Mundie Moms

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

The Wrap Updates Their Article on CITY OF ASHES

Lily Collins;Jonathan Rhys Meyers The Wrap updated their article on City of Ashes ---
The decision to delay “City of Ashes” was made several days ago after Constantin spoke with its international distributors at the Toronto International Film Festival, Moszkowicz told TheWrap. While Constantin is committed to making the sequel, the company did not want to rush into production with an unfinished screenplay, preferring to take the time to get right.

THE PRESS RELEASE FOR DELAY OF CITY OF ASHES

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HERE's THE OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE...
LOS ANGELES (September 10, 2013) - Constantin Film announced today that it has postponed the start of principal photography of THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF ASHES. THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF ASHES is the sequel of Constantin Film's movie adaptation of THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES, the first book in the bestselling series by Cassandra Clare that has sold over 24 million copies to date. THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES opened on August 21 and has a $70M worldwide box office take after 3 weeks in release. The book series is currently #1 on the New York Times bestseller list for children series. THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES is a Constantin Film International GmbH and Unique Features (TMI) Inc. Productions. The push of THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF ASHES allows Constantin Film to analyze the results to date and reposition the franchise in order to maximize the results for future installments. Said Martin Moszkowicz of Constantin Film and an executive producer on the franchise: "Constantin Film has a long tradition of adapting books to the big screen. Pushing back the start of production of CITY OF ASHES was a decision we did not take lightly. But after speaking with all of our partners on the creative and distribution side, it was clear that it will be beneficial to have more time to reposition the film in the current market place. THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS series has an incredibly loyal and ardent fan base and is a bestselling book series. While taking Cassandra Claire’s vision to the screen we want to make sure to draw on the full potential of the franchise."

PRODUCTION ON CITY OF ASHES IS DELAYED

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Okay fans - some can take this as good news and some can take this as bad. Let me repeat by this article, they have not said that they are shutting down film forever - it's just indefinite as they reposition the brand. Constantin has delayed the start of production for 'City of Ashes.' According to the WRAP...
“Constantin Film” has a long tradition of adapting books to the big screen. Pushing back the start of production of ‘City of Ashes’ was a decision we did not take lightly. But after speaking with all of our partners on the creative and distribution side, it was clear that it will be beneficial to have more time to reposition the film in the current market place,” said executive producer Martin Moszkowicz of Constantin. “‘The Mortal Instruments’ series has an incredibly loyal and ardent fan base and is a bestselling book series. While taking Cassandra Clare’s vision to the screen, we want to make sure to draw on the full potential of the franchise.”
While we are waiting for more news - we are on the same page you all are. We will keep you informed.

Monsters & Mayhem Blog Tour: Survival Guide to the Apocalypse by Ilsa J. Bick



Welcome to today's Monsters & Mayhem tour stop hosted by Egmont USA! I'm thrilled to be apart of this tour, and to feature Ilsa J. Bick's MONSTERS on it's release day!


***MONSTERS BOOK BIRTHDAY***


Survival Guide to the Apocalypse


Really, the only suggestion I have in terms of zombies per se is this: ladies, cut your hair.  I’m serious.  Not only can a zombie hook and reel you in like a trout, it can strangle you if your hair’s down to your butt.  So lose the hair. This goes for any of you guys out there with the long locks, too.  Trust me: the apocalypse is no time for vanity.


Now, if you’ve taken care of that order of business . . . let’s talk about real survival, okay?  Let’s assume you’ve all assembled a bug-out bag, too.  Really; if you haven’t, stop what you’re doing and go slap that sucker together this instant.  If you want advice on what to put into a bag or fanny pack . . . do a Google search, or get in touch with me, and I’ll tell you exactly what’s in mine and ought to be in yours.
So, you’ve bugged out of your house and you’re on your own.  Zombie or otherwise, these are the things you have to focus on if you want to make it through more than the first couple of days.

First order of business: listen to Douglas Adams, and DON’T PANIC!!  I’m serious.  Panic is a killer.  So assuming that you’re not in imminent danger of drowning or falling off a cliff . . . go hug a tree.  Or sit down.  Do yoga or sing your favorite song, but do something to calm yourself down.  Really.  Panic will get you or someone else killed.  In an emergency, take your own pulse.

Second order of business: get and/or stay warm.  This frequently translates to finding shelter, building a fire, peeling out of those wet clothes, whatever.  Avoid hypothermia because that will kill you pretty fast.  Successfully getting that fire going is a real morale boost, too.  (And this is where that handy-dandy bug-out bag comes in handy because, of course, you’ve got at least three different strategies for making fire.  Why three?  Because two might fail.  If all three fail, I might be screwed, but I know a couple more tricks.  But stick with three—and it goes without saying that you know how to use these tools, right?  Because you’ve practiced?  Of course, you have.)

Okay, Got your fire going?  Warm and toasty?  Thinking you might survive after all?  You bet.  It’s also occurred to you that a signal fire is a great thing, too, so you’ll keep this going.  But now . . . well, all that hard work and you’re kind of thirsty.

