Gwyneth Paltrow Top Ten

 1) Shakespeare in Love (1998) - still a good movie

2) Seven (1995) - very sweet in a movie that needed sweetness

3) The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) - really solid

4) Sliding Doors (1998) - a film about a girl who gets a haircut but very good 

5) Bounce (2000) - a forgotten film but she's very good

6) Glee (2010-11) - her stint on this was funny

7)  The Talented Mr Ripley (1999) - peak decent Miramax

8) Emma (1998) - not as good as Alicia Silvertone but likeable

9) Iron Man (2008) - not much of a role but one of these films should be on this list

10) Shallow Hal (2001) - I liked her in this, honest! 

Movie review - "Love and Friendship" (2016) ***1/2 (re watching)

 Whit Stillman is an idea adapter of Jane Austen. I'm not familiar with the novel but it's clear enough - Kate Beckinsale is a flirt with no money who wants to find a husband for herself and her daughter. Beckinsale plays the best character although there's a funny idiot aristocrat. Xavier Samuel suits this sort of story. The daughter is under cast. Chloe Svegniy feels underused as the best friend - it's good to see her but maybe she would've been better as the antaognist sister in law.

I like the use of titles. It skips emotion. This is my second time watching. It doesn't register for some reason. It's good though. I'm aware this is contradictory. 

Movie review - "Love and Friendship" (2016) ***1/2

Whit Stillman's movies were often described as modern day equivalents of Jane Austen tales, so he's an entirely appropriate person to be adapting Austen's little known Lady Susan. Extra fun for Stillman fans is the casting of Chlove Sevigny and Kate Beckinsale in roles that would have fitted into Last Days of Disco.

I'll be honest - sometimes I struggled to follow what people were saying, but it's crisp and bright and the handling has vigor. I enjoyed the cast and Stillman's irreverent treatment.

Movie review - "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" (2015) **

Long in development, underwhelming public response, and a disappointment. Some bits are quite good - it looks stylish, nice costumes and make up, etc - but it never works.

Part of this are the cast which is surprisingly uniformly bland - full of pretty young things that look like they've stepped out of drama school. England is full of great actors steeped in Austen lore but Burr Steers (or whoever is responsible) has peopled his film with bland nothings - the Bennett girls, for instance, are all pretty and that's it. They lack personality and spark. The young men are pretty and bland too. Sam Riley and Lily James are poor leads.

Part of it is the zombie stuff. We are so familiar with zombies now that the filmmakers really needed to come up with something fresh and/or interesting - they've failed to do so. There should have - the concept is strong enough - but all the zombie attacks are filmed in lazy perfunctory style that we've seen heaps of times before. It feels like the same old zombie attacks - munching brains, our heroes performing superhuman efforts of zombie fighting. Sure they spout the words but you never get a sense that anyone has a genuine feel for the period or Austen or even zombies. It occasionally comes to life - it's not awful - just dull.

Movie review – “From Prada to Nada” (2011) **1/2

Sense and Sensibility for the Hispanic tween set and it works surprisingly well -as Clueless showed, Los Angeles is a good facsimile for the world of Jane Austen because of all the class divisions. Camilla Belle is massively hot as the Emma Thompson character (yeah, put glasses on, that'll hide it) and Alex Vega fun as the trashy shallow rich one. They don't quite nail the romantic plots with the various men but it says something important about embracing Latino roots and is a pleasant way to spend the time.

Radio review – TGA – “Pride and Prejudice” (1945) **1/2

Joan Fontaine isn’t particularly well cast as Elizabeth Bennett and the other lesser known actors seem undercast. An average production of the famous novel, with inevitable trims (i.e. no Darcy’s sister) and it passes the time well enough. My mind drifted listening to it – I started imagining if it could be adapted to the old West. John Wayne as Mr Darcy, Maureen O’Hara as Elizabeth Bennett, an array of character actors in support… It would have been fun.

Movie review – “Jane Austen Book Club” (2008) **1/2

Good natured “chatty women” movie which passes the time well enough, even though I’m not really the demographic. It has the benefit of an outstanding cast all in good form. Some of this is “yeah, yeah, seen it before” eg Jimmy Smits dumping poor old Amy Brennan, pushing forward the idea that if your partner reads Jane Austen he will really like it – but it throws in the occasional surprise, like Emily Blunt’s mean treatment of her jock husband is shown to be mean. The Maria Bello romance plot is a bit of a one-note samba. Solid acting across the board and the genuine rejoicing in literature and community make this a hard film to dislike.

Movie review - "Bride and Prejudice" (2005) **1/2

The world of Jane Austen adapts comfortably to Indian society - no kissing, and lots of class division, with mum worried about marrying off her three daughters. It's bright and colourful and a bit dim with some not very memorable songs - the lead girls are all stunners and it is good natured with a lot of Austen's dark stuff removed (even the idiot sister comes to realise the bad man is bad by the end). All the shots of the male torsos here indicate the "female gaze" from its director.

Book review - "Emma" by Jane Austen

Finished another tape book, Jane Austen's classic read by Helen Morse. She does a good job, it is quite funny - I have to admit, though, I prefer "Clueless".

Movie review - "Pride and Prejudice" (2005) ****

Why another version of the famous story? This year alone saw Bride and Prejudice and the memory of the BBC series still lingers long. Perhaps Working Title wanted a sure-fire hit and/or a vehicle for hot new it girl Keira Knightley. Well, at least they had the decency to hire a director with a vision, for it works marvellously. Keira is not an automatic choice for Elizabeth Bennett and not the world's best actor but she has star quality (compare her with Rosamund Pike, who plays Jane, who doesn't have it). There is a superb support cast, every little part cast with top top perfection. The big screen is used to pick up little subtlies, such as the difference between the other sisters and the relationship between Mr and Mrs Bennett. (It shows he is a bit on the hopeless side.) Matthew MacFadyen has a star making turn as Darcy and it is filmed beautifully.