Movie Review - Austenland

Austenland

Starring: Keri Russell, JJ Feild, Jennifer Coolidge, Bret McKenzie, Georgia King, James Callis, Jane Seymour, Ricky Whittle, Ayda Field, and more.

Directed by: Jerusha Hess Screenplay by: Jerusha Hess and Shannon Hale Based on the Novel by: Shannon Hale Cinematography by: Larry Smith Original Music by: Ilan Eshkeri

Premise: Obsessed with all things 'Jane Austin' and so far having little luck with love, Jane Hayes takes a risk and spends all of her savings on a trip to Austenland - a Regency Era themed getaway. Yet from the moment she arrives, matters don't exactly go in the direction she'd hoped. (Rated PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting - Total Thumbs Up: Keri Russell is just too adorable. You feel her excitement as she finally ventures to her dreamland, but also feel her rising disenchantment for what she's been inadvertently thrust into. JJ Feild as Mr. Nobley and inadvertent recreation of Mr. Darcy was a lot of fun to watch. Especially as his awareness of Jane grows, as her true persona begins to seep through the cracks. Jennifer Coolidge played being sweet, clueless, and driven with her usual aplomb. Most of the comedic moments come from her character's utter cluelessness of things English. James Callis playing the actor playing Colonel Andrews at "Austenland" was so very good at being bad.

2) Plot/Story - Total Thumbs Up: Most times we don't expect much from romantic comedies, so it was a nice surprise to actually have a couple of unexpected twists in the plot on this one. Even more fun were the layered issues in the film, most of which mirrored the same themes Jane Austen used in her famous novels.

While being even minimally acquainted with Austen or her novels is not a requirement to enjoy the film, I believe those who have at least some degree of knowledge in the area will get more joy out of "Austenland" than those who don't. Seeing all the correlations with Austen's works in the plot will increase the depth of entire story for them. There are many themes in the film which get used in her books - hypocrisy, judging others merely on what is seen on the surface, the strict roles expected of men and women, how those with money and influence are perceived as better than others, how perception is everything, and a few more.

For those who don't know Austen but know things about the British, there'll be plenty of jokes for them to be amused by. Most notably will be the character of Miss Charming, who uses accents of the lower classes and butchers standard British phrases while pretending to be a Regency Era rich socialite.

3) Locations/Cinematography - Total Thumbs Up: From the obsessive fan's bedroom to the gorgeous lands of West Wycombe, great attention to detail and mood went into the setup of locations and spanning shots. West Wycombe was a great place for conveying the look and feel of the Regency Era.

Even the sets for the mock play screamed of authenticity. It made a great backdrop to the fantasy versus the reality being played by those visiting there. There was also a lovely and telling contrast when we're shown the area where the actors and others who work at Austenland go to seek a little respite from being in 'character'.

4) Costuming/Makeup - Total Thumbs Up: The costuming department did an excellent job outfitting everyone with their different costumes, even the markedly different wear and hairstyles depending on your class and status. Intentional or not, I found much humor in Jane's first hairstyle and dress as it made her look a lot like a younger Sarah O'Brien from "Downton Abbey". Mr. Nobley was made for the wearing of Regency Era men's attire.

Conclusion: "Austenland" was a definite treat. The more knowledge on Britain or Jane Austen you have, the more you will enjoy the film. Make sure to stay through the end credits as there's a bonus bit for the audience that was a lot of fun. (And an interesting tidbit - Stephenie Meyer (author of Twilight) was a producer for the film.)

Rating: 4 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission)

Movie Review - The Host

The Host

Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Diane Kruger, Max Irons, Jake Abel, Chandler Canterbury, William Hurt, Scott Lawrence, Frances Fisher, and more.

