Eragon & other holiday stuff

[wiseheart]

We went to see Eragon - the movie today. Mum liked it a lot, and actually so did I. It wasn't half bad for an extremely shortened and dumbed-down movie version of a fairly mediocre fantasy novel. Granted, the fact that I didn't really care for the source made it easier to enjoy the movie (although I was a bit insulted that they took out the Dwarves entirely). But the casting was good - somehow all the characters were likeable, well, except the evil ones, of course, but we loved to hate those - the Elf woman didn't look like a cloned Barbie doll (although I missed the pointed ears, source or no source), and the dragon was cute.

Mum, who's not into fantasy stuff, liked it because the plot was so simplistic that she didn't need looong explanations afterwards to understand the motivation of the characters - and because she didn't have problems to make a difference between the different guys. They looked different enough. And, of course, the massive Hungarian cooperation (see: crew list in the end credits) made it even more valuable for our ailing patriotic pride (LOTR only could produce Márton Csókás, and he's not even full Hungarian, not to mention he was given the false role, IMO, but let's not fight about that now...)

In any case, it was a nice, simple little movie. Not one I'd ever wish to watch again, but not half as bad as I've feared. Apparently, it's a lot easier to make nice, enjoyable movies out of mediocre books than out of great ones. Earthsea being another proof for the opposite, eh?

Other than that, Xmas break is going away with alarming spead. The fact that Mum has taken free, too, is part of the reason. I love that woman, I really do, but she's obsessed with the frigging flat we live in. If she could make me, we'd be washing curtains, brushing carpets, polishing doorknobs, scrubbing corners all the time. So far, she has scheduled me a visit in the cemetery, a complete change of the bedlinens, cleaning the frigging flat and several trips for shopping for food. You'd never believe that we're a household of only two people!

Plus, when she's at home, I have the questionable pleasure to listen to idiotic Hungarian TV all the day (when we're not scrubbing the goddamn flat, that is). I only have a glass door between the living room and my study, and whatever she may tell you, her hearing is getting worse.

If that's what I have to expect when she retires for good, I might consider moving out. A nice little tent somewhere under a bridge sounds very tempting. It's really frustrating that I can't control what I do with my own spare time.

Due to Mum-related programmes, I made no headway with "The Young Knights" today. Two more chapter left, in only three days. In which I've got to visit the frigging cemetery on the other end of the city, and Budapest is a damn big city, I tell you.

Despite my serious efforts in the last fifty years, Mum still doesn't seem to realize that holidays have been invented for people to, you know, rest.

Comments

[skyfiery.livejournal.com]

I heard that Ursula LeGuin actually hated the production of that Earthsea series. Sparrowhawk is supposed to be dark-skinned, dammit, not light.

Muh.

[songfire3.livejournal.com]

I don't blame her - the series was pathetic... ;) As for Eragon - if you haven't read the book before you see the movie, I'd say the movie is not completely awful - just a standard 08/15 fantasy b-movie with half-baked characters and tons of special effects. If you actually have read the book - stay away from the movie! While the book is not exactly high fantasy literature (more kind of like a Tolkien/Robert Jordan crossover fic), it is quite entertaining, and considering the fact that the author was 15 at the time he wrote the book (!), well written. The movie? Not so.

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

Mediocre books do tend to make much better movies than good ones. I suspect that's because mediocre books are textually less dense, and so the resulting simpler story is easier to traslate into a linear, visual tale.

[disthrainsdotte.livejournal.com]

I think all mothers have the idea that hollidays have been invented for people to do things like cleaning flats and going to cemetaries. I remember from my visit that Budapest is a very big city and I guess that it takes a while to get there. Here is a hug for you and some carrots for you plot bunnies. (((Soledad)))