Lovely Bones is a good movie. I loved it.

She wrote a memoir about her rape; it's entitled, Lucky.

It's quite the read.




[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Memoir-Alice-Sebold/dp/0316096199"]From Publishers Weekly[/ame]When Sebold, the author of the current bestseller The Lovely Bones, was a college freshman at Syracuse University, she was attacked and raped on the last night of school, forced onto the ground in a tunnel "among the dead leaves and broken beer bottles." In a ham-handed attempt to mollify her, a policeman later told her that a young woman had been murdered there and, by comparison, Sebold should consider herself lucky. That dubious "luck" is the focus of this fiercely observed memoir about how an incident of such profound violence can change the course of one's life. Sebold launches her memoir headlong into the rape itself, laying out its visceral physical as well as mental violence, and from there spins a narrative of her life before and after the incident, weaving memories of parental alcoholism together with her post-rape addiction to heroin. In the midst of each wrenching episode, from the initial attack to the ensuing courtroom drama, Sebold's wit is as powerful as her searing candor, as she describes her emotional denial, her addiction and even the rape (her first "real" sexual experience). She skillfully captures evocative moments, such as, during her girlhood, luring one of her family's basset hounds onto a blue silk sofa (strictly off-limits to both kids and pets) to nettle her father. Addressing rape as a larger social issue, Sebold's account reveals that there are clear emotional boundaries between those who have been victims of violence and those who have not, though the author attempts to blur these lines as much as possible to show that violence touches many more lives than solely the victim's.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Lovely bones
 

I just saw this movie yesterday. It does not follow the book completely but the changes were more suited for the movie screen. I thought the way they showed the other world was ingenious and very moody and charismatic. The girl who plays Suzie Salmon is an incredible actress and she really tore open the wounds of the character so we could see what was in turmoil of the dead. It IS a chick flick but I think its a great date movie.

Many people in the audience stated they were disappointed. The marketing hype didnt match the energy of the movie. I do know this is one movie where you could NOT read the book and still get the entire movie. On a different note, I am glad they did not show her rape and murder. It would have been very hard on some people to witness on screen, what was written in the book...

Ebert's review of The Lovely Bones
 

The Lovely Bones
After the rape and murder,
the really cool part starts

Release Date: 2010

Ebert Rating: *½

By Roger Ebert Jan 13, 2010

"The Lovely Bones" is a deplorable film with this message: If you're a 14-year-old girl who has been brutally raped and murdered by a serial killer, you have a lot to look forward to. You can get together in heaven with the other teenage victims of the same killer, and gaze down in benevolence upon your family members as they mourn you and realize what a wonderful person you were. Sure, you miss your friends, but your fellow fatalities come dancing to greet you in a meadow of wildflowers, and how cool is that?

The makers of this film seem to have given slight thought to the psychology of teenage girls, less to the possibility that there is no heaven, and none at all to the likelihood that if there is one, it will not resemble a happy gathering of new Facebook friends. In its version of the events, the serial killer can almost be seen as a hero for liberating these girls from the tiresome ordeal of growing up and dispatching them directly to the Elysian Fields. The film's primary effect was to make me squirmy.

It's based on the best-seller by Alice Sebold that everybody seemed to be reading a couple of years ago. I hope it's not faithful to the book; if it is, millions of Americans are scary. The murder of a young person is a tragedy, the murderer is a monster, and making the victim a sweet, poetic narrator is creepy. This movie sells the philosophy that even evil things are God's will, and their victims are happier now. Isn't it nice to think so. I think it's best if they don't happen at all. But if they do, why pretend they don't hurt? Those girls are dead.

I'm assured, however, that Sebold's novel is well-written and sensitive. I presume the director, Peter Jackson, has distorted elements to fit his own "vision," which involves nearly as many special effects in some sequences as his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. A more useful way to deal with this material would be with observant, subtle performances in a thoughtful screenplay. It's not a feel-good story. Perhaps Jackson's team made the mistake of fearing the novel was too dark. But its millions of readers must know it's not like this. The target audience might be doom-besotted teenage girls -- the "Twilight" crowd.

The owner of the lovely bones is named Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan, a very good young actress, who cannot be faulted here). The heaven Susie occupies looks a little like a Flower Power world in the kind of fantasy that, murdered in 1973, she might have imagined. Seems to me that heaven, by definition outside time and space, would have neither colors nor a lack of colors -- would be a state with no sensations. Nor would there be thinking there, let alone narration. In an eternity spent in the presence of infinite goodness, you don't go around thinking, "Man! Is this great!" You simply are. I have a lot of theologians on my side here.

But no. From her movie-set Valhalla, Susie gazes down as her mother (Rachel Weisz) grieves and her father (Mark Wahlberg) tries to solve the case himself. There's not much of a case to solve; we know who the killer is almost from the get-go, and, under the Law of Economy of Characters that's who he has to be, because (a) he's played by an otherwise unnecessary movie star, and (b) there's no one else in the movie it could be.

Here's something bittersweet. Weisz and Wahlberg are effective as the parents. Because the pyrotechnics are mostly upstairs with the special effects, all they need to be are convincing parents who have lost their daughter. This they do with touching subtlety. We also meet one of Susie's grandmothers (Susan Sarandon), an unwise drinker who comes on to provide hard-boiled comic relief, in the Shakespearean tradition that every tragedy needs its clown. Well, she's good, too. This whole film is Jackson's fault.

It doesn't fail simply because I suspect its message. It fails on its own terms. It isn't emotionally convincing that this girl, having had these experiences and destined apparently to be 14 forever (although cleaned up and with a new wardrobe), would produce this heavenly creature. What's left for us to pity? We should all end up like her, and the sooner the better; preferably not after being raped and murdered.

Bravo Ebert

I absolutely LOVED that movie "All About Steve"! Sandra plays a quirky but loveable character who also reminded Me alot of Myself too, and ultimately showed Me that no matter who we are we should NEVER change for anyone. We are who we are and to be anything other then ourselves is cheating us out of giving the world something special ........... the gift of us :D

I went to see Sherlock Holmes last night and I LOVED it :thumbsup:

"The Hurt Locker" was good. I recommend this movie as well.

Valkyrie
 

Jet,

That was a good movie. I also enjoy "Band of Brothers" by HBO. Just awesome.

Wow! Another Biggie for Cameron
 

Avatar' Officially Overtakes 'Titanic'
For Global Box Office Record With $1.85 Billion

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/usmovie...th-185-billion

Edge of Darkness with Mel Gibson is next on my "see" list.

Thriller-suspense fan here.

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2010/01/29...evenge-movies/

Can't wait to see the new Wolfman! Love Sir Anthony Hopkins

I am boycotting all of Mel Gibson's movies. His hypocracy is fueled with self righteousness of a man who uses his religion as a judgemental weapon to hurt other people while he himself is with sin. There is a call out there for people to boycott him....and by god, my god, I am going to....