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Film Review: The Nonstop Action of ‘Divergent’ Dominates
Veronica Roth’s film adaptation of her dystopian YA novel Divergent is an action-packed narrative with a brave, young heroine and handsome love interest that diverges enough from The Hunger Games with some familiar overlap.
The Northern Frights
Gr 3–6—Youngsters familiar with the earlier books in this series would be the best audience for this lackluster addition, as frequent references are made to characters and plot developments without adequate explanation...
Into the Dragon’s Lair | SLJ Reviews 'The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug'
Multiple beheadings, one impaling, and an omnipresent necromancer—these are just three indications that director Peter Jackson’s adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s 1937 adventure/fantasy The Hobbit has taken a dark turn. The short novel has been expanded into what might amount to a nearly nine-hour-long trilogy—turning what seems a fireside yarn in print into an overlong saga on the screen.
Smoldering Glances and Hot-and-Humid Heroics | SLJ Reviews ‘Catching Fire’ Film
In this second foray into Suzanne Collins’s “Hunger Games” trilogy, the filmmakers approach Catching Fire’s dystopian derring-do with deadly seriousness. Though a new director, Francis Lawrence, has taken over the franchise from The Hunger Games’s Gary Ross, it has been a smooth transition.
Death Comes to the Multiplex | SLJ Reviews 'The Book Thief' Film
How does a filmmaker adapt Markus Zusak’s bestseller The Book Thief, written in Death's candid point of view? Director Brian Percival tackles that question and more in this atypical family movie set in Nazi Germany. Starring Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, and Sophie Nélisse, the adaptation expands to theaters nationwide in the coming weeks.
Kissing Cousins, Killing Fields | SLJ Reviews 'How I Live Now' Film
For those who can’t wait two more weeks to see Catching Fire, relief is at hand. The taut How I Live Now offers a slimmed down dystopian world at its most bucolic—a survival tale meets hot-and-heavy first love with a punkish swagger. The screenwriters have tweaked the snarky-but-soft-hearted narration of Meg Rosoff’s absorbing novel (Random, 2004), but given the heroine a still-defiant voice.
Kids in Space, Trained to Kill | SLJ Reviews ‘Ender’s Game’ Film
There are moments in the sleek-but-not-too-flashy adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game when the film takes flight. It feels like child’s play, and the audience forgets briefly that the on-screen kids, the smartest in the world, are being groomed to kill at a Battle School in space. The screenplay hews closer to the book than a potential franchise template.
Bedeviled, Besotted, and Bewildered | SLJ Reviews 'City of Bones' Film
The first movie adaptation of Cassandra Clare’s popular series, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, is out in theaters on August 21. Lily Collins as Clarissa “Clary” Fray and Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace star in the action-fantasy, which provides the thrill of the chase and a sprinkling of the romance for its core audience.
Olympian Family Matters | SLJ Reviews 'Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters' Film
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: Sea of Monsters comes roaring into theaters on August 7. SLJ reviews this page-to-screen adaptation of the second installment of Rick Riordan's ultra-popular series.
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