Which brings us to water.

A true fact: you can live for three weeks without food, but try going three days without water—and you’re history.  So water is key.  In crummy conditions—say, it’s really hot—you can figure on needing a quart every couple of hours.  For the sake of argument, we’re going to pretend there’s a water source: a scummy pond, a stream, rain, whatever.  Well, you can’t just drink.  There are all sorts of nasty things floating around in there.  But, lucky you, there are two basic ways to purify water: heat and chemicals.  Natch, you know how to do both, yes?  Google this if you don’t; all sorts of tricks out there.  If you’re really stuck, just grab some pond water in a clear plastic bottle, let it settle, carefully pout out the less-gucky stuff into another clear plastic bottle, and set it in the FULL SUN for about eight hours.  Kills just about everything that’ll kill you.

Lastly, there’s food, which is easy, because you’ve packed a really nice bug-out bag: a couple power bars, a few packets of Kool-Aid, and two or three pouches of energy gels.  In a pinch, you can make that one power-protein bar do for a day.  Would knowing the region’s edible plants help?  Would it be really good to know how to fish and make snares?  Sure, but I’m just trying to get you through the first couple of days.

Other stuff?  For my money, the most important piece of equipment in your survival arsenal is a good, sharp knife.  Two, actually.  I always wear one, carry the other. If I somehow lost my fanny-pack, I would still have a decent shot of making it with only a knife.  (Anyone who doubts this, go read Hatchet.  Paulsen was right.)
Other than that?  Pack a deck of cards.  If you’re the only non-zombie around, it’s going to be a long and lonely post-apocalypse.

About The Book




The Changed are on the move. The Spared are out of time. The End...is now.

When her parents died, Alex thought things couldn't get much worse-until the doctors found the monster in her head.

She headed into the wilderness as a good-bye, to leave everything behind. But then the end of the world happened, and Alex took the first step down a treacherous road of betrayal and terror and death.

Now, with no hope of rescue-on the brink of starvation in a winter that just won't quit-she discovers a new and horrifying truth.

The Change isn't over.
The Changed are still evolving.
And...they've had help.

With this final volume of The Ashes Trilogy, Ilsa J. Bick delivers a riveting, blockbuster finish, returning readers to a brutal, post-apocalyptic world where no one is safe and hope is in short supply.

A world where, from these ashes, the monsters may rise


Purchase Monster via Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound
Add it to Goodreads

The Giveaway
Thank you to Egmont USA, I've got 1 set of Illsa's Ashes trilogy to giveaway! US only please. To enter, please fill out the form below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!

*****Please visit All Things Urban Fantasy tomorrow for the next stop on the Monsters & Mayhem Blog Tour*****


Twitter Tuesday: Stephenie Meyer


Yesterday, I saw this tweet from Twilight Moms and thought the link was worth a click. As most of you know, we're big fans of Stephenie's here on Mundie Moms. In fact, most of us met because of our love of Twilight. So I was curious to see what she's currently writing -- the mermaid story, the ghost story, Midnight Sun (oh, pretty please)?
There’s been some talk of a ghost story or a mermaid tale from the author in the future, but Meyer remained mum on the subject of her next written work.

“See, back in the early days I used to tell people about all of the ideas that I had floating in my head that I assumed would become books at some point,” she said. “But then, people have the expectation that it will be out in six months, and so I really don’t talk about what I’m working on anymore because it changes a lot.

“I’ll be working on something and then another idea will drag me away. I guess that’s really my problem, committing to one idea and sticking with it. And so I’m not going to talk about what I’m working on right now.”
Looks like she's content with her movie producer role for right now, but I'm glad to hear that's she's still writing. For the full article, go here.

TMI: City of Bones Movie: Sophie's Review


I posted this over on the Mundie Moms forum this past weekend and honestly, it was so my friends on twitter and facebook could read my thoughts on "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones" movie. They know I'm a huge fan of the books and they wondered if it was everything I thought it would be. But Katie asked me in her sweetly insistent, Shadowhunter-ish way to post it here as well. So without further stalling, here it is:

(SPOILER WARNING: for the movie and the books)

Things That Hit the Mark:

- Bringing us into the magic of Cassie's world: Who hasn't wanted to see The Institute come to life? Or how runes actually look on a Shadowhunter's skin? Or that Midnight Flower?

- The characters come to life: HUGE props to the casting people. You got EVERY single character perfectly cast. I've always said that Jamie would deliver Jace and he did. Lily was a perfect Clary; she was curious, accepting of the new world revealed to her and she was wonderful in her conversations with both Simon and Jace. Jemima with that bracelet-whip and flame thrower seemed to channel Izzy. And Godfrey, oh my Godfrey was Helloooooo Magnus.

- Special Effect Creaturama : I never knew I'd be so excited to see the demons come to life. The birds to ash-demons, that Ravener demon, even the scary little girl demon...all were excellent. Great CGI. No money was spared and I enjoyed it all thoroughly.

- Grown-up cast: Okay, Hodge was PERFECT. Oh my goodness, I kept waiting for him to come on screen some more and explain a few more things because who wouldn't believe he was cursed by The Clave in that scene with Valentine? Jocelyn and Luke? Oh, the delicious shared history was palpable on that screen. Loved them and I thought there was just enough of them to make the movie not all teens saving the world. And then there was Valentine. JRM got his psychotic parts right. He was BadDaddy and he played it out to the max. Given what little character development time there was (a 2 hour movie), I thought he did a very credible job.

- The snark : Let's face it Cassie's snarky parts are the very things that keep us laughing and they provide the most memorable lines from the book. I'm so glad the producers/director kept the snark in. My husband who has never read the books loved Simon and Jace. In fact, I'm pretty sure he now ships them. Even though he doesn't know what that means. He kept laughing as he quoted their bits (the "you shot two police officers" and the "Jace Wayland, Demon Hunter" parts in particular). So glad that was there as it should have been.


- The midnight flower scene: We all waited for it rather anxiously and SONY Pictures, you delivered it. It was awkward, sweet and sexy. Thank you.

- The soundtrack: It works so well with the scenes and yes, I play it all the time and not just because I'm a Mundie Mom. I've recommended it to friends who love the mix of music. And this bit could fall under the previous one (also I might alone in this opinion), but I'm going to put it out there anyway -- I loved the moment when the music's crescendo was perfectly timed with the kiss. Yes, it's cheesy, but this is a BIG kissy moment so it worked for me.

Things That Just Didn't Work (At All): I realize that these are relatively minor things, and I know people like to focus on negative things (hey, I read reviews to see what people didn't like, too). Just make sure to place these in the bigger picture of All The Things I Loved and you'll see that these are minor details. They are also all easy fixes which would have pleased me the fan but also, people who saw it with me and wondered "huh?".

- Valentine's Dread Lock/Braid Things: We get it. He's a hot, leather-wearing, PsychoDaddy hipster. CUT THE BRAIDS OFF. He's not Bebe Captain Jack. Please. It's insulting somehow to have him look like a pirate. Bluebeard he's not. Mean, maniacal he is.

- Magnus' Obvious Voice-over: I saw this the first time with my oldest two kids and my teen son leaned over to ask why Magnus' voice sounded like "badly dubbed anime". Ummm, yeah. We can hear that his voice was not recorded in the same place as the others in the party scene. His voice has an echo-y, silent background quality. I don't care about the reasons of why and how it needed to be done. But it could've been done better. Godfrey is THE perfect Magnus. But I worry how he will deliver some of the more important lines in City of Ashes because with the ADR quality shown here, his lines will fall flat. And that's a shame because we all love Magnus for his well-timed comebacks.

- All SIlent Characters Must Assume Decepticon Tones:  I don't know why this happens in movies. There must be some Costco-style deal for silent characters because they all seem to assume the same level of Decepticon tones as well, yes, Decepticons. WHY? Not sure. I thought the Silent Brothers would sound well, hushed, silent-ish, somehow older when they spoke in Clary's head. The sheer volume cracked me up and took me out of the movie for that scene because I couldn't stop chuckling. Also thinking of (spoiler: Jem).

redbubble shirt by obdobuk
- Jace, I Am Your Father: *coughs* Picture me with hubs on Date Night. He insisted we see TMI. And then we get to this part and he leans over and whispers, "Has Cassie seen 'Star Wars'?" Yeah. I'm pretty sure she has and THIS WAS NOT IN THE BOOK. Okay, I silently promised myself to not say that in my review because yes, this is the movie and not the book. But blah, blah, blah...WHYYYYYYY? Why couldn't Jace just recognize Valentine as his father like he does in the book? Surely, this would've cost even less screen time? It would've been more logical and it wouldn't cause Valentine to quote one of the most famous lines in moviedom. Also, what's with the Vulcan Mind Meld moment? Oh yeah, Valentine had to SHOW Jace that he really was his father. This was just plain dumb and unnecessary. Made me wonder if the screenwriter, director, producers had read the book because if they had, they would realize the wrong of it all.

[Side Note to All Movie Producers Everywhere: You guys have the money, so use your power to erase this line from all future movies. Unless you are flashing back in the new Disney-fied Star Wars, then by all means have James Earl Jones utter it again.]

- Clary's Rune to Clean-up the Room: Say it with me--every Mundie Mom needs this rune. Not sure why cleaning up the apartment with a magical move-all-the-things rune was a necessary way to end the movie, but there you have it. We already saw Clary's powers in a more powerful and well-executed climactic scene. We didn't need this bit. Did anyone think that birds were going to sing with her through that window? Oh wait, the birds turned into those cool ash demons. Never mind.

FINAL THOUGHTS: There was a lot of good in this movie and I know it's super-hard to adapt a book successfully to the screen. There are fewer successes and many more flops. Overall, I thought it was a decent adaptation and truly my criticisms are minor. I know I was passionate about them, but hey, I saw the movie four times (so far) there had to be a lot in it that I loved, too.

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