My Very British Weekend

My impromptu trip down to Nashville, Tennessee two weekends ago afforded me some much needed time off which partly explains the little blogging I've done since then. The other part is that it's always difficult to get into the rhythm of blogging again once you take some time off, but I'll try to start it up again this week.

It doesn't help that with Oscar/awards season done and February sweeps over, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of things to watch and be inspired at enough to post. This weekend though I gorged on British films and TV shows without even meaning to. From this point on there might be very mild spoilers, but I think even spoilerphobes should be okay to continue reading.

My Anglophilic weekend started off with a screening of my first film of 2011, Jane Eyre which starred Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, and Jamie Bell. I read the novel back in school, but it took me until more than halfway through the film to start remembering plot details. Now I've never seen any other film adaptation of this book before this film and I think my fuzzy memory helped in my overall enjoyment of the film. They got rid of a lot of things, but the crux of the story still got through. Mostly I was intrigued to see this because I miss seeing Bell in films and though I was fans of their solid supporting work in The Kids Are All Right and Inglourious Basterds respectively, Wasikowska and Fassbender were both able to shine as the leads in this atmospheric film.


In the opposite end of the spectrum, I also saw Brit-film Four Lions which is a black comedy/satire about a group of terrorists wanting to leave their mark by becoming suicide bombers. I actually saw the film without knowing that much about it so it took me awhile to get use to the surrealism of actually wanting a COMEDY about TERRORISM, but what's great about this film was its conviction in telling its story to the end and how they really didn't shy away from anything. Like the best of satires, it was funny and sobering all at once.

For television, I finally got around to the first season of Downton Abbey which had been recommended to me by a few people. I would've seen it sooner, but I started and finished Friday Night Lights first. With that said, it really is a wonderful series and reminds me so much of one of my favorite films Gosford Park not only for its beautiful surroundings, but also by its expansive and ridiculously talented cast. It's so difficult to pick a favorite actor/character, but I'll give a shout out to Dame Maggie Smith whose bitch-face deserves its own wing in an Acting Hall of Fame. I blazed through its way-too-short seven episodes over the weekend and I'm quite content that there'll be another installment later this fall.


Finally, I saw the season three finale of Being Human. And just... it literally left me speechless. Saying ANYTHING would be a huge spoiler so I won't since it hasn't aired yet in America, but saying it was an intense roller coaster of emotions would STILL be understating the brilliance of not only the season finale but of the whole season. Last year, I declared this show as one of my top ten favorite shows of the past year and I have NO DOUBT it will remain there this year. I'd take a moment to single an actor, but I realize that with this superb cast, it'd be moot. They're all wonderful. I'll hopefully do a more extensive post/review/whatever for this season once the finale airs in America in a couple of weeks.