Reading all the comments from our recent Harry Potter vs Twilight post made me think of other book to movie adaptations and how they compare. Judging by the highest grossing films of the past 10 years, we certainly love a good adaptation or remake. Even looking at the current list of films in cinemas gives you a sense of déjà vu: Angels and Demons, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Hannah Montana, Ice Age 3, Night at the Museum 2, Star Trek 11, Terminator Salvation, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. What do they all have in common? Each one is a sequel or remake of an old movie, book or TV show.

One adaptation coming out soon is My Sister’s Keeper, a movie based on the best selling Jodi Picoult novel. Like all of her books, it’s a family based drama with a  legal predicament, this time a daughter who wants to claim medical emancipation from her parents. Only problem is, she was created using genetic engineering with the intention of saving her critically ill sister and without her kidney, her sister might die.

It’s a fascinating topic and the book was definitely a tear jerker however I’m fearful: will the movie live up to the book? In my opinion, a lot of movie adaptations aren’t anywhere near as good as the book. Think about The Da Vinci Code, Hitchiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, even the old favourite Harry Potter. None of those movies managed the capture the magic of the books. Fairly unsurprising considering they’re condensing 300 odd pages into a 2 hour flick.

Of course not all book to film adaptations are flops. Personally I loved the original 1971 adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory starring Gene Wilder. Even though I read the book first, with its chocolate river and lick-able wallpaper, the movie brought a whole new dimension to the story. However, although I enjoyed the altered version, the original author didn’t. According to Peach, the reason why the film was called Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is because “Roald Dahl didn’t like the direction they were taking with the movie and he refused to allow them to call it Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”

I also really enjoy Jane Austen books on screen. I’ve always found the books to be incredibly slow and boring however when they’re condensed into film format, they’re actually quite entertaining. And let’s face it, although they may not be historically accurate, the pretty dresses and eye candy of Colin Firth doesn’t hurt either.

How about you? Are there any book to movie adaptations that make you cringe? Or are there any films that improve the experience of the book?

Caitlin
Community Manager

Last week, the sixth “Harry Potter” film hit theatres. Anyone who read J.K. Rowling’s books knows how the story ends. However, that absence of suspense hasn’t stopped the overwhelming excitement. But Harry isn’t the undisputed king of teen lit anymore. Twilight is big and only getting bigger. Over the past several weeks, I’ve noticed a surge in questions on “Harry Potter” vs. “Twilight.”

By my count, there are hundreds (if not thousands) of questions asking which franchise is “better.” Of course, there is no right answer, but that hasn’t stopped many in the Yahoo!7 Answers community from giving passionate responses.

Alex, a Top Contributor to Yahoo!7 Answers writes that Twilight is the “worst book” he or she has ever read and compares the novel’s hunky vampire Edward to a “creepy stalker.” Ouch. Additionally, Alex argues that the characters in Harry Potter have a backstory and a unique personality in contrast to the stars of Twilight, who are “one dimensional.”

Of course, not everyone agrees with Alex’s assessment. For example, Yahoo!7 Answers member “Doctor Orange!” feels that Twilight is “more realistic” (presumably, that’s a good thing). Another responder writes that while it may be true that many readers enjoy the Twilight books because Edward is an amazingly handsome fella, the real reason for Twilight’s popularity has to do with the way the author lets readers into the mind of the narrator, a conflicted young woman.

Most literature experts, including Stephen King, argue that J.K. Rowling is far and away the superior writer. What do you guys think? Do you prefer one franchise to the other? Or is the whole debate like comparing apples and bowling balls (i.e, totally pointless)? Leave a comment below.

Mike

We see them on our movie and television screens, read about them in newspapers and magazines, see updates about their lives in twitter and all over the internet. Celebrities are light years away in the worlds they live but our accessibility to them and their lives makes us feel that we know them intimately.

We discuss them as though they’re our friends. Does Jennifer Aniston have commitment issues or has she just been unlucky in love? Should Madonna be allowed to adopt another child from Malawi? Do Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal make a good couple?

Of course we know many of their public personas aren’t real. We’ve heard how they tip off paparazzi when they’re trying to get publicity for their latest movie and I really hope we all know that the way they’re portrayed in magazines is extremely altered thanks to the wonders of photoshop.

We even know that many of them don’t want the attention. As Evangeline Lilly from Lost recently told Women’s Health magazine, we don’t know her so why should we care what’s she’s doing and who she’s dating? The intensely private star admires Angelina Jolie for her illusiveness: “No one knows that woman; she’s a complete ice queen, which is perfect… Why should she be any more? She doesn’t owe us anything.”

Not only that but some of them are pretty vocal about their dislike. We’ve seen celebrities like Julia Roberts yell at the paparazzi when they tried to photograph her dropping her children off at school and of course we all remember what happened to poor Diana.

