Reviews of movies and TV focused on women
The Bookshop, from Catalan director Isabel Coixet, is so very, very English that the emotional life of the characters is buried deep. Almost no action and an unnecessary voice over explaining things make this an unusual but ultimately moving film.
Continue reading “Review: The Bookshop”Their Finest tells the story of Catrin Cole (Gemma Arterton) who struggles to write the script for a British propaganda film about World War II while living in London during the blitz. Continue reading “Review: Their Finest”
Their Finest is a female driven story about a World War II script writer. Gemma Arterton plays copywriter Catrin Cole, who lands a job writing women’s dialogue for war films at a British ministry. Continue reading “Watch This: Trailer for Their Finest”
A new study from the Media, Diversity and Social Change Initiative at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism provides the data showing what we all know already – older people are ignored, underrepresented, or trivialized in film. Continue reading “Surprise! Old People are Underrepresented in Film”
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel will release in late March 2015 in the US. I will be there, ready to be delighted by this wonderful cast and charming story.
New in this edition of the story will be Richerd Gere, Tamsin Greig and David Strathairn.
Still around are Dev Patel, Maggie Smith, Tina Desai, Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Celia Imrie, Penelope Wilton, Ronald Pickup, Diana Hardcastle, and Lillete Dubey.
The film is directed by John Madden from an original screenplay by Ol Parker. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was shot in India.
The character Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel) has plans to expand the Best Exotic Hotel for the Elderly and the Beautiful while getting married at the same time. It looks like we might get a bit of a Bollywood musical number at Sonny’s wedding. That should be fun.
Sonny’s mother is played by Lillete Dubey, who has an impressive list of credits in films made in India. She was in the first Best Exotic Marigold Hotel as well as Monsoon Wedding and many other films. She’s also a theatre director and founder of the Theatre Action Group in Delhi. In her world, she is as famous as Maggie Smith or Judi Dench is in the American/European market. It’s always wonderful to see this accomplished woman in action.
Poster and images ©Fox Searchlight Pictures
The original Dad’s Army was a BBC sitcom about the Home Guard during WWII. It broadcast on BBC television from 1968 to 1977. The new version of Dad’s Army is a movie, currently being filmed in East Yorkshire.
The film will be released in 2015 and stars Sarah Lancashire, Catherine Zeta Jones, Emily Atack, Bill Nighy, Toby Jones, Tom Courtenay, and Michael Gambon.
The town of Bridlington, East Yorkshire was used as a scene for a military parade recently. The folks there got quite excited about it. I thought you might enjoy the dozens of photos of the event. Each link will open in a new window or tab.
Image of Sarah Lancashire and Emily Atack ©Crosby Fame/Flynet.uk.com.
I absolutely cannot wait to see The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. The first one was arguably the best movie on planet Earth, and in 2015 we’ll have yet another best movie on planet Earth. Such riches.
Among the riches: the best cast on planet earth, including Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith, Richard Gere, Penelope Wilton and Dev Patel.
John Madden is directing, with the screenplay written by Ol Parker.
I love these people! Wait, am I gushing too much? I’ll restrain myself and simply say it looks good.
Not to take away from The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, because I know it will be good, but I have a question. Why are women in shows about older people always chasing after men? Why isn’t it the other way around? Why aren’t the men chasing after the women? So Richard Gere is handsome and attractive – so what! Aren’t the women gorgeous and attractive, too? What’s up with this trope about women needing to be sexually predatory in their old age if they want to be with someone?
