Day 44: The Color Purple

The only happiness Celie (Whoopi Goldberg) had in her life was her sister, Nettie (Akosua Busia). The man she knew as her father raped her repeatedly and when she gave birth to two children, he took them away. She’s then married off to Albert (Danny Glover) as second prize when he can’t marry Nettie and he beats her constantly, and makes her look after his rotten children. He keeps Nettie away from her and she ends up feeling like she has nothing in her whole life. Until Shug Avery (Margaret Avery) comes along and helps her see she is worth something after all.

It’s always difficult to separate the book from the film, especially when you’ve read the book quite recently. But I was comparing it constantly, even though I tried not to. Shug is just not what I was expecting. I can’t even remember exactly how she was described in the book but I’m sure she was meant to be a total knockout. Celie looked so happy when Shug is singing about her, I just couldn’t bear it. It’s probably the nicest thing anyone has ever done for her and it’s just a lovely moment. And she is always so shy, trying to hide her smile, but she has the best time with Shug. I loved that the camera panned over to the windchimes when they went to have sex. Nice touch.

Eventually Shug gives her the confidence she needs to stand up to Albert and move away. She has a house, her own shop, and she is sure of herself. I’m so glad the film didn’t stay true to the book here because in the book Shug leaves her to go off with a man for a while. I mean, she comes back but it still breaks Celie’s heart when she does it. Thankfully it didn’t happen in the film so my wee heart didn’t fall to pieces like it did when I read it.

The film is great but I think I just preferred the pacing of the book.

8/10

Day 41: Jurassic Park

You know how sometimes you just need to watch something with dinosaurs? And by ‘sometimes’ I mean, ‘all the time’? To the friend that picked this film, I thank you for giving me an excuse to watch this beauty.

Rich man who puts the least amount of thought into anything (unless it’s making sure he spares no expense!), John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), brings dinosaurs back from extinction and sets up a wee park for people to come along and see them. Who better to test the highly dangerous and completely unready park on but your own grandchildren? As is expected, it all goes from bad to worse for the people. For the dinosaurs they’re probably happier out of their cages. Swings and roundabouts, I guess?

Alan (Sam Neill) and Ellie (Laura Dern) are the cutest. We first see them as they are digging up a raptor skeleton and Alan puts the fear into a kid who dared to compare the raptor to a turkey. I like how she knows what he's like and that he was going to go off on a dramatic story and that he just doesn’t like children. That obviously doesn’t last though because he becomes a total hero throughout the film, constantly protecting and looking after Tim and Lex. He gets Lex to trust him despite her being terrified, he shields Tim when the car falls on them, and he looks after them while they’re sleeping in the tree. To quote my notes, “Alan, you’re my hero.” And you can see the effect it has on Ellie when they’re in the helicopter at the end and she’s looking at him with the kids. Children might be on the cards after all! Except it’s not because I’ve seen the sequels and it makes me sad. Ellie and Alan are for life in my heart. I mean, they way he looks at her when she says “Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.” is the best. He looks smitten, I just love that look.

While I love the idea of dinosaurs existing again, it would just be mental. Why breed carnivores? You’re just asking for trouble. If I was Hammond here I’d have just ended up with a park full of Triceratops (favourite dinosaur) and Brachiosaurus. How amazing would that be! I’ve always loved Triceratops the most after seeing this film. You only see one and she’s sick but god, I just loved her right away. They are brilliant. And they remind me of rhino, which are my favourite animals, so I guess I couldn’t help but love them. It would be totally safe to have an island of those, definitely.

Absolutely love the film.

9/10