Movie: Gosford Park
Mar 13, 2010 Movies
So I’m in one of those moments where the next deadline is a little while away so I have a bit of space and what do I do? I watch a movie *thud* I recently filled out an Oscars meme and realised there were a few movies I’ve been meaning to get around to but haven’t; Gosford Park is one of them.
The film is set in 1932 at an English country house. A party of wealthy Britons and Americans accompanied by their servants gather at the home of Sir William McCordle for a shooting weekend. A murder occurs in the middle of the night, the film presenting the murder from both the servants’ and the guests’ perspective. But rather than a simple mystery to be solved, the film uses the whodunit format to create a drama showcasing the tensions of the British class system. Many intertwining subplots detail the complex relationships among the characters, both above stairs (the wealthy guests) and below (the servants).
Major Spoilers Ahead!
Tags: movies: review
Movie: Bright Star
Feb 6, 2010 Movies
So I at long last finally got to watch this movie. Bright Star has been on my “to-watch” list ever since I heard that such a movie was being made.
Based on the three-year romance between 19th century poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne, which was cut short by Keats’ untimely death at age 25.
Major Spoilers Ahead!
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Tags: movies: review
Movie: The Fall
Jan 11, 2010 Movies
Okay, I was supposed to be working on discussion papers for two of my classes yesterday and OMG, I could not focus on writing them. Like I knew roughly what I wanted to write about but I really just couldn’t bring myself to write them. In my frustration, I ended up watching The Fall, an indie movie that came out around 2006 (I’m getting 2006 and 2008 so I don’t know entirely) starring Lee Pace (don’t know how I decided on The Fall in particular…hmm).
In Los Angeles, circa 1920′s, a little immigrant girl finds herself in a hospital recovering from a fall. She strikes up a friendship with a bedridden man who captivates her with a whimsical story that removes her far from the hospital doldrums into the exotic landscapes of her imagination. Making sure he keeps the girl interested in the story he interweaves her family and people she likes from the hospital into his tale.
- source
Major Spoilers Ahead!
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Tags: movies: review
Review: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Book & Movie)
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
By: Stieg Larsson
Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared off the secluded island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger family. There was no corpse, no witnesses, no evidence. But her uncle, Henrik, is convinced that she was murdered by someone from her own deeply dysfunctional family. Disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist is hired to investigate, but he quickly finds himself in over his head. He hires a competent assistant: the gifted and conscience-free computer specialist Lisbeth Salander, and the two unravel a dark and appalling family history. But the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves.
I’ve been hearing about this book throughout all of last summer and lots of recommendations for this book came from GoodReads and the bookstores and so forth. So when I noticed that it was out in paperback, I decided to check it out.
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Review: Persuasion (1995, 2007)
Jun 13, 2009 Movies
Persuasion is my favourite of Jane Austen’s novels. It’s a wonderful story about family connections, second chances at love, themes of constancy and men working their way up in the world. Anne & Wentworth’s story is completely made of aww that I can’t help but love this story to pieces. Plus, from all of the Austen novels, Persuasion was the only one that had me completely riveted; I couldn’t put it down because I needed to know what was going to happen next, whether Anne and Wentworth would reconcile (if so, how?) or whether Mr. William Elliott would indeed succeed as the love foil.
So you could imagine my joy when I found out that there was an adaptation two years ago on the novel. I had watched this adaptation first; I understand the adaptation was received with mixed reactions—I am amongst those who thoroughly enjoyed the adaptation from start to finish. Recently, I decided to watch the 1995 version. I was a bit hesitant before because I loved the 2007 version and I didn’t want to introduce an earlier version into the mix in my head but in the end, my love for the novel won out so I went out to pick it up. Spoilers ahead!
Tags: television: adaptations
Review: Our Mutual Friend
Our Mutual Friend
By: Charles Dickens
I had read Dickens’s Great Expectations back in November/December and wasn’t thoroughly impressed by it; it was okay but I found myself trudging through a good part of the novel. I figured after a while that I probably wasn’t in the right headspace at this time to read Dickens and decided to come back to his works later on. However, I watched the 1998 BBC adaptation of Our Mutual Friend recently and absolutely fell in love with the story so I decided to check the book out as well. And I rather enjoyed it.
Tags: books: classics, books: review, television: adaptations
Movies: Star Trek (2009)
May 14, 2009 Movies
Okay, ever since I heard that J.J. Abrams was attached to a new Star Trek movie, I had been on the lookout for it. And when it came out and everyone—from my friends list on LJ to Twitter to pretty much the entire population on the Web—was raving how amazing it was, the inner Trekkie in me (I have been a fan since I was 6) has been flailing to see it. And I finally did. And I loved it to bit. Spoilers ahead!
Tags: movies: review
