Dorian Gray (2009)

Word that best describes this summer : UGH.
 I have been the gauntlet of pain, surgery, heat, and anxiety. And I don't seen an end in sight. So I will take the words of my favorite inspirational speaker: Andrew W.K.: You Gotta Keep Up...You Gotta Keep Going.

But damn, it's hard to focus on anything when you live in the freakin' valley.It's HOT.

So I guess it would make sense for me to watch a movie with a really HOT actor. Ahh...ah....see what I did there...

I almost passed this movie up. I couldn't remember why I added this movie. At all. Thank goodness I was in my marathon of sewing. Actually this movie wasn't good for my sewing. I didn't get that far in it.

What comes to your mind when you see "Dorian Gray"? Is it:
1. The classic story written by Oscar Wilde
2.  That guy in League of Extraordinary Men
3. Something about a picture...

Guess what? That's as much as I know  of it too! I will embarrassingly admit that I completely gave up on the novel after about 10 pages. I gave up after the twentieth time that Dorian Gray was beautiful. Sheesh. This movie adaptation was much more entertaining to swallow. I truly apologize Mr. Wilde. I am not as sophisticated as I would like to  be in classic literature.

The story (as explained by the movie):
    A young, impressionable man named Dorian Gray (played by the delectable Ben Barnes) arrives in England to take over his deceased fathers estate. He is befriended by an artist and a corrupted aristocrat. As the beauty of Gray becomes established thanks to the art of his friend., Gray finds a dark way to retain his youth. The consequences of a satanic bargain bleeds through Gray and everyone around him.

I had no idea that the story was a compelling, horror story. This may be in large part to the movie but daaaaaaamn. I was hooked. On top of that, COLIN FIRTH is in it!!! I was so happy to see him play the corrupted friend. Firth is sexy when he's being manipulated.

Ben Barnes really sealed the movie for me. Dorian Gray was able to do all his immoral deeds because of his immortal beauty. It wasn't hard for me to believe that Gray could do all this because Barnes just did it so damn well. I believed his innocent eyes, his grin at his new power, and his SEXINESS.

Oh there is ALOT of sex in this movie. Immoral, threesomes, multi-partners, same sex partners, and dancing. Omigosh my jaw dropped. I could not tear my eyes away. It's hard to sew a straight stitch when your seeing some hardcore action.....hoorah for the stitch ripper.






Oh...um...Ben Barnes is PRINCE CASPIAN. From Narnia.....Yeah...the religious subtext series. The one with the lion and the streetlight. It didn't even hit me because he was so....dimmed in Narnia. All that sexy hiding underneath chain mail. How dare you Aslan. How dare you.

Not only was this movie great eye candy but it was just damn compelling to watch. Easily has become one of my favorite adaptions of a classic novel. That I haven't read....

Every year, it gets a little bit harder. Every year I lose a strength and I gain a weakness. I just have to keep finding what makes me step away and just relax. Thank goodness for books and movies.

Enjoy everyone!

The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)

I am seriously, seriously scared of this movie.

I just watched it and I hurriedly started watching "Beauty and the Beast" to mellow out.

Yet despite how terrified of this movie, it's amazing. Now that I've made myself watch a Disney movie, I feel stable enough to write about this movie.

I usually read the books before I watch the movie adaptations. Not just to flinch every time a key story point is grossly done or overlooked. I read the books to understand know the story and see how this person interprets it. Everyone has their own interpretation and sometimes it's brilliant! Brilliant adaptations such as "Pride and Prejudice"(2005) or "Jane Eyre"(1943). Most adaptations have been horribly, horrible. Case in point:TWILIGHT. The only saving grace in that saga is the gratuitous cute boys without a shirt.

The movie is based on the novel written by Oscar Wilde. I shamefully confessed that I tried to read this novel. I didn't make it past 3 pages. The novel was written in the victorian era and I just can't get into it. Which is weird because I can flow through "Jane Eyre" no problem. I couldn't keep my eyes open in the first chapter of Wildes novel. It's just one of those novels that I could not read.

After watching the movie, I have a feeling that my subconscious knew I was going to terrified. So far that's two authors I have problems reading: Oscar Wilde and China Mieville.


The novels concerns the sins and conscience (or lack thereof) of a young aristocrat named Dorian Gray. As he models for his fellow aristocrat friend Basil to paint his portrait, he listens with an attentive ear to a friend of Basil named Lord Henry. Lord Henry has the reputation for being coldly amoral and models his life on doing perfectly nothing. As Lord Henry talks about youth and how Gray should cherish it, he remarks how the painting will always stay young while Gray will grow old. Gray wistfully wishes that if only it was the opposite.

Somehow, someway his wishes are granted. Gray begins to take Lord Henrys advice to enjoy the pleasures of life to heart. For every sin that he commits, it's reflected upon the painting. Throughout the next twenty years, Gray remains young as he manipulates people and takes his pleasure.

The sins aren't explicitly mentioned in the novel or the movie but there's a whole bunch of it. Sex, seduction jilted lovers, bisexualism, leading people to their own suicide, murder.

This movie is SEEPED in metaphors. Due to two major censorship vehicles.

One was the fact the novel was written in the victorian era. There are alot of literature research done on this novel so I would only mention that high society did not take to reading such colorful exploits readily. If Wilde had not cleverly used metaphors and symbolism to buffer the horror, his novel would not have been published. Most of the movie is dialogue which gives you some clues as to what those horrors are.

Two was the Hays Code. This movie was made when censorship of movies made it impossible to even mention any words about murder or bisexualism.

Yet despite the censorship, the movie still strongly conveys the horror that is Dorian Gray. To live a live so empty and hell bent on obtaining pleasure without any regard to those around him shouldn't frighten me but it does. The transition of the painting from young Gray to the horror of True Gray actually had me yelping. The metaphors (i.e. the blocks in the playroom representing the initials of the the deaths he's responsible for) impresses me. I'm not well versed in classical music but the use of Chopin was amazing.

Plus, seeing YOUNG Angela Lansbury singing "Yellow Bird" was just riveting. Which makes my choice for following this movie with "Beauty and the Beast" since Lansbury is the voice of Mrs. Potts.

Next time I watch "The Picture of Dorian Gray" movie for some reason, I'm watching it in the daytime!