Movie Review: The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)

Hello to everyone!

Being inside is the time to watch movies, right? I have so many notes taken for so many movies, I can't wait to review them all for you! Actually, I have notes on over 85 different movies and books. Yep, kind of insane. My plan is to try to review the ones that I watched/read a while ago and work my way up to the newer ones. Sound like a plan?

This one is next on the list! I watched it back in August. When movies are based on books I usually like to read the book as well and be able to compare the two, and though this is based on a book, I'm not interested enough to read it. I have far too many other books that I do want to read!

Anyway enjoy my review!

My guarantee: On ALL of my reviews there are NO spoilers unless I give you warning. This is spoiler free!


The Jane Austen Book Club (2007):

Based on: The Jane Austen Book Club - by Karen Joy Fowler.
A lady comes up with the idea to start a book club to distract her friend from what she is going through. Because she loves Jane Austen she decides that they will only read her books! Six months, six people, six books. As the members read these works they find similarities to their lives and wonder, will they all get a happy ending?
"It's all Jane Austen all the time!"

Genre: Romance, Drama, Comedy.
Length: approx. 106 minutes.
Costumes: 5, standard clothing but a lot of low and short things.
Script: 7, there are some bad words, name calling, and using name in vain.
"Is not general incivility the essence of love?"
Crew:
Directed by: Robin Swicord.
Written by: Karen Joy Fowler & Robin Swicord.
Starring:
Maria Bello as Jocelyn.

Emily Blunt as Prudie.

Kathy Baker as Bernadette.

Amy Brenneman as Sylvia.

Hugh Dancy as Grigg.

Maggie Grace as Allegra.

Jimmy Smits as Daniel.
Kevin Zegers as Trey.
Marc Blucas as Dean.
Parisa Fitz-Henley as Corinne.
Lynn Redgrave as Mama Sky.
Myndy Crist as Lynne.
Nancy Travis as Cat.
Cinematography: 7, wasn't remarkable or that interesting.
Cinematography by: John Toon.
Music: 7, because I really don't remember any of what the score was.
Music by: Aaron Zigman.
Notes: There are some STAR WARS spoilers in this movie, so watch SW first.
Quotes: 7, every time my sister and I talk about Jane Austen we quote Grigg by saying, "That bother anyone else?"
Content: 3, there are some really suggestive words and actions as well as a part where I actually turned it off until it was past (if you know what I mean by my vagueness). It also deals with divorce and remarriage, talking about body parts, and smoking. Some of these are shown as bad and characters grow from that, but others it is shown as good? I do not like this. Not to be spoilers, but I have to put this for content warning for others. A character lives a lesbian lifestyle and everything with her involves that. I personally don't agree with those ideas of dealing with that, but I don't hate anybody either (which I feel is a common misconception). I plan to do a post more deeply on my thoughts in the future (might be weeks or months from now, I don't know) and I will link it here when I do.
Originality: 8. Everyone loves reading Jane Austen, right? It was fun to see people discussing the books!
Good For: I don't know! I don't really want to recommend this to Jane Austen fans because they might love it or hate it.
Age Range: This movie is PG-13, but I don't think they handled some things very well. This is definitely not clean. Maybe more like 15?
Overall Score: 5.

Bonus thoughts:
Honestly, most of my dislike of this movie is with the content. I had a fun time watching this with my sister because we are both huge Jane Austen fans and we were trying to figure out "who was who". Even though Pride & Prejudice is my favorite, it was refreshing to see a Jane Austen movie that focused on her other works more than that one. I had never seen Emily Blunt in a role like this, so that was a change.
Can we talk about the characters? My sister and I decided that we loved Grigg. He was hilarious and sweet! He was definitely our favorite part (but, we did not like one part with him. We were not happy, Bob, not happy.) I don't see myself ever watching this again, but it was fun for one afternoon. If it were cleaner or the consequences were more sever would I? Probably. Would I possibly just watch it for Grigg? Yeah. He made the whole movie worth it.



Your turn! Where are my Jane Austen fans? Have any of you seen this?
Thanks for reading!

