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!
Fall is falling and frock flicks are in the air … good or bad, who can say?
What are you thinking about the latest crop?
WOW, First! Ok here Are a few Ideas:
A WCW for Jane Lapotaire (Of Lady Jane 1986 and Countless other Period Flicks) who passed Away earlier this year!
A WCW for Ana Paula Arosio, She’s called the Brazilian Greta Garbo as she also left acting and started living a more secluded life while on the hight of her career, Most of her acting jobs were Period Dramas, I usually wouldn’t push for a Brazilian actor but I decide to take a chance since she has become more widely known to the English speaking public thanks to “Hilda Hurricane”!
On that Note you might Also like to check HBO’s “Madam Beja”
Oh, And For Halloween could y’all maybe review something like Dark Shadows? I know you reviewed “The Vampire Curse” storyline, but there’s a few other Period storylines on that show, there’s also the 1991 version that I found Visually Stunning!
And would also like to recommend the Spanish Soaps, Girls, They’re Period! And pretty great! Y’all could check Maybe the International Emmy Ones: Dos Vidas (2021 – 22) [Nominated]
La Promesa (2023 – ) [WON]
La Moderna (2023 – 25) [Nominated]
Valle Salvaje [Currently Nominated]
PLUS: The Brazilian Contender of this Year: Garota Do Momento!
Simple plot: It follows the Trials and Tribulations of Beatriz, a young black woman in 1950’s Brazil, As she Searches for her long lost mother, as well as love and acceptance in a mostly racist society
Unfortunately I don’t see those available on streaming in the US :(
Oh, What A Shame!
Where has all the color gone in frock flicks? Seems to be reserved for only Bridgerton nowadays! Le sigh!
Grey & dingy is the trend right now & I hate it. See also, the new East of Eden, which I tried to watch & in addition to the characters being horrible, the look of it (pre-Depression Era) is completely boring grey.
Make the past look as horrible and gray as possible seems to be the mission statement.
Production doesn’t want the viewers to feel joy?
You will get mud for dye & you will like it!
As mentioned in the Brendan Fraser MCM, I saw Pressure in the cinema recently. I thought it was a decent, workmanlike, stagey (it’s adapted from a play) “stiff upper lip” WW2 movie, and Brendan Fraser and Andrew Scott were good, but I was disappointed to find that it’s yet another “true story” movie which plays fast and loose with the actual historical events.
I find myself disinterested in seeing another version of Sense & Sensibility (maybe if it shows up on TV), and looking at upcoming UK cinema releases, it doesn’t look like there’s much in the near future apart from Uprising (which is apparently terrible in addition to being another “mud and misery” historical film), but I am excited to see Wicker (the fantasy film where Olivia Coleman gets Peter Dinklage to make her an Alexander Skarsgaard out of wicker!) at the end of the month!
You are not alone. But, I try to remember it’s not a documentary and I try to guess the non-historical bits that were added for drama. I often do research afterwards to learn more about events depicted.
Have any of you ever thought about reviewing the Castle Ghosts series that Robert Hardy hosted years ago? They do some pretty good costumes IMO. I believe there were 4 in the series. England, Scotland, Wales, & Ireland. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112644/
I finally got around to watching the 1987 Northanger Abbey, and I actually kind of like it! It is really weird and wacky (especially the very 80s synth score), but I think it works as the satire of Gothic literature its supposed to be. I like it in the same way as Lair of the White Worm or Company of Wolves, if that makes sense (I think the baths at Bath might have been a bit much, but at the same time, it’s fascinating that somebody came up with that idea).
I still wouldn’t mind if Robert Eggers tried his hand at adapting the story though.
OK a Robert Eggers Northanger Abbey could be amazing :D
I recently binged Royal Autopsies on Amazon Prime. The costumes were more miss than hit. I don’t know if it’s a Snark Week candidate, but the FF team might enjoy making a drinking game of all the inaccuracies. Their livers will not.
I do like that idea. Beachy hair: gin!
I’ve just watched The Odissey, and liked as a movie, but the costumes…. Could you do a snark week with the three versions of the tale: Ulysses (1954, a Hollywood peplum), The return (2024, minimalist and artsy), and The Odissey of Nolan (big budget but not very “historical”).
From France here : De Gaulle: 2 good movies but WW2 military stuff.
To come in november : another the Miz movie, great cast ! and Pierre-Jean Larroque as costumer, but ” Raw, used, dirty ” outfits ….
And a TV show : countess of monte cristo , feminine Pov of the story .. with Audrey Fleurot At least, this last one will make a great snark!
Also, a Hunchback of Notre Dame project at Netflix, set in the 1830s?
Looks like the new Treasure Island sank hard, but how can you top the Muppets and the late, great Tim Curry?
And the new trailer for The Gilded Age looks great! Newport! Dance halls! WEDDING!!