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News & ArtsWednesday, February 18, 2009
Books / Film Today in Bad Movie Ideas
Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 5:15 PM
Ang Lee is in talks to direct a film version of The Life of Pi. When he's off-key, Lee can be a huge blowhard of a director. Pi is a crappy novel by a blowhard writer that somehow was embraced as kind of a Da Vinci Code for lit snobs. The initial excitement of a tiger in a boat can only last for so long onscreen.
2
Sometimes you can really tell when Paul the "whaa I hated this book no fair it's getting a movie!" version of you is talking versus Paul the paid critic version of you is spouting.
5
I enjoyed The Life of Pi when I read it a few years back. It's not something I would expend a lot of energy to search out again but it was far from terrible.
6
I wanna see the outtake when the "trained" tiger mauls whatever lame-o actor takes the part. Maybe Hayden Christianson?
10
Wow. I actually enjoyed that book, and I'm not a lit snob what.so.ever. It's actually one I recommend to friends (it was recommended to me by a book worm).
Paul, you need to chillax a little bit. Be careful at taking things too seriously or your "Constant Reader" will turn into "Constant Hater".
Just sayin' ..
Paul, you need to chillax a little bit. Be careful at taking things too seriously or your "Constant Reader" will turn into "Constant Hater".
Just sayin' ..
11
Just the usual conclusion from The Stranger...
if:
a.) It's popular
and
b.) Wasn't discovered and/or particularly liked by the staffer in question
Then by definition it must be bad.
It did win the Booker Prize, which maybe should count for something...
if:
a.) It's popular
and
b.) Wasn't discovered and/or particularly liked by the staffer in question
Then by definition it must be bad.
It did win the Booker Prize, which maybe should count for something...
13
Tigers on a boat? Who needs a book, that movie writes itself! "Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherfucking tigers on this motherfucking boat!"
15
I originally bought this for my dad to read- he read it and hated it. So I decided to read it, or I tried to. I got to page 20 or so before I threw it away. I am a huge bookworm and I couldn't take it. Definitely a blowhard book- I felt like I was being preached to from page 1, and it was boring. It would be torture in a movie format.
16
C'mon guys, life of pi is an allegory of the lowest order with a trick ending on the same level of "they're all actually ghosts!" or "they're all actually me!" And if you doubt Martel's blowhard quotient, please, please check out what his forthcoming book is about on wikipedia.
18
I enjoyed the book, though I can certainly feel why excessive hype can make one hostile to a book one isn't inclined to like anyway. I feel the same way about Catcher in the Rye.
19
I know that about a year ago Jean Pierre Jeunet was supposed to be making a movie of this. I kind of enjoyed the book but agree that as a film it would be horrible. So much of it was internal.
"Day 37.... on a boat.... with a Tiger.... and we both haven't pooped or eaten in awhile... blah blah blah."
"Day 37.... on a boat.... with a Tiger.... and we both haven't pooped or eaten in awhile... blah blah blah."
22
Oh, thank god, I HATED that effing book and I'm so glad someone else thought the same. It'll probably make a better movie than a book... at least in a movie there won't be 40 pages describing a completely impossible floating electric island with monkey zappers. WTF? No, seriously. WTF?
23
Paul! regardless of whether you liked it or not, there WILL be a film. perhaps by ang lee, perhaps not. i look forward to that, as it will make a nice change from those stupid girly girl movies. whinging about it won't change a thing. back to reporting on right wing blogs, pliss.
26
Huh. Sorry to hear it, Paul, since I like reading you, but I liked Life of Pi. It *was* overhyped (especially up here in Canada) and I feared it for that, but"crappy" is one of the last words I'd use for it. The first couple of chapters were pretty slow, but I really enjoyed the rest of the story. A "popcorn" novel for people who like to read?
Calling it a "kind of Da Vinci Code" for ANYONE is much too harsh for anyone except the Da Vinci Code, as it occupies its own category of retarditude.
(And yeah, I wouldn't call myself a lit snob either. I hate most chick lit, true, but half my reading list right now is comic books about zombies.)
Calling it a "kind of Da Vinci Code" for ANYONE is much too harsh for anyone except the Da Vinci Code, as it occupies its own category of retarditude.
(And yeah, I wouldn't call myself a lit snob either. I hate most chick lit, true, but half my reading list right now is comic books about zombies.)
