Book - Movie Adaptation: Mockingjay Part 1 - FTM

Following her rescue from the devastating Quarter Quell, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) awakes in the complex beneath the supposedly destroyed District 13. Her home, District 12, has been reduced to rubble, and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) is now the brainwashed captive of President Snow (Donald Sutherland). At the same time, Katniss also learns about a secret rebellion spreading throughout all of Panem -- a rebellion that will place her at the center of a plot to turn the tables on Snow.

- Wikipedia

Nuts Vs. Volts #2 - The Mortal Instruments TV Show

Nuts:

Thoughts on a recast? 

FTM - Nuts: As much as I love the original cast in the movie, I do think that a recast of the characters would be one of the best choices. As most of us know, the movie didn't do so well and some people might not want to watch the show especially if they thought that the movie was horrible. I do believe that if one of the actors is interested in the TV show and wants to be involved, I definitely think that they should be a part of it.

RQK-Volts: I also liked the original cast of the movie and agree with FTM. I kind of wish that it would have just started as a TV series because I feel that that cast was a very good fit for the characters. However that isn't what happened so I feel that the best choice would be to recast it. It just would be too weird having the same people play the same characters in both. Especially since the TV series most likely won't just start where the movie left off.

Do you think it will be successful? 

FTM - Nuts: If the TV show is done right I do believe that it will be successful. As long as it is faithful to the series and it is not played off as cheesy, hopefully it will be great. Another big factor is obviously the actors who are going to playing the characters, one of my hopes is that they won't just cast the actors on their looks but their talent. Book fans are crazy, yes a lot of them base their opinions on the actors looks but as soon as they watch the adaptation, a lot of them will start to judge them on their acting abilities. If an actor cannot act, critics will comment on that saying that they have the looks but not the talent and that can lead the show downhill.

RQK-Volts: I personally am really conflicted about it. I mean there are a lot of factors as FTM said. First of all if the show is done right that is a big step. However for those who saw the movie and didn't like it they might have already have bias opinions and not want to even watch the show. That being said the show could be very different from the movie and some will consider that also. Another would be the cast. Some like myself and FTM really liked the original cast and I feel that a lot of people will compare the new cast to the cast of the movie by looks, but also talent. Personally I hope it is successful and I am looking forward to it, however at least at the moment there is really no telling how successful it will be.

Volts:

Do you think the TV show will stay close to the story line of the books?

RQK-Volts: I am one of "those" people who really likes when they keep the story close to the book. I always find that the stories just have so much detail and I realize that movies can't have that much, but when they cut important things out and change things it just ruins the story. In a TV series however they have much more time to have episodes that will go into much more detail. So I feel even if they aren't exact, they will stay generally close to the storyline. I also hope if they make the TV show that they go through the whole story up to the very last book. I always dislike when they don't finish movie or TV series off its just kind of a let down.

FTM-Nuts: I guess this is one of those times when RQK and I agree on almost everything, which is actually very rare. I am also one of those kind of people who like it when adaptations are close to the books. There are some book adaptations that aren't very good as a whole but there is something that makes fans want more, it's the fact that are loyal to the books. The adaptation can be horrible and it could make sequels, just because they were loyal to the book. For example the twilight movies weren't the best movies in the world but they were faithful to the books. I hope that they will stay close to the books because that is obviously one of the most important aspects of creating a successful series.

Who would like to see play the characters in the show besides the original cast?

RQK-Volts: I don't have anybody specific in mind, but for me personally I would choose actors or actresses who decently looked like the character but also is able to portray characters well. It would be interesting to look for actors or actresses from other cities popular or not. I think this would just make it more interesting I find a lot of the same types of movies will use the same pool of actors from just one place. I mean i am sure there are just as good actors in other parts of the country besides those few cities. I am Canadian and I feel it would be pretty cool to have some Canadian actors or actresses in the TV series. LIKE FTM! Just Kidding... but seriously in a full bias opinion I'd love to see some Canadian actors and actresses in the television series.

FTM-Nuts: I think they should cast lesser known actors or new discoveries. I say this because this way we can be totally surprised. I find that this is usually a trend for TV shows because the actors in them are usually fresh faces. These actors won't have any labels on them, they won't be defined for something that they did in the past. I just personally like it more when I don't really know who is playing the characters. 

Dystopians - FTM

A dystopia (from the Greek δυσ- and τόπος, alternatively, cacotopia, kakotopia, or anti-utopia) is a community or society that is in some important way undesirable or frightening. It is literally translated as "not-good bad-place" and synonymous with the opposite of utopia. Such societies appear in many artistic works, particularly in stories set in a future. Dystopias are often characterized by dehumanization, totalitarian governments, environmental disaster, or other characteristics associated with a cataclysmic decline in society. Dystopian societies appear in many sub-genres of fiction and are often used to draw attention to real-world issues regarding society, environment, politics, economics, religion, psychology, ethics,science, and/or technology, which if unaddressed could potentially lead to such a dystopia-like condition.

- Wikipedia

For the last few years, we have been getting many different books. A lot of them happening to be Dystopias. I absolutely the love the idea of dystopian societies and I just find them fascinating, and I obviously loved reading them. I have heard many people say that not every story is original, everything is inspired or based off of something. An example of this would be The Hunger Games and Divergent being compared throughout the years. Those series just so happen to be one of my favourites and I understand why so many people compare the two but what bugs me is that they say that it is exactly the same. This might be hard for some people to understand but they're almost completely different. One of the things that they have in common is that they both have a strong female character, they take place in futuristic societies and they have a really corrupt government. Yes, there are probably more similarities between the two but they still have their differences. 

