My Favourite Austen Adaptations

What’s the best Jane Austen movie adaptation? If you’re a fan, you probably have many thoughts on this question. I know I do.

I thought I’d share my favourites per book.

Pride & Prejudice – I’ve seen so many adaptations (I’m not counting the modern takes in this–just the more close ones.) My favourite is probably the Colin Firth version. He’s glorious as Darcy. And I love so many of the secondary characters.

Though, Donald Sutherland’s portrayal of Mr Bennett was magnificent.

Persuasion – This is my favourite Jane Austen book. The only one I re-read periodically. As much as I love Rupert Penry-Jones in the 2007 one, the earlier version with Ciaran Hinds and Amanda Root win my heart. They’re brilliant. The subtlety of their pain, angst, and romance is palpable.

Emma: Probably my least favourite overall of Jane Austen’s works that I’ve read/seen, I have to say the version with Romola Garai is my favourite. I didn’t enjoy the more recent one. I felt they made Emma completely unlikeable.

She’s supposed to be a bit silly, impetuous, but likeably well-meaning.

Sense & Sensibility: I’ve watched three adaptations. While I love the Emma Thompson version (especially because Alan Rickman was magical,) I prefer the more recent version from 2007. I’m not sure why, but it just made me happy.

I’ve no thoughts on Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, or Sandition. I haven’t seen any of the adaptations. Actually, I take that back, I think I’ve seen one of Mansfield Park that I didn’t enjoy.

How about you? What Austen adaptations do you enjoy?

Movies that Inspired Pure Dumb Luck

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When I’m writing, I generally have a music playlist (or two), but I’ll also have one for movies and TV shows. Not for every novel, it’s just for certain stories I need a little help getting into the vibe. Pure Dumb Luck was definitely one of those.

I thought I’d share a couple of the movies I watched while writing my fun travel rom-com.

And they’re not in any particular order.

Eat, Pray, Love

This one might be a little cliché. And there are definitely parts of this movie I don’t love. But the genuine joy of travel, food, and life was really something I wanted for Pure Dumb Luck. So this movie was a no brainer.

The Way

This might seem a weird choice, particularly as I’m not very religious. But this is one of my all-time favourite Martin Sheen movies. It evokes the spirit of the journey/travel. Not a perfect film, but it did help me get in the mood to write about an adventure.

The Bucket List

If you’ve seen The Bucket List, I don’t have to explain why it’s on the list.

If you haven’t, you probably should. =)

How about you? What are your favourite travel-themed movies?

Top Five Holiday Movies

Well, it’s December. Officially. That means I can watch holiday movies and listen to holiday music without getting side eyes from people.

So, here are my top five holiday-themed movies, in no particular order:

– Love Actually (Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson kill me every time.)

– A Christmas Carol (Patrick Stewart version)

– A Christmas Carol (Animated version with Jim Carrey

– Last Holiday

– The Holiday

Bonus: A White Christmas

And honestly, you can add A Christmas Carol with George C Scott as well lol. Oh, and I always watch at least one of the Harry Potter movies in December.

Do you have a favourite holiday movie?

Review: Noah

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My hubby and I have been wanting to see Noah for quite a while. We both really enjoy watching Russell Crowe, though likely for different reasons. =)

Here’s the thing about Noah.

The acting was spectacular. They did a great job in casting, and the actors did their job. They played the hell out of their roles. The only place casting fell down was in a distinct like of diversity amongst the characters, even the extras.

The effects were amazing.

The location was well selected, the set well done.

It was the story where everything fell apart for me. I’ve no intention in debating religion with anyone. But for the sake of my review, we all know the story of Noah and the flood, or we’ve at least heard of it or can google it, right? So where I felt annoyed was the over-dramatization of an already dramatic story. The story has plenty of drama in and of it self, whether you believe it to be true or not. It’s an interesting tale.

So why add unnecessary plot twists and devices? In the end, it made what could’ve been a fascinating movie, over-done to the point where my hubby and I were laughing when we shouldn’t have been.

I will say that Emma Watson was phenomenal in her role. She did a brilliant job.

I just thought the writers and director added grit and filled ‘plot-holes’ that weren’t actually there. *shrugs* It left me feeling like I’d wasted two hours of my life. Where last week I, Frankenstein was too short, this was too long. They could’ve cut some unnecessary parts of the plot and it would’ve been just as interesting.

Review: I, Frankenstein.

i-frankenstein-poster My hubby really wanted to see this movie so we finally watched it over the weekend. Our thoughts were mixed on how much we enjoyed it. On the one hand, I loved the concept and the twisted on Frankenstein. I LOVED the gargoyles. I simply wished they’d delved deeper into the story.

It felt rushed, as if they’d tried to squash a two hour movie into an hour and a half.

The deaths of two of the characters in the story who were supposedly powerful was easy and felt cheap. It didn’t make sense.

And they didn’t capitalize, in my opinion, on the potential in the story between the scientist and Frankenstein.

It was like looking at a picture of a beautiful piece of pie, but not having the actual pie to taste.