Directed by: Andrew Niccol Screenplay by: Andrew Niccol Based on the Novel by: Stephenie Meyer Cinematography by: Roberto Schaefer Original Music by: Antonio Pinto

Premise: Earth has been taken over by an alien race that uses human bodies as hosts. Rather than be taken by them, Melanie Stryder attempts to take her own life by jumping out a window. The Seeker who watched her do this decides Melanie would make an excellent host. The Seeker's goal is to use Melanie's memories to hunt down the few remnants of unpossessed humans left. But Melanie's will is even stronger than anyone anticipated. Rather than be destroyed or totally subverted within her own body, Melanie is aware and fights against the alien inside her, hoping to somehow figure out a way to get back to those she loves. (Rated PG-13)

Review:  

1) Acting - Total Thumbs Up: Saoirse Ronan did a spectacular job playing the Wanderer, and the imprisoned Melanie inside her. Saoirse gave each of the two beings unique voices and personalities so it was easy to believe she had two people taking residence inside the same body. Diane Kruger was outstanding as the dogged Seeker trying to find the Wanderer(Wanda)/Melanie no matter the cost. Max Irons and Jake Abel also gave good performances, easily showing the conflict each had for how they viewed and felt about Wanda/Melanie.

2) Special Effects - Total Thumbs Up: I loved how the aliens looked - semi-energy beings with ganglia - it was a great effect. There are two emotional automobile crash scenes that got stitched to the film so well they looked eerily realistic in the damage to the cars and to the people inside them. The glow worm cave was fantastic - you could honestly think you were looking into a picture of a gaseous and star seeded section of space. The alien 'spaceport' was utterly fascinating. I also think the special effects department did a great job with the mirror banks used to reflect light to grow plants inside the caves. The wheat field itself also looked amazing.

They did a great job too on Jamie's festered wound (looked so nasty!) and the healing sequences for both Melanie and Jamie. You could almost see Jamie's cut weaving itself back together. Nice!

3) Plot/Story - Thumbs Up: I haven't read the novel the movie is based on, so I can't make any comments on how it translated to film. I will say that as long as you don't question how Earth came to be in its current state or what technology should have been available to the aliens with which to find a few pesky humans, the movie's plot works pretty well.

Though you can piece together some of the alien's social structure, it would have helped the film if they'd delved into it a bit more than they did. A greater understanding of this seemingly super stratified system (as implied by the use of occupation titles) would have helped viewers understand why some of the 'Souls' had not been bothered by their antagonistic way of life before. (Where their technology came from or how they were able to take over the first human, especially after seeing that the standard transfer process couldn't be done without help would have also helped plug some of the huge holes in the nonexistent back story.) Baring that, however, the film did do a great job bringing up all sorts of issues to both sides, and not 'sugar coating' most of them. The voice-over technique for Melanie's trapped self worked really well for imparting her thoughts to the audience.

And typical of a lot of young adult books, there are multiple love interests for the heroine. Except this time there was a nice twist - there are two heroines in one body, and they both like different guys. This made for some quite poignant and also funny moments. Jamie's infected wound, sadly, seemed somewhat contrived.

5) Locations/Cinematography - Total Thumbs Up: My inner geek screamed the first time we got the gorgeous spanning view of the desert area where the humans kept their hiding place (Worm Sign! Worm Sign! ("Dune")), something which will sadly not occur to most of the young people watching the film. I totally loved the cave chosen for their hideout. (The wheat field made me think of those built inside mountains or underground in the PC game "Mine Craft".)

While a lot of places looked normal, they did do one caveat to how the aliens had changed the planet by the giant, plain store called The Store. Their simplistic labels and naming of things was a nice touch too.

6) Costuming/Makeup - Total Thumbs Up: The costumes for the Seekers in their startling white worked very well. The shoes were not, but I am giving credit to that 'faux pas' to the aliens themselves. The ways the eyes looked on all who had aliens inside them worked really well and had just the right touch of creepy to it. There was good consistency too on wounds and natural healing.

Conclusion: If you ignore the science and technique of how the Souls took over the world, the film was well paced, thought provoking, and even quite humorous. Hubby said it would make a great date movie as it has a mix of romance, shootings, and car chases to give both sides what they like.

Rating: 4 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission)