Category: TV and Film

Discussion of TV shows and movies

Awards!

Updated on February 22, 2013 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

So this weekend there was a little awards show called The Oscars (you might have heard of it??). And as usual I stayed up far too late, eating too much chocolate and drinking wine because I just can’t give up until I see what took Best Picture. This year was good because I actually really enjoyed several of the movies (I adored The Artist, loved Midnight in Paris, admired Tree of Life, and thought The Descendants was pretty good…), and Jean DuJardin is my new French boyfriend.

I also loved many of the gowns! It seemed like an especially good fashion year…

Some of my favorites:

Michelle Williams

Natalie Portman (I wanted to steal this immediately!)

Gwyneth Paltrow (liked it better without the cape, but you know, yay for red carpet capes!)

Rooney Mara (no-one else could have pulled this off, but I love her weird, chilly style)

Penelope Cruz

Jessica Chastain (she is so beautiful and yet so iffy on the rc–I’m glad she pulled it off when it counted most!)

And I didn’t especially like Emma Stone’s dress (I was convinced I had seen her in something just like this before, but it turned out it was Nicole Kidman…), but she was by far the most entertaining thing in a very long evening (except for the Christopher Guest faux “Wizard of Oz” test group), and I just love her…

There wasn’t anyone I totally hated, but I do think Berenice Bejo could have done a lot better…

And what was up with Angelina Jolie and her crazy leg?? The dress was nice, though she was swimming in it, but I could not figure out what was with the weird posing…

I also found out I got my own award–though I don’t get a couture gown with it! The Shy Duchess won Cataromance’s Best Harlequin Historical of 2011…(See the list of winners here…)

Who were your favorite fashionistas at the Oscars this year? Who was your least favorite??

Posted in Frivolity, TV and Film | Tagged Awards, Oscar Fashions | 5 Replies

Costume Drama

Updated on February 22, 2013 by Diane Gaston

Last night my local PBS station aired a special hailing the origin and rise of the costume drama, as done by British television and introduced to American audiences as Masterpiece Theater or Great Performances. The documentary was aired as a special during the fund-raising, so your own PBS station might not have it, and I haven’t checked to see if it is on Netflix. (The Baltimore PBS station aired an Albert Hall concert version of Phantom of the Opera that I missed except for the end, but that is another story…)

The documentary lists the 1967 black and white version of The Forsythe Saga as the beginning of costume drama on TV. I confess, I did not watch this show. I didn’t catch up until I, Claudius and the Poldark Series.

I, Claudius was a ground-breaker in the subject matter that was part of the story, the violence (shown off-stage) and incest (suggested in the BBC version but cut from the American version). I remember being totally hooked on that series.

Poldark actually led to naming our daughter, except we didn’t go through with it. My husband and I really liked the name Morwenna, but we feared it was too strange for an American little girl. Instead we picked a name we heard on Rockford Files, which turned out to be one of the most popular girls names of the year. My daughter wishes we’d named her Morwenna, because then she could have been called “Mo.” (I would have called her “Wenna.”)

Another ground-breaker was Brideshead Revisited, for its depiction of a homosexual relationship between two men. I confess, I did not realize that part of the story. I thought it was just a friendship. Somehow now it becomes even more poignant. It was also ground-breaking in that it was entirely filmed on location.

Moll Flanders was mentioned as a daring sexual romp, another one I missed.

Cranford had the distinction of showing a town where most of the inhabitants were women. Jewel in the Crown showed a part of British history that needed apology.

But one costume drama “changed everything.” The seminal scene depicted one muslin-shirted man who dove into a pond to cool off after a hard day’s ride. Colin Firth striding across the lawn in a wet, semi-transparent shirt, in the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice was a moment none of us will ever forget!

What is your favorite costume drama? Is there a sleeper that you remember fondly?

Thursday at Diane’s Blog I’ll talk about my writers weekend at Inn Boonsboro.

Posted in TV and Film | Tagged costume dramas | 4 Replies

The Cads Duke It Out!!!

Updated on February 21, 2013 by Elena Greene

All right — over the past week we decided that, in a fight, Sean Bean’s Richard Sharpe could clobber Russell Crowe’s Jack Aubrey, Ciaran Hinds’s Captain Wentworth, and Ioan Gruffudd’s Horatio Hornblower. (Though there were a few random votes involving Hornblower and a bubble bath — not entirely sure what those meant.)

We voted unanimously that Judi Dench’s Lady Catherine De Bourgh could wipe the floor with Barbara Leigh Hunt’s Lady Catherine, break her in two like a twig, spread her on a crumpet and feed her to the pugs.

