Page to Screen: Fifty Shades of Grey Trailer

Ever since hearing that Fifty Shades of Grey would be turned into a movie, I was really curious to see what the movie would be like. Now that the official trailers been released, we've got some insight into the mysterious world of Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) and his encounter with Bella Swan Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson).

Source: Universal Pictures UK Official Trailer

The trailer doesn't really give off much - it's tame and the scenes a little disjointed. I guess because Christian Grey is all about being mysterious, the trailer's turned out that way, but also because they've probably had to tone down things a lot. It starts off with the first encounter between Anastasia and Christian in his office. I've never enjoyed Anastasia as a character, because she is the generic Candy - the girl next door who's invisible and plain, only to be noticed by the alpha male. Seeing her on screen and hearing the dialogue really made me even more irritated.

"I'd like to know more about you." 

"There's not much to know about me (giggle). Look at me." 

"I am." 

Like really, really?! I don't remember everything about the novel but just seeing real life people those lines makes me cringe and eye-roll.

Then comes all the other moments between them, from when Christian gives her joyrides in his helicopter and airplane, to their more heated encounters - cue elevator kiss and thigh grabs. I do love the scene where Christian tells her that he "exercises control in all things" and she replies with "you must be really boring." It's the smirk on his face that gets me, because we both know nothing could be more boring than what he's actually doing.

Source: Universal Pictures UK Official Trailer

I wasn't interested enough in the movie to find out who the actors were, but right now I am feeling very underwhelmed with Christian. I did not picture Jamie Dornan to be Christian, and whilst he may be a fabulous actor, he just doesn't seem right. I'm not saying his unattractive, just that he doesn't have that manly, charismatic look. In fact Jamie looks more like the guy next door, sort of rugged and cute - not at all "intimidating" as Anastasia describes him.

The trailer doesn't hint at the kinkier side of things until the last 30 seconds, where the red room is (barely) revealed and then all his toys come out to play. There's nudity as well, although for the trailer it's just Dakota Johnson's naked back. Surprisingly, the trailer actually puts this aspect of the story into a better light. It comes off as a logical and romantic as opposed to just being erotica. In fact, dare I say, it looks almost classy or at least not as explicit as I thought it would. There's more of a sultry feel to it, which definitely comes from the background music - a remixed version of Crazy in Love by Beyonce - that sets the tone and puts viewers in the mood. I think the best part of the trailer was the song actually.

I'm not going to lie, this trailer has actually increased my interest in this movie. It's certainly not a film I'd want to see in a cinema, but I'm not outright against watching it. I actually think the cinematography is pretty well done, which boosts the quality of not only the film, but the plot. I mean Fifty Shades of Grey pretty much lacks depths in terms of storyline and plot development, and its characters are pretty flat, but at least with the film the actors might be able to give some in life into the story. If it's filmed in a visually appealing and tasteful way then it has a big chance of turning people's opinions from being a pornography disguised as movie into an actual movie, just with a bit more sexual scenes - if that makes sense.

Source: Universal Pictures UK Official Trailer

I think my biggest interest lies in how everything will be filmed, what will be omitted and kept in the books, and if it'll actually be better. This trailer really does make me feel like the movies has some potential. I know I'm not the only one interested as the trailer now sits at around 17, 800, 000 views! 

Fifty Shades of Grey will be released on Valentines' Day, 2015. Watch the trailer below and tell me what you think!

If erotica isn't your thing though (trust me, it's not mine either) check out my reaction video to Mockingjay Part 1, the teaser trailer titled "Our Leader the Mockingjay". Video here!

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Vampire Academy - The Trailer

A couple of months back I wrote a post about upcoming movie adaptions of books including the supernatural series by Richelle Mead, Vampire Academy. I was pretty unsure about it just from hearing the rumours, but I just stumbled upon the trailer today and had to share.

Thoughts:

Hmmm. My initial excitement about the movie quickly subsided and I have to admit, I'm kind of disappointed. The trailer starts out with the Rose's voiceover  introducing us to the world of vampires. Cut to her best friend feeding from her and then a speech about blood. Then some other scenes that look a little too sexualised for my liking.

I really don't know where to start with this. Everything just seems wrong, which is pretty harsh but that's just how it is. The mood, setting and actors.

It's like the director is attempting to create a comic and sensual feel to this, which doesn't exactly mirror the novels tone. It's suppose to be a lot more dark and adventurous. There are quite intimate scenes in the novel but compared to the larger scale of things, I wouldn't have expected it to make it into the trailers. Although it can be an attention grabber for more mature viewers. I'm not sure that make out scene was actually done under gaudy red lighting. I think I've pinpointed the feel down to being a little bit like Gossip Girl but the supernatural version. Instead of actually being about a battle between the different types of vampires, it just seems to be about high school drama. Something I do not want this series to be turned into to.

The actors are also not what I personally imagined the characters to look like. Lissa Dragomir (the blonde girl in the trailer) is suppose to be breathtakingly gorgeous. Whilst Lucy Fry is pretty, she doesn't fit that supermodel-like appearance Lissa is suppose to have. Although maybe it's the fangs that make her mouth look funny. I'm still not sure about Zoey Dutch but I think it could work. So long as she can portray the perfect badass then I'm all cool. There wasn't the appearance of Dimitri although I've heard he's actually Russian so at least he can pull off the right accent.

From what I've seen, I think the movie is just covering what is in the first novel. I've made a pretty a big judgement from just a 1:27 video and so I dearly hope that I am wrong. I guess adaptions from novels are always going to be risky, especially if there is a large fan base. Too many expectations to uphold basically.

Watch the trailer here

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