Jane Austen 90's vs 00's : Sense & Sensibility

One of my most treasured movies of alllllllllll time. I love Emma Thomson's 1995 adaptation is heartfelt, funny and utterly compelling! Its won so many awards at the BAFTA's and the Oscar's. Kate Winslet was great as Marianne, her daily life was driven by her emotions in a society that encouraged young ladies to hide them. She manages to express herself in such away that you laugh with her rather than at her. With the book I found myself wanting to shake her and say, 'get a grip'. But in this adaptation all I can do is clutch a pillow and morn her loss. The scene where she is walking in the rain is the most dramatic scene ever. I have walked in the rain and I have never looked glamours or romantic, but Ms Winslett manages to do it and I take my hat off to her.

Alan Rickman plays the dignified Colonel. He's the knight in shining armour that is pushed aside and is forced to watch from the shadows. Basically he is = love.

You don't have to be a fan of Austen fan to like this movie.  I've just seen a review of this movie on ew.com and the reviewer has complained that Thompson was to old to play Miss Dashwood. Well yes she was, but she was deliberately cast so modern audiences could understand and relate to the difficulty of finding a husband  after a certain age. So shut ya face haters!

The 2007 adaptation falls on its face and fails to evoke any of the warmth or irony that 1995 adaptation did. If I had to describe this Tv movie in one word it would be 'blue!'. That was the only color I could associate with this film. It just seemed as if they had drained all other colors out and left the only depressing one left. Marianne in this version is more subdued and at the end is tamed like a'horse'. She looses all interesting aspects  of her character when she goes off and marries Brandon. I didn't even get excited about the sword fighting, I just didn't care enough to get excited.  Elinor is just plain and boring. Willboughy is not convincing as a handsome cad more like a self pitying boy who doesn't know who to blame for his predicament. What was Alan Davis thinking by adding a sex scene at the beginning.The key to all Austen films is to leave sex out of it and let the eyes do the flirting! The only good thing about this adaptation was Edward's character not only did he do a great job of becoming the slightly lazy care free gentlemen he is incredibly good looking.

But apart from that there is nothing to recommend this film. The 1995 wins hands down.

2:1

Jane Austen's 00's vs 90's : Persuasion

I know, I know, I know  I promised to do  a list of music but this really must take precedence over it. This passing few weeks I have let my obsession of  fiction of the 19th century literature consume me body and soul. Not a day has gone by that I have not watched or read something that hasn't been originally written by Austen, Bronte or Gaskell. It is very very sad  I know, but there is something about them has taken over me.

It might be the sexual tension in a simple handshake or the fact that you have to watch 6 episodes before anyone reveals their feelings. I like the politeness, the bonnets and the courtesy that everyone has for each other. Either way I'm hooked.

During my addiction I have managed to stumble upon the newer versions that the BBC has provided for Austen's 'Sense & Sensibility', 'Northanger Abber', 'Mansfiled Park' and 'Persuasions'. The originals as I call them were done in the 90's apart form Northanger Abbey which was made in the late 80's.  I've been both pleasantly surprised and also disappointed.


Persuasion 
Surprisingly my utter favorite out of the four. I remember watching it when I was younger and not thinking it had a patch on Pride & Prejudice and it was just really boring. Maybe I've grown up a bit or maybe its because I can relate more to the themes. For those who don't Persuasion it contains themes of; social status been gained by a proffesion, the importance of marriage, class rigidity and people who have more money than sense. Persuasion is different from Austen's novels as the heroine is Anne who is well past a marriageable age of 27 and is not that pretty. She is level headed, practical  and is surrounded by bumbling idiots. Anyway cutting along story short 8 years previous she was 'persuaded' to turn down an offer of marriage from a poor navy officer because he had 'nothing but his charms to recommend him'. 8 years later he is back a very rich captain and ignores Anne for half the book treating her with contempt. I won't spoil the ending but it is very good. Some people think the plot is to simplistic compared to her other works but I love it! Now on to the bbc 1995 version.

I'm afraid I cannot find fault with it. Anne is everything I expected plain, slightly submissive. The actress who plays Anne manages to show her exasperation for her father  without making it look like contempt. When we meet Anne she has resigned herself to help others, has hidden the pain of past disappointment and is just 'getting on with it' without dwelling.  The captain is proud but still engaging enough for you to root for him.
The only tiny tiny niggly thing that we don't get to see is that of the enigmatic Mr Elliot who will inherit Anne's father's fortune when he dies. He barely gets three  scenes. But apart from that it is bliss. (BTW Aunt Petunia is in it too!)










The 2007 version is also very good! The Captain in this adaption is slightly more handsomer if I dare say so myself. Anne is slightly more outspoken but does not veer off from Austen's original outline of Anne. There is more sexual tension in this film more longing looks and heavy sighs. There are also more laughs and the film is of more fast pace. Unfortunately this is not an asset as with so many characters your wondering who is who for quite some time. If I had not read the novel I would have had rewind to try and understand. The best bit is at the end when she has to catch the Captain before  he leaves, you literally scream with frustration as all her relatives descend on her at once demanding her attention. Whilst she is running through Georgian Bath you can't help cheering her along and curse her for being so selfless. The kiss at the end is smoldering *melts*.


Overall for Persuasion the 90's version as well as the 00's version are both excellent so I will declare it a draw.So far  its 1:1. Both versions will sit proudly on my shelf and I will not mind either I watch as they both different in the approach but are still faithful to the novel.

I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested!

The title is reference to the Bag Bang Theory, I've been watching a lot recently. Debating whether to purchase season 4 because it is just so good.