But does any of that stop us from buying trashy magazines and discussing whether that photo of Miley Cyrus and her Dad was just a little bit creepy? No, of course not. Why?

In my opinion, we love the unreality of it! It’s like a grown up fantasy version of princess stories we heard growing up. These people lead these wealthy lives looking perfect in gorgeous clothes on a shiny red carpet. And we can go along for the ride by reading about them online or in twitter. It’s the ideal escape.

Why do you think we love reading about celebrities?

Caitlin
Community Manager

It’s humpday, it’s cold outside and it feels like ages since we’ve had a long weekend. I know, I know, we shouldn’t still be upset about missing out on an ANZAC Day long weekend but it really does feel like a long time since there’s been a chance for a Monday sleep in. Unfortunately we’ve still got a few weeks until the June Queen’s Birthday Holiday (although WA gets their long weekend a week before the rest of us).

So for the mid May humpday blues, here are some pick me ups!

Q: What’s the most uplifting and happy song to you?

A: Love Inc. Your A Superstar
Taking the Long Way – Dixie Chicks
Garth Brooks – Standing outside the fire
Sheryl Crow – if it makes you happy
Alanis Morisette – Ironic
Alicia Keys – No One
Amy McDonald – Mr. Rock n Roll
Cher – Just Like Jesse James
Letters to Cleo – I want you to want More

Q: What are some happy movies that make you smile?

A: I loved “Ever After” with Drew Barrymore
and “Never been Kissed” also with Drew.
I also liked “The Wedding Date” with Debra Messing & Dermot Mulroney.
And I liked “Enchanted” even though I’m a grown up! LOL
I hope these help! More

Q: What things do your kids do that makes you smile?

A: Well the random I love yous are the best by far.. or the goofy pictures he draws me to hang at my desk at work… But the most recent smiles I get from him, is how well he does with his new sister. Every night he has to tell her he loves her and kiss her (which usually wakes her up lol, but I have to deal with it haha) When she was 2 weeks old she had a stuffy nose and started screeming, my son ran into my room (it was about 3am) he jumped on my bed and asked what was wrong, I said I don’t know as I hadn’t figured it out yet, and said would you like me to sing her a lullaby? He sang to her as I calmed her and he didn’t go back to sleep until he knew she was ok. More

Q: What is the funniest joke you have ever heard?

A: A bus carrying only ugly people crashes into an oncoming truck, and everyone inside dies. They then get to meet their maker and because of the grief they have experienced; he decides to grant them one wish each, before they enter Paradise.
They’re all lined up, and God asks the first one what the wish is. “I want to be gorgeous,” and so God snaps His fingers, and it is done.
The second one in line hears this and says “I want to be gorgeous too.” Another snap of His fingers and the wish is granted.
This goes on for a while with each one asking to be gorgeous but when God is halfway down the line the last guy in the line starts laughing.
When there are only ten people left, this guy is rolling on the floor, laughing his head off. Finally, God reaches this last guy and asks him what his wish will be. The guy eventually calms down and says: “Make ‘em all ugly again”. More

Last month, 2008 Miss Universe Australia Laura Dundovic asked the community What are your tips for feeling great on the inside and looking good on the outside? She got some great responses, but one of our favourites was:

Nothing beats, the “smile”. Smiling helps keep yyou feeling good, but makes you look better on the outside too. A warning though, it is contagious. Smiling will eventually pass onto others making others feel good too. haha… As a bus ticket once told me, “If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours”

If you want to see Laura’s tips, check out the video below.

How about you? How do you get over the humpday blues?

Caitlin
Community Manager

Strictly Ballroom is one of those movies that will always remind me of my adolescence. I think my first crush may have been Paul Mercurio in that tight white singlet and floppy hair. And for a young girl with two left feet, it was quite encouraging to see daggy Fran being transformed into a graceful Ballroom dancing champion with a hundred times more flair than her bleached blonde competitors.

Baz Luhrmann was the writer and director of that classic Aussie movie and it was pretty clear he was destined for big things. He went onto film a remake of the Shakespeare’s classic Romeo & Juliet, thrilled us all with the singing dancing fun of Moulin Rouge and put our country on the big screen with Australia.

Now Baz is looking for a new project and wants your help. He’s asked the Answers community:

If you could influence the next film I make or the next story I tell, what would you encourage me to do?

Check out this video of him asking the question.

Don’t forget to Answer!

Caitlin
Community Manager

I’ve always enjoyed the excitement of the Oscars, however this year I enjoyed watching it more than usual. This year, instead of viewing it alone in my lounge room, I watched and discussed the ceremony with millions of Answers friends. When the boring bits were on, I turned to my computer to see the general consensus of the ceremony within Answers. I learnt more about the nominees and the films than any year before, plus I got to discuss outfits and celebrity relationships with other people who care about these things!

