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| Bonus #wcw Melissa Jaffer as Keeper of the Seeds saying "Kaboom!" |
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
#WCW Woman Crush Wednesday: Imperator Furiosa
There are many reasons I loved Mad Max: Fury Road. I loved the guy tied to a truck with bungee cords playing a guitar that shoots flames. I love that to make this movie the director actually had an actor attached to a truck with bungee cords play a guitar that actually shot flames. I love that this movie was essentially one long, glorious car chase. But most of all, I loved Imperator Furiosa.
I love action movies: the adventure, the explosions, the lone hero (or rag tag band) fighting impossible odds to save the day. Unfortunately, your standard action movie also tend to have at most one female character, and she's generally the one who needs saving, the hero's love interest, or both. Not so with Fury Road: Imperator Furiosa is the literal driving force of the movie's story. Even with a minimum of dialogue, the movie introduces a varied cast of characters (female and male) with distinct motivations.
Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) is on a mission to save a group of young women imprisoned as wives to a warlord, while Mad Max (Tom Hardy) is merely carried along for the ride. I don't want to drop any big spoilers in case you're waiting for the DVD or Blu-Ray (release date: September 1st), but this was one of my favorite movies of 2015 and I highly recommend you check it out.
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
You Read the Book (Maybe), Now See the Movie (Maybe): Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
Gillian Flynn, author of the bestseller Gone Girl, made into a movie starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike, now has another book that's been made into a movie.
Dark Places tells the story of Libby Day who was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered. Libby testified that her 15-year old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, she is leading a troubled life and is contacted by The Kill Club, who believe Ben is innocent and that the actual killer is free. Starting to doubt what she saw on the night of the murders, Libby agrees to work with the group and goes back to her hometown to relive the murders.
It's another thriller from Flynn and the movie (see the trailer here), starring Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, and Corey Stoll, looks to be as tense and riveting as Gone Girl. The movie opens on August 7.
Dark Places tells the story of Libby Day who was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered. Libby testified that her 15-year old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, she is leading a troubled life and is contacted by The Kill Club, who believe Ben is innocent and that the actual killer is free. Starting to doubt what she saw on the night of the murders, Libby agrees to work with the group and goes back to her hometown to relive the murders.
It's another thriller from Flynn and the movie (see the trailer here), starring Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, and Corey Stoll, looks to be as tense and riveting as Gone Girl. The movie opens on August 7.
Friday, July 10, 2015
Science Friday: Shark Week
After more than 25 years of Shark Week, you might think America would be losing interest in all things shark. Sharknado alone just screams that things have "jumped the shark," so to speak. Instead Sharknado has spawned its own franchise of campy films.
Despite what Hollywood might tell us, your average shark faces more danger from humans than we do of being attacked by a shark. Still, Jaws and Sharknado have their own appeal. With that in mind, we've put together a short list of books and DVDs mixing the educational and the entertaining.
If you're looking to swim with the sharks, we recommend checking out:
Soul Surfer: a true story of faith, family, and fighting to get back on the board by Bethany Hamilton, Sheryl Berk, & Rick Bundschuh
Surviving the Shark: how a brutal great white attack turned a surfer into a dedicated defender of sharks by Jonathan Kathrein, Margaret Kathrein, David McGuire, & Wallace Nichols
Sharks of the World by Leonard Compagno, Marc Dando, & Sarah Fowler
Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham
If you're looking to swim with the sharks, we recommend checking out:
Thursday, July 9, 2015
Tech Thursday: Michael Fassbender Transforms into Steve Jobs
If you haven't seen the trailer for Steve Jobs (based on the book by Walter Isaacson), here's a link to it. Starring Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs, Seth Rogan as Steve Wozniak, Kate Winslet as Joanna Hoffmann, and Jeff Daniels as John Sculley, the movie opens on October 9.What do you think? While Fassbender was probably not a lot of people's first thought for the role, after watching the trailer, it looks like he embodies Jobs very well.
If you're interested in this, here are some other books you might want to check out.
Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli
Powers of Two: Finding the Essence of Innovation in Creative Pairs by Joshua Wolf Shenk
Smarttribes: How Teams Become Brilliant Together by Christine Comaford-Lynch
Monday, April 28, 2014
The Varsity Was the Smallest
One of the laundromats near Loras College used to be a movie theater. Rich and Kay Manternach managed that theater, the Varsity at 1111 Loras Boulevard, during the 1950s.
Rich says, “Ray Duttle was the guy who originally put up the buildings on Loras, a theater and a grocery store.”
“My father, Gus Manternach, had a grocery store on Locust Street. He bought the new building on Loras from Ray Duttle, and opened Manternach’s Market.”
“Paul Weitz bought the theater. Weitz ran it for a while, but then sold it to my dad for about $14,000.”
“A man named O’Rourke, I can’t remember his first name, leased the theater from my dad. O’Rourke had a fire in the late 1940s, and he decided to get out of the movie business, so he subleased the Varsity to me.”
“That sublease from O’Rourke was kind of a thorn in my side,” Rich says. “I could have gotten a better deal from my dad. The Varsity had been completely renovated after the fire, though. It had a new screen, new drapes, and fresh paint.”
“I was at Loras College on the G.I. Bill around that time, from ‘48 to ‘52. I majored in economics with a minor in accounting. Since I was getting into the movie business, my thesis at Loras was The Monopolistic Practices of the Movie Industry.”
“You see, all the big movie theaters in Dubuque, like the Strand, Avon, and Grand, were owned by one person,” Rich says. “The smaller theaters, like the State, RKO Orpheum, and the Capitol on the north end, were owned individually.”
Kay says, “The Varsity was the smallest.”
"Well, wasn’t the Capitol about the same size as the Varsity, Kay?” asks Rich. “Up by your neighborhood by 22nd and Central, on the corner where Hartig's is?”
Kay says, "I thought the Capitol was a little bigger, but I could be wrong."
Rich says, “The Varsity had 205 seats. When you first walked into the theater, we had a box office up front, a popcorn machine, and there were steps up to the projection room. Inside, the seats sloped down toward the screen, which was all the way in the back.”
“Tickets were 14 cents for a child and 40 cents for an adult," Rich says.
Kay says, "The Varsity only ran evening movies. The only matinees were Saturdays and Sundays. We were closed on Wednesday nights."
"We had two changes of movies each week,” Rich explains. “Movies would run for three days, usually one main feature and a cartoon, maybe short subjects and previews of coming attractions.”
