Last Chance Harvey - Mini-review

Last night, I was just in the mood for somehting light, and I caught Last Chance Harvey on Netflix's Play it now feature.  This is a light-weight Rom Com, but it's just a delight to see Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman act opposite each other.  Emma Thompson has just been ignored on a blind date and has a very needy mother, but Dustin Hoffman's Harvey has her beat in the miserable department.  He's just been fired, and his daughter wanted her step-father to walk her down the aisle in stead of him.  Harvey's daughter's wedding is what has brought him to London, and he finds himself the odd man out at all the celebrations as his daughter has become much closer to her step-father.

You don't usually see a love story between two middle-aged people on screen like this, and you feel like they are much more cautious, but also recognize how rare and precious the connection they've found is.  The acting craft in the small moments between them is what was truly special, even if there were no surprises in the plot.  All I can tell you is that the movie made me smile for it's 90 minute length.  Definitely worth a rental and 3 stars.

Sense And Sensibility always makes me cry

I was flipping channels last night and Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility was playing on one of the movie channels. I caught about the last half hour. This is one of those films that I can't help to stop and watch when I catch it. This scene at the end makes me cry every time where Elinor (Emma Thompson), who has been so reserved the whole movie, breaks into loud sobs at hearing that her beloved Edward (Hugh Grant) is not married. I must have seen this part at least 15 or 20 times, and it just makes me weep every time I see it. That watery beaming smile she gives him when he proposes!

Emma Thompson wrote the Oscar winning screenplay to this film, one of my favorites of all time. Plus you've got Alan Rickman playing the romantic Col. Brandon. An interesting trivia note is that Emma Thompson met Greg Wise who played Willoughby during the making of this film, and they later married. Greg Wise reads more Austen on Carte Noire, too.

What movies do you always have to stop and watch when you see them on TV? What movies always make you cry?

Brideshead Revisted - Mini-review

So, I went to see Brideshead Revisted, starring Matthew Goode, a couple weeks ago. I have been mulling over my review since then. I liked the film, and I'm convinced that Emma Thompson is likely to get a supporting actress Oscar nod for her excellent portrayal as the matriarch of the ultra-rich Catholic Flyte family. This adaptation was written by Andrew Davies, who has taken so many other classic English literature to the movie and TV screen. Matthew Goode was fine in the film. I can't think of a current actor who would have been better as Charles Ryder, young artist who falls in love with first Sebastian, then Julia Flyte, but in the end, he's no Jeremy Irons.

Jeremy Irons starred as Charles Ryder in the 11 episode mini-series back in 1981. It made him a star, and that mini-series is held up as one of the best mini-series ever, especially in England. The mini-series has everything in the Evelyn Waugh book, and cutting down to a two hour movie, obviously many subplots were lost. The movie still has the essence of the book, and even uses the same gorgeous Castle Howard as the Flyte mansion. It just doesn't pack the same emotional punch for me. It just can't when you've seen the mini-series. It's been at least 25 years since I've seen the mini-series, and yet it stays with me, and this movie just couldn't quite measure up. If you've never seen the mini-series, and don't have hours and hours to watch all the DVD's, this is a very fine adaptation. Three and a half stars. But if you do have the time, trust me, it's worth it to watch Jeremy Irons in the original.

Much has been made of the fact that the homosexual relationship between Charles and Sebastian was more subtle in the mini-series, and the film has a kiss, which I don't believe is in the book either. The kiss didn't bother me, but there was something to that constant tension and undercurrent in the original and the wondering if there was one off screen! I love Matthew Goode, and I think he'll have a long career. He's due up in Watchmen next year which should really make a big splash for him.

Brideshead Revisited Trailer!

W00t! Apple has put up a new Brideshead Revisited Trailer. Matthew Goode (Matchpoint) stars as Charles Ryder, the same part that Jeremy Irons played in the original Masterpiece Theater mini-series. Emma Thompson also co-stars in the film due to be released July 25th. Matthew Goode has gotten great write-ups in supporting roles, but this will be his first major starring role. He also appears in Zack Snyder's Watchmen as Ozymandias in 2009.