Thursday, June 6, 2019

My favourite book OR film

"Books and movies are like apples and oranges. They both are fruit, 
but taste completely different." - Stephen King

Books are a pleasure that good readers enjoy. They lead you through mysteries, such as Agatha Christie's detective stories or Dan Brown's plots, to scientific, philosophical, historical, romantic issues in an endless number of genres written both in formal and informal language, fiction and non-fiction. 

When I was about ten, my father gave me a book to read it carefully, as it contained "messages that I would cherish all my life long". He was not fond of reading, but that book had meant a lot to him and wanted to transfer his feelings to me.

I enjoyed reading it! The book written by Edmondo de Amicis, “Cuore”, the Italian term for "Heart", tells us about  Enrico—the main character—who is a nine-year-old boy, who writes about his life at school, his friends and not so much friends, their families, his teachers ... The novel covers one year of Enrico´s life at school narrated in the form of a diary; each classmate´s life develops and grows in your mind and you end up by feeling love and understanding for them. As Enrico’s classmates, you also waited eagerly for reading the story of the month; these remarkable “monthly stories” were short stories full of sensitivity, braveness, endurance, warmth and genuine love—one of such stories was “From the Apennines to the Andes”….

As a teenager, I developed a liking for watching films in those attractive buildings with a superb architecture, similar to opera houses, where you could enjoy watching both the surroundings and the films and everyone would be quiet and respectful... no popcorn existed… Technicolor and Cinerama brought elegance and modernity, and super-productions became common. Ben-Hur, The Sound of Music, Star Wars and E.T The extraterrestrial were invested with the stateliness of the theatres.

Elegance of  the Grand Rex movie theater in Paris
Although technological advances have made possible to give life on screen to Tolkien's fantastic world, The Lord of the Rings; and Crichton's Jurassic Park;  I'd have liked to have watched them in the magnificent buildings of the past century without the sound of popcorn around me.

I enjoy watching films, so naming my favourite one is hard to anyone, especially me. Big Fish, As Good as it gets, The lord of the rings, Sense and Sensibility, Skyfall, La la Land, Rainman, The Cyder House Rules, Faceoff, Dead Poet's Society ... are just a few of films that come to my mind...

Yet, there is a film that I think everyone should watch to live and learn. We often hear that books are far better than films. A long time ago a watched a film named "The Shawshank Redemption", a beautiful story of a man accused of murdering his wife and how he faced his life in prison; it has an extraordinary ending. Great casting, well-structured film.

I looked for the book and I realized that it was a rather short  (about 50 pages long) story written by Stephen King. The author and the director of the film worked together; the film was nominated to several Oscar awards, but won none. To the critics' surprise, the video was a complete success and today is considered a real masterpiece...! And I must say that the film was to me better than the novel; the music, the location, the casting and the direction contributed to the enrichment of a solid story.

Now, it is your turn

Tell me what your favourite film OR book is
What makes it attractive
When  you read/watched it
Why you recommend it
Minumum length : 150 words.
Remember to make comments on 3 of your classmates' posts and also the teacher's 

34 comments:

  1. My favorite writer is Stephen King, all his stories are incredible.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Belén,
      He is an inteligent and versatile writer, although most of his writing are thrillers, terror and horror films...
      See you,

      Delete
  2. I had never heard about that movie but as I read in your post I think it's sound really interesting so I thinking see it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Eduardo,
      Watch the subtitled trailer... and watch the film, you won´t regret it.
      See you,

      Delete
  3. i like tolkien´s movies too. The stories, the music, the environment, all the things are great.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Luis,
      Taking books to films was not easy at all, yet P. Jackson did it very well.
      See you,

      Delete
  4. Stephen King writes very well, i love his way to write.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Nicole,
      Nice to know you enjoy his writing skill...he is a very prolific writer.
      See you,

      Delete
  5. I do not usually read books but when one catches you it's really fun.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Franco,
      Like a good movie, a good one keeps you with wide open eyes till the end of it.
      See you,

      Delete
  6. What a pity that the film did not win any of the eight Oscar awards that was nominated, but still competed for the prize against things like Forrest Gump and Pulp Fiction that are very good movies

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Divo,
      Forrest Gump was a masterpiece too...
      See you,

      Delete
  7. Big fish is a great film of Tim Burton. A ordinary event becomes extraordinary according to the form of tell the story

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Guillermo,
      Good writers and good directors make the most out of very ordinary issues...
      See you,

      Delete
  8. wow, your cultural background is amazing! I like Stephen King too, Gerald's game is the newest film i saw of him (it`s on Netflix), inspired in his novel which is called the same.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are my favourite character. <3

      Delete
    2. Hi Gonzalo,
      I'll watch Gerald's game on Netflix... Stephen King is quite a good writer.
      See you,

      Delete
  9. I don´t like Stephen king. I don´t really like to read novels, but I like to read other genres.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Daniel,
      I do recommend the film to you. Watch it, you won't regret. Before then, watch the subtitled trailer to have a better ideas.
      See you,

      Delete
  10. The grand rex looks amazing, i hope Chile can have a space like this in the future.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Mónica,
      You never now; sometimes old-things come back and get popular again, such as musical records.
      See you,

      Delete
  11. The movie the Lord of the rings is one of my favorites too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Javiera,
      Nice to know you like the trilogy. Have you watched the Hobbit trilogy? I haven't, it should be good, though.
      See you,

      Delete
  12. I like watching movies, I did not know the movie you're talking about but it looks interesting

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Leandro,
      I should have added a trailer with subtitles... It is a great movie, watch it, you won't regret.
      See you,

      Delete
  13. I saw La La Land movie a few years ago. I didn’t expect the final.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Ariel,
      I agree with you...it reflects a period of time in Los Angeles when music and musicals were impressive...
      See you,

      Delete
  14. Personally I also enjoy movies a lot.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Albert,
      It's perhaps my favourite hobby.
      See you,

      Delete
  15. Big fish also is one of my favourite movie, I enjoy a lot watching this movie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Danae,
      I watched it with my daughter in a cinema...and she loved it too...
      See you,

      Delete
  16. Is wonderful how the cinema can give us a new form of entertainment, but in these days is very difficult to find a movie that can move for itself instead of depends of its source.

    ReplyDelete
  17. personally, I enjoy movies more than books, it's a very good hobby :)

    ReplyDelete