“They were all second-run films, sometimes the third and fourth run, because there were so many theaters in Dubuque,” Rich says.
“We had From Here to Eternity, with Ernest Borgnine and Frank Sinatra and . . . who was that guy who died, Montgomery Clift?” asks Rich.
Kay says, “Lana Turner in The Bad and the Beautiful, I think that was the first movie we ran. That was a big hit.”
"And Frankenstein was a big movie, a big draw.” Kay says. “One Halloween we paid someone to dress up as Frankenstein, but we hadn't advertised it. When the time came, Rich lowered the lights, and Frankenstein came down the middle aisle, and the people shrank toward the walls. I remember that."
Rich laughs, "Since Kay is younger than me, she remembers quite a bit!"
Kay says, “Gregory Peck and To Kill a Mockingbird. James Cagney was popular, and we had a couple of his movies. There were a lot of musicals, which they don't have today."
Rich says, "I liked The Three Stooges. Kay didn't like them, but they were so crazy!"
Kay says, "Oh, you know what else was popular? The cowboy movies. Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. I remember those."
Rich says, "I know one thing that kept people coming back. The Strand was noted for serials. They'd show The Lone Ranger for 15 minutes, and then the following week they’d have the next episode.”
“They'd get all the kids in there on Saturday afternoons. Their mothers would give them 15 or 20 cents to go away, to go to the movies down at the Strand. Kids from all over wanted to go.”
“The cartoons were good back then, too. Bugs Bunny and, uh . . . ." Rich looks at Kay.
Kay says, "Road Runner."
Rich says, "Popeye, you know. They were good back then. I loved 'em.”
"Cartoons and features were separate,” Rich continues. “Our distributor was out of Des Moines. They'd have a salesman who'd come around, and he'd want to sell you the films.”
“If it was The Lone Ranger or something, it'd be $12.50, or maybe $15 for a three-day showing. Higher-grossing movies would be around $17.”
“If it was something like Gone with the Wind or From Here to Eternity, they put it in on a percentage basis, like 20% or 35% of the gross,” Rich says.
“To keep you honest on that, they'd take the number off of your ticket stock. They had a key to the theater, and they'd come in and drop off the reels in steel cases with handles.”
“Long films would have four or five reels, in 35 mm. We had two projection booths. The projectors were Simplex. You had to switch reels over with a pedal on the floor,” Rich says.
“As the film would progress near the end, there'd be a dot on the right hand corner, and that was when you'd start the other reel going. When the second dot came, you'd hit the pedal, and that switched you over to the other machine.”
“If the film broke, you'd pull the reel out and restart it on another reel. When you got through, you'd take that over and splice it with glue. They had a splicing machine, and you'd just glue it up there and put it back in, and it didn't delay the movie.”
“Simplex projectors were popular,” Rich says. “They had carbon-arc lamps. You had to put the carbons into them and they were self-fed. I don't think they use those, anymore.”
"I did everything upstairs.” Rich says. “I was in the projection room most of the time. They had a buzzer downstairs in case of trouble. Once in a while Kay would say I dozed off."
Kay says, "He'd fall asleep and the screen would go dark, and the buzzer wouldn't wake him up. We had a broom downstairs, and I’d take the broom handle and bang on the ceiling.”
"I worked full-time in an office after I graduated in ‘52,” Kay says, “but I'd go up to the Varsity at night and sell tickets for Rich, because I was free help."
Rich says, “I'd give her popcorn, but no money.”
Kay says, “Yeah, he didn't pay me.”
“Before the Varsity, Kay worked at the RKO Orpheum, where Five Flags is now.” Rich says, laughing. “She used to get me in free!"
“I worked at the Orpheum for about a year and a half when I was a kid,” Kay explains. "I was 15. I lied about my age to get the job. We wore uniforms. I was an usher.”
“It was fun,” Kay says. “A big deal. 40 cents an hour. We got two free passes a week and all the popcorn you could eat, if you saved the original box.”
“My sister Phyllis helped me at the Varsity, too,” Rich says. “Phyllis was held up at gunpoint one night when she was working as cashier.”
Rich pulls out an old newspaper clipping about the robbery. “They got away with $65. The police never caught them.”
Kay says, "The Varsity was a good family theater. We had a good clientele. A lot of youngsters."
"We never had any controversial films,” Rich says. “Dubuque was a very Catholic town at that time."
"I can remember a lot of the guys,” Rich says, “guys I went to high school with. There was one guy, I won't mention his name, he used to come down . . ."
Kay says, "Don't say his name. He’s very well known, today."
Rich continues, "He would sneak in after they closed the box office. I'd go down and politely ask him to leave, because, you know, he had money. I'd see him up at Timmerman's. He'd come up and pat me on the back, and we were still good friends."
“Another thing,” Rich says, "we never had central air. Back then that was not uncommon. When I grew up my folks just had a window unit on Alta Vista, and Kay's house never had it.”
“When we finally put air conditioning in at the Varsity, that was a big plus on hot summer nights. Everything is changed, now,” Rich says.
Kay says, “Yeah, we had a lot of traffic, but it got to the point where TV just killed the neighborhood theaters.”
“A franchise called Jerrold’s brought cable TV to Dubuque in the late ‘50s, and they started robbing the picture attendance,” Kay says. “We had to close the Varsity soon after, because we really couldn't make ends meet.”
“A lot of people started going to Cinema Center on the west end. Oh my God, that was a beautiful theater!” Rich says. “Both of my kids worked there."
"I went to work for Rainbo Oil Company. I worked in the office for them for a couple or three years, and then I managed a Super Station up there on 20th and Elm,” Rich says.
“Then Rainbo sold that property and it became a Pizza Hut, so I worked for a company out of Des Moines. I was in sales for most of my time.”
“My father’s market stayed open into the ‘60s, and he turned the Varsity into the laundromat,” Rich says.
"When they put the laundromat in, they had to raise the floor, you see, because it was sloped. They put in some side windows. The upstairs stuff was taken out, the Simplex projectors, and somebody must have bought them, but I don't know.”
“I don't know,” Rich says again. “Where were we when they did that, honey?”
Kay shrugs.
“We were probably cryin’ the blues,” Rich says, laughing.
Michael May is a librarian at Carnegie-Stout Public Library where he shows free movies and selects titles for the Blu-ray and DVD collections. His email address is mmay@dubuque.lib.ia.us.
