Ohhh Star Wars!!

Saw it opening night, two days later, and then a third time in IMAX 3D. 

Is that EXCITEMENT I Feel?

Ambiguous title for a blog post when I haven't posted here in quite a while. For that I apologize; life with two small boys can get a bit hectic but I'm trying to get the ball rolling on the blogs again.

Anyway...

Excitement? About what you ask?

Star Wars.

Yes. I'm one of those geeks folks. I love Star Wars; have since I was a little kid. I can remember hearing that unforgettable, send shivers up your spine opening music on an 8-track cassette (tape?) my parents owned. No, I was not born when the first movie came out in 1977 (I arrived two years later) but my parents loved Star Wars and so I grew up watching the original trilogy...and loved it.

Fast forward many, many years and the news that there would be...PREQUELS!!! OMG!!! We'd be able to see all that backstory that is only mentioned and hinted at in the original trilogy!! Star Wars fans around the world cheered and rejoiced like the Empire had just fallen.

And then they happened. And by "they" I mean the prequels. What started out with such excitement soon turned into...disappointment? horror? disgust? Maybe all of those. I tried to like the prequels. Really, I did. I'm a Star Wars fan and I'm SUPPOSED to like the movies. They're Star Wars for goodness sake!! Well I do like the movies. I LOVE the movies...the original trilogy. While there were some nice moments in the prequels there was just something missing. Something wasn't right. I liked Ewen McGregor and Liam Neeson and even Natalie Portman. I felt they did pretty good with what they had to work with (okay okay...I just liked LOOKING at Ewen!). But the storyline, dialogue, something was just lacking (and I know the original trilogy didn't have superb dialogue either!). For me a big part (besides a Gungan which will remain nameless and hopefully forgotten) was the overall feel of the movies visually. While things looked nice they were missing that charm that the original trilogy had; all that CGI stuff was "nice" but it just wasn't Star Wars.

I'm old enough and mature enough now to admit that the prequels were not good movies. That makes me sad because there was so much potential. Those three movies also tarnished some of that magic Star Wars had always possessed.

Fast forward a few more years and there's news that there will be new Star Wars movies, another trilogy, this time set AFTER the original. This announcement was not greeted with the same excitement as the announcement of the prequels. We'd been burned and disappointed and let down and and and...the skepticism was rampant, with yours truly included. I didn't want the beloved trilogy mangled and tarnished any more than it already had  been.

Then there was...silence with only bits and pieces of information for quite some time. Then there were some sparks of - was that hope? Disney had control this time and Disney has a pretty good track record when it comes to making things work. There's a new director and Lucas won't have a much of a say so/hand in these (how much????). The original stars will have a part in the newest movie. There were hints and rumors about who will be starring in these new installments. As a Star Wars fan I couldn't help but be intrigued and curious but cautious at the same time. And then the news starting coming out (leaking out?) quicker until we get to April 30 and we see this:

I'll be honest. I have absolutely NO IDEA who the new actors are in this movie or what kind of work they've done in the past but I'm pretty excited to see Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Peter Mayhew, and Anthony Daniels returning. But what made me the happiest was when I read that the new director planned on using models, real sets, robots, etc for this movie and that it wouldn't all be CGI. Some of what I've read has given me some hope and excitement because it sounds like they're trying to find what made the original trilogy so wonderful and recreate that. Yes. Excitement. Of course there will be lots of critics who don't like the new actors, don't like the director, don't like this, don't like that but that's to be expected. I, however, have felt the first twinges of excitement for a Star Wars movie since Episode 1 was announced to be in production back in the late 90s.

I'm very much looking forward to December 2015; I'm going to make sure I have child care lined up way ahead of time because I don't want to miss this...though I'll be sitting in my sit with my fingers crossed, praying that the movie doesn't suck (and that there is no mention of midichlorians and no Gungans in sight).

May the Force be with them (because they're gonna need it)...

Mr. Knightley - My Favorite Austen Hero

Until about three weeks ago if you had asked me who my favorite Austen hero was I probably would have said (after much thought) Colonel Brandon from Sense and Sensibility. I wouldn't have really called him a "hero" (and he certainly wouldn't have called himself one!) though that is what he is classified as but he is quite the gentleman and you can't help but love him for his attachment to Marianne. I have seen several different adaptions of the book and by far my favorite portrayal is the one by Alan Rickman. He really seemed to fit the part and his voice! Really, what can be said about his voice but wow!

However, about three weeks ago I finally picked up and read Emma ... in about a day. Really. It was marvelous; a fantastic comedy of manners with some very comical moments and very memorable characters. And the most memorable? Mr. Knightley of course! He has now become my favorite Austen hero. He was, after all, Jane's favorite hero and created in him her "ideal Regency English gentleman." And boy did she ever!

