Sense & Sensibility

[Columbia Pictures, 1995]

starring:
Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant
Greg Wise, Alan Rickman, Robert Hardy, Elizabeth Spriggs,
Gemma Jones

average rating: ★★★★★
~
performance: ★★★★★
screenplay: ★★★★★
plot/storyline: ★★★★★
cinematography: ★★★★½
~
jane austen, need i say more?

This is one of the best Jane Austen movies out there, period. Emma Thompson, who plays one of the main characters, wrote the screenplay and it is a superb adaption to the original story, or what I have read of it. The performance is excellent. Hugh Grant is the best stutterer I've ever seen, Emma pulls off her character quite perfectly, Kate Winslet is very good as the extremist, and Alan Rickman and Greg Wise are both great. And though each of these are really good, the most entertaining actors in the movie are Robert Hardy and Elizabeth Spriggs, who are the best laughers ever, and Imelda Stauton and Hugh Laurie, who play a funny mismatched couple.

The screenplay is great, making the story flow very nicely. Out of all of the Austen movies, this is the most comedic. There's lots of jokes and funny lines and is generally warmer than the others. The story itself is a classic Austen, troubles with men and money. But the characters are endearing, down to the very last actor.

[watched for no-one-knows-how-many-ith time, 12-31-07]
[poster courtesty of www.impawards.com]

A Knight's Tale

starring:
Heath Ledger, Paul Bettany, Shannyn Sossamon,
Rufus Sewell, Alan Tudyk

average rating: ★★★¾
~
performance: ★★★★
screenplay: ★★★★
plot/storyline: ★★★★
cinematography: ★★★
~
comedy/action/knightliness

To begin with, the music was quite literally insane, starting with "We Will Rock You," by Queen, and going through ten more songs of equal illogicality for a medieval movie. Quite funny watching a jousting tournament chanting "We Will Rock You." Paul Bettany was probably the best thing that happened to the film, making a stark naked appearance as a writer/poet/whatever with a weakness for gambling. He was seriously consistent through the entire thing and generally did a good job.

The movie was kind of a mix of comedy and seriousness, for instance, the crazy songs suggested goofing off, and then Heath Ledger's completely serious expressions and getting beaten by the bad guy made you think twice.

No one has hair like Heath Ledger.

And that all that can be said about that!

[watched for the first time, 12-30-07]
[poster courtesy of allposters.com]

The Importance of Being Earnest

[2002 version]

average rating: ★★★
~
performance: ★★
screenplay: ★★★
plot/storyline: ★★★★
cinematography: ★★★★
~
comedy


I don't know if it's because we already watched the '86 version before we watched this new one or not, but it was very disappointing. The actors, though we like practically all of them (Colin Firth, Reese Witherspoon, Rupert Everett, Tom Wilkinson, Judi Dench) they really didn't quite capture your fancy as much as the old version. They were all rather flat and the characters were depicted in a less comical way. The dialogue was not nearly as fast, either, which was kind of a pity. What can be said for the entire film is that it had mostly the same screenplay, it was colorful (as in, it had lots of colors - green, blue...), and that we finally figured out just what kind of "muffins" they were referring to. In fact, the best part of the whole movie was the tussle over the muffins, I think.


{viewed for the first time, 12-30-07}
[poster courtesy of impawards.com]

The Importance of Being Earnest

[1986, BBC]

average rating: ★★★★★

~
performance: ★★★★★
screenplay: ★★★★★
plot/storyline: ★★★★★
cinematography & direction: ★ (exempted from average because it's 1, BBC, and 2, from '86)
~
comedy

Wow. We laughed until our sides literally hurt when we watched this 1986 vers. The dialogue is amazingly clever and very, very funny. The actors are fantastic, saying every line as if they really thought up each of witty line. The plot is ridiculously funny, a chain-reaction of problematic situations that lead to a satisfying end. Since this was filmed by BBC in '86, the cinematography will be forgiven, for they used very strange camera views at times and was not the best quality. But the screenplay made up for any fault the film might have, definitely.

Camille

striped, horizontal, garter-stitch scarf

I finished my second scarf today! It's really not that great, but it's okay. I used regular Red Heart Soft 100% acrylic yarn (kind of yucky, really), gray and teal. The picture doesn't show quite the best color, it's bluer than that, but oh well. I used circular needles, which I like best so far. My first scarf was on circular needles as well, brown, green, and this teal. I add colors so that all of the switching stripes are on one side, creating two different styles. This particular scarf is a gift, as was my first. My first was for my friend, Sarah, so in honor of the first recipient of knitted loveliness, I shall call this style "Camille."

;)

The Princess Bride

Starring:
Robin Wright
Cary Ewles
Billy Crystal
Mandy Pantinkin

average rating: ✩✩✩✩¼
~
performance: ✩✩✩✩
screenplay: ✩✩✩✩✩
plot/storyline: ✩✩✩✩
director: ✩✩✩✩
~
comedy

The Princess Bride is one of the most wryly witty movies I've ever seen. It's really quite cute, and as a lot of people (including the author/screenwriter) have stated, has a little bit of mostly everything. Romance, action, humor galore, good acting and entertaining situations... Personally, I'm all set. :)

It's kind of like one of those movies you have to see in order to understand what all the fuss is about. The movie is just as dryly funny as the book. Quite the laugh.

{view time #3, 12-28-07}

ever after

Ever After

Starring:
Drew Barrymore
Angelica Houston
Dougray Scott

average rating: ✩✩¼

performance: ✩✩
screenplay: ✩✩
plot/storyline: ✩✩
director: ✩✩

Well, as you can probably see, we didn't think too highly of this movie. Mom picked it up at the library as a last resort source of entertainment, and that's exactly what it turned out to be. Drew Barrymore and some guy named Dougray Something-Or-Another did quite a terrible performance; Drew simpering an idealistic Cinderella named Danielle with a terribly fake British accent, and Mr. Dougray stomping around as an angsty Prince Charming Prince of France. Why France?

The screenplay had few very entertaining lines, the rest a muddle of over adjectified babble. A good addition to the Cinderella story, however, was that one of the stepsisters was not evil. The younger of the two was instead a ever-hungry girl who was obviously not the brightest, and she was definitely entertaining. Otherwise there was the weird appearance of Leonardo Da Vinci (a little old man with a funny white cap), the stupid evil stepmother who is mostly evil but sometimes not?

And that's that.

[courtesty of pixelpalace.com for the poster]

the FIRST POST!

ha ha.