Thanks to Bryce Parks at Dubuque365.com for including this article in the April 24--May 7, 2014 issue of 365ink.
 |
| The Varsity movie theater circa 1954. Photo contributed by Rich and Kay Manternach. |
“My father, Gus Manternach, had a grocery store on Locust Street. He bought the new building on Loras from Ray Duttle, and opened Manternach’s Market.”
“Paul Weitz bought the theater. Weitz ran it for a while, but then sold it to my dad for about $14,000.”
“A man named O’Rourke, I can’t remember his first name, leased the theater from my dad. O’Rourke had a fire in the late 1940s, and he decided to get out of the movie business, so he subleased the Varsity to me.”
“That sublease from O’Rourke was kind of a thorn in my side,” Rich says. “I could have gotten a better deal from my dad. The Varsity had been completely renovated after the fire, though. It had a new screen, new drapes, and fresh paint.”
“I was at Loras College on the G.I. Bill around that time, from ‘48 to ‘52. I majored in economics with a minor in accounting. Since I was getting into the movie business, my thesis at Loras was The Monopolistic Practices of the Movie Industry.”
“You see, all the big movie theaters in Dubuque, like the Strand, Avon, and Grand, were owned by one person,” Rich says. “The smaller theaters, like the State, RKO Orpheum, and the Capitol on the north end, were owned individually.”
Kay says, “The Varsity was the smallest.”
"Well, wasn’t the Capitol about the same size as the Varsity, Kay?” asks Rich. “Up by your neighborhood by 22nd and Central, on the corner where Hartig's is?”
Kay says, "I thought the Capitol was a little bigger, but I could be wrong."
Rich says, “The Varsity had 205 seats. When you first walked into the theater, we had a box office up front, a popcorn machine, and there were steps up to the projection room. Inside, the seats sloped down toward the screen, which was all the way in the back.”
“Tickets were 14 cents for a child and 40 cents for an adult," Rich says.
Kay says, "The Varsity only ran evening movies. The only matinees were Saturdays and Sundays. We were closed on Wednesday nights."
"We had two changes of movies each week,” Rich explains. “Movies would run for three days, usually one main feature and a cartoon, maybe short subjects and previews of coming attractions.”
“They were all second-run films, sometimes the third and fourth run, because there were so many theaters in Dubuque,” Rich says.
“We had From Here to Eternity, with Ernest Borgnine and Frank Sinatra and . . . who was that guy who died, Montgomery Clift?” asks Rich.
Kay says, “Lana Turner in The Bad and the Beautiful, I think that was the first movie we ran. That was a big hit.”
"And Frankenstein was a big movie, a big draw.” Kay says. “One Halloween we paid someone to dress up as Frankenstein, but we hadn't advertised it. When the time came, Rich lowered the lights, and Frankenstein came down the middle aisle, and the people shrank toward the walls. I remember that."
Rich laughs, "Since Kay is younger than me, she remembers quite a bit!"
 |
| Rich and Kay Manternach. Photo by Michael May. |
Rich says, "I liked The Three Stooges. Kay didn't like them, but they were so crazy!"
Kay says, "Oh, you know what else was popular? The cowboy movies. Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. I remember those."
Rich says, "I know one thing that kept people coming back. The Strand was noted for serials. They'd show The Lone Ranger for 15 minutes, and then the following week they’d have the next episode.”
“They'd get all the kids in there on Saturday afternoons. Their mothers would give them 15 or 20 cents to go away, to go to the movies down at the Strand. Kids from all over wanted to go.”
“The cartoons were good back then, too. Bugs Bunny and, uh . . . ." Rich looks at Kay.
Kay says, "Road Runner."
Rich says, "Popeye, you know. They were good back then. I loved 'em.”
"Cartoons and features were separate,” Rich continues. “Our distributor was out of Des Moines. They'd have a salesman who'd come around, and he'd want to sell you the films.”
“If it was The Lone Ranger or something, it'd be $12.50, or maybe $15 for a three-day showing. Higher-grossing movies would be around $17.”
“If it was something like Gone with the Wind or From Here to Eternity, they put it in on a percentage basis, like 20% or 35% of the gross,” Rich says.
 |
| The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) |
“Long films would have four or five reels, in 35 mm. We had two projection booths. The projectors were Simplex. You had to switch reels over with a pedal on the floor,” Rich says.
“As the film would progress near the end, there'd be a dot on the right hand corner, and that was when you'd start the other reel going. When the second dot came, you'd hit the pedal, and that switched you over to the other machine.”
“If the film broke, you'd pull the reel out and restart it on another reel. When you got through, you'd take that over and splice it with glue. They had a splicing machine, and you'd just glue it up there and put it back in, and it didn't delay the movie.”
“Simplex projectors were popular,” Rich says. “They had carbon-arc lamps. You had to put the carbons into them and they were self-fed. I don't think they use those, anymore.”
"I did everything upstairs.” Rich says. “I was in the projection room most of the time. They had a buzzer downstairs in case of trouble. Once in a while Kay would say I dozed off."
Kay says, "He'd fall asleep and the screen would go dark, and the buzzer wouldn't wake him up. We had a broom downstairs, and I’d take the broom handle and bang on the ceiling.”
"I worked full-time in an office after I graduated in ‘52,” Kay says, “but I'd go up to the Varsity at night and sell tickets for Rich, because I was free help."
Rich says, “I'd give her popcorn, but no money.”
Kay says, “Yeah, he didn't pay me.”
“Before the Varsity, Kay worked at the RKO Orpheum, where Five Flags is now.” Rich says, laughing. “She used to get me in free!"
“I worked at the Orpheum for about a year and a half when I was a kid,” Kay explains. "I was 15. I lied about my age to get the job. We wore uniforms. I was an usher.”
“It was fun,” Kay says. “A big deal. 40 cents an hour. We got two free passes a week and all the popcorn you could eat, if you saved the original box.”
“My sister Phyllis helped me at the Varsity, too,” Rich says. “Phyllis was held up at gunpoint one night when she was working as cashier.”
Rich pulls out an old newspaper clipping about the robbery. “They got away with $65. The police never caught them.”
Kay says, "The Varsity was a good family theater. We had a good clientele. A lot of youngsters."
"We never had any controversial films,” Rich says. “Dubuque was a very Catholic town at that time."
"I can remember a lot of the guys,” Rich says, “guys I went to high school with. There was one guy, I won't mention his name, he used to come down . . ."
Kay says, "Don't say his name. He’s very well known, today."
Rich continues, "He would sneak in after they closed the box office. I'd go down and politely ask him to leave, because, you know, he had money. I'd see him up at Timmerman's. He'd come up and pat me on the back, and we were still good friends."
