The Mysteries of Pittsburgh

COMING SOON TO CINEMA - April 2009
Starring: Jon Foster, Peter Sarsgaard, Sienna Miller, Nick Nolte

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh is a 1988 novel by American author Michael Chabon. The story is a coming-of-age tale set during the early 1980s in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was Chabon's first novel, which he began writing when he was a twenty-one-year-old undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh


PLOT:
Narrator Art Bechstein is recently graduated from college, a likeable, educated but unmotivated guy who takes a job at a dreary bookstore and waits to see what the summer after his graduation has in store for him.

Going back to the school library to finish some work necessary to get his degree, he catches the eye of Phlox, an oddly-named girl with overdone makeup and dress but who has a certain attractive charm. He also soon meets Arthus Lecomte, a young gay man who wants to be a foreign diplomat, and who has a knack for getting house-sitting jobs. Soon he is in a convertible with Arthur and the cheerful Mohammed, driving too fast in a small convertible that Art is careful not to fall out of, on their way to a party that effectively kicks off the action of the novel.

The entire novel takes place in the course of the summer after Art's graduation, and there is a sense that the events of those few months will define Art as a person - his relationship with his gangster father, his ambiguous sexuality, and his relationship with the troubled and fascinating character Cleveland are all put to the test

Book Rating:

The Soloist

COMING SOON TO CINEMA
Release Date: April 24th, 2009 (wide)

PLOT: Based on the true story of Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx), a musical prodigy who developed schizophrenia during his second year at Juilliard School. Ayers becomes homeless in the streets of downtown Los Angeles, playing the violin and the cello. Robert Downey Jr. portrays Steve Lopez, a Los Angeles Times columnist who discovers Ayers and writes about him in the newspaper. As Lopez endeavours to help the homeless man find his way back, a unique friendship is formed, one that transforms both their lives.

Book Review

Nathaniel Ayers was a prodigy, an African American musician who was accepted to Juliard to play and to study classical bass. During his second year at that school he developed schizophrenia and was quickly unable to function in such a demanding environment. He was forced to drop out. Before long he was broke and homeless, living on the streets. But despite the adversity in his life, his musical talent did not abandon him. Neither did his passion for classical music.

Thirty years later reporter Steve Lopez walked by him as Ayers was standing in Los Angeles’ Skid Row playing a two-string violin. Intrigued by the possibilities of a good story, Ayers wrote about this strange “Violin Man” and was shocked by the reaction these articles received. But as time passed, Ayers became less of a curiosity and more of a friend. Though still inflicted with his illness and exhibiting many of its more pronounced and erratic symptoms, Lopez takes a real interest in his new friend and helps him find permanent lodging, reconnects him to his family and even connects him to the classical music scene in L.A

Hotel For Dogs

Hotel for Dogs is a film adaptation of the Lois Duncan novel of the same name about two orphans who take in stray dogs at an empty house.

Andi (Emma Roberts) and Bruce (Jake T. Austin), who have been forced to hide their ownership of their beloved dog, Friday, as they move from one foster home to another. The resourceful kids stumble upon an abandoned hotel and using Bruce's talents as a mechanical genius, transform it into a magical dog-paradise for Friday--and eventually for all Friday's friends. When barking dogs make the neighbours suspicious, Andi and Bruce use every invention they have to avoid anyone discovering "who let the dogs in."


Book Rating

There are several appealing qualities to this story - animals, children who don't always agree or get along with each other, a secret conspiracy that would fall apart if the parents found out, a bully that is ingeniously bested.

Lois Duncan (born Lois Duncan Steinmetz, April 28, 1934) is an American writer and novelist, known primarily for her books for children and young adults, in particular (and sometimes controversially considering her young readership) crime thrillers.

Movie Rating
The film has received mixed reviews. It currently holds a 45% rotten on Rotten Tomatoes, and was given a 2 star rating in the Chicago Sun Times. The film opened at #5 for the January 16-19 weekend with $17,707,000 and is estimated to have earned $22,500,000 total over the 4-day weekend

Twilight

Twilight is a 2008 American romantic-fantasy film directed by Catherine Hardwicke and based on the novel of the same name by Stephenie Meyer. The film stars Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan, a teenage girl who falls in love with vampire Edward Cullen, portrayed by Robert Pattinson

Plot: Bella Swan's move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Bella's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Bella, the person Edward holds most dear.

The filmmakers behind Twilight worked to create a film that was as faithful to the book as they thought possible when converting the story to another medium, with producer Greg Mooradian saying, "It's very important to distinguish that we're making a separate piece of art that obviously is going to remain very, very faithful to the book.... But at the same time, we have a separate responsibility to make the best movie you can make."

In order to ensure a faithful adaptation, author Stephenie Meyer was kept very involved in the production process, having been invited to visit the set during filming and even asked to give notes on the script and on a rough cut of the film.

Movie Rating





The Book

Twilight quickly gained recognition and won numerous honours, including:

• A New York Times Editor's Choice
• A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
• An Amazon.com "Best Book of the Decade...So Far"
• A Teen People "Hot List" pick
• An American Library Association "Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults" and "Top Ten Books for Reluctant Readers”

The novel reached #5 on the New York Times Best Seller list for young adult chapter books and has been translated into 20 languages.


Book Rating




p.s: there will be a second installment for Twilight (11.20.09). The movie will be based on the second novel in author Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series titled, New Moon. (source: stephenie meyer official website)

Watchmen

Originally published as a 12 issue DC comics series by Alan Moore, Watchmen is set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society, and the Doomsday Clock -- which charts the USA's tension with the Soviet Union -- moves closer to midnight.

Movie Consenus: Visually powerful, intense and uncompromising, Watchmen is an epic comic-book film whose technical and thematic strengths overwhelm its narrative shortcomings. (source: rottentomato)




The Book



Book (Comic) Rating
"A work of ruthless psychological realism, it's a landmark in the graphic novel medium. It would be a masterpiece in any."-TIME, TIME MAGAZINE's 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present

Movie Rating

The movie is definitely worth seeing, especially if you are a fan, but it won't be one of those movies where you have to see it twice or three times. Plus if you can endure for 2 1/2 hours.