Opinions were divided on whether Duck-face Miss Bingley (a.k.a. Anna Chancellor) or Sleeveless Hussy Miss Bingley (a.k.a. Kelly Reilly) would win in a fair fight. Er, make that an unfair fight. Biting, scratching, and all sorts of cheating predicted, particularly from Sleeveless Hussy.

Today, we have a NEW SURVEY!

It’s called WHICH CAD WOULD WIN?,
or, THE CADS DUKE IT OUT

Here we have it: a boxing ring. Or a wrestling match. Or a fight to the death with toothpicks. Whatever takes your fancy.

In one corner we have Greg Wise’s Willoughby, from the Ang Lee Sense and Sensibility — healthy, charming, and able to ride a white horse.

In a second corner, we have Rupert Friend’s innocent-looking Wickham, from last year’s film of Pride and Prejudice. He’s tall, gorgeous, and has a sword. Maybe he knows how to use it!

In the third corner, we have Adrian Lukis’s Wickham, from the 1995 BBC/A&E Pride and Prejudice. He’s a sly fellow, always smiling, and always up to something.

Who would YOU put your money on?

WHICH CAD WILL WIN???

Cara
—
Cara King, www.caraking.com
MY LADY GAMESTER — Holt Medallion and Award of Excellence finalist!

Posted in Frivolity, Jane Austen, TV and Film | Tagged Pride and Prejudice | 8 Replies

Another Important Survey

Updated on February 21, 2013 by Cara King

Look at them up there, glaring! The Miss Bingleys definitely want to duke it out. They’re both fierce and cruel. They’ve both been educated by the best instructors. Who do YOU think would win in a fight? Would one win at boxing, and the other at wrestling, or would one wipe the floor with the other in any form of combat?

Or how about the Lady Catherines??? Which one of these would beat the other at mudwrestling? At boxing? At sumo wrestling?

Would they pull hair and bite??? Would they gouge each others’ eyes out?

Who would you wager your hard-earned money on?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Cara
Cara King, www.caraking.com
MY LADY GAMESTER — Holt Medallion Finalist!

Posted in Frivolity, Jane Austen, Reading, TV and Film | Tagged Pride and Prejudice | 13 Replies

Pride Interrupted

Updated on February 21, 2013 by megan

Last week, my father (who also doubles as my Regency research partner) was in Brooklyn for a visit. Friday night, he poked around my DVD collection and found the BBC version of Pride & Prejudice; he had just visited my aunt, his sister, and seen the 2005 version, and wanted to compare with the one he’d heard was truer to the text (my dad wrote a paper on Emma in college, so he’s up on Austen).
It was 8:30 by the time we sat down to watch, and I warned him this version was at least five hours long, and I knew neither of us would be up that late. We stopped watching at the end of the first DVD (of the two-disc set), right when Elizabeth refuses Darcy’s first offer of marriage.
Whew. It was really, really hard to stop watching right there, right at the emotional black moment of the film. But how perfect its placement was–right as you’re realizing Darcy has feelings for Elizabeth (courtesy of Colin Firth’s guardedly melting glances), and Elizabeth is piqued by Darcy, although not yet willing to admit it, even to herself, he proposes in his characteristic blunt Darcy way.
The scene closes with her telling him that he would be the last man on earth she would ever contemplate marrying, and he tells her he understands perfectly, and will never bother her again. They separate, leaving behind our palpitating hearts.
Austen’s build-up to that moment is magnificent, as is her gradual threading together of our hero and heroine’s lives. It’s hard to believe, only one DVD disc later, that Elizabeth and Darcy will ever get to a place where they can be together.

Pride & Prejudice is one of the best examples of the Big Misunderstanding ever–yes, Elizabeth could have asked Darcy about Wickham, but there are ever so many reasons why she would not; and he could have discerned her embarrassment about her family, and possibly discussed it with her without blurting it out so baldly, but there are ever so many reasons why he would not.

Do you agree with my analysis of P&P as having a Big Misunderstanding?
What examples of a GOOD use of a Big Misunderstanding can you think of? Do you mind them in your novels? Can you envision any situation with a Big Mis that would make as much sense as the ones in P&P? And don’t you feel sorry for my dad, who had to return to Cape Cod without seeing the second half?

Megan
www.meganframpton.com

Posted in Jane Austen, Reading, TV and Film | Tagged misunderstandings, Pride and Prejudice | 13 Replies