Love & Friendship (2016)

I watched Love & Friendship when it was first released just because I love Kate Beckinsale and I love Jane Austen movies. I hadn't yet read Lady Susan, the unpublished novel it's based on, so my first opinion was that Love & Friendship was a minor entry in the Austen movie collection. I thought it was funny and charming, but not on the same level as my go-to Austen films: Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility, the 1995 Pride and Prejudice mini-series, and the Emma with Gwyneth Paltrow (Autumn de Wilde's version didn't exist yet, but it's very much one of my favorites today).

I liked Love & Friendship even more after reading Lady Susan. Since the novella tells the story through letters between the various characters - and pulls a lot of the humor from the differences between those letters - the film has to be funny in a different way. And impressively: it is.

I ding it a little for robbing Lady Susan of some comeuppance that she has coming to her. In the book, she settles for marrying herself to a rich idiot whom she'd planned on attaching to her daughter. It's clearly a Plan B or C outcome for her. But the film makes it seem like she's getting exactly what she wants. And as much as I enjoy her scheming, I want to see her thwarted more than she is.

Lady Susan and The Watsons by Jane Austen

During the first few books in Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen mystery series, Austen is thinking about and working on a couple of stories that were never published. Lady Susan is a completed novella that she just never submitted for publication, but she never even finished writing The Watsons. 

There's some debate about why she abandoned the latter book, but the theory I like best (and Barron seems to adopt it, too) is that after the death of Austen's father, she lost her passion for writing. She started The Watsons just before her father's death and continuing it would likely have been a rough reminder of that time.

She would eventually get that passion back, but there's a chunk of time in which she's not writing (though the mysteries keep coming in the world of Barron's series). When Austen eventually did write again, it was to work on a new novel that became Sense and Sensibility.

In the timeline of Barron's series, Austen's father died shortly after the events of Jane and the Wandering Eye. In Genius of the Place, she's still feeling the loss. So it seemed appropriate to me to read Lady Susan and what exists of The Watsons after Genius of the Place and before continuing with Barron's stories. (Collections also include her unfinished Sanditon, but that's the book she was working on when she died, so it'll be a while before I get to that one.)

Lady Susan is delightful. It's the story of a scheming widow who's not quite done getting everything she can from her deceased husband's wealthy family. It's told in a series of letters between the various characters, which is an approach that doesn't always keep me engaged when some writers use it. But I enjoyed it very much as a change from Austen's usual style and she brings a lot of humor out of it as she shows the characters' wildly different points of view alongside each other. 

It was adapted as a movie called Love & Friendship in 2016, starring Kate Beckinsale as the crafty Lady Susan, so I'll talk about that next post.

The Watsons had a lot of promise and it's too bad Austen never went back to it. What we have needs polishing and doesn't compare well with her finished works, but the dramatic seeds are all strong. It's the story of a young woman named Emma who's trying to reintegrate with her family after spending significant time away from them. (When Barron has Austen thinking about Emma in the early mystery books, I mistakenly assumed that she was working on the novel Emma featuring the character Emma Woodhouse, but the Emma in The Watsons is entirely different.) 

All we really have of the story is the introductions of Emma and her family and some potential romantic interests. Austen's niece took a shot at finishing it in 1850 and other writers have given it their own spins through the years, but so little of Austen's own work on it exists - and we know so little about her plans for the story - that I'm not interested in seeing other writers build their own things out what's essentially nothing more than a story prompt by Austen.

Jane and the Genius of the Place by Stephanie Barron

The "genius" in the title has a fun, unexpected meaning in that it's a landscaping term. In this one, Jane is staying with her wealthy brother and his family at their country estate. Landscaping and architecture come up a lot. One of my favorite things about this series is that I learn a lot about the details of life in early Nineteenth Century England, but all while trying to figure out a murder mystery.

In this case, the victim is an infamous woman who may be a spy for Napoleon. Everyone suspects so, but was she killed to keep her from learning something or to prevent her from telling something that she already knew? And if she wasn't a spy, what then?

There's an important clue in the early chapters that's pretty obvious, but Jane and her fellow investigators (her brother is also the area magistrate) missed. That's annoying, but Genius of the Place is otherwise a great, twisty mystery is a picturesque setting. 

And outside of that one clue, Barron's Jane Austen is as observant, insightful, and witty as I want her to be. Her adventures in this series are historical fact as far as I'm concerned.

Jane and the Wandering Eye by Stephanie Barron

This was a fun book to revisit after finally getting to see Bath myself a few years ago. 

It's not my favorite in the series, mostly I think because of the Will They Won't They between Jane and a character named Lord Harold Trowbridge. Barron is great at bringing Austen's historical family and acquaintances to life, but Trowbridge is rare for the series in that he's a recurring character created entirely by Barron herself. And he's great.

He was introduced in the first Austen mystery as a potential suspect in the murder, a gentleman rogue who both infuriates and intrigues Austen. At least at first. When all is revealed, she's more intrigued than infuriated.

He mostly sits out the second book, but makes a full, welcome return in this one. We know enough about him now that we also know he's going to be an ally in Austen's investigation, but Barron reintroduces tension by showing that Austen and Trowbridge are clearly attracted to each other. Sadly, they come from very different social stations and Trowbridge's work keeps him moving around, so there are Obstacles. 