As I said before we have been getting a lot of dystopian books. Dystopians have become very popular with readers and popular books sell. It's very hard to find a dystopia that doesn't say "Fans of the Hunger Games will love this!" I am one of those people who hate it when people say that but it's finally clicked in my head. Some of the new books that are being released are usually literally re-tellings.

I'm very conflicted about my feelings with dystopians, I guess you could say that I'm just frustrated. I am a fan of dystopians but nowadays I just feel that they're just too similar. 

I am sure that the authors who are writing and publishing their own dystopian books are all great but I  don't know if I will ever read them. I am not saying that every single book that is being released are re-tellings because there are books out there that are separated from the others.

Okay, I will probably still read them but I would really like it if there wasn't a secret society planning to rebel against the government. I mean seriously, so many rebellions!

I'm still very conflicted and I really don't know why I decided to write this... No but really rebellions...

Then again, the only dystopias that I have read have all been young adult. I have never come across an adult novel that was in the particular genre but if I ever do I will pick it up. I guess it might just be a trend in young adult literature. It pains me to say that I'm kind of getting tired of dystopias, it's really overwhelming to have a dystopia being released every few months and have it be so similar to another book or story.

In my opinion, if you keep reading something that is very similar to something else, you really aren't reading something different. 

September/October Wrap Up - RQK

So I haven't been on here a while... September I was very busy and unfortunately had little time to read or to keep up with this blog. I did read some more at the beginning which I'll list below. I will also list what I read for October. Sorry. Again.

The first book I read in September was "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by: Patrick Ness.

I did a post about this to read it click here

The second and third books I read in September were "The Ask and The Answer"  and "Monsters of Men" by: Patrick Ness. I did a post about the first two books you can see that at the link ^ up there. The third book I do plan to review, however I tend to post late so I will say Monsters of Men had an intriguing ending I highly suggest this series to everyone I absolutely loved it.

The fourth book I read in September was "Maze Runner" by" James Dashner. I personally really liked this book and liked the whole idea of the Maze. It just seemed so unique and creative but it was also highly interesting. I could never put the book down. I also did see the movie and absolutely loved it I really hope they make the rest of the series into movies too.

The fifth book I read in September was "The Giver" by: Lois Lowry. I actually watched this movie first as I had issues getting my hands on a copy of the book at the time. Generally the movie was pretty good however I much preferred the book over the movie. I feel in this kind of story being able to read all their thoughts really makes the story much more interesting. 

The first book I read in October was Blood of Olympus. I have waited so long for this book. I am a huge fan of Rick Riordan's books. I was so sad that this is the last book, but also so excited for it. I tried to read the book as slowly as you can when reading this book because I wanted to savour every moment. I highly suggest reading this series the books are interesting and fun to read.

The second book I read this month was "The Scorch Trials" by: James Dashner. This is the second book to the Maze Runner series. This book was really good, however I did like the first book better. Though I feel the movie for this would be highly entertaining. The book is definitely worth reading, it is just a lot of information slowly being unravelling. I feel sometimes the second book of trilogies are awkward in that there is a third book so they can't reveal too much, but also not too little either.

The third book I read this month was "The Infinite Sea" by: Rick Yancey.

October Wrap Up - FTM

The first book I read this month was The Maze Runner by: James Dashner. I would rate it a 3.8 out of 5 stars. I also read the rest of the trilogy. 

The second book I read this month was The Last Sacrifice by: Richelle Mead. I already knew Lissa was going to become queen and I also knew that Rose and Adrian were going to break up. Now I can go onto Bloodlines now because you know.... Adrian. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

The third book I read this month was Shatter Me by: Tahereh Mafi. I quite enjoyed this book and I would rate it a 4 out of 5 stars. 

The fourth book I read this month was Cruel Beauty by: Rosamund Hodge. This is a re-telling of the classic fairy tale Beauty & The Beast. If you didn't know I love fairy tale re tellings and this is one of my most anticipated books of 2014. I would rate it a 4 out of 5 stars.

The fifth book I read this month was Bloodlines by: Richelle Mead. It was just as good as Vampire Academy! I would rate it a solid 4.5 out of 5 stars. Spoiler-free review going up soon!

The sixth book I read this month was The Golden Lily by: Richelle Mead. This is the second book in the Bloodlines series which is the spin off series for Vampire Academy series. I would rate it a 4 out of 5 stars. 

The seventh book I read this month was Blood of Olympus by: Rick Riordan. I would rate it a 4.5 out of 5 stars. 

The eighth book I read this month was Uglies by: Scott Westerfeld. I have been wanting to read this book for a couple of years now and I think that the whole idea of the novel was really interesting but I found things a little predictable. I would rate it a 3.5 out of 5 stars. I really don't know if I'm going to read the rest of the series. 

The ninth book I read this month was Stolen: A letter to my captor by: Lucy Christopher. I read this book for a book club I recently joined called "The Narwhals" and I believe this is our December book but I just wanted to get a head start. This book was very intriguing and it is just wonderful. I would rate it a 4 out of 5 stars. You can read my SPOILER FREE review HERE!

                                                   

The tenth book I read this month was Unravel Me by: Tahereh Mafi. I would rate it a 4.5 out of 5 
stars.

I hope you enjoyed reading this!

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