Two freaks, Quasimodo and Hannibal Lecter, who have nothing in common, except that they have both been portrayed by Sir Anthony Hopkins. After reading “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” recently, I saw the 1982 television adaptation starring Hopkins as Quasimodo, Lesley-Ann Down as Esmeralda, Derek Jacobi as Claude Frollo, Robert Powell as Phoebus and John … Continue reading Quasimodo will be played today by Hannibal Lecter
(Here There Be Spoilers) Having just seen the 1997 television adaptation of Victor’s Hugo novel, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”, I have to say I love this story: the crippled, deformed servant of a creepy but powerful old man turns against his master and drops him from a great height to stop him from murdering … Continue reading The Hunchback of Star Wars
It's a common trope in fiction: a final confrontation between the central hero of a story and its central villain. It's an important trope in Westerns, both on the page and screen -- Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" is just one famous example. And we see it in works of fiction that are too many to count: … Continue reading Hero, meet your villain; or, never mind
I first saw the "Lonesome Dove" miniseries in 1993, about four years after it had first been shown on television. Essentially a six-hour movie, it was widely credited with resurrecting not only the TV miniseries format but also the genre of the Western, which had been thought of as dead for some years. In fact, … Continue reading Unforgiven in Lonesome Dove
I first saw the TV miniseries adaptation of "Lonesome Dove" in the early 90s, about four years after it premiered. I didn't read the novel until this summer. The movie was and probably always will be one of my favorites, but after reading the novel I'm finding some important differences between the two, that I'd … Continue reading Lonesome Dove book vs movie
Everything we build is matchsticks. That’s how I felt recently, watching the residents of Walnut Grove blow up their beloved town with dynamite in the final episode of the “Little House” TV series. I originally that episode – the two hour movie billed as “The Last Farewell” – close to 40 years ago now, and … Continue reading Matchsticks
A few weeks ago I posted about how we've been watching "Little House On the Prairie" on a nightly basis since around the time that quarantine began. I knew from watching the series as a child that the episodes often quoted the Bible, but I noticed this time that sometimes the Bible was quoted in … Continue reading Bible and books in “Little House” TV series
December 15, 2020 I'm reading this now for the first time. What stands out most for me may be the swiftly changing Spirit of Christmas Past. It's like an anomaly-entity from modern sci-fi, but soft-voiced and ominous like the representation of Satan in The Last Temptation of Christ movie. (Overly Sarcastic Productions was reminded of … Continue reading A Christmas Carol
December 2, 2020 I’m so close to finishing Jane Austen’s six main novels that I figured, why not finish. So I rewatched Ang Lee’s 1995 movie of “Sense and Sensibility” and started the novel, while watching for the first time the Andrew Davies movie from 2008. Nothing more needs to be said about Lee’s movie; … Continue reading Sense and Sensibility
November 24, 2020 Spoilers ahead I was engrossed by “Mansfield Park” from beginning to end. Of the thousand thoughts I’m having, probably questions about Henry Crawford are the most difficult to answer. That may be no surprise to those who have read the novel. Henry flirts with two sisters, just like Frederick Wentworth had. And … Continue reading Finishing Mansfield Park
