Beautiful Creatures
Ethan's failure to recite the Charles Bukowski poem was actually Alden Ehrenreich having difficulty remembering the order of the lines and making Alice Englert laugh. He performed the poem perfectly in all other takes. But Writer and Director Richard LaGravenese liked the idea of a "Romeo" trying to impress a "Juliet" and screwing up the poetry.,Ethan is reading the book "You Get So Alone at Times That It Just Makes Sense" by Charles Bukowski, but the poem is not in that book. The poem was published "Burning in Water, Drowning in Flames.",Ethan Wate: Everybody has to deal with shit in their lives, Lena. You want to be a normal human what do you think that is? We don't have powers to change anything any time we want. Being human is feeling bad, it's feeling pissed off, it's feeling scared, it's you not being able to do anything about it until you don't feel that way anymore 'til you can just see your way out of it. And I yelled at you because I care about you, that's what normal people do who love each other! When one of them is acting like a brat! Now would you please stop raining on me!,Featured in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #21.77 (2013),Subterranean Homesick Blues
Written and Performed by Bob Dylan
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By arrangement with Sony Music Licensing,The story has an original premise in that's it has a fairly familiar ideas (witches and magic - one of the oldest subjects for stories - strange kid moves into town and changes everything, secrets about the town are unveiled etc.) but the focus is on how the caster girl's powers affect her and her feelings of being outcast all her life, and the story revolves around a teen romance with a twist.

I went to see the film expecting to follow Lena, the caster girl who is struggling with the powers of light and dark inside her, but was (pleasantly) surprised to see the story was generally told from the point of view of her love interest Ethan, the 'normal' boy who falls for the outsider when everyone else shuns her. He's a very likable character, clearly passionate and compassionate, and has a good sense of humour that provides fresh light on the sometimes dark story matter.

It was also a bit creepier than I expected. There is conflict between the light and dark casters, as well as these elements within the characters, fighting for supremacy - danger and fear run through the film, and you will be surprised more than once.

Personally I found this film really entertaining, though I understand many fans are unhappy with the adaptation and I'm considering reading the books myself. I thought it offered everything, humour, action, fear, a sweet romance, a healthy dose of magic - and it's fresh! This is a solid, quality young adult movie.,