With the new film Fifty Shades of Grey coming out for Valentine’s Day, many couples will be tempted to spend their hard-earned cash to see it. Instead, lets look at why 2002’s Secretary is the smarter alternative.

To start, lets look at story. A young woman meets an older man in a position of power named Mr. Grey, the two become attracted to each other and embark on a BDSM relationship. Yes we just described both films with that one simple sentence. Two movies dealing with intense sexual relationships, focused primarily on BDSM, and having the male leads named Mr. Grey. The films diverge from here and show two very different takes on this lifestyle. Fifty Shades puts all the power into the man’s hands and focuses on the purely sexual side, making the female lead little more than a toy for his amusement. Secretary concerns itself with showing a fairly traditional love story, boy meets girls, boy and girl flirt, something goes wrong, girl tries to get boy back … but dressing such a traditional idea with an untraditional relationship. At it’s core Secretary is still a love story where Fifty Shades is a lust story.

Now lets look a little closer at the characters. Fifty Shades presents us with Christian Grey, a rich wildly successful businessman, and Anastasia Steele, a naive college student and virgin still finding her place in the world. In Secretary we meet Lee Holloway, a smart but damaged young woman, lacking in social skills and just out of the hospital for self harm, and E. Edward Grey, an odd, socially awkward attorney, who while successful is modestly so. The imbalance in these relationships becomes apparent immediately. Where on one side we have a rich powerful man towering over a shrinking violet, on the other hand we have two socially awkward people looking for someone who can appreciate them for their odd behavior and taboo desires. Where Christian Grey almost forces Anastasia into a new and frightening lifestyle, E. Edward Grey pulls back from Miss Holloway and she becomes the pursuer. Secretary is not only the more balanced story, it’s the one that empowers women.

This brings us to a fundamental problem with Fifty Shades of Grey. From what I’ve read of the BDSM community, a driving force seems to be that both parties enter into it with full knowledge and desire of what is going to happen. Whether through safe words or  agreement ahead of time, everyone involved knows their boundaries and they all sought out what they are getting into. Anastasia may be curious about what she is presented with but she’s really satisfying Grey’s desires, not any pre-existing ones of her own. Again Secretary shows us both parties enjoyed BDSM activities prior to meeting, they are satisfying both of their desires.

Next, lets look at our talent. Fifty Shades brings us Jamie Dornan, whose biggest role to date was the sheriff on Once Upon a Time, and Dakota Johnson who has only had some small film roles and one failed sitcom. They are brought together under the eye of director Sam Taylor-Johnson in her second full length feature. While they all seem to have some talent, they are by and large untested and unproven. Secretary also has a director with a limited body of work, Steven Shainberg, who boasts just a small handful of directing and producing credits over a twenty year career. He had the luck however of having two strong lead actors in Maggie Gyllenhaal (who had already been in ten feature films by 2002), and James Spader, whose performances are always deliciously odd but fascinatingly so. Despite being seventeen years apart in age the two of them work wonderfully together, bringing both an odd, socially inept, weirdness as well as a sweet childlike sensitivity to their characters.

Both films are adaptations of existing works, Secretary is an adaptation of the short story “Bad Behavior” by Mary Gaitskill. Fifty Shades of Grey started its life as Twilight fan fiction titled “Master of the Universe” which E. L. James published under the pseudonym “Snowqueen’s Icedragon.” Yes, that last sentence is a real thing which I just typed and you have just read. For many people the words “Fan Fiction” and Twilight will be all it takes to deter you from seeing the film. Kudos to you for being so smart.

While I’m sure people will flock to theaters to see Fifty Shades of Grey, I can only hope that a few people will take that time and watch (or even rewatch) a much lesser known film which tells a beautiful if unconventional story. Plus while the average movie ticket costs eight dollars, Secretary is available streaming for a very reasonable $2.99, money well spent.

  

Although I attended a The Host screening expecting the worst, the film and its stars pleasantly surprised my aging hipster sensibilities.

I’m not a Twilight fan by any stretch of the imagination. When the initial film premiered, I attended it with other science fiction-loving English PhD candidates. Needless to say, we spent the entire film guffawing at Edward’s ridiculous stalker actions, his Liberace style piano playing and the film’s over-dramatic language. Although I attempted to read the book, I stopped, offended by the egregious use of passive voice. When my oldest friend confessed her love of the Twilight series (novels AND films), I gave her a scathing diatribe lasting ten minutes. I will not lie. I temporarily considered disavowing her.