MovieCritic

Movie Review: Gnomeo and Juliet (2011)

Hello!
Today is the last day of Hamlette's We ❤ Shakespeare Blogathon (check out the Master Post HERE)!

I've had so much fun writing my other two posts, but this has been my favorite. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it! The button I chose to put here is another Romeo and Juliet retelling, but this is my favorite of all the ones that I have watched!

My guarantee: On ALL of my reviews there are NO spoilers unless I give you warning.

Gnomeo and Juliet (2011):

Based on: Romeo and Juliet - by William Shakespeare.

"The story you are about to see has been told before...a lot. And now we are going to tell it again...but differently."

This story is about next door neighbor's garden gnomes. Like their owners they are bitter enemies. It's the blues vs. the reds! They like to show each other up by racing lawnmowers down the alley. When the blues's mower gets wrecked by a red, two blues, Gnomeo and Benny, plan for revenge. They are also very proud of their gardens. The leader of the reds is very protective of his daughter, Juliet. She spots a rare flower and decides fetch it to prove to her father that she doesn't need to be protected. Gnomeo and Juliet meet and fall for each other without knowing the other's color! As it is later pointed out, "It's doomed."

Genre: Romance, Comedy.

Length: approx. 84 minutes.

Costumes: 7, there is one gnome that goes around without really any clothes on, and we see people's underthings, but besides that they are good.

Script: 9, no bad words that I recall!
"How romantically tragic."

Crew:

Directed by: Kelly Asbury

"'Okay, I'm thinking of a movie that is one word and it sounds like "spider".'

'Is it "Spiderman"?'

'You're good!'"

Written by: Kelly Asbury, Mark Burton, Andy Riley, Kevin Cecil, Emily Cook, Kathy Greenberg, Steve Hamilton Shaw, John R. Smith, & Rob Sprackling.
Starring the voices of:
James McAvoy as Gnomeo.

Emily Blunt as Juliet. 
"'When will you realize that you are delicate?'
'I'm not delicate!'"
Matt Lucas as Benny.

Jason Statham as Tybalt.
Ashley Jensen as Nanette. (She is on the red side, but she is actually green because she is a frog.)
Jim Cummings as Featherstone.
Michael Caine as Lord Redbrick.

Maggie Smith as Lady Bluebury.
Patrick Stewart as William Shakespeare.
Stephen Merchant as Paris.

Ozzy Osbourne as Fawn.
Kelly Asbury as Red Goon Gnomes.
Dolly Parton as Dolly Gnome.
James Daniel Wilson as Fishing Gnome.

Animation: 9, as you well know, I'm not a fan of digital animation, but I love this!!

Music: 10, they did such a good job with this! All of the music is based on Elton John's and for "Your Song" they changed the words to make it for garden gnomes. But, my favorite part is when the character Benny is hitting buttons. Each button he hits makes a noise and he plays out the opening for "Benny and the Jets"!

Music by: James Newton Howard, Chris Bacon, and Elton John.

Quotes: 9, "Oh, Gnomeo, Gnomeo, are we really doomed to never see each other again? Why must you wear a blue hat? Why couldn't it be red like my father? Or green like a leprechaun? Or purple, like...uh...like...um...like some weird guy?"

Sorry, I had to put this picture here because the face she makes when she says "weird guy" always cracks me up.

Notes: This movie is so great! It has so many Shakespeare references! They live on Verona Drive, their owners names are Miss Montague and Mr. Capulet, we see references/Easter eggs to the plays As You Like It, The Tempest, Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew, and I think there is one for King Lear, but I'm not familiar with that one so I'm not positive. They even changed some of the lines in Romeo and Juliet to make them fit!
"I don't know, a weed by any other name is still a weed."

Storyline: 8, there is some crude humor, suggestive things, separation, dealing with revenge (though it shows that it is bad), and the gnomes fight a bit.
"Other people's hate destroyed my love, and I could do nothing about it."

Overall Score: 8.5!

Bonus thoughts: I do know some people who don't like it, but I do, and they did a really good job making this!


A huge thank you to Hamlette for hosting this! I had a great time. Once again, go check out the other posts HERE!

Thanks for reading! Have you seen this movie? What do you think?

MovieCritic