Funny that we should have been discussing so many movies watched over the holidays and over the past year. This past week I made use of the “On Demand” function of my cable service and watched movies instead of reruns of Clean House (my favorite show).
These were all historical movies, two I’d never seen before.
1. Emma, the Gwynth Paltrow one, not my favorite, but it was the only Regency movie I could discover and I like to see the settings and costumes, if not Paltrow’s performance.
2. Amazing Grace. Can you believe I never saw this movie before? I did like it very much. Such a wonderful message. Ioan Gruffudd, older than his Hornblower days, is quite an appealing man. And his singing voice! Sigh. The hymn Amazing Grace is special to me; it was a comfort in the days my mother was ill (almost twenty years ago). I still cry when I hear it.
3. Miss Potter. What a charming film. I did not mind American Renee Zelwegger playing the English part nearly as much as I minded Gwynth Paltrow, although I did wish she had not scrunched her mouth up quite as much. The scenery was beautiful, as was the story and I loved the use of animation. What one of us does not believe our characters aren’t really real?
I’m turning in the revisions of my Undone story, the one you helped me with. You forgot to tell me to make it sexier….What a hard job this is!
Next I turn to my book revisions…..status check: Where are you in your writing or reading or simply living now that we are in the new year?
Did I tell you my The Mysterious Miss M is included in Romantic Times Readers Forum list of 1001 Books We Must Read Before We Die? See this and more on my website. Enter my contest for a chance to win a copy of my backlist.
Isn’t Amazing Grace a great movie? I loved it. Of course I did! He started the RSPCA!
I haven’t seen Miss Potter, but I love her story so I need to see it.
And OF COURSE The Mysterious Miss M is on the list! I would be profoundly ticked if it wasn’t! It is one of my favorite books of all time!
For me I am playing a bit before I go back to revising my GH entry. I want to take about six weeks to revise it and then go back to what I have been playing with since I got my GH entry in the mail. I started my third book – The Deceit of Desire and it has been fun to get underway. I will probably have the first 50 pages or so done by the time I go back to my revisions.
Hey now, I clearly remember telling you in the Comments to be sure there is lots of sex in the story! Along with a curricle race. Though maybe not at the same time. 🙂
I do like all those movies very much! I’m a big Beatrix Potter fan, and was appalled when I first heard RZ was going to play her, though she was not bad at all (unlike her outfit last night at the Golden Globes, LOL!). Face-scrunching does seem to be her go-to acting style, though.
I downloaded my first Undone, this weekend. I wanted to be prepared for your story. 🙂
Brava MMM!!
I’ve been under the weather, so life has been slow. I have, however, managed to spend more time on my writing than I did all last month. And I’m catching up on my TBR piles.
~Judy
I’m trying to write, but I have one of those icky head colds that make your brain hurt. As if the writing wasn’t head-hurting enough. I want to see Amazing Grace, too.
I own Amazing Grace because I so loved the story. I’ve seen it many times and not just because it has Ioan Gruffud and Rufus Sewell and Michael Gambon in it. Powerful story all around with a stellar cast.
I really liked RZ’s Miss Potter. She was perfect for the role, no matter what the reviews said.
Ammanda, yeah, what was UP with her outfit from last night? Who wants to see industrial-strength foundation garments?
I’m currently watching Cranford on DVD. My first time.
“Ammanda, yeah, what was UP with her outfit from last night? Who wants to see industrial-strength foundation garments?”
LOL! That’s exactly what it looked like, Keira–and the cracked-out hair didn’t help. 🙂 I will probably talk a bit about the GG fashions on Saturday, since I just can’t seem to help myself.
Let us know what you think of “Cranford”!
I could kick myself for missing the Golden Globes. Gerard Butler was supposed to be a presenter. I hope I can find it on re-runs somewhere.
I saw the photo of RZ and her dress was awful! You have to wonder who the stylist is who says, “Oh, this is fabulous! You will be a sensation” when some of these horrors appear on the red carpet.
I loved Amazing Grace — and Emma too. (What did you think of Jeremy Northam? Then again, maybe I should make you answer on the Jane Austen Movie Club discussion post for it!) 😉
I loved the first 1/2 or so of Miss Potter…I refuse to spread spoilers, so I’ll say no more…
Cara
Diane, here’s a clip of Gerard Butler at the Golden Globes on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECAFyWJvAh0
(The sound and the picture are a bit out of sync, though…)
Oh, and I agree that Renee Z’s dress was horrid! (Loved her in Miss Potter, though. And I love it when she scrunches her face.) 🙂
Cara
Loved Miss Potter. My dh gave it to me for my birthday last year.
I also thought Drew Barrymore looked great at the Golden Globes. As did Susan Sarandon.ulsto
Bless you, Cara!!! And didn’t he look mighty fine. He wasn’t even too silly.
I feel like the little girl who wasn’t invited to the party (even though it was my own darn fault)
By the way, O Doggie One, way to go on your writing! This is the right way to do it, keep writing while you are waiting to hear about your finished books.
Judy, I hope you feel better. At least you have the comfort of reading without feeling you should do something else.
Yes, Gerard was SCRUMPTIOUS. Then again, he always is.
Thank you, O Divine One. I just want to get into the habit of writing every day. They say if you do something for 60 days straight you have incorporated a new habit. Lets hope so!
And by the way, The Raven’s Heart finaled in the Hook, Line and Sinker Contest!!!
And by the way, The Raven’s Heart finaled in the Hook, Line and Sinker Contest!!!
Way to go, O Doggie One!!!!
I like Renee Zelwegger very much as an actress, and I liked Miss Potter. And I liked Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma, too.
Enjoyed the Golden Globes, but I found it weird the way Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange held hands the whole time. Are they new lovers, or just handcuffed together??
Tomorrow is the first day of class for me…a small class this time, since our undergraduate enrollment has mysteriously plummeted. Hopefully it’s a temporary fluctuation…
Todd-who-has-to-teach-just-as-hard-no-matter-how-many-students-there-are
I enjoyed that version of Emma, though more for Jeremy Northam than for Gwyneth Paltrow. I loved Amazing Grace. Miss Potter is on the lengthening Netflix queue.
Congrats on the contest final, Louisa!!!!
I wanted to like Amazing Grace but disliked the way it messed around with the historic facts for no good reason. Read Bury the Chains by Adam Hochschild for the real story. (My first BTC plug of 2009!)
Paltrow’s Emma sends me to sleep, other than Mr. and Mrs. Elton, and altho I like Kate Beckinsale’s it suffers from a excess of neverending happy ending with the Italian tenor–oops, Mr. Knightley.
Miss Potter was sweet.