tv
tHIRTEEN rEASONS wHY
 | Seemingly in development hell, the adaptation of 2006 drama Thirteen Reasons Why was originally slated as a film. The novel which follows Clay, one of 12 people who receive a posthumous cassette tape from Hannh Baker, a teen who commits suicide that detail the circumstances that led to her suicide, has now been turned into a TV series for Netflix. Selena Gomez has been attached to the project since she was a teenager. While originally set to be its star, she is now an executive producer. The young adult fiction novel by Jay Asher lived in the New York Times best seller list for years so it's sure to be a powerful story. |
tOMORROW wHEN tHE wAR bEGAN
 | One of the few Australian titles to receive the film treatment, book one in John Marsden's Tomorrow series, Tomorrow When the War Began was adapted in 2010, and, as a huge fan of the series since tweenhood, I went in to see it with the expectation that it might be good, but couldn't possibly measure up to the series. I was wrong. It was great! Alas, even as the highest grossing Australian movie in Australia that year, it didn't warrant the production of 6+ sequels. But now the TV show is coming to make up for it! Being produced for ABC3 in Australia, essentially Australia's version of Nickelodeon, I'm imagining the subject matter might be somewhat watered down from the books and movie. Still I want it to be freaking great and with such a stand out and loved story we'll be waiting on our couch come April to render our verdict. |
Riverdale
 | Archie comics have been in circulation for over seventy years and have gone through a couple of major rebrandings and reboots since Archie first drove his old jalopy to the sock hop. Like many a generation before me, I grew up with the gang in Riverdale and the longest running love triangle in history. Coming to the CW, the home of Gossip Girl, the drama is sure to skyrocket from the clean-cut hijinx found in the comics. There's definitely going to be more to worry about than who to take to the high school dance, that much is a given. Little Betty Cooper addicted to Adderall? Scandalous. Think I need to dig out my comics for an afternoon. BRB. |
sERIAL
 | If you haven't heard of Serial, then you must not listen to podcasts. The #1 podcast around the globe in 2015, season one of Serial was a fascinating investigation into the 1999 murder of teen Hae Min Lee and the subsequent conviction and imprisonment of her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Sayed, who continues to proclaim his innocence from prison to this day. Thanks to Serial, Adnan has since been granted appeals. Now airing, the second season is investigating the supposed defection of Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl to the Taliban. Though very different it is no less intriguing. The TV adaptation by Fox 21 will follow the behind-the-scenes action in making the podcast ( it hasn't been divulged whether it will be season two or a subsequent season as of yet), including the real investigation, speculation and interviews that are undertaken, rather than a reenactment or "Lifetime Special" based on a true story types of productions. Fans of the podcast and true crime TV are going to love it, I'm sure. |
film
fANTASTIC bEASTS & wHERE tO fIND tHEM
 | Despite reaching the end of the Harry Potter movie franchise, Harry Potter mania has nowhere near abated. Hollywood plan to capitalise on the rabid desire of fans around the world to see more of J.K. Rowling's universe with a new film trilogy. The series started life as one of two Comic Relief books developed solely for charity in the Harry Potter School Library set. The 128 page "non-fiction" book about the fantastical beasts of the Harry Potter universe is referenced in the Harry Potter series. The films will be about the text book's fictional author, Newt Scamander, and the fantastic beasts he writes about that live in the wizarding world. Hopefully this series will be followed by an adaptation of the other Comic Relief short school text book, Quidditch Through the Ages because I would totally dig an uplifting sports movie about historic Quidditch players competing for the Quidditch World Cup. Stay tuned! |
mISS pEREGRINE'S hOME fOR pECULIAR cHILDREN
 | After finding some legit creepy vintage photography, author Ransom Riggs was well and truly inspired to create the first book in a supernatural trilogy set in the present, in the past, and in both places at the same time. The photos that inspired his characters and story are interspersed within the pages. The children are indeed peculiar, and kids are definitely going to get a kick out of watching their antics on screen, using their unusual abilities when danger comes a bit too close to their home. |
pRIDE aND pREJUDICE aND zOMBIES
Though I haven't read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, I do love a good, swoony Jane Austen adaptation. And I do love zombie movies. And turning swoony Jane Austen heroines into bad-ass zombie slayers sounds like a rollicking good time. Just look at the trailer. They're definitely not the Bennett sisters I remember.