“Another thing,” Rich says, "we never had central air. Back then that was not uncommon. When I grew up my folks just had a window unit on Alta Vista, and Kay's house never had it.”
“When we finally put air conditioning in at the Varsity, that was a big plus on hot summer nights. Everything is changed, now,” Rich says.
Kay says, “Yeah, we had a lot of traffic, but it got to the point where TV just killed the neighborhood theaters.”
“A franchise called Jerrold’s brought cable TV to Dubuque in the late ‘50s, and they started robbing the picture attendance,” Kay says. “We had to close the Varsity soon after, because we really couldn't make ends meet.”
“A lot of people started going to Cinema Center on the west end. Oh my God, that was a beautiful theater!” Rich says. “Both of my kids worked there."
"I went to work for Rainbo Oil Company. I worked in the office for them for a couple or three years, and then I managed a Super Station up there on 20th and Elm,” Rich says.
“Then Rainbo sold that property and it became a Pizza Hut, so I worked for a company out of Des Moines. I was in sales for most of my time.”
 |
| The Varsity laundromat at 1111 Loras Boulevard in Dubuque. |
"When they put the laundromat in, they had to raise the floor, you see, because it was sloped. They put in some side windows. The upstairs stuff was taken out, the Simplex projectors, and somebody must have bought them, but I don't know.”
“I don't know,” Rich says again. “Where were we when they did that, honey?”
Kay shrugs.
“We were probably cryin’ the blues,” Rich says, laughing.
Michael May is a librarian at Carnegie-Stout Public Library where he shows free movies and selects titles for the Blu-ray and DVD collections. His email address is mmay@dubuque.lib.ia.us.
Thanks to Bryce Parks at Dubuque365.com for including this article in the April 24--May 7, 2014 issue of 365ink.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
3D Blu-rays at Carnegie-Stout Public Library
3D Blu-rays are ready to check out at Carnegie-Stout Public Library, thanks to a gift from our private, non-profit Library Foundation.
For 3D effects, you will need a 3D Blu-ray player, 3D TV with glasses, and a compatible HDMI cable.
If you do not have a 3D player or TV, the same titles are available at the Library in regular Blu-ray and DVD formats.
Our 3D Blu-ray starter collection is very small. Here's what we have so far:
Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter
Avatar
The Avengers
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Life of Pi
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Prometheus
Thor
Titanic
Top Gun
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
We will add more titles as they are released, so please let us know if you have any 3D Blu-ray suggestions!
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Pennies from Heaven Was Not Filmed in Dubuque
 |
| Christopher Walken in Pennies from Heaven |
If you're interested in watching Pennies from Heaven, you can check it out on DVD from Carnegie-Stout Public Library.
~Mike, Adult Services
---
Here's the full text of the article from https://partners.dubuque365.com/ink/365ink193.pdf#page=29.
Pennies from Heaven Was Not Filmed in Dubuque
In a recent discussion on the Facebook nostalgia page “You know you grew up in Dubuque, Iowa if you remember,” several people mentioned that the movie Pennies from Heaven was made in Dubuque, and as proof they cited IMDb.com, aka the Internet Movie Database.
Pennies from Heaven (1981) is an R-rated musical set in Depression-era Chicago. Steve Martin stars as a financially and sexually frustrated sheet-music salesman who seduces a seemingly naïve school teacher played by Bernadette Peters. The movie also stars Jessica Harper, Christopher Walken, Vernel Bagneris, and John McMartin. It is directed by Herbert Ross.
IMDb includes Dubuque as one of the filming locations for Pennies from Heaven, but if you watch the movie carefully, Dubuque does not appear on screen. Outdoor scenes which look vaguely like Dubuque’s Historic Millwork District were actually filmed around the 4th Street Bridge in Los Angeles.
According to Telegraph Herald articles from when the movie was made, a second unit film crew from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer did come to Dubuque in April 1981. The MGM crew spent “into six figures” in Dubuque on 50 hotel rooms plus food, gas, and phone bills. Out of 350 tri-state residents who answered the call for extras, about 50 were chosen and paid $40 a day, given 1930s haircuts, and fitted for costumes.
But unlike the Sylvester Stallone drama F.I.S.T. (1978) or the beer comedy Take This Job and Shove It (1981), Dubuque did not make the final cut of Pennies from Heaven. The single scene planned for Dubuque, of vintage cars crossing the Dubuque-Wisconsin toll bridge, was canceled because of overcast, rainy weather.
Filming did take place in nearby Galena, Illinois, on Main Street and at a farmhouse outside of town, but those scenes are very difficult to spot in the movie. The TH reported that because of the overcast weather, much of the footage was used by MGM only as “inspiration for building sets back in Hollywood.”
A couple of scenes in Pennies from Heaven supposedly show Steve Martin’s character driving on Illinois Route 1 from Chicago to Galena. In reality, Illinois Route 1 runs south of Chicago, not west to Galena. The road in the movie was actually filmed outside of Bakersfield, California. It is the same road made famous in the crop-duster scene with Cary Grant from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 thriller, North by Northwest.
Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters were not at Galena during the filming of Pennies from Heaven. Their characters were played by stand-in actors from Chicago, which probably was a good thing. Around this time Steve Martin referred to Terre Haute, Indiana as “No Place, USA” and “The Armpit of America.” There’s no telling what he might have said about Galena.
In the bonus features on the out-of-print Pennies from Heaven DVD, MGM art director Bernie Cutler tells a funny story about filming in Galena. The curbs on Galena's Main Street were red, and there were no red curbs in the 1930s, so the film crew hired a painter to paint out the curbs. After the crew left for the day, they got an urgent call from the painter who said he had been arrested and taken to jail. The film crew had forgotten to tell the Galena Police Department about the curb painting.
Economic boosterism might explain why people believe that Pennies from Heaven was filmed in Dubuque. In the 2001 TH article “Area Reels in Cash from Film Projects,” Steve Horman, then president of the Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce, said, “It’s safe to assume that anytime a company is filming we’re talking tens of thousands of dollars from the smallest commercials on up.”
According to the article, the Chamber’s Film Bureau published a pamphlet for “prospective film industry clients” called “Discover Variety in Dubuque” which included Pennies from Heaven on a list of films “produced” in Dubuque. And more than a decade later, in 2013, the new non-profit Dubuque Film Office still lists Pennies from Heaven under “Productions Shot In Dubuque” on its “Made in Dubuque” webpage.