Not a lot to report, this week has been pretty slow. With my granddad being at home the stress is starting to show. I'm not sure what happened but i think my sister talked back to my granddad (just to be clear on this my sister and I never do this we have so much respect for him that its almost like an unwritten rule. I know this must seem child like but its always been like that). To put it blandly  my mum went ape sh*t and my sister had to stay in her room for the whole afternoon. He goes home in week so it wont be long before I can go downstairs in pjays in the middle of the day and watch movies without squirming if something rude happens.

Book wise I've finished 'the choice' by N.Sparks, inspired by seeing the notebook on DVD.  To be honest I was a bit disappointed. If anyone reads my blogg regular they will know that i usually dedicate a whole entry to a review but this drained me so much that I don't have enough energy. The book left me with the feeling of 'meh'.  Reading Sparks I was expecting a bit more magic after all the hype over him. The book had the feeling of it could have been written by any mills and boons author. I didn't care for the main characters enough and the apparent 'choice'  ( I wont spoil it for you) wasn't shocking, in fact its been used as a soap story line so many times its nearly cliche.   But I'm not giving up I'll give him another shot when I can get my hands on another of his books, as this was the only one they had in my library.

Also reading Chris Bradford's Young Samurai series. I read the first one a while ago and enjoyed it and it was a while before I read the next, and it was probably treble the amount of time when i read the next one. When ever I read these books I aways feel like I'm attempting to go in a cold swimming pool, (I'm not crazy I swear). I don't want to do it, but it will be fine once I'm in. I don't know why its like this, its almost as if I've forgotten how good the series is and don't have the energy to read it. Sometimes I have to trick myself into reading, like when I get into bed and the only book within reach is Young Samurai, so I'll curse and force myself to read it rather than getting out of my warm bed. Now that I've read the third one I assumed that it would be the last one, but to my horror I've found out there are 5 more after this! Poor Jack, he is never going to get home to England.   I also feel tricked, its almost as if I now have to read all of them. Grrrrrrr.

At the moment I'm trying to find  Dear John the movie on my laptop but it seems its not to be. I've seen it before but I just wanted to remind myself .

On my 35th square 109 to go.

Listening to 'With a girl like you' not sure who it is by but its from the Boat that rocked soundtrack.

Septimus Heap

Hiiii haven't updated in a while but in my defence ive been in London and Amsterdam so I've been one busy bunny, but before i ramble about my ramblings I have to discuss this series of books I have read.

The Adventures of Septimus Heap.


Heard of it? No neither had I till since a few days ago. While being stuck in bed with a cold and nothing to read I raided my sister's bookcase and found this.  There are currently 5 books out and I've read 4 of them.

The first two books were quite good and they gave off a spark which suggested that maybe 3 would be just as good, how wrong I was. The whole plot of the first book was charming what with the mix up of babies and the long lost princess. I found that it was a nice stroke of Sage's to make the the main character seem insignificant and cowardly throughout the first half but then find his feet and reclaim his name.

I liked the character of Marcia, strong willed wizard who is not intimated easily this is definitely refreshing but was slightly disappointed when in the second book she seems just childish and silly refusing to see Septimus point of view.

I sympathised with the character of Merrin he had spent the whole of his life been told his name was Septimus Heap it was'nt his fault, he was bound to feel some bitterness to the real Septimus but I can only roll my eyes at his stupidity and his constant repetitiveness of making the same mistake other and other again   (of siding with the biggest bully in the play ground).

My favourite character was Simon Heap. I know too much about sibling jealously not to connect with him. He's hurt and annoyed that his younger long lost brother has been handed everything on a plate, I mean wouldn't you be if you had studied for years?  Maybe it was a bit extreme to pull the skeleton of your brother's arch enemy out of the water but people have done stranger things. I've read on forums that people have type cast him as the typical bad guy that waits to long to kill their enemies. I can't believe that Simon would have ever of killed Jenna he would have let go at the last minute.  He also genuinely loves the stubborn Lucy Gringe whose father is the mean gate keeper. His devotion is sweet and was the only thing i read about during book 5 the rest  I skipped.

I didnt read book 3 as my sister didn't have it but if it was anything like book 4 and book 5 I am glad I missed it out. Sage seems to running out of ideas and recycling old ones. Something goes missing main character goes off to find them not before calling on sister or aunt to let them know what has happened, something old nemesis appears something unrelated happens blah blah blah *yawn* they have to travel somewhere and then come back, and then anti climax ending where a lot doesn't happen.  I found myself scan reading most of the dialogue as a lot of it seemed unnecessary.

As the books go on the main characters seems to become more self righteous and more predictable is this Ms Sage's idea of character development?!?? As I would certainly not want to hang around with them in real life.

The illustrations in the book are lovely and I always looked forward to seeing the next one but they were always seemed to be repeated in other chapters. Was this laziness or way to cut expenses in the publishing department?? It would have been nice to see a new one in every chapter.

Another thing I liked was the catchup chapter they did it at the end where she told you what happened to less important characters which I thought was a nice touch.

I've read the reviews and have been surprised to see that there have been comparisons made to Harry Potter. Lets get things straight, when I first read HP i roared with laughter, after many rereads I still have a good chuckle. When I first read this i gave a weak smile and even if I did reread i hardly think that even a muscle would twitch in my face. Nothing can compare to HP NOTHING!!. HP is so easy to read you can just sit there and realise you've read a chapter without a blink of an eye. But with this it sometimes felt as if I was swimming in treacle.

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh they are targeted towards 12 year olds and maybe as a 12 year old I would have  like it more. I just think Sage should have stopped at number 2!

As indivudally books the first 2 books get 3.5 stars out of 5
4 and 5 get one star out 5

Worth a read I guess if you got long train journey but its not a Rowling classic by any margin.