"Struck By Lightning" - A Review

Chris Colfer - "Carson Philips"

It’s time for you to throw your hands in the air, Chris Colfer fans, because “Struck By Lightning” the movie is finally out for our personal viewing! It wasn’t too long ago (November 20^th 2012) that Chris finally released “Struck by Lightning”, his first novel and second published work thus far, as a prelude to his movie that was released one month later (in most states anyway).

“Struck By Lightning” is light-hearted and easy-to-read, and it revolves around the main character, Carson Philips (Chris Colfer). Carson is a snarky yet driven young writer hoping to get out of his small town and into his dream school, Northwestern, before he becomes the head editor at the New Yorker. Bottom line is, he’s really nothing but a self-righteous yet motivated teenager with big dreams.

"Carson Philips"

Carson’s character is not unlike ‘Kurt Hummel’, a character from Glee that struggles with teen-drama and conflicts of his own. Still, I think that this is to be expected, really – both ‘Kurt Hummel’ and ‘Carson Philips’ are based off Chris Colfer’s actual character, anyway. At least Chris is sticking with what he knows before he feels the need to try and amaze us with something totally unexpected and potentially horrifying.

The movie’s plot does not differ much from the book storyline. We still have the same gang of ‘potential failures’- the cliché head cheerleader, the clueless jock, the drama king, and the lifeless Goth kid and, finally, we have Carson’s likable but not-too-intelligent lackey, Malerie Baggs (Rebel Wilson).

A fraction of the Struck By Lightning Cast

The book deals with many controversial (or not any more) topics like homosexuality, drugs, divorce and even fornication. I’d just like to say though; I found the ending of the book and the movie incredibly dissatisfactory. Chris basically built up the story on Carson’s unwavering determination and ambition, but then he chose to end it in such a way that none of that actually came to fruition. Was this really the best choice? Still, he did manage to salvage it with a little snippet of a quote given to us by Carson’s mother, Sheryl (Allison Janey), regarding his death, which goes something like this:

Rebel Wilson: Malerie Baggs

“I was reading that lightning is a negative charge that comes from the friction clouds carry. Since opposites attract, I would like to think that he was so positive the moment he died - so happy, he pulled that bolt right out of the sky”.

I’m not too sure what that means – never get ourselves too motivated? But it seemed to soften the blow (personally, anyway)… though it failed to really make up for the sudden and disappointing turn of events. I suppose that maybe Chris just wanted an overly dramatic ending, or he simply wanted to add a little more realism and honesty to his book’s title.

What really made this book enjoyable to read for me would be Carson Philip’s never-ending wit and the oh-so-relatable human inferiority complexes that we see in almost every chapter. Although Carson detests his peers and is constantly putting them down for something or the other, these ‘enemies’ of his are never portrayed to be more than human, and are all able to individually portray a negative element of humanity that we can relate with all too well.

Chris is obviously trying to impart some little life-lessons to his readers with each character’s story that he delves into. Here’s a quote by the head cheerleader Claire Matthews (Sarah Hyland):

“It must be really nice to have plans to journey out into the world, but some of us don’t have that capability. Some of us are stuck here and have to make the most of it. So excuse me for wanting to have a little fun my senior year. It could be the last chance I get.”

Sarah Hyland: Claire Matthews

This quote represents ‘Insecurity’ and ‘Hopelessness’ to me. Every character is never portrayed as a true villain, and they all show their vulnerability to us in one way or another. However, Chris refrains from going into nitty-gritty details concerning each character’s backstory, and he simply allows us to get a slight glimpse of their struggles without actually knowing too much. This made the book a lot less tedious to read, but it also made it lose a lot more depth than it could have had.

The movie should resonate well with anybody who has ever felt a little out of place (and who hasn’t, really), and we might all walk away from it with a little more insight in our heads. Few people might actually share Carson’s undeniably ‘unpleasant’ sense of humor, but it’s probably a good thing for anybody to possess that same level of ambition and confidence.

Both the movie and the book were equally enjoyable to me, and I would recommend them to anybody that’s looking for a light-hearted laugh or a simple novel to tackle. I understand that this whole experience must have been a testing one for Chris (especially because his movie was an independent one), and I truly applaud him for what he has accomplished. This is truly a man with a variety of exceptional talents.

Mock Poster

Thank you so much for your time. I hope that you have enjoyed this review as ‘Struck By Lightning’ is one of my favorite movies. Please don’t hesitate to share with my anything that you would like to say at Ordinarysgkid@hotmail.com or @NatKathXo on twitter.

My Rating: 6.5/10 (Movie), 7.5/10 (Book).

Credits: First pic: imdb.com, Third pic: movpins.com, Second pic: showblitz.com, Fourth pic: rottentomatoes.com, Fifth pic: geektyrant.com

Les Misérables - A Review

Official Movie Poster

Hurry to your nearest theatre and grab yourself some popcorn, people, because Les Misérables is officially out in theaters! For the dear readers that haven’t actually watched the play or read the book, don’t get into this thinking that it’s going to be a powerful romantic feature film-slash-musical. Well, it is a musical, but take note that it’s really about the morose part of French History where lots of bad things are happening. Wait, what am I talking about? I forgot how absolutely truthful the title of the movie is again.