Other examples of this appear online. A 2009 post on the Des Moines Register blog includes the entry “1981 – Pennies from Heaven, Dubuque” on its list of “Movies filmed in Iowa.” Also from 2009, when Iowa House Speaker Pat Murphy of Dubuque was asked about the Iowa Film Office scandal, Radio Iowa reported that “the 1981 movie Pennies from Heaven starring Steve Martin includes scenes from Dubuque.” The Iowa Film Office eventually closed over misused tax credits, but has since reopened under a new name, Produce Iowa, not to be confused with the Iowa State University Extension website, Iowa Produce.
The words “filmed,” “made,” “produced,” and “shot” may contribute to the confusion. If a film crew came to town, hired extras, and spent a lot of money on hotel rooms and gas, maybe the local film bureau could be excused for including the movie on its website, even if the local scene was canceled due to bad weather. IMDb, however, has specific guidelines about “filming locations.” Their guidelines say that “filming locations” are “where the filming took place.” While Galena meets this criteria, Dubuque should not be listed at IMDb as a filming location for Pennies from Heaven.
This is not to say that Dubuquers should skip Pennies from Heaven. It is strange and elegant and all the more wonderful for almost having been made in Dubuque.
Pennies from Heaven was adapted by screenwriter Dennis Potter from his 1978 BBC television series of the same name. The American version features disillusioned and depraved characters in elaborately staged dance scenes who lipsync popular songs from the 1920s and 1930s like “Love Is Good For Anything That Ails You” by Ida Sue McCune, “I Want To Be Bad” by Helen Kane, and “Let’s Misbehave” by Irving Aaronson & His Commanders.
This was Steve Martin's first dramatic role in a film, and his first movie after his breakout appearance in The Jerk (1979). But because so many people expected another comedy instead of an oddly moving, dark musical, Pennies from Heaven flopped, costing $22 million to make while only earning $9 million at the box office.
When asked about the film's box-office failure, Steve Martin said, "I'm disappointed that it didn't open as a blockbuster and I don't know what's to blame, other than it's me and not a comedy. I must say that the people who get the movie, in general, have been wise and intelligent; the people who don't get it are ignorant scum."
Fred Astaire was one person who “didn’t get it.” A clip of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing to "Let's Face the Music and Dance" from the 1936 musical Follow the Fleet appears in Pennies from Heaven, but Astaire was not impressed. He complained, "I have never spent two more miserable hours in my life. Every scene was cheap and vulgar. They don't realize that the thirties were a very innocent age, and that Pennies from Heaven should have been set in the eighties – it was just froth; it makes you cry it's so distasteful."
Even so, Astaire is said to have complemented Christopher Walken on his bartop striptease in Pennies from Heaven. Walken plays the tap-dancing pimp who will “cut your face.” The rest of the cast deserves high praise, too, especially Vernel Bagneris for his eerie interpretation of the title song. As The New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael said, "The dance numbers are funny, amazing, and beautiful all at once; several of them are just about perfection."
Besides the Busby Berkeley-style musical numbers, Pennies from Heaven includes a series of tableaux vivants, surprising scenes which replicate famous works of art, such as the 1942 painting Nighthawks by Edward Hopper and the 1936 photograph Houses in Atlanta by Walker Evans (which in turn features the iconic billboard for Carole Lombard’s movie Love Before Breakfast from 1936).
You won’t spot Dubuque in Pennies from Heaven, but there are a lot of other remarkable things to see in this movie while you try.
Michael May is a librarian at Carnegie-Stout Public Library.
Friday, August 16, 2013
Spotlight: Spycraft
When I say "spy" what do you think of? James Bond? The NSA? Chuck? There's no shortage of spy stories from the comic to the thrilling, from pure fantasy to real life. This means that there's likely to be an espionage book, movie, or tv show to suit your every mood and taste.Today we've gathered together mix of movies, television shows, and books to suit most any fan of the spy genre. Did we miss your favorite secret agent? Be sure to leave a comment (anonymous commenting is enabled, to protect your cover)!
Television
The second season of Homeland will be out on DVD at the end of August. This tense and suspenseful series is set in a fictionalized (and rather dramatic) world that is recognizably based on reality. The main character, Carrie, may be based, loosely, on an actual CIA operative or operatives.
The BBC series MI-5 (originally aired as Spooks) explores the hidden world of the spies in MI-5, the British equivalent to our FBI, meaning they deal with domestic intelligence. This is a serious take on the spy world, and isn't for viewers who don't care for violence.
Chuck is a far more comic look at the spy world. Starring Zachary Levi as an average nerd who has a wealth of super spy information downloaded into his head, turning him into a super weapon. Hijinks and romantic tension abound.
Covert Affairs features Piper Perabo as a new CIA recruit, gifted with languages, who rises quickly through the ranks. There's romance and action, without being overly violent.
Archer is a comic animated series for adults that takes popular spy tropes, pop culture jokes, and an anachronistic setting.
Movies
Tom Cruise is no stranger to the spy genre. You can watch him as super spy Ethan Hunt in the action-packed Mission Impossible film series. Or for more of a romantic-comedy twist, check out Knight and Day where he plays a super spy on the run, who sweeps Cameron Diaz's character along for the ride.
The star-studded R.E.D., based loosely on a comic book series, is an action-packed comedy romp starring Bruce Willis as a retired spy drawn back into the game to save the civil servant he has a crush on. A sequel came out in July, but the DVDs won't be out until at least November.
Matt Damon stars as amnesiac super spy Jason Bourne in the series of movies based off of Robert Ludlum's novels. Although the most recent film, The Bourne Legacy, stars Jeremy Renner.
Books
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
How can we not include Ian Fleming's James Bond? The resourceful British spy, and the inspiration many modern spy stories, both literary and big screen. Fast-paced, action-packed, with exotic locations, and les femmes fatales, Fleming's gritty novels will grab your attention. The first book in the series, Casino Royale, was the source for two film adaptions, including Daniel Craig's first turn as Bond.
Rucka has written for some of the big names in comics (like Batman and Wonder Woman), but his creativity isn't limited to superheroes. His suspenseful Queen and Country series features Tara Chance, Lead Agent for Special Operations of the British Secret Intelligence Service. This tense, gritty series will appeal to fans of Daniel Craig's Bond, and titles are available both as traditional novels and graphic novels with a variety of illustrators.