Want to know what I mean? Here’s my abridged account of watching the Oscars:

“Awesome red carpet fashion. Oh wow Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick. They look a bit uncomfortable, I thought they were having marriage problems? Didn’t they break up? Oh wait, I’ll have a quick search on Answers. Here it is:

kellie.annne: he cheated on her and it became very public knowledge. More

“Oh damn I missed Kate Winslet, she always looks so good. Hold on, I’ll go onto Yahoo!7 Red Carpet and check out what I missed.  Wow that’s a gorgeous dress.

“Ok ceremony’s starting. Oh that’s awkward; Jennifer Aniston is announcing an award and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are both in the front row. Is she crying? No she just looks really really nervous. At least Brangelina aren’t all over each other. And speaking of the front row, who are those people next to Meryl Streep?

Regina Phalange: Her daughter is to her right and I believe it’s Amy Adams to her left. More

“Best Supporting Actress is Penelope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona! So that leaked email with the Oscar results wasn’t true as it predicted Amy Adams would win for Doubt.

“And of course Heath Ledger won Best Supporting Actor. His role in The Dark Knight was brilliantly portrayed, and it seems the Answers community agrees with me.

Air-Force Falco: I’m glad he won this award, he hit the persona of a psychotic and dangerous criminal right on the dot. He absolutely deserved and I am glad we can honour him one last time with his win. More

“That’s a shame that no Australians won for the production awards. Catherine Martin, Ben Snow, Kirk Baxter and Lee Smith all missed out. Oh well, good on them for getting so far! One Australian that certainly hasn’t been shy is Hugh Jackman. What a star! He’s actually funny, who would have thought? My fellow Answers users seem to agree –

Phoenix – I thought he saved the Academy Awards! Each year they seem to get more boring and I keep telling myself I won’t watch the whole thing but usually do hoping it will get better. This year I was actually able to look forward to the show. I was still disappointed in most of the categories but I thought Hugh did a terrific job! I loved the dance numbers and the opening jokes. Especially the part about downsizing to New Zealand next year.

“Ok we’re up to the best bit – Best Actor & Actress.

“That’s different, having five of the previous winners on stage. I recognise Nicole, Halle and Marion but who are the others?

reenchilada – Sophia Loren, Halle Berry, Marion Cotillard, Shirley Maclane, Nicole Kidman More

“Oh dear Sophia Loren’s outfit is horrible. Meryl Streep is ageing so gracefully but Sophia Loren looks like a swirly cupcake. I’m so pleased Kate won the Oscar! I thought her performance was amazing. Actually I’ve thought many of her previous performances were amazing. Has she won an Oscar before?

Indiana – No but this is her sixth nomination so she well deserves it.
She was nominated for: Best Actress in a Supporting Role for: Sense and Sensibility (1996); Best Actress in a Leading Role for: Titanic (1998); Best Actress in a Supporting Role for: Iris (2002); Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2005); Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for: Little Children (2007) More

“We’re up to the Best Actor award. Sean Penn is one of my favourite actors, I have to admit. Haven’t seen Milk though, what does he mean when he keeps saying “Commie, homo loving sons of guns?”

mcq316 – Commie, homo loving sons of guns. He’s making a joke about all of hollywood being left wing, liberal democrats.

“And who is that guy they keep panning to in the speech?

Allora – It was Dustin Lance Black – He was the writer of Milk and won for Best Original Screenplay

“Slumdog Millionaire is Best Picture, that’s not a huge surprise considering how many they’ve won. I wonder whether it’s an accurate portrayal of Indian life?

Jatina – I lived in Bombay now called Mumbai some years ago and yes its an accurate portrayal of how a lot of people live.
I can understand why some Indians do not like the film as it has touched on Hindu’s attacking Muslims, human rights violations committed by the police force and children being exploited and mutilated. You can read about culture shock and watch poverty on the tv but you really don’t feel , smell and experience it until you are in the middle of it yourself. More

“However as Been There Done That says, those sorts of negative things happen everywhere.

As for the poverty, slums, killing, mobsters, child abuse and child labour, these things happen everywhere, and exist everywhere, including India. Don’t lose sight that they are only the colourful background to the endless love this boy has for this girl and that he never gives up.”

Well there you go, all over for another year. Were you pleased with the winners of the Oscars or is there someone who you think deserved a big gold statue?

Caitlin
Community Manager

Seann William Scott’s question for Yahoo! Answers @ Yahoo!7 Video

No matter how confident and competent you are, everyone looks up to someone.  Even the greatest footballers, politicians or celebrities have someone they aspire to being like. President Elect Obama, a man not short on confidence who’s due to be sworn into the most powerful job in the world next week, said recently every time he reads Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address he gets “intimidated.”

