Winter's Tale (2014)

Winter’s Tale: Directed by Akiva Goldsman. With Colin Farrell, Matt Bomer, Lucy Griffiths, Michael Crane. A burglar falls for an heiress as she dies in his arms. When he learns that he has the gift of reincarnation, he sets out to save her.

“This movie is a breath of fresh air. That being said, you have to go into it expecting and understanding it is from the genre of u0026quot;Magic Realismu0026quot;. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI actually read the entire book by Mark Helprin, unlike most of the professional critics, so I knew what type of movie it was going to be and I had appropriate expectations. The book was around 700 pages and it wasnu0026#39;t a Harry Potter-type 700 pages. The novel is a very complex, wordy, difficult to read and oftentimes very confusing piece of work, jam packed with very descriptive imagery. I found myself reading parts over and over to gain an understanding of it that I still wasnu0026#39;t completely secure with when I was finished. In fact, most people I know have ATTEMPTED READING it, and end up abandoning the book because of the reasons I just mentioned. After I finished the book, I scoured the internet trying to find any reviews of the book to help me understand and see if I u0026quot;really got itu0026quot;. To my frustration, you really canu0026#39;t find any complete reviews of the book because Iu0026#39;m pretty sure most people (like me) had a lot of confusion with the story as well!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn most of the reviews I read, people are ripping Akiva Goldsman apart saying his adaptation is awful, but I strongly disagree. He had to leave out some of the aspects of the book in the interest of time (For example, a whole storyline of characters from the middle of the book are missing from the film.) He kept the really important parts of the novel and successfully makes them stand on their own.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eLeaving the theater, I feel like Goldsmanu0026#39;s interpretation ACTUALLY CLARIFIED a lot of the book for me. Incidentally, I went to see the film with someone who had NOT read the book and knew nothing about it, and he thought it was way better that the reviews said as well. As a matter of fact, I definitely liked Goldsmanu0026#39;s ending better than Helprinu0026#39;s! I finished the book with the feeling of u0026quot;What? Thatu0026#39;s it??? Is my book missing pages?u0026quot; The movie version is the way I wanted the book to end.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAdditionally, Helprinu0026#39;s wordy descriptions played out in my minds eye of the beautiful (and the not-so-beautiful) aspects of the story were brought clearly to life in the movie with the expertly executed u0026quot;tug-on-your-heartstringsu0026quot; musical score and cinematography. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo, if youu0026#39;re looking for a curse-them-out, shoot-em-up, or futuristic outer space, or reality-based movie, Winteru0026#39;s Tale would be better rented on DVD. If youu0026#39;re looking for a more philosophical, romantic, thought-provoking fantasy as an escape from most of the usual movies in theaters today, itu0026#39;s worth the ticket price.”