Once a Spy by Keith Thomson
Charlie's father, Drummond, lived an average life before his diagnosis with Alzheimer's. An assumption that is blown to pieces, along with his house, one night by assassins. This father/son spy-thriller is a lighter in tone look at the world of spy craft, while still maintaining an action-packed plot.
Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre
Conman Eddie Chapman trained as a spy for the Germans, but when given a mission to destroy a British airplane factory, he became a double agent for MI5 instead. A fast-paced and suspenseful true story of WWII espionage.
Charles Cumming
Alan Furst's The Night Soldiers series
Alan Furst’s suspenseful and carefully researched loosely connected series of novels about espionage in the Europe of the 1930s and 40s. From the ghettos of Warsaw to the streets of Paris, these books give a glimpse into the dark shadow world of WWII spies.
Monday, August 5, 2013
Staff Review: Austenland by Shannon Hale
I'm willing to bet though that most Dubuquers haven't heard of Austenland, much less read Shannon Hale's engaging work of chick lit. Although, now that a movie adaption starring Keri Russell is due for a theatrical release on August 15th, I could be wrong!
Jane Austen and her novels remain a perennial favorite, and over the years we've been treated to any number of adaptions, remixes, continuations, and homages. You can trace Austen's influence across a wide variety of literature and pop cultural sources. All around the world readers swoon for the taciturn charms of Mr. Darcy.Jane Hayes falls squarely into the category of Darcy-obsessives, particularly the Colin-Firth-as-Darcy-obsessives (much like Bridget Jones before her). When Jane's beloved great-aunt dies, she's given an unusual inheritance, an all expenses paid luxury vacation to Austen-themed resort in England. This isn't a serious work of literature, but it's a fun bit of escapism for us Austenholics with a charming little romance and some genuinely funny bits.
Essentially, if you liked Lost in Austen, you'll probably enjoy Austenland! If you haven't heard of Lost in Austen either, it's a charming romantic comedy about a young woman named Amanda who suddenly finds that she's switched places with Elizabeth Bennet. And if you find yourself wishing you could visit Austenland, keep hope! A recent celebration of Pride and Prejudice's 200th anniversary saw people attending a fancy dress Regency dinner in England.
Still not enough for you? Great! I've got more!
Images from the 2005 Keira Knightley Pride & Prejudice paired with quotes from Parks & Recreation.'
Pamela Aidan first self-published her retelling of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, but her charming story quickly gained a large audience and a traditional publisher. A richly detailed view of the familiar story from the perspective of Darcy told in three novels. The series starts with An Assembly Such As This.Thug Notes is the creation of Sparky Sweets, PhD. A series of videos mash-up hip-hop with analysis of literary classics (think Alistair Cookie and Monsterpiece Theater). I'm endlessly tickled by the Thug Notes video for Pride & Prejudice (there are a few swears):
-Sarah, Adult Services
Friday, April 26, 2013
Thanks to Dubuque Author Robert Byrne
Thanks to Dubuque author Robert Byrne and everyone who came to our screening of The Towering Inferno last night in celebration of Dubuque Main Street's Architecture Days.
If you missed Bob's visit to the library, you can place a hold on Bob's novel Skyscraper in our online catalog, and browse through Bob's many other titles.
Our next movie is Life of Pi on May 22. We hope to see you there!
Friday, April 12, 2013
National Library Week: Ficitonal Librarians
This year we're also inviting YOU to share your favorite books with the Dubuque community. We've been collecting patron recommendations on our What Dubuque is Reading Pinterest Board for a few months now, and we thought it was time to bring the fun into the library itself. So be sure to stop by the Recommendations Desk on the first floor to pick up a book review bookmark and to check out the display of books selected by our fellow Dubuquers. And don't forget, we still offer the Personal Recommendations service: you tell us what you like to read, and we'll create a reading list just for you!
To celebrate National Library Week, we've pulled together a list of some of our favorite fictional librarians!
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| ALA Batgirl Bookmark |
- Marian Paroo, The Music Man
- Henry DeTamble, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
- Barbara Gordon, Batgirl and Oracle in DC comics
- Isacc Vainio, Libriomancer by Jim C Hines
- Lirael, Lirael by Garth Nix
- Lucien, Sandman comics by Neil Gaiman
- Miss Rumphius, Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
- Flynn Carsen, The Librarian movies starring Noah Wyle
- Rupert Giles, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Aurora Teagarden, Real Murders by Charlaine Harris
- Bunny Watson, Desk Set
- Library Wars by Hiro Arikawa & Sukumo Adabana
- The Librarian (as an orangutan), the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett
Monday, March 4, 2013
Warm Bodies Movie & Book Review
If I know I’m going to see a movie based on a book I usually read the book first, knowing full well that the movie will probably not live up to my expectations. However, I saw Warm Bodies in the theater before reading the book, so I had no preconceived notions about casting or characterization. In fact all I knew about Warm Bodies was that it was a take on Romeo and Juliet, but with zombies. I went to see this film with a group of friends who also happen to be co-workers. Of the six of us who went, only two of us really enjoyed it. So, she (Allison) and I decided to review the movie and book, which we read later.
The Movie
"Warm Bodies" Directed by Jonathan Levine. Starring Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, Rob Corddry & John Malkovich
Amy: I don’t care what anyone else said, I loved Warm Bodies. It was funny, sappy, and a little bit gross. Exactly what one might expect from a zombie romcom.
Allison: Thank you! I loved it! It was exactly what I wanted it to be - funny, cheesy, with only a few bits of horror! I also really liked how short it was - I’m sick of three hour long epics!
Amy: I'm totally with you there. The thought of sitting in a theater for three-plus hours makes me dread going to the movies. Another thing I loved about Warm Bodies was R’s inner monologue. It was just funny and kind of sad. Yes there were parts that were kind of stupid, but again, it is a ZOMBIE romantic comedy.
Allison: Yes! A similar movie, Shaun of the Dead, was marketed as a romantic comedy with zombies, although that one was more about the living people than the dead. But the idea is the same - this isn't a gore-filled Romero movie. Yes, there are horror elements, but that’s not the crux of the story.
While we’re on the subject, one difference between the movie and the book is the outfit R wears. In the movie, he wears jeans and hoodie (setting up a great joke) but in the book, R wears black dress pants, a white shirt and a red tie. I like to think this is a hat-tip to Shaun of the Dead, since that’s the same outfit Shaun (Simon Pegg) wears.
Amy: Also, it was leaps and bounds better than Twilight. People need to stop comparing it to Twilight.
