Let's Go Out To The Movies: The Fault In Our Stars

Alo Party Peoples.

Directed by Josh Boone

In 2000, a man named John Green had just graduated from Kenyon College in Ohio. He was studying religion, and was going to become an Episcopalian priest, but after he graduated, he spent five months counseling with the parents of cancer patients at a hospital. He was deeply affected by the experience, stating that:

...''I found myself really unfulfilled by the answers that are traditionally offered to questions of why some people suffer and why others suffer so little,'' he says. ''I still go to church sometimes but I would not feel comfortable leading the services.''...

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/interview-john-green-20120119-1q71w.html#ixzz312lC0lnW

Remember, this man is an award
winning novelist.

Instead, he became an author, and his first book, Looking for Alaska, was published in 2005. The same year, Paramount purchased the film rights to the book, but that project never came to fruition. In 2007, he started a project with his brother Hank called "Brotherhood 2.0", where they would only communicate by a shared video blog on YouTube for a year. This project propelled them to Internet stardom, and the two "vlogbrothers" are now incredibly influential people. The vlogbrothers YouTube channel now has over two million subscribers, has uploaded over one thousand videos, and they've branched out into other venues. They host series such as Crash Course, where John teaches history and literature while Hank teaches science, Mental Floss, where John discusses trivial facts, and they also launched the crowdfunding service Subbable, a method for content creators on YouTube to get direct support from fans without Google taking a cut. They're kind of awesome dudes. During all of this, he's continued to write, and his most recent book, The Fault In Our Stars got a film adaptation, which is our topic for today. 

Sidenote-Incidentally, I tried to cover this movie in May. The filmmakers and Mr. Green were going on a premiere tour, and said tour happened to come to Dallas. I had my mother come by to get me, I got out of swim team for it, and it was going to be a wonderful time. Unfortunately, the screening was filled to capacity, literally minutes before we arrived. We saw the line filled with TFiOS fans, it was seven blocks long, and we had to turn back. The man is an incredibly popular author. The two of us ended up seeing Neighbors instead, which I didn't review for reasons that I'd rather not discuss here.-End Sidenote

Shaline Woodley plays one Hazel Grace-Lancaster, a teenager with terminal thyroid cancer, who meets a young man named Augustus Waters at a support group in "the literal heart of Jesus Christ". They fall in love, bond over the book An Imperial Affliction, and they become inseparable. They end up going to Amsterdam to meet the author, he turns out to be kind of a terrible person, but they still have a wonderful time. They've "been given a little infinity in the numbered days" through this relationship. You laugh, you cry, you have a wonderful time.

The assembled cast is quite good. Shaline Woodley is so much better here than in Divergent, I don't know if it's Oscar worthy, but it's definitely an improvement. Ansel Elgort's Augustus is entertaining, if a little insufferable at times, and I could have sworn that John Green was playing the author of An Imperial Affliction, and I was looking forward to rooting out the symbolism in that, but he's actually played by Willem Dafoe, who is terrific. It's like Dr. Bickman on Black Box, sure he's a terrible person, but he's also so entertaining to watch.

This isn't exactly my usual review material, the film I thought I would cover is Edge of Tomorrow, but this is good stuff. John Green is a damn good writer, and a man I respect a good deal, this is a faithful adaptation of his book. It's charming, emotionally moving, entertaining, and it's probably going to dominate the box office, go ahead and see it. Now I hope they do An Abundance of Katherines next, that book was a fun read.

Have a nice day.

Greg.B