For the benefit of the readers that might not actually know what the movie is about, I’ll just let you know that it simply revolves around the protagonist, Jean Valjean, a good-hearted ex-convict on the run, and the people that he interacts with over the years. For example, another important character is the merciless policeman Javert, who has hunted Jean Valjean for a very long time. The next few characters are Fantine, a single mother that gives up her dignity for the sake (she believes) of her child, and of course, her daughter Cosette who soon becomes Jean’s adopted daughter (not by marriage though, you’ll see). Finally, we have Marius, a young scholar that takes part in the revolution even as he falls for Cosette, and Éponine, the daughter of the Thénardier’s that has fallen for Marius. We do have other fairly important characters, like the Thénardier’s, whom are largely comedic characters, and Marius’s friends, Enjolras and young Gavroche, who are key figureheads in the uprising amongst the people in their own way.

The Main Cast And our VIPS on the Right. Do you know who I mean?

So, I’d watched the actual play before I walked into that theatre today to see it performed on the big screen for the first time. I loved the excellent sets and realism in every single scene.

"Jean Valjean"

Hugh Jackman made a very believable Jean Valjean, and his strong facial expressions made up for his less-than-perfect voice. I did get a pleasant surprise though when Colm Wilinson, the great man whom had played Jean Valjean in the original London and New York productions, made an appearance as the Bishop of Digne. His voice was beyond powerful even though he did not have many lines to sing. He’s practically a legend.

Russell Crowe made a respectable Javert, although I was disappointed as I’d always believed this character to be extremely prideful and I simply did not really find him to be that tenacious. His vocals were all right, and I think that he did do a fine job overall. So here's a round of applause, Russell Crowe!

"Fantine"

Anne Hathaway (Fantine) was unbelievably amazing in this movie. Her voice was not that great (though passable, and expected) and I applaud her for giving her obvious best. Her acting was basically flawless, and her expressions were moving and extremely believable to the audience. This, ladies and gentleman, is the work of a true actress!

Another female actress that did 

extremely well is Amanda Seyfried (though let’s face it, almost every musical she touches is gold. Have you seen Mama Mia?). Her vocals were amazing and she was a great Cosette.

"Cosette"

Samantha Barks (Éponine) was incredibly familiar to me and I learned later on that she’d actually taken part in “Les Misérables in Concert: The 25^th Anniversary). So that explained why she made such a great Éponine, although I find that there wasn’t as much spotlight on this character as there had been in the play. Which is sad, because I personally find Éponine to be the most unfortunate character in the play.

    

"Thenardier's" - Eponine's parents

         

"Eponine"

Now, the Thénardier’s – the lovable (?) but decidedly ‘evil’ characters in this play! Helena Bonham Carter plays Madame Thénardier (Bellatrix, the Queen in Alice in wonderland, Sweeney Todd’s wife… am I seeing a very obvious pattern here?) and she did act and sing very well. However, I’d much preferred the more comical, less-attractive appearance of the Madame Thénardier in the play, although this intimidating version portrayed by Helena was fitting as well. Sacha Baron Cohen who played Thénardier did not impress me much. His slur (though intentional I supposed) made it rather difficult to make out what he said and he was simply not as comical as other Thénardier’s that I had watched before. Still, he did display great chemistry with Helena and he made a pretty convincing crook and low-life.

You Know you love him, XOXO (Gossip Girl): "Eljoras"

Then we have dear Enjolras, the hot-blooded scholar that basically lights the fire for the ‘great’ revolution. Enjolras is played by Aaron Tveit, and I was honestly struggling to remember just where I had seen him. I’d personally mistaken him for the actor who’d played Ryder Flynn on Glee, but I later found out that he plays Trip Van Der Bilt on Gossip Girl! Not really expected, but it’s always nice to have some diversity. He does an okay job as Enjolras, but somehow he doesn’t seem all that convincing to me. Enjolras is the character that basically stirs up the emotions in his men to persuade them to fight, but I wouldn’t find myself participating in any such thing if I were a man being persuaded by him.

"Marius"

Finally, we have our lovable Eddie Redmayne (Marius) whom successfully made us believe him to be a youthful, lovesick fool that will courageously fight alongside his brothers and grow incredibly from said experience. He sang well (much better than the modern Marius played by Nick Jonas. Sorry Nick) and annoyed us all successfully with his character’s completely oblivious nature. Bravo!

The song lyrics did not change much (As expected) and all actors and actresses did a great job turning their lyrics into speech. They all portrayed their emotions very well and successfully made it through some extremely lengthy songs. It was a great movie and an acceptable adaptation and I would not mind watching it a second time.

Before I leave you, why not watch this little parody by a famous youtuber depicting what she thinks Les Misérables is about?

Link: http://youtu.be/Xa-EwjAQXEw 

Thank you so much for your time! Please tell me what you thought about the movie or whatever else is on your mind. Don’t hesitate to leave a comment below or to email me at OrdinarySGKid@hotmail.com. You could also tweet me at @NatKathXo on twitter J Have a great day and I hope that you will enjoy this movie as much as I have!

My Rating: 7/10

Credits: First Picture: imdb.com, Second Picture: itv.com, Third Picture: digital spy.co.uk, Fourth Picture: teaser-trailer.com, Fifth Picture: justjared.com, Sixth Picture: movie fanatic.com, Seventh Picture: wooller.com, Eighth Picture: thirdcoastdigest.com, Ninth Picture: broadway.com, Tenth Picture: justjared.com