It's a fun, compelling relationship, but in the Will They Won't They of it all, history has clearly revealed that They Won't. What keeps me interested is the question of Why Not. Barron is too good a writer not to have thought this through, so I trust that she has a plan for the couple. And I'm along for the ride of learning what that plan is.

Not that Wandering Eye gives any clues about that, which is what affects my enjoyment of the story some. It's only Trowbridge's second appearance, so the goal of the book (as far their relationship is concerned) is to push them back together and make us dig them as a potential couple. Which it does. I'm just impatient for more.

As for the mystery itself, it's good, but the backdrop of Bath's theatre community can't compare with the ghosts and pirates of the first two novels.

Jane and the Man of the Cloth by Stephanie Barron

Jane Austen's second mystery has her vacationing with her family in the seaside village of Lyme. The town is famous for its harbor wall called the Cobb, which Austen included in her novel Persuasion (though it will be a long time before this fictional version of Austen writes that book). The Cobb is also an important feature in The Man of the Cloth since that's where the first dead body is found. Austen of course takes an interest in the murder (for good reasons that I won't spoil here) and begins to look into it.

I like the setting of the previous mystery a little more with its old manor house, but Lyme is quaint and located near dramatic cliffs, so I enjoy spending time there too. The mystery is good with lots of characters to explore and unravel and I love the element of a mysterious red-cloaked girl wandering the sea cliffs with a lantern.

Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor by Stephanie Barron

I've re-read this several times, but recently did it again in order to catch up to the rest of the series (which I'll also jot some notes about here in yet another attempt to figure out what to do with this blog).

I love the series. I've always known who Jane Austen was and what she wrote, but it was Stephanie Barron (a pen-name for Francine Mathews) who introduced me to Austen as a human being who happened to also write several classic novels. Her Austen is observant, smart, and funny. The mysteries tend to be spooky, but even when they aren't, they're compelling. Barron includes great details to bring the historical period to life and has created a fantastic cast of supporting characters (some based on real people, but not all) who follow Jane from book to book. 

This one picks up right after Jane has rejected a marriage proposal. It would have been a good match for practical purposes, but she didn't love him. Her decision created some drama in the family and community, so in this novel she escapes to stay with a recently married friend and her husband. And when the husband dies under suspicious circumstances and people start looking side-eyed at Jane's friend, Jane takes it on herself to find out what really happened. 

And there may be a family ghost involved.

The story tends to drag a little for me in the middle these days, but I think that's because I'm so familiar with it that I'm eager to get to the final revelations at the end. It certainly didn't feel slow the first time I read it.

Greatness Will Not Make Me Happy

I'm reading Sense and Sensibility and was struck by this exchange between Elinor and Edward. She speaks first. Not accusatorily; just matter-of-factly.

"You have no ambition, I well know. Your wishes are all moderate." 

"As moderate as those of the rest of the world, I believe. I wish as well as every body else to be perfectly happy; but like every body else it must be in my own way. Greatness will not make me so."

Edward gets it.

Emma. (2020)

Who's in it?: Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch, Split, Marrowbone), Mia Goth (A Cure for Wellness, Marrowbone, Suspiria), Bill Nighy (Underworld, Love Actually, Pirates of the Caribbean), Rupert Graves (A Room with a View, Where Angels Fear to Tread, Sherlock, The White Queen), and Miranda Hart (Spy)

What's it about?: An adaptation of Jane Austen's novel about a well-meaning rich girl in need of humility and learning to mind her own business.

How is it?: Dee. Lightful.

I went in a little concerned that it would take too lighthearted an approach to the story, but while it's quite funny (Bill Nighy's hypochondria and his long-suffering servants being especially hilarious), it also values the emotional pieces and themes that make this my favorite Austen story. Of all of Austen's characters, Emma Woodhouse is the one I relate to most. She has good intentions, but thinks she knows best what's good for people and can be controlling about their welfare. She needs taking down a peg or two, but to do it requires someone who loves her enough to risk their relationship with her by challenging her to change. I might have gotten a bit misty there a couple of times.

It deserves to be seen on the big screen for Taylor-Joy's eyes alone, both in terms of sheer beauty and how she uses them in her acting. It's a lovely, captivating performance.

Mia Goth is also wonderful as the current object of Emma's efforts. Rupert Graves plays the beneficiary of one of her past schemes. And Miranda Hart is pricelessly buffoonish as an irritating neighbor who adores Emma, but rubs her the wrong way.

Rating: Five out of five scheming socialites.

7 Days in May | Arthur and Austen

King Arthur (2004)



This post is about stuff that we watched the week before our Britain trip. Didn't watch any movies while we were traveling.

One of the things I wanted to see in England was Hadrian's Wall, so what better way to celebrate and learn about it than the totally historically accurate King Arthur?

I kid because I love. Not many people like this version of the King Arthur story, but it's probably my favorite. It's a cool idea to set it during the Roman occupation of Britain with Arthur being a Roman officer and his knights are indentured soldiers from the conquered region of Sarmatia. They protect Roman interests in Britannia by manning Hadrian's Wall against the Celtic Woads. Merlin is a Woad and so is Guinevere.