A little background on the character for those of you who have not read this novel (and if you haven't...why??): Mr. Knightley of Donwell Abbey is the principal land owner in Highbury (the little town where the story takes place), is about 37 or 38, and a close friend of Emma Woodhouse and her father. In fact, Emma's older sister and Knightley's younger brother are married and living in London so there is a very close relationship between the families. Knightley is intelligent, kind, sensible. and very generous. Being an old friend, he is very concerned with Emma's "upbringing" (though she is 21 in the story...) and worries about her. He is the only person in the novel who can gain the upper hand with her and is the only one who will find fault with her (which is something she needs). Knightley just wants (so he thinks) Emma to be the wonderful young lady he knows she can be and sees that as his reason behind his constant concern over her activities. Of course, his feelings run deeper than he originally expected. At the end his patience does win out and he wins the woman of his dreams.

So that is a very generalized look at Mr. Knightley but there is so much more to him! He is quite the gentleman, friendly to every one despite their "situation" (remember there were strict social classes at this time all dependent upon how much money one had). He always goes out of his way to help the impoverished Mrs. and Miss. Bates and their niece, Jane Fairfax (so much so that some believe he is going to marry Jane at one point!). He also considers his tenant farmer Robert Martin a friend; Martin even comes to him for advice on whether to marry or not. So while he is obviously aware of his own situation in the community he is not at all snobbish about it and uses his position to help as many as possible. Even when Frank Churchill arrives Knightley is able to be the perfect gentleman around him, never revealing how much he dislikes him and suspects Frank isn't all that he seems. There are some wonderfully humorous moments between Knightley and Emma that show he is quite funny and witty. Even when he is lecturing Emma, he is not at all unkind and you can tell by his words and manner that he truly wants to help her. After she insults Miss. Bates at the Box Hill picnic you can tell that his anger with her stems from his extreme disappointment in her behavior, knowing she is a better person than that (and feeling this change is because of Frank Churchill). You will not find Mr. Knightley covering the pages of the novel but his presence is there even if he, physically, is not; Emma is usually concerned with what Mr. Knightley will think and even finds herself guided by his opinions (even if she is not aware of it).

There have been a few different TV and movie adaptions of this wonderful story but my favorite is the 1996 Miramax version with Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma and Jeremy Northam as Mr. Knightley. As another blogger stated, "he is the definitive Mr. Knightley," a statement with which I heartily concur. Northam is wonderful in this role. Besides being oh so suave and handsome (yes, all the Knightley pictures in this post are of him!), he really brings the character to life. He just has gentleman written across him. His mannerisms, his humor, his emotions all fit with the Mr. Knightley of Austen's novel - and he looks so comfortable and at ease in those Regency clothes! Throughout the movie I find my eyes drawn to him whenever he appears, he really steals the scene! He does a superb job with the script; in fact some of the most memorable lines (or scenes) are his. His "Badly done, Emma. Badly done" is one of the most famous lines from the movie. After seeing this movie I have found it very easy to picture Northam's Mr. Knightley in the various sequels or retellings of Emma I've come across (the best, in my opinion, is Barbara Cornthwaite's George Knightley, Esquire).

I love this movie so much that I have yet to return it to Netflix! Of course when I've gone looking for it in the $5 section at Target, I can't find it, though I've seen it numerous times over the years! I highly recommend this movie to any Austen fans; I do not think you'll be disappointed. Besides the wonderful Mr. Northam, there is some other fantastic acting in the movie. Get it! Watch it and see for yourself what a wonderful job Mr. Northam does with this character! I am very glad I watched Showtime's The Tudors before I saw this movie. Northam plays Sir. Thomas More in the series and I think I would have cried to see my Mr. Knightley meet More's horrible end!

Yay for Robins!!

Or...I'm really looking forward to the new Robin Hood movie starring Russell Crowe. It opens on May 14th and Johnny has said he wouldn't mind seeing it. Yay! I don't have to go by myself! Only 7 days to go!!
There have been so many versions of this legend (and legend it is, though there probably is some basis for it in the lives of real people) and so many of them have landed on the big screen. There is a BBC TV series about it as well.
Who can forget the oh-so-manly green outfit of Errol Flynn?

Why, yes, it is a lovely shade of kelly green; makes me feel manly. I can give you the number of my dyer.

My personal favorite (really, it is) is the Kevin Costner version which came out in 1991. Yes, cheesy acting (though I do so love Alan Rickman) and an almost equally cheesy plot but I still loved it. The scenery was beautiful.

As a matter of fact I do use Garnier Fructis.

This newest version, starring Russell Crowe as a much more realistic Robin and Cate Blanchette as a very warrior like Marion, is going to give viewers a much more realistic look at the way life was in the 1200s - gritty, dirty, and violent. I am really looking forward to this, especially since I have read so much about this time period (via Sharon Kay Penman's wonderful Here Be Dragons and Elizabeth Chadwick's novels about William Marshal).

Shhh...be vewry, vewry qwiet...I'm hunting wabbits.