It's already out overseas but in Australia we're still on tenterhooks waiting. Have you seen it? Did you love it? If you dig the idea of Pride and Prejudice with zombies, then you should have a giggle at the trailer for the book Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.
It's already out overseas but in Australia we're still on tenterhooks waiting. Have you seen it? Did you love it? If you dig the idea of Pride and Prejudice with zombies, then you should have a giggle at the trailer for the book Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.
2017 and Beyond...
Ready Player ONe
 | The book of Ready Player One is a video game and pop culture-loving 80s child's dream book. If that is you, you need to pick up your copy or book your cinema ticket – or both – right now. In a poverty and Virtual Reality-filled future, contestants compete in a VR world to win an eccentric billionaire's fortune. The contestants send their avatars on a high energy, explosive-filled cyber-quest "stuffed to the gills with action, puzzles, nerdy romance, and 80s nostalgia" (Amazon reviewer Chris Schluep's excellent choice of words). I can only imagine what the necessarily CGI-heavy film is going to look like. I can't wait. |
The Maze Runner 3: The Death Cure
 | Well and truly out of the maze now (but still running a lot – A LOT), I was super impressed with the second installment of this franchise, The Scorch Trials, as, though I loved The Maze Runner book, I wasn't so into the second installment on paper. In the film, they sure made those cranks scarier than expected and not exactly child viewer-friendly unless your kids actually LIKES nightmares (if you took littlies to see The Scorch Trials, how did they go?). I still haven't read The Death Cure, so, unless I get to it before the movie is released (which is entirely possible) I'll be going in blind. I heard this was the best book of the series (or was that the fourth book, The Kill Order? Maybe I'm getting confused). Either way, I have high hopes for the film. |
World War z 2
 | Let's be real, as World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War book consisted solely of interviews with survivors the world over of the zombie apocalypse, the first film took a lot of liberties – i.e. constructing a cohesive narrative and following a specific character – which bared very, very little resemblance to the book, save for its title. The second film could only deviate further, right? There was a mixed reaction to the film World War Z, but personally I love city destroying, chaos-fuelled blockbusters on the big screen (and zombies). So my butt will be in a cinema seat for sure. |
iLLUMINAE
 | Optioned by Warner Brothers and Plan B, with Brad Pitt producing, it seems that Pitt enjoys the challenge of turning non-standard literature into big screen blockbusters. Like World War Z, Illuminae isn't formatted as a standard narrative book. Comprised solely of interviews, instant messages, reports, surveillance transcripts, schematics and a creepy malfunctioning space ship AI's internal monologue, the film is likely to turn out extremely different to the book. But it does follow two at odds protagonists during the annihilation of a planet colony, an inter-galactic chase on spaceships infected with a psychosis-inducing illness and a race against time before an AI destroys them all. The crazy-high stakes tension is going to make for a brilliant film and hopefully the beginning of a new epic sci-fi trilogy. I hope. |
Divergent 3: ALLEGIANT
 | The conclusion of the Divergent trilogy is nigh and is sure to cause debate among viewers. If you have a Goodreads account then you will have experienced the outraged reader response for yourself when Allegiant was released (there was no hiding from the spoilers on this one, peeps). Readers of the original series were very vocal in their protests regarding a certain thing that happens at the end. So vocal, perhaps, that the filmmakers may choose to go a different direction for the screen? Consider me curious to find out. |
Uncharted
 | Based on the video game of which I know very, very little. But it looks adventurous! Action-packed. Tell me, gamers, are you excited? |
RSS Feed
