Posts tagged movies
Go behind the scenes of your favourite movies
You might have been lucky enough to go to the movies in the school holidays. There was plenty to choose from, including Brave and The Amazing Spiderman. We’ve just got two cool new books in the library that take you behind the scenes of these movies and tell you more about the characters.
Brave: The Essential Guide gives you extra information about the characters in the movie and the places it was set. You can take the grand tour of Castle DunBroch, learn Merida’s likes and dislikes, find out about the clans, learn some top tips for archery and swordplay, and read more about the story of the movie. There are heaps of pictures from the movie, some of the best quotes from the characters, and fact boxes with extra information about the main characters. I really like the ‘Who Suits Merida?’ section where the different clans say why Merida should choose them.
Spiderman: Inside the world of your friendly neighborhood hero contains everything you ever wanted to know about Spidey. This book is chock full of pictures of Spiderman, from his very first appearance through to his latest reincarnation. You can learn all about his costume, the man behind the mask, Peter Parker, his friends and family, his love interests, his enemies, and the main events in his life. If you want to learn more about Spidey’s latest nemesis, Lizard, or past villans, like Doctor Octopus and Sandman, you can find it all in this book. Did you know that there have been hundreds of different artists who have brought Spiderman to life over the years?
Books into movies – what’s your favourite?
There have been heaps of children’s books made into movies. Some of the movies are really good – the actors playing the characters are exactly as you pictured them and they stick to the story. Others are really bad and the story has been changed so much that it’s completely different from the book. Some of my favourite movies based on books are:
- Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson – read the book and watch the movie
- Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo – read the book and watch the movie
- Holes by Louis Sachar – read the book and watch the movie
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis – read the book and watch the movie
- Matilda by Roald Dahl – read the book and watch the movie
What are your favourite books that have been made into movies? Add a comment and you’ll go into the draw to win a Hoyts children’s movie pass.
What Do You Think??
Do You Want To See Arthur Christmas??
a yes definately
b Not sure maybe
c No way
d i have already seen it ( if you have already seen it please DO NOT tell us what happens)
Please leave your answer in a comment below
Cheers Erin
The Adventures of Tintin movie – what do you think?
Make sure you enter our MASSIVE Tintin competition to win heaps of cool Tintin prizes.
Books at the Movies – The Adventures of Tintin Competition
There are so many great movies coming out in cinemas in the Christmas holidays, and the one I’m most looking forward to is The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn. The movie is based on three of Herge’s Tintin books – The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure.
Thanks to HarperCollins NZ, Random House NZ and Hardie Grant Egmont we have a MASSIVE Tintin prize pack to give away. The winner will get a copy of the amazing book, The Art of the Adventures of Tintin, a set of the Tintin movie tie-in books, a Tintin poster and a movie pass to go and see the movie at Hoyts. One runner-up will win a Tintin poster and a movie pass.
Thanks for entering our Tintin Competition. Here are our lucky winners:
Main prize winner is – Leo
Runner up – Bryn
The Hunger Games trailer and book giveaway
The first full-length trailer for the Hunger Games movie has just been released and you can watch it here. It’s being released on March 23, 2012 and it’s going to be one of the biggest movies of the year. The movie is based on The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, which is the first book in one of the most exciting series you’ll ever read. Here’s what our Star Blogger Rhys said about it:
“Prim Everdeen is chosen as a representative for the hunger games while she is still 12 years old, Katniss, her big sister, volunteers to go instead of Prim and she goes to save her sister. Without giving too much away being selected isn’t a good thing. I reckon that they are a great series and that if you like fighting, romance (sort of) and cunning plotting you should read them. I’d recommend them to anyone over 10. They are great for adults too. They are some of the best books I’ve read, and I have read some really, really good books.”
The movie looks like it’s going to be absolutely amazing and you can see what it’s like in this trailer:
If you’ve been dying to read The Hunger Games to find out why it’s so great or you would just really like to have your own copy, we’ve got one to giveaway. To get in the draw, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling us why you should win the book. Competition closes Friday 25 November.
See below for terms and conditions Read the rest of this entry »
The Art of the Adventures of Tintin
If you’re as excited about The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn as I am you’ll be watching all the different movie trailers, looking at images from the movie, and maybe even wishing you were Tintin. I loved the cartoon series of Tintin as well as the books and the movie looks amazing. While you wait for the movie, there is an amazing book that you should check out called The Art of The Adventures of Tintin.
I find it really interesting finding out how movies are made, how they choose the actors to play the characters, what costumes they choose, and how they decide where to shoot the movie. The Art of the Adventures of Tintin is overflowing with all this information about The Secret of the Unicorn. There are introductions by the brilliant Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson who are directing and producing the movie. They talk about why they decided to make this movie and how important it was to get the details correct. The author of the book (and Lead Conceptual Designer for the movie), Chris Guise takes you on a kind of tour of the movie, showing you some of the amazing art work and design from the team at Weta Workshop that has gone into the movie.
