him completely. I mean I can understand why Harry turns out to be so bitter after loosing the love of his life but why he was so pathetic and indifferent in the beginingof the novel I cannot tell.And how about Barbara why was she so traumatized because some kids were teasing her about her hair? As far as I am concerned the characters were very little described/analysed and somehow they do not feel complete.They are more fragments of a personality than a whole complete person which you can love or hate. I remained indifferent to them through out the whole book. The only character that intriguided me a little was Sandy the villain of the story but then again he was not portraited as he should have been.
Another thing that bothered me is that none of the love stories was believable and I really could not warm up to any of the 2 couples of the book. Simply you cannot understand why those people love its other. Its something sudden and inexplicable and maybe that is what love is but the author failed to described it a way that will make the reader feel part of the magic that is love and being in love. It's simple something that happens in order to continue the narrative of the story.It's really a pity because I do love a nice well portraited love story.
The book on the whole was not bad it was easily read and I quite enjoyable especially for describing Spain in such hard and controversial times, but it lacked really nice, interested, well portraited characters that will make you feel about them and become part of their story



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The girl with the dragon tatto

This was a highly enjoyable book. I have bought it almost 3 years ago and for some reason I could not bring myself to read it. I have read the first pages got bored and droped it, but I never really leave a book for ever I consider it an unforgivable waste so this summer I picked it up again. And it was a wise choice. Now I cannot wait to read the rest of the trilogy.
It has a very interesting plot and a lot of characters. The author creates a complicated story with a lot of aspects but he manages not to leave any loose ends.
Salander is a very unlikely and unorthodox heroine even for a modern crime mystery but she manages to keep your interest and she even makes you to like her. In fact I wish there was a little more of her in the book, but I hope that her appearence and role will escalate in the next two books and I do hope that she and Michael -the other hero of the book- the journalist who actually has ethics and morals, will meet again.
The book has a lot of complicated characters which are very well portraited and its story is not easily predictable. It was only before the end that I managed to guess whta have actually happend to Harriet at least parts of it. For this I have Agatha Christie to thanks and o long history of crime-mystery reading during summer. So when I actually found a book that took me so long to figure out what was going on and still managed to surprise me in some aspects I was absolutely thrilled.
Finally the author talks about some really serious and tabboo issues such as sexual absuse and incest and it makes you confront a hard and unpleasant reality.

The whole trilogy has been adapted for the big screen nad were directed by Niels Arden Oplev
The girl with the dragon tattoo
The girl who played with fire
The girl who kicked the hornests nest
and an american adaptation of "The girl with the dragon tatto" is expected directed by David Fincher , starring Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist and Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander . 

I have seen the first swedish movie and although I have heard a lot of praise for it I cannot say I liked it. Not that it was bad or totally uninteresting, but honestly it didn't do the book justice. In my personal opinion they have changed crusial parts of the story. It was not unfaithful to the book, god knows I have seen worst adaptations but as far as I am concerned they simply changed the wrong things. For example they altered the relationship between Michael and Erica and they deminished it to nothing. It was a complicated unsual relationship that showed a great deal for the character of Michael and they should have included it. They also changed the realationship of Michael and Lisbeth in a most crusial and annoying way. In the book its Lisbeth who fells for Michael not the other way around and it was agood think too, because it showed a more 'sentimental' side of her. Furthermore, I didn't like the actress that portaited Lisbeth. She did her best and she wasn't bad , but she failed to capture Lisbeth's essence and her eyes were way to expressive. I mean she was constantly walking around showing emotions while Lisbeth is or better appears to be a cold, little girl with tones of bad attitude who shows absolutely no emotions. And what was all that about Lisbeth's backround?

The Russian Concubine by Kate Furnivall

The Russian Concubine by Kate Furnivall

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


It is the story of Lydia Ivanona, a teenage thief, a political refugee from Russia, who tries to survive in the harsh world of China with her mother and fells in love with a Chinese communist.


I have to admit that I do love historical novels and this one had all the potential for a great story since the beginning.Bolsevics, Russia, Revolution, poverty, opium, China, forbidden love, criminals, communists.I have to admit that I was a little dissapointed when we moved out from Russia so fast but Chine draw me into her world really fast.
It was a really nice, interesting, well read story with interesting characters.What I liked about them was that they were no saints (even the highly morally and principled, like the headmaster of Lydia's school, who against his better self is drawn into a world of corruption and opium) they have flaws and they are human but you come to like them.What I also liked is that China is also a character in this book.It definately captivated me and made me wanna know more about China, its history and culture.
The love story war an interesting one, too.It has all the potential for a great love story and Lydia and Chang An Lo can be put in the long list of curshed lovers.What I didn't like so much is that Lydia was too fond of Chang too fast too easy, no wonder under the circumstances they met, but on the other had he was a communist and her family's miseries were due to them and she kind of warmed up to his communists theories too.I did expect to see her give it some though first.Somehow it seemed too rapid I know in her position I would do so.I wouldn't stop myself from loving him but I would definately be uncomfortable and not to easy to give in to him.I do think its the natural reaction.
One other thing I find quite strange was the title. After I read the book I can understand it of course, its due to the mother, but its Lydia that is the leading character not Valentina so it is kind of an odd choice."The Girl from Junchow" which is the title of the next book of K.F. it is more like what the title should be in this book.Anyway it is not very disturbing, it's just odd.

To sum up, this book is interesting, entertaining, easily read wth interesting characters and a nice story.I have read better but this works your time

The Legend of Robin Hood (1975)

Since there has been a new Robin Hood film I remembered my love for the legend a took a look in old and favorite Robin Hood films/series. The Legend of Robin Hood was a six part television series. Broadcast in late 1975 it then promptly disappeared for three decades until a petition campaign by Robin Hood fans encouraged its DVD release. During its absence the series became something of a legend in its own right.Filmed most in interior sets, like most of the BBC programs of that era (remember sense and sensibility). The historical content is not totally accurate but then again we are talking about a mini series with aim to entertain and after all Robin Hood is a legend who knows what is real or not.Martin Potter makes a very decent and remarkable Robin Hood not as stanning as Error Flyn but then again this mini series has a very different point of view for the legend of Robin Hood from the 1932 classic film. In this version he is wrongfully outlawed by King Richard himself, who believes Robin deserted him on the brink of departure for the Crusades. Potter is appropriately youthful, aggressive, but with the educated tone of a Saxon Lord. The main plot line involves the scheming Sheriff of Nottingham Guy of Gisborne as they assist Prince John to take the throne from King Richard. In this mini series you will not find the dashing style of Error Flynn or Richard Greene nor the dark mysticism of other version like the 1991 with Uma therman and it is definately nothing like the beloved extravaganza with Kevin Costner. It is simple and subtle full of quite energy and outstanding performances. Totally worth watching even if you are not a Robin Hood maniac. It is also amazing how well it stands the passing of the time even though you can tell that is an old, low budget production.