The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo by Stieg Anderson

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

How many times did CB actually make the field goal? Oh, that's right.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Read it. Liked it. Not sure I wannna go on with the other two. Reading new Banks now. Must have whisky to read Banks.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

The first one was the best one.

[The Queen]

FWIW - I loved all three and was really bummed when I finished the last one, knowing there wouldn't be any more.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

I've been hearing from some folks that #2 is the best, and from other folks that #1 is the best, but everyone agrees that #3 is the worst. I'll start #2 after I'm done with Banks/Surface Details.

[Drunk Monk]

I'm going to a screener of GwtDT on Monday and I'm looking for an accomplice who has read the books.

Greg is too far away.
PPFY probably has to work. He always has to work. (but call me if not)

Anyone else? I'll probably go to the S.F. Century 9 screener (on top of Bloomindale's) instead of the one at Santana Row. We have to be there by 6PM. I'll commit to SF or SJ by this afternoon.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Dammit! Working. If you end up in Frisco, come by the club afterward. Maybe a beer can happen.

[The Queen]

I'm going to a screener of GwtDT on Monday and I'm looking for an accomplice who has read the books.

Greg is too far away.
PPFY probably has to work. He always has to work. (but call me if not)

Anyone else? I'll probably go to the S.F. Century 9 screener (on top of Bloomindale's) instead of the one at Santana Row. We have to be there by 6PM. I'll commit to SF or SJ by this afternoon.

I'm too far away, too. Alas.

[Drunk Monk]

One of my kung fu bros is accompanying me. He's got a ton of tats and piercings. He's even split his tongue. I haven't seen him in a long time, so it'll be a good time to catch up. A perfect accomplice!

Will report tomorrow w/exclusive DOOM review...

[Drunk Monk]

I'm hard pressed to say which I liked more, the Swedish version or the Hollywood version. That's saying a lot as I really enjoyed the Swedish version and was very hesitant about a Hollywood remake. I'm leaning towards the Swedish version, just because it's more hip. Everyone will be talking about the Hollywood version. Only the cool people know the Swedish version.

I'll have an 'official' review up tomorrow. For now, I'll say that the Hollywood version is a lot funnier.

[Drunk Monk]

otherwise known as DM tries to sling mags by coat-tailing on lisbeth.

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[cranefly]

Even as DM was watching this screener, I was watching the 49ers take on the Steelers on TV. Or as Lady Cranefly prefers to word it, the 49ers against the rapist. It’s not the Steelers. It’s not Roethlisberger the quarterback. It’s the rapist. She sees no reason to view him otherwise. Setting this aside, as well as Lady Cranefly’s growing concern that I’m becoming ever more a football fan, I found it an intriguing game. There were so many close calls that, on review, could have gone either way. The refs tended to defend whatever they initially called, which I suppose was fair. Add to these many “call reviews” the couple of moments of silence and darkness in honor of the passing of Kim Jong Il-- Speaking of which, what the hell were we supposed to do? What’s the proper etiquette? I didn’t know whether to stand up and salute or put my hand over my heart or cry hysterically. The network could have done a better job telling us what was expected of us, because it just led to a lot of confusion.

These many breaks led to an awful lot of commercials, which I fended off by frequently switching over to Daddy Long Legs, starring Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron. The movie is about a wealthy gentleman who pays for the education of a girl over 30 years his junior. Inevitably, as she matures, he falls in love with her, and to complete the male fantasy, she falls in love with him -- though neither knows the feelings of the other. I got to switching back and forth so rapidly between the 49ers/rapist game and an aging Fred Astaire and a very young Caron that the two shows began to merge. And let me tell you, a morph of Astaire and Roethlisberger is a terrible thing to behold. There were actual moments when I thought I was watching The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It didn’t help that all those football players are absolutely plastered with tattoos, or that the name Lisbeth is embedded in Roethlisberger. The whole experience was very traumatic, and I had trouble sleeping that night.

I don’t suppose this counts as a review of the The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Sorry about that. But I couldn’t find the movie poster.

[Drunk Monk]

That freaking game got me caught in a traffuck snarl on the way up and on the way back.

The more I think about it, the more I preferred Roomi as Lisbeth. I haven't read the books, so that's just based on my reaction to the cinematic character. Nevertheless, Rooney's version is more entertaining because it's funnier. I wouldn't have imagined this as a particularly funny story, but Fincher made it so and for some strange reason, it totally works that way. Nevertheless, I'd recommend seeing the Swedish version first. If you go the other way, the new version might outshine the original on its entertainment value.

Critics are raving about Fincher. I like his work, but it's not something I'd rave over.

[cranefly]

Okay, I've now seen the movie -- the American remake by Fincher, currently in the theaters.
DM recommended seeing the Swedish one first, which I had intended to do, but Lady Cranefly's sudden interest in the film sent us to the local theater.

This is a very good movie. The pacing is immaculate. So much background information needs to be conveyed, and director David Fincher does it brilliantly. With a lesser director, this movie could easily have topped five hours -- or the storyline winnowed down to an anemic puddle of a tale. Fincher keeps it richly layered and detailed.
Fincher also succeeds in "showing" just how difficult research is. Characters must toil long and hard to discover and link together various clues. There are dead ends and false trails and then new leads, and none of it is neat. The "ahah"s and "eureka"s are muted, and they are few and far between.

I look forward to seeing the Swedish version, but will likely wait a few months. The Mountain View Library has two copies, by the way. I had one in hand a week ago, but opened it and saw that the disc had a bad spot, so I didn't check it out.

At our last meeting, DM and I discussed briefly the types of DVDs one is likely to find in a library. The question of "too adult for the library" came up. I'm still trying to get a clear idea of what the library carries and what it doesn't. I suppose it surprised me a bit to see this movie there.

[cranefly]

I was recently in the library looking at DVDs, and lo and behold there were 6 copies of the Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I started opening them, and what I saw begs the question, what are people doing with these disks! Using them to shim up uneven table legs? Playing Frisbee with them in the yard? One very scratched-up one after another, until I reached the very last one. It was a Goldilocks moment, and I checked it out, and Lady Cranefly and I watched it.

We're in agreement with DM that Noomi's portrayal of Lisbeth is more visceral, more human. You just see more of a real person who's been screwed over in the past. I also thought Michael Nyqvist, who plays the lead male, brought a better nuance to the character -- which is saying a lot, because I do like Daniel Craig.

Both movies are very good, and in certain respects I liked the American version better. But overall I give the nod to the Swedish version, and to Noomi.

Interestingly, after seeing the movie, I found myself getting a bit annoyed at Guy Ritchie for wasting Noomi in Sherlock Holmes. I mean, if you're going to cast her, shouldn't you give her a role? Oh, well. I'm sure Guy had his hands and mind full on that frantic fever of a film.

Now Lady Cranefly and self must decide whether to check out the next two Dragon Tattoo films from the library.