Movie review

Cass was looking at what was playing at the movie theaters this morning, and he saw that Atonement was playing at the Tinseltown in Pflugerville. Last I looked, it was only playing at the Arboretum theater in Austin. I read about this film a few months back, and the reviews have been excellent, so I knew I wanted to see it when it came out.

It's based on the novel by Ian McEwan, and it stars Keira Knightley and James McAvoy (Mr. Tumnus from Lion, Witch, & Wardrobe, The Last King of Scotland, and Becoming Jane). Right before I left for Europe, I bought a copy of the book to try and read it before I saw the movie.

I finished the book the last night we were in Berlin, and I wasn't very fond of it. It was a good story, but the writing was kind of disjointed with a lot of flashbacks. He tells part of the story, then goes back and fills in the blanks. If you're a fast reader like me, you can easily miss a lot. I also didn't like the ending of the story, even though I know it was probably written that way to keep it from being neatly tied up at the end.

Anyway, I just got back from seeing the movie, and I'm glad to say that I like the movie better than the book. Funny that it follows the book pretty closely. I guess I knew beforehand how it was going to be put together, and it helped me enjoy the movie more.

Keira Knightley and James McAvoy are brilliant, and I can see why it got lots of Golden Globe nominations. If you watch as many British films as I do, you'll recognize lots of actors - "Fanny Dashwood" from Sense and Sensibility, "Mrs. Bennet" from Pride and Prejudice, "Bella" from Notting Hill.

I definitely recommend it. This one will be up for some Academy Awards, as well.