100 movies: The Lovely Bones

comments 17
100 movies of 2012

Every year I set myself a target, usually of about 100, of films to watch. These are new films. Not new, new films. But films that are new to me. Any time I’ve seen a new one, I post a bit of a brain dump of my thoughts on the film here. Enjoy!

The Lovely BonesThe Lovely Bones (05/06/12)

Centres on a young girl who has been murdered and watches over her family – and her killer – from heaven. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal.

Well this film made me cry. Thankfully I was alone while watching so no one could see my face go completely ugly. I don’t think I’m one of those fortunate enough to be classed as a pretty cryer.

I though The Lovely Bones was a touching little story about a girl trying to deal with her own death and try to cope with watching her family move on with their lives. Or rather, not move on, in the beginning. Saoirse Ronan carries the emotional baggage of this film very well. She’s a rather talented young actress! Stanley Tucci’s creep-tastic George Harvey was exactly that. Though, seriously, he looks like what a psycho killer would look like so why not suspect him more in the beginning! Film logic?

The dream sequences of that space between Earth and heaven were beautiful. Really stunningly done.

I understand that there was a lot of backlash against this film when it was released as it isn’t a patch on the book. Or so I’ve read. I am intrigued about the book after seeing the film. Might even check it out. Though having not read the book I obviously can’t compare. So from just a film viewers perspective, I rather liked this film.

One of my favourite moments was when Rose McIver’s character, Lindsey, was rifling through George Harvey’s house. I could feel the tension!

Overall, not a jaw dropping film. Mildly enjoyable. With a rather emotional ending.

Oh and Mark Wahlberg’s hair? Is he not allowed to have anything but totally dire hairstyles in the films he’s in?
Rating: 3/5

Read on to see all the films watched this year…

43 Films so far this year

  1. The Tourist 1/5 (02/01/12)
  2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 5/5 (03/01/12)
  3. World’s Greatest Dad 2/5 (14/01/12)
  4. Haywire 3/5 (19/01/12)
  5. Dead Snow 3/5 (20/01/12)
  6. The Artist 5/5 (21/01/12)
  7. Priest 2/5 (05/02/12)
  8. The Muppets 5/5 (15/02/12)
  9. Faster 4/5 (19/02/12)
  10. Chronicle 4/5 (22/02/12)
  11. Safe House 4/5 (24/02/12)
  12. Reservoir Dogs 4/5 (25/02/12)
  13. This Means War 4/5 (02/03/12)
  14. The Royal Tenenbaums 3/5 (03/03/12)
  15. Reign of Fire 3/5 (04/03/12)
  16. Dear John 2/5 (04/03/12)
  17. Road to Perdition 5/5 (05/03/12)
  18. The Three Musketeers 3/5 (06/03/12)
  19. The Eagle 2/5 (10/03/12)
  20. Everybody’s Fine 2/5 (14/03/12)
  21. Frankenstein 4/5 (15/03/12)
  22. Love and Other Drugs 2/5 (15/03/12)
  23. You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger 2/5 (17/03/12)
  24. The Big Lebowski 5/5 (18/03/12)
  25. The Hunger Games 3/5 (23/03/12)
  26. Headhunters 4/5 (07/04/12)
  27. Super 1/5 (07/04/12)
  28. The Cabin in the Woods 5/5 (13/04/12)
  29. Watchmen 4/5 (14/04/12)
  30. The Hurt Locker 3/5 (21/04/12)
  31. Avengers Assemble 5/5 (26/04/12)
  32. 22 Bullets 2/5 (28/04/12)
  33. Bad Teacher 1/5 (29/04/12)
  34. Red Riding Hood 1/5 (04/05/12)
  35. A Perfect Getaway 4/5 (05/05/12)
  36. Ca$h 1/5 (13/05/12)
  37. Kung Fu Panda 2 3/5 (14/05/12)
  38. Everything Must Go 2/5 (24/05/12)
  39. New York, I Love You 2/5 (25/05/12)
  40. Beginners 4/5 (26/05/12)
  41. Prometheus 4/5 (03/06/12)
  42. The Tree of Life 2/5 (04/06/12)
  43. The Lovely Bones 3/5 (05/06/12)

17 Comments

  1. This movie deprived me of a night of sleep when I first saw it. I can’t stand the subject matter of teenagers being raped and murdered, and they handled it so convincingly. I’d probably give it a 3/5, like you did. Good review.

    • The subject matter is pretty nasty. Though, I think it could have been dealt with a lot nastier. It perhaps wasn’t as gritty as it could have been. Still, handled it well, Yep.

  2. I didn’t really like the book but I know I’m in the minority there. The film was pretty much the same. It just isn’t a strong enough story for me. But Jackson did a great job with the visuals and Tucci is brilliant.

    • I’m even more intrigued about the book now.

      Tucci was creeptastic. Horrible man! The character… of course!

  3. I was only really watching out of the corner of my eye when I saw this film on TV, but I did think that Stanley Tucci was fantastic – totally creepy. Saoirse Ronan was also great, but I thought that some of the visuals let the film down a bit, they looked a little too cartoony. I’ve not read the book, but I guess that it was probably a very difficult story to adapt for a movie.

    • I guess writing about how this place between heaven and Earth looks like is a whole lot harder than actually visualising it.

  4. I though the movie was gorgeous when it comes to visuals and music and Ronan and Tucci were awesome but all in all it was quite boring and messy – going from slapstick comedy to heavy drama.

  5. I think I read the book and even that was just ok, I think. I can’t remember if I saw the movie or not, but I agree that it probably wasn’t like the book at all. Nevertheless, if the movie was well-done, then it did it’s job. I wish I had the book in digital copy to lend you, but I probably had the book pre-Nook/Kindle era ;).

  6. I really love Peter Jackson, and it’s obvious that his hands were all over this film. Everything about the film is big, maybe even a little over-the-top, but powerful. Probably my biggest complaint with the film is that it felt too long. The actors were great, the story was really sad, and some of the sequences were breathtaking to watch. The film just too a little too long for me.

    • Looking back, there was definitely a lot of parts of this film which just didn’t need to be there. It did take a long time to come to its very inevitable end. There was no other way it was going.

  7. I haven’t read the book, but I despised this movie. It just dragged on and on… Tucci was the only redeeming factor, I thought.

  8. I remember this getting bad reviews at the time, but personally I thought it was such a great movie. Saoirse Ronan is such a great actress.

    • It was completely slated. When I was watching, I was waiting for it to be a vile film but I was genuinely surprised and did enjoy most of it.

      Saoirse Ronan is a brilliant young actress. Hope she continues upward.

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