In light of this and his new film Role Models, Hollywood actor Seann William Scott has a question for us all:

“Who is your favourite role model and why?”

You can see Seann putting his question to the Answers community in the video above. In fact he’s even answered it himself. Scott explains…

“My greatest role model was my dad. I could give you a funny answer… although he was funny. I was lucky I had a great dad, he was kinda like Bill Murray and Chevy Chase: a superfunny guy. I was told some really great factory jokes.”

So who is your favourite role model? A teacher or a superhero? Someone who inspired you or someone who you aspire to be? Answer Seann’s question and let us know.

Although it doesn’t have the reputation of the Oscars, the Golden Globe Awards are still a night for Hollywood to sparkle. All the stars dress up in their finery and mingle with other genetically blessed A-listers to recognise the best of the best in (mostly) American entertainment.

Of course I would imagine it’s not all glitz and glamour. For the people attending, it’s probably more about making small talk with second-rate celebrity reporters on the red carpet then getting boozed up on expensive champagne and trying to not look disappointed when they don’t win their award (except for Kate Winslet of course, who won an award for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress for two different films).

Slumdog Millionaire seemed to be the favourite of the night picking up awards for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director – Motion Picture, Best Screenplay – Motion Picture, Best Original Score – Motion Picture. According to Proto, the reason for its popularity is that it provides another viewpoint on loss and poverty.

If anything, Slumdog Millionaire provides a little perpsective on the GLOBAL financial crisis, and makes it clear how much more competitive things are than most people imagine. As bad as things are for middle-class Americans, Asians and Europeans who’ve lost their jobs, homes, life savings and find themselves in shelters or living on the streets of major cities – hundreds of millions of human beings on this earth have it worse. More

Despite it winning so many awards, Slumdog Millionaire didn’t top your list of must-see films in 2008. Last week Answers user AmandaDee asked ‘What was your favourite film of 2008’. We liked this question and chose to feature it on the Yahoo!7 homepage on Thursday. 184 of you gave your opinions and there were some very interesting results.

The overwhelming favourite was The Dark Knight who some believe was snubbed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (the organisation that judges the awards). Fortunately Heath Ledger’s performance didn’t go unrecognised and was posthumously awarded the Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture.

As for you guys, Twilight seemed to be a particular favourite getting many votes in the Answers poll for the best film of 2008. Also not Golden Globe material, however as ericamaachelle says, it’ll probably get nominated in the MTV movie awards and teen choice awards.

Many of you loved the cheesy singing and dancing revelry of Abba film Mamma Mia which was recognised with nominations for Best Motion Picture – Musical Or Comedy and Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for Meryl Streep. Unfortunately it missed out on both awards to Woody Allen film Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Sally Hawkins, star of Happy-Go-Lucky.

You were a bit more on the money with your favourite animated film. Many of you fell in love with the cute antics of Wall-E, the Disney animated robot. It was recognised as the Best Animated Feature Film, beating Bolt and Kung Fu Panda to the prize.

Wow it all looks so good! After seeing your favourites and the Golden Globe Awarded films, here are my top five films I want to see:

• The Dark Knight
• Revolutionary Road
• Slumdog Millionaire
• Wall-E
• Vicky Christina Barcelona

What are yours?

Caitlin
Community Manager

We’re asking you, the Answers community, for the perfect question for Christian Bale, who plays Batman. The best question will be put to him, on your behalf, by Yahoo! and recorded on video.

So, what do you want to ask Christian?

When you’ve decided on your killer question, email the UK team y_answrs_team_uk@yahoo.co.uk. You have until Monday afternoon 5pm AEST to post your question; the best question will be answered by Christian on video next week and then posted on this blog.

All about Batman

In The Dark Knight actor Christian Bale brings to life Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, who’s fighting against the fearful Joker, played by the late Heath Ledger. Rumour is we see our hero cross the thin line between good and evil like never before…

If you need some inspiration, you could check out some of the questions that have already been discussed on Answers. There’s everything from Batman Comics to a discussion on the differences between The Dark Knight and previous Batman films and even a question about what you can learn from Batman.

Celebs on Answers

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen interesting and popular question from celebrities. Featured on Answers has been the likes of Cate Blanchett, Bruce Willis, and Natalie Portman. But this time, we’ve reversed the rules of the game so one lucky Answers member will have the opportunity to ask our celebrity a question.

Don’t forget to get your question in by 5pm Monday AEST by emailing the UK team y_answrs_team_uk@yahoo.co.uk. For more information on Batman and to preview the trailer, check the Yahoo!7 Movies trailer.

Caitlin
Community Manager