Back to the Old Job Search

Job searching may be one of the most annoying things in the world.  Filling out that same tedious application while you also have to provide a resume that already has all of that information filled out.  How many trees are killed a year because of these ridiculous formalities I ask? Too many that's for sure.  Oh well, hopefully I'll find something to my liking.  Let me just take this chance to plug craig's list.  Not only has craig's list provided me with some supplemental income through selling my unwanted stuff, but it also allows me to search for jobs across a variety of different areas.  Eventhough I should probably be searching for a job in one specific area...but let's not talk about that.  I am too fickle my friends.  If only I had stuck with my two most significant passions: writing and helping others.  Oh well, I'll figure it out like I always do.  If I'm being ambiguous it's on purpose.  How am I ever going to function in a marriage? I'm so fickle it's becoming destructive.  Too many decisions to make right now.  I can't even make a New Year's resolution.  My fickle nature makes me feel closer to Mikael Blomkvist from Dragon Tattoo because like him I'm all over the place.  Plus we love to drink coffee and women simply cannot resist us.  This seems like a good spot for me to Transition into my Dragon tattoo review.

I will preface this by saying that I had to wait until a good friend of mine had to watch this movie before I gave anything away with my review.  She is essentially my Berger, for those of you who understand the series.  She finally agrees with me now that she's seen the movie.  Second disclaimer: IF YOU HAVE NOT YET SEEN THE MOVIE STOP READING HERE.  I DON'T WANT TO RUIN THE FILM FOR YOU.  As I expected the movie was amazing.  Mara and Craig were spot on and did an excellent job portraying the characters that Larsson wrote with such detail.  Craig made up for Nyqvist's lack of coolness and sex appeal, besting the Swede in that regard.  I respect Nyqvist's talent as an actor, and I understand his casting in the Swedish film, yet his portrayal of Mikael Blomkvist fell short in my eyes.  Craig was spot on in every way, so in regards to Blomkvist Craig emerged victorious.

And now onto the Rooney vs. Noomi debate.  This is very difficult because they both did an excellent job.  Both actresses did Lisbeth justice, but in the end I have to give the edge to Rooney.  I think Rooney showed the wide range of emotions that Lisbeth possessed while Noomi mostly just showed her anger.  I'm sure that the writing and directing played a large part but I liked how the new movie focused on the fact that Lisbeth fell in love with Blomkvist and then had her heart broken when she saw him with Berger.  I don't know if Rooney could have done a better job; her portrayal was perfect.  She underwent significant lifestyle changes and undertook so many challenges for this one film.  For a young actress to do everything that she did was simply remarkable. 

I'll now go through the more minor characters.  I loved the casting of Robin Wright for Berger.  She's an older actress who's still gorgeous, and that's what I expected when I read the books.  She had way more sex appeal than the Swedish Berger (Lena Endre) and did a nice job in her minor, yet important role.  I didn't mind Palmgren and Aramansky, as their appearance and role isn't too significant to the overall plot.  Leaving them out of most of the movie was ok by me.  All of the Vanger castings were well done, and Stellen Skarsgard played a great villain.  I'd say the only casting I really didn't agree with was Yorick van Wageningen who played Bjurman.  He did a great job playing a sadistic character, but I expected a more refined looking character.  In the books Bjurman was a sadist and a pervert, but his outward appearance wouldn't make you think so.  Yorick's Bjurman looked creepy from the start.  I may be biased, but when it came to the casting his was the only one that I questioned.

And now for the story, setting, and all of the other good stuff.  I loved that they included small characters with important roles in the story that were mostly left out of the Swedish movies.  For instance, Inspector Morrell and Blomkvist's daughter were integral to solving the Vanger case and they were rarely if at all featured in the Swedish version.  Some things were left out or cut short like Blomkvist's jail time and the relationship between Aramansky.  I didn't mind this, but I wish they would have at least mentioned Blomkvist's book and how it's publishing returned Blomkvist's journalistic credibility.  In regards to the setting, I thought that the setting was perfectly crafted for the more contemporary movie.  The Island and estate were just as I imagined them, and the great house was far more astounding in the newer movie.  I could go on singing my praises for the American-made Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but I think I've made my point-I absolutely loved this movie and thought it eclipsed the Swedish version in nearly every possible way.  My one criticism is that the movie could be hard to follow for people who had not read the books.  The film moves fast because it has a lot of ground to cover, and if you don't know the story ahead of time you could struggle in staying with the plot.  Not a problem, because I think anyone who hasn't read the books should read them.  Go now, finish the first book so you can still catch the movie while it's in theaters.  I finally got an extra ticket from regal rewards points, and I may use it to go see this movie again.