[Sparkle]

I finally broke down and watched the Fincher version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". I was dreading it, and simultaneously morbidly curious. I LOVED the Swedish versions as well, they were spot on.

The Fincher film was not as bad as I anticipated. It looks great. It is slick and atmospheric. But it felt empty. The characters were not developed, the key relationships were not developed, if you had not read the books I think you'd be perplexed by some of the twists and turns of the story. They made some odd choices and changed the story in small ways that allowed them to cut what they felt were extraneous parts of the story.

Regarding the casting....Daniel Craig is a little bit rough and a little bit craggy, but I think he's got too much of that James Bond-action hero quality about his physicality to make a good Bloomkvist, I didn't find him cheeky or charming or sharp. And Rooney Mara. Ugh, I've hated this casting decision from the beginning (Noomi Rapace knocked it out of the park as Lisbeth - who can compete with her?). After watching the film I must concede that Rooney Mara is a very good actress. I enjoyed her performance BUT I really hated the way they styled her Lisbeth, I found it distracting and just wrong.

All in all, its not a bad film - its aesthetically beautiful, fast paced and well made - very high gloss. But it can't compete with the Swedish versions, and it doesn't do the book justice. I have not watched the 10-hour extended version of the trilogy yet, but I intend to.

I also saw "Sarah's Key" with Kristin Scott Thomas. It was a good film, very evocative, terribly sad - about the persecution of the Jews (by the French) in France during WWII. Definitely worth a watch.

And I watched "Melancholia" the other night. I wanted to like it. It has an interesting premise...but my god it was reaaaaalllllyyyy loooooong. It was pretty self-indulgent, arty for the sake of being arty. And yet I was compelled to sit through all 2hours and 15minutes of it. I was kind of sorry I did.