Allison: I admit that I haven’t read Twilight, but I was forced to see the movie version and I agree 100%. It’s unfortunate that every movie with supernatural elements that centers on a romance is now, apparently, doomed to be lumped together with Twilight. I think many people who would really enjoy the movie haven’t or won’t see it because of that false association.
Amy: Another thing I loved about this movie was the relationships between the main characters and their BFF’s. M stood by R when the rest of the zombies wanted to eat Julie and Nora stood by Julie when the rest of the humans wanted to kill R.
Allison: Rob Corddry really stole the show as M; some of the best lines were his, whether they were funny or frightening. Both he and Nicholas Hoult expressed more in a grunt or a gesture than most other actros could. M’s character in the book is a bit different (at least physically) than how Corddry portrayed him, but the loyalty, humor and hope are there in each version.
Amy: I think Rob Corddry had about five spoken lines in the movie and I absolutely agree that he stole the show. I read somewhere that the cast studied with Cirque de Soliel to get the zombie movements down. I think they did an excellent job.
Amy: Speaking of best friends, Julie's best friend Nora says during a dream sequence that if she could be anything in the world she wanted to be a nurse. As we were leaving the theater several members of our group were commenting that it was sad that she said nurse instead of doctor. I realize that being a nurse is considered to be a "typical" female profession but I think being a nurse is a truly noble profession. I have several friends that are nurses and they worked incredibly hard to get their degree. So, lets not disparage a woman for wanting to be a nurse instead of doctor in a film, especially a film about zombies. And now I will get off my soapbox.
Allison: Yeah, I know some viewers really objected to that! In the book, Nora goes on to explain that she doesn't think that civilization will around long enough for her to finish medical school. Nora’s character is a bit different in the book - she’s older than Julie and a bit wiser - so her reasoning sits well with me, at least.
Amy: I’m choosing to ignore the really terrible CGI from the movie because I don’t think it took anything away from the story.
Allison: I was pleasantly surprised that the CGI wasn't as bad as it could have been given the film’s budget. It reminded me of the mummies from the 1999 movie The Mummy - good enough for the purposes of the movie. And honestly, I thought they were pretty damn menacing!
Allison: One last thing about the movie - Richard Roeper (of Ebert and Roeper) gave the movie 3 ½ stars. In his review, he says that he preferred Warm Bodies over other zombie movies and TV shows (The Walking Dead, etc.) because those zombies are predictable. A mutual friend who saw the movie with us took exception to that, and thought that Warm Bodies was no less predictable than other zombie fare.
While I can see why someone might say that, I think Roeper meant that the movie didn't follow the usual formula of zombies being your standard unfeeling monsters, devoid of any humanity. Having zombies that retain or regain their humanity (as well as a human falling in love with one) deviates from the standard horror formula, where the story isn't at all about the zombies, but only about the human survivors, and the zombies can easily be replaced with aliens, giant robots or whatever. You're not going to find any multi-dimensional zombies staggering around in The Walking Dead.
The Book
"Warm Bodies" by Isaac Marion (Fiction Marion)
Amy: My first thought about the book is that while the movie could be considered YA, I wouldn't classify the book in that way. We have it shelved in adult fiction and I believe that is where it belongs.
Allison: Agreed. The writing style is more complex than what you might find in some YA - the use of terms like "Escheresque" and "vertiginous" might throw younger readers off. A good portion of the book is spent with R describing what life as a zombie is like and R’s thoughts on what caused the dead to rise. In these passages the author, I think, is using zombie life as a metaphor for depression - the alienation, the lack of interest or ambition, even the dulled senses of the Dead. Of course, this isn't a theme restricted to “adult” literature, but some younger readers might become bored with R’s continuous ruminations.
Amy: At the end of the movie you get a sense that everyone will live happily ever after. At the end of the book you get the sense that although things are getting better, it will take years and years before life returns to pre-plague conditions.
Allison: One of the key plot points that happens very differently in the movie and books - and which we can’t really talk about since it’d be huge spoiler - definitely contributes to that. Without giving too much away, what ultimately happens with General Grigio (Julie’s father) in the book as opposed to the movie sort of sums up the ultimate message of each.
Amy: Allison mentioned that in the book the character of Nora is different, older and wiser. I liked both characterizations of Nora. I liked her sense of fun and humor in the movie and how she was wise beyond her years in the book. Maybe it is because I saw the movie first, but I think I liked the movie better.
Allison: I’m having a hard time deciding which one I liked best, since they’re both so different in tone. The movie is much lighter and the focus is on the romance between R and Julie. The book delves deeper into the inner lives (such as they are) of the zombies. We hear a great deal more from R on subject other than Julie and learn that there is even a zombie society. The zombies hold worship services, have sex, marry and raise children. At the beginning of the novel, R meets and marries his wife and later they are given two zombie children to feed and teach. There’s much more world-building in the book than in the movie, which works really well. If the movie had too much of that - aside from R’s introduction at the beginning - it would have been bogged down and much too dark.
One section I really enjoyed and illustrates the side of zombie society we don't see as well in the movie was R's (internal) explanation of why he dislikes being called a "corpse" or a "zombie." When Julie first calls R a "corpse" R thinks, "...I realize she can’t possibly know the sensitive cultural connotations of the word 'corpse' …" R also dislikes it when Julie refers to herself as "human," as opposed to a corpse or a zombie. R thinks of himself as human; a Dead human, but human nonetheless.
Amy: Marion did an excellent job giving his characters depth and making the reader feel that the "Dead" were also human. He also did a great job relaying that both the Zombie and Human populations were dead in the sense that there was very little hope that either population would survive. That being said, I would tell people to read the book and see the movie in any order they choose.
Allison: Absolutely! After I read the book, I found the short story that inspired it, I Am a Zombie Filled With Love online. I'm also planning to read the prequel Marion is writing, The New Hunger which right now is only available as an eBook from Zola Books, but you can read an excerpt on Entertainment Weekly's website here.
And if you can't get enough of romance and/or zombies, click here for a list of similar books and movies!
~ Amy and Allison, Adult Services
"Warm Bodies" Directed by Jonathan Levine. Starring Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, Rob Corddry & John Malkovich
Amy: I don’t care what anyone else said, I loved Warm Bodies. It was funny, sappy, and a little bit gross. Exactly what one might expect from a zombie romcom.
Allison: Thank you! I loved it! It was exactly what I wanted it to be - funny, cheesy, with only a few bits of horror! I also really liked how short it was - I’m sick of three hour long epics!