Calling it "the untold true story" is ridiculous, but the movie is clever and fun and the cast is awesome. Clive Owen plays Arthur, Ioan Gruffudd is Lancelot, and two of my personal favorites - Keira Knightley and Mads Mikkelsen - play Guinevere and Tristan. Guinevere kicks so much ass and Tristan is basically every fantasy RPG character I've ever created. There are tons of other great actors in it, too; more than I want to list.

On top of all that are some great set pieces and a thoughtful, touching exploration of loyalty and duty.

Northanger Abbey (2007)



We didn't get as many Britain Trip movies watched as we wanted to, but since one of our stops was Bath, we wanted to sneak in at least a Jane Austen. Austen spent time in Bath (though she didn't actually like the town much) and used it as a location in a couple of her novels. Northanger Abbey is one of those and since it's a commentary on gothic romances - a genre our whole family enjoys - it felt like a good way to introduce David to Austen's stories.

There aren't many adaptations of it, but the 2007 BBC version is pretty great with or without competition. It stars Felicity Jones (Rogue One) as the main character and does a great job showing how her world view is affected by the books she reads. If you've read the novel, you know that Austen wasn't a huge fan of gothic romance (I forgive her) and that Northanger Abbey isn't so much a parody of them as it is simply making fun. But to get there, the movie lets us into the main character's imagination and uses cool, gothic imagery to do it. It's the closest Austen gets to genre work, so it's a great introduction to her (even though the movie wasn't actually filmed in Bath).

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)



Technically, I watched this out of order since it's the second of Ford's Cavalry Trilogy, but I accidentally watched it last ('cause I forgot that Rio Grande was one of them and not just one of the billion other John Wayne movies named after rivers). Really though, I think it fits best as the final in the series.

The other two are in black-and-white, but Yellow Ribbon is in color, so it looks more modern. And John Wayne isn't playing the same character he does in the other two, but an older officer who's getting ready to retire. Ben Johnson, on the other hand, does play the same character he does in Rio Grande, but in Rio Grande he's a raw recruit and he's obviously more seasoned here. So if we're trying to put together some sort of chronology to this weird, extremely loose trilogy, Yellow Ribbon ought to come last.

It's a good film, but my least favorite of the three. The plot meanders and circles back on itself and I'm never super invested in the romantic triangle of Joanne Dru, John Agar, and Harry Carey Jr. I probably would've been more interested if Dru's character had been played by Shirley Temple from Fort Apache, but that's just because I love Shirley Temple. Dru does a fine job; it's just that Carey's character never really has a chance, so there's not really any tension around that part of the story. Mostly it's just Dru and Agar pretending not to like each other and Carey suffering the fallout from their shenanigans. Not that I feel bad for Carey, because he's pretty unlikable.

I also didn't feel the weight of bad orders like I did in the other two films. Wayne's superior officer does direct Wayne into questionable activity, but it's not like anything that Henry Fonda or J Carrol Naish make him do in Fort Apache and Rio Grande. But that also makes it the most pleasant of the three films. That's not a compliment (the grittiness of the other two are what I like most about them), but it's a true statement and John Wayne is typically charming (and in an atypical way for him) and Ben Johnson even more so.

The Gunfighter (1950)



Every Gregory Peck Western I watch makes him more and more my favorite Western star. In this one, he plays a gunslinger who visits a town for reasons I won't spoil. He has enemies hot on his trail, so the town marshal - who also happens to be an old friend of Peck's - is trying to get him to leave, but Peck insists on staying until his business is concluded.

Peck is awesome in it and it's another great movie that tears down the fantasy of gunfighting as a glamorous life. Unforgiven got a lot of praise for doing that as if it was some sort of new innovation, but the more Westerns I watch - like the original Magnificent Seven and even Young Guns II, for crying out loud - the more I realize how ununique Unforgiven was in that regard.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)



A classic and a favorite that I wanted David to see. It's too pretentious to be my all-time favorite '50s space invader movie (I like more cheese in them), but it's really well done and I love the design of the ship and of course Gort. It's an essential part of the science fiction canon.

Day 4

22 Movies I Liked Just Fine from 2016

Here we are right in the middle of the bell curve.

46. For the Love of Spock



I talked more about this on Starmageddon, but the short version is that this is a good, professional documentary celebrating the character of Spock for Star Trek's 50th anniversary. For those who haven't heard a lot of the behind-the-scenes details of Spock's development before, there are plenty of interesting anecdotes presented in a visually interesting way.

But for those of us who already know the origin of the Vulcan neck pinch, I wish there was more about Adam Nimoy's relationship with his father as well as some deeper exploration of Leonard Nimoy's relationship with his daughter. It seems like she had a different experience from her brother and I would have liked to understand that better.

45. Alice Through the Looking Glass



I loved Tim Burton's critically underrated Alice in Wonderland and would have told you that I welcomed a sequel. But the trailers for Alice Through the Looking Glass made me less excited. Burton's version sent Alice on an emotional and spiritual journey that I deeply connected to. For a sequel to be as effective, it was going to have to find a new journey for Alice, but the trailers for Looking Glass made it appear mostly interested in just offering more of what Burton did.