All the same, when I received the PR announcement regarding Stephenie Meyer’s press tour for The Host, the latest flick based on the novel, of course I had to attend. Regardless of my feelings on a book that lowered the intelligence quotient of half a nation, Meyers is a pop culture legend who inspired other pop culture legends (50 Shades of Grey) and legendary YouTube videos (see Buffy vs. Edward, Twilight vs Harry Potter and every single other Twilight mockery on-line). If it weren’t for Twilight in the theaters, we wouldn’t have True Blood, the US Being Human or The Vampire Diaries on our TVs. Considering my clear distaste of the first film and book, my enjoyment in this potentially new film series caught me off-guard. The Host, for those who haven’t memorized every single line, surrounds earth’s future occupation by peace-oriented alien parasites inhabiting human hosts.

The screening attendees likewise surprised me, possibly reflecting the film’s more mature reach. While I expected adolescent females, I saw a good mix of women AND men beyond their thirties and forties. Admittedly, the true believing adolescent females sat closer to the front, while those closer to my age  sat towards the back. Additionally, not everyone came for a pure Meyer love. When I asked those closer to my age group (and above) why they attended, they confessed to the draw of free tickets. However, when I asked younger women who appeared physical doppelgangers for any of Meyer’s on-screen female leads, they enthused their love of the novel. While I didn’t do a parallel exit poll, the people around me appeared quiet after the film ended and restless (almost forgetting Meyer and her two leads would soon appear).

The Q &A proved equally interesting. In case you’re wondering, Max Irons does an EXCELLENT American accent. Everyone in the audience, including myself, took a major pause when he grabbed the microphone. It happens around 1:05 in the clip below. It’s hilarious watching an entire audience swoon at his accent while realizing “OH, he isn’t American.” I will not lie, not having seen Irons’ previous work and not having made the connection between himself and his father, Jeremy Irons, I did not know he was British either. However, when he started discoursing in his native tongue, he instantly became 159% hotter to me.

While the film highlights Irons’ uber-chiseled chin and Abel’s pretty boy eyes, in the screening they looked like average 20-something lads, utterly careless of their good looks, who just fell out of bed to attend class. However, they struck me as men with their heads screwed properly on their shoulders. Both Abel and Irons flirted good-naturedly with each other while Abel cheekily joked with Meyer. Their casual, comfortable relationship reflected a potentially positive working environment. Considering Meyer is the J. K. Rowling of the American Young Adult Novel and the Shonda Rhimes of Young Adult films, I didn’t expect their mutual ease. Another great moment included a rolling joke between Meyer and Abel surrounding Percy Jackson catalyzed by a fan. Did Abel enjoy his PJ character? Of course. He was a bad-ass. But, Meyer should write more so he can play Ian again. What if Meyer kills off his Host character? That’s OK, he has Percy Jackson stuff. Check out the bantering laugh Irons and Meyer share while Abel fields the fan’s question. Personally, I enjoyed this film as a stand-alone, so I hope Meyer doesn’t write the follow-up she mentioned.

On a side note, this is the second set of pictures I’ve taken of a writer/actor affiliated with a vampire series that returned with red eye. I’m too tickled by the odd coincidence between the photos I took of her and Paul Wesley to color correct. Overall, screenwriter/director Andrew Niccol and the cast did an excellent job.

Host opens 3/29. Follow the Twitter feed at #TheHost!

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//www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoZwN7EEYgU

(All times below are Eastern, because we’re up earlier than all the rest of you!)

