Uuuugh

[taiba]

Heard about a movie coming out, called The Lovely Bones.

Being curious, I looked up the synopsis on imdb.com and decided that it and the book it's based on are probably great, big, POSs. Here are some excerpts:

"The Lovely Bones" centers on a young girl who has been murdered and watches over her family and her killer from heaven. She must weigh her

Comments

[damien_wise]

Being curious, I looked up the synopsis on imdb.com and decided that it and the book it's based on are probably great, big, POSs.

That it may be (have you read it?), but when starting from such a biased position, you're hardly going to convince anyone that you're giving an objective opinion of the film -- a film you've not seen, and which has been made by Peter Jackson, who's much admired for making uncomfortable topics entertaining films.

Furthermore, by posting a full synopsis of the film without a spoiler-warning or putting it behind a link as IMDB does, you're doing yourself and your friends no favours. What an incredibly shitty thing you've done.

[taiba]

I'm sorry, but any story in which a murder victim takes pity on her killer from the afterlife, having raped, stabbed and dismembered screams of bad.

So does the bit about taking over her friend's body to have sex with a former crush.

What an incredibly shitty thing you've done.

You had me caring, until you wrote this bit.

[damien_wise]

It appears you've taken the position that you don't like the synopsis (your subjective opinion), have extrapolated the book and the film are dreadful, and than proceeded to post spoilers to all and sundry.

Yes, it's your blog and you're entitled to your opinion (the sarcastic tone doesn't help). I take it you've not watched any of PJ's other horror films? But to post detailed spoilers and ruin it for everyone else (seemingly with the intent to prevent others from watching the film) is despicable.

[taiba]

You're making this out to be some great tragedy/slight... It's a film. I may have been mistaken in not putting what could be spoilers it under a cut (though I see nothing new or revolutionary in any of the synopsis; I've either seen or read or heard everything in it done before), but I think you're taking it far too seriously.

[bloodied_angel7]

I actually have read the book and it seems that you have written this post with the intention of making both the book and film look bad. It actually isn't like that at all...the film is not centred around the murdered girl, rather around the various ways in which her family and friends come to terms with and deal with what happened. Perhaps you should read the book or see the movie before passing such harsh judgement based purely upon what you have read on imdb.

I also agree that spoilers need a warning and should go behind a cut, just as a measure of courtesy for your readers.

[upsidedownhotel]

I'm with you, bloodied_angel. The book isn't quite as terrible as it sounds, although if I were in your shoes and hadn't read the book and just looked at the synopsis that you posted here, I'd likely think the same exact thing. (Even when I read the book, the out-of-body-come-back-to-Earth-and-switch-bodies-with-your-friend-so-you-can-have-sex-with-your-crush scene made me shake my head and go, "Uhhh ... what?" That was the ONLY scene in the book where my suspension of reality just dropped out. Yet I had to keep reading, because at that point I had become so invested in the emotions and lives of each member of the family (my stomach turned every time I read about Harvey, uch), I just couldn't stop. Plus there's the fact that the film's directed by Peter Jackson and has a truly stellar cast (Saiorse Ronan, from "Atonement" plays Susie; Rachel Weisz is her mom; Mark Wahlberg, who's a really great "mad guy," is her dad; "Christopher" from The Sopranos is the detective investigating the unsolved murder, and even Stanley Tucci as the

[taiba]

I'm always skeptical of this stuff. I mean, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was getting awards in all directions, and it was stupid. You could have replaced his "condition" with any congenital defect and had the exact same story. It didn't explore any of the deeper themes, it was just a boy-meets-girl story, and his "condition" (for want of a better word) was nothing more than a device.

It is entirely possible that the book is well written, but the premise just strikes me as bland and awful. If I read a blurb for it, I wouldn't read the book. It's too much like so many other, similar stories I've read or seen.

[taiba]

This is a synopsis of the book. It does seem terrible from what's there, and I'm quoting from imdb. I do apologise for the lack of cut, but I'm feeling rather indignant about the way it was phrased earlier and am refusing to put it under one because I don't see it as the horrific act that the previous poster made it out to be.

I may do so later as I do understand people would prefer that, but for now I'm going to stay stubborn for a while just because I don't see it as quite that big a deal, especially because (as I said above) I don't see anything in the synopsis as being new or revolutionary or all that surprising.

[taiba]

a) Read Phil's comment below.
b) Read Phil's comment below
c) I refuse to precisely because of people swearing at me about it. Also, read Phil's comment below.

[upsidedownhotel]

I dunno, guys. I understand how you feel - not wanting to hear anything about the story at all (I get this way about "Lost," although I end up checking out the spoilers anyway) is hard, and even if you hadn't read Taiba's post, you likely would've stumbled upon info about the movie somewhere. And even if not, there's really no need to swear or write anything disrespectful. 'Tis the season to be nice to each other. so.just.chill.

[roccondilrinon]

If you can't tell that there are spoilers there in time to avoid reading them, then it's your own silly fault as far as I'm concerned.

As far as the quality of the stories goes, no matter how it's told or how it comes to happen, there is absolutely no way they could be good at all if the synopses accurately describe things that happen in them; particularly the bolded bits.

[roccondilrinon]

It's not a case of "being a dick". If you know so much about internet behaviour, you'd know that such rudeness gets you nowhere.

The "spoilers" started in the third paragraph, where the movie's name was mentioned in the first. I find it very difficult to believe that you read so fast that you don't understand what you've read until two paragraphs later.

My point was that there is no possible "why", no possible context in which those events could be part of a good story. There is no way in which a sympathetic character would feel that way toward her killer. There is no point in having an unsympathetic character do so. Either way, it's stupid.

[polly_jl_morgan]

Although I'm personally not that fussed about spoilers for the Lovely Bones, they were impossible to miss in this post because the title is "Uuuugh" (not something useful like "Lovely Bones Spoilers", or even "Lovely Bones is the worst story ever"), and then the really big spoilers themselves have been bolded, so one's eyes are immediately drawn to them. Given that movie is new and hasn't been released yet, it's pretty poor form to not put the post behind an LJ cut (regardless of whether anyone may have reacted strongly to it).

[aprilstarchild]

Actually, the book is fantastic. I found the premise completely eye-rolling myself, and was extremely surprised at what a good book it is.

No, really: It's excellent. And I'm a pretty snobby reader.

I'm looking forward to the movie!