And that's indeed what's going on. Looking Glass is mostly about fan-service. If you liked Burton's Alice in Wonderland, here's some more with these characters and that setting. Alice even repeats her spiritual journey from the first one (a huge no-no for a sequel), just not as powerfully.

The biggest change comes in the form of Sacha Baron Cohen at the personification of Time. He's good in the part, but he's doing essentially the same schtick that he did as the more-enjoyable Station Inspector in Hugo. Adding Time as a character also introduces a time-travel element to the story, but that's all about the fan-service, too. It's just a device so that Alice can witness the origin stories of the Hatter and the Red Queen. These stories are both supposed to teach Alice something about her own life back in her world, but the messages are really trite compared to what Alice learns in the first film. Or maybe I just didn't connect to them as personally. Either way, Looking Glass was amusing enough, but offered nothing new.

44. Central Intelligence



I love The Rock. And this is my first Kevin Hart movie, but I liked him a lot, too. He's pretty much what I expected from seeing trailers for his other films.

Both actors are funny and charming, but they're also both playing super exaggerated characters in Central Intelligence. One of them needed to play it straight. Hart's got the more grounded character, but he's still out there enough that the whole movie feels flighty and rather slight. It has some great things though to say about friendship, bullies, expectations for life, and finding your calling.

43. Manhattan Night



'40s noir by way of '90s sex thriller. Unfortunately, I only like one of those genres.

The mystery is good and it resolves well with some nice surprises, but it's not the surprise classic that I was hoping for.

42. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping



I don't think I'm a prude, but I may have reached the limit of the number of times I need to hear the F-bomb in my life. And I'm pretty sure Popstar doubled it. It's a funny movie with some great cameos, but I'm not connected to the world that it's parodying. This probably just makes me old.

41. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them



I kind of dig what Eddie Redmayne's doing and I very much like Dan Fogler's character, but the rest of the people in the movie are uninteresting. So is the plot: a thin, easy mystery padded with unrelated scenes of Redmayne's collecting creatures. I figured that I could at least rely on some excellent world-building by JK Rowling, but even that's disappointing. Instead of a magical world that I wanted to immerse myself in, Fantastic Beasts takes place in an oppressive dystopia that I couldn't wait to get out of.

Redmayne and Fogler kept me interested and some of the creature designs are fun, so I ended up liking the movie. But I'm also aware that that's largely thanks to a tremendous amount of goodwill created in me by the Harry Potter series so far. I'll likely watch the sequel out of curiosity, but if we didn't get any more of these, I'd be okay.

40. Ghostbusters



Funny enough with some good effects and just enough story to pull it together. Which pretty much echoes my feelings about the original. It's a decent Ghostbusters remake, but my least-favorite Paul Feig movie since Bridesmaids.

39. Arrival



Has some great things to say about life and some truly unique and cool ways to say them. But it can also be on-the-nose and sloppy in the process. I might like it more after another viewing or two, but I was underwhelmed the first time.

38. Passengers



POSSIBLE SPOILER:

Passengers takes the romantic comedy plot formula and wraps it in a mostly humorless science fiction setting. Fortunately, it's got completely charming people to spend time with, a core dilemma worth discussing, and an ending that I quite like. I understand that not everyone feels that way about the ending, but part of what I like about the movie is that it makes that kind of disagreement and discussion possible.

37. Outlaws and Angels



Great idea for a story. A gang of brutal bank robbers invade the home of a pioneer family. When the youngest daughter of the family begins to seduce the gang's leader, it's not clear if she's doing it to save her family or escape from them. There's an excellent thriller here with some interesting characters; I just wish it weren't buried under so much graphic violence and pretentious symbolism.

36. Don’t Breathe



POSSIBLE SPOILER: 

Another unique premise that's very good at being tense. The problem with this one though is that it's not as morally ambiguous as I was hoping for. I wanted it to let me root for the "villain," but it steals that option away and without ever giving me a good reason to root for the main characters. So I ended up very curious about, but not especially invested in, where the story was going to go.

35. Hail, Caesar!



A lot of fun, but I wish I hadn't seen the trailer, which makes it look like more of a single, cohesive story. That's what I was expecting: something along the lines of Raising Arizona or O Brother, Where Art Thou?.

Instead, Hail, Caesar! is a series of vignettes loosely tied together by some common characters. The individual pieces are all amazing and awesome; I just wanted a stronger narrative to pull everything together.

34. The Duel



A lot of cool elements here. It's a Western version of the story where a government agent has to take down the charismatic leader of a religious cult. And that's blended with an interesting murder investigation and a marriage that gradually reveals itself to be something other than it first appeared. Some of those things resolve well and some of them don't.

The two leads are just as uneven. Woody Harrelson is compelling as the cult leader, but Liam Hemsworth doesn't do enough with his Texas Ranger character. He's fine as a ruggedly stoic cowboy, but with everything he goes through, the role needs some emotion that he's not delivering.

33. Love and Friendship



I love Jane Austen movies, but this is a minor entry in the Austen film canon. It's funny and charming and I'm sure I'll revisit it, but when I'm in the mood for Austen I'll still head first to Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility or the Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice, with Douglas McGrath's Emma being a close third choice. But, if I'm marathoning Austen films, I'm not skipping this one either.

