The Lovely Bones

[xwolverine2]

cant wait to have a lovely ***** watching the lovely bones

 

[CelticPredator]

Just watched it. It was OK. Some good moments, a few dodgy ones. (See the Harvey house break in scene, and the MONTAGE....ugh) But I found it decent. Tuci was awesome. And the Susin chick is pretty cute! (Hey, we're only 4 years apart....)

7/10.

 

[luke1234]

Its not his greatest flick, but it defintiely doesnt deserve a 39% on rottentomatoes. There was much to appreciate in the film and I give credit to Jackson for having the guts to portray the afterlife. Tucci deserves a nomination and the rest of the cast did a splendid job. The problem with this film was there was too much going on at once between the family/her afterlife/Tucci's character. It was 3 films rolled into one. Overall this film doesnt hurt or help Jacksons reputation. He is still a splendid director.

8/10

 

[Nirvana]

I went to go see this last night with a couple friends. I never read the book, but I knew about it and liked what I heard. It was directed by Peter Jackson and had a pretty good cast. Reviews were terrible but I was curious to check it out. In the end, I'm not sure what I thought of this movie. I don't know if it was actually really good, or if it was a bit much. I wouldn't go as far as to say the movie is bad, but it's definitely strong material and the themes of murder, death, and grief are very present here. It might not be much for people here, but I guess for me it was a bit closer to home than I had anticipated. The movie definitely has a lasting impact.

The story involves Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan), a 14 year old aspiring to become a photographer who lives a relatively average life with her parents, Jack and Abigail Salmon (Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz) and her sister, Lindsey (Rose McIver). All Susie wanted was to kiss the British kid from class, when on the way home she is met by her neighbor George Harvey (This is definitely an Oscar worthy performance by Stanley Tucci). He takes her to a secret clubhouse he built for the neighborhood kids only to rape and murder her. Susie is dead, unable to go forward, stuck in a purgatory of some sort until she is able to let go of her previous life. The rest of the movie deals with Mr. Harvey's lust arising again, the Salmons dealing with the lose of their child, Jack trying to find his daughter's killer, and life after death.

Peter Jackson definitely created a beautiful afterlife. No God, no Religion, and no contact with the living. Instead, the dead are watching us, present amongst us. I'm glad that the movie didn't go the spiritual route, it definitely would have made the movie feel preachy. Some of the CGI looks odd, but for the most part it is creative and quite pretty. The score is pretty good, too.

The acting for the most part is pretty good all around. Saoirse Ronan is pretty damn good, and gives a pretty heat-breaking performance coming to terms with her horrific death. I'd love to see her get an Oscar nod for her role in this, but that probably won't happen. And in a non-Catman-checking-out-underage-girls-with-unbroken-hymens, she's really cute. She has a natural innocence to her, which makes her fate all the more tragic. It doesn't help that she looks just like an older version of my friend's little sister.

I can't decide if Mark Wahlberg is a good actor or not. Given the vehicle he's in, he can be really good (See Boogie Nights) but most of the time he's pretty bad. I guess given the material he's in determines that. Thankfully, he's pretty good here. Although, he slips a few times. My friend said to me that Marky Mark is at his worst when he acts surprised or sad, and I totally agree. But for the most part, he's fairly consistent here. Rachel Weisz is hardly in the movie enough to comment on. But when she's there, she's quite good. Same with Susan Sarandon.

The real show stealer here is Stanley Tucci as Mr. Harvey. Tucci is usually the nice guy in all of his films or an ass. Here he completely departs from his norm and is transformed into a complete creep. The way he tries to entice little Susie will send chills down your spine. Complete pedo. It was funny seeing him with hair, too. But seriously, I doubt I'm going to be able to look at Stanley Tucci the same after his role in this. He definitely deserves an Oscar nomination for this.

Spoiler

Let's be realistic: We all knew Mr. Harvey was going to die or be captured by the end of the story. I guess his death is just a bit anti-climatic and leaves you feeling unsatisfied. Slipping off a ledge? Really?

All in all, beautifully made, but the subject material isn't for everyone. I guess I might be overreacting since the subject matter is a bit closer to me, but it might be completely fine for others. Apparently my sister read the book and saw the movie and absolutely loved it. So I guess it depends on you, really.

Also, Peter Jackson shameless advertises. A shot cuts into a book store and you see a huge sign for the Lord of the Rings books on sale, haha. Also, you see him in the background in one scene. It cuts to him three times!

 

[The Homer]

Loved this movie. LOVED IT. 11/10

 

[TLH]

Spoiler

Let's be realistic: We all knew Mr. Harvey was going to die or be captured by the end of the story. I guess his death is just a bit anti-climatic and leaves you feeling unsatisfied. Slipping off a ledge? Really?

Spoiler

Well, that's how it happens in the book. It works better in the novel, but I still think it was the right choice.

Plus, credit the film for not following convention. How many movies have we seen the murderer get caught? At least here there's some form of poetic justice. A lot of murderers in real life actually get away. This ending was somewhere in between. Salmon family doesn't know Mr. Harvey dies, but Mr. Harvey gets what's coming to him just the same.

