Last night, Megan and I had the pleasure of seeing the 2004 BBC adaptation of "North & South". Neither of us knew what it was. Megan had a heard of the author of the book, Elizabeth Gaskell, who was a contemporary of Dickens. The story, which takes four hours to tell and reminds me somewhat of Jane Austen, is about Margaret Hale who has to leave her home in the south for the industrial town of Milton to the north. Her family must adjust to a new kind of life, and mourn for the loss of their home and friends. Through all the trials that they witness and endure, Margaret begins to adjust to her new life and soon makes friends with many of the mill workers while at the same time making enemies with Mr. Thornton, one of the owners of the mills. So of course we all know that he is going to be the love interest!!
I found a fan made trailer on youtube that will hopefully illustrate the awesomenes of this movie to you. Four hours is a long time, but it is definitely worth it!
Margaret is played by Daniela Darby-Ashe and Mr. Thornton is played by Richard Armitage.
This is one of my favorite scenes in The Breakfast Club. Sorry the quality isn't the greatest:
Yes, this movie is almost pointless and somewhat slow at parts. Let's face it; not a whole lot happens in detention. But this movie is all about finding ways to entertain yourself in an otherwise boring situation and making friends in the process. It also takes some time to delve into the adolescent psyche to discuss what makes people who they are. All the characters are necessary to make The Breakfast Club the 80's classic that it is, but without Johnny Bender, this movie would be a dud. Because of him, I can watch this movie over and over again. Follow this link for a classic Bender moment. Embedding wasn't allowed on this one, but clicking is well worth your time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8qb9TRqZsM
My roommate, Melissa, loves the movie, Happy Feet, and brought it back from Utah one weekend, hoping that I would watch it with her. I had remembered seeing Happy Feet previews a long time ago and seemed to remember it looking potentially cute and maybe even funny, so we sprawled out in her room to watch the movie. Forgive me for not conforming to P.C. standards, but this movie was gay. We didn't even finish it. Basically, it's a bunch of singing and dancing penguins. I don't know what I was expecting.
I think I would have liked this movie if I were six; however, I am nearly four times six, and I couldn't make it through.
Melissa was kind enough to turn it off so we could watch My Girl instead--a movie I hadn't seen since I was six, ironically enough--and it turns out I still enjoy it. If you haven't seen it, you really should take the time. It was filmed back when Macaulay Culkin was still a cute little boy. The main character is eleven-year-old Vada, who is being raised by her father (Dan Aykroyd) in a funeral home. Besides this unusual living situation, she feels responsible for the death of her mother, who died shortly after Vada was born, so it's no wonder that she always thinks she is dying of something. Her best friend, Thomas J. (Macaulay Culkin), says this is Vada's way of dealing with her fear of death. Jamie Lee Curtis is also a prominent character as the love interest of Vada's father. This movie is both funny and sad, and I love it.
I saw this movie on Tuesday, a rather stressful day. Part of me said I shouldn't go see it because of all the things I should be doing. But I gave in, and I have no regrets.
The movie is based of the book by Kate DiCamillo, author of "Because of Winn Dixie", "The Tiger Rising", and "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane". The characters are voiced by Emma Watson (perhaps you know her best as Hermoine Granger), Matthew Broderick, Sigourney Weaver, Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Kline, and Christopher Lloyd to name a few.
I have not read the book so if you want any sort of comparison, you won't find it here at this time. The movie itself was entertaining. One of my roommates found it a little hard to follow as it does follow three different characters. However, I felt they did a good job of incorporating all the necessary stories into the whole. The characters were well created and believable, even if half of them were mice/rats. I even felt that the music was engaging and helped add to the story. They use a lot of narration which I am guessing is a lot like what is written in the book. I did begin to wonder if they had a little too much narration, but overall I liked the effect. It made it a little more enjoyable for me to hear some of that language. I guess that's an English major for you :) Overall, well done and I would recommend it.
The only thing you might have a problem with is a character formed of fruits and vegetables. That might be a little too much for some people. But give it a whirl! I hope you like it as much as I did!
