You asked for it, so here’s an occasional open thread to bitch about anything tangentially related to history, costume, movies, or TV shows! Or whatever else is on your mind right now. Note that URLs are automatically held for moderation, but most anything else goes as long as you’re not bitchier than we are!
There’s been some trailers dropping for flicks that purport to be set in a historical period, but we are dubious. Yeah, we’ll address some of them in due time. Maybe next Snark Week, if you can hold out till then…
What’s getting you riled up lately?
FrockFlicks/It’s me, Emily/I’ve come here/just to snark, let me snark!
HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
I know there have been so many adaptations of Frankenstein, but I’m tempted to see the new one coming out this month. Great actors, and a great director; it might be worth driving half an hour to the movie theater (alas, our local multiplex got turned into a pickleball club). :)
Design-wise it looks SO good! And Oscar Isaac! I’m just worried it’s going to be scary – I’ll need someone to hold my hand!
I love scary movies! Of course, I’m also the person who looks behind the shower curtain to make sure Freddy Kruger isn’t there. :)
Happy October!
I’m someone who will not watch any kind of horror films-just can’t handle them- but have wondered about Sinners. I’ve seen it described as a horror, but is it really that? Or is it a drama with thriller elements? Is there tons of blood and gore?
Since it’s received so much good press, including here at Frock Flicks, I wondered if anyone might weigh in and let me know their thoughts, especially if you are horror-averse and saw it! The bits I know about the plot are intriguing, and could be a film I might appreciate if I could be more certain about genre before watching.
Oh, make no bones about it, it’s horror
Nero the assassin Netflix.
Main actor (Pio Marmaï) was Porthos in the last Musketeers.
Leather jackets and pants?
Amy, Sinners is a very slow burn. Very slow indeed. Definitely a horror movie, though. There are a few blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments. I blinked! I’m not a horror person, and I found it not too bad-and well worth watching. Gorgeous costumes.Excellent acting. And a superb soundtrack.
Thank you, Barbara! So many things about it sound excellent like you say- the acting and soundtrack, etc. I like a slow burn too. You make a good case for it!
Amy, Sinners is most definitely a horror film, and all the more powerful for being so rich and profound. It might be better for you not to see it on the big screen. If you can mute, or fast forward, you would feel more in control. Just a thought.
Hi Monabel! Thank you for the insight and tips!
Crimson Peak, The Awakening, and The Innocents/The Others are definitely on my list, any other Horror Frock Flicks I should add?
I always like to throw some oldies in & I saw that HBO Max has Vincent Price’s The House of Wax available. Bonus, you can spot some fun historical costumes from older frock flicks on the wax figures in this movie!
Some upcoming historical films and tv shows I’m looking forward to: The Face of Horror, which is an adaptation of a Japanese ghost story set in the medieval era, and will apparently be a throwback to the horror films of the Technicolor era, The Dreadful, which is gothic horror set during the Wars of the Roses, and The Great Chimera, which is set in the 1930’s, adapted from the Greek novel of the same name – the trailer just dropped for this one.
I’ve been waiting for a free for all so I can complain, whine, and vent about something I know is dear to Kendra’s heart: Pride and Prejudice 2005. I saw it with my mom when it first came out. Now that most movies can be watched on some channel or another, or even snippets on YouTube, I got to slow down and watch the Infamous Dining Scene. So we have, Kitty and Lydia licking their fingers, I think Lizzy licked her finger once, and Lydia even wiped her snotty nose on her hand at the table! Even if the Bennets were not gentry (and they WERE, even if impoverished) – they wouldn’t have been allowed to get away with finger licking and nose-wiping at the table. You had to go pretty far down the social scale to find “it’s OK to be gross at mealtime.” I know the idea was to show that the “real” Bennets didn’t lead lives as polished as a Harlequin Regency romance would have it, but, nobody licked their fingers at the table, Lydia washed her hair, and Lizzy would not have put her feet up on the sofa. There. I feel better now.
Don’t get any of us started on the idiocy that is P&P 2005. There are so many egregious aspects of this film I just don’t know where to start, but I won’t. I agree with your assessment of their manners. And while Lizzy wouldn’t put her feet on the sofa, neither would her mother stretch out on the sofa to consume her snack towards the end of the film. Thanks for sharing your feelings about this silly remake.
I tried to watch this to give it a fair chance, but couldn’t get past the lackluster performances of the minor characters. It’s people like Anna Chancellor and Alison Steadman who make the 95 p&p perfection.
I think I might subject myself to a Ken Russellathon this year (not that I really need an excuse to watch Gothic or Lair of the White Worm lol). But his other work has been on my watchlist for awhile, especially The Devils.
Also, are there any other movies besides “Meet Me in St Louis” that depict a turn of the century Halloween? I’m stumped.
There’s a sad lack of depictions of non-modern Halloweens on film at all! Meet Me in St. Louis is the only one that comes to mind (at least it’s a good one).
Just watched House of Guinness. It was actually quite good and the costumes seemed accurate. Hair was up except of course for young Irish revolutionary girls … :)
Huge fan of ghost movies here. Some already mentioned here that are very good. I would add Stir of Echos, What Lies Beneath and The Gift (with Cate Blanchett, because I guess there’s another of same name that gets confused). All three involved murders and a need for justice, a common theme with ghosts who cannot rest until that justice is provided.
I’m watching The Hardacres on Britbox. Fun show. Poor people become rich etc. Costumes are pretty good. I just had to come here because you are my people. A rich girl teaching one of the newly rich girls how to be proper says the following line “in the absence of a corset, one must tighten one’s stays (????????)to limit one’s breathing” what?!?!
It’s a week late but I have to share here because no one in my real life will care lol. I’m watching an old episode of Project Runway, and this one designer is like “I’m doing like a sexy Queen Victoria with a big ruff around the neck” and then got so mad when his teammate pointed out how wrong that statement was. I was sitting here shouting at the TV like a man watching a football game!