I also love Kate Beckinsale and she was a huge draw for me, but ironically, I would have liked the movie more if it had focused on her character's daughter instead. That's where the real story is.

32. Swiss Army Man



Strange and beautiful and whimsical and ultimately... deeply disturbing. I loved the journey, but the destination was nowhere I wanted to go.

31. X-Men: Apocalypse



I enjoyed it, even as I was aware that it wasn't doing anything new. It's the same basic story that the X-Men movies keep retelling; counting on my already established fondness for these characters to carry me through. A lot like the X-Men comics in that way, actually, but there's a reason I don't read X-Men comics anymore.

30. Zoolander 2



I almost didn't watch this one because of the universally horrible reviews, but I'm glad I went ahead. It's not as funny or good as the first one, but it's funny enough and I just really like spending time with these characters.

29. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies



Was hoping for something goofy and fun, similar to Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. And it is, in parts, but the movie never forgets that it's based on Literature. It never lets itself get completely silly; going instead for a serious take that's occasionally interrupted by ridiculous moments.

But even though it's not exactly what I wanted, it is a pretty good version of what it wants to be. It's not a great adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, but it's an effective zombie movie with an interesting spin on the mythology around those monsters. And Lily James and Sam Riley are pretty awesome as the leads.

28. The Girl on the Train



PROBABLE SPOILERS: 

I was considering reading the book until I saw the trailer for the movie. Whatever blurb I read about the novel made it seem like the eponymous Rachel is a complete stranger to a couple that she sees every day on her commute and then one day she notices something strange and when the woman disappears, Rachel has to solve the mystery.

That's all technically true, but the movie trailer revealed that Rachel is actually deeply connected to the couple and probably somehow involved in the woman's disappearance. I'm much more interested in characters who are drawn into adventure against their will, so I wasn't sure I cared about one who got there because of her own bad choices. But I went to see it anyway and I'm glad I did.

It's a good thriller. It's not great, but it kept my interest and Emily Blunt is awesome in it. Actually, everyone's pretty awesome in it and it has a lot of my favorite actors right now from Haley Bennett (Magnificent Seven) to Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation) to Luke Evans (tons of stuff). There are even great, smaller roles for Laura Prepon, Allison Janney, and Lisa Kudrow. It's a lot of fun to watch and the mystery is compelling for a while as I'm trying to figure out what did happen to Megan (Bennett). Did she run away? Is she still alive?

Unfortunately, once that answer is revealed, Roger Ebert's Law of Economy of Characters makes it pretty easy to figure out who's responsible. It would have been a complete giveaway except that the movie doesn't play fair. It has the character abruptly change personalities as soon as they're revealed. It does this in a cool and clever way, but it's still a trick and it doesn't hold up to scrutiny. I loved watching Rachel's investigation, but felt cheated by the answers she uncovers.

27. Deadpool



The trailers and other marketing for Deadpool didn't make me laugh at all (except maybe for that poster above), so I had decided not to see the movie. But positive reviews from friends and critics made me reconsider and with little else going on at the theater one week, I checked it out.

And it's not too bad. I was surprised at how much I cared about the character even while I found him and his girlfriend super annoying. Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead are great foils whom I enjoyed whenever they showed up. And it was great to see Gina Carano and TJ Miller.

The movie has a great look to it, too, and I enjoyed the way it used music. My biggest problem with the movie is that it's just not my humor. I chuckled twice and both times were at lines that reveal character, not actual jokes. The jokes were just more of what the trailer suggested: references to sex, poop, and other movies. So while I had a pretty good time watching Deadpool, it ultimately didn't feel like it was for me.

Then again, I watched it again later in the year with a different crowd and laughed more. It may be the kind of movie that's best viewed in a living room with a bunch of friends.

26. Neon Demon



Neon Demon presents itself as a commentary on the fashion industry, but it's doing so much more than just that. I found some challenging insights about humanity's relationship with beauty in general. We're seldom able to just appreciate it for the gift that it is. Instead, we have to get all selfish about it: either becoming jealous of it or wanting to own and control it.

This is strange film and I don't always love the visuals that Nicolas Winding Refn chooses, but I very much appreciate what it's saying.

25. Free State of Jones



Bigger in scope than I expected and that's mostly a good thing. It's not so much the story of one event as it is the history of a very interesting part of Mississippi during the Civil War and into the Reconstruction period (and even into the Civil Rights Movement a little).

All based around this one guy, but what a fascinating person. I just wish it had more to say about the experiences of the black characters. That would have made it more compelling and important to me.

31 Days of Gothic Romance | Northanger Abbey

By Jane Austen's day, gothic romance was all the rage and ripe for parody. Which is exactly what she did with Northanger Abbey. She started her career working on multiple books at once, but Northanger Abby was the first one she finished (though it went by other titles in its various drafts). She failed to sell it though and it wasn't published until after her death.

The only Austen I've ever read was Pride and Prejudice and I thought that was plenty for me until I learned Northanger Abbey's relation to gothic romance. These days, it's on my reading list, too. It's the story of a young woman named Catherine who's ridiculously fond of gothic romances. When she's invited to visit friends at their estate (from which the novel gets its title), she expects a spooky place full of dark secrets. And, as it turns out, there are some mysterious parts of the house that no one ever visits. But her imagination gets the better of her and there's some embarrassment before she learns that she's confusing fiction with reality. After that, the novel is in more familiar Austen territory as various relationships are resolved.