11:20AM – 3:20PM

• The Abbott & The Costello Show: The Complete Series (Collector’s Edition) – $21.99
• Ellery Queen Mysteries – $16.49
• It Takes a Thief: The Complete Series – $29.49
• The Carol Burnett Show: Carol’s Favorites (Collectors Edition) – $33.49

3:20PM – 7:20PM

• The Smurfs (Movie) – $4.96
• The Three Stooges: The Movie – $8.96
• The Campaign – $8.96
• Dark Shadows (DVD + Ultraviolet Digital Copy) – $8.96
• Brave (Three-Disc Collector’s Edition: Blu-ray / DVD) -$8.96

7:20PM – 11:20PM

• True Blood: The Complete Fourth Season – $9.96
• The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part I (Two-Disc Special Edition) – $8.96
• Crazy, Stupid, Love (+ UltraViolet Digital Copy) – $4.96
• Magic Mike (DVD+UltraViolet Digital Copy) – $8.96
• Water for Elephants – $1.96

11:20PM – 2:20AM

• The Amityville Horror – $0.96
• Wrath of the Titans (+ UltraViolet Digital Copy) [Blu-ray] -$7.96
• Act of Valor [Blu-ray] – $8.96
• Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – $4.96
• Jonah Hex – $0.96

Other deals and stuff:

• Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax – $3.99
• Planet of the Apes: 5 Film Collection [Blu-ray] – $22.99 (54% off)
• Homeland: The Complete First Season – $19.99 ($24.99 on Blu-ray)
• Once Upon A Time: The Complete First Season – $19.99 ($24.99 on Blu-ray)
• Revenge: The Complete First Season – $19.99

Check back here for more Black Friday deals and other discoveries we’re on the lookout for!

Remember when one novel could be made into one film? Well there was a time — a time before studios insisted on splitting single books into two or even three different movies. With the recent news about The Hobbit becoming three films, it’s time to address this trend.

The problem with this practice is that, like so many things, it’s motivated purely by money. What’s particularly cynical about it is that filmmakers deny this, claiming that the decision to make one novel into several films is somehow an artistic one.

Peter Jackson claimed that the reason for The Hobbit becoming a trilogy of films was to get more of the book onto the screen; “Do we take this chance to tell more of the tale? And the answer from our perspective as the filmmakers, and as fans, was an unreserved ‘yes.’” What about as business people? Of course they want to make as much money as possible, and The Hobbit is a cash cow. Or a cash … oliphaunt? I don’t know, I don’t really like The Lord of the Rings. The point is, it’s a guaranteed money-maker, so obviously they want to milk it dry. But what’s objectionable is claiming that it’s for the benefit of the fans, when the reality is that the fans are just being used; there’s something quite deceptive and even nasty about that.

Those who defend the decision to split single books into multiple movies argue that it is important to be as faithful to the book as possible, and one film is simply not long enough to do justice to the detail of the novel. This does make for an interesting debate about just how faithful a movie adaptation needs to be. This is often made difficult by confusion over what we mean by “faithful.”

An adaptation should be faithful in its retention of themes and tone, but in terms of plot, detail and even characters, it needn’t be particularly faithful at all. Books and films are very different, and if you can’t fit every aspect of a novel into a movie, then don’t. Part of the art of narrative is working out what and what not to include. If you have to divide your adaptation into several parts, you have failed.

It’s understandable that fans of books would be protective of their content and would want every detail intact after the transition to the big screen. But it’s important to realise that art is versatile; look at Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights from last year. It omitted about half the book, and as a result was a focused and beautiful piece of cinema. Apart from the Mumford & Sons song at the end, obviously.

In any case, The Hobbit is only about 300-400 pages long; making that into three films seems ridiculous, especially when you consider that Joe Wright’s new adaptation of Tolstoy’s 800-page Anna Karenina fits into a single film.

Meanwhile, the final Harry Potter book was made into two films, the first of which was totally redundant, as absolutely nothing happened. Mind you, the first seven Harry Potter films were totally redundant. But that penultimate waste of time made the whole decision to split up that last book seem particularly greedy, and sneering with it. And I’ve not read the Twilight books, but I refuse to believe for a second that there’s enough of worth in there to justify dividing the last book into two films. But then teenage girls have a lot of money, and if Stephenie Meyer wants to exploit that while instilling in them a profound sense of gender-based inferiority, then who am I to judge.

My favourite movie adaptations of novels (Fight Club, American Psycho, A History of Violence … yes it’s a graphic novel, but it counts) all fit into single films while leaving the heart of the books well and truly intact. A film is not a book, and art tends to be at its best when trying something different. So stop wringing out every last commercial drop from these pieces of literature like George Lucas if he could read, and stop deceptively claiming that it’s for the fans when they’re the ones being exploited.

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