Overall, glad to see you were, I think, positive on the film. It's not deserving of all the criticism. Not a perfect movie, but not bad by any stretch, either.

 

[Silvermoth]

about the ending...

Spoiler

I believe the film was about how Susie's death affects her family. It wasn't about justice or comeuppence and thats why the film didn't end with Susie being found and the killer being convicted etc. I was very happy with the ending. I think it suited the film perfectly.

Wasn't too happy about the last kiss though. I thought that was a bit corny.

 

[Kane52630]

i havent seen the film but i thought i would post a review i saw on youtube

 

[Episode29]

i havent seen the film but i thought i would post a review i saw on youtube

Ugh. That's one review that should have been left undiscovered in the deepest voids of cyberspace...

 

[bullets]

cant wait to have a lovely ***** watching the lovely bones

I don't think anyone could get a ***** watching this movie unless they are a pedophile serial killer .

 

[Kane52630]

or have a thing for Susan Sarandon (btw have you seen her daughter? wow :heart: )

 

[danoyse]

Ugh. That's one review that should have been left undiscovered in the deepest voids of cyberspace...

Oh come on, I never see a movie unless I check with reviews posted by random clueless people on YouTube!

Seriously, my 2-year-old nephew could have done a better review than that.

 

[Hush]

I realy loved how Jackson shot the movie, it was very very visually stimulating. Just the way he captured Suburb life. All the special effects aside, the sound and the shots were just great. I want to watch it again just to study how he edited it and such.

 

[bullets]

or have a thing for Susan Sarandon (btw have you seen her daughter? wow :heart: )

Eva does look good but oddly I still do find Susan Sarandon attractive.

 

[[A]]

I don't understand how could anyone call this wonderful

 

[Big Daddy]

Oh come on, I never see a movie unless I check with reviews posted by random clueless people on YouTube!

Seriously, my 2-year-old nephew could have done a better review than that.

Kane is just smitten for the reviewer (as should any sane straight male.) He asked her to join the hype

 

[Kane52630]

exactly so chill everyone

 

[danoyse]

Just tell her that "I didn't read the book but I read the synopsis" isn't the same thing as reading the book.

 

[CelticPredator]

I wish the ending was more satisfying. Maybe a longer, more prolonged scene.

 

[The Guard]

I thought it was pretty good, a bit disappointing here and there, but well made and well acted. The weakness of the film, in my mind, is its runtime. Some of the emotional breakdown elements of the story fell by the wayside because they simply didn't fit there. The filmmakers had to touch on a lot of things. I think this needed to be a three hour movie to work as well as it could have. I think people who read the book probably had a similar experience to WATCHMEN, wondering where some of the "meat" was. As adaptions go though, I thought it was pretty successful.

 

[TLH]

I thought it was pretty good, a bit disappointing here and there, but well made and well acted. The weakness of the film, in my mind, is its runtime. Some of the emotional breakdown elements of the story fell by the wayside because they simply didn't fit there. The filmmakers had to touch on a lot of things. I think this needed to be a three hour movie to work as well as it could have. I think people who read the book probably had a similar experience to WATCHMEN, wondering where some of the "meat" was. As adaptions go though, I thought it was pretty successful.

From what I know, Jackson had to cut a lot of the family drama (the affair, etc.) to get the film in a 2 hour runtime. Arguably the film would have been better had he trimmed the inbetween stuff and made room for more character development, but I'm sure we'll see a typical Peter Jackson extended cut on DVD.

 

[The Shape]

I thought it was pretty good, a bit disappointing here and there, but well made and well acted. The weakness of the film, in my mind, is its runtime. Some of the emotional breakdown elements of the story fell by the wayside because they simply didn't fit there. The filmmakers had to touch on a lot of things. I think this needed to be a three hour movie to work as well as it could have. I think people who read the book probably had a similar experience to WATCHMEN, wondering where some of the "meat" was. As adaptions go though, I thought it was pretty successful.

I disagree, and having read The Lovely Bones a few times, I think much of what made the book so compelling was lost in its translation to film. It's obvious that Jackson, being the CGI ham that he is, had a ball with the "inbetween" sequences. But those long, draw-out sequences are what ultimately drag the film down. I understand what Jackson was attempting to do, but even those other-worldy sequences have been trimmed and simplified from the novel's.

Stanley Tucci was quite excellent, and there are some great moments in the film, along with some interesting cinematography, but I still think the film was relatively uninspired, even when throwing out any comparisons to the book.

 

[The Guard]

The long, drawn out sequences aren't that long, though. A few minutes each, and there are what, a few of them? The issue is there's too much story to fit into a two and a half hour film. They had to chop it to pieces even to get what was THERE in the movie. This needed to be a three hour film, but it was never going to be, as it's just not really all that epic a story. I'm surprised it was even given two and a half hours.

 

[Apollo]

I remember when I really wanted to see this movie...

New Peter Jackson Movie?!?! Wait! He did LOTR!!! Its gonna get likes 100% on RottenTomatoes!!!! and Win Best picture!!!!

 

[luke1234]

Tucci's scene in the bathtub was haunting. Kind of reminded me of the old weird looking guy in Pans Labryinth with the eyes as hands.