One very cool thing about the novel is that it creates a reading list of other, lesser-known gothic romances that are recommended to Catherine by a friend. Catherine's reading The Mysteries of Udolpho at the time, which turns the conversation to The Italian (The Monk also comes up in a later discussion with someone else), but then friend Isabella comes out with The Castle of Wolfenbach, Clermont, The Mysterious Warning, Necromancer, The Midnight Bell, The Orphan of the Rhine, and Horrid Mysteries. Collectively this list is known as the Northanger Horrids and it's also on my To Read list.

I've read Castle of Wolfenbach already and it's a good one. It certainly has its problems: everyone is one-dimensional and there are so many counts and countesses that I literally lost track of them all. But I also enjoy the absolute goodness of Wolfenbach's heroes and seeing the villains get their comeuppance. And in addition to haunted rooms and secret passages, this one's got pirates.

I said earlier that I don't plan to read a lot more of Jane Austen, but I do seem to love all movies based on her work. That includes the 2007 TV movie of Northanger Abbey starring Felicity Jones as Catherine. It's been a while since I've seen it, so I can't write a proper review, but it was that version that clued me in on Northanger's gothic influence and made me decide I really needed to read the book, too.

7 Days in May | Deadpool, Sinbad, and Sherlock Jr.

Deadpool (2016)



The trailers and other marketing for Deadpool didn't make me laugh at all, so I had decided not to see the movie. But positive reviews from friends and critics made me reconsider and with little else going on at the theater that I wanted to see, I checked it out.

And it's not too bad. I was surprised at how much I cared about the character even while I found him and his girlfriend super annoying. Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead are great foils whom I enjoyed whenever they showed up, and it was also great to see Gina Carano and TJ Miller. The movie has a cool look to it, too, and I enjoyed the way it used music.

My biggest problem with the movie is that it's just not my humor. I chuckled a couple of times and neither were at actual jokes. They were just nice character moments that I thought were amusing. The jokes were simply more of what the trailer suggested: references to sex, poop, and self-referential stuff like other X-Men movies, Green Lantern, and Ryan Reynolds in general. Basically, it's Family Guy humor. So while I had a pretty good time watching Deadpool, it ultimately didn't feel like it was for me.

Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003)

I remember liking this a lot when it came out, but the animation doesn't hold up by today's standards. Especially the integration of the CGI elements with the mostly hand-drawn cartooning. But for the most part it gets Sinbad right and I think that's what I originally responded to. He's a swashbuckling rogue with a diverse crew who faces various monsters in the pursuit of treasure.

Unfortunately, the treasure is a vaguely powerful object called the Book of Peace, with no explanation for what it does or why it exists in the first place. And the movie pulls Sinbad out of his Middle Eastern setting to plop him into Europe, which is a shame. Other than that though, it's enough in the spirit of the live-action, Harryhausen versions that I have a good time watching it, even if it doesn't have all the charm of those.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)

This is one of a handful of silent movies that I'm totally comfortable showing to people who don't know if they'll like the format. Thanks to Victor Hugo, it's a strong story, but the film does great by it. It balances the large cast of characters well, it's funny, it's touching. And of course Lon Chaney's makeup and physical shenanigans are fantastic spectacles.

Three Ages (1923)



One of the first full-length features that Buster Keaton did. There's a racist gag that bothered me, but for the most part Three Ages is great. It explores essentially the same love story in three different time periods, with the same actors playing the same roles in each era.

What it calls the Stone Age could more accurately be described as the Flintstone Era, since Keaton rides a dinosaur and his rival in love owns a mastodon, but that's all for the better. The other two ages are Ancient Rome (featuring a fantastic chariot race and an awesome scene between Keaton and a lion) and the Modern Age. Great gags, great stunts, and charming plots.

The Balloonatic (1923)

A short Keaton film that's not so much about a hot-air balloon as just general outdoorsiness. Some good stuff, but not one of Keaton's best.

The Love Nest (1923)

I didn't realize until partway through that I've seen this short film before. I don't remember where - TV probably - but it's probably one of the first Buster Keaton films I ever saw. And it's a good one with Keaton as I most like him, bumbling into success on a whaling ship under a horrible captain.

Our Hospitality (1923)

A feature-length Keaton film that's super strong from beginning to end. The plot, the stunts, the gags, the characters... all of it. This is more of how I like him: as an unflappable, slightly clueless good guy who knows when to be heroic and when to run away.

The Ten Commandments (1923)

I've been curious about the original Ten Commandments for a long time. The Charlton Heston version was ubiquitous in my childhood and I've always wanted to see where it came from.

The Exodus stuff is impressively spectacular, but it's ultimately just a long prologue to the real story about a pair of brothers with differing views on religion. Sadly, this part is crazy didactic and obvious, with the characters primarily existing to demonstrate the relevance of the Ten Commandments to modern life. It's extremely well acted though and it's nice to see that the spectacle didn't end with the Biblical prologue. The modern segment also has massive crowd scenes and dramatic visual effects.

