Movie Reviews

It's been a while and Bryan and I have manged to watch a few movies from our Netflicks queue. By the way, our queue is over 300 movies long. We will never, ever get to the end of it.

Waitress
Really cute movie about a pregnant waitress in the South, stuck in an emotionally abusive marriage and dead-end job. I loved Kerri Russel in this movie - she is adorable! I did have to suspend my disbelief as she made pies - it seemed like she kept making a ganache and pouring it into a pie crust. If you do not bake, this will not bother you in the slightest.

At the end of the movie is a memorial for the writer/director shown below on the far left. She played one of the leading roles in the film and was murdered before the movie came out. Such a sad story - she was married and the mother of a two-year old little girl who plays Kerri Russel's child in the film. Kerri was also pregnant during the filming.


Once
Bryan and I both LOVED this little film!
A modern day musical set on the streets of Dublin. Featuring Glen Hansard from the Irish band "The Frames," the film tells the story of a street musician and a Czech immigrant during an eventful week as they write, rehearse and record songs that reveal their unique love story.

The actors in the film have never acted before and they wrote all of the music for the film. One of the songs just won the academy award for best song. The music is really beautiful and the story is wonderful - well written and so very real. Go over to the website for the movie and listen to "Falling Slowly" - my favorite song from the film.

One word of caution if you do not care for swearing (which I do not). In the first scene, Glen's guitar case is stolen and he chases after the guy in the street and they drop about 50 f*bombs!! The scene lasts about 5 minutes and the rest of the film is very clean except for a few more language spots. Excellent film.

Jane Austin Updates

I am a week behind on these reviews, but we have been watching faithfully. Last night we saw Miss Austin Regrets. I admit to not knowing a lot about Jane's life. I have read some biographical material on her, but I would like to read more. I loved/hated the film. I loved that Jane was portrayed as very spirited and strong and witty. The dialog was very well written and I love the actress who portrayed Jane. But, the whole movie felt so glum and the people in her life seemed to say such horrid things to her and I could never really decide if she regretted her choices as portrayed in this film. If you have a day to spare and love Jane Austin, check out this website!

Last week was Mansfield Park. Both Bryan and I are still reading the book but we enjoyed the adaptation. It was short and left out a lot and missed a major theme in the novel (Fanny overcoming and remaining true to her values despite the cruel words, pressure and upbringing of her aunt), but it was fun to watch. I was slightly bothered by the actress who played Fannie. She looked too modern and her obviously bleached hair and black eyebrows were distracting. Come to find out, she is an English pop-star turned actress. Look over on this website for more info. Though only Northanger Abby has really impressed me so far, we still love watching these adaptations!

Movie Reviews

We watched a really good movie Thursday night called Sweet Land. It is set here in Minnesota and tells the story of a German immigrant and mail-order bride - a celebration of land, love, and the American immigrant experience. It is a slow, sweet movie, beautifully filmed and includes a really amazing cast.

Movie Reviews

We don't actually get to the movie theater very often, so the movies we see usually come from Netflicks. By the way, I love Netflicks!!! It has saved us much, much money in late fees and in stress from trying to find the time to watch a movie before it becomes overdue.

Nicholas Nickleby - Hmmm, did not translate so well to the screen. I don't really know how to rate this film. I enjoyed many of the supporting cast (Nathan Lane is fabulous!) and the uncle and the schoolmaster are both played really, really well, but the story just left me feeling a bit unsettled. Not my favorite Dicken's tale. Bryan thought the characters were too black and white. Either they were evil or they were saint-like and there was not much in-between.


By the way, this is the guy who plays the lead and there is a gratuitous scene where he is standing around in a open shirt for no reason I could detect except for the female audience to appreciate his dedication to sit-ups.
Lemony Snicket - Max read this series so I rented to movie to watch with the kids. The story is pretty dark and a bit scary - Sophie had to hide her head a couple of times. The filming is beautiful and the whole thing is well acted - how did they get Meryl Streep to take a role in this film?! Both Sophie and Max thought the baby was hysterical and Sophie has been quoting her all day! I would not rent it with young kids. Max said the movie was "out of order" and used parts of several of the books.

Austin Update

Another Sunday, another Austin adaptation on Masterpiece Theater! What did everyone think of Northagner Abby? I admit that I did not have the book finished before I watched the movie and I had never read the book before, so I did not have many expectations. Bryan and I both enjoyed the film - the girl who plays Catherine is darling and just perfect for the role - so young!

I finished the book today and the movie sticks pretty close to the book. The movie was only 90 minutes long and should have been longer. It is not my favorite all-time Austin novel, but I quite enjoyed watching her warnings on "reading quite so many novels".

Austin Update

What did everyone think of the new Persuasion shown on Masterpiece Theater on Sunday? I have to say I was a bit disappointed. It was only 1 1/2 hours long which did not allow enough time for character development - especially with Mary and Mrs. Smith. I also found the style of the film annoying - the camera kept coming in for a close up on Anne and then she would look at the camera - ?!
Bryan and I watched it together and then we had to pop in the older version and watch that. It is really close to a perfect adaptation - I cannot imagine anyone else playing Anne or Mary as well.

Rent this version after you read the book!