The Beacon's one-stop guide to music, film, dining and culture.
By
FEAST YOUR EYES ON ... "ALICE IN WONDERLAND"
Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" doesn't live up to the euphoria promised by its trailer, but it is visually stunning, funny and recognizably Burton-esque.
Helena Bonham Carter, who plays the Queen of Hearts, does a really fantastic job at her role. She can so naturally make the viewer cringe. In one scene, she calls out for a pig and says, "I love a warm pig belly for my aching feet."
Depp, the film's boasted star, isn't as impressive. Like his performance in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Depp's roles as the crazed mastermind of an alternate universe is a little too creepy, and at this point, exhausted. The Mad Hatter's increased presence in Burton's version didn't add to the film, but made it feel more like déjà vu.
Burton's Alice is quirky, strong and amusing. She is a mixture of an Attention Deficit Disorder and a message that "it's okay to be different." The great thing about this film is that it doesn't just say that different is "okay," but it's best. More children's stories should be doing that.
Even though it's easy to reduce the character down to a few clichés, screenwriter Linda Woolverton created inspiring little terms and sayings that were creatively put and delightfully un-pedestrian.
The fight between the red and white queens at the end of Alice brought up a curious question. Is Burton trying to empower young women with Alice's triumphant battle? Or is he very conveniently setting the film up for its matching video game? It's sad when the business aspect of the film industry is obviously recognizable, but unfortunately, this seems to be the case.
Because college student generation almost certainly saw the Disney version at a young age, the film presents an opportunity to examine its characters in a different light. Burton's film honed in on the periphery in order to draw out the short plotline and found some interesting insights on the way.
But I still don't get why a raven is like a writing desk.
- Jessie Hethcoat
FOR FANS OF "THE NOTEBOOK," READ ... "THE LAST SONG"
Apparently Nicholas Sparks thought that the world needed another one of his sappy, crappy romance novels. Sparks meets expectations with his latest book "The Last Song."
It follows the format of the rest of his novels (I guess it's time for me to admit that I have read almost all of them). Take characters with problems who meet more characters with problems, add the token two people who fall in love though their relationship defies all the odds, add a dosage of a terminal illness and combine it with some sort of random hobby masquerading as a theme and you have a bestseller.
Don't forget the painfully predictable ending in which everything comes full circle and the characters live happily every after.
"The Last Song" is the story of 17-year-old New Yorker Ronnie Miller who is forced to spend the summer with her father in North Carolina. Ronnie is cold and bitter because she hasn't talked to her dad since her parents' divorce.
A fledging piano star, Ronnie has even shunned music in her anger. Ronnie first encounters the locals who are known for causing trouble, and is framed for shoplifting.
But then she meets Wrightsville Beach's golden boy, Will Blakelee. Of course, they fall in love, though Will's family opposes their relationship.
The couple shares a truly precious summer saving beach turtles, winning volleyball games and becoming closer. But their relationship must come to an end, which it does when their respective secrets surface.
Sparks attempts to hit the reader with a curve ball at the end, though I totally saw it coming. Ronnie emerges from the conflict strong and changed for the better.
She gets her life back on track and all of her dreams, including an acceptance to Julliard (though she applied three months late - really?) and a valiant Will returns to New York to stay by her side (gag me!) become reality.
I only wish my own life could pan out so well.
Sparks once again wins the hearts of his readers with his enigmatic characters and fluid storytelling. Just if you choose to read, take the story at mere face value: There is nothing deeper to uncover here.
- Laura Frazier
RAYMOND CARVER ENTHUSIASTS MIGHT LIKE ... "THE COLLECTED STORIES OF AMY HEMPEL"
What do a dog-obsessed divorcée, a sickly art critic and a nomadic orphaned teenager have in common? They are all characters in "The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel," a dense compilation of the works of the critically acclaimed short story writer.
Although the collection includes a 60 page novella, most of the stories are only a few pages long. Because of this, each word is important, making the carefully constructed prose almost lyrical.
Hempel, who describes herself as a minimalist, does an amazing job of conveying meaning in the everyday, even mundane experiences of her characters in a beautiful and intriguing way.
As a creative writing teacher at Harvard College, Hempel asks her students to answer one fundamental question in their stories: Why are you telling me this?
"Someone out there will be asking, and you'd better have a very compelling answer or reason," she said in an interview with Powells.com writer Dave Weich.
Hempel's answers are always compelling, but never blatant. The readers must reflect and interpret the meaning for themselves.
One common theme throughout the collection addresses the different ways in which people ease the pain of their own loneliness, which not exactly a lighthearted matter but it is easy to find humor in the characters' cynicism.
Pick up "The Collected Stories" even if you've never read short stories for fun. It is an excellent introduction to that exciting aspect of the literary world.
- Corey Fawcett
