So this was the famous Edward Ferrars I melted over last week. So hot in tonight's show. He's like an 1800's Jim Halpert. Those evil people at PBS made dating profiles of each Austen Hero on the pbs.org site. That's a little too 12 year old girl for me, but it provided this pic for your viewing pleasure.
So anyways. Um HUGE NEWS!! A new version of A Room with a View Next Week!!!! HOLY SCHNIKIES!!! How did I not know about this???!!! One of my favorite....everything's of all time is being remade and I didn't know? I might have missed it!!! I am sooo all over that. I am also totally in the mood to watch the old version. ARGG!!!! It can never be as good as Merchant Ivory made it. I'm just saying.
So back to the original thought process. Although I appreciate them making it all Jane Austen for the past two months on PBS, I still like the other Sense and Sensibility better. The Emmas are debatable. Each has merits. Mansfield Park movies have all sucked in general. Persuasion.....eh. The new Northanger Abbey(and only one) is pretty darn cute. But my point is ..umm....thanks but why?
Do movies really need to be remade every few years for a new audience? I would tend to say ...NO(heck to the no for the less righteous readers). I am not a fan in general of remakes. Little Women......it had been a LOOONG time. I can see trying to get a new non black and white film watching audience. Pride and Prejudice, now that's a whole other story.....see the production pissed me off by starting with the theme of not " this movie needs a remake" but "We need to remake classic brit films with Keira Knightley because they will make money". True story. It made me sick when I heard it years ago in pre-production. The end product ...is actually not that bad. I LOVE Jena Malone as Lydia. But I had serious hesitations. Who in their right mind thinks the A&E miniseries is not the be-all end-all of Pride and Prejudice? It fulfills my every Jane Austen need. Who thinks watching a repressed Colin Firth is irrelevant to today's watchers? Not anyone I know!! The sheer gall to watch P&P and think to yourself the only thing this is missing is Keira Knightley! FREAKS!! It is not missing anything but your brain power and any sense of culture, fine film, or literature. Moving on from the rage.......
Honestly my greatest fear is that they will start trying to remake my favorite classic films and it just shouldn't be done. Here is a little list of what will cause me to fall over and die of horror if they try to remake:
Gone with the Wind
My Fair Lady
The Thin Man
Casablanca
All the Doris Day/ Rock Hudsons (although they tried with Renee Zellweger and failed miserably- jerks haha)
The Sound of Music/ Mary Poppins (I forsee this happening.....with Disney greed behind it)
The Princess Bride/Goonies ( movies of sheer genius I know)
Life is Beautiful(I want the original in italian only- if they try to make a truly english version.....GRRR)
Grease(this is just a plea not to do that to us- ug)
Wow.....I am a regular AFI of quality film here. Majorly serious subject matter. Ha. Maybe I should add in Adventures in Babysitting and Clue. Anyways. Can you imagine if we live to see the day they feel the need to remake ET or Titanic? If they start remaking Schindler's List I might as well just sign out of the human race.
Ok. This was a bizarre post. But hopefully you could follow along.
8 comments:
Ok, first of all: They're remaking A Room With a View?! Why?? You cannot improve upon perfection! However, I will watch it, because I LOVE that story.
I know I will undergo a public flogging for saying this, but, uh, I am not a die hard fan of the 20,000 hour Pride and Prejudice. I know, I know. You're going to revoke my girl card, aren't you? I love Colin Firth, he is an excellent Darcy. But I only committ four hours to a film max (and that is to my beloved Hamlet) at a time. If I want to spend that much time on the story, I'll just go read the book. (So, I was grateful for a more condensed version.) Plus I find the chick in the mini-series annoying. She's always got this smug look on her face--it makes me want to slap her. But then again, I do not hate Kiera Knightly, like I probably should (I'm sure it's only a matter of time). I think the new Pride and Prejudice is WONDERFUL, and the actor that plays Darcy brings out not only the whole "too good for you" vibe, but is awesome at getting across the whole Darcy-is-shy-and-a-little-insecure thing as well. (Another shocker--I like him as Darcy better than Colin Firth-*double gasp.*)But this is just me. I know every other girl will disagree with me. sigh. Oh, well. :)
I do enjoy a good remake, but you're right, if the original is REALLY good, and it hasn't been a loooooooooooong time since the story was remade, there is no point. And let us light a candle and pray that they never remake Clue--it is a cinematic masterpiece. Well, to me anyway. ;)
According to reviews I've read the new A Room With a View is not only lackluster compared to the Merchant Ivory Masterpiece, but it actually has a depressing ending! They used Forster's written-later-epilogue as source material. Folks, there's a reason he didn't include it in the original text!
I have to admit, I wasn't all that enamored of Edward 2008. He was cute, but I still prefer Hugh Grant's mannerisms (and not b/c he's Hugh Grant, because I'm rather tired of him). But I liked the production in general--especially Brandon, save the random dual and wanting-to-undress-Marianne scenes.
Alison, I must say I completely agree with your assessment of P&P. The Keira version came at a time when Jennifer Ehle's smugness was just starting to get on my nerves. Not that Keira is perfect either--I would actually place Elizabeth exactly between the two. And I love both Darcy's, Colin Firth for obvious reasons, and Matthew MacFadyen for the reasons you named.
To my fellow period drama fanatics: I just want to make sure you've all seen North & South (2004 adaptation of the Elizabeth Gaskell novel, NOT the Civil War one) because if you haven't, you must do so at the earliest opportunity.
Erica, I can't remember if I've commented on your blog before (it's a great read!), but you really do know me.
Melanie
One more thing! The upcoming PBS offering I'm really looking forward to is Cranford, b/c it's another Gaskell adaptation (North & South and Wives & Daughters were so good!) and it stars a whole lot of famous people that will make it stellar.
I need to make it clear....I love both P&P's....I just don't see how someone thought to make the new one. Now we just have one for quick fixes and another for epic weekends of brit period romance.
Melanie- I totally own Wive sand Daughters. I'll have to see if I can get ahold of North and South. Incidentally I saw the Civil War one and that was pretty good for a lifetime movie type experience when I was like 10. I love laughing at bad or melodramatic movies alomst as much as I love enjoying good ones.
I, myself like to say that I am against re-makes (why can't people come up with their own ideas and leave the originals alone?) yet every time there is a re-make, guess what I want to go see? Except Pink Panther...I didn't want to see that re-make. Long story.
Erica: hmmm, maybe I should pick up the Civil War one, because I've grown fond of laughing at melodramatic movies too! Of course, most of the ones I watch have colorful music and dancing, hot actors, and are in Hindi.
If you totally own Wives & Daughters (and I do too) you will totally love North & South. It is more serious, being about the conflicts in an industrial town, but very rewarding (with a killer ending).
I think all british industrial town movies should be obligated to include Sean Bean in the cast. Really all british movies in general. I heart that man. Industrial town just made me think of him. Sigh.
Also- the Richardson public library has finally failed me. No North and South. Just the Civil War one. ARG!! Agony. I shall find it some other way.
Funny...the male lead in N&S actually sounds a bit like Sean Bean, if he doesn't look like him.
And Netflix has it, if you subscribe. That's actually how I saw it, but I ended up ordering it from Amazon after having just watched the first disc.
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