27
I liked Life of Pi, didn't love it, but thought it was a good book. I must agree that Martel is a blowhard though. Some of his blowhardiness shines through in the book, which made me hate it at times, but overall, the book wasn't that bad.
28
I love how The Stranger is as bitter and biased as another newspaper or blog, but doesn't have the basic self reflection skills to realize it.
29
Clearly the point of The Stranger is to openly declare their bitter biases, so that people can make an informed decision rather than being suckered into some point of view from a paper making a big disingenuous show of objectivity.
To contribute: Haven't read it, won't see the movie.
To contribute: Haven't read it, won't see the movie.
30
I love reading Paul's posts even though I agree with him, like, .05% of the time. Life of Pi is a terrific book. The movie will undoubtedly suck, but what else is new?
31
Wait a minute..Wait a minute! I thought the whole point of that book was that there WASN'T a tiger in the boat! Crap
35
The book had a couple of interesting moments, but I HATED the trick ending. Lame. Wouldn't see the movie.
36
The book itself is too stupid to hate. It's like saying you hate those little Chick Tracts. The people who give the book to others... they're the ones that deserve your enmity.
38
24 Kite Runner...worst book of all time.
So stupid! So cliched! ...sputter, sputter.
Couldn't choke down the last 20 pages, couldn't care anymore.
So stupid! So cliched! ...sputter, sputter.
Couldn't choke down the last 20 pages, couldn't care anymore.
39
Rudyard Kipling is a million times better, and doesn't resort to a lame deus ex machina when he paints himself into a corner.
40
Uh, not a trick ending folks, but rather alternative realities: those who are cynical and view the world as it must be (according to them) and those who view the world as it might be. An interesting book, not a classic, might make an interesting movie in the right hands, Ang Lee might pull it off . . . Don't understand all the strong feelings amongst the Sloggers here . . . .
41
Good book. Not great, but much better then that unfinished mess you're working on in your mom's basement, Paul. Now Dan Brown otoh, is one horrible author.
42
Oh NO. Ang Lee rocks. This book is terrible, for the one thing that can actually carry over from a novel into film, its attitude.
43
@39 - amen.
Kite Runner sucked, by the way. Everything @38 said, except I did finish it. Not that that helped.
Kite Runner sucked, by the way. Everything @38 said, except I did finish it. Not that that helped.
44
I started to read that book but couldn't bring myself to finish it. It wasn't the tiger in the boat that bored me to tears but his constant references to religion/philosophy that made him appear to be trying to hard. Yes, Martel comes across as a blowhard.
I think this novel would probably be better as a comic book.
I think this novel would probably be better as a comic book.
45
I liked the book...just finished it a couple of weeks ago. However, it was a Swedish translation, so that may have helped.
46
Anybody want to take bets on which movie adaptation will suck more: The Life of Pi or The Time Traveler's Wife?
47
Life of Pi is The Princess Bride of the third millenium...shockingly beloved.
A movie adaption would only work if they animate it...and the guy who did Waltz with Bashir should do it...
A movie adaption would only work if they animate it...and the guy who did Waltz with Bashir should do it...
48
Yann Martel is 100 times more the writer that Paul Constant is. That is, if you actually want to give Constant the credit for being a writer.
49
Let's face it, Paul blows. and so does Charles. The Stranger needs some new writers OR we need a new paper.
51
What a crap novel. And he borrowed the plot from a Brazilian writer to boot. Life of Tigger might be a better film option.
52
I haven't read it, but Yann Martel is a huge fucking douche who believes everyone needs religion.
53
I would much rather go see Ang Lee's take on "Life of Pi" than Aaron Sorkin's upcoming film about the founding of Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=33…
55
Your mistake was *reading* Life Of Pi...I listened to it on audio with zero expectations and was completely enchanted. Audio sometimes does the trick of pacing a book properly to draw you in to that world.
Yes, sometimes the story was boring, and that was part of the experience of being lost at sea.
So was there or wasn't there a tiger on the boat? Well, was Hobbes a "real" tiger? Exactly.
Yes, sometimes the story was boring, and that was part of the experience of being lost at sea.
So was there or wasn't there a tiger on the boat? Well, was Hobbes a "real" tiger? Exactly.
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