The book is split into four sections: The Film Makers, The Beginning, The Characters, and The Environments. The Beginning gives some background on Tintin’s creator, Herge, and shows you how the designers came up with the look of the movie. My favourite section of the book is The Characters. You get to see what Tintin could have looked like in the movie, and I really think they picked the right image for the movie, because some the early images look pretty strange. You see how they created all the main characters and find out how they made them look so realistic. The Environments shows you how the designers made the sets, props and vehicles look exactly like Herge imagined them.
If you’re a Tintin fan or even just like seeing how movies are made, The Art of the Adventures of Tintin is the perfect book for you. There is so much detail and so many images in this book that it will keep you entertained for hours. I can’t wait to see how all these aspects of the film have come together when The Secret of the Unicorn is released in New Zealand on 26th December.
10 out of 10
Time Freeze
Science fiction grabbed me as a teenager. I was an impatient reader and loved short sci-fi stories packed with ideas. They had cool surprise endings too, like Arthur C Clarke’s All the 
Time in the World about a man who freezes time; and Ray Bradbury’s A Sound of Thunder where an insect changes history. I still treasure my copy of Bradbury’s Golden Apples of the Sun – cost me 65c new in 1970; about an hour’s raspberry picking then.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle was also great with it’s spiritual physics and the ending when the disembodied alien brain is defeated. It’s the inspiration for a sci-fi novel I’m working on. I like what L’Engle said about writing too:
You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.
I loved sci-fi movies too, like Planet of the Apes (1968, final shot pictured), and movies where scientists battled giant insects – the stop-motion animation so endearing. The monsters often attacked Tokyo so I made this the setting for my latest novel Wings, about bees battling giant hornets.
That’s all for now about the stories that made me. Tune in next blog for some writing tips.
Who is the best movie villain?
Winter is the best time of year to sit inside and watch movies. We have heaps of different types of movie in the library for you to borrow, from fantasy to adventure, and science fiction to western. Every movie or TV show that you watch has a villain – they could be a witch, a pirate, an evil step-mother or a sinister uncle who is trying to steal his niece and nephew’s inheritance.
Here are my top 5 movie villains:
The White Witch from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe- The Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
- The Fratelli family from The Goonies
- Darth Vader from Star Wars
- Magneto from X-Men
Who are your favourite movie villains?
Horrid Henry in 3D
Here’s the first look at the Horrid Henry movie in 3D that is coming out later this year. It looks hilarious and the cast looks amazing. While you wait for the movie you could read all about Horrid Henry’s antics in his books that we have in the library or watch the cartoon series that we have on DVD.
What’s your favourite Horrid Henry story?
Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer
Do you love the Judy Moody series or the Stink series by Megan McDonald? Later this year you’ll be able to see Judy Moody and her brother Stink on the big screen in Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer. While you wait for the movie, you can borrow all the Judy Moody books from the library.
Harry Potter Film Wizardry
Harry Potter Film Wizardy is a guide to the harry potter movies including the dealthly hallows. It shows you how everything is film. Hey here’s a fact in the movie 5th movie – when Draco got bitten by the Hippogriff and Hagrid carried him that was a platic model of him! That was the most saddest part of the story! I cried a bit though (everybody at my school would know why and some of the librarians). Anyways there are loads of facts such as interviewing the actors!
Thanks Cammrar
Megamind and Gulliver come to cinemas
To celebrate the release of Megamind and Gulliver’s Travels in cinemas we have some books to give away. Thanks to Random House Books we have a copy of Megamind: The Novel and the Megamind 3D Movie Guide, and thanks to Penguin Books we have a copy of the Gulliver’s Travel’s movie novelization to give away.
Saoirse is the winner of the Megamind books and Eibhlin is the winner of the Gulliver book. Congratulations! Your prizes are on their way.
For more great movies to watch, check out our Read the book – then see the film page on the Kids website.
Get Tangled this Christmas
Tangled is a new adaptation of the story of Rapunzel and it looks really funny. You can enter our Tangled colouring competition these holidays to win a cool Tangled prize pack. Look out for the competition at your local library.
What’s your favourite Christmas movie?
It’s that time of year when we start watching Christmas movies. There are plenty to choose from, including cutesy ones like Santa Buddies or funny ones like Elf. Here are my top 5 Christmas movies:
We have lots of other Christmas DVDs to help you celebrate the holidays so have a look at your library.
What’s your favourite Christmas movie?
Return to Narnia in Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Opens in cinemas on 9 December. Read the book before you see the film – get Voyage of the Dawn Treader from the library now.
Make your own movies
One of the cool things that you can do at the South and Upper Riccarton Learning Centres in the school holidays and afterschool programmes is make your own movie. You can learn how to use digital cameras and movie programmes to create your own stop-motion animation movie.
Here is a fantastic movie called Stuck on Earth created by Asher (with help from his dad) using Lego (see if you can spot the library):
If you’ve made your own movie, email us at christchurchkidsblog@ccc.govt.nz and let us know. You could see your movie on the blog.
