Posted in Movies, Music, tagged Angela Carter, Angela Lansbury, Company of Wolves, David Warner, fairy tales, Fairytale, Films, Folklore, Gothic, Horror, Literature, Little Red Riding Hood, Movies, Neil Jordan, Stephen Rea, werewolf, Wolf on April 13, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Few Fairy Tales are as dark and multifaceted as Little Red’s.
Angela Carter wrote the screenplay for Neil Jordan’s lush and evocative adaptation of Carter’s own collected short writings and radio plays.
This wonderful fan trailer for The Company of Wolves is by the talented Hedge Labyrinth with music from the Requiem For A Dream soundtrack.
Thank heaven for little girls, they grow up in the most peculiar ways …
Mo
Posted in Books, Reviews, tagged Angela Carter, Book of Lost Things, Book review, Easter, Easter Egg, Fairy tale, John Connolly, Lily Wight, Literature on April 6, 2012 | 9 Comments »
It’s almost Easter, Blogsprites! I hope you are all getting a long-weekend off at the very least 
Here is an early Easter Egg for you, crack it open and you will find a golden and glowing review of John Connolly’s The Book of Lost Things, in keeping with my current explorations into The Realm of Faerie.
It is hard to beat Angela Carter’s potent re-imaginings of traditional Fairy Tales but John Connolly may boast a valiant and successful attempt.
The young hero’s struggle to adjust to his step-family under the shadow of The Blitz is realistic and heartfelt but unfortunately the tone alters and the pace flounders during a flabby middle section inspired by tired and predictable medieval quest romances.
Connolly’s work suffers a little under too many influences; Narnia, Oz, Wonderland, Labyrinth and even The Box of Delights are all thrown into the mix. Focus is restored most triumphantly however in a dramatic ending which is surprisingly horrific considering the overall “kidult” tone.
The Book of Lost Things, with its exquisite title, could have possessed more depth if freed from the influence of so many other contemporary retellings of old tales. Despite this, when Connolly finds his own voice the story soars and delivers a truly terrifying villain.
Posted in Books, Movies, Reviews, tagged Angela Carter, Book review, Brothers Grimm, Fairytale, Kelpie, Lily Wight, Margo Lanagan, Mirror Mirror, Rollrock, Tarsem Singh, Tender Morsels on April 3, 2012 | 3 Comments »
Tarsem Singh’s Mirror Mirror is released tomorrow, Blogsprites.
So begins a veritable tidal-wave of Fairy Tale themed movies, not to mention TV series such as Once Upon a Time and Grimm. In the Nineties we had aliens, then vampires got their moment in the sun (ahem), next angels and zombies were mooted as the next “Big Thing” and now it is back to source with myth stripped back to its most familiar and parochial form.
If you are a Fairy Tale fan keep dropping by for my recommendations
I stumbled across Margo Lanagan by chance in my local library. Such is the power of a well designed book cover! Her recently released novel, The Brides of Rollrock Island, delves into Kelpie lore. Here is my review of Lanagan’s astonishing Tender Morsels…
Margo Lanagan has an innate understanding of the dark undercurrents of Fairytale, something seldom seen since the heyday of Fantasy pioneer Angela Carter.
Lanagan delivers a sublime insight into the diverse, contradictory, complex and myriad aspects of femininity, without ever straying into reactionary
feminist territory.
Intensely lyrical, joyous and heartbreaking by turn, Tender Morsels explores illusion and reality’s interdependence by seamlessly crafting an enchanting patchwork quilt of tales within tales.
With its vibrant characters, dialogue ripe with colloquialisms and images which will haunt your imagination Lanagan’s novel is a rare treat; gritty yet poetic and constantly enlightening.