Amy: I'm totally with you there. The thought of sitting in a theater for three-plus hours makes me dread going to the movies. Another thing I loved about Warm Bodies was R’s inner monologue. It was just funny and kind of sad. Yes there were parts that were kind of stupid, but again, it is a ZOMBIE romantic comedy.
While we’re on the subject, one difference between the movie and the book is the outfit R wears. In the movie, he wears jeans and hoodie (setting up a great joke) but in the book, R wears black dress pants, a white shirt and a red tie. I like to think this is a hat-tip to Shaun of the Dead, since that’s the same outfit Shaun (Simon Pegg) wears.
Amy: Also, it was leaps and bounds better than Twilight. People need to stop comparing it to Twilight.
Allison: I admit that I haven’t read Twilight, but I was forced to see the movie version and I agree 100%. It’s unfortunate that every movie with supernatural elements that centers on a romance is now, apparently, doomed to be lumped together with Twilight. I think many people who would really enjoy the movie haven’t or won’t see it because of that false association.
Amy: Another thing I loved about this movie was the relationships between the main characters and their BFF’s. M stood by R when the rest of the zombies wanted to eat Julie and Nora stood by Julie when the rest of the humans wanted to kill R.
Allison: Rob Corddry really stole the show as M; some of the best lines were his, whether they were funny or frightening. Both he and Nicholas Hoult expressed more in a grunt or a gesture than most other actros could. M’s character in the book is a bit different (at least physically) than how Corddry portrayed him, but the loyalty, humor and hope are there in each version.
 |
| M (Rob Corddry) and R (Nicholas Hoult) in deep conversation at an airport bar. Via Filmofilia.com |
Amy: Speaking of best friends, Julie's best friend Nora says during a dream sequence that if she could be anything in the world she wanted to be a nurse. As we were leaving the theater several members of our group were commenting that it was sad that she said nurse instead of doctor. I realize that being a nurse is considered to be a "typical" female profession but I think being a nurse is a truly noble profession. I have several friends that are nurses and they worked incredibly hard to get their degree. So, lets not disparage a woman for wanting to be a nurse instead of doctor in a film, especially a film about zombies. And now I will get off my soapbox.
Allison: Yeah, I know some viewers really objected to that! In the book, Nora goes on to explain that she doesn't think that civilization will around long enough for her to finish medical school. Nora’s character is a bit different in the book - she’s older than Julie and a bit wiser - so her reasoning sits well with me, at least.
Amy: I’m choosing to ignore the really terrible CGI from the movie because I don’t think it took anything away from the story.
 |
| One of the many "bonies" that menace the Living and the Dead. Via IMBD.com |
Allison: One last thing about the movie - Richard Roeper (of Ebert and Roeper) gave the movie 3 ½ stars. In his review, he says that he preferred Warm Bodies over other zombie movies and TV shows (The Walking Dead, etc.) because those zombies are predictable. A mutual friend who saw the movie with us took exception to that, and thought that Warm Bodies was no less predictable than other zombie fare.
While I can see why someone might say that, I think Roeper meant that the movie didn't follow the usual formula of zombies being your standard unfeeling monsters, devoid of any humanity. Having zombies that retain or regain their humanity (as well as a human falling in love with one) deviates from the standard horror formula, where the story isn't at all about the zombies, but only about the human survivors, and the zombies can easily be replaced with aliens, giant robots or whatever. You're not going to find any multi-dimensional zombies staggering around in The Walking Dead.
The Book
"Warm Bodies" by Isaac Marion (Fiction Marion)
Amy: My first thought about the book is that while the movie could be considered YA, I wouldn't classify the book in that way. We have it shelved in adult fiction and I believe that is where it belongs.
Allison: Agreed. The writing style is more complex than what you might find in some YA - the use of terms like "Escheresque" and "vertiginous" might throw younger readers off. A good portion of the book is spent with R describing what life as a zombie is like and R’s thoughts on what caused the dead to rise. In these passages the author, I think, is using zombie life as a metaphor for depression - the alienation, the lack of interest or ambition, even the dulled senses of the Dead. Of course, this isn't a theme restricted to “adult” literature, but some younger readers might become bored with R’s continuous ruminations.
Amy: At the end of the movie you get a sense that everyone will live happily ever after. At the end of the book you get the sense that although things are getting better, it will take years and years before life returns to pre-plague conditions.
Allison: One of the key plot points that happens very differently in the movie and books - and which we can’t really talk about since it’d be huge spoiler - definitely contributes to that. Without giving too much away, what ultimately happens with General Grigio (Julie’s father) in the book as opposed to the movie sort of sums up the ultimate message of each.
Amy: Allison mentioned that in the book the character of Nora is different, older and wiser. I liked both characterizations of Nora. I liked her sense of fun and humor in the movie and how she was wise beyond her years in the book. Maybe it is because I saw the movie first, but I think I liked the movie better.
Allison: I’m having a hard time deciding which one I liked best, since they’re both so different in tone. The movie is much lighter and the focus is on the romance between R and Julie. The book delves deeper into the inner lives (such as they are) of the zombies. We hear a great deal more from R on subject other than Julie and learn that there is even a zombie society. The zombies hold worship services, have sex, marry and raise children. At the beginning of the novel, R meets and marries his wife and later they are given two zombie children to feed and teach. There’s much more world-building in the book than in the movie, which works really well. If the movie had too much of that - aside from R’s introduction at the beginning - it would have been bogged down and much too dark.
One section I really enjoyed and illustrates the side of zombie society we don't see as well in the movie was R's (internal) explanation of why he dislikes being called a "corpse" or a "zombie." When Julie first calls R a "corpse" R thinks, "...I realize she can’t possibly know the sensitive cultural connotations of the word 'corpse' …" R also dislikes it when Julie refers to herself as "human," as opposed to a corpse or a zombie. R thinks of himself as human; a Dead human, but human nonetheless.
Amy: Marion did an excellent job giving his characters depth and making the reader feel that the "Dead" were also human. He also did a great job relaying that both the Zombie and Human populations were dead in the sense that there was very little hope that either population would survive. That being said, I would tell people to read the book and see the movie in any order they choose.
Allison: Absolutely! After I read the book, I found the short story that inspired it, I Am a Zombie Filled With Love online. I'm also planning to read the prequel Marion is writing, The New Hunger which right now is only available as an eBook from Zola Books, but you can read an excerpt on Entertainment Weekly's website here.
And if you can't get enough of romance and/or zombies, click here for a list of similar books and movies!
~ Amy and Allison, Adult Services
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