I just came from seeing The King's Speech. Really wonderful movie. I made sure my tissues were in hand when the opening credits rolled. Besides some great performances by three of my favorite actors, I enjoyed the happiest of surprises.
Warning. Spoiler alert if you are a BBC-P&P fan.
I knew I'd see Mr. Darcy but who knewEliza Bennett would appear on the scene? Good thing I was tissue-ready but for an entirely different reason than expected.
Did anyone know about this ahead of time? I had no idea. And glad of it. Such a thrill. There was even an appearance by the awful Mr. Collins.
As for Lowell's introducing the two of them? My hair was standing on end.
If you are, or ever were, a fan of Edward, of Twilight fame, and are in need of a fix, pay heed.
Just recently we joined Netflix. ('bout time, right?)
My son quickly put in his picks:
Survivor: Season Two, Disc 1
Survivor: Season Two, Disc 2
Survivor: Season Two, Disc 3
Survivor: Season Two, Disc 4
Survivor: Season Two, Disc 5
Survivor: Season Two, Disc 6
Not a big Survivor fan, I realized I'd better get in queue or throttle my son, one.
Going through the ratings, Netflix generated Mira Nair's film adaptation of Vanity Fair. Reese Witherspoon as the formidable Becky Sharp.
There's nothing I love more in life on screen than classic period films.
Vanity Fair arrived in my mailbox two days later.
Only after it was playing did I realize I had already seen it. Argh. This middle-aged memory loss is a mo-fo. But I enjoyed every minute of it. Watched most of it Friday night. Turned it off midway due to a camping trip next day. Watched the remainder Sunday evening.
Yeah, that's right. A camping trip bookended by Vanity Fair. Life is fucking awesome good.
So fucking awesome good was the movie, this second time around, I didn't want it to end. I closed my bedroom door and indulged in post movie play the director-narrated version. All the way baby through.
And when that wasn't enough, I selected Deleted Scenes.
The Alternate Ending clip delivered quite the unexpected denouement: Master Edward.
and I'm on cloud nine. Watched PBS Masterpiece and the latest version of Persuasion (2007). I did like this adaptation quite a bit, especially the way the director heightened the sexual tension. Not an easy thing with an Austen novel. Rupert Penry-Jones as Captain Wentworth didn't hurt the effort any.
If you're interested in watching THE longest anticipatory kiss in the history of theatre, push the play button. Be prepared. You might wonder if she's a woman waiting for a kiss or a baby bird waiting for a worm.
Just saw Helen Hunt's directorial debut, Then She Found Me. I thought it was excellent, excellent, excellent. My kinda film. All the ingredients of authentic human drama: poignant, funny, heartbreaking, uplifting, disappointing, kind, thoughtless, smart and idiotic. My friend and I were laughing out loud throughout (when we weren't dabbing at tears). It was the right blend of quirky and emotionally touching. And Colin is awfully nice to look at (my secret boyfriend, Mrs. G). He had me with "you need to get some sleep." Plus a couple of my other favorite actors: Bette Midler (awesome) and Matthew Broderick.
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If you don't know what this movie is about, I suggest you don't read too many reviews. Maybe not any. There were critical plot pieces that I didn't know anything about and was happily surprised. I've been looking over reviews to link to but they all give away too much.
So I thought I would help you out. Here's a review by Marjorie Baumgarten, one that does the film justice, minus a few details I think you're better off not knowing:
Hunt's debut as a film director makes me glad she found us. This story about a 39-year-old woman whose biological clock is ticking loudly and whose life is not turning out as planned is a work of maturity – at least in its humanist perspective if not always its cinematic scope. The film delivers a nice blend of drama, comedy, and the unknown, in other words, an accurate reflection of life as we live it. Based on a novel by Elinor Lipman, Then She Found Me finds just the right tone for detailing its heroine's problems. It's neither a sob story nor a satire, which helps make the character's problems seem both genuine and worthy of exploration. Hunt also stars as April Epner, the story's central figure, a casting choice that was probably a necessity for getting the movie financed but a wearying position for a first-time filmmaker to find herself in. This factor no doubt contributes to the drab appearance of April, a plain-Jane New York schoolteacher who, on the verge of 40, marries a mama's boy from the neighborhood (Broderick) in order to start a family. Her own mother has advised her to adopt, but April wants a biological baby. April, having been adopted herself, rudely insists to her adopted mother that there's a discernible difference. In short order, April's husband abandons her, then her mother dies, leaving April a mother to no one and a daughter to none. During this time, two individuals enter her life – Frank (Firth), the single dad of one of her young students, and Bernice (Midler), the woman who blah blah blah.... Midler plays the character with lovely control, creating a realistic human being who also suffers from unrequited needs, rather than a cartoonish and self-centered busybody. Of course, one could look at the scenario and see blah blah blah and one ex-husband for the quintessential Mr. Darcy. However, the screenplay has more subtle complications to its credit and never strays far from what's realistic. (The film is especially satisfying in regard to April's expression of her Judaism.) Hunt's visual palette often looks as drab as the character she plays, but the film's rhythms are well-tailored yet pliant. A scene at a benefit for one of Midler's pet causes, River Keepers, rates a smile, but when blah blah blah shows up in the role of April's gynecologist, the odd casting may take a viewer out of the movie for a second. Some may dismiss Then She Found Me as a mere "women's film," but it's really a more honest and mature take on sex and the city.