So it's great from a technical perspective, it's just that the movie's thoughts about religion are rather shallow, focusing on following rules instead of being a moral person. And that's a shame since communicating those thoughts are the entire reason the film exists.

Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor by Stephanie Barron



I've re-read this several times (and even blogged about it) and have just done it again in an attempt to catch up to the rest of the series. Barron (a pen-name for Francine Mathews) writes compelling, spooky mysteries in the humor-filled voice of Jane Austen. She includes great details to bring the historical period to life and a fantastic cast of supporting characters who follow Jane from book to book.

This one drags a little for me in the middle, but I think that's because I'm so familiar with it that I'm eager to get to the final revelations at the end. It certainly didn't feel slow the first time I read it.

Polly and the Pirates, Volume 1 by Ted Naifeh

I'm a big fan of Ted Naifeh anyway, but Polly and the Pirates is especially my cup of tea. It's the story of a proper, young girl who's horrified to learn that she's the daughter of an infamous Pirate Queen. Various groups want to use her to find the Queen's hidden treasure and adventure ensues. Naifeh's created a world that's just enough related to our own to feel comfortable, but also fantastically different.

Polly and the Pirates, Volume 2: Mystery of the Dragonfish by Ted Naifeh and Robbi Rodriguez

The sequel to the first Polly and the Pirates adventure is also fun. Robbi Rodriguez' drawing style is different from Naifeh's, but it's appropriate and beautiful. I wish there'd been more volumes, because it's a fun world and these are great characters.

32 movies I wanted to see in 2013 (but didn't)

Happy New Year! As I've done the last couple of years, I'm going to spend the early days of 2014 running down the movies I saw in 2013 and ranking them from worst to best. I made it to 38 movies in the theater last year, which leaves 32 that I wanted to see, but will have to catch up on at home. I mention them here partly by way of explaining why some potentially great movies aren't among my favorites, but also so you can tell me which of these need to be at the top of my queue and which I shouldn't bother with.

Here they are in the order in which they were released. Some of the posters are high res, so I put most of the list behind a break for the sake of browsers everywhere.

1. Spring Breakers



Mostly just curious about Disney Princesses Behaving Badly. And I tend to like James Franco.

Saturday Matinee: What care I for strange noises when there is such a man?

Wild Ocean



Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters



High Plains Invaders

Adventurenews: Number One Super Guy

Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters



I took a pass on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, because zombies are boring. Sea monsters, on the other hand, are totally cool. And lets face it, Jane Austen always could've used more pirates and giant, rampaging, mutant lobsters.

The Flock



Giant Monsters Attack has the scoop on Warner Brothers' development of a movie about modern-day descendents of prehistoric terror birds. Incidentally, I've long thought that "terror bird" is the coolest pairing of words in the English language.

John Rozum's Hangman



There aren't a lot of details in this interview with John Rozum about his upcoming revival of the old Hangman character for DC, but I have to link to it because I'm just so excited that Rozum's writing a supernatural hero comic again. If you've read Xombi and/or Midnight, Mass, you know what I mean.

Hong Kong Phooey movie



I know two things about this movie.

1) It will not be very good.

2) Unless it has Will Farrell in it, I will be there opening night.

My first lunchbox was a Hong Kong Phooey one. Big fan here.

Monster Week: Prometheus Linked

Prometheus Unbound

I've known for a long time that Thomas Edison's adaptation of Frankenstein was available online, but I just recently learned where. You can either go see a nice, big version at Internet Archive or just stay here and watch the smaller version below. It's only thirteen minutes long and it's surprisingly effective and suspenseful.



Pride and Prometheus

As long as I'm linking to free Frankenstein material, how about this Jane Austen/Frankenstein mash-up novella by John Kessel. (Thanks, Frankensteinia!)

I, Frankenstein

Kevin Grevioux (creator of and actor in Underworld) is working on a Frankenstein comic and movie. It's an action story where the modern-day Monster carries guns and meets up with other famous monsters like vampires, werewolves, mummies, goblins, ghosts, etc. Sounds good to me. Just keep Stephen Sommers far away from it.

Saturdays with Jane: Sense and Sensibility (1995) and (2008)

This is a cheat post because it's been so long since I watched these that I don't remember enough to do a bona fide review. It'll have to suffice to say that the Masterpiece mini-series benefits from having more time to unfold its story and a Colonel Brandon who looks and sounds like a young Liam Neeson. Combine those two things together and you get a much more convincing Marianne-Brandon romance at the end than Ang Lee provides in the 1995 version.

To the Masterpiece version's detriment though, Willoughby is a total sap and while I still buy that Marianne falls for him - silly twit that she is - I don't like him myself.

My favorite version is still Ang Lee's. My wife is too distracted by Hugh Grant's personal life to like him as Edward Ferrars, but I think he's charming. And speaking of Hughs, Hugh Laurie's grumpy Mr. Palmer may seem like a foretaste of Gregory House at first, but there's nobility in the character here that borders on heroic. You don't get that in the Masterpiece version where Palmer is just downright rude.

Greg Wise's Willoughby is a manly man and exactly the kind of fellow that Marianne ought to fall for if only he had better character. Lee makes the Marianne-Willoughby romance more tragic by teasing that - under other circumstances - it might have worked out. You never trust Masterpiece's simpering Willoughby and are always rooting for Marianne to wise up, so when she finally learns the truth there's a lack of empathy for her and more of an "I told you so." In Lee's version you feel much worse for her.

Fanny Dashwood is also a lot more fun in Lee's version, but that's balanced by Mrs. Dashwood's being more useful and interesting in the Masterpiece version. In Lee's take, Mrs. Dashwood never quite stops complaining about their reduced circumstances. Masterpiece's Mrs. Dashwood better rises to the situation and I like her more for it. But, back to Lee's favor is his version of Lucy Steele who seems much more conniving and drama-hungry (and so, fun) than Masterpiece's.

The biggest difference between the two versions though is in Elinor. Maybe it's because the Masterpiece version has more time to fill, so we get a deeper look at Elinor in it, but I don't think it's an advantage to see her lose it emotionally a couple of times before the big scene at the end. In Lee's version, Elinor holds it together for the entire movie. We can see that she's distraught a couple of times (thanks to unbelievably great acting by Emma Thompson) and she admits as much to Marianne, but there's always a reason for her to hide her feelings. And so, in that amazing, moving, final scene where she just lets everything out that she's been penning up for the entire movie - losing her home, almost losing her sister, thinking she's lost Edward - her emotion erupts all over you and you can't help but nearly lose it yourself. At least I can't.



Unfortunately - though that scene in Masterpiece is still very good - it doesn't equal the impact of Lee's.



The Masterpiece version gets four out of five wailing Elinors.

Ang Lee's version gets five out of five.

A Saturday without Jane

No "Saturdays with Jane" today. We finally watched the Masterpiece version of Sense and Sensibility, but I want to compare and contrast it with the Ang Lee version.

Since we didn't get around to watching that this week, I'm putting off the post until next week. The Masterpiece version was quite good though. As much as I like most of Lee's cast, having people I don't know from other things in the Masterpiece version was a benefit to it. Also having an extra hour or so to tell the story.

Saturdays with Jane: Jane and the Man of the Cloth; Emma (1996)

Jane and the Man of the Cloth

I've said a couple of times that I'm not as fond of Jane Austen's novels as I am of the movies made from them. Mundane details about early-19th century life are a lot more fun to watch than to read about.

Unless you throw in an overturned carriage on a dark, stormy night; a mysterious beauty in a long, scarlet cloak who wanders the cliffs carrying a lantern; a dark scoundrel with dangerous secrets; a handsome, one-legged officer with a vendetta; hidden caves, treasure rooms, and of course a couple of dead bodies.

About half of that list is introduced in the first thirty pages of the book. It opens with Jane and her family's traveling to Lyme for a holiday and having an accident on the way. They're forced to get help from the dark scoundrel who lives with his cousin, the mysterious beauty. Once Jane and her family get into town, they meet the officer who has a grudge against the scoundrel. Honestly, I could've read an entire novel just about the Austens' being in Lyme and interacting with these (and other) color characters. Barron does a beautiful job of painting the seaside town and populating it with fascinating people. I was actually a little disappointed when the first body showed up on page thirty and we had to start the mystery proper.

But, like all dead bodies, this one does make things even more interesting and Jane is soon caught up in trying to uncover everyone's secrets as delicately as she can. And, oh yeah, she also falls in love. It's an awesome, diverting book and I like it even better than The Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor. It even gives a cameo appearance to my favorite Scargrave Manor character.

Five out of five hushed conversations in the secret garden.

Emma (1996)



Man, I take back anything negative I said about this before. When I saw it in the theater I was in sort of an anti-Gwyneth Paltrow phase I guess, because I really don't remember liking this very much, but wow do I love it now. Especially in comparison to the Kate Beckinsale version which (as much as I love Kate Beckinsale) I now sort of hate.

In Kate's version Emma sort of learns her lesson about meddling but never really repents of all the harm she's done. I thought I remembered that we got more repentance from Gwyneth, but I hadn't remembered the extent of it. Gwyneth's Emma is continually struggling to become a better person. She fails miserably a lot, but we can clearly see that she means no harm and that she's genuinely working on her faults.

These faults are repeatedly pointed out to her by Mr. Knightley whom I pretty much fell in love with. The Knightley in Kate's version is a good and noble guy, but here the careful attention he pays to everyone's needs and his relentless protection of the defenseless is especially emphasized. He comes to the rescue of just about every character in the movie, usually not in huge, dramatic ways, but just in small ways that - if you're paying attention - make you realize what an amazing man he is. His fault-pointing at Emma is as much a rescue operation for her benefit as it is for the well-being of her "victims." Knightley doesn't want Emma to accidentally become someone she doesn't want to be. At one point he declares his picking at her to be a fault of his own, but I think he's just being hard on himself. Darcy - Colin Firth or otherwise - has nothing on Jeremy Northam's Knightley.

Also in this version's favor: Obi-Wan Kenobi as Frank Churchill, the mom from Sixth Sense as Jane Fairfax, Nightcrawler as Mr. Elton, and Keira's mom from Bend It Like Beckham as a Mrs. Elton who's very funny; not just abhorrently obnoxious